OMG OMG - Vampire: The Masquerade is baaaack!

[HaemishM]

I'm doing a playthrough now with a Malkavian because my first and only playthrough before was with a Nosferatu. Quite a different experience being able to walk the streets and not skulk in the sewers, as well as the whacked out dialog trees.

[Rasix]

My advice is to simply keep the flamethrower around to score cheap damage on bosses. Helps with the Tzimisce and blob thingy as well. But yah, Tremere have the benefit of coming with their own artillery.

This is making me want to do another play through. Maybe in between getting tired of PoE and a new season. Another Malk? I don't think I've done a Malk run in years.

[Signe]

I have played Bloodlines several times. This is always what happens.

1. "I've forgotten what I'm doing and what the controls are. I'll just make a new character."
2. "Oh yeah, I remember chapter 1."
3. "Okay, I've finished chapter 1. The start of chapter 2 is a good place to take a break for a few days."
4. Two years later:  "Oh yeah, Bloodlines! That was fun, I meant to finish that...I've forgotten what I'm doing and what the controls are...."

I think I have five saves, each at least a year apart, at the beginning of chapter 2. And I like the game, I just can't seem to muster the energy to pick it back up once I hit a solid stop point.

I do this all the time.  It's become way worse since I started buying from Steam.  It makes me very annoyed with myself.

[Cyrrex]

Fired this up a little yesterday.  Answered questions and rolled a Nosferatu.  Decided I didn't want to play in hiding for a first go, so re-rolled into a Malkavian.

Bitch be crazy.

[Sky]

We basically gave you one advice dude.

[Cyrrex]

Hah, I know, but nobody went into depth as to WHY I should not play a Malk.  Besides, it was the answers that decided it for me, and who am I to argue and stuff.

[Samwise]

nobody went into depth as to WHY I should not play a Malk.

Mostly because a good amount of the unique Malk dialogue requires the context of a previous playthrough in order to appreciate the cleverness that went into it.  A lot of it foreshadows things that will happen later (so those references will either fly over your head or they'll spoil the plot), and there are some great comedy moments that arise from interactions that go exactly the same with every other character but are sent flying off the rails by the Malk.  If you go through those on your first playthrough I imagine they're more confusing than funny.  Which is fine too.

(edit) my favorite of those modified dialogues being the conversation with the cab driver where your entire side of the conversation is "AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

[Cyrrex]

Ok, thanks.  I might re-roll yet again, haven't made it super far.  Only really just made it past the haunted beach house place, which by the way was quick freaky.  This game would be killer in VR.

[Lucas]

Ok, thanks.  I might re-roll yet again, haven't made it super far.  Only really just made it past the haunted beach house place, which by the way was quick freaky.  This game would be killer in VR.

IMO, the haunted house bit is arguably one of the best "levels" in gaming of the last twenty years, no kidding. Overral it's shorter, but rivals even some of the best areas in Deus Ex. Great stuff.

[HaemishM]

It was a really good example of the way to tell story through gameplay rather than exposition.

[Samwise]

Looking back on it: does the haunted house quest count as an early example of a walking simulator?

[MournelitheCalix]

No love for VTM: Redemption 

Much love for it here, I would love to play another Christophe Romuald.  I loved everything about that game actually.   Kind of scared of this title though.  It has a lot to live up to and this sort of feels like it came out of nowhere.

[Cyrrex]

Finally did re-roll.  Picked a Toreador because reasons.  Put points in things like Perception, Charisma and Appearance, with a whole lot going into Brawling.  Now that I am comfortable with the mechanics, it took no time at all to get back to where I was and beyond.  I was going along thinking “this is okay, albeit a bit old and janky”, but that changed a bit when I realized Therese had set me up at the diner, and then the cops were on me.  And then imagine my surprise when I went back to save Jeanette, only to discover......yeah, this game is better than I thought initially.  Finished things up and made it down town to meet the Prince, etc., etc.  I already have Brawling up to 4 out of 5, which means I can punch shit into next year.  Does note exactly make it easy mode, because I still have to close the distance.  So working on getting my stealth up as well.

So yeah, really like this game.  Not even entirely sure why. 

[Sir T]

I know this is probably going to be a semi spoiler by even asking the question, but who fucking opened it first time through despite being told a million times not to?

*raises hand*

[Samwise]

I'm pretty sure I got the Anarch ending the first time through.  I forget if the cutscene for that ending actually shows what happens off-screen or if I found out on my second playthrough.   

[hal1]

I gotta say the haunted house is the best gaming experience yet. Funcom has tried to do this so many times but this is so much better. It is genius. I know you have got to be a fan to go this far but it is really really good guys. It is the best gaming experience yet as old as it is. Try it and then tell me i am wrong.  And theirs no combat and you can't do it wrong the game will just wait until you do it right and than advance to the next step. You find yourself in the sewers looking for the entrance you got a real fun hour and a half in store for you.

