Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is 2004 first/third-person action roleplaying video game developed by Troika Games. In a similar style to Deus Ex, players balance exploration, real-time combat, role-playing, and freedom of choice in a story of intrigue, dark plots, and apocalyptic prophecies as a newly-embraced vampire treading the perilous path of his/her new unlife in a darker version of Los Angeles. The game takes several characters, plot lines, and mechanics from White Wolf Publishing's old World of Darkness tabletop game, in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe. 
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=Overview=
Unlike a traditional shooter, firearms in this game have damage values largely dependent on the player character's firearms skill. They also possess differing amounts of recoil and crosshair sway dependent on the character's firearms skill. Of particular note is the fact that vampires (including the player character) and some other supernatural beings take only half damage from firearms, and this damage can be reduced further depending on the stats or powers the character in question is using, making the use of firearms against such opponents a risky or suicidal proposition if the player character does not possess enough firearms skill.
=Handguns=
==Colt Police Positive==
Identified as "Revolver .38," the Colt Police Positive revolver is chambered for .38 Special, has a six round cylinder capacity, and a snub-nosed barrel. Although Police Positives with snub-nose (3" in length) barrels did exist, very few were built, with its derivative design, the Colt Detective Special, also having an equally rare 3" barrel variant. It is one of the two firearms available to the player in the beginning of the game. While easy to obtain with equally common ammunition, this "purse gun" (referred to as such by the game itself) is only somewhat useful against human NPCs and nigh-useless against vampires and other supernatural creatures due to its low damage, capacity, and reload speed. It is the weapon of choice of low-level thugs and cops in both the Santa Monica and Downtown hub levels, and is also the personal weapon of Therese Voerman (one of the main quest-giving characters in Santa Monica). She eventually threatens to use it in a hostage situation which the player can resolve in one of three ways. 
600px|thumb|none|World model of the Police Positive, showing the non-standard short barrel.
600px|thumb|none|Reloading the Colt Police Positive. As with the later "Colt Anaconda"'s reloading animations, the chambers are still full, there are no sockets for the bullets in the speedloader, the extraction rod is never operated, and the player character still swings it shut with the flick of a wrist.
=="Smython"==
An enormous step up from the Colt Police Positive, the "Colt Anaconda" also has a six round cylinder capacity but does much greater damage to both humans and supernatural opponents. Although it's referred to as a Colt Anaconda, it's clearly a some sort of Smython (note the cylinder release and grips). While a double-action revolver in real life, the Fledgling uses it in single-action mode only, pulling back the hammer after each shot, or "fanning" the hammer in alternate fire mode to produce a higher rate of fire in exchange for worse accuracy. Bizarrely, this weapon is first purchasable from a college-aged convenience store clerk in Hollywood who sells it (among other firearms and melee weapons) in a strange "special deal," because "new amps and lap dances don't buy themselves, you know". 
600px|thumb|none|The hybrid revolver's in-world model.
600px|thumb|none|Reloading the "Colt Anaconda" - as mentioned before, there are still visible cartridges in the cylinder. Notably, it has both the push-type cylinder release of an S&W and the pull-type release of a Colt, only creating further questions about what exactly the modeler was going for.
==Glock 19==
Referred to as the "Brokk 17C" (probably meant to refer to the ported Glock 17C variant, although the in-game model has no porting) in the game, this Glock pistol is primarily modeled after the Glock 19, and has the slide-mounted fire selector of the Glock 18. It is the first semi-automatic firearm the player can acquire in the game, is chambered for 9x19mm ammunition, has a magazine capacity of 18 rounds, and is the standard pistol of Sabbat vampires and Chinatown Tong gangsters. Romero the Ghoul (a firearms expert in the game) can be persuaded to teach the Fledgling about proper firearms technique and to "keep the Glock to the side crap in the movies," but unfortunately he says nothing about the perils of swinging, rather than gently pushing, a revolver cylinder shut, which the the Fledgling does anytime they reload a revolver. 
==Desert Eagle Mark VII==
The Desert Eagle Mark VII, appearing under the moniker of "McLusky .50 Caliber," is the strongest pistol in the game. It is available for purchase by the Fledgling after completing the Fu Syndicate quest, from Mercurio's armory or Tseng's Herbal Remedies, a black market weapons depot masquerading as a herbal medicine store. Nines Rodriguez, the leader of the Anarch faction, also carries one as his personal sidearm. Even though it's the .50 caliber model, its magazine in the game holds 12 shots(!) as opposed to the real-life version, which holds only seven rounds.
