Let's Play: Vampire: Bloodlines - Page 8

Solid Snake · 08-04-2008, 10:54 PM

I didn't realize there were so many different outfits available for the female character. The third female outfit works well and I think it catches the "female in a business suit" thing Fifth and I (and others?) were hoping for.
But hell man, it's your LP, do what you want?

Sir Pinkleton · 08-04-2008, 11:14 PM

Female. [/vote]

Zakreon · 08-04-2008, 11:25 PM

It just seems like people chose Ventrue for that one concept shot. Go female, 3rd outfit.

bananarama · 08-04-2008, 11:28 PM

Female 3rd or 4th outfit.

Melfice · 08-04-2008, 11:40 PM

Do note that you acquire those outfits later on. You can't choose it from the start.

Zakreon · 08-04-2008, 11:54 PM

Lame! Well just female then.

DFM · 08-05-2008, 12:37 AM

While we're waiting, I should probably clarify that those outfits are ones you buy in the game, you only have one starting outfit and that's the one on the left. Don't worry, someday we'll make enough to afford that suit!

And now here's the fun and final part of character creation! We get to choose an origin story and our initial stats/abilities! In the game, your origin doesn't affect the story in any way beyond your starting stats and sometimes starting equipment, which makes sense since most vampires don't care about you now much less what you were as a human.

However, this being a let's play the origin story you pick is going to heavily influence the tone and style of the character in terms of narration and non polled decisions.

I'll let you mull that over for a bit while the rest of us who aren't indecisive pricks and have already chosen an origin story will move on to the stat screen for the final step of character creation.

It should be noted that we are for now using the default character template, as some of the origin stories modify the order of things. THIS SCREEN MAY LOOK DIFFERENT IN THE FINAL VERSION!

Okay, up in the top left there is your name. Your name is DFM. I named you that because I hate you. On the top right, towards the end, is your humanity meter, measured in little red dots. The more dots you have the more you resemble a soul-carrying human who tries to do right by people and is nice to puppies rather than a rotting husk of undead flesh that exists only devour the good and just. Ten points is the maximum, seven is the default start. The lower you go the more likely you are to frenzy and uncontrollably attack anything and everything around you. Also I think people treat you a lot differently when you've got only one or two humanity points. I wouldn't know though, because I'm not a bastard.

The very far top right, your Masquerade meter, is your level of exposure to the mortal world around you. That is, how aware the humans are that there's something not right with you. Throwing cars at buildings, running at the speed of sound, telekenetically ripping the blood from someone's body and surrounding yourself with it like a shield are all examples of things that will cause humans to scratch their chins and go "Hmmmmmmmmmm"

If you become too exposed, you'll start to get vampire hunters coming after you, and eventually your fellow vampires too, because they're not too keen on humanity becoming aware that they exist because that would be bad news for vampires. (It turns out humans can be pretty mean if they want to be.)

Okay, the first major box below all that is full of our attributes. The little parentheses denote how many points we have to spend in that particular area. The ones next to the title (Attributes) are the total number, and the ones next to the sub headings are the points we can spend in that particular area.

Since Ventrue are, well, Ventrue, their social attributes take priority, and we get two starting points to put into them.

CHARISMA: Affects your Persuasion feat, which opens up new dialog options. REALLY? YES. YES IT'S TRUE.

MANIPULATION: Affects your Haggle feat, which gets you better prices when purchasing many of the games fine items like estrogen pills and killotechmatic fifty caliber assault rifles.

APPEARANCE: Makes you a pretty little princess and affects your seduction feat. Seduction gives you more dialog options and lets you pick up higher and higher classes of fleshy blood bags for you to feed on.

Mental is our next highest attribute, with an almighty one point we can put into it wherever we choose!

Perception: How awesome are your jeepers peepers? Modifies your ranged combat skill and your inspection feat. Inspection makes it easier to see items/clues in the game by highlighting them with great, bushy sparkles. Not all that useful if you've played the game before BUT WHATEVER MAN.

Intelligence: THIS IS HOW YOUR BRAIN MUCH WORKY. It affects your research skill (If you can read books to get skill points) and also for some reason your intimidation. I guess you got a doctorate in psychology or something.

Wits: Think on your feet so you're not knocked off them! Modifies your defense and your hacking.

We don't get any points we can put into physical attributes because we are a giant limp wristed skank.

ABILITIES are our next little box! They... Holy god this is a lot of shit no way am I going through all this I am fucking bored as hell and I'm not even half through. Okay look I'll just pick all the stats so they fit the origin you guys end up picking and I'll let you choose the really cool thing:

DISCIPLINES

These are like the magical schools your bloodline can have, since they give you magical vampire powers. HERE ARE THE VENTRUE'S.

DOMINATE

The superior strength of the vampiric mind allows your character to control the minds of weaker kine and even some Kindred. Dominate effects are covert actions; they cannot be traced back to you and carry no risk of violating the Masquerade.

