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gatz posted:I believe it was also the final dungeon in Redemption. I quoted the relevant thread-provided lore dumps in my LP. Here's what they were: Vicissitude posted:Ah, the Cathedral of Flesh. It was just that. It wasn't a place where the Tzimisce fleshcrafted. It WAS a place that Tzimisce fleshcrafted. So many mortal souls went into its crafting. Bone buttresses, tattooed walls, things like that. And then one day, it disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to it, but I have a theory. I think it literally got up and walked away. Ramc posted:Here is a blurb from clan splatbook about the actual Cathedral: Speaking of Redemption, you can buy it for $2.39 at GOG for about 7 more hours. If you're in the united states at least.
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Sep 1, 2014 22:06
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gatz posted:
Or don't... Because it's a terrible, terrible game.
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Sep 1, 2014 22:30
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fspades posted:Or don't... Because it's a terrible, terrible game. Fun fact, my high school friend's dad stole his savings to buy a new video card to play that game. I like to imagine that it's a just reward 
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Sep 1, 2014 22:32
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fspades posted:Or don't... Because it's a terrible, terrible game. Eeeh... it's not the worst game I've played to completion. It's just that the actual gameplay is uninspired hack-and-slash dungeon crawling, with only the easily applicable parts of WoD slapped on. The really dumb plot and the awkwardly animated and hammily voice acted cutscenes made it worth it for me. Also half of it takes place in the dark ages, which is not something you see often. Here's Christof Romuald pondering the vampiric condition, and performing the world's most lackluster crucifix toss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDYl8ss7RQo&t=1225s
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Sep 2, 2014 13:12
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I greatly enjoyed the plot of Redemption, but then again I was a fair bit younger then. But I do remember at one particularly dialogue-heavy point I had my dad and stepmum watching over my shoulder. It was vampiric soap opera before vampiric soap opera was a thing. Shallow plot, surprisingly deep characters, and somewhat faithful to the source product... from what I remember, at least. Also the romance was adorable  Edit: Oh, and to weave it in to current topics - the Prometheans, of which the protagonist of Redemption and Christof's sire, Ecaterina, was a member, was a sect that sought to recreate Carthage. Obviously they started to die out around when the Renaissance rolled around, but much of their philosophy went on to fuel the fires of the Anarchs. Ecaterina threw her weight behind the fledgling Anarchs at first, but grew disillusioned and ended up switching over to the Sabbat, before growing disillusioned with them and using a failed assassination attempt to switch to the Camarilla. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to interpret what it says, if anything, about the Anarchs that so many of their founding members ended up turning away from it. Tehan fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Sep 2, 2014 |
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Sep 2, 2014 15:53
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I enjoyed Redemption too when it was released, but recently I've read the LP of Vampire:Redemption (by Gantz) in the archives and it helped me to remember how bad/cheesy some parts of it were. Probably you will enjoy it if you don't take it seriously.
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Sep 2, 2014 16:10
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Angry Lobster posted:Probably you will enjoy it if you don't take it seriously. Come to think of it, it helped a great deal if you approached it from the VtM side rather than the video game side. As much as game writing was synonymous with terribleness back in those days, it was a shining jewel of literary merit compared to the angsty, melodramatic roleplaying of teenage goths pretending to be vampires.
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Sep 2, 2014 16:16
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The problem with Redemption was how the combat felt basically. Better internet spergs than I have  ed about stuff like kinesthetics in games and poo poo but action RPGs like the diablo-clone VTM:R tried to be live and die by how they feel. I remember when I played that game there was no indication to tell me if any individual swing hit or missed. I just watched Christoph swing at air and hoped that the enemy name got more and more red. Compare that to something like that new game, Grim Dawn, where there is a *squish* if you hit and a *whiff* if you miss... basically immediate feedback as to what was going on. VTMR was a slog but I loved it's cheesy vampire romance plot :3.
