f13.net forums - VtM: Hiro McMalky

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April 24, 2024, 09:58:07 PM

we're back, baby

Spoilers ahoy. Obviously.

Hiro's story begins in a cheap motel room, where he gets bitten on the neck by a seductive stranger and wakes up as one of the undead. Before he has a chance to say "what the fuck," he's watching his "sire" get beheaded for the crime of reproducing without a license.

Shortly thereafter, he's turned out onto the street to run some errands. Luckily, Smiling Jack is around to dispense a tutorial and helpful insights.

Playing as a Malk means I get extra-fun dialogue options and the power to make people go crazy. Woohoo!

This guy was not sufficiently impressed with my crazy to give me money. Boo.

My first big errand is to meet up with this guy Mercurio, who has some explosives that I can play with. Or at least he's supposed to. The guys he tried to buy the explosives from double-crossed him and ruptured some of his organs. In between coughing up his spleen and whining about the fact that he's coughing up his spleen, he puts me in charge of retrieving the lost explodey stuff, oh and if I could find some morphine while I'm out running around that would be AWESOME.

There's a clinic just across the street, so I go in looking for the drugs. Luckily I am both persuasive AND crazy and easily get past reception.

Instead of drugs, I find someone else in need of medical attention, who I get the feeling I should try to help.

I go find a doctor, but he is not cooperative.

Hell with him. There can't be anything wrong with this girl that a little blood of the damned can't fix!

With mystery girl on the mend, I beat it, but not before breaking into that useless doctor's office, stealing some drugs from his desk, reading his incriminating emails, and blackmailing him with them. Ha!

I'm feeling a bit drained and in need of a drink. Luckily, the universe seems to have read my mind.

Sounds like my kind of club! And the owner is my kind of crazy. Yowza!

She won't slake my thirst, though, so I go chat up a drunk college girl, and discreetly relieve her of a pint or two.

Success! Now we dance.

Enough of that. I want to get some cash in my pocket before I go deal with the double-crossers, so I go wander around the neighborhood knocking on doors. Luckily I find this shmuck, who has work for me.

His best bounty hunter has gone missing, and he wants help finding him. Luckily I am a finding-things MACHINE. When I break into his apartment, things pop right out of me. This is one of the perks of being a Malk -- you don't miss any important details. Like that watch on the floor that I can probably pawn for ten bucks, and that money clip on the table. Yoink!

Oh, and the tape recorder with a conveniently recorded message pointing me at where he's gone. The tattoo shop.

Nobody home in the tattoo shop, but CONVENIENTLY the phone on the wall starts to ring before I get bored enough to injure myself. It's some goober who is also looking for the guy I am looking for. We have so much in common! I make a date with him.

There's something a little unusual about his photograph-studio-slash-prosthetic-factory, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Or any other appendage.

Where did he go, anyway? Oh, there he is, waving his arm at me. Which he is holding in his hand.

Once I've introduced him to my Louisville Slugger, I set free the bounty hunter that he was keeping in his basement, and take my leave. But not without snagging a priceless souvenir, of course.

Now that I'm armed and dangerous (HO HO HO) I go to check out the beachhouse that the explodey-hoarders are hanging out in. Along the way I catch a peek at the work of this "carnival killer" that's been in all the papers...

And then up to the beachhouse to smack some heads around.

Okay, maybe first I'll try talking some nonsense into them. I stash the arm into my back pocket and play diplomat.

The gatekeeper steps aside before I can even show him my "key". Oh well. The obvious thing to do at this point is walk into the house and get the stuff, but I am not an obvious sort of vampire, so instead I sneak around to the back and find a circuit breaker. Hee hee hee!

HO HO HO HOO HOO HOO HA HA

CRUNCH SNAP

Nobody else comes out to try to turn the lights back on, so I keep sneaking around. This guy looks like he's in charge. He also doesn't see me, because I am sneaky. So I stroll past his window and pick the lock on the back door.

This is why when something distracting happens outside a window, you should maybe look around you once in a while in between staring out the window trying to figure out what it was.

The boss fight is short and sweet.

It takes me a while to drain him, which means he probably would have put up a pretty good fight if I hadn't ambushed his jugular from behind. Instead he just does an excellent job of replenishing the blood I used on mind tricks and stealthiness. With him out of the way, I sneak around the house, find the spot where he kept his money, and then find the splodey stuff I came for.

