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It's a pity that nobody has ever done a game that's made good use of the strengths of the 'Anne Rice' romantic teen-goth angsty vampire epic schtick - no, not jailbait love interests, I'm talking about the whole Highlander-esque multiple stops through history, with heavy use of companions and NPCs, and strong tracking of your actions/relations with those NPCs/companions and locations.
I can't say that I'd even be above the use of a 3rd season Angel-esque villain where some inquisition-trained vampire hunter you fled in an early chapter gets brought forward to modern times and turns badass.
Actually you wouldn't even need it to be vampires - Highlander would work just as well (arguably 'Forever Knight', from which many elements of Angel were HEAVILY borrowed, had more in common with Highlander than Interview with the Vampire).
It wouldn't even need to be THAT different to PS:T / Bloodlines structure - just make use of different epochs instead of different chapters (or informal chapters as they're used in those games).
Here is something that bothers me now that I think about it:
How did Vukodlak and Anezka get out of the ruins of Vysehrad Castle, and how did Streicher escape getting trapped...
I mean Christof ends up trapped under the rubble for 900 years until he is found by the Society of Leopold.
And according to the reports you find in the SoL Headquarters the ruins were undisturbed and had magic wards set upon them to prevent the followers of Vukodlak touching them.
Yet Vukodlak has been out and about over the years making multiple attempts to wake up (foiled by Avezka), and even got his moved body over to the New World in the late 1800s.
Also, if why was Vukodlak even interested in the ruins of Vysehrad, and why did he need that earth?
He seem like he was already pretty well set up in New York.
And was Vysehrad even on his “native soil”, one of his titles is "Scourge of the Carpathians", and from what I can research IRL Prague and Vysehrad don't fall within the Carpathian region.
Also, if I recall correctly the notes of Libussa actually say that Prague was their second base of operations after they had to flee from his feudal domains to escape the wrath of the other Voivodes who cursed him.
Never played the PnP version, but Tzimisce vampires supposedly need soil from the area they were first bitten in order to survive. Could explain Vokudlak.
Never played the PnP version, but Tzimisce vampires supposedly need soil from the area they were first bitten in order to survive. Could explain Vokudlak.
True but that what I was talking about, the game seems to suggest that he is not originally for around Prague.
Yet in the modern day there is this big fuss about him wanting soil from that particular castle.
Here is something that bothers me now that I think about it:
How did Vukodlak and Anezka get out of the ruins of Vysehrad Castle, and how did Streicher escape getting trapped...
I mean Christof ends up trapped under the rubble for 900 years until he is found by the Society of Leopold.
And according to the reports you find in the SoL Headquarters the ruins were undisturbed and had magic wards set upon them to prevent the followers of Vukodlak touching them.
Yet Vukodlak has been out and about over the years making multiple attempts to wake up (foiled by Avezka), and even got his moved body over to the New World in the late 1800s.
Also, if why was Vukodlak even interested in the ruins of Vysehrad, and why did he need that earth?
He seem like he was already pretty well set up in New York.
And was Vysehrad even on his “native soil”, one of his titles is "Scourge of the Carpathians", and from what I can research IRL Prague and Vysehrad don't fall within the Carpathian region.
Also, if I recall correctly the notes of Libussa actually say that Prague was their second base of operations after they had to flee from his feudal domains to escape the wrath of the other Voivodes who cursed him.
Well, Vukodlak slept in that earth for what, 2000 years? It could have grown on him. Plus, he was originally preparing his Evil Ritual of Doom in Vysehrad, so maybe the earth became special from those preparations?
I seem to remember it as a bug, I would change settings for the NPCs to use no disciplines at all and they would still use buffs and waste blood during fights with rats & low level creatures.
Even with my legit discs, I could never get the game to work with the 1.02 patch I believe. Even after all of the games weird issues I really liked the atmosphere and different settings.
