Current Events > So I started playing VTM Bloodlines yesterday (ongoing spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I thought it'd be funny to be a Nosferatu (fugly vampire) and see how it would go. And it's gone rather well! From what I gather -- and I didn't really do much research on anything -- only Nosferatu get to go invisible (???), so it's rather helpful that these disgusting pariahs get to hide all the time and dine on rat d'gout.

I dunno who voices Jack, but he is awesome. The writing in this game kicks ass.
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I killed this annoying vampire plaguespreader (a true lady of the night) by using all my shotgun rounds and buffing my stats, then running around the couch like a ninny so my health would regen little by little. Before I hit upon the shotgun strategy, I made the mistake of keeping things in close quarters, and I got carved up like it a Thanksgiving turkey 10+ times. But it's still a 'W' in my column.

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The boss who made all the zombies would use some preternatural teleporting/speed buff, so I waited for him to get stuck on scenery and melee'd him repeatedly through the wall, haha. Eventually, I just buffed my unarmed beatdown damage and kicked his ass pretty easily. Only died a couple of times on this one, actually. (As they say, hiding like a coward to regen health is the better part of valor.)

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I kinda sorta accidentally not on purpose killed an investigative reporter for this psycho flesh-eating chick, then kinda sorta accidentally without malicious intent sent a ghoul down to her to be eaten. And they had the nerve to drop my humanity score! Well, I never!!

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I did get a humanity point back later for reuniting some dumbass lovers on the Santa Monica beach, though. I also told off that dumbass who wanted $100 for blood bags. Who needs that crap when I can exsanguinate California's homegrown rat population? Damn, I'm smart.

Stopped playing when i got to Chinatown but the game has very cool scenarios and there's kinda nothing like it in the genre of what I'd call downtown supernatural.

Yeah, I like seeing the dark underbelly of real-world locations a lot more than visiting Narnia or whatever. Now, if only I could visit the dark underbelly store so my nosferatu dude could get some threads (armor)! He currently has denim pants, but walks around bare-chested like a friggin' idiot. I prefer actual armor, not the "thoughts and prayers" variety, haha.

It's a cool game absolutely worth playing by now and while I don't mind it becoming more combat heavy it loses something as it gets closer to the end. Still though I played it four years ago. I was Gangrel. It was a good time generally.

Also surprised no one mentioned it but the VA who does Jack is the same guy who does Bender. Even sounds like him mostly :D

Jack is played by John Dimaggio.

How much did you have to fight the game to make it functional?
Because everyone talks about having to do that.

Easier now to get running, I just got it from GOG and used the unofficial patch and most of the plus features. It'll still glitch out, but it won't hard crash and be unrunnable like it was on release day.

ViewtifulJoe posted...

How much did you have to fight the game to make it functional?
Because everyone talks about having to do that.

I played it when it was new, before any unofficial patch existed. It was a struggle to get through the entire game. It had so many bugs in it. Somehow I managed to finish it

ViewtifulJoe posted...

How much did you have to fight the game to make it functional?
Because everyone talks about having to do that.

Unofficial patch and done, so long as you launch it through the new shortcut that boots the patch. If you want the original experience turn off all the Plus feature. Then do a playthrough with them added to see restored content and whatnot.

If you try to play it without the unofficial patch, just don't...

One of my fave games and the sewer rats are my favorite class in it.

Shotgunnova posted...

only Nosferatu get to go invisible (???)

Malkavians can also do it, though nossies are more well known for it for obvious reasons.

Shotgunnova posted...

I did get a humanity point back later for reuniting some dumbass lovers on the Santa Monica beach, though. I also told off that dumbass who wanted $100 for blood bags. Who needs that crap when I can exsanguinate California's homegrown rat population? Damn, I'm smart.

You can also get a single humanity point at each dance club, and I think there are five clubs in the game. So you can be pretty naughty in this game and still be forgiven, you just hit the dance floor instead of going to confession. It takes a few minutes of dancing to get it though, so I usually have my vamp dance when I'm going AFK for a few.

I love Jack but, he's a 400+ year old blood thirsty killer. He has a low humanity stat for a reason. he views people as livestock.

LaCroxis plan was dumb. Did he really think it'd work? Better kindred then him have tried and failed. Those types of kindred are literally god-like beings that can even shrug off nukes and the sun

mercurydude posted...

