Junior Adventurer's Guild - June: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

[logincrash]

VtM isn't gay vampire fiction but mobster kino at its core

This video expands on what I said pretty well.

[rusty_shackleford]

my favorite vtm fact is that the original 1991 rulebook mentions star wars

[logincrash]

my favorite vtm fact is that the original 1991 rulebook mentions star wars

My favourite VtM fact is that the more recent rulebooks say "Nazis, **** off. You're not allowed to play our game!" like that would do literally anything.

[rusty_shackleford]

my favorite vtm fact is that the original 1991 rulebook mentions star wars

not going to dig through the book to find it, but it was some dumb references to star wars that I remember thinking were out of place, probably not in the '92 edition

[logincrash]

Whichever ******* ****** dev/publisher/exec decided on the ******* Hollywood sewer level being in this game need to be drowned in his own ******* septic tank.
****
This is some ********.


And this is peak ********! WHY THE **** IS THIS **** CLOSED? I DUSTED LIKE HALF A DOZEN GIANT FLESH GOLEM THINGS AND A MILLION LITTLE SHITS TO GET HERE!!!

[logincrash]

That **** level genuinely soured my mood.
Still, finally got through it and made it to Chinatown.

► Screenshot report

Isaac might be a jew, but he has a sense of style. And the music playing in his office is one of the best versions of that theme in the game.

The Andrei fight wasn't that bad with Celerity and SPAS-15 in my hands.

And I got to see the Toreador vs Nosferatu rivalry in action. The dialogue was very catty, like these two really hate each other.

[wndrbr]

Jesus, how can you play with this filter

[logincrash]

Jesus, how can you play with this filter

I find the aliasing, dithering, and film grain quite charming. While the game looked pretty amazing in 2003 or 2004 or whenever it was released, it doesn't hold up 100%. Sure, the stylized and cartoony character designs look better than any attempt at realism from 20 years ago and the facial animations look unironically better than a lot of modern games do. But the somewhat washed out lighting and textures and semi-lowpoly models don't look that good in HD. Getting it back to lower-res graphics makes it hyper-real and enhances the cartoonish look.
Sadly, the reshade is not perfect, as some areas do look like *** and the text is hard to read sometimes. That's why there's a hotkey to disable it on the fly.

[Vergil]

It does look okay in some scenes but in others the lighting is either borderline pitch black or washed out like crazy. It would probably drive me crazy to try and play that way
Unfortunately the source engine is just very inherently ugly.

[rusty_shackleford]

total zoomer death

[LemonDemonGirl]

total zoomer death

Sorry.

[Vergil]

total zoomer death

Sorry.

Come crimes can never be forgiven...

[A Chinese opium den]

Come crimes can never be forgiven...

I think you meant to post this in the mastubation is a sin thread

[Tweed]

Whichever ******* ****** dev/publisher/exec decided on the ******* Hollywood sewer level being in this game need to be drowned in his own ******* septic tank.
****
This is some ********.


And this is peak ********! WHY THE **** IS THIS **** CLOSED? I DUSTED LIKE HALF A DOZEN GIANT FLESH GOLEM THINGS AND A MILLION LITTLE SHITS TO GET HERE!!!

One of the patches lets you skip it.

[Vergil]

One of the mods lets you CHEAT.

FTFY

[logincrash]

One of the patches lets you skip it.

Yeah, I know. But OP said not to use the Unofficial Patch Plus version. So, I am going into this as vanilla as possible (a reshade and a few texture replacers aside).
I will never play this game without the UP+ again just because of the sewer level. I mean, come on, that's 4 labyrinthine samey combat-focused tunnel levels AFTER 2 combat-focused levels and a boss fight.
I wasted so much ******* ammo, especially on that one glitch that would spawn the little fucks infinitely until I actually went to their spawn point. I had to eat RATS because I needed to save my blood bags.
I'm getting aggravated again just thinking about it.

[Vergil]

One of the patches lets you skip it.

Yeah, I know. But OP said not to use the Unofficial Patch Plus version. So, I am going into this as vanilla as possible (a reshade and a few texture replacers aside).
I will never play this game without the UP+ again just because of the sewer level. I mean, come on, that's 4 labyrinthine samey combat-focused tunnel levels AFTER 2 combat-focused levels and a boss fight.
I wasted so much ******* ammo, especially on that one glitch that would spawn the little fucks infinitely until I actually went to their spawn point. I had to eat RATS because I needed to save my blood bags.
I'm getting aggravated again just thinking about it.

There's even a halfway point exit from the sewers to re-up on ammo it's not THAT bad

[logincrash]

There's even a halfway point exit from the sewers to re-up on ammo it's not THAT bad

Sure, except ammo costs money and I don't have unlimited money. And the infinite spawning glitch happened right near the second one of those exit points AFTER I spent all my cash on 12 Gage shells for my SPAS-15. And those cost $27 per mag.

[Vergil]

There's even a halfway point exit from the sewers to re-up on ammo it's not THAT bad

Sure, except ammo costs money and I don't have unlimited money. And the infinite spawning glitch happened right near the second one of those exit points AFTER I spent all my cash on 12 Gage shells for my SPAS-15. And those cost $27 per mag.

The little head humper guys die in 2 shots with the Anaconda you shouldn't need a crazy amount of ammo to get by.

[logincrash]

The little head humper guys die in 2 shots with the Anaconda you shouldn't need a crazy amount of ammo to get by.