It's a pity that nobody has ever done a game that's made good use of the strengths of the 'Anne Rice' romantic teen-goth angsty vampire epic schtick - no, not jailbait love interests, I'm talking about the whole Highlander-esque multiple stops through history, with heavy use of companions and NPCs, and strong tracking of your actions/relations with those NPCs/companions and locations.
It's a pity that nobody has ever done a game that's made good use of the strengths of the 'Anne Rice' romantic teen-goth angsty vampire epic schtick - no, not jailbait love interests, I'm talking about the whole Highlander-esque multiple stops through history, with heavy use of companions and NPCs, and strong tracking of your actions/relations with those NPCs/companions and locations.
It's a pity that nobody has ever done a game that's made good use of the strengths of the 'Anne Rice' romantic teen-goth angsty vampire epic schtick - no, not jailbait love interests, I'm talking about the whole Highlander-esque multiple stops through history, with heavy use of companions and NPCs, and strong tracking of your actions/relations with those NPCs/companions and locations.
I replayed this game.
In case I ever want to replay it again, I just have to google "vampire redemption rpg codex" and I will find this valuable info I've put here for posterity which will enable me to keep the PITA to a mere minimum. Here is my guide for minimum hassle.
=== VoD's Vampire Redemption Guide ===
You will gain ranks at certain XP values.
Neonate 5K
Ancilla 10K
Elder 50K
Methusalah 200K
Each time you gain a rank your blood pool will increase (health too) by +20 going from your CURRENT max blood pool value incl. items (!). That makes getting a full set of blood jewelry a priority. (2 rings with +10, 2 bracelets with +20, 1 necklace with +25 for a total of +85)
If you have a full set your blood pool will thus increase by 105 when gaining a rank. So when one of the coterie is about to gain a rank, equip him with the blood jewelry set, for normal play prefer the discipline jewelry (reduced blood cost for disciplines).
With normal play you won't be able to afford one blood item before becoming neonate, but you should have one (ideally bracelet but even a +10 ring is better than nothing) before becoming Ancilla. By the time you're becoming Elder you should have a full set for a nice blood pool boost for the entire coterie.
Early on do use one-handed weapons with accuracy bonus (rapier with +25 is best) and shields (for damage reduction). Don't get fooled into using 2-handers, you don't do damage when you can't hit shit. Using a zero accuracy weapon and hitting reliably requires very high DEX (like literally 80+).
DEX is therefor the most important combat stat, keep that in mind, also it increases the chance for decapitations.
Get feed towards 4 asap on Christof and bloodhealing to 2, later 3. Feed kill the Cappadocians in the monastery, your rapier hits accurately enough to kill the zombies without much trouble. Use celerity + feral claws for defeating Mercurio, position Wilhem and Christof on opposite sides of Mercurio so they don't get hit both by plague wind.
Get feral claws 2 and Celerity 2 on Wilhelm (to defeat the Golem) put all other points in Wilhelm's manipulation stat for better shop prices while buying/selling (need blood items asap) until he has like 80 or so manipulation, afterwards put points where you like, you'll lose him and when you get him back he will have other stats and discipline values. So don't have him learn any discipline tomes, that's wasted effort. Same goes for Serena and Erik as well.
When you get Serena put some points into Auspex so you can get Spirit's Touch to identify items, perhaps increase blood healing but otherwise work towards getting her stats up in preparation of The Lure of Flames for thou wilt require an intelligence of 70 for Fire Storm. Keep in mind that Fire Storm will not benefit from more than 1 dot, i.e. it won't become any stronger or last longer.
Feed kill the nossies in Joseph's tunnels, with feed 4 you can kill the mini-boss Othelios without too much trouble (try to lure some nosferatu minions out beforehand so you only have to fight him and not him+4 minions). Have Christof learn the Animalism tome you find in the tunnels.
Feed kill the Tremere in Ardan's chantry, lure them one by one. There's a Path of Blood tome. Get Theft of Vitae 3 on Christof. More than 3 dots would one shot humans and you won't get XP for humans killed that way.