You can also get a single humanity point at each dance club, and I think there are five clubs in the game. So you can be pretty naughty in this game and still be forgiven, you just hit the dance floor instead of going to confession. It takes a few minutes of dancing to get it though, so I usually have my vamp dance when I'm going AFK for a few.

Kind of difficult or a Nosferatu to do that though... since they're a walking Masquerade violation...

I didn't even know you could dance to regain humanity. That's neato. So much for just dancing to the dead.

Ahh, it's Bender doing the voice. I guess he has the chops to pull off a sarcasmo dude pretty easily.

And I suppose dancing might work in a pinch, supposing I don't need a partner. My dude is best described as...dancefloor poison...if you get what I mean... It was fun seeing the "positive" interactions with regular folks, though, where I could pass off my hideous countenance as some kind of medical ailment, or pretend to be a plague victim, or making them think I was some goth band roadie, etc.

I've mostly been raising my dude as a hacker with high defense (finally got a slight armor upgrade) who, when need be, powers up his bare fists with basic powers. Thought about making him a gunman, but...fists never run out of ammo.

Forget what quest I'm up to right now. I already did the Elizabeth Dane stuff, then went to the museum (why be a vampire if your fists can't destroy CCTV cameras?), then did some stuff in Hollyweird relating to a snuff film and those weird little monkey zombies that jump everywhere. There's something about Nines maybe having killed some dorky-ass primogen in his murder mansion, but when I talked to him, he seemed...not himself. I wonder if someone (those mage vamps?) is framing him.

ViewtifulJoe posted...

How much did you have to fight the game to make it functional?
Because everyone talks about having to do that.

I'm playing on Steam and didn't need to do anything other than what it self-installs. No additional patches or anything, although something fixing all the constant autosaving would be nice (probably my only gripe at this point...well, that and scenery collisions occasionally getting me stuck).

mercurydude posted...

Malkavians can also do it, though nossies are more well known for it for obvious reasons.

Come to think of it, that Jezebel chick went invisible while I was rounding the couch, so I probably should've expected that it wasn't unique. Slipped my mind, I guess.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Never played the first one, but I did watch a playthrough of it on a lark. Dude played with an infinite money cheat and it still looked like one helluva slog, haha.

DuneMan posted...

If you try to play it without the unofficial patch, just don't...

Honestly, the game has run pretty well for me, and no crashes to boot, either. I have encountered a few weird errors that the unofficial patch corrects, though (for instance, reloaded a save at the SM salvage yard and a door to the serial killer wouldn't open -- made me reload an old save to play catch-up).

Goddamn, the Chinatown theme slaps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQIBT-a6jog

Really the first tune so far that actually made me sit up and take notice. Well, not counting the death hospital that has all kinds of torture porn and death knells echoing everywhere. The ambient stuff is fine overall, but now everything is going to be measured against Chinatown.

DuneMan posted...

Kind of difficult or a Nosferatu to do that though... since they're a walking Masquerade violation...

I don't remember ever getting a violation for dancing. I think the clubbers just have Trip's mentality and assume the nosferatu is really into body modification.

When I first started playing, I just crouch-walked everywhere and stuck to the shadows like I was the ugliest Sam Fisher reject in the world. After awhile, I learned that as long as you're not bringing your mug near coppers, you can generally just sprint right by regular people -- and that when they run off screaming, it doesn't necessarily mean a masq violation -- so there's no reason to be move so slowly. Obviously in trespassing areas, it's better to revert to that. I haven't really levelled my powers that much, so I can't remain invisible except through crouching. =(

Let's see, what other pics do I have...

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Oh yeah, here's the junkyard killer for some quest (forget which). Even with my S&M armor and high Defense, this dude was still nearly ripping me apart. I think I beat him on the first try...barely...so I guess I'm improving. I should upgrade that melee skill that gives you +5 unblockable damage to your punches. (I did have to do the quest over again, though, since I thought the humanity point was tied to forgiving him, when really it just made the quest fail, haha.)

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These crab mofos that hide in the Warren tunnels suck, man. I beat the first one you encounter because it was in a weird room with a bottomless pit and I could use scenery, but in open ground? Naw, let's just run past all those.

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lol

When I saw that directory of dead celebrities in Hollywood, I wondered if there would secretly be any alive somehow, and whaddya know!

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Just go to Chinatown before I called it quits for the day. I have to meet Ming Xiao or something for my questin'.

