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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Mar 23, 2019 12:19:53 GMT -5
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}If anything, I wouldn't be surprised if the Cab Driver who is probably Caine is in Bloodlines 2. {Spoiler} speaking of as much as i love them I'm probably going to skip the Malkavian as my first play through as they kinda spoil a lot in their choices. |
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Post by The Captain on Mar 23, 2019 12:35:58 GMT -5
I also hope we see more playable clans than the ones in Bloodlines, though it might be tough if it's supposed to be strictly Camarilla clans. In particular, I'd like to see playable Assamites, Giovanni, and Setites. Lasombra and Tzimisce would be really fun to play as, too, if they can figure out a reason why your character would be part of a clan affiliated with the Sabbat. Though they could always use antitribu or an Anarch as your character's sire and the Camarilla sort of just take things over from there. And one of the playable clans in VTMB, the Gangrel, are no longer part of the Camarilla anyway yet given one of the powers in a dev interview was turning into mist, they are all-but-confirmed to be playable. Changing into mist is part of the Protean discipline which is exclusively used by Gangrel.
The Salubri are also really interesting, but then given WoD lore, they'd be near-impossible to justify as a playable clan given their supposed very small numbers.
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Mar 23, 2019 12:38:56 GMT -5
I played the first one and liked a lot about it. But hooollllyyyy damn some of that stuff has not aged well. It was just super embarrassing to see my character dressing in like ten different stripper costumes for no reason. I mean that pretty much is how everyone dressed in Vampire the masquerade My character was literally dressed as some kind of Slutty Pantsless Policewoman for half the game. Surrounding this interesting writing and cool scenarios, there was this skeezy vibe that just led to cringe after cringe after cringe. It was not a creepy, thought-provoking "I'm a living monster" feeling; it was like a Buckcherry music video. If this is just how the property is, I'm gonna be real disappointed. |
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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Mar 23, 2019 13:03:52 GMT -5
I also hope we see more playable clans than the ones in Bloodlines, though it might be tough if it's supposed to be strictly Camarilla clans. In particular, I'd like to see playable Assamites, Giovanni, and Setites. Lasombra and Tzimisce would be really fun to play as, too, if they can figure out a reason why your character would be part of a clan affiliated with the Sabbat. Though they could always use antitribu or an Anarch as your character's sire and the Camarilla sort of just take things over from there. And one of the playable clans in VTMB, the Gangrel, are no longer part of the Camarilla anyway yet given one of the powers in a dev interview was turning into mist, they are all-but-confirmed to be playable. Changing into mist is part of the Protean discipline which is exclusively used by Gangrel. The Salubri are also really interesting, but then given WoD lore, they'd be near-impossible to justify as a playable clan given their supposed very small numbers. I guess it depends what rule set they are using. I'm assuming they are still using the old rules since the new ones apparently happen post apocalypse from what I have heard |
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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Mar 23, 2019 13:05:24 GMT -5
I mean that pretty much is how everyone dressed in Vampire the masquerade My character was literally dressed as some kind of Slutty Pantsless Policewoman for half the game. Surrounding this interesting writing and cool scenarios, there was this skeezy vibe that just led to cringe after cringe after cringe. It was not a creepy, thought-provoking "I'm a living monster" feeling; it was like a Buckcherry music video. If this is just how the property is, I'm gonna be real disappointed. It's a pen and paper rpg generally everyone runs around in tight leather clothes and the like. I usually didn't but overall yeah... the malkavian especially tend to wear weird shit due to being insane. What clan were you? |
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Post by The Captain on Mar 23, 2019 13:09:33 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure? police officer costume was Malk. If you want more "normal" clothing options, go with Brujah or Ventrue. I think Gangrel had a bunch of normal looking outfits, too.