Score! Back to Mercurio to deliver the goods. But first, I stop and chat with this fortune teller on the beach.

Protip: cryptic nonsense always makes sense later. I make a mental note to come back and hear more when I have silver to cross her palm with.

End chapter 1.

I got the urge to play this again after reading this. Man i'd forgotten how fucking scary that haunted house was, jesus.

Yeah, ditto, I gotta do one of these once midterms are over.

I always wanted to play through as a Malkavian, but I can't stand the way they look (the hell is with that hair?).

What are your stats like? This is a stealth character, I take it?

Yeah. I thought I was taking screenshots of my character sheet at key points, but it looks like the screenshot key only works when you're actually in-game.

The general character concept I'm going for is "psycho ninja vampire", so I'm leaning toward melee/stealth with a smattering of social abilities and dementation. IIRC I've currently got two points each in firearms, stealth, melee, computers, scholarship, security, and Dementation. Need to remember to put some into Obfuscate before the warehouse so I can stealth through that bit.

Also, it's amazing how many skills you can rack up early on if you remember what skill books you're going to be getting and set yourself up to get the maximum benefits from them.

I'll play some more tonight. Unfortunately I don't think the awesomeness that is the hotel (which I think is my next quest) is going to come across without the creepy sounds.

Just record them and we'll listen to them as we read the post.

Got a screenshot of my stats before beginning tonight's adventurings:

A pretty good smattering of skills across the board, with a slight emphasis on breaking and entering.

My first task of the night before I get back to my main mission (since I am easily distractable) will be trying to track down an Australian surfer vampire's girlfriend by following a trail of breadcrumbs across Santa Monica. My first clue is that she used to hang out at the local rat-infested diner. Going there and chatting up the owner gets me some car keys and a bail bond receipt:

Luckily I just happen to know a chubby bail bondsman, so I "borrow" his crime-puter and find out that Ralf drives a car with license plate GUYCONI. This saves me the trouble of trying the keys in every car in the lot, and soon I find my next breadcrumb:

blah blah blah I met this nice German guy blah blah blah oh no he bit me and I'm a vampire blah blah I met this nice Australian guy blah blah blah oh no I bit him and now he's a vampire blah blah BLOOD BANK. Check. To the blood bank!

Looks like the flower child came to make a withdrawal and ended up as a high-yield savings account. I turn her loose, and she promptly drains a blood bank employee to replenish her empty veins. Oops. The manager is not happy.

I convince him to see things my way.

Victory!

Back on the beach, the lovers are reunited, and I get the gypsy to tell my fortune.

Pay attention, there will be a quiz later.

Okay, on to my next job, which is to talk to the owners of the club and get them to call of a feud they're having with the guy I need to help me blow stuff up. Jeanette, the naughty schoolgirl I talked to earlier, has locked herself in the bathroom, so I get to talk with her much more uptight twin sister, Therese.

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

Okay, maybe this place is a little creepy.

SWEET MERCIFUL CHRIST WHERE DID YOU COME FROM AND WHY ARE YOU NOT THERE ANY MORE WHEN I TURN THE CORNER?

Hey look, a newspaper clipping...

DID THAT DRYER JUST OPEN BY ITSELF HOLY FUCK

THIS SHIT IS FUCKED UP YO

AAAH AAAAH ARGH FUCK OW

So after getting the crap beat out of me by every inanimate object in the place and being scared half to death by weird shit whispering in my ear, suddenly appearing behind me, and screaming bloody murder, I receive a vision of the hotel as it once was...

and as soon as I take the souvenir I came for, return the the hotel as it is now. And I get the fuck out of there.

Back at the Asylum, I want to give the souvenir to Therese, so naturally she's nowhere to be found and I get to deal with Jeanette. She won't tell me where Therese is until I go wreck an art show by slashing up some paintings.

Okay, fine.

The rent-a-cop guarding the gallery is no match for a few mean words...

and while he's blubbering, I pocket his keys.

Inside the gallery, we get a quick lesson in World of Darkness lore, as I have to slash up the paintings in chronological order or get zapped by some mystical force that for some reason doesn't get me to rethink the whole caper:

Once the last painting is slashed, bad things happen:

but I live and make it back with my unlife.

Of course, it turns out that the show was Therese's, and she's pretty pissed off that I ruined it. To make it up to her, she asks me to go to the diner to find Jeanette.

