So, gamefly has VtM: Bloodlines on sale - why haven't you played it yet?

Technocrat

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Ultima II is old-school. Vampire is not, and it's brilliant. Yeah yeah, graphics, but it's very, very deep. I finished it five years ago as Ventrue, now I need to choose someone else...
 

IamLEAM1983

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Aug 22, 2011
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DoPo said:
Ah yes, Kindred - truly the ideal we must aspire to. Who doesn't like being constantly backstabbed by centuries old immortal monsters. :D
I figure fledglings and neonates with very low self-esteem would jump for joy at the slightest odds of getting into a Primogen or Prince's good graces. If you've got more of a backbone or roleplay someone with a bit more of a backbone - yeah, that gets annoying pretty quickly.

I know I used to try to play Bloodlines in a consistently dickish way. I'd generally be nice, but I'd make it clear I was following orders because I had no other options. Considering how much of a weakling you are when you start out, you're better off doing as you're told.

Although, I remember back in the active GameFAQs days, there was a thread where someone asked about the generation of the player character. Considering how powerful you *do* get near the end-game, your guy just can't be one of the borderline thin-bloods that make up most of the modern days. He's 13th Generation, max - maybe a little further up the tree, too.

Plus, I know the game's time scale is off, but you grow in power pretty quickly, too. Strauss does leave you a note saying he senses much power in you, after all.
 

DoPo

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Jan 30, 2012
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IamLEAM1983 said:
Although, I remember back in the active GameFAQs days, there was a thread where someone asked about the generation of the player character. Considering how powerful you *do* get near the end-game, your guy just can't be one of the borderline thin-bloods that make up most of the modern days. He's 13th Generation, max - maybe a little further up the tree, too.
Considering the PC has a blood pool of 15, that would make them 8th generation, which is pretty nice.

IamLEAM1983 said:
Plus, I know the game's time scale is off, but you grow in power pretty quickly, too. Strauss does leave you a note saying he senses much power in you, after all.
Yes, there are, overall, two satisfying explanations - one, it's just a video game thing - they didn't want the thing to drag on, so the rewards were boosted. Still, you have to keep in mind, that a lot is happening over the course of the game - it's certainly way more busy than the usual nights for Kindred. Or alternative explanation, which makes a hell of more sense lore-wise - Gehenna started, and that's the result of the Withering. If you missed the events around Gehenna (you did say it has been a while since you opened the books, I don't know how long that is), the Withering makes all vampires weaker, working from the top to bottom. However, at the same time, some vampires, especially yonger ones, get loads more power for short amounts of time - say, sometimes a week, other times about a month or two. Which ties in perfectly with the game - it justifies the PC from gaining so much experience in relatively short amount of time, and then there is LaCroix's failed Dominate, which can be taken as another sign of the Withering.
 

IamLEAM1983

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Aug 22, 2011
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DoPo said:
Yeah, that does make sense. I haven't touched a rulebook in over a decade, so yeah, the Withering did jog one or two lazy synapses in the old noodle. In practice, this would mean the PC is more or less fucked if he goes independent, as one of the endings suggest. If this huge boost is largely temporary, the Anarchs, Sabbat or Camarilla will all want to more or less chime in rather forcefully about how they feel concerning his or her abandonment of EA to the Final Nights...

Once that power wanes, I don't put much worth on his head.
 

DoPo

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Jan 30, 2012
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IamLEAM1983 said:
DoPo said:
Yeah, that does make sense. I haven't touched a rulebook in over a decade, so yeah, the Withering did jog one or two lazy synapses in the old noodle. In practice, this would mean the PC is more or less fucked if he goes independent, as one of the endings suggest. If this huge boost is largely temporary, the Anarchs, Sabbat or Camarilla will all want to more or less chime in rather forcefully about how they feel concerning his or her abandonment of EA to the Final Nights...

Once that power wanes, I don't put much worth on his head.
Well, at this point, most Kindred would be busy being fucked up. But yeah, still being alone is undesirable. Ironically, the Thin Bloods have the greatest chance of survival and most of them are alone, or banded in small groups, at least.