As soon as you have Fire Storm on Serena the strategy is: have Serena nuke stuff, feed on Christof, have Christof fill his blood with Theft of Vitae. That way the bitch is firmly blood-bound to Chris also, which is good because you need to keep your coterie on a tight leash.
Kill the Lasombras in the Stephansdom, have Christof learn Dominate from the tome there. You wind up in the base of the Teutonic Knights. There's a tome of Lure of Flames here, have Christof learn it, I hope you've been working on that INT 70 for Christof for a while as well.
You now no longer need Serena for the nuking part of your strategy. Last station in Vienna: House de Hexe. There's a tome of Blood Rituals there which will give you access to 2 strong and useful spells: Prison of Ice (max this) and Call Lightning (has not that much priority but you can easily kill panicked, fleeing enemies with it if you put at least 4 dots in it). Bring back Etrius' diary to the mage in the magic shoppe and get another tome of Lure of Flames. Put it in your stash and hope it transfers to modern times for if you let Wilhelm learn it now he will forget the discipline anyway.
Back in Prague, go wipe out the Tzimisce. In the first room in the castle there are wooden stairs and up there you'll find 2 chests with a high chance to drop an insulated full helmet (best head slot gear in game). That helmet can transfer to modern times, just like your magic jewelry and the Ainkurn sword.
The modern times are boring. Story takes a nose-dive and hardly any interaction with companions or anybody. Just loads of mobs to kill. Lucky enough, Christof has now the power to kill them quickly and with ease. Nuke them with Firestorm, drain them with feed or Theft of Vitae, if something looks dangerous, cast Prison of Ice and hack away. Remember the tome of Lure of Flames in the society of Leopold. Don't give it to Pink though.
Animalism - Joseph's tunnels 2 - behind secret door in the hall way (use heightened senses to uncover door)
Path of Blood - Adran's chantry 2 in Prague - in the second lab
Dominate - clock tower (Stephansdom) 1 - on the lowest level
Lure of flames - Basis des Deutschen Ordens 3 - Tremere lab second room
Blood Rituals - Haus de Hexe Laboratory - before the last room guarded by a Tremere Lord
Hands of Destruction - Vyserad castle 2 - second room to the left
Another Lure of Flames - reward for bringing Etrius' diary to the hermetic mage in Vienna
Modern Times:
Again Lure of Flames - Society of Leopold 2 - in a room in the third parallel hallway
Obfuscate - Setite temple 2 - behind the triangle switch on the right.
Potence - Tower of London 1
Protean - Nosferatu sewers 2 in NY
Mortis - Giovanni warehouse 2 - in a room in the drug distribution hall
Dominate - Ventrue factory 2
Animalism - Cathedral of Flesh 1
- Animalism: granted to Christoph after defeating the Vozhd in Vyserad castle
- Auspex: granted to Christof after defeating Ardan
- Celerity: granted to Erik after leaving Stefansdom, granted to Samuel after dealing with Orsi
- Dominate: granted to Wilhelm after leaving Stefansdom, granted to Christoph and Lilly after the first encounter with Lucretia
- Fortitude: given to Christoph after Joseph's Tunnels, given to Pink at the top of the Tower, given to Samuel after the NY nossie sewers
- Hands of Destruction: granted to Serena after defeating Etrius
- Lure of Flames: gained by Serena after defeating Ardan
- Mortis: given to Christoph after the Giovanni warehouse
- Obfuscate: given to Wilhelm after Joseph's Tunnels and to Christoph after leaving Stephansdom, Lilly gets it after the Giovanni stronghold
- Protean: given to Christoph after retrieving the Book of Nod fragment
- Serpentis: given to Christoph after the second encounter with Lucretia
Diablerizing the Setite bitch will cost you 20 humanity. The ending only depends on your humanity score, so if you can afford it, why not just do it. Earlier in this thread Kzero said you can easily raise/lower your humanity before making the final choice by speaking to the talking heads holding Anezka's diary. This is not the case. 1) If your humanity is too high or too low you don't get a choice and just have to take the according ending and 2) you will only get to the area with the talking heads after you've made the choice for the good (high humanity) ending.
