TFN 1.1 play-through with Baali

Greetings, Kindred! (while writing this line, something protested inside me, I guess I am an Anarch IRL)

I've played VTM: redemption and Bloodlines, perhaps, in 2004-2005. So I pretty much remembered all the quests and what to do.

The Choice of Baali was purely based on a Munchkin principles: Baali has more stuff than others! (+1 starting intelligence). The same principles were used in case of the "history" - a molested altar boy. Despite my inner self protested against such tragedy in character's life, I had to choose it because the starting skills matched my needs well; precisely I wanted to max my social skills, in particular Persuasion, as I remembered that back in a days, I could boost my computer and lockpicking skills from 0 to 2 by buying books in the nearby shop and the money required could have been obtained from a dude standing next to the Mercurio's house. Sadly this time he gave me only 25$ or so, and I could not get his watch either. Then I remembered that Bertram's ghoul could have been persuaded or something to give away information that he is working on Nosferatu and spaying on me. I did not manage it this time as well, so I've lost those 3 XP points.

Well glorious start, could have been much better if I could play Malkavian or Tremere in TFN. Can you do it, please?

I have read the forum before writing this and I must admit that the game is not any harder than before. Enemies do more damage, have more life, but in the end you are walking like a demigod- not fun at all.
Some people, including Zer0, say that game became more challenging- not at all. My character had 100 XP pool by the time I got through most of the Chinatown quests and I had not problems getting through the game. In the original VTM:B I had problems only the first time when I played Tremere, spent no points on Dex, Wits or Dodge and without buying armour, plus I had not ranged weapons and Sheriff in the bat form was really painful to defeat.

By focusing in Persuasion and Haggle I was able to almost maximize my XP harvesting efficiency. Well of course I used Obfuscate level 2. Through the game I had Persuasion of 7, upped it to 8 and 9 only at Giovanni Mansion, but then decided that 2 additional XP in at the final stage do not worth spending 9 or 12? XP in my Charisma.

A bug that allowed me to accomplish my deeds more efficiently is this: Have your Finance at level 1 or 2, speak to the Fat Larry (Downtown Vendor) finish his quest, come back, start dialogue and right before you get to the part when he upgrades your Finance ability open the Sheet and get it to 4.... you are Ph.D in finance now ))) I am not sure, but I supposed you are not meant to have Finance 5 for free at this stage of the game. If that is the case, then in other cases it is definitely not. I used this Trick with Romero and got my Firearms 5 from him.

So, basically, by pursuing this strategy I became a cash/XP harvesting machine. Which solved all the problems and game lost the challenge.

By the time I got to the part where the most fighting is done I had Soak: Bashing-7, Lethal-5, Aggravated-5; Def-10

Obfuscate-5: stealth kill all enemies, as it was too boring to suck them dry or spend ages massacring them
Presence-5: and all enemies become pussies, even Ming Xiao did not want to fight at some point, just stood there
Blood Buff-3: cheaper to invest in Dex/Str/Stamina and get them to max of five ...or do they go beyond that?

Dodge-5
Firearms-5
Melee-5
Finance-5
Scholarship-5
Wits-5
Perception-4
Int-3+1
Security-2
Computer-3
Manipulation-3
Charisma-3
Brawl-1

Why not maxed Manipulation? I've decided that 80$ does not worth 12 and 15 or 16 points (with 8 in Haggle book was 915 pr 965, with 10 Haggle it became 750)
Charisma is the same: could be useful at early stages, but then we face severe trade off between Persuasion and other skills, like Finance.

With the Persuasion-Haggle combo I was able to buy quite a few manuals and +1 XP (1000$) Totem, +1 Def fetish, and just before the Golden Temple mission I've spent rest of the money on Flame-thrower and Spas gun. (never used them though)

Suggestion: increase flame-thrower's max capacity and carrying ammo amount. Because 150 disappears in just a second.

