Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines help

[TakerFoxx]

This would probably be better posted on Gamefaqs, but I don't have an account there and don't feel like making one, so what the hell.

Anyway, for the last week or so I've been playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines and am enjoying it immensely. However, I've run into a few problems that my Googlefu is unable to solve, so maybe someone here can help me out.

1. The first problem is with Samantha. I'm playing as a Malkavian (and who wouldn't?), and as I understand it, that should give me the option of dementing her into believing that I'm really her long lost pet turtle. However, despite being able to dement people without problem back in Santa Monica, the option for that is not popping up. Do I need to level up my Dementation for it to work? And if so, how far?

2. The second one is the Thinned Blood quest. I failed to talk to E upon arriving on the beach, and now he and his buddies have taken off, don't know where. Do I have to start the quest before a certain point in the game? And if so, are there any other quests like this I should know about?

3. This one is more of a glitch, but every time I return to an area by cab, the first thing my character does upon arrival is enact a melee attack. Usually not a problem, but I've had cops spawn right next to me before, which caused the attack to hit them, netting me a criminal violation. Is this a known glitch, and if so, is there anyway to stop it? I've already downloaded the Unofficial Patch, but it doesn't seem to have prevented this.

Anyway, any help you guys can give me would be very much appreciated.

 

[The Madman]

I really don't recommend Malkavian for a first playthrough, they're just more fun if you've played another clan first and each of them has their own clever unique elements as well so it's not like it's an inferior experience. Go Go Team Tremere! But seeing as you're already half-way through the game it's a bit late for that now. Anyway...

1. Probably just not powerful enough. As for how many points into it you'd need, no clue, but I don't recall it being too tough.

2. Sounds like a glitch to me, unless you purposely chase them off the Thinned Bloods should stick around the beach till the end of the game more or less. There's even a side-quest later on in the game that also involves them.

3. Just sounds like another glitch to me, never had that problem.

I know you said you installed it but is THIS the unofficial patch you installed? I just ask because at one point there were two competing 'unofficial patches' so there could be some confusion over which to download that works best.

 

[TakerFoxx]

I really don't recommend Malkavian for a first playthrough, they're just more fun if you've played another clan first and each of them has their own clever unique elements as well so it's not like it's an inferior experience. Go Go Team Tremere! But seeing as you're already half-way through the game it's a bit late for that now. Anyway...

But...but they're just so entertaining! And they've got Obfuscate! Plus, I play a Malk in the tabletop version, and wanted to make my Bloodlines character as close to her as possible.

1. Probably just not powerful enough. As for how many points into it you'd need, no clue, but I don't recall it being too tough.

That's what I figured. Damn it, and I wanted to drop those points into Obfuscate.

Yes, that's my go-to discipline.

2. Sounds like a glitch to me, unless you purposely chase them off the Thinned Bloods should stick around the beach till the end of the game more or less. There's even a side-quest later on in the game that also involves them.

Damn it. Though come to think of it, it didn't happen until after I had installed the patch. Maybe that's what caused the problem?

3. Just sounds like another glitch to me, never had that problem.

Guess I'll just have to deal then.

I know you said you installed it but is THIS the unofficial patch you installed? I just ask because at one point there were two competing 'unofficial patches' so there could be some confusion over which to download that works best.

Looks like. I got it from here though. Strangely enough, I've actually encountered more glitches after installing it, though to be fair, they do recommend installing it before you start playing, and I put it while I was already in the middle of a playthrough.

 

[SanguiniusMagnificum]

Well, well, well... look at this, another VTM player... Here, let me post you a great walkthrough and FAQ, I used it on my playthrough, it will answer most if not all of your questions.

Spoiler

http://www.gamebanshee.com/vampirebloodlines/walkthrough.php

Also, I hope you're playing it with the latest fan-based patch, it makes it run more smoothly and removes quite a lot of bugs while adding some content that was cut out of the game.

 

[Subatomic]

Looks like. I got it from here though. Strangely enough, I've actually encountered more glitches after installing it, though to be fair, they do recommend installing it before you start playing, and I put it while I was already in the middle of a playthrough.

That is most likely the source of all your problems then. Installing the patch in the middle of a playthrough is a very bad idea, it messes with a lot of the internal scripting and can cause quest to be uncompletable, NPCs to disappear and other unpleasant stuff. There's a reason the readme strongly suggest not doing it.