But if Gehenna (the novel) is to be believed, the full thing doesn't hit for some time. I haven't read it for a while, but it starts off some time after the events of Bloodlines, and if I recall correctly, it finishes about a year or so afterwards. The Bloodlines PC would probably have long lost their power. Or has just been offed by somebody - they aren't mentioned (after all - multiple endings and so on) but the events from the game are (vaguely, but still), so, they would be considered cannon.
 

PrinceOfShapeir

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My interpretation of LaCroix being unable to dominate you is that you've got a crapton of Willpower by that point and he's basically been cracking up.
 

DoPo

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Jan 30, 2012
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PrinceOfShapeir said:
My interpretation of LaCroix being unable to dominate you is that you've got a crapton of Willpower by that point and he's basically been cracking up.
Well, yes, it could be that. Also, don't forget that mere minutes ago, he was possessing a ghoul and you killed him - the backlash from that is rather bad, it could certainly make him shaken. Not to mention that you destroyed the Sheriff single-handedly (well mostly) which could make him crap his pants on his own.

Alternatively, the PC could have Iron Will, and just spends Willpower to ignore the mental commands. Makes some sense that, even if they had it beforehand, they were really motivated to disobey at that point.

There are tons of explanations for it. Some sensible, some less so, like the theory that the PC diablerised Andrei and/or the Sheriff, somehow without ever showing any inclination for that and then erasing the moment from their minds, I suppose. I'm not sure how this would even work, but I find it stupid.
 

PrinceOfShapeir

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Yeah, I've heard the Diablerie theory before, for either Andrei or the Chang Brothers, also that the PC is actually Caine's childe, but they seem pretty farfetched.
 

Fr]anc[is

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While everyone is here, how do you unlock the gargoyle quest? I got it once and never figured out how to get it again. Strauss just wont talk about it
 

archvile93

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Because I heard it somehow managed to be more broken than a Bethesda game. Did they ever fix that? I heard some of the developers were going to attempt to fix it after they went under, but I don't recall how that turned out.
 

DoPo

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Jan 30, 2012
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Fr said:
anc[is]While everyone is here, how do you unlock the gargoyle quest? I got it once and never figured out how to get it again. Strauss just wont talk about it
Just talk to Isaac again after you fetch him the tape (I can't remember if it was the first or the second time) - you'll get the option to ask him about more work. He'll tell you about the gargoyle and you can then visit Strauss, if you wish.

archvile93 said:
Because I heard it somehow managed to be more broken than a Bethesda game. Did they ever fix that? I heard some of the developers were going to attempt to fix it after they went under, but I don't recall how that turned out.
Well the 1.1 patch was released almost at the same time as the game, and some time afterwards, 1.2 went out ant that's it. Troika were pretty much in their death throes at that point, so that was the end of the official patches. And I believe all DD versions sold now ship with 1.2 (or at least the Steam one does). It fixes some things but not enough. At least you can play it vanilla, if you wish, you just have to be careful.

But you can always install one of the fan made patches about the game. There is the True Patch and the Unofficial Patch (I linked to it in the OP). They make the game a lot more stable and while still buggy (it runs on pretty much beta of the Source engine) you're at all likely to run into anything game breaking.

You can pick either one, I've just always used the UP. That also comes in two versions (you get a choice during the installation) - Basic and Plus. Basic is only bugfixes about the game, and makes no changes beyond that. Plus, on the other hand, adds some missing stuff - textures, weapons, quests, items, and makes some small changes to the game (moves some items around, for example). It is generally recommended to play Basic once and then Plus, so you can appreciate the changes, but I am not convinced - Plus is simply superior and I don't see a reason not to play it right away.
 

DarkhoIlow

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Because I've tried installing it before and I couldn't get it to work on Windows 7 64bit.

I played it half way back when I had Windows XP a few years ago,but that was about it.
 

Chemical Alia

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My friend tried to get me to play this game in like, 2008. I played the first half hour, then was like "ew, vampires" and never touched it since.
 

chocolatekeith

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So what are some other works (games or otherwise) that use the Vampire the Masquerade universe?
I'm kind of interested.
 

Jinjer

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Jun 16, 2012
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I just finished my first playthrough today. I had a great time with my Malkavian chick! The NPC reactions to her demented ramblings were bloody hilarious (pun intended)

"Geez lady, what are you on and where can I get some?"
 

BartyMae

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Apr 20, 2012
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If only the sale was on Steam instead...I've thought about buying it the few times I've seen it come on sale, but never have.