Suggestion2: Many late stage locations where fights take place are "empty." Big rooms and just 1-2 defenceless enemies. I would like to see more enemies. In original or how you call it "vanilla" VTM: BLoodlines, Zombie rooms in Downtown and Giovanni Mansion were freaking dangerous! I suspect that you have given them more life or def, but they do not respawn at the same pace or do not respawn at all!

Suggestion3: make them stronger! I have spent about 5 minutes watching SWAT shooting my character. I used no Blood Buff or Presence. They simply could not damage me.

Suggestion4: In one of the topic Zer0 said that he is going ot introduce Supernatural thing into the game, that level above "tolerance" of an NPC will scare him away. Good thing, but still there is much bs in NPCs' behaviour. Chastity sees me when I am Obfuscated enter her dancing room, but then all other Hunters cannot see me Obfuscated-WTF? Why SWAT can't see me either? I am sure they are not usual SWAT as they are guarding the Prince. Or at least they are supposed to have some heat sensor goggles. I mean: these people are supposed to be trained to fight and stand against things like us, but they cannot do anything/much.

Mini Bosses: Again, they just got more HP than others, and a life bar- nice! Make more of them, stronger, give them explosives and firethrowers. Let them dominate and self-explode other swat members, for example.

Bosses: I remember that that Giovanni guy in the Mansion was the only way to get that pistol in VTM:B (Am I right?) In the TFL there is no reason to fight him: no challenge, no rewards, no story line. So I just left him there. I suggest to make them more valuable in terms of gear. A manual would do.

Suggestion5: To my opinion VTM:B was heavily biased towards "happy endings," the only problem was "how to get it?" Jannete/Teresse?- Happy ending?- More XP! Gargoyal?-Happy Ending?- More XP! Two Hit guys in Chinatown?-Happy Ending?- More XP! WTF? You either get it Happy or you get less XP. No alternative reward. I would like to see dilemma of having more really good stuff or an extra XP point. Ok, with the hit guys in Chinatown it could be done, that you kill one or both and take the money. But honestly- who would do that the second time? Not for the amount of money you get.

Suggestion6: Have you played Prototype? Yes/No- as you progress, your enemies progress too. first you run away from cops, then cops change to military and finally there are helicopters with heat missiles, heavy tanks and mutant soldiers. Sounds nice, isn't? So why do I face the same useless cops every time I commit a crime? How about that there is a criminal record on a suspect that matches my outfit and every time the bastards does something they send somebody who could deal with it.... like SWAT! How about Vampires themselves dealing with the Masquerade violations or your enemies know where you are and chase you? For example after two Masquerade violations SWAT appears, does not matter if you have Saved Masquerade before as reward for a quest, they just appear! You go hiding into the Sewers? Lonely Policeman comes after you? no way! Send in the whole swat Brigade (no humanity loss, they hardly can innocent) Killed them? A bunch of Sabbat in the dark corner waiting for you is the best! I mean, you've managed hunters, why not Sabbat or Swat?! And make them hard to kill/get rid off.

Suggestion7: Places are literally empty. I've tried running around using level 9 Inspection. Mostly nothing or some cheap crap that nobody needs, so not worth spending so much. FU Industries got only one Sword in the room with a Lock level 10. WTF?! I was hoping to find at least a bazooka in that room. Nosferatu asylum is empty as well, so are many other places. Giovanni used to have a really good artefact in their basement, it is not there any- you buy from Mr. Ox. And the rest of their house is empty as well. So I found it useless.
Besides, not all items were removed from the game: silver on the top of Sabbat warehouse, cheap watch in Red Dragon toilet.

May be, I've missed something, some really juice items... but are they really worth it? I would suggest to flood some dark corners with some rings, jewellery and strange shit that you could sell or exchange.

Suggestion8: not everything should be sold for cash. Mr. Ox is a very strange man .... Malkavian eyes))) I think in the VTM:B whenever you would try attack him, he just disappeared in white mist. I think his items are supposed to be traded for something more valuable than cash.

for example: you get The Odious Chalice (the blood accumulating fetish) from Pisha and Mr. Ox asks you to bring him some very special blood.... so you have to find 1-10.. 100 of it and then you can exchange it for the fetish you want. Fetishes that do not exist in the game, yet, are welcome.