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Sep 2, 2014 16:26
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Tehan posted:Come to think of it, it helped a great deal if you approached it from the VtM side rather than the video game side. As much as game writing was synonymous with terribleness back in those days, it was a shining jewel of literary merit compared to the angsty, melodramatic roleplaying of teenage goths pretending to be vampires. Well there was always the Legacy of Kain series, awesome story, fun to play and Kain's too busy conquering Nosgoth to whine about his condition.
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Sep 2, 2014 17:16
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Angry Lobster posted:I enjoyed Redemption too when it was released, but recently I've read the LP of Vampire:Redemption (by Gantz) in the archives and it helped me to remember how bad/cheesy some parts of it were. Probably you will enjoy it if you don't take it seriously. I remember loving the transition cinematic when you go into the modern era. Really pumped you up to kill off the entire Leopold building (because of course you have to).
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Sep 2, 2014 17:42
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My problem with Redemption is less to do with its story (which was cheesy and terrible in all the good ways) but it's horribly boring gameplay and level design. Beyond the problems insanityv2 mentioned, it was basically an action rpg where the loot was bland, levels were linear and your skills didn't matter. I guess if you really like VtM it can keep your interest until the modern era where you get to equip chainsaws as melee weapons. That's the absolute high point of the game though. fspades fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Sep 2, 2014 |
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Sep 2, 2014 18:43
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Agreed, the game has some cool parts. It does a fairly decent job integrating WoD background and lore (in the broadest of sense) in a action-oriented rpg. I'm okay with the story, the lack of depth of some characters or even the somewhat terrible dialogue, but what annoyed me the most was the combination of clunky combat and extensive areas of dungeon crawling, like the Tremere chantry or the Tzimisce castle.The modern nights was a refreshing change from the dark ages and London was probably my favorite par (Pink  ). All this talk about Redemption makes me want to replay it, maybe in a few when I have finished my pending list of RPGs (gently caress you Borderlands 2, why are you so long and annoying?).
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Sep 2, 2014 19:28
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Say what you will about Redemption's single player campaign (and there's a lot to say), the multiplayer was awesome (when it wasn't a buggy mess that was easily exploited by shitheads). The way you could customize the maps was really cool, and it was what lead to me getting into the World of Darkness and tabletop roleplaying in general. I think I was 13 when it came out, I bought a new video card for it (a Voodoo 3 2000 PCI, man!). I didn't really understand how bad the single player campaign was until later on in life, but I'm still glad I got into it. Also, the skinning/modding/map making scene for the game was just fantastic, and some of the maps are still amongst my favorites in general - just some really well-designed and visually stunning maps made by the community.
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Sep 2, 2014 22:11
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As an aside, Case's computer book is a reference to Neuromancer, who's net cowboy is named Case.
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Sep 2, 2014 23:55
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Iretep posted:So wait, theres a temple made out of flesh running around the planet. Nobody has seen it actually run around and nobody really knows what it really wants either? What do you do when you and your best buds are being pursued? You split up and spread out, of course. 
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Sep 3, 2014 00:42
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Technomancer posted:As an aside, Case's computer book is a reference to Neuromancer, who's net cowboy is named Case. I pointed that out when we first picked it up in the Hollywood Internet Cafe. I also referenced William Gibson's version of cyberspace in the last update. The epigraph to the LP is a quote from Neuromancer. I've read the book. No I didn't enjoy it.
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Sep 3, 2014 01:59
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 Ran across this great comic in D&D
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Sep 6, 2014 06:40
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'sup. Due to real life circumstances, TheMcD is going to be taking over this LP. You might know him from his recently completed Unterwegs in Düsterburg LP, or from Safecracker 1 & 2. Or the fact that he's been a solid contributor to this thread already. He's a good Lper and poster. He'll do a good job finishing this LP. Everything will stay in this thread, and I'll be updating the OP with his updates. I imagine he'll be taking it along similar lines as I did, commentary wise. I'm not sure what else to say, so just know that (1) I'm not dead, just in a position where I can't afford to be let's playing anything and (2) the LP will continue on with a new writer.
