Caught in the Machine - Let's Play Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Caught in the Machine - Let's Play Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I too like the comic style, I wasn't sold on the idea of a screenshot LP for this game, but it seems to work well.

Also, this game was my introduction to WoD, and I played as a Malk. Every time. I started play throughs with other clans, but lost interest quickly. Unfortunately, I have never finished this game. I loved being able to sneak your way through in the first bits if you, like me, don't want to fight everyone and everything, unfortunately as the game progressed I feel your alternatives were limited for each big "end of the chapter" thing. And, eventually, at the end, in two of my play through a my character build made it close to, if not actually impossible to beat the end stage, in the third, actually making a character build to avoid that, I didn't manage to get past another point of the end game.

What I'm trying to say is, I really hope to see this story completed.

Oh, and on my later playthroughs, I was actually amused by how much the theatre was like the room we used as a council chamber in my VtM LARP. We had a stage too, and the groupings and different stances of the characters are just so alike. Also, few people in a large room. I almost feel they did it on purpose.

Actually, wouldn't there be more people in the room? I mean, the city is huge, and I feel like the prince would make presence mandatory for something like this. And ignoring summons, even if you don't count yourself as Camarilla is very very stupid. I feel like there would be people attending just to stay out of trouble.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2013 12:30

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:13

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Rockopolis posted:

Well, I suppose there is such a thing as too much paranoia.
Except when you're playing Vampire and involved the the intricate plots of centuries old vampires.

It's the timing that bugs me, that the brute squad kicks down the door before you even have time to get up.

I assume your sire didn't go around trumpeting their intention to illegally sire someone.
I guess the prince was having the rookie vamp followed, for just such a contingency.

So who was your sire's sire? Progeny seem to be quite an investment.

You are only responsible for a childe for so long. It is your duty to teach them the masquerade and in the beginning you are responsible for their every action. Our Sire is quite obviously past that point. I've always seen it as him/her planning to ask permission, but getting carried away. And any Sire, if they're Camarilla, would be ashamed of their Childe for embracing without permission.
Actually, if it wasn't spur of the moment, I would guess our sire was anarch. Still not the best choice to make a childe in a Camarilla city, on the verge for war or not, but most Anarchs are young and rash.

As to how the Prince knew, a Vampire spending a lot of time with a human and not even making them a ghoul is /very/ uncommon. (Especially to the point of sex. Vamps don't do sex. They can, by using blood points, just like they can simulate breathing or a heart beat, but they don't really get anything out of it)
So that would be a reason to keep tabs on the Sire, and Nossies are always willing to help out with surveillance, for a price.

(By the way, I am no expert, and a lot of this is my own musings. I have just been thinking about this bit, since it really is an unusual event)

Thesaya fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Nov 13, 2013

# ¿ Nov 13, 2013 19:01

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Rockopolis posted:

I thought it was a one night stand sort of thing, but I guess nosy informants and a cockblock squad being on call is a plausible explanation .

We're going to need a and smilie for this game.

Actually, I was going to go on into theories about scenarios if it was a one night stand, but it was getting way convoluted.
I just like speculating I guess. :downs:

Although, I must specify, even if it had been hours or even the next night, that discovery was quite fast, unless someone was keeping tabs on the sire. I mean, until they left the room, I can't think of any way for a person to guess he was going to embrace the human instead of just having a snack, or even making her a ghoul.
(Unless he was under surveillance :tinfoil:

)

Thesaya fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Nov 13, 2013

# ¿ Nov 13, 2013 23:54

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

TheMcD posted:

The Nosferatu know everything, and they know it fast. Everything. Yes, even that.

Which is pretty much what I said in the original post.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2013 23:58

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

double nine posted:

About the origin of your sire: it's been a while since I played Bloodlines, but I don't think the game ever tells you anything about your sire's identity or his/her decision to sire you clandestinely - which makes sense for some of the clans like the Brujah (anarchists), Malkavians (lunatics) or gangrel (lone wolf types); but it doesn't make sense for a Ventrue or Tremere clan member due to their clans being quite hierarchical. So I'm a bit disappointed that we never learn about your undead parent or his/her motivations for siring you...

