Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines thread (Possible spoilers inside)

[Geoffrey S]

The final boss in theory is a lot easier - however, after fighting his normal form, his second form forced me to cheat again. For some reason, my framerate in that final sequence was abominable and entirely unplayable without cheats.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Celerity, blood buff, 10 blood bags + 2 elder vitae finished... no way.

Thanks for the cheat help Husar. I think I'm going to skip this one with god mode.
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[Sarmatian]

I had more problems with the Sheriff than Ming Xiao. But with celerity to the max (or almost) any fight is a piece of cake. The game was rushed, that's why a lot of parts weren't balanced properly, but it still is a truly great game. One of the best RPG's ever...

[Kekvit Irae]

I hate Auspex. The Cost:Reward ratio you get when upgrading Auspex isn't worth upgrading it behind the first dot.
No boss is immune to Presence, but they can be resistant.

Even with a sword user, I ALWAYS carry a flamethrower with full compliment of ammo when taking on Ming Xiao and the Sheriff. The Sheriff is especially vulnerable, and I find his second stage fight to be very easy on any character. For Ming Xiao, however, you'll need Celerity, and plenty of it.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Unless I have a patience made of steel titanium and the geekiness at least 2X of the present level, I can't beat Ming Xiao without cheating. Even with god-mode on it took like ten minutes to finish her off.

The Sheriff was a piece of cake with some celerity. But...

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The overgrown bat type that fetches you afterwards, without a pause, required me to go god-mode again. It wouldn't pose a threat by itself but all those goblin-like stuff clawing at you without you having a chance to feed...that was to much.

And after all the hassle...

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What a anti-climactic final is that?! You either blow up or discover that you're a fool of a prick. GAH!

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[OverKnight]

Remember, if you're using melee weapons you can use the tab key to block. Without celerity, I'd figure you get two whacks in and then it's time to block.

About Ming

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Frustrating fight, but as a Toreador, I managed to kill her by keeping up blood buff/celerity and hacking the tentacle spawn before they grew bigger. There's an optioni n the gameplay menu where you can set disciplines to auto-renew. I'd suggest using the flamethrower at the get go and then going in with the Tael'ma'ra blade.

If you're character is better with firearms, stick and move, use full auto weapons (she's hard to miss) and keep moving. Don't get cornered and kill the tentacle spawn before they grow.

When I played Malkav, I spammed Vision of Death using blood packs and that took a nasty chunk out of her. Active disciplines won't effect bosses fully, but they'll still work.

As for the flying bat, activate the spot lights to blind and down it and then bar-b-que it with the flamethrower. Make sure to keep your six clear of the respawning enemies on the ground, the flamethrower is useful for that as well.

As econ21 said before, gamebanshee has a good guide as well.

Of course, these fights made me wish I could get a tactical nuke from Mercurio.

As for the ending, they're multiple ones, but I agree it's pretty much a choice of who's patsy you end up being. Still better a patsy who lives than some of the other results.

Edit: A question that's been bugging me

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Why did Jack go to all that trouble? If he wanted LaCroix dead, why not just use a less circuitious way to kill him? Or is it some sort of reverse Anarch litmus test, where anyone who's authoritarian and ambitious enough to open the sarcaphagus is removed?

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Why did Jack go to all that trouble? If he wanted LaCroix dead, why not just use a less circuitious way to kill him? Or is it some sort of reverse Anarch litmus test, where anyone who's authoritarian and ambitious enough to open the sarcaphagus is removed?

I have no answer but inconsistency due to the ned game being rushed. The Anarch final is really inconsistent; Niñes (and I hate them pronouncing it "nayns") just disappears; you don't meet him to report success etc. Why is that slow-motion hearing seeing Jack and the mummy? If Jack was such a power monger ass, why did he save your life when you were nothing but a neonate?...

From the walkthrough, the only logical ending appears to be that of the Regent's. He thanks you and hides the Sarcophagus.

And that one! Why would Beckett go freaky if it contains nothing but a harmless mummy? Full of inconsistencies all around...

Still, the early and mid game were wonderful, the humour was brilliant and the artwork was beautiful. Despite the rushed out final and imbalanced boss battles the experience was worth the time invested.

I give the game 3 out of 5, or even 7/10.
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[OverKnight]

Now that you're done, I suggest you play once more as a Malkavian. Your dialogue options are completely different, and you gain a further insight into the game, like Velvet's real name.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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I'll probably do that. (Yase, I'm desperate Whacker! ) I might try a Tremere too, for learning further stuff from Maximillian.
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[Ironside]

I hate Auspex. The Cost:Reward ratio you get when upgrading Auspex isn't worth upgrading it behind the first dot.

I guess I got fond of it when I found out that it improved the firearm skill high enough to make the sniper rifle useful, and it's long lasting enough to make it possible to be active constantly without much of a blood drain. The occational feeding is enough.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Why did Jack go to all that trouble? If he wanted LaCroix dead, why not just use a less circuitious way to kill him? Or is it some sort of reverse Anarch litmus test, where anyone who's authoritarian and ambitious enough to open the sarcaphagus is removed?

Let see now, the Sabbat goes in to the open, loses and in the sane choises, the Kuei Jin is also pretty badly damaged. How do you think the key ended up at the Kuei Jin in the first place? LaCroix death isn't the only thing that happens. And Jack is pretty much home free on the killings as well, as the game characters lack some information we get.

I have no answer but inconsistency due to the ned game being rushed. The Anarch final is really inconsistent; Niñes (and I hate them pronouncing it "nayns") just disappears; you don't meet him to report success etc.

The only thing inconsistant is that they lack an indication that you're still alive after the blast imo. I give that the choises in the end is a bit odd, as you have a tendency of wanting to walk out with the key, but that option doesn't exist.

Why is that slow-motion hearing seeing Jack and the mummy? If Jack was such a power monger ass, why did he save your life when you were nothing but a neonate?...

I guess that they show you the mummy so, you can be sure what was in the sarcophogus from the start. As for saving you, he might have gotten some insight that you will end up important for his plan, there's probably more than one Malkavian that gets odd insights about you for example. You know someone is sending you those chess mails.
Otherwise I suspect he's pretty indifferent about you getting out there alive or not.

And that one! Why would Beckett go freaky if it contains nothing but a harmless mummy? Full of inconsistencies all around...

Because he found out that it's a bomb in there perhaps? And telling you that would probably end up with LaCroix knowing that and that would be politics, something Beckett avoids.

[OverKnight]

If I could write my own ending:

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I'd pummel LaCroix with the key for about an hour screaming, "Is this what you wanted? Huh!? You still want the key, you spineless fop? This is what you get for making me run your stupid errands!"

I'd then diablerise the nancy bastard. Using my new found elder powers, I'd cow the Primogen into bending the knee, stick the sarcophagus into a warehouse, and forge a truce with the Anarchs because Isaac, Nines and Tourette like me so much, since I ran their stupid errands.

Then I'd rule LA with an Iron fist, making others run my errands muhahahahahaha.

Oh and I'd find out who stole my bike in the 5th grade and take my revenge.

[Kekvit Irae]

I guess I got fond of it when I found out that it improved the firearm skill high enough to make the sniper rifle useful, and it's long lasting enough to make it possible to be active constantly without much of a blood drain. The occational feeding is enough.

I have no love for the sniper rifle. If you want a scope plus high damage, go for the Steyr Aug.

[Vlad Dracula]

They need a Vampire mod for the Total War series.