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Oct 16, 2014 17:33
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  Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? In fact, it's been so long that the LPer switched! For those reading from the archive, I'm TheMcD, AKA that guy with the terrible name that was talking about that "Grout is the 'friend' writing those e-mails" theory a while back. Things happened, as so often they do with LPs, and gatz will not be able to maintain an LP for the foreseeable future, so that's where I come in, because god damnit, this game does not have some sort of LP curse, and this poo poo is getting finished. Now, since it's been a while, and I'm taking over somebody else's game, I say we should take some inventory. First, the stats.  Hm, that kind of sucks. Not that the character is terrible or anything, but I would have much preferred the character to be laid out for Ranged as opposed to Melee. I'm just that kind of guy. I'll at least put the four experience points we have into Perception to boost it a bit, then put the next six we get into Firearms to make the threshold that allows us to use the Glock properly, because I like that gun a lot. Next, the quests. What do we have to do next?  Oh. Right.  This'll be a lot of fun, I'm sure. Well, if our next destination is King's Way, we best make sure we're properly stocked. So, what's our inventory look like?  Plenty of good poo poo here. Plenty of bags of blood, a fuckton of money, all sorts of magic swag, the best armor currently available, all sorts of weapons, both ranged and melee. I can definitely work with this.  Now, before we leave for King's Way, we've got two more things to check up on to make sure we're ready. Our first destination is Club Confession.  Originally, my plan was to pick up some money from Venus, because I forgot to read the last few updates in detail - otherwise, I would have already known that we've just recently gotten some. However, while we're here, I think we can do something about that low blood level.  ...pffft. Oh god, that's a good one. I don't care if that makes me a terrible person, but "Lez be friends" is a loving hilarious line. Love me some terrible puns.  Mmm-hmm? [Seduction] Wow... I thought getting a fat raise at work made the day. Then I saw you. I've never seen you in here before. If I'd known you were here, I would have stopped in a lot sooner. Hmm hmm hmm he he. Hmm hmm hmm hmm... Mmmm-hmm? I have something I want to tell you, come closer. Aww yeah, that's the stuff. Free blood is the best blood. Sadly, our blood supply didn't quite get topped off from this. Oh well, that one blood point hopefully won't make that much of a difference.  Our next stop is Fat Larry's truck of mack, to stock up on ammo, particularly for the Glock. By god, we'll need every shot we can hold.  Well, I can't really put it off any longer.  Let's head to King's Way and finally deal with this Nosferatu mess and this snuff tape mess and whatever other mess we run into along the way.  And here we are at 609 King's Way. The place is locked up, and all the windows have been lined with some sort of foil. Clearly, this is the home of somebody who has nothing to hide.  Also, kitty! You best get out of here, kitty, this is not a good place for you to be.  Now, since the front door is locked, we'll have to come in around the back. And I'm bringing out the SPAS right away, because odds are that we're going to need to go in heavy right quick.  To get up higher, you need to climb this thing here. Might seem obvious to some, but I remember walking around for ages trying to figure out just where the gently caress to go because I figured it was just part of the landscape the first time playing this game.  We climb up, head up a staircase, and end up at a door we can actually open. Time to see just what's so terrible it must be hidden from the public eye at all times.  Christ. Yeah, I can see why one would prefer this to remain unseen. A fresh coat of paint won't solve the problems this interior decorating has. We take a step inside...  JESUS gently caress. Throughout wandering through this place, these Geodude looking motherfuckers love to pop out at you. As somebody who is easily startled, this is pretty aggravating. Thankfully, the SPAS deals with them in two easy shots. I should really be conserving ammo, though... oh well.  I do love how they just hide in these small rooms, just waiting for you to walk by, and then they burst out about as dramatically as you can get.  While looking through this floor, we also find this occult thingy just laying around. Occult thingies are the best thingies.  And thanks to our high Research skill, we can figure out just what the hell this thing does. Nothing that's going to set the world on fire, but it's better to have it than not to have it.  