Suggestion9: I got fetish from Isaac and it disappeared in Mr. Ox's shop. WTF?! Why can't I get more than just one?

Suggestion10: Big ugly, horrible things in the Warrens mostly do not move and watch me killing them. Little jumping things respawn whenever I turn around the corner. WTF?! Besides, they do not chase you after certain point and turn their back. Troika had this issues solved in their patch for VTM:B. And I would like to see some more monsters in the Warrens, they always seemed to me empty. And sewers too, there supposed to be something dark and dangerous in the sewers. Instead, they have better lighting than the streets or any Asylum. WTF?! Switch off the lights and let hungry creatures hunt and lurk in the darkness.

Suggestion11: Some people suggested already a treasure hunt in Ocean House. I suggest to have some other treasure hunters wandering around that place in groups and shooting everything they see. And I suggest as well that there are hidden items of different Inspection requirement level, so people have a motive to come back time after and look if there is something new they may find.
I wonder if you could use the algorithm that activates Spectre item throwing abilities for an algorithm that changes the placement of items every time. Or just make a certain point where it spawns but every time there shall be a different item.

Suggestion12: Too many quests Restore Masquerade- Too few violate it. Perhaps, people on the street should have better awareness of what is going on, when I am feeding behind their back. Because I literally walk behind their backs and drink one by one.

Oh no. Not another one who tries to turn vampire into a bloody first person shooter....

-

Stronciy wrote:

Suggestion: increase flame-thrower's max capacity and carrying ammo amount. Because 150 disappears in just a second.

While I'd agree that the ammo on that is low enough so it does empty rather fast, it obviously isn't meant to be a end all solution to dealing with Vampires by the time you get it. It is something that can be done though, with a very simple edit.

Stronciy wrote:

Suggestion6: Have you played Prototype? Yes/No- as you progress, your enemies progress too. first you run away from cops, then cops change to military and finally there are helicopters with heat missiles, heavy tanks and mutant soldiers. Sounds nice, isn't? So why do I face the same useless cops every time I commit a crime? How about that there is a criminal record on a suspect that matches my outfit and every time the bastards does something they send somebody who could deal with it.... like SWAT! How about Vampires themselves dealing with the Masquerade violations or your enemies know where you are and chase you? For example after two Masquerade violations SWAT appears, does not matter if you have Saved Masquerade before as reward for a quest, they just appear! You go hiding into the Sewers? Lonely Policeman comes after you? no way! Send in the whole swat Brigade (no humanity loss, they hardly can innocent) Killed them? A bunch of Sabbat in the dark corner waiting for you is the best! I mean, you've managed hunters, why not Sabbat or Swat?! And make them hard to kill/get rid off.

The idea of things progressing so bad that there would be SWAT roaming the streets because of a SINGLE Vampire would be exactly the sort of thing the Camarilla would NOT want. It's the wrong kind of attention, because hell, why would there be just ONE?

Stronciy wrote:

Suggestion8: not everything should be sold for cash. Mr. Ox is a very strange man .... Malkavian eyes))) I think in the VTM:B whenever you would try attack him, he just disappeared in white mist. I think his items are supposed to be traded for something more valuable than cash.

for example: you get The Odious Chalice (the blood accumulating fetish) from Pisha and Mr. Ox asks you to bring him some very special blood.... so you have to find 1-10.. 100 of it and then you can exchange it for the fetish you want. Fetishes that do not exist in the game, yet, are welcome.

The main problem with an idea like this, is that new items cannot be added.

Stronciy wrote:

Suggestion9: I got fetish from Isaac and it disappeared in Mr. Ox's shop. WTF?! Why can't I get more than just one?

I don't think Troika meant for the magic items to stack. It's just like the weapons, in which if you already have one in your inventory, you can't pick up another just to sell, you can only buy/pickup ammo for it.