Level 1: Trance

The target momentarily sinks into a deep trance. Taking any action against the target will wake them prematurely.

Level 2: Brainwipe

All enemies within a small radius will think you've disappeared. This effect wears off after 5 seconds.

Level 3: Suicide

Forces the victim into a fatal episode.

Level 4: Possession

The victim will desperately attack anyone who means you harm, until the victim eventually dies of cardiac arrest.

Level 5: Mass Suicide

The target and all others nearby have a fatal episode.

FORTITUDE

Fortitude allows for amazing displays of preternatural constitution. Guarantees a certain amount of damage from every incoming attack will be ignored, regardless of the source. The use of Fortitude is not considered a violation of the Masquerade.

All the levels in this just make you progressively more capable of surviving damage so I won't list each one.

PRESENCE

The dread Presence of the vampire can strike mortal fear into the hearts of his opponents. Reduces enemies' effectiveness in combat. No risk of Masquerade violation.

I guess Ventrue really don't like violating that pesky Masquerade!

Same as fortitude, just reduces enemy stats and attack rate at progressively higher levels.

PICK YOUR DISCIPLINE WELL AS IT IS THE ONE I WILL FOCUS ON EXCLUSIVELY UNTIL I HAVE SKILL POINTS SWIMMING OUT MY EARS AND DROPPING INTO THE SEWER GRATE UNDER THE SIDEWALK SO THAT I MUST GET DOWN ON MY HANDS AND KNEES AND MAR MY SUIT IN DIRTY PISS WATER WHILE I GROPE DESPERATELY FOR MY LOST SKILL POINTS I KILLED A WEREWOLF TO GET THOSE SKILL POINTS YOU FUCKING GAME.

Preturbed · 08-05-2008, 01:05 AM

Can you give us the rest of War Profiteer? I'm not voting for it but it should get a fair shake.

Voting for Debutante.

DFM · 08-05-2008, 01:13 AM

Switch Ability order to: Knowledges, Skills, Talents

Krylo · 08-05-2008, 01:34 AM

Diabolic + Dominate.

Violent, cruel, and with the ability to make everyone in the room kill themselves.

08-04-2008, 10:54 PM	#71
Solid Snake Erotic Esquire Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 5,563	I didn't realize there were so many different outfits available for the female character. The third female outfit works well and I think it catches the "female in a business suit" thing Fifth and I (and others?) were hoping for. But hell man, it's your LP, do what you want? __________________ *WARNING:* Snek's all up in this thread. Be prepared to read massive walls of text.

08-04-2008, 11:25 PM	#73
Zakreon Engineer awaaaay! Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: A constant state of Misery Posts: 312	It just seems like people chose Ventrue for that one concept shot. Go female, 3rd outfit. __________________ ~ Reflect Games ~ HoRP ~

08-04-2008, 11:54 PM	#76
Zakreon Engineer awaaaay! Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: A constant state of Misery Posts: 312	Lame! Well just female then. __________________ ~ Reflect Games ~ HoRP ~