Common:
Feed - get to 4 asap
Blood Healing - get to 3 asap, later 4
Awaken & Walk the Abyss, usually you'll loot enough scrolls of those so that you'll neither have to buy scrolls nor invest XP for this
Animalism
everything in here is useless, except perhaps Drawing out the Beast, but then again, this would be the top tier spell, so you'll have to invest lots of XP just to make them frenzy and then still have to kill them, meh
Auspex
Heigthened Senses - the game is dark as fuck and this spell doesn't change this, there's exactly 1 secret door you need this for (Joseph's tunnels 2) and Serena already has this spell plus you'll find lots of scrolls of it all over that level,
it's fairly cheap to max out though and has a long duration, so you might want to use it for the nossie sewers in New York because you can counter Cloak of Shadows (Obfuscation) with it
Spirit's Touch - use it to identify items, 1 dot is enough
Celerity
speeds up everything, movement, attack, casting, max this as soon as you can afford it (i.e. after you got Lure->Firestorm)
Dominate
useless
Fortitude
you might want to max this after you got all the important stuff, but generally I'd advice to rather rely on armor+shields
Mortis
Summon Soul summons a wraith who is really a strong ally
Plague winds efficiency was already visible back in the monastery when fighting Mercurio, the problem with Mortis is you'll need all your XP to increase INT for the Lure of Flames and once you have that, why raising Mortis anymore? Still, these are not bad spells.
Obfuscate
Cloak of Shadows + Cloak of the Gathering, invisibility spells, you can stack both and mobs won't be able to detect you even with Heightened Senses 5 so you can whack them without them fighting back. Kinda defeats the purpose of even playing the game though.
Presence
useless
Protean
if you want to hit things in melee Feral Claws 5 is the way to go, the rest is pointless
Potence
max out if you want to hit things in melee
Path of Blood
Theft of Vitae 3, no more, no less
Blood Rituals:
Prison of ice - game-breakingly good for nothing can defend against this so winning any boss fights becomes a cakewalk
Call Lightning - worse than Firestorm but you can hit fleeing enemies with it and kill them, still, only invest if you have everything else you wanted
Lure of Flames
Fire Storm - 1 dot is enough, best nuking spell
Hands of Destruction
requires low humanity, I never used this, so I have no idea
Each time you gain a rank your blood pool will increase (health too) by +20 going from your CURRENT max blood pool value incl. items (!). That makes getting a full set of blood jewelry a priority. (2 rings with +10, 2 bracelets with +20, 1 necklace with +25 for a total of +85)
If you have a full set your blood pool will thus increase by 105 when gaining a rank. So when one of the coterie is about to gain a rank, equip him with the blood jewelry set, for normal play prefer the discipline jewelry (reduced blood cost for disciplines).
Yeah but going that far is excessive, you only need to do it maybe once for say Christof (who for some reason has 20 less blood pool than everyone else) to catch up to the others but that's about it. Fully decked with discipline jewelry your disciplines will cost a pittance to cast and with so many ways to replenish blood in the game your blood pool will never go low enough for you to worry about frenzying, having 300 blood pool vs 150 won't make much of a difference in practice.
Early on do use one-handed weapons with accuracy bonus (rapier with +25 is best) and shields (for damage reduction). Don't get fooled into using 2-handers, you don't do damage when you can't hit shit. Using a zero accuracy weapon and hitting reliably requires very high DEX (like literally 80+).DEX is therefor the most important combat stat, keep that in mind, also it increases the chance for decapitations.
