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March 28, 2024, 01:45:39 PM

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Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines sequel or remake

Started by Mister Six, March 19, 2019, 10:56:46 PM

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Norton Canes


Norton Canes



Norton Canes

Looks like I'd better not rush playing the original.

Did the Ocean House Hotel quest last night. When that bulb pops in the porch lantern! Nearly shat meself!

Norton Canes


Chairman Yang

I love that about Bloodlines. You're the scariest thing that most mortals in the game will encounter so all the horror in the game is tuned to 'things a vampire would find spooky'... hence those fucking ghosts.

Mister Six

The bit in that quest where
Spoiler alert
the little girl runs past in the basement
[close]
shit me right up. And
Spoiler alert
seeing the killer's legs through some pipes as he walks past
[close]
, although that was the point I remembered I was a vampire and decided I'd just rip his head off if I could.

There's a thought - is there an in-universe explanation for why the vamps aren't all haunted by the thousands of people they've murdered?

Norton Canes

Finally unlocked Downtown. Like the impressively vertiginous skyscrapers. And I've found an advantage to being a Ventrue! Tried the Russian mafia boss assassination job in the hotel a few times, wiped out by his goons each time, then realised if I followed the right conversation path I could for the cost of one blood point Dominate him and get him to call off his debts. And since I'd topped up my blood pool by feeding on the guy guarding his door, I didn't even miss the blood. I mean I probably missed out on grabbing the Uzis and ammo I could have had if I'd felled all his guards but frankly, who needs the hassle. Ventrue rule. Literally.

Norton Canes

Wow, That Grout Mansion job is properly gruelling. It just keeps going on. Felt so drained by the end of it that I went straight round to Lacroix and told him where to stick his tasks. I like this level of emotional involvement.

Plus it's properly creepy having a ghoul in my apartment who'll do anything I want.

St_Eddie


Norton Canes

Oh, for sure.

My daughter bought it for me as she played through it a few months ago (she loves 'retro games') and knows I'm into VTM. She watches me play, laughing as my clumsy adult hands fail to accomplish even the most basic combat moves. She's desperate for me to cast off the shackles of the Camarilla and throw myself in with the Anarchs. While I just want to work for Lacroix, as long as he keeps giving me nice apartments.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Norton Canes on March 19, 2021, 09:41:37 AM
Oh, for sure.

My daughter bought it for me as she played through it a few months ago (she loves 'retro games') and knows I'm into VTM. She watches me play, laughing as my clumsy adult hands fail to accomplish even the most basic combat moves. She's desperate for me to cast off the shackles of the Camarilla and throw myself in with the Anarchs. While I just want to work for Lacroix, as long as he keeps giving me nice apartments.

Oh.  I was only making a joke about how you're supposed to be the one draining people as a vampire.

Norton Canes


Norton Canes

That's a bit disappointing. Went over to see Nines, the Anarch leader, aiming to get some missions from him instead but he's fled the scene, so there's no alternative (bar a few side missions) but to go back to Lacroix. I guess the plot is pretty linear, then. I was hoping I could pick a team and see the story develop differently.

Norton Canes

Things literally turned to shit very quickly in the interminable sewers levels on a search for the Nosferatu warrens. Got stuck in the 'Pump Room', a section described in the wiki as 'the most notorious part of the game' due to a badly thought out puzzle making escape near impossible. So I decided some judicious noclipping was in order. Then it was on to endless passageways full of Tzimisce monsters that looked like rejects from Half Life.

The Nosferatu warrens themselves, when I finally got there were actually pretty nicely done, I thought, with good use of detritus from the surface. Smiled when I realised that after all the hassle getting there, they have a secret entrance that emerges in the Hollywood cemetery chapel (though I presume that's locked until you're traversed the sewers).

Anyway I've hit Chinatown now so the end can't be too far away. Does it not stick the denouement? I guess we'll see. Personally I won't be happy unless the final scene is the player character walking away to the strains of "All I wanna do, is have some fun/Until the sun comes up/Over Santa Monica boulevard".

Norton Canes

One thing I do really like about this is that the whole thing is set at night. I'm assuming that near the end there'll be some kind of race against dawn but generally it's great not to have to constantly interrupt everything you're doing and retreat to safety because sunrise is imminent. The perma-darkness really keeps the right mood.

Mister Six

The sewers were the low point for me. IIRC Chinatown was good fun and the ending(s) were fine, if kind of low key.[nb]And provided you accept the ongoing theme of being just a small figure in a much bigger world controlled by powers outside your ken. [/nb]

St_Eddie


Mr Trumpet

I remember a really difficult boss fight in Chinatown. Had to cheat to get past it - of course the second run through I had the flamethrower which made all such battles ludicrously easy.

Norton Canes

Must be approaching the endgame now, the boss battles are stacking up. Shame, it's the quirky little side quests that really make the game.

Some of the rough edges due to money/development time running out are starting to show now. The resolution of the Giovanni Stronghold mission is hilarious. Break into their heavily guarded mansion, descending first into the cellars, then into the zombie-infested catacombs, then finally into an inner sanctum containing the Ankaran Sarcophagus. Defeating its protectors the lightning-deadly Chang brothers seems impossible (actually it's not, just remain in the entrance way so they can only attack singly); but how, once they're despatched, to convey the sacred crate away from its deep and well-secured lair? Oh, don't worry - cue a five-second cut scene showing you magically back outside the mansion stashing it into the back of a van and driving off. Of course!

Norton Canes

And the less said about the 'stealth' algorithms the better.

How in Hades am I going to sneak through this room that's filled with Black Ops soldiers? I know, I'll simply walk right through the middle of them but in 'stealth' mode, taking no other covert or evasive manoeuvres whatsoever.

Me "Sorry, you seem to have something on your face. Here, let me stand right in front of you and wipe it off."
Black Ops grunt: "DID SOMEONE MOVE?"



Anyway, all over now. Godmoded the Ming Xiao giant tentacle slug thing (absolutely love that she transforms into this inhuman abomination but keeps her breasts and magics up little nipple covers) and the Sheriff battle. Had allied myself with the Tremere primogen so got the ending where the Ankaran Sarcophagus (thank fuck I will never have to read those two words again) is sent Raiders of the Lost Ark-style to a huge warehouse - except not in a crate, which I can't help think was something of an oversight.

Shame, I'd have preferred the ending where LaCroix opens the thing up only to find Jack the Anarch has stuffed in with a huge amount of high explosive. 

Mister Six

Quote from: Norton Canes on April 06, 2021, 10:03:16 AM
And the less said about the 'stealth' algorithms the better.

How in Hades am I going to sneak through this room that's filled with Black Ops soldiers? I know, I'll simply walk right through the middle of them but in 'stealth' mode, taking no other covert or evasive manoeuvres whatsoever.

Ha, that happened to me too, in the climactic raid on the tower. All these spec ops lads come rappelling in then just stand around looking confused. Made me laugh.

I got the explosive ending, which was quite satisfying. Especially when you discover that the game code reveals the taxi driver was the original vampire all along. Didn't know about the Raiders one. I'll aim for that next time I play - I wanted a crack at playing Tremere so I could stay in their shitty LA Hogwarts anyway.