One floor lower, things are pretty much the same. hosed up interior decorating and annoying monsters wanting to make our acquaintance.  I decide to get a bit creative and try out different weapons. The Glock works well against a single monster, but will probably not work against many.  And sometimes you miss. That's always a problem.  Whoever is living here seems to need some blood every once in a while - we find some blood stashed in the fridge. Well, since we'll probably end up trying to kill whoever lives here, we'll just take that. We'll need it more, I'm sure of it.  I also tested out the Uzi. Not very good, to be honest. I never liked it - seems you need a lot of Ranged skill to use it well, and at that point you've got better options available.  As we make our way down into the basement, we get some more displays of wonderful decorating.  Suddenly, somebody else shows up!  Ahh, hello, young Cainite. I see your face is not so lifeless, your nerves not so deadened, that you cannot express shock. Tell me, childe, is my appearance that frightening, or is it my knowledge of you that is so unnerving? [Listen] Oh, childe of Caine, the sights in this haven pale in comparison to my ancestral estate. Comfort... is a custom, and all of this artifice brings me closer to my home. Do not fear from my furniture, young one.This is "The Tzimisce". I can't remember if his name is mentioned at some point or if it's only found in game files, but his name is Andrei. Not sure how much Tzimisce have been covered, particularly by the thread - I presume several articles worth of interesting information have already been posted about them, because god drat you people know a lot about this stuff, but since this is our first real run-in with one, here's a short primer, courtesy of the White Wolf wiki: http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Tzimisce_%28VTM%29 posted:The Tzimisce are a clan of scholars and flesh-shapers. If one were to described a Tzimisce as inhuman and sadistic, it would probably commend them for their perspicacity, and then demonstrate that their mortal definition of sadism was laughably inadequate. The Tzimisce have left the human condition behind gladly, and now focus on transcending the limitations of the vampiric state. At a casual glance or a brief conversation a Tzimisce appears to be one of the more pleasant vampires. Polite, intelligent and inquisitive they seem a stark contrast to the howling Sabbat mobs or even the apparently more humane Brujah or Nosferatu. However on closer inspection it becomes clear that this is simply a mask hiding something alien and monstrous. Andrei fits that description to a T.   WESP content alert! You might notice that the second option is something new to you. That's because it's only added by the Plus patch, and only appears when we have low Humanity. We'll be going along that path with its questionable dialogue to keep options open. As an aside, I'm quite amused by the line about the "bloody architecture", because I can only imagine it being said in a British accent, and that makes it pretty funny to me. Also, is it just me or does the "in reality" line sound a bit stilted? I ask because I think that I can tell that this was made by a German, because the sentence structure reminds me more of a German sentence. Then again, that might just be me mixing my signals again. You know, I am quite fascinated by the bloody architecture. In reality it's even better than on the tape! Oh yes, the "tape". Merely a test. Certainly not intended to fall into mortal hands. Fortunately, we are in the capital of mortal trickery and illusion. So did the tape drive you to find me? From whence flows your longing, childe? I'm rather intrigued by it. Why did you create these creatures? To gouge out the eyes of the Camarilla. The sewers are clogged with my creations. I will kill or drive the Nosferatu from their pestilent nests. Without the sewer rats to guide them, the Camarilla will be blind to the Sabbat's designs. The Sabbat, I'm interested in that. Do they do what you tell them? It is not for me - it's for the will of the Sabbat! The Camarilla is stunted; dead and festering in the womb, good only as pawns of the fathers. Even now, they answer the call of the Ancient and seek to free him from his torpor. The Ancient? He slumbers within the Ankaran Sarcophagus; one of the fathers whose return shall hearken the Reckoning. Gehenna is at hand and the Camarilla are unwittingly speeding us all toward our doom. That sounds bad! Maybe I can join the Sabbat to prevent this. Now, Camarilla whelp, let me see you fight your nature in the face of those who have embraced their Beast. Deny yourself Caine's gifts, and be torn asunder by my minions! Didn't you listen, I want to join you. Or is this some kind of test? If so, go ahead!Right, so what have we learned? That trying to write a conversation with a completely different tone without being able to change both sides of the conversation is not really possible, mostly. There was something about the sarcophagus bringing Gehenna with the Antediluvian sleeping inside it, but we've already heard that theory. Now, it's time to fight. Watch Boss Fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xqVkJdTs6o  This guy is kind of a pain in the rear end. His pattern is simple - disappear from his current location, reappear somewhere else in the room, summon one of those monsters from one of the four big pipes, stand there for a little bit, then repeat.  