I suppose it could all be put down to; the start of the game is not making much sense, lore.wise.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2013 00:05

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

OAquinas posted:

As for the setting: LA up until recently was Anarch central--known as the "Anarch Free States." Neither Cam nor Sabbat held sway there. Much like with the Ravnos, the Cathayans were invading and upsetting the established vampire (kindred) control--and so the Camarilla stepped in and seized power. It's a very tenuous situation--the cathayans are only held back, not beaten. The Anarchs are beaten up but still feisty and independent, so the Camarilla control is really more theoretical than absolute...but we'll see more of that later.

Thank you for this, it explains so much!

I am trying to remember if this was mentioned in game, if it was I don't remember. If it wasn't, I wish it was. It really does not make sense for it not being included though, most likely I am a silly and just forgot about it.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2013 13:48

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

OAquinas posted:

Yes. Drinking a vamp's blood creates successively escalating feelings towards them. If you do it on three separate nights, you're "blood bound"--you feel desperately in love with the vamp and want to please them. Depending on your personal willpower/morality you may have a varying degree of independence and willfullness, but you're pretty much owned at that point. Generation doesn't shield you from this; a week old 13th gen can enslave a hoary 5th gen elder in theory. You can also only be bound to one vamp at a time.
So yeah, mutual bond situations can and do exist, but you're playing with fire there. Imagine your most obsessive, stifling ex. Now imagine that ex in a relationship where the feelings are mutual. How could that possibly go wrong?

I am having serious flashbacks to my main LARP character and her sire... She was a Torrie prostitute with sex as her special interest. So much fun. drat, I really need to get back into LARPing.

Thesaya fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Nov 14, 2013

# ¿ Nov 14, 2013 20:42

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

A Curvy Goonette posted:

Pretty sure you don't, actually.

Hey it was only my second character and I had good storytellers to make an idea I didn't know was very un-vampiric into something that made sense. She developed into quite a good character with time.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2013 13:32

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Caustic Soda posted:

@homeless people + prostitutes: I'm not sure why they bothered to make the homeless less filling than other people. In every hub area, there are 1-2 people who wander off alone and are easy to feed from, AFAIK none of those people are homeless. Indeed, the homeless tend to cluster about in groups. The limitation on feeding from prostitutes might make more sense since they're readily available, but it really isn't that hard to get access to blood in this game.

It's a rather strange decision overall. The impact on gameplay is minor, and unfortunate implications abound. Now the limitation on feeding on rats, that's much more relevant, especially in those sewers, which unsurprisingly don't have people wandering around in them.

The homeless and prostitutes are pretty in line with the WoD setting though. It is pretty much centred around the worst parts of our world, bleak and depressing. All the poverty, selfishness, violence is thriving. Someone else can probably describe it better, I don't have the source books readily available.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2013 11:03

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Caustic Soda posted:

As Tehan said, they way feeding works in Bloodlines is deliberately differnet from the tabletop, so IMO it primarily makes sens to analyze it from a gameplay perspective, not a in-universe one.

In game, the hobos aren't actually easier blood sources. With one exception at the start of Santa Monica, and another in Downtown, they're mostly bunched up in groups, so you can't feed from them easily. Unless you're playing a low-humanity run where you just kill most of them and drink from the last one.

The prostitutes may be marginally easier to get to than finding an isolated person or seducing someone to drink from, but it isn't radically different. Especially not since a person stays seduced once youve done it once, and refill when you drive from hub to hub. So once you've seduced the first blood doll in Santa Monica, you can just come back to her whenever you need.

Besides, with the exception of those sewers, most combat areas feature humans that you can potentially drink from. If you're running a melee build you'll want to boost Strength anyway, and that makes it perfectly feasible to drink from the last opponent standing in an area, especially if they have a ranged weapon rather than a melee one. For most of the game, blood is only a limited resource during combat, you can replenish between/at the end of fights.

