Quote Originally Posted by sapi
I felt that there was too much pressure on you to complete the side quests before the main...
That's strange - I never noticed that tension. In fact, on reflection, I really like the way Bloodlines handles the mix of the main quest and the side quests. Generally, you clear a location of all side quests, before the main quest takes you off to the next location. By contrast, I found juggling the main quest and side quest one of the biggest game flaws of Morrowind/Oblivion and even BG2 - according to the story, you should be saving the world; but then you'd miss out on all the cool sidequests. In Bloodlines, the main story is more of a slow burner, so you don't feel the same pressure (it's not like BG2 "rescue your sister from torture!" or Oblivion "close the gates of hell!" and you are, like, "Yeah, man, sure - just left me do this fedex job first ... and beat up this Martin dude for a while." )

(and indeed i have now given up on the game, as i'm stuck at the Society of Leopard with no way through).
Is that the place full of vampire hunters? What's the problem? Maybe we can help? To be honest, the game gets worse with every new location you move to - too much repetitive combat, too little of the creative non-combat experiences - but it is falling from a great height. It would be a shame not to finish it, if only to be around to see Jack come out of his box.