08-05-2008, 12:37 AM	#77
DFM Om Nom Nom Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 3,850	While we're waiting, I should probably clarify that those outfits are ones you buy in the game, you only have one starting outfit and that's the one on the left. Don't worry, someday we'll make enough to afford that suit! And now here's the fun and final part of character creation! We get to choose an origin story and our initial stats/abilities! In the game, your origin doesn't affect the story in any way beyond your starting stats and sometimes starting equipment, which makes sense since most vampires don't care about you now much less what you were as a human. However, this being a let's play the origin story you pick is going to heavily influence the tone and style of the character in terms of narration and non polled decisions. I'll let you mull that over for a bit while the rest of us who aren't indecisive pricks and have already chosen an origin story will move on to the stat screen for the final step of character creation. It should be noted that we are for now using the default character template, as some of the origin stories modify the order of things. THIS SCREEN MAY LOOK DIFFERENT IN THE FINAL VERSION! Okay, up in the top left there is your name. Your name is DFM. I named you that because I hate you. On the top right, towards the end, is your humanity meter, measured in little red dots. The more dots you have the more you resemble a soul-carrying human who tries to do right by people and is nice to puppies rather than a rotting husk of undead flesh that exists only devour the good and just. Ten points is the maximum, seven is the default start. The lower you go the more likely you are to frenzy and uncontrollably attack anything and everything around you. Also I think people treat you a lot differently when you've got only one or two humanity points. I wouldn't know though, because I'm not a bastard. The very far top right, your Masquerade meter, is your level of exposure to the mortal world around you. That is, how aware the humans are that there's something not right with you. Throwing cars at buildings, running at the speed of sound, telekenetically ripping the blood from someone's body and surrounding yourself with it like a shield are all examples of things that will cause humans to scratch their chins and go "Hmmmmmmmmmm" If you become too exposed, you'll start to get vampire hunters coming after you, and eventually your fellow vampires too, because they're not too keen on humanity becoming aware that they exist because that would be bad news for vampires. (It turns out humans can be pretty mean if they want to be.) Okay, the first major box below all that is full of our attributes. The little parentheses denote how many points we have to spend in that particular area. The ones next to the title (Attributes) are the total number, and the ones next to the sub headings are the points we can spend in that particular area. Since Ventrue are, well, Ventrue, their social attributes take priority, and we get two starting points to put into them. CHARISMA: Affects your Persuasion feat, which opens up new dialog options. REALLY? YES. YES IT'S TRUE. MANIPULATION: Affects your Haggle feat, which gets you better prices when purchasing many of the games fine items like estrogen pills and killotechmatic fifty caliber assault rifles. APPEARANCE: Makes you a pretty little princess and affects your seduction feat. Seduction gives you more dialog options and lets you pick up higher and higher classes of fleshy blood bags for you to feed on. Mental is our next highest attribute, with an almighty one point we can put into it wherever we choose! Perception: How awesome are your jeepers peepers? Modifies your ranged combat skill and your inspection feat. Inspection makes it easier to see items/clues in the game by highlighting them with great, bushy sparkles. Not all that useful if you've played the game before BUT WHATEVER MAN. Intelligence: THIS IS HOW YOUR BRAIN MUCH WORKY. It affects your research skill (If you can read books to get skill points) and also for some reason your intimidation. I guess you got a doctorate in psychology or something. Wits: Think on your feet so you're not knocked off them! Modifies your defense and your hacking. We don't get any points we can put into physical attributes because we are a giant limp wristed skank. ABILITIES are our next little box! They... Holy god this is a lot of shit no way am I going through all this I am fucking bored as hell and I'm not even half through. Okay look I'll just pick all the stats so they fit the origin you guys end up picking and I'll let you choose the really cool thing: DISCIPLINES These are like the magical schools your bloodline can have, since they give you magical vampire powers. HERE ARE THE VENTRUE'S. DOMINATE The superior strength of the vampiric mind allows your character to control the minds of weaker kine and even some Kindred. Dominate effects are covert actions; they cannot be traced back to you and carry no risk of violating the Masquerade. Level 1: Trance The target momentarily sinks into a deep trance. Taking any action against the target will wake them prematurely. Level 2: Brainwipe All enemies within a small radius will think you've disappeared. This effect wears off after 5 seconds. Level 3: Suicide Forces the victim into a fatal episode. Level 4: Possession The victim will desperately attack anyone who means you harm, until the victim eventually dies of cardiac arrest. Level 5: Mass Suicide The target and all others nearby have a fatal episode. FORTITUDE Fortitude allows for amazing displays of preternatural constitution. Guarantees a certain amount of damage from every incoming attack will be ignored, regardless of the source. The use of Fortitude is not considered a violation of the Masquerade. All the levels in this just make you progressively more capable of surviving damage so I won't list each one. PRESENCE The dread Presence of the vampire can strike mortal fear into the hearts of his opponents. Reduces enemies' effectiveness in combat. No risk of Masquerade violation. I guess Ventrue really don't like violating that pesky Masquerade! Same as fortitude, just reduces enemy stats and attack rate at progressively higher levels. PICK YOUR DISCIPLINE WELL AS IT IS THE ONE I WILL FOCUS ON EXCLUSIVELY UNTIL I HAVE SKILL POINTS SWIMMING OUT MY EARS AND DROPPING INTO THE SEWER GRATE UNDER THE SIDEWALK SO THAT I MUST GET DOWN ON MY HANDS AND KNEES AND MAR MY SUIT IN DIRTY PISS WATER WHILE I GROPE DESPERATELY FOR MY LOST SKILL POINTS I KILLED A WEREWOLF TO GET THOSE SKILL POINTS YOU FUCKING GAME. __________________ [14:26] ManoftheRus: YOU GODDAMN SNEAKY DEE

08-05-2008, 01:05 AM	#78
Preturbed betrayal! Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1,092	Can you give us the rest of War Profiteer? I'm not voting for it but it should get a fair shake. Voting for Debutante. __________________ sudden but inevitable

08-04-2008, 11:14 PM	#72
Sir Pinkleton What's going on? Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Hillsboro, Oregon Posts: 1,237	Female. [/vote]

08-04-2008, 11:28 PM	#74
bananarama Old Gregg Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,189	Female 3rd or 4th outfit.

08-05-2008, 01:13 AM	#79
DFM Om Nom Nom Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 3,850	Switch Ability order to: Knowledges, Skills, Talents __________________ [14:26] ManoftheRus: YOU GODDAMN SNEAKY DEE

08-05-2008, 01:34 AM	#80
Krylo The Straightest Shota Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: It's a secret to everybody. Posts: 17,789	Diabolic + Dominate. Violent, cruel, and with the ability to make everyone in the room kill themselves. __________________ I am very tired.