Unless you've gone for a pure ranged build. But as previously established, the only reason to do that is for a challenge run.

the homeless play a part with prophesies and such though and even if the blood pool is different, homeless, prostitution and gang violence being a common theme in VtM fitting in the setting could still be deliberate in my opinion. Even if they weren't food sources, they still contribute to the bleak atmosphere to me.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2013 16:59

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Bloodlines introduced me to Chiasm, Darling Violetta and Genitorturers, all of which I still listen to today. I also listened to Lacuna Coil for quite a while, even though I don't really any more. This game was great for the baby Goth I was back when I first played it, with great bands I hadn't heard of, which in turn introduced me to others like them.

So yes, great soundtrack.

(Darling Violettas 'A Smaller God' is on the radio on the beach, I think it is the first location that has a track playing that isn't background music)

Thesaya fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Nov 24, 2013

# ¿ Nov 24, 2013 12:56

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I played the game and done a lot of Vampire LARPing, but I really don't know that much lore. What I like about Vampire, especially when LARPing is that it is social. You scheme and plot and bend the rules, and do your best to come out on top. I do enjoy a lot of the lore in this thread, but to be honest I skim over some posts. And when it comes to spoilers of the setting, I was at first not too happy learning so much of the Gehenna scenarios, but after all, no matter what scenario you are playing, your group and ST will make it different anyway, and if you can't separate your characters knowledge from your own you really isn't a very good roleplayed any way.

Really, I enjoy both this LP, especially since I never got through the end game, and the lore is just interesting. So yes. Good LP, good thread.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2013 12:26

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I have to say, as a female, I am happy that they at least made the effort. I was happily surprised by their choice o pronouns.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2013 20:39

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Kopijeger posted:

I once read a bit of a Werewolf sourcebook. There was a reference to how a police NPC could keep calm when confronting the supernatural because "she might have served in Vietnam".

This is WoD. Of course there is an absurd side to it.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2013 21:13

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

CrazySalamander posted:

On Topic: I had always thought (perhaps erroneously) that vampire stuff, especially the stuff suited for LARPing tended to have a more balanced player base. Is this incorrect?

Well, it was true for my LARP group, it was pretty much 50-50.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 01:21

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

insanityv2 posted:

Most of the Ann Rice fans I know are female and VTM probably recruited heavily from that fan base.

Most of the Tolkien, T. Brooks, R. Jordan fans I know are male so.

All anecdotal but there you go.

I enjoy all of those authors personally. And while I like VtM more, I would never turn down a DnD session. Maybe me and my friends are just a weird offshoot of female super nerds... :shrug:

# ¿ Dec 10, 2013 21:01

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Stroop There It Is posted:

So, for the people who are feeling lost right now... (Side note, I think we should be pretty explicit whether we're talking about oWoD or nWoD, since I have a feeling that this poo poo is confusing to unfamiliar people trying to relate what we're talking about to things in Bloodlines. For example, True Fae are not a Thing in oWoD.)

I'm curious about the experience of people who had no familiarity with WoD when they first played Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines. Did you feel like the game gave you a pretty good introduction to the setting, or were you overwhelmed with " are all these different clans/factions/terms" at any point?

As for others, Bloodlines was my first WoD experience, leading to me finding out more and starting LARPing and roleplaying. I would say it's an excellent entry into the world of darkness.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2013 01:05

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Stroop There It Is posted:

Yup, this is what I meant. A lot of that poo poo is nonsensical unless you have already played the game.

Also, it makes sense that vampire NPCs wouldn't give as much of a poo poo about how ugly a Nossie is, since they at least know what the deformed monster in front of them is (and how it's useful to them). I can't remember what happens when you try to talk to essential human NPCs--do they still not react differently? Is that what you meant?

In case it hasn't been defined yet... A "fishmalk" is a Malkavian played by a lovely player/ST who goes with the LOL MONKEYCHEESE RANDOM approach to playing a character with a severe mental disorder. You can guess how common they were. There are many things I miss about tabletop gaming, but this is most definitely not one of them.

I think the origin of the term might be from this picture from a Vampire: the Dark Ages. (Linked because it's pretty NSFW.)

I played as a Malk for my first two or three playthroughs, and it was great every time. I think playing as a Malk for your first game isn't to be avoided, however, the second time through the game it is even more fun.

