VtM: Bloodlines 1 Year Anniversary Q&A

[Musopticon?]

Wynne is quite right. But have to note the fact that the Hotel level did that b-movie horror reminescence thing very well. Shalebridge had entirely different kind of themes.

[Gabrielle]

The Haunted Hotel quest kicked ass. One of my favorite missions.

[Surreptishus]

Reminded me of The Shining, that and the weird head feet monsters made me jump, a lot. :ph34r:

[Musopticon?]

I loved those head monsters, the whole snuff quest was lovely horrific. I can't remember which was more offending, that "studio" after a massacre of headmonters with bloody stuffed zebras and porn paraphelia or the awesome contrast between the silent Hollywood hills drive aparment counrtyard and 'what' was inside. :D

[Yst]

Bloodlines was a great RPG with great story, voiceacting and dialogue. Too bad there was atleast one gamestopping bug and the combat was horrid.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

There are no universal (i.e., everyone experiences them) gamestopping bugs with the official 1.2 patch. There are a couple that a significant minority seem to encounter, but it is entirely possible to play through the game using only the official patch without encountering any gamestopping bugs at all.

[Rhomal]

While we are on the topic of Bloodlines perhaps those more versed in the background/setting can fill in a few questions for me:

 

*SPOILERS*

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a. I keep hearing ppl talk about other 'havens' yet I have played through the game twice and never had a haven beyond the starting one. what am I doing wrong? (played as a tremere and malk)

 

b. jack is the one who killed everyone on the E. dane, so who keeps sending you those cryptic emails?

 

c. the malk mansion, who/what are those 'people' wandering around? are they vampires or some twisted creatures the malk primogen created?

 

d. I dont understand the whole plot 'twist' of that vamp scholar beckett. hes dismissing whats in the coffin the whole time you know him then near the end of the game he acts like a scared little girl and runs away. I dont get the 180 degree shift when there was no built up to it.

 

Thanks for any input.

[SteveThaiBinh]

a. I keep hearing ppl talk about other 'havens' yet I have played through the game twice and never had a haven beyond the starting one. what am I doing wrong? (played as a tremere and malk)

As a non-Tremere, you need to be polite to the Prince and I think not kill anyone on the ship mission, then after finishing that mission you get a new haven. I know there's a special one for Tremere, which I think involves a quest you get from their primogen.

d. I dont understand the whole plot 'twist' of that vamp scholar beckett. hes dismissing whats in the coffin the whole time you know him then near the end of the game he acts like a scared little girl and runs away. I dont get the 180 degree shift when there was no built up to it.

I guess Jack just gave him the heads up, but it is only my guess. I like the fact that not everything is explained.

[Surreptishus]

a. You have to do stuff to get them but its not obvious what e.g. for a haven in downtown you have to do the e.dane quest without killing anybody and possibly kiss lacroix's ass. If you are nosferatu you don't get any new haven till you rescue barabus.

 

b. Damn, damn i didnt even guess that. Maybe the cabbie is sending the emails? *shrugs*

 

c. They are malk ghouls.

 

d.maybe beckett finds out whats inside the coffin.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

a. I keep hearing ppl talk about other 'havens' yet I have played through the game twice and never had a haven beyond the starting one. what am I doing wrong? (played as a tremere and malk)

 

There are four possible havens.

• The first one is the one LaCroix will give you, the one above the Pawnshop in Santa Monica.
   
   
  
• The second one is also given to you by LaCroix, and it's located in the Skyline Apartments Downtown. You receive it after the "Calling Dr. Grout" quest. Reportedly, you also can get it right after the "Elizabeth Rendezvous" quest if you are generally nice to him. If you are a generally insulting git to LaCroix or don't fare too well in his missions, you will likely not get it.
   
   
  
• The third haven is optional and is given to you by Gary after the "Come Into My Parlor" quest. It's located in the Downtown Sewers, and you will only obtain it if you are a Nosferatu.
   
   
  
• The fourth and final haven, also optional, is given to you by Strauss, the Tremere primogen. It's in his own house, in the upper room. You can get this when playing as a Tremere instead of LaCroix's apartment.
  

b. jack is the one who killed everyone on the E. dane, so who keeps sending you those cryptic emails?

 

 

My guess is that it was either from some primogen who found LaCroix's actions to be dubious at best (like Strauss or Isaac) or from the Malkavian cabbie.

 

 

c. the malk mansion, who/what are those 'people' wandering around? are they vampires or some twisted creatures the malk primogen created?

 

IIRC, they were humans who had been experimented on, or fledeling vampires. Not too sure which.