It's not early on, it's for the whole game basically, the only 2H weapon worth using is Ainkurn Sword (blood stealing, +10 to DEX and aggravated damage). Rapier is nice but has low damage which hurts against vamp/supernatural enemies cause they use stamina to soak lethal damage (instead of just bashing like humans do), I've found exquisite broadsword to be by far the best combination of speed, accuracy and damage (40 damage, +20 to accuracy, 111 speed) when it comes to lethal weapons, it makes mincemeat out of everyone in Dark Ages (and after). The best overall weapon in the game are of course Feral Claws, great speed, critical chance, aggravated damage and you get the keep the bonus from shield as well.
DEX is indeed the best combat stat but considering you can get great boost from weapons (+accuracy from weapons is basically +DEX which includes increased critical % and defense, not just accuracy) you can do fine with spending 1:1 to STR and DEX (you can safely ignore Stamina, won't do much difference with all the protection equipment can offer), it's worth getting STR to 55 atleast in order to wear plate mail.
I've always found Feed to be too expensive in terms of XP (it costs more to raise than Potence, Celerity and Feral Claws) and too tedious (blood is drained slowly) for the benefit it provides. You have other more efficient ways to restore blood (theft of vitae, Ainkurn sword) and you can just choose one member of the coterie to boost Manipulation (you can also buy two +5 Manipulation rings to help) and you'll be swimming in gold and be decked in discipline jewelry pretty soon. Blood Healing on the other hand is awesome and cheap (to both invest in and cast), can get you a large chunk of health back immediatelly and reduces Frenzy (though you have to be wounded even slightly to cast it) which helps against enemies that like to cast Drawing out the Beast.
The problem with blood management is party members' AI because they'll spend blood like crazy (even on the weakest enemies) but you can tweak their options so they only use defensive disciplines or attack without them. The game would be much easier to play if you could remap the damn pause key and queue actions.
Back in Prague, go wipe out the Tzimisce. In the first room in the castle there are wooden stairs and up there you'll find 2 chests with a high chance to drop an insulated full helmet (best head slot gear in game). That helmet can transfer to modern times, just like your magic jewelry and the Ainkurn sword.
Yup, especially given that you have very limited options for head gear in modern times. Keep in mind that in addition to the stuff you already mentioned, exquisite weapons, insulated shield and gloves (smithies sell them randomly), Beserker Fang (very fast fist-like weapon that does aggravated damage but can't decapitate, can find it in Haus De Hexe) and Chest Plate (complete protection against staking which is useful in the Society of Leopold level) transfer as well. Basically any magic and/or exquisite gear and artifacts transfer except chest pieces (with unique exception of Chest Plate).
The modern times are boring. Story takes a nose-dive and hardly any interaction with companions or anybody. Just loads of mobs to kill. Lucky enough, Christof has now the power to kill them quickly and with ease. Nuke them with Firestorm, drain them with feed or Theft of Vitae, if something looks dangerous, cast Prison of Ice and hack away. Remember the tome of Lure of Flames in the society of Leopold. Don't give it to Pink though.
Yup, the only modern level/dungeon I liked is the very first one (Society of Leopold).
Regarding Hands of Destruction, the only useful discipline there is Atrophy (reduces physical stats, if you spam it on Vukodlak for example he won't be able to hit/damage shit), other disciplines are mediocre damage dealers not worth bothering with.
Also, I'm pretty sure Fortitude (and its Serpentis equivalent, Skin of Adder) is bugged or makes a negligible difference, unlike in Bloodlines where it's OP as hell.
No, I killed most mobs with feed early on and later with disciplines. With some bosses I had everybody go feral claws+potence+celerity but most of the time I just nuked everything with Firestorm and used Theft of Vitae to fill my blood pool.