Also, for my first LARP char I was a Fishmalk :downsgun:

The organisers were first time storytellers, and I was overconfident, thinking that having done DnD and play by forum was enough for me to avoid the pitfalls. I was oh so very wrong.
At the first possible opportunity, the ST's killed off all Malks and stated a rule that you had to bee involved with WoD for at least a year before you could play a Malk, Nossie or Tremere.

I still feel shame thinking about it.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2013 17:23

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I do not remember the exact reason Tremere was banned for newbies, but it had a lot to do with the "I'M A WIZARD VAMPIRE, I CAN DO WHATERVER I LIKE!" That was a bit too pervasive. Also, despite the small town we played in being made larger in game, it was still too small to allow a larger amount of Tremere, since there was no established chantry and so on.
But, the main reason was to discourage people who thought that being a Tremere would allow them to power game, despite what the ST's told them.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2013 04:17

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Oh gods, Jeanette. One of my first girl crushes long before I had figured out my sexuality. I hear her voice perfectly even reading her lines.

Also, she was my wallpaper for so very long.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 22:11

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Not even Amnesia scared me as badly as my first time through the hotel.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2013 18:28

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I never saw the Anarch movement as actual anarchists, just the Vampire equivalent. True anarchism is kind of hard when you have a Sire system built into your very nature.

Thesaya fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Jan 8, 2014

# ¿ Jan 8, 2014 04:14

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Remora posted:

This is true. I only got a bit into downtown with my Malk, but I remember that your Malk PC refers to them as Sisters of Janus. If you know your Roman gods that makes it pretty clear.

Also, if you ask Mercutio about them as a Malk he gives you a further hint.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2014 05:55

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

MJ12 posted:

Melissa was a Virtual Adept before her Embrace, duh. Information wants to be free.

Or she is a stupid Childe who hasn't learnt the rules yet.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2014 20:19

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

My view of Sabbat getting away with things like mass embraces as distraction is that since the WoD is a much darker version of the worst side of society, crime is much more affluent and thus, there is a much larger population of people no one would miss and also much more corrption in law enforcement and such making it easier to cover things up. On top of how rare this is in WoD. Since this is a video game, of course, they have it happen more often to provide the player with people to fight.

# ¿ Jan 23, 2014 11:51

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Halloweenhead posted:

Just posting again to say I <3 this thread. I like that it's a mixture of discussion about the actual videogame and then a TON of rants about the crazy convoluted source material.

I actually recently found out some friends of friends who get together occasionally to roleplay. I was considering joining their 'coterie' for a session to see if I'd like it. They apparently are doing a Camarilla campaign -- I was considering playing as a Lasombra antitribu since I really like the qualities of the clan, but don't really like the whole Sabbat thing. Do you think this would work out okay, or is it veering too close to a cliche, kinda like the so-called "fish Malk" stereotype?

Keep up the good work gatz.

From experience I would say start with a more "typical" clan for your first char. You really need experience to play a char like that right, however well read you might be.
(It might be easier in a pen and paper RP though, my own experience is mostly from LARPing.)

# ¿ Feb 4, 2014 03:59

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Tehan posted:

If you play a Malk the fourth wall is in tatters by this point. I always just figured that Sabbat was a Malkavian antitribu.

I think the reason I personally dislike this particular instance of fourth wall breaking is that he looks straight into the camera. All other ones, as far as I can remember, are just things you could dismiss as just regular Malk talk/the web, and some of them I didn't even notice or think about on my first play through. The Sabbat guy looking straight into the camera though, is jarring to me, since it is so in the face. Literally.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2014 15:48

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

RichardA posted:

Trust the man on the couch, suck up, and make the two faced comment.

Voting this too. Even if you haven't got a Sire to bring you into the loop of what being a Venture entails, I like to imagine it coming naturally to Melissa. Backstabby suckup who doesn't give up information that is beneficial for her, but acts like she would tell the Prince everything.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2014 11:43

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

The great music in this game made me think of Music from the Succubus Club a soundtrack for VtM in general. It has several great Goth and Industrial artists and provides a theme song for each clan, although some fit better than others. So yeah, if you like the music in this game, check it out.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2014 17:04

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

gatz posted:

As for your point on internet cafes, what I've noticed is that the people who would go use them to check their email and stuff like that are now using public libraries for that purpose.