Okay, the Warform Tzimisce needs to eff off immediately. I didn't go through this murder hotel with zero stealth sections to get five-shotted by the dude whose ass I kicked previously. Every hit deals that yellow damage, and if you try getting a hit in, oops! Time for an unblockable AoE thing with four nanoseconds to get out of range. Not cool, vamps, not cool.

I do have a ton of shotty ammo, but my dude is not exactly Mr. Evasion.

Yeah in the ttrpg, Tzimisce are fucking brutal to deal with.

I keep seeing people say I should go get a flamethrower for the boss. I really don't want to do this entire deathtrap area over again, though, since I specialize in melee stuff and can't just run and gun the whole place.

EDIT: I also have that artifact that can restore me to full health, so maybe I can get by regardless.

Some of those later boss fights are just terrible. I specialized in melee and just through perseverance and some luck I won.

Potence and that other skill affect melee weapons, too, so I've been using a katana as well. Maybe that can help slightly. I don't have any skillpoints right now, just a lot of ammo, a full healing artifact, and a fat wallet ($2000+). I can tell you, after this, I'm definitely picking up the flamethrower after this, for when "talks with our fists" mode doesn't pan out.

Actually there was a quest where I had to deal with a humongous stone gargoyle and there was no way I going to take him in a physical fight but the gargoyle got stuck on a wall and couldn't attack me or really do anything so I wound up just punching it for a few minutes until I defeated it.

I love glitches that work in my favor.

Yeah, there was a boss earlier (in the crackhouse, I think) that had infinite shotgun rounds and would motor around the room at 90 MPH to reposition himself. Kinda like that annoying sniper guy in the cave. Anyway, the crackhouse guy would take cover behind walls and stuff, and I'd just go to the other side and melee him through the sucker. Kinda surprised that worked. I do enjoy boss fights where I can just go invisible to regen health, haha.

What was really effective for me, granted not so much when there were multiple people with ranged weapons was just sucking people dry. Since I was gangrel and relied on my fists and the beast form they could change to, I was so close anyways latching onto some fool benefited me a lot.

One of the missions where you had to flee that burning mansion though I just had a ton of SMG ammo and there it felt like having some fun with guns was more helpful even with my very low skill. I just went melee till the end though tbh despite some frustrations.

Okay, after some testing, I finally managed to get through the boss by guzzling the free heal from that artifact, nine blood packs, and picking up that torch (you'd think vamps would be more scared of that...odd). After I finished up, I also picked up my flamethrower, dodged a werewolf on a mountaintop observatory, got betrayed by LaCroix, then decided to take the pain to Ming Xiao's temple. Haven't finished the latter yet, but now that I updated my melee stats...Bonesaw is ready, haha.

What pics do I have...hmm... Well, I always like eyepatch characters and this one hasn't shamed his kind. The part where he goes into his gung-ho speech, then gives a disclaimer because I am disgustingly hideous...nice.
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I've only failed one quest the entire game and it was one that seemed primed to succeed: the spycam mission from one of the Nosferatu rejects down in the warrens. Nothing in the quest notes said I had failed or anything, so it was weird when I went back and she acted like I banjaxed something. But if that were true, why did the tabloids pick up on her latest llama-related snafu? Checkmate, vampthiests.

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I did eventually get some humanity back as I danced with these weird NPC twins. Boy, was I red-faced when I finished a conversation after the Bach battle and immediately slaughtered the Swedish researcher I'd just had a 15-minute conversation with, haha. (Doing the boss fight over was not that pleasant, honestly.)

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Damsel is adorable, isn't she?

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I don't know if this is a common strategy, but just standing at the bottom of these stairs, then going up when wolfy jumps down (then repeating ad nauseum) worked pretty well. I can't imagine three minutes of running around the place like a headless chicken. I waited for the timer to bottom out before I went to the tram station, but maybe I should've gotten a head start...

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Kamil posted...

What was really effective for me, granted not so much when there were multiple people with ranged weapons was just sucking people dry. Since I was gangrel and relied on my fists and the beast form they could change to, I was so close anyways latching onto some fool benefited me a lot.

Yeah, I've been dining on enemies once I kick their friends' asses. I'm in the golden temple right now, and kill the melee guys, just so I can drink my fill from the crossbow idiots.

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Grrr I know had some other VTM but sob! This is about where you are. Probs.

I played this when I was in my teens so there's so many posts in this thread with a cultural reference that flew past my head when I played it. Well I didn't know "forget it boss it's Chinatown" until this year lol

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This is one of my favorites also since I went all in with unofficial patch +plus yes. This song was unused and they put it into a first act. I love this song. I think that part had no music. HEH. I love this one!!!!!!