The only good firearms are Chaingun and Rocket Launcher but even then it's bad for party members because they'll use Chaingun in short bursts (instead of constant attack) and hit you/other party members very often with Rocket Launcher. On average guns are slow, deal low damage (which you can't boost with stats or disciplines, DEX only affects their to-hit-chance and Perception doesn't factor in whatsoever) and require constant ammo management. In short, they suck.
I've always found Feed to be too expensive in terms of XP (it costs more to raise than Potence, Celerity and Feral Claws) and too tedious (blood is drained slowly) for the benefit it provides.
You have to go through the Cappadocian monastery and the Nosferatu Warrens and a fair part of the Tremere chantry as well before you even get Theft of Vitae. Feed killing the enemy is one of the most secure and easy ways, resource-efficient and perhaps it even saves time in the end not having to heal up as much etc. I took 31 hours to finish the game and I literally killed every single mob. Of course it feels slow and in modern times foes have a way bigger blood pool too but by that time you wouldn't use feed on them anymore but just nuke them.
You know what a Tremere Lord does while you try to kill him with feral claws, potence and celerity? Immolate, Call Lightning, Prison of Ice. You know what a Tremere Lord does while you drain him dry? Nothing.
The problem with blood management is party members AI because they'll spend blood like crazy (even on the weakest enemies) but you can tweak their options so they only use defensive disciplines or attack without them. The game would be much easier to play if you could remap the damn pause key and queue actions.
The interface truly is bad for managing real-time combat and woefully inadequate for managing an entire party in real-time. The AI sucks balls as well, I've seen Wilhelm expending almost his entire blood pool casting Awe on an enemy who would just resist it. In the end I just enabled only healing and cast other spells manually.
The only good firearms are Chaingun and Rocket Launcher but even then it's bad for party members because they'll use Chaingun in short bursts (instead of constant attack) and hit you/other party members very often with Rocket Launcher. On average guns are slow, deal low damage (which you can't boost with stats or disciplines, DEX only affects their to-hit-chance and Perception doesn't factor in whatsoever) and require constant ammo management. In short, they suck.
No, I killed most mobs with feed early on and later with disciplines. With some bosses I had everybody go feral claws+potence+celerity but most of the time I just nuked everything with Firestorm and used Theft of Vitae to fill my blood pool.
I thought they'd maybe be useful if you focused heavily on dexterity, which was something I never did in middle ages, but yeah. There are better alternatives no matter which way you look and there's always your trusty Ainkurn Sword failing everything else.
Each time you gain a rank your blood pool will increase (health too) by +20 going from your CURRENT max blood pool value incl. items (!). That makes getting a full set of blood jewelry a priority.
I would love to be actually able to play humans hunting the vampires in a WoD game(i.e: the Society of St. Leopold). Vampire hunters used to be cool before all the teenage power fantasy crap about being a vampire took over.
That said, I enjoyed this game back in the day. Not sure if I would enjoy it now. I remember many of the characters and plot twists were very silly and all the grinding combat could bore you to hell sometimes.
Remember starting this game some 10 years ago, realizing it has real time combat with checkpoint save system and shitty combat. Wonder if i could wake up my inner nerd and play it now with enjoyment. I like White Wolf lore more than probably any other 'classical' rpg setting (maybe Shadowrun gets ahead a bit). WoD post surely made me giddy with enthusiasm eve though it's just tips.
Here are the two best weapons in the game:
Ancient Times, dread swords, equip the coterie with those and frightening any enemy is a sure thing, bosses included.
Modern Times, stake shooter, or whatever is called, paralizes enemies, final boss included.
I remember this game from way back in the day. Completed it when it came out, and it had some nice parts. As someone mentioned, the graphics were awesome for the time, and who doesn't want to run around as a vampire both in medieval and modern times. But you guys are way off on weapons. The firearms WERE shit, but for the stylish vampire, there is only one way to go: raincoat, ponytail, and that black katana, Highlander-style.
I was by design yes, but they changed it in the patch anyway. Another thing the patch did was introducing the possibility to pause the game which wasn't there originally either.
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