Just a few years back, they were great when travelling. I used them all the time, looking up hostels and such. They are even redundant for that now however, since, in most places, every coffee shop seems to have free WiFi, and even if you don't have a laptop or tablet, using your phone is quite enough.

As for the zombie thing, there is a crypt close to the shack that you can get on top on with a little fiddling. It is not perfect and you have to jump down now and again to handle some zombies, but that is an ok sniping spot.
Also, do you need a certain level of social skills to be able to offer just getting the hooker for Romero? I have a half memory of not having the option when playing, just deciding to skip the quest for most of my runs.

# ¿ May 3, 2014 11:06

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

double nine posted:

I'll join the chorus that the shoot'em up option is bullshit. And as a bit of a extra info, the stat boost will boost your firearms skill by 1 if it is currently less than 3 (I think the wesp mod increases this to 4).

Does it provide line of sight on both gates?

It gives line of sight to one, and of the path leading to the upper one. Thus, now and then you have to run up and clear the zombies that spawned right by the upper gates.

# ¿ May 3, 2014 12:23

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I always made VV fall in love with me. I enjoy manipulating people much more than being blunt. Which makes me a bit of a female stereotype myself I suppose.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2014 15:45

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

apostateCourier posted:

This is actually true. Having pre-embrace attachments is a (variety of) mechanical flaw(s), which gives you more character creation points to make your vampire more awesome. It comes with the expected headaches.

It's also possible for a vampire to 1. always be under the effects of Breath of Life without spending blood, regardless of humanity, and 2. show up as human to Auspex.

That sounds complicated. I Have only LARPed VtM, and it was like half people who were new to it, so the technical stuff was pretty stripped down, I am glad to not have had to deal with that. (Of course, our storytellers had their own ways of screwing us over anyway)

# ¿ Jun 29, 2014 14:49

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I feel I have to say this. Thank you JackNapier, for asking all the "stupid" questions I was afraid to ask myself. I know the basics of VtM, but thanks to you, I've gotten a ground floor introduction to a lot of the other White Wolf RPGs. So, again, thank you for asking!

*edit cause typo

Thesaya fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Jul 11, 2014

# ¿ Jul 11, 2014 22:05

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

The "better on the inside" philosophy is pretty much the Camarilla in a nutshell. There is a reason for them to include the insane Malks, the hideous, painfully well-informed Nosferatu and the blodmages Tremere. The same reason they aim to include everyone, whether they want to or not. They can be useful and, more than they could be if they weren't Camarilla, they can be controlled.

Thesaya fucked around with this message at 07:54 on Jul 15, 2014

# ¿ Jul 15, 2014 07:52

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

I, at least would love to know more. Preferably tied to characters in bloodlines paths if applicable. Otherwise, maybe some details about the most likely paths for vampires of different clans, sabbat/camarilla/anarchs and how well being on a path would be possible when being a part of those groups.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 15:41

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

Iretep posted:

Specifically mentioned? Where? Is there some other source where Grout speaks other than the audio logs? I'm reading the audio logs for a second time now and they don't make it clear if the "powerful vampire" is even from the camerilla. He says he meets him in vampire gatherings, which I'm assuming is the same kind of gathering that happened in the intro, which Jack certainly visits.

I would say it sounds like Primogen meetings, which Jack wouldn't be at.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2015 00:41

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

This mod. I can't even start to put my reactions into words... This loving mod.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2015 23:31

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:13

Thesaya: May 17, 2011; I am a Plant.

TheMcD posted:

Yeah, I just went back and checked that again, and you're right, there's one dialogue option in particular where you show some interest in maybe loving him, which then gives you the option for the shortcut. However, to get that option, you have to pass the Seduction threshold (could be an Appearance check too) once you talk to him for the first time. Once you tell him you'll bring him a prostitute, I think you can't go back.

When I first played the game the prostitute option was bugged out for me. It just didn't appear. Which sucked since my character was sneaking and talk heavy, so I ended up skipping it.
(Of course, that build meant I was hosed eventually, although I did make it as far as the end-game.)

# ¿ Jun 14, 2015 16:00

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Caught in the Machine - Let's Play Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines