Revisiting VtM: Bloodlines

[Gondolin]

Every time I replay this game I have this sort of optimistic feeling of "eh... maybe it really isn't all as bad as I remember after Hollywood/when you go into the sewers".

And it always proves me wrong, so very wrong.

You know you can skip the sewers, right?

 

[Dodo1610]

What why has no one told me that?
Anyway which mod would you recommend for a second playthrough?

 

[Herald of Durance]

The new voice acting doesn't sound half bad. I guess I'll postpone another playthrough to October 31st.

 

[HansDampf]

What why has no one told me that?

Because the shortcut only exists if you've installed the Unofficial Patch Plus.

 

[Starwars]

Every time I replay this game I have this sort of optimistic feeling of "eh... maybe it really isn't all as bad as I remember after Hollywood/when you go into the sewers".

And it always proves me wrong, so very wrong.

You know you can skip the sewers, right?

Is there a way to skip the shitty design of the last part of the game though? No? Then it doesn't matter much. It's still a game that starts out excellent and then goes to complete shit at a certain point.

 

[Vibalist]

The reason it goes to shit isn't so much because the endgame is linear and restrictive (most RPG's are like that towards the end), but because it's so looong. So yeah, it matters.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

The sewers and the endgame dungeons are only a hassle for people who ignore sneaking and who think they have to fight all those enemies. Killing them won't give XP, why bother? There's like 3 mandatory encounters in the sewers. In the temple you can also avoid almost all combat.

 

[Vibalist]

To be fair, it's a hassle for anyone who rightly assumed this game would be viable for any build, not just a combat/sneaker build.

Also, those meatball monsters will almost always spot you, even if you've maxed stealth and obfuscation. It's just poorly designed.

 

[Desert Fish]

The sewers and the endgame dungeons are only a hassle for people who ignore sneaking and who think they have to fight all those enemies. Killing them won't give XP, why bother? There's like 3 mandatory encounters in the sewers. In the temple you can also avoid almost all combat.

Hmm. Sneaking is usually more of a hassle in my experience. The exception being Obfuscate 3 or higher. One more reason to play Malkavian or Nosferatu, I guess.

 

[Wesp5]

With the current UP plus it's possible to skip most of the endgame dungeons too !

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Idk, is it just me, or these QuestMods that add NPCs just look boring and bad as fuck? Just text for the sake of text?

 

[almondblight]

Hmm. Sneaking is usually more of a hassle in my experience. The exception being Obfuscate 3 or higher. One more reason to play Malkavian or Nosferatu, I guess.

Yeah. The temple wasn't really hard (at least playing as a Brujah), it was just long and tedious (and filled with a lot of corridors that looked exactly the same). Going 1/2 the speed through it would probably make it even more annoying.

 

[Old One]

It's all just fucking punk edgerock or some form of shitty 2000s electronic. I get that this is the 'aesthetic' that VTM is supposed to have, but I just cannot stand it. The entire game is edgy in overly edgy in general.

Yeah, I hear that. I don't mind that music when I'm playing this game, but normally I listen to 70s-80s metal and other shit. There's one group I kinda like, Darling Violetta (intro music and Empire Hotel), and their other songs are more jazz than metal. Still pretty edgy, and too California sounding, but I think it's kinda cool.

After I'd played the game a few times, I made my own music for it. All outdoor music was swapped out for silence, which is scarier and allows you to hear the ambient sounds more clearly, and the club music was swapped out for whatever I thought fitting. The Last Round in particular got some old Curtis Knight/Jimi Hendrix stuff that gave it a distinctly different vibe from any other joint in the game.

 

[Okagron]

Finished the game and got the No Alliegance Ending. I have another unpopular opinion about this game: i didn't find the endgame dungeons to be that bad. I went with the same mentality as the sewers and loaded up full ammo. Pretty much breezed through them with not much issue.

Smiling Jack smoking a cigar with the Messerach honestly gave me a laugh.

I think i honestly love this game and i'm already looking forward to do another playthrough. I really had a great time.

 

[vota DC]

If you max obfuscate then usually you pick melee because they combine very well and 99% of the game is very easy, but some bosses are almost impossible without fireweapon. As a Malkavian unlike Nosferatu you have auspex too that is quite boring but seems very efficient and buff both defense, hacking and ranged.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Hey guys, could you help me out?

I've never played VtM, I guess largely because all the reviews said it was a flawed gem with an emphasis on flawed when it came out, but I'm thinking of doing it later this year. Is there anything a first time player should know in advance? I'm especially thinking of any community patches, unofficial bug fixes, quality-of-life or must-have mods. Also, any advice like "don't play X build, it's totally unviable" would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[unfairlight]

My honest suggestion would be don't play it because it isn't very good but my other suggestion would be to just use wesp's patch.
VTMB is way overrated and I didn't enjoy basically anything about the game myself. If you want to jack yourself off to edgy vampires and edgy writing then you might like it, but I thought it was total garbage. Also the combat is trash and you shouldn't invest into essentially any stealth skills because they barely work.

 

[Cael]

Hey guys, could you help me out?

I've never played VtM, I guess largely because all the reviews said it was a flawed gem with an emphasis on flawed when it came out, but I'm thinking of doing it later this year. Is there anything a first time player should know in advance? I'm especially thinking of any community patches, unofficial bug fixes, quality-of-life or must-have mods. Also, any advice like "don't play X build, it's totally unviable" would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

If you like the emo-goth shit, then this is the game for you. Otherwise, use the Del button on the folder.

 

[Dayyālu]

Hey guys, could you help me out?

I've never played VtM, I guess largely because all the reviews said it was a flawed gem with an emphasis on flawed when it came out, but I'm thinking of doing it later this year. Is there anything a first time player should know in advance? I'm especially thinking of any community patches, unofficial bug fixes, quality-of-life or must-have mods. Also, any advice like "don't play X build, it's totally unviable" would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Wesp5's basic patch (there are two options in the install, basic and "restored content" that it's not for newbies) and go in. It's a good game despite weird design choices and budget constraits: the only caveat is not being lured by the first level's free approach. You can't diplo the entire game through: you have to get a single good combat skill for some forced encounters later.

If you want merely to enjoy the game, Tremere and Ventrue are good options. Malkavian playthrough is a thing (and mechanically doable!) but it's not excellent for a first time player.

That's it, pretty much.

Also, don't open it.

 

[Okagron]

Forgot to mention i used the wesp patch (didn't used plus though) and i didn't get any major issues with it. The occasional stutter and maybe a texture pop-in and that was about it, it was a smooth experience all around.

 

[gaussgunner]

I've never played VtM, I guess largely because all the reviews said it was a flawed gem with an emphasis on flawed

The emphasis belongs on gem. And it's really not that emo-goth. I saw way more edgy emos IRL growing up in the 90s. This is just a parody of them.

First time, in hindsight, I would just play wesp5's full unofficial patch and make a balanced character, anything but Nosferatu or Malkavian, with an emphasis on melee, hacking, and lockpicking. If you do enough sidequests you'll get plenty of XP. Don't rush the main quests!

If you're playing it under WINE, run it like this:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dbghelp=n,b" wine Vampire.exe -game Unofficial_Patch
otherwise it'll seem fine but there'll be some missing items and events, and halfway through you'll get stuck with game-breaking bugs.

 

[Old One]

What's really edgy is pretending not to like Bloodlines.

You can build a character by taking a personality quiz. That's what I did my first time, and I recommend it. Go with whatever you get, even if it's Malkavian or Nosferatu.

If you only ever plan to play the game one time, play Malkavian.

 

[Wesp5]

What's really edgy is pretending not to like Bloodlines.

Indeed. And how weird must people be to appear in this thread when someone ask about tips for the game and then recommend to not play it at all! Like do they monitor all threads about games they hate to prevent people to form their own opinion?

 

[vota DC]

[
If you want merely to enjoy the game, Tremere and Ventrue are good options. Malkavian playthrough is a thing (and mechanically doable!) but it's not excellent for a first time player.

I don't know, Tremere could be ok since their cap on skill has zero impact on early game, but Ventrue seems very difficult when you just begun and can't even drink some good bum.

 

[gaussgunner]

I don't know, Tremere could be ok since their cap on skill has zero impact on early game, but Ventrue seems very difficult when you just begun and can't even drink some good bum.

I've played a ventrue; that's a non-issue. Bums and rats are low yield blood sources anyway. And you'll be so suave and sexy, all the club girls will put out for you. Plus it's fun to watch yourself puke blood if you do try to suck a bum.