The major problem with that is that he changes positions way too fast - if you're using a melee weapon, you'd be spending most of your time just running around the room doing no damage to him because he appeared in a position that's too far away, and that's even without the pain in the rear end monsters gnawing on your face. With the monsters, you've got to make sure that you kill them quickly, otherwise there'll be three or four of them at once, and then the whole thing turns into a clusterfuck.  Occasionally, you do get lucky and he shows up close to you, but even then, he doesn't take that much damage, and the window is still pretty small.  Then I decide "gently caress that, I'm whipping out the SPAS again", and while that kind of makes sense, it doesn't help that the rear end in a top hat suddenly starts going from corner to corner, and I can't cover that distance with a shotgun and still expect to be able to deal any real damage.  However, focusing on the guy has allowed multiple monsters to end up on my rear end, and that's not good.  Eventually, I manage to lay down several shots on the bastard, and he finally goes down... technically.  Even though the life bar is gone, I've still got these monsters clawing my face off, and he's still reappearing and summoning them.  Only after swording him in the face a couple times for no damage does he finally get out, and yes, he only disappears, he doesn't actually die. But then again, I'm pretty sure you could have figured that we weren't going to be taking out the Sabbat leader right away. The six experience points go right into Firearms, giving us five points in Ranged. You know, I might just do this part over before recording the next bit, because that could have gone better. Particularly because I was so confused once the guy lost all his life but didn't actually die that I forgot to recast Fortitude, which led to all sorts of my face getting chewed off. That, and I might stock up on some more SPAS ammo and use less on the way through - the Glock seems to be good enough for getting through the house.  And through a door, we find our next destination... we're going further down. Next time, it's those sewers. Oh joy. TheMcD fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Dec 3, 2014 |
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Oct 16, 2014 18:52
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TheMcD posted:Next time, it's those sewers. Oh joy. Although it has been a long time since I last played this game and the sewers is the one section of the game that I have almost no recollection of.  Oh and thanks for taking over and keeping this LP alive. 
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Oct 16, 2014 19:10
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Nice to see this still going on - if only for all of the random lore dumps that are always going on in this thread.TheMcD posted:Next time, it's those sewers. Oh joy. 
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Oct 16, 2014 19:12
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The LP has awoken from his slumber! All children of Caine everywhere rejoice!
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Oct 16, 2014 19:15
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Yay, more Masquerade! Hope you're OK tho, Gatz...
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Oct 16, 2014 20:28
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Oh for the love of gently caress what's wrong with you wesp? I'm not even angry anymore just exhausted. Just keep your fanfic to yourself and your internet service provider.
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Oct 16, 2014 22:00
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Ghostwoods posted:Hope you're OK tho, Gatz... Eveything's good! It's just that I don't have the time available to let's play any more. Oh by the way, TheMcD, you can respec by right clicking on the dots or something like that, if I'm remembering right.
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Oct 16, 2014 22:32
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On the bright side, at your current melee level you should be able to kill those small creatures in one or two hits, if you have a decent weapon. I recommend an axe or a good katana, if available. The bigger enemies in the sewers will still pose a problem though.