On a side note, the world model of the Desert Eagle turns into that of the Glock if used by a female vampire. According to the weapon's script, this is a leftover placeholder since the model for use by a female vampire was never made.
A notable oversight in the original game is that Desert Eagle ammo in the inventory/shops is identical to Glock 17 ammo visually. 
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600px|thumb|none|The Desert Eagle is easily the most detailed gun in the game, shown here by a reload showing an impressively detailed breech and chamber by 2004 standards.
=Submachine Guns=
==MAC-10==
The first fully-automatic firearm available to the Fledgling, the MAC-10 is referred to as the "Braddock 9mm" and has a magazine capacity of 30 rounds. It, like the Glock, is purchased from Fat Larry, a black marketeer and the owner of a "truck o' mack" in the Los Angeles Downtown hub level. It is rather weak, with low damage and excessive muzzle climb even at high firearm skills. The in-game model also lacks sights.
600px|thumb|none|The world model of the MAC-10. Note the missing sights and stock, and the lack of a trigger.
600px|thumb|none|No worries, the trigger is visible here.
==IMI Uzi==
A step up from the MAC-10, the Uzi appears in the game as the "Lassiter Killmatic," is chambered for 9x19mm, has a magazine capacity of 33 rounds, and is the full-sized variant. In the hands of a Fledgling with maxed-out firearm skills, it is among the best weapons in the game, dealing large amounts of damage-per-second with controllable recoil. It is first available from Tseng's "Herbal Remedies" store, and NPCs using it include Sabbat vampires and Tong gangsters in the Chinatown Glaze nightclub.
=Shotguns=
==Ithaca Model 37==
The Ithaca 37 appears as the "Utica M37" (Utica being another Upstate New York city, similar to how the Ithaca Gun Company is also named after a city in New York), is chambered for 12 gauge, has a six round tube magazine, and can be acquired early in the game. This shotgun is still surprisingly lethal against supernatural foes, such as vampires, who normally take half damage from firearms. This makes it a favorite among the vampires of the hostile NPC Sabbat faction, and is the personal weapon of boss character Bishop Vick. The Fledgling is apparently unacquainted with tube-magazine weapons, as they will load it very slowly, no matter the level of firearms skill they have acquired.
600px|thumb|none|The world model of the Ithaca 37. The developers have added on a Stevens Model 67/77 ejection port to the side of the shotgun, even though the Ithaca 37 feeds and ejects from the same opening at the bottom of the gun. The magazine end cap is also different from the one on the real Ithaca, resembling one from a Remington 870.
==Franchi SPAS-15==
The Franchi SPAS-15 appears in the game under the alias "Jaegerspas XV," and is a step up from the the Ithaca, as the detachable six-shell box magazine allows for much faster reloads. The SPAS-15 in this game can fire fully-automatically or pump-action, which grants better accuracy. The pump-action mode, however, was designed to be used with lower-pressure less-lethal ammunition like beanbag shells which do not have enough force to automatiacally cycle the action like a regular 12 gauge shell. The SPAS-15, like its predecessor, is also semi-automatic and not capable of fully-automatic fire. In third person, the SPAS-15 is reloaded the same way as the Ithaca 37.
600px|thumb|none|The world model of the SPAS-15. Note the longer than usual magazine, which only holds six rounds.
600px|thumb|none|Loading with a magazine actually loaded with shells. From the first person, the magazines look the right length.
=Rifles=
==Remington 700==
The Remington Model 700 is the second scoped weapon available to the Fledgling. This weapon (called the "Jaime Sue", the name of one of Troika's staff members) is given to the player by Romero the Ghoul in the Hollywood cemetery if the player agrees to watch the place and keep things from getting out for five minutes, while Romero buys a six-pack of beer (easier said than done, given that zombies start swarming towards the Cemetery's gates to break them down the instant Romero leaves). It is also available from other arms merchants later on, and is also the personal weapon of human Inquisitor Grunfeld Bach, who wields a unique version with a synthetic stock and a scope that was originally intended to be also used by the player (though mods have restored it as it was already nearly finished for use by the player and could be obtained via console commands in the original game and Mercurio had unused lines calling it a "SWAT Rifle"). It is depicted as semi-automatic, with the bolt only being touched during a reload. 