 

[Jaythulhu]

1. The first problem is with Samantha. I'm playing as a Malkavian (and who wouldn't?), and as I understand it, that should give me the option of dementing her into believing that I'm really her long lost pet turtle. However, despite being able to dement people without problem back in Santa Monica, the option for that is not popping up. Do I need to level up my Dementation for it to work? And if so, how far?

I believe it's 3 or 4. You also need reasonably high levels in the attributes that dementation rolls on.

2. The second one is the Thinned Blood quest. I failed to talk to E upon arriving on the beach, and now he and his buddies have taken off, don't know where. Do I have to start the quest before a certain point in the game? And if so, are there any other quests like this I should know about?

You've missed it. This quest has to be started and finished before you leave santa monica the first time.

3. This one is more of a glitch, but every time I return to an area by cab, the first thing my character does upon arrival is enact a melee attack. Usually not a problem, but I've had cops spawn right next to me before, which caused the attack to hit them, netting me a criminal violation. Is this a known glitch, and if so, is there anyway to stop it? I've already downloaded the Unofficial Patch, but it doesn't seem to have prevented this.

That's why they say install it before starting a game. The version of the HL2 engine that valve gave troika was an early beta, and they reneged on their deal to provide a final copy of their engine. That's the main reason the game is so full of bugs. Installing the unofficial patches makes a lot of changes, and that leads to weird stuff happening in an unpatched save.

I suggest grabbing one of the world mods from planet vampire, they fix a lot of stuff that the patches don't. In fact, grabbing most of the mods from there is a good idea.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I really don't recommend Malkavian for a first playthrough

I really don't get why people say not to start with them. Why the fuck not? "oh their inner voices sort of maybe provide vague foreshadowing if you can pick out what the fuck they're saying and that is totally overpowered"

They're the most entertaining, endearing, fun and charming class in the game by far, I had to spend a good while convincing myself to not pick another Malkavian for my second playthrough. The invisibility is just hilarious. The entire last combat section was me just speedrunning it because lol lvl 5 Obfuscate OP. SWAT team comes in from the ceiling and stands there awkwardly as I breeze past effortlessly.

I picked Tremere now and i'm going for the most snobby, holier than thou, stuck up ***** rich chick known to man. It's 'k though because I picked the Runaway past so it's all repressed childhood trauma making her push people away immediately and I may develop her character out of it later. Fun times.

I did try to make that a guns playthrough for all of an hour before I remembered that every supernatural creature (I.E everything threatening) have a 50% damage reduction from firearms at base. Squishiest shit ever still doesn't even blink when shot.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I really don't get why people say not to start with them. Why the fuck not? "oh their inner voices sort of maybe provide vague foreshadowing if you can pick out what the fuck they're saying and that is totally overpowered"

They're the most entertaining, endearing, fun and charming class in the game by far, I had to spend a good while convincing myself to not pick another Malkavian for my second playthrough. The invisibility is just hilarious. The entire last combat section was me just speedrunning it because lol lvl 5 Obfuscate OP. SWAT team comes in from the ceiling and stands there awkwardly as I breeze past effortlessly.

I picked Tremere now and i'm going for the most snobby, holier than thou, stuck up ***** rich chick known to man. It's 'k though because I picked the Runaway past so it's all repressed childhood trauma making her push people away immediately and I may develop her character out of it later. Fun times.

I did try to make that a guns playthrough for all of an hour before I remembered that every supernatural creature (I.E everything threatening) have a 50% damage reduction from firearms at base. Squishiest shit ever still doesn't even blink when shot.

Well, I think it's wise to play as a more normal clan first, so you understand what's going on and what is "supposed" to happen. Mind you, as much as I like the Malkavian, a few bits are a bit hit or miss.

I didn't like Obfuscate myself, but then I never spent many points on it, maybe I should try again with more.