 

d. I dont understand the whole plot 'twist' of that vamp scholar beckett. hes dismissing whats in the coffin the whole time you know him then near the end of the game he acts like a scared little girl and runs away. I dont get the 180 degree shift when there was no built up to it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Beckett simply finds out what is inside the coffin. He had dismissed it as containing an Antideluvian, but that does not mean what was inside wasn't as equally dangerous for the PC (as shown in two endings). It's also not very hard to realize why he got to know of its contents, since he seemed to have connections with Jack (who in turn had connections with the cabbie) and Ninez Rodriguez.

 

Edited November 20, 2005 by Role-Player

[Nartwak]

[spoiler]Hey, this is what happens!![/spoiler]

[Diogo Ribeiro]

[spoiler]Hey, this is what happens!![/spoiler]

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oops. Fixing it now...

[Diogo Ribeiro]

The cabbie is malk?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

If I remember correctly, the gist of it according to White Wolf lore was that during the events of Bloodlines, a false Caine emerged in LA. Supposedly he was an ancient, powerful Malkavian Elder who posed as Caine or believed to be Caine himself, and Jack had sided with him.

 

[Surreptishus]

Oh, i figured some of it would be explained in WW lore. I just haven't gone about searching for it yet.

[Nartwak]

Thank you Role-Player.

 

I didn't know that about the cabbie. It's pretty interesting!

[Petay]

Definately enjoyed/ing this game, great storyline, as far as i got, plus great combat, although at the point i was at, i didn't really notice there being an excessive amount of combat like everyone has said. Only problem with the game is, i've lost my savegames due to a recent reboot

[Surreptishus]

With some tweaks i can make the game run quite smoothly. Combat wise what annoyed me areas with corridors where you had to hack and slash through hordes of grunts. It became tedious. Bear in mind that gripe is miniscule compared to the amount of enjoymernt i got out of the game.

[Gabrielle]

I loved those head monsters, the whole snuff quest was lovely horrific. I can't remember which was more offending, that "studio" after a massacre of headmonters with bloody stuffed zebras and porn paraphelia or the awesome contrast between the silent Hollywood hills drive aparment counrtyard and 'what' was inside. :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Those damn thing made me jump back a few times when they came out of their hiding places. I've never had a game do that to me. That's how involved you can get into this game.

[Meshugger]

Bloodlines was a great RPG with great story, voiceacting and dialogue. Too bad there was atleast one gamestopping bug and the combat was horrid.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

There are no universal (i.e., everyone experiences them) gamestopping bugs with the official 1.2 patch. There are a couple that a significant minority seem to encounter, but it is entirely possible to play through the game using only the official patch without encountering any gamestopping bugs at all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If true, then i have to give it another try.

[Blodhemn]

I'm playing Bloodlines for the first time right now and I don't understand all the high praise this game is getting in this thread. Yes it does have good voice acting, dialogue and character creation but that doesn't totally make up for the horrible clunky combat, bad sound and lack of feeling accomplishment from the underwhelming quests. I'm in the sewer levels right now and I gotta say this is one of the worst designed missions I've ever played in a game. It makes even the Library in Halo feel adventurous. Still, I'm going to keep going in hopes that the game starts to open up and become a little less linear. Here's hoping!

[Surreptishus]

The sewer level is the worst IMO and if you hate the combat then... i guess you won't like the endgame much.

[Janmanden]

I felt similarly in the beginning and lost a lot of hair bitching about controls, but the game grew on me and I learnt to appreciate it. Give it a chance to surprise you.

 

I felt that Bloodlines was more of a Thief game than Thief was towards the end and while the combat may seem clunky in the beginning it's just as much a matter of experience and learn to do it right.

 

It's also a must to try out the Malkavian and Nosferatu clans. Dialogue and options change a lot for some and especially for these two.

[Child of Flame]

Combat changes a lot too, Obfuscate for the win!

[Surreptishus]

For a hardcore RPG fan i guess the combat can pose a problem.

 

I liked the fact that you can go at it in 3 different ways: gunslinger, slasher or Hitman style stealth kills.

[Child of Flame]

That's what's fun about Obfuscate. Invisible Ninjah!

 

Actually one of the histories for the Malks is Ninja, go figure.

[Spider]

I'm playing Bloodlines for the first time right now and I don't understand all the high praise this game is getting in this thread. Yes it does have good voice acting, dialogue and character creation but that doesn't totally make up for the horrible clunky combat, bad sound and lack of feeling accomplishment from the underwhelming quests. I'm in the sewer levels right now and I gotta say this is one of the worst designed missions I've ever played in a game. It makes even the Library in Halo feel adventurous. Still, I'm going to keep going in hopes that the game starts to open up and become a little less linear. Here's hoping!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

To be fair, if you've gotten as far as the sewer level and still don't like the game, then it's only going to get worse for you. The game is actually going to be more linear in the future, not less so.

 

What I loved in the game was the athmosphere, including voice acting and other sound, the great roleplaying opportunities and the quests I felt were among the best in any RPG. If you've encountered all of that and still don't like the game, well...