Instead of Jeanette, there's a gang of humans looking to beat me up. I take the opportunity to play with my newly leveled-up Obfuscate ability and practice suddenly appearing behind people from nowhere and slitting their throats.

The twins are finally done playing games with me, and I get to meet with both of them and help them mediate their disputes, both with each other and with the guy who's going to help me blow shit up for Mercurio. Peace is made, somehow. Hooray!

Next stop: boom!

This game reminds me of the Tex Murphy series.

Great shot of the lady running through the basement. It happens so fast I'm surprised you caught it.

I was prepared for that one. I tried to get the axe murderer (if you go investigate the very left hand hallway on the first floor, he appears for a split second as you turn around), but was too slow to the F10 key. Also tried to get a shot of the lady pointing the way to the upstairs rooms, but she flickers as you get closer and I wasn't able to get her.

Damn.

I wonder where my installation folder went for this game. I never actually finished it and I miss my Malki.

Edit: Microblogging has fucked my grammar.

Quote from: Kail on February 05, 2009, 04:48:51 PM

I always wanted to play through as a Malkavian, but I can't stand the way they look (the hell is with that hair?).

Female Malkavians are tolerable.

I agree, though. Some clans I just don't want to play for the superficial reason of them looking like ass.

Yeah Female Malks get some interesting outfits. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v610/OuterParadise/allout1.jpg

I always loved the furry-suit-with-giant-hat male Malkavian.

i would love to play a Malkavian but after a while i just can't stand not knowing wtf im actually saying to npcs.

It's good for a second playthrough.

Question!

How do you travel around the game world. The locations seem pretty cool but I don't get the feeling it's open world.

There are four "hub" areas (neighborhoods) you progress through, each of which is about a few city blocks in size. I'm still on the first neighborhood in my game, which is Santa Monica. It's got about a dozen buildings, some of which are fairly small and just used for one quest and some of which are fairly large and used for several different quests. You can almost always travel whereever you want in the world, although practically speaking once you move from one neighborhood to another most (not all) of your quests will take place exclusively in that neighborhood. Later in the game there are quests that take place away from the areas you can walk to; you tend to get to those by cab (i.e. you go up to a taxi, pick the dialogue option to launch that quest, loading screen, and there you are).

RPS has a really nice write up that explores why Bloodlines is so rad.

If I could skip past the haunted house, I would replay VtM in a heartbeat. I just really, really hate that damn haunted house.

Just turn on noclip. That's how I got through the sewers on my 6th play through.

I'm actually not sure how well noclip would work in the hotel, since it's got a fairly complex sequence of triggering events built into a fairly small area (unlike the sewers where all you have to do is get to the end of a big long maze of tunnels and you're done). If it freaks you out, just turn off the sound, which is where 90% of its creepy factor comes from. Remember to turn on godmode so you don't get killed by a stealthy flying lamp.

You can also just put these codes in the console to give yourself the pendant and complete it:

give item_g_ghost_pendant
oceanhouseQuestComplete()

Quote from: Zar on February 18, 2009, 10:23:54 AM

You can also just put these codes in the console to give yourself the pendant and complete it:

give item_g_ghost_pendant
oceanhouseQuestComplete()

It might be scary as fuck but its still one of the best parts of the damn game, just do it!

Quote from: Threash on February 19, 2009, 03:47:08 AM

It might be scary as fuck but its still one of the best parts of the damn game, just do it!

I've done it five or six times. My playthroughs of VtM are only slightly less cursed than my Final Fantasy Tactics playthroughs. There are only so many times I can do Dorter Trade City (or the hotel) before wanting to gnaw my leg off.

Back in the day when I tried to play this I got to the sewers and gave up. Up to that point the game was pretty decent, but those tunnels were so freaking boring. Fight the stupid insect thingies over and over again. I'm playing a freaking vampire and have to fight some stupid bugs in the sewers. Meh.

Quote from: nurtsi on February 20, 2009, 03:04:17 AM

Yeah, no joke. My first playthrough I was trying for this hardcore social/financial type Ventrue, and the sewers frustrated the hell out of me. I'm this expert scholar, and the Prince has me wading through the sewers in my business suit womping zombies with a tire iron. Ugh.

But, on the up side, reading this thread finally prompted me to try to play through the game again, and I actually finished it, this time. Phew!