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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Mar 23, 2019 13:23:44 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure? police officer costume was Malk. If you want more "normal" clothing options, go with Brujah or Ventrue. I think Gangrel had a bunch of normal looking outfits, too. I didn't play as the female but I do know the Male top tier was a pimp coat and a cat in the hat hat |
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Zone Was Wrong
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Currently living off the high that AEW brings every Wednesday and Friday
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Post by Zone Was Wrong on Mar 23, 2019 13:54:25 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure? police officer costume was Malk. If you want more "normal" clothing options, go with Brujah or Ventrue. I think Gangrel had a bunch of normal looking outfits, too. I didn't play as the female but I do know the Male top tier was a pimp coat and a cat in the hat hat This is generally what the Vampires wear in the WoD  |
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Mar 23, 2019 14:01:41 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure? police officer costume was Malk. If you want more "normal" clothing options, go with Brujah or Ventrue. I think Gangrel had a bunch of normal looking outfits, too. I was Malkavian and it was awesome. "Crazy" clothes isn't the issue. I don't want more "normal" clothes; I want less "designed for Mountain Dew drinking, 13 year-old Papa Roach fans" clothes. It was literally (meaning literally) a bunch of stipper outfits. I want it to occur to the people who make the game that women might play it at some point. |
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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Mar 23, 2019 17:31:39 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure? police officer costume was Malk. If you want more "normal" clothing options, go with Brujah or Ventrue. I think Gangrel had a bunch of normal looking outfits, too. I was Malkavian and it was awesome. "Crazy" clothes isn't the issue. I don't want more "normal" clothes; I want less "designed for Mountain Dew drinking, 13 year-old Papa Roach fans" clothes. It was literally (meaning literally) a bunch of stipper outfits. I want it to occur to the people who make the game that women might play it at some point. I get what you are talking about but... The strippery outfits for Malkavian are just kinda what the Malkavians wear... I mean even the male doesn't get a shirt the closest they get is a furry white coat.  The rest again look more like just regular looking clothes/clubbing clothes considering when you are changed and the overall style most people in the Pen and Paper RPG play    That said I haven't played through the game as a female protag in a while. |
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Mar 23, 2019 17:54:18 GMT -5
I get what you are talking about but... The strippery outfits for Malkavian are just kinda what the Malkavians wear... I mean even the male doesn't get a shirt the closest they get is a furry white coat. oh god that male Malkavian is the worst thing I've ever seen. What is that vibe, just like Jackass vibe? It's like 2000s MTV gave someone hepatitis, and then that hepatitis became a person. Anyway, skin-revealing crazy lady is already ten kinds of awful, but I'll still play the game. Skin-revealing crazy lady who literally dresses like a literal stripper (for no reason) takes me over the edge. (Also there was a whole lot of skeeziness just all over. This bartender really, really wanted to tell me how bisexual she was, and there's this creepy, creepy, leering vibe to the girl who's like "f*** college, I am your slave!" (that comes close to "I am a monster" creepiness, but we're also supposed to totally be getting off on it) |
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Post by Hurbster on Mar 23, 2019 20:12:48 GMT -5
Vampires are monsters in and they act like it, and the World of Darkness is a bloody shit world to live in. The makers need to remember this. If I do something that totally screws up someone's life (seemed to be every second choice in the 2004 game) the worst thing the devs can do is try to make me feel bad about it.
So yes, amazingly hyped about this (yes reinstalling it now, never played it with the unofficial patches before), not so hyped by the quotes coming out about '2019 sensibilities'. Vampires ain't gonna give a crap about that.
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Post by The Captain on Mar 23, 2019 23:30:19 GMT -5
But Humanity is also really important to a lot of Kindred. It's what keeps The Beast at bay. So yeah, Vampires are monsters. But it's holding on to those last vestiges of humanity that keeps them from going over the edge into uncontrollable frenzied f***ers that threaten the Masquerade and need to be put down for the good of all Kindred-kind. So there is a delicate balance to walk, unless you roll with the Sabbat. Then the hell with that shit.
I do like the dialogue options you got with Heather if you opted to make her your ghoul, though. Like, giving her your blood to save her life is a seeming act of altruism on your part. But because she is now your ghoul, the vitae of yours in her veins that healed her also makes her completely devoted to you, which is why she pretty much ruins her life because of you. So even trying to do something good ends up with monstrous consequences as that's the World of Darkness for you.
On another note, while Seattle is apparently Kindred territory, it is very near Vancouver. Vancouver is a major site for Garou (aka, werewolves) as the Great Caern is located there. Could make things interesting considering how dangerous Garou are to Kindred.
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Post by Hurbster on Mar 24, 2019 3:47:00 GMT -5
Hey, as long as we get the choice, it's all good.
Anyway,is this going to ignore the end times (yay) and if so what callbacks or cameos would people like to see ?
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Post by SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman on Mar 24, 2019 4:40:27 GMT -5
I really don't get this obsession some people have with trying to make VtmB look sexist. This game has one of the highest concentration of awesome female characters in a single game I've ever seen. And if people seriously can't bring themselves to respect these characters because some of them wear revealing outfits, thus automatically making them strippers (always a classy argument, especially when supposedly taking a stance against objectification of whatever. And it also insults Strippers in one fell swoop), then these people really need to reconsider their stance on feminism.
And yeah, there's a lot of sexualization because one of the aspects of Vampire lore that's remained consistent across pretty much all variations on the concept is that they are deeply sexual. Even when they don't derive any physical pleasure from it (which is actually canon in Vampire, the Masquerade lore), they at least know they can gain power and influence through it. So it's not a shock that they'd be sexual.
This of course ties into the major theme which, again, is present in pretty much all variations of Vampire lore, which is that they are predators, both literally and socially. They've always been a symbol of the exploitative elite, even exploiting their own kind whom just so happen to be lower down the social ladder. They are physical monsters, and many of them are also monsters figuratively. It's basically a mafia if the mafia literally ate their victims. So yeah, some of them will do some messed up shit, such as hijacking a human's life by making them their ghoul and then treating them as a slave. And this is also an RPG, meaning you get to roleplay your character as being as much of a dick or the closest thing to a good person as you can be as a vampire.
Bottom line is: you can't ask to have a story about manipulative monsters who feed off the blood of the innocent while controlling the darkest aspects of society and also act shocked when aspects of it might not be appropriate in polite society, especially when the kind of stuff you're complaining about is utterly unimportant. It's a vampire story, OF COURSE it's going to be "skeezy"!