Stronciy wrote:

Suggestion10: Big ugly, horrible things in the Warrens mostly do not move and watch me killing them. Little jumping things respawn whenever I turn around the corner. WTF?! Besides, they do not chase you after certain point and turn their back. Troika had this issues solved in their patch for VTM:B. And I would like to see some more monsters in the Warrens, they always seemed to me empty. And sewers too, there supposed to be something dark and dangerous in the sewers. Instead, they have better lighting than the streets or any Asylum. WTF?! Switch off the lights and let hungry creatures hunt and lurk in the darkness.

Perhaps that area of the game could use to be more atmospheric, but make it too dark, and now it's just asking for the people who LOVED the idea of Amneisa or any similar game, but this isn't that. Plus, there are only 3 Tzimisce creation models, and they are already used in ways that introduce them, and adding more wouldn't really fit.

Stronciy wrote:

Suggestion12: Too many quests Restore Masquerade- Too few violate it. Perhaps, people on the street should have better awareness of what is going on, when I am feeding behind their back. Because I literally walk behind their backs and drink one by one.

Oh sure, turn this into the CRAP that Oblivion pulled, and make it a bitch to feed. As for the Masquerade though, the point is that you DON'T violate the damned thing. You only have five times before it's over, and not all of the violations can be gained through quests.

Childe of Malkav wrote:

Oh no. Not another one who tries to turn vampire into a bloody first person shooter....

-

I want it to be a bloody slasher, not a shooter. I used firearms only in or three places (Brother Cranker and Ming Xiao)

And I don't want to be an Antedeluvian just after completing few quests in one town out of four towns.

You really aren't though.
Also if you want a slasher alone, then I don't think Bloodlines is the game for you.
I also like you you use Prototype as an example, but at the same time don't want to be a walking demigod.

Play the latest Tomb Raider

No seriously, I wouldn't mind having a group of goths outside of the ocean house that would run away because they got injured by some flying object, but said group of goths got already eaten by the zombies

The World of darkness isn't meant to be epic, but because it's a video game, there IS some epicness (I mean wtf seven night old fledgling getting rid of two of three forces in a whole city !). You usually don't play your regular guy in a video game. Except maybe Heavy Rain...

The flamethrower is way overpowered, that's why you have so little possible ammo. I'm fine with it, but then again, I don't play Bloodlines for its mechanics and its combat challenges. I got Deus Ex for that. (Add in Deus Ex Human Revolution and eventually Hitman as others games you can play that could be "slashing" enough without being epic)


On a side note, I don't usually use firearms in Bloodlines because I play mouseless <_<


mini-maxing is something quite common in this kind of games. Nothing can be done about it, sorry :/ That's a native flaw. I'd rather spend my time playing, while you obviously spent your time calculating. And I know calculating, I was a huge hard core HL WoW player for years, always thinking about the best position, the best possible combination of gear and dat shit. But it's interesting to see the bugs you noted, I'll make sure to poke Zer0 out of his lethargic state so he reads this ^^


IIRC you can raise your Physical attributes above 5 with blood buff. As well as during frenzy (that one i'm sure of)


Suggestion 3 : Okay, well when you have a defense score of 10, it's normal that the swat did nothing to you. All their damage is Lethal (which Kindred treat as Bashing).

Suggestion 4 : Chastity sees you because she's not a random nameless hunter. She's an elite one, that's why unlike the others, she has a name (as well as Bach). That shit is all linked to Hunter the Reckoning (the pen and paper game, altho I know there is a Game Cube game...). As for the heat sensors of Swat, well, yeah, but a kindred produces no heat. Obfuscate does not hide you, it affects the perception of others. Let me explain :
If you take a picture of a corner where a Nossie is hiding, you won't see the nossie, but the nossie will appear on the picture. However, aiming at the nossie with your camera and watching the screen won't show you the Nossie, because your perception is being fucked up. Take the picture then check the picture, and that works. It's the same for video cameras. watching it "live" won't show you the nossie or the malk, but watching the tape will.


suggestion 5 : "No alternative reward. I would like to see dilemma of having more really good stuff or an extra XP point." To an extend, I agree. Although getting Jeanette and Therese to live both doesn't make it happy since that in that case you don't get the kinky Jeanette emails, and you can't go back with her... Sex with Jeanette, or the extra XP ? Again, we have the same issue with Heather. Either get the last armor and she dies, or you send her on her way before and you don't get the armor.