Eben though this was spoilers I never tried to much but the out of mind ones had new dialog

Goddamn, this dude ripped Ming Xiao apart three times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfY78XaVK_Q

I was hoping the flamethrower would be my silver bullet, but for some reason, Ming shrugs it all off in an unvampire way. Not cool! Denied! Might have to practice that one dude's hack-and-slash strategy of just using the first cleaving hit of that melee combo. Already figured out that I could dodge a bit as a melee guy, but it was a bit too annoying regardless. Should be able to use Potence to rip Ming a new gonopore, though, and with that legion of jackasses I fought my way through, I can use that artifact to heal, too.

PS: Archers suck

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Hmm, I think I might start a new character who specializes in firearms. I hear Toreador + Celerity + max Firearms is easy mode, so it might be nice to absolutely ravish some of these endgame bosses that way. I could probably (slowly) improve to get Ming Xiao, but...I don't really feel like doing it on a melee character.

Damn, I've pretty much been breezing through the bosses so far. Kanker, Jezebel, and a few others were mincemeat with Celerity + an uzi. Struggled a little early on since I had a slow-ass revolver and had to conserve my ammo, but then randomly found a nightclub quest that provides me with free money every few days. Score!

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I have an old PC that I keep just specifically to play this game since it can be a pain to get it to work on modern systems.

I haven't had any problems with special setups or anything. I'm playing on a Dell laptop I got a few years back. Maybe things are different for those using mods and stuff.

I love this fat, useless guard (Chunk). I wish only the best for him. We'll exchange Christmas cards.

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All I had to do to be a silent partner in the business was kill some Russian mobsters. A little more fun with guns than if I had just swung an axe around.

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On another note, when I have to go to the warrens and do that annoying part where I swim towards a spinning-up turbine, Celerity should hopefully help with that. It was kinda hard to do as a Nosferatu, even with some shortcuts taken (like hopping the railing).

More screens, since I'm in a good mood.

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I realized in my first playthrough, I, an ugly bastard, never went into the bright lights where the pretty people lurk. So, this time, I actually did a bunch of strip-joint intrigue, although Velvet ended up not giving me much of anything in the end. Everyone's gotta be a tease...

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Did the serial killer stuff and this time I knocked his ass over the firewall. He approached, then just stood there until he melted. This is the "brains" of the operation?

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A look at some of the fictional magazines they got. "Worm" looks particularly riveting this month.

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Finally did the webcam quest right this time, only to find out that girl killed herself over it. I'll use my meager payment to buy some shotgun shells in her honor. Also, Imalia is probably the prettiest-looking of all the disgusting Nosferatu goofballs. I know she used to be a model and stuff, but it's weird how she looks halfway normal (right at home in a Mardi Gras parade or on Halloween) while others look like that weird distorted face in the X-Files intro. I guess Gary resents his own plight a bit, since he likes to go around to various people with their nose in the air and humble them with his...ugh...gift.

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Ah yea I loved this game as a teen. Played this right after playing Redemption with Christoph. I played a Ventrue mostly b/c back then I just wanted the trench coat and katana so I could act like a vampiric Morpheus. I forget the clan that specializes in blood magic but if I ever play again I always wanted to try them out.

I think Tremere are the mages. I kinda wanted to play as one of them, but they have weaker physical abilities or something, and I like to have one uber-kickass weapon discipline for when my MP runs out.

Shotgunnova posted...

Velvet ended up not giving me much of anything in the end

Most vamps don't. The Malkavian at the Asylum is an exception.

I didn't mean sex -- money would've been more preferable since I spent $1000 on douchebags who just tipped me off to stuff, like the ringing phone or (???) that snuff tape's mansion. Maybe she reacted poorly 'cause I went to that peepshow and shotgunned the vampire hunter stripper to death. I figured I could lure her into the private room or something through the peepshow window, but only the other ones had the option.

Ahh, they get a shield. Maybe they're hardier than I'd thought.

I guess I'm in the minority. I felt the game was good once. Every playthrough after I'm just reminded of the tedious parts like the sewer levels.

By sewer levels, you mean the search for the warrens? Yeah, that part was kind of annoying, although I did get through about twice as fast this time. I don't mind the regional sewer stuff that much since there's maps every 50 feet.

Great game, but Id hate playing as Nosferatu. Half the fun of the game is being able to go out in public.