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Post by Hurbster on Mar 24, 2019 6:15:31 GMT -5
The only politics in the game should be Vampire politics.
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Post by The Captain on Mar 24, 2019 12:11:00 GMT -5
VtM has always had an anti-establishment counter-culture vibe to it, like Bloodlines' jokes about Republicans and George W. Bush. And Kindred politics almost always involve kine politics as they tend to figure into the Jyhad in some way or another. The Anarchs as a whole are, well, political anarchists in both kindred and kine politics. A lot of the Nosferatu are practically hacktivists.
There are going to be politics in it, and it will be par for the course for the setting. It probably won't be overbearing, but if a few jokes about the current political climate are going to turn you off, then VtM isn't really for you.
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Mar 24, 2019 16:17:52 GMT -5
I really don't get this obsession some people have with trying to make VtmB look sexist. This game has one of the highest concentration of awesome female characters in a single game I've ever seen. And if people seriously can't bring themselves to respect these characters because some of them wear revealing outfits, thus automatically making them strippers (always a classy argument, especially when supposedly taking a stance against objectification of whatever. And it also insults Strippers in one fell swoop), then these people really need to reconsider their stance on feminism. I'm not "trying to make it look" sexist; I'm describing my reaction to it. And no, revealing outfits don't automatically make you a stripper. STRIPPER outfits make you a stripper. An altered, boob-heavy police uniform top with a bikini bottom? A naughty cowgirl? A slutty schoolgirl? Dude. And yeah, there ARE good female characters in Bloodlines. That's part of why the whole Bam Margera version of sexuality all over the place is as jarring as it is. They're EXPLICITLY NOT sexual, though. Like, they make it clear in the game vampires almost completely lack any sexual drives. All those flirty bisexual bartenders and sexy slave-girls are for MY benefit as the player, not for my character. And yeah, I get that one of the ways for the game to create that tension and ambivalence is to draw the player in with sexiness, so they actually feel some of that desire to do awful things. But then you gotta actually make the awful things have awful consequences, or the dilemma is pointless. There was too much "this is awesome!" and not enough "oh jesus christ how did I get myself into this?" If part of the point of role-playing a vampire is the power fantasy, fine. I just don't want the designers to assume the power fantasy I want as a player is the same as a 13 year-old jerk who listens to nu-metal. |
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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Mar 24, 2019 17:04:39 GMT -5
They're EXPLICITLY NOT sexual, though. Like, they make it clear in the game vampires almost completely lack any sexual drives. All those flirty bisexual bartenders and sexy slave-girls are for MY benefit as the player, not for my character. And yeah, I get that one of the ways for the game to create that tension and ambivalence is to draw the player in with sexiness, so they actually feel some of that desire to do awful things. But then you gotta actually make the awful things have awful consequences, or the dilemma is pointless. There was too much "this is awesome!" and not enough "oh jesus christ how did I get myself into this?" If part of the point of role-playing a vampire is the power fantasy, fine. I just don't want the designers to assume the power fantasy I want as a player is the same as a 13 year-old jerk who listens to nu-metal. that said the World Of Darkness had 3 main stats based on Physical, Mental and Social Werewolf was the game focused almost entirely on Physical Mage was the one focused almost entirely on Mental Vampire was the social one and it was heavily inspired by things like Anne Rice's novels. Sex was absolutely a major theme of the original RPG... Even in Bloodlines the vampires are absolutely sexual. I mean the opening cinematic is you having sex with the person that becomes your sire. |
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Mar 24, 2019 17:10:14 GMT -5
I'm not "trying to make it look" sexist; I'm describing my reaction to it. And no, revealing outfits don't automatically make you a stripper. STRIPPER outfits make you a stripper. An altered, boob-heavy police uniform top with a bikini bottom? A naughty cowgirl? A slutty schoolgirl? Dude. And yeah, there ARE good female characters in Bloodlines. That's part of why the whole Bam Margera version of sexuality all over the place is as jarring as it is. They're EXPLICITLY NOT sexual, though. Like, they make it clear in the game vampires almost completely lack any sexual drives. All those flirty bisexual bartenders and sexy slave-girls are for MY benefit as the player, not for my character. And yeah, I get that one of the ways for the game to create that tension and ambivalence is to draw the player in with sexiness, so they actually feel some of that desire to do awful things. But then you gotta actually make the awful things have awful consequences, or the dilemma is pointless. There was too much "this is awesome!" and not enough "oh jesus christ how did I get myself into this?" If part of the point of role-playing a vampire is the power fantasy, fine. I just don't want the designers to assume the power fantasy I want as a player is the same as a 13 year-old jerk who listens to nu-metal. the vampires are absolutely sexual. I mean the opening cinematic is you having sex with the person that becomes your sire. What am I remembering? I seriously coulda sworn that they say explicitly in the game that you don't have old human urges anymore; you just want blood. Like, you CAN have sex, you just don't particularly want to. And I don't think I was ever given the option to really ever have sex through the whole thing. |
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