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Oct 16, 2014 22:35
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gatz posted:Oh by the way, TheMcD, you can respec by right clicking on the dots or something like that, if I'm remembering right. Doesn't seem to work, and all I can find online about respeccing mentions the console commands to do so. Maybe that was something regarding spent points that aren't confirmed yet or something like that? double nine posted:On the bright side, at your current melee level you should be able to kill those small creatures in one or two hits, if you have a decent weapon. I recommend an axe or a good katana, if available. The bigger enemies in the sewers will still pose a problem though. Yeah, that's why I wanted 5 Ranged for the Glock. Something that I can fire somewhat accurately while running around trying like hell to dodge terrible poo poo.
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Oct 16, 2014 22:44
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Correct, you can't respec spent and committed points. Stuff that isn't committed yet of course can be refunded, but that doesn't help much. It's fine; you have good guns for what's coming and a slew of XP on the way to get good with what you need. Plus books.
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Oct 16, 2014 23:14
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Ah, one of my favourite LP'ers playing one of my favourite games! And on a thread I feared was dead, to boot!
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Oct 16, 2014 23:48
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So this thread lives again. It's very fitting that a LP about undead creatures is itself undead.
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Oct 16, 2014 23:55
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TheMcD posted:Yeah, that's why I wanted 5 Ranged for the Glock. Something that I can fire somewhat accurately while running around trying like hell to dodge terrible poo poo. Also, there is a way to respec one dot, but it is very circumstantial. You need to have an attribute boosted to 5 dots, and then have a charm boosting it as well. The game doesn't really know how to handle that and clicking on it undoes one dot of purchased attribute and gives you back the exp. Mostly useful at the very end of the game.
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Oct 17, 2014 00:06
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Pickled Tink posted:Those little head and arm dudes? You can interrupt their attack animation in melee combat because hitting them puts them in knockback mode. It works because while they leap up to you, they don't actually make their swing for a bit afterwards so you have time to push them away. It is entirely possible to destroy them all without being hurt with only one dot in unarmed combat. Using guns on them is a terrible idea. No, not those. I learned how to deal with them while loving around in the house. No, it's pretty much everything else coming up I'm scared of and want to keep my distance to. placid saviour posted:Ah, one of my favourite LP'ers playing one of my favourite games! And on a thread I feared was dead, to boot! The idea that I'm one of somebody's favorite LPers is a frightening one. Never thought something like that would happen.
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Oct 17, 2014 00:14
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Due to a bug in some Chinatown dungeon I never managed to finish this game the one I time actually got past the Ocean view hotel and the sewers we're about to enter so it's nice to get to see what happens.
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Oct 17, 2014 00:59
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Here we go. Bloodlines' sewers give sewer levels a bad name.
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Oct 17, 2014 02:37
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And here I thought the Black Hand had finally hunted you down, gatz. The VtM:B LPer curse may yet be broken! I don't think the WESP writing was stilted but  at him shoehorning the battle at the end anyway after the route the dialogue was taking. Andrei's last line was a total non-sequitur.
DeusExMachinima fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Oct 17, 2014 |
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Oct 17, 2014 02:55
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sooooooooo You're playing ranged and you don't have the anaconda?  Or do you just not have enough money?  Either way, glad to see that: A: This lp ain't dead...er...undead?...er...screw it. B: Somebody else agrees with me that this is the point that ranged starts over taking melee.
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Oct 17, 2014 02:58
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It's a SSLP, no one will know if you just run through. 
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Oct 17, 2014 03:14
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Here we go. Bloodlines' sewers give sewer levels a bad name. Sewer levels give sewer levels a bad name. This one is just one of the worst offenders.
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Oct 17, 2014 05:49
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I'm just going to come out and say it. I enjoyed the sewer level What the hell is wrong with me.
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Oct 17, 2014 11:14
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The sewer level isn't that bad.
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Oct 17, 2014 12:04
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