Although the weapon has a scope function, the rifle itself has no scope, just iron sights (this error is corrected in various mods and fan patches). It is one of the most powerful guns in the game, capable of killing humans with a single shot and vampires with a handful of shots. However, just like the Steyr AUG, a low firearms skill will cause lots of crosshair sway.
600px|thumb|none|Reloading the "700P", the only time the Fledging works the bolt. It is reloaded by removing an unfired cartridge (even if every round has been fired), and placing a single new cartridge into the breech, which of course, somehow loads four new rounds.
600px|thumb|none|The Fledgling likes to mess with the adjustment knobs on the scope every few seconds. This is a very annoying habit, and realistically would throw off the zero on the scope each time it's done.
==Steyr AUG A1==
The Steyr AUG A1 is the first scoped weapon available to the player, available after the player completes the Fu Syndicate quest from Mercurio's Armory or Tseng's Herbal Remedies and is the only assault rifle in the game. It is referred to as "Steyr AUG", the second gun to use its real-world name. If the player has a low firearms skill, aiming through the scope is quite difficult, as the view sways quite a bit. Full firearms skill, however, holds it perfectly still, thanks in part to the fact that vampires (including the player character) don't need to breathe. This weapon is occasionally used by Sabbat vampires, and by Prince LaCroix's personal SWAT team. 
Although chambered in 5.56mm NATO, the most damage it can do is 16 damage points per bullet, even with a headshot. This is odd, as the 9mm Uzi is capable of causing 28 damage with high firearm skill. For this reason, it is considered one of the worst firearms in the game by much of the fandom, requiring a high firearms skill to be marginally useful as well as huge amounts of ammunition to take down most foes. 
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600px|thumb|none|The AUG A1 mid-idle animation, where the Fledgling messes with the foregrip.
600px|thumb|none|Reloading with, as was common for the era, a visibly empty magazine.
=Other=
==Crossbow==
This weapon is mainly used by the temple guards in Ming Xiao's Golden Temple in Chinatown. Unlike guns, vampires take full damage from crossbow bolts. Some temple guards will ignite their bolts for extra damage against the player character as well.
While the flaming version is exclusive (though leftovers in the game files indicate the player was supposed to be able to obtain it) to the temple guards, the regular version is used by Vampire Hunters who appear in certain levels and if the player has multiple masquerade violations, vampire hunters armed with the crossbow can spawn in the hubs (with the single exception of the Downtown L.A hub).
==Flamethrower==
This weapon is recovered from the Society of Leopold level. It is extremely powerful, even more so against vampires and supernatural creatures, who take extra damage from flames and are often stunlocked by attacks. Its ammunition, however, is rare and expensive. 
=Unusable Weapons=
==Beretta 92FS==
The Beretta 92FS was a cut weapon from the game, intended to be used dual-wielded with animations existing for one of the bosses reloading dual pistols. While it was mostly cut aside from icons and that animation, a specific vampire hunter model has a Beretta in his chest holster and SWAT team members also have one in their holster.
Two Beretta handguns also appear in the icon for the weapons section of the inventory.
==Colt M1911A1==
The M1911A1 is not usable but appears tucked into the pants of the brown trenchcoat wearing vampire hunters.
==M1 Garand==
The M1 Garand appears on Call of Duty pinball machines using the cover art for Call of Duty (2003) that appear throughout the game.
==Mk 2 Hand Grenade==
The Mk 2 hand grenade is carried by Nines Rodriguez, who threatens to use it after a headshot from his .50 caliber Desert Eagle fails to dissuade some vampiric Sabbat thugs from attacking the player character, thanks to their damage reduction. Later he uses one to behead an attacking werewolf by stuffing it down the beast's throat, but the Fledgling will only learn this if they go for the game's Anarch ending. While not normally available for the player's use in the original game as it (and the entire category of throwing weapons) was cut (and no NPCs use it either), several fan patches do re-implement it back into the game for the player's use.
Category:Video Game
Category:Action 
Category:Fantasy