There just aren't that many supernaturals around, and there aren't that many policemen either. Remember, this is the fucking world of darkness. Throughout the world there are maybe 100 Tremere Antitribu (one being in that fucking Hollobrock Hotel), and no more than 20 or 30 of each of the bloodlines. A regular city has maybe 30 to 40 kindred. Mexico City, the world's most populated cainite city (Sabbat'n'stuff) has "only" 200 to 250 kindred in total. There's no Sabbat Pack lurking in every corner

Claudia wrote:

Play the latest Tomb Raider
On a side note, I don't usually use firearms in Bloodlines because I play mouseless <_<

What sorcery is this?

Dragatus wrote:

Claudia wrote:

Play the latest Tomb Raider
On a side note, I don't usually use firearms in Bloodlines because I play mouseless <_<

What sorcery is this?

Not sorcery. Skill.

I play lying down on a bed with the laptop on the knees and watching TV. I play soundless and mouseless Though sometimes I do put on headphones for the lulz.

Read my thread on modding text files (simple modding tips to get you started) and you can make the game difficult to your heart's content.

As Claudia said, there are supposed to be tough choices in the game, so some more of those wouldn't hurt, but I can't think of any that would easily be able to be put in the game.

Personally, I never liked that all the 'bonus' XP was for 'sneaking' characters - Going through the Elizabeth Dane or museum without killing anyone, planting the Astrolite undetected (not sure if that one is vanilla or Wesp), getting out of the warehouse without killing anyone (WTF? No one died in that blast?).

If I ever bothered to brush up on my Python I might matching bonus XP for killing everyone (all or nothing, no bonus for a job half done) in an area. No one can possibly talk and break the masquerade if no one who saw you was left alive. That should count for something.

Remember though - the reason the game becomes so combat oriented at the end - Warrens/Chinatown/Leopold/Hallowbrook is in large part because Activision rushed the game out the door without giving Troika time to finish it. Look at the pathetic side quests we get in Chinatown: Go across the street and bring my back some eyeballs. Talk to two old farts and get them to make nice. Kill a fat slob in a locker room (ok, here you get bonus XP for the 'violent' solution).

One thing I tried recently over on Tess' place was a 'no side quest challenge'. I did it with the TPG, but you can do the same thing with TFN (or CE or any other patch/mod). You want to make the game more challenging - this is a good way to do it. Only do the main plot - you can get heather and do the two emails from the prince, but nothing else.

You'll find shopping wisely becomes a lot more important as does placing your skills. In my playthrough I managed to get through to the Sheriff (I don't think I would have made it though Hallowbrook with bloodloss, as I did a lot of 'kill one and hide while you heal', but there is a lot of food lying around there, so maybe I would have. But I couldn't kill the sheriff.

I could get him to bat form, but there just wasn't enough juice left in the tank to finish the job. I could have spent my points better (the points I spent in Dementation were pretty worthless by the time I had enough to get up to VoD, so there's 15 points) and shopped a little wiser, which may have made the difference. Also, having mad melee skillz for the first battle would help a lot - I always took a lot of hits.

I have mentioned before, that I played game long time ago. I played for a Tremere girl. No armour, no points in Def increasing skills/attributes. So was pretty tough. I could not kill Sheriff as well, but then found that the first Trumugraphy skill: blood spill that returns to you. Heals and restores blood at the same time. So that is how I managed.

I will wait for TFN 1.2 and play then, I hope VTM: bloodlines clans will be available as well

Stronciy wrote:

I hope VTM: bloodlines clans will be available as well

That won't happen. It's not possible.