[Cyrrex]

It took me like two minutes to find the entrance to the sewer.  The whole sewer sequence was far less painful than what was being built up here.

[Goumindong]

It took me like two minutes to find the entrance to the sewer.  The whole sewer sequence was far less painful than what was being built up here.

Did you obfuscate past everything?

[Cyrrex]

No, I punched bitches in the mouth.  I probably ran past a couple of those powerful monstrosity things, mainly just to save time and ammo, but I still killed most of them. Everything else was fairly easy.  I had a lot of points in strength and brawl at this point, so maybe that was why I thought it was easy.

[Goumindong]

Brawl and strength is the strongest combo for dealing with them. Many people get there on guns or spells and just... don't have a good time

[Cyrrex]

Come to think of it, I used ranged skills to take out the monstrosities.  I had it fairly well leveled up, but since I never use it I had shitloads of ammo.  Slow down time and unload on them, no big deal.  Melee for everything else.

[Tebonas]

I'm not so sure anymore they know what they are doing.

They removed Presence as a clan discipline for Brujah. There goes every Brujah I ever played in Pen and Paper. 

[Samwise]

The sewers aren't hard, just repetitive and boring.  The first time through isn't bad, and it's kinda fun to pick up the little bit of backstory about how you're going to older and older areas that have been sealed off over the decades, but if you do a bunch of replays it's the one part of the game that there's absolutely no joy in revisiting.

[Goumindong]

I'm not so sure anymore they know what they are doing.

They removed Presence as a clan discipline for Brujah. There goes every Brujah I ever played in Pen and Paper. 

Nah. It preserves different feel between the chosen vamps. It feels wrong for pnp but i think it works better in a game

[Tebonas]

Removing options seldom makes for a more rounded experience, though. Its the definition of dumbing down. Different feel is creating by adding something (like the Malkavian-only dialog options). If this is needed to distinguish the classes, I dread those things are lacking.

[Goumindong]

Removing options seldom makes for a more rounded experience, though. Its the definition of dumbing down. Different feel is creating by adding something (like the Malkavian-only dialog options). If this is needed to distinguish the classes, I dread those things are lacking.

I mean... no it doesn't make for a "well rounded experience" but well rounded experiences are dumb and bad design. You get a well rounded experience by treating each class the same and give them all the same abilities. Its a fucking ideal sphere then. If there was crazy dialogue for everyone then malkavian-only dialogue wouldn't feel as special. Indeed it wouldn't be Malkavian-only...

Presence is a canonical ability for Brujah sure. But its also a canonical ability for Toreador, Set, and Ventrue. If only one of them gets it then those are more differentiated playstyles. It forces you to make a decision which you might not have otherwise made and then forces you to play those two options differently. It prevents convergent/degenerate gameplay from spreading (or even existing in a sense depending on the amount of choice overlap)

[Tebonas]

This is a problem already solved in the PnP. Disciplines aren't what makes these clans unique. Brujah are prone to frenzy and are easily agitated, that can play out in dalog quite well (up to forced dialog exits and fights if you get the wrong answer that triggers you). Toreador and their fascination for beauty as well. Ventrue feeding restrictions need tougher balancing, but better than removing either Presence or Domination from them (I guess Fortitude is a given since they share it only with the Gangrel and the Ravnos which are possibly all dead at that point in the timeline).

Ultimately the quality of the game doesn't depend on this, but lazy solutions make me wary they might be equally lazy in other regards.

[Goumindong]

But, and i am not sure if you noticed this, but video games arent pen and paper. And so solving it in pen and paper, where differention is a relative construction compared to the rest of the table, does not solve it for a video game.

[Tebonas]

My point is that they are solving it worse than in Bloodlines 1.

[Samwise]

It feels wrong for pnp but i think it works better in a game

I'm going to propose that people who either:

a) don't consider pnp to be a game
b) didn't play the original Bloodlines

can't possibly have an informed opinion on the merits of Bloodlines as a pnp adaptation.   

[Goumindong]

It feels wrong for pnp but i think it works better in a game

I'm going to propose that people who either:

a) don't consider pnp to be a game
b) didn't play the original Bloodlines

can't possibly have an informed opinion on the merits of Bloodlines as a pnp adaptation.   

video game.

Also... did you play Bloodlines? The only thing it keeps from pnp is the setting and dots. (A slight exaggeration but not much of one)

[Samwise]

They kept Brujah having Presence.  Check and mate, sir.

[Goumindong]

They kept Brujah having Presence.  Check and mate, sir.

So?

[eldaec]

This thing was almost cancelled but all go with the new mystery developers apparently...

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-10-14-paradox-says-it-almost-cancelled-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-earlier-this-year

[Samprimary]

This thing was almost cancelled but all go with the new mystery developers apparently...

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-10-14-paradox-says-it-almost-cancelled-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-earlier-this-year

Indeed, This Bodes Well™