As for guns...dunno...lot of monsters take a lot of bullets, but then you can have lots of ammo and decent rate of fire. The flamethrower especially is very good. And there's always lots of human enemies.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I really don't get why people say not to start with them. Why the fuck not? "oh their inner voices sort of maybe provide vague foreshadowing if you can pick out what the fuck they're saying and that is totally overpowered"

They're the most entertaining, endearing, fun and charming class in the game by far, I had to spend a good while convincing myself to not pick another Malkavian for my second playthrough. The invisibility is just hilarious. The entire last combat section was me just speedrunning it because lol lvl 5 Obfuscate OP. SWAT team comes in from the ceiling and stands there awkwardly as I breeze past effortlessly.

I picked Tremere now and i'm going for the most snobby, holier than thou, stuck up ***** rich chick known to man. It's 'k though because I picked the Runaway past so it's all repressed childhood trauma making her push people away immediately and I may develop her character out of it later. Fun times.

I did try to make that a guns playthrough for all of an hour before I remembered that every supernatural creature (I.E everything threatening) have a 50% damage reduction from firearms at base. Squishiest shit ever still doesn't even blink when shot.

Well, I think it's wise to play as a more normal clan first, so you understand what's going on and what is "supposed" to happen. Mind you, as much as I like the Malkavian, a few bits are a bit hit or miss.

I didn't like Obfuscate myself, but then I never spent many points on it, maybe I should try again with more.

As for guns...dunno...lot of monsters take a lot of bullets, but then you can have lots of ammo and decent rate of fire. The flamethrower especially is very good. And there's always lots of human enemies.

I could never find any Flamethrower ammo at all and I used all of my money to max out every type of blood pack there is and just hit things with a katana/ Vision of Death'd everything. Ah I cheesed the Sabbat leader boss fight towards the end of the game with it though, he was wrecking me so I set him on fire and it took the last third of his health down alone.

As for human enemies... We eat the human enemies :3 You hit them with a melee weapon, they get staggered then you eat them while they're on the ropes.

You know using the stealth kill while invisible doesn't reveal you? You can literally walk into a room and systematically backstab everyone and they can do nothing to you. You then eat the last one to get all your blood points back. Rinse and facking repeat.

Level 5 Obfuscate. Balanced.

 

[TakerFoxx]

That is most likely the source of all your problems then. Installing the patch in the middle of a playthrough is a very bad idea, it messes with a lot of the internal scripting and can cause quest to be uncompletable, NPCs to disappear and other unpleasant stuff. There's a reason the readme strongly suggest not doing it.

You've missed it. This quest has to be started and finished before you leave santa monica the first time.

That's why they say install it before starting a game. The version of the HL2 engine that valve gave troika was an early beta, and they reneged on their deal to provide a final copy of their engine. That's the main reason the game is so full of bugs. Installing the unofficial patches makes a lot of changes, and that leads to weird stuff happening in an unpatched save.

Whelp, looks like I'm starting a new game then! Ah well, at least it's only a week's worth of progress.

 

[The Madman]

Looks like. I got it from here though. Strangely enough, I've actually encountered more glitches after installing it, though to be fair, they do recommend installing it before you start playing, and I put it while I was already in the middle of a playthrough.

Good chance that's the problem right there, starting a new game after installing the patch would have been wisest.

I really don't recommend Malkavian for a first playthrough

I really don't get why people say not to start with them. Why the fuck not? "oh their inner voices sort of maybe provide vague foreshadowing if you can pick out what the fuck they're saying and that is totally overpowered"

They're the most entertaining, endearing, fun and charming class in the game by far, I had to spend a good while convincing myself to not pick another Malkavian for my second playthrough. The invisibility is just hilarious. The entire last combat section was me just speedrunning it because lol lvl 5 Obfuscate OP. SWAT team comes in from the ceiling and stands there awkwardly as I breeze past effortlessly.

Just because playing as a malkavian doesn't always make understanding the plot very easy, nor will a player who hasn't previously played the game with another clan catch on to a lot of what their character is saying.

Malkavian's are fun because they're not only completely an utterly batshit nuts but also, to a degree anyway, oracles. They can see things other people can't: The past, the present, the future. And if you've played the game previously with another clan you're going to recognize a lot of that in your own characters dialogue which you wouldn't otherwise.

Thus, more fun on a second playthrough. Not saying you can't play Malks first, by all means go for it, but it'll be even more fun if you go into it already having some idea what to expect. That's where the clever dialogue shines the brightest, as you realize your character has already predicted half the games plot in the first section of the game but is just too insane to realize it!