Well I already own Arcanum but Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption looks interesting. It got a so-so review from Gamespot:

http://www.gamespot.com/vampire-the-masquerade-redemption-2000/reviews/vampire-the-masquerade-redemption-review-2585434/

Normally I like and tend to agree with Greg Kasavin's reviews of games in the past but it does seem like he was a little tough on this one from what I could tell. It still looks interesting and I wonder if it wouldn't be a fun game to play despite some of its reported shortcomings.

Anyone here play the game and have some opinions to share? It's probably pretty hard to go wrong for just three bucks on sale isn't it?

The dealbreaker for me with this game was the lack of control over other characters in combat - their AI would just spam abilities as they saw fit. I really wanted to get sucked in, but couldn't because of that.
That was years ago, though, maybe it was fixed in unofficial patches or whatever. I hope so, because the atmosphere was pretty spiffy, as I recall.

I thought it was a pretty good game. It is at its heart a hack & slash game, with some balancing issues (a certain long distance blood drain discipline comes to mind...), and with a strange adherence to its source material. The story itself works well with the setting, but some enemies are just odd (like the ones you face in the chantry. I can't imagine there even being that many elders from that clan in the whole of Europe).

So fun but not outstanding. And well worth its current asking price, if you are looking for something a bit more action oriented.

Its a good game IMO. the AI is a bit on the wacky side but good none the less

Wait, people actually read reviews? Who cares about opinions, play it, if you like it it's good, if you don't it's not.

Were there any fanmade patches etc that improved the ai?

I don't read reviews for the opinions of reviewers. I read them for the arguments they make to back up whatever opinions they may have. In other words, I look for the objective info a good review contains within it and find that useful in making the call on a game which to me is otherwise, sight unseen.

People often criticize reviews as being nothing more than worthless opinion and I would agree in the case of poorly written reviews which make no case for opinions expressed. However, a quality review does offer useful information exclusive of opinion that helps one to make an informed choice about whether the game seems good to them or not.

No, nothing is objective, and everyone is biased. Reviews are and always will be a form of masquerading one's own opinion, if you ignore the pun.

The only way to find out if you like a game, is to play, in fact in the time someone uses to read the useless dribble of a self-important "reviewer", he could be playing the game and deciding on the opinion of the only person who matters - himself.

Well we'll just have to agree to disagree. I find them useful and have very rarely regretted any game purchase I have made as such. By all means you should ignore them if they don't help you. I haven't read that one myself. I was too lazy to figure out whatever I might need to in order to see it in English. I'll just wait for other feedback and also to notice if there is a positive trend in feedback overall. I'll especially be interested in what people here have to say about the game once it is available and they've been playing it.

But is it a placebo effect? Do you "like them" because, in effect, you have been given the approval of someone 'important' (the reviewer), to do so?

Drop it. I am not getting into a pissing contest with you over this. I've had enough of that kind of bullshit recently around here.

Let's stay on topic, shall we? Thank you.

Its a great game, get it.

Thanks. I think I am going to give it a try. It looks fun to me too.

The powers are awesome, you can bury yourself in the ground and hide for example. It's a really fun game.