I was going to respond to that with an argument in my defense, but then I realized that I'm arguing with someone who's defending the universally rightfully reviled part of the game.

[Vergil]

I was going to respond to that with an argument in my defense, but then I realized that I'm arguing with someone who's defending the universally rightfully reviled part of the game.

Most of the people who whine about this game's combat think it should be a visual novel where you pick different funny colored dialog options. The warrens is a middling combat section it's not a catastrophic run ruiner that you need a mod to cheat past.

[Oyster Sauce]

Rats who install the Skip The Fade mod will NOT be getting a DA:O badge

[rusty_shackleford]

Rats who install the Skip The Fade mod will NOT be getting a DA:O badge

Never understood the hate for it, the fade is pretty fun.

[1998]

Rats who install the Skip The Fade mod will NOT be getting a DA:O badge

Sooo..you are saying skipping deep roads is ok? Nice always hated that part more than the fade

[logincrash]

The warrens is a middling combat section it's not a catastrophic run ruiner that you need a mod to cheat past.

No, but it does bring the quality of the game down. Thus, removing it via mods is A-Okay in my book.

Rats who install the Skip The Fade mod will NOT be getting a DA:O badge

Sooo..you are saying skipping deep roads is ok? Nice always hated that part more than the fade

The Fade is a gimmicky section that is always the same and it gets boring on the third playthrough, nevermind the thirtieth.
The Deep Roads are actually happening. It's not a bad dream that you have because some demon made you sleepy. You have your squad with you and you're clearing out hordes of Darkspawn while exploring ancient halls of Dwarven lords and getting loot and making a difference.

[Vergil]

No, but it does bring the quality of the game down. Thus, removing it via mods is A-Okay in my book.

Why not just use noclip or god mode your way through it then? Could it be you're coping and trying to legitimize your inability to get good? If you couldn't beat the final boss would you get a mod to remove that as well? What about infinite ammo since having to conserve ammo and refill isn't hecking fun

[Acrux]

What about infinite ammo since having to conserve ammo and refill isn't hecking fun

DA:O already has unlimited ammo, so I don't need to cheat that in.

[logincrash]

Why not just use noclip or god mode your way through it then? If you couldn't beat the final boss would you get a mod to remove that as well? What about infinite ammo since having to conserve ammo and refill isn't hecking fun

Those are disingenuous comparisons and you know it.

Could it be you're coping and trying to legitimize your inability to get good?

I did get through the sewers without any cheats or mods, so I'm clearly good enough.
Why do you even have your panties in a bunch over what is, in your own words, a middling combat section? VtMB is a great game, but it's obviously not perfect, and pointing out the bad elements that only worsen the experience is fine.

[Vergil]

Those are disingenuous comparisons and you know it.

They're not at all. It's using something outside of the tools the game gives you to get past a section because it's too difficult/you don't feel like doing it. How at all is using a mod to remove that section different from noclipping to the end?

I did get through the sewers without any cheats or mods, so I'm clearly good enough.

Than clearly it's not an insurmountable challenge that needs cheats to overcome.

Why do you even have your panties in a bunch over what is, in your own words, a middling combat section? VtMB is a great game, but it's obviously not perfect, and pointing out the bad elements that only worsen the experience is fine.

Because this sort of streamlining out any parts of a game the player isn't completely enamored with has led to games becoming brainless theme park rides with all the edges sanded off. People found reading instructions and traveling the map boring so Oblivion added instant fast travel and quest markers so suddenly the world and quest design suffered because it was designed with the knowledge you would have a magic GPS marker and instant free teleportation at any time. Equipment degradation was complained about by people who didn't want to deal with gear upkeep so that feature was stripped out of Skyrim etc etc. You can easily complete the warrens by properly preparing for it through your build and equipment. It not being the greatest heights of gaming is not justification for removing it entirely.

It's also hard for me to really believe you can say you completed a game or like it if you're actively removing chunks of it because you didn't feel like playing it.

[logincrash]

How at all is using a mod to remove that section different from noclipping to the end?

Because it's not a binary switch. The former is taking the care to provide a better experience by seamlessly cutting out lower quality sections, while the latter is breaking immersion and using dev tools to cheat. The end result may be the same, but how we got there is wildly different.

Than clearly it's not an insurmountable challenge that needs cheats to overcome.

I don't agree with your premise of "mods = cheats."

Because this sort of streamlining out any parts of a game the player isn't completely enamored with has led to games becoming brainless theme park rides with all the edges sanded off. People found reading instructions and traveling the map boring so Oblivion added instant fast travel and quest markers so suddenly the world and quest design suffered because it was designed with the knowledge you would have a magic GPS marker and instant free teleportation at any time. Equipment degradation was complained about by people who didn't want to deal with gear upkeep so that feature was stripped out of Skyrim etc etc. You can easily complete the warrens by properly preparing for it through your build and equipment. It not being the greatest heights of gaming is not justification for removing it entirely.

Streamlining isn't inherently a bad thing. Polishing your product by removing unnecessary (as is proven by the fact that mods can very cleanly take out whole levels) segments that add nearly nothing to the overall experience would raise the quality of the game. Keeping **** like that in because "Eh, **** it, it's good enough" when it could be better IS a bad thing.

It's also hard for me to really believe you can say you completed a game or like it if you're actively removing chunks of it because you didn't feel like playing it.

Yeah, that's why I'm completing the game for this thread without any game-changing mods. That's why I beat KotOR 1 without any mods at all for the first playthrough and then got a whole bunch of mods for the second.