Vampire: Bloodlines Weekly Update #12

Activision's Shane DeFreest has sent us another weekly update for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines via email. This time, Troika's Leonard Boyarsky addresses questions from fans who were able to see the game at E3. Straight from my inbox:
Q: How much are clan weaknesses (Torrie fasciniation, Brujah fury, Ventrue tastes) going to come into play? We see the Malkavian dialogue and the Nosferatu visages. But how will the other less obvious disadvantages be implemented?

A: We've tried to incorporate the clan weaknesses into the gameplay without making them to obtrusive to the player, but enough to change your game experience. For instance, the Brujah has a greater chance to frenzy than other clans, the Ventrue only get half blood from feeding on non- Blue Bloods (and may even throw up) and can't feed on rats, and the Malkavian and Nosferatu are fairly obvious as you've pointed out. We're still trying out some different ideas for some of the more obscure ones which we can fill you in on later.

Q: During the E3 demo it appeared that Troika chose to using a "bar" for health and disciplines vs. the typical 7 levels of health and 5 dots for powers. What prompted this change and will each discipline still have 5 individual levels?

A: Each discipline still has 5 levels, we've just changed the look of the interface. Your blood vial is still broken into sections (represented by ticks) to indicate how much you have left inyour blood pool. We've been forced to move away from the 7 levels of health because we've found that in real time combat situations you get hit alot more than in turn based. For example, let's say I've decided to take cover behind some crates to avoid some enemies firing at me. In real time, I decide to take cover, take some hits, run towards cover, take some more hits, finally make it to cover. In turn based I say "I'm taking cover behind these crates" and you do. If we had stayed with the 7 levels we would have had to subdivide it multiple times anyway, so that NPCs weren't dealing out a minimum of one level of damage every time they hit you.