Part 59: III - Black Sails At Midnight

This update is brought to you by the fact that I keep forgetting that Sunkist actually has caffeine and choose to drink a fair amount of it when I really should be going to bed instead.



Alright, let's get to some of the stuff where things are actually noticeably different.



First stop, Carson's apartment. We pick up a bunch of junk and the key card for the tattoo parlor. I then proceed to head in the wrong direction and make a loop around the entire map before making it there. I've played through this game how many times now, and I still can't remember this shit.



On the way there, I talk to a prostitute to note that we can use Dominate to make her a follower. However, I don't like having followers with terminal , so we pass her by. Also, I don't think this whole thing is all that well coded, and I don't want to invite bugs even more.



Well, looks like the tattoo parlor didn't change much. Let's just move that box out of the way...



...is that a fucking skeleton?



OH GOD.



OH GOD AGAIN. And no, I don't know why this place is flooded with blood and has a dead prostitute in it. This might make sense later. Might. We pick up the call from Gimble and make an appointment. Time to head there!



On the way out, we find this note. I wonder what that statue might be...



Gimble is still Gimble.



However, he now has a computer here. I can't hack into it just yet, so getting into it will have to wait a bit.



Instead, we make our way down to rescue Carson. On the way there, we find this. No, I don't know why a dead alien is in the basement of Gimble's Prosthetics. It's there because why the fuck not.



Furthermore, we find this baby. I said I was going to give credit where it's due, and this is one point where I have to say "good job". The shotguns. The shotguns in vanilla Bloodlines suck hard - they've got no power behind them, they're slow and awkward. In this mod, however, things are a bit different.



Now, time for a demonstration. We shall use this one Stanley Gimble as a test subject.



First, allow him to get close...



FIRE!



Just look at that distance! That's how a shotgun has to feel - like God slamming his car door. It still does shit for damage, really, but it doesn't matter because you can shoot fuckers across the room with it!



And then they try again...



...and boom! While the combat is still fairly bad - given the turd that is vanilla Bloodlines combat, there's only so far you can polish it - it's much more intense thanks to increased damage and every weapon given more "punch". Some have been given a lot more "oomph" like the shotgun, others like the first peashooter have only some more damage, but it still goes fairly far.

Of course, this might end up being a bit of an issue once we hit the endgame. The fact of the matter is that I really don't want to think about that right now. Let's just move on.



Turns out that Gimble was some sort of supernatural thing, because he fucking EXPLODES after he gets killed. Probably shouldn't have gone in in melee, but oh well. Not like blood to heal with is in short supply.



We rescue Carson and find this thing in the other cell. No, I don't know what it is. No, I don't know why it's here. Please stop asking, or we'll be here all week.



Furthermore, we find some passwords on the wall. The more eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed a small problem - there are three passwords, but only two submenus on the computer we found earlier. What is the third password for? I don't know. We might find out later, but I doubt it. I have the sneaking suspicion this asset was made before the computer was redesigned to only take two passwords instead of three. Anyway, off to the computer!



First of all, here's the emails.

quote:

<Subject> Stonehenge
<From> Anastasia

The cargo has left France, bound for Club Confession in downtown LA. Stop the crate and aquire its contents before it gets there!

It goes without saying that if it contains what we think, it is far more valuable than your pitiful life.

Treat it as such.

Hm, looks like there's more to this statue than meets the eye. Suffice it to say that Gimble isn't in a state to be doing any stopping any time soon, so we might have to intercept this ourselves.

quote:

<Subject> New blood
<From> Vandal

It's funny you should ask about unusual blood. There are rumors about something matching that very description here in the SM clinic.

The only question left is what is it worth to you?

This sounds like it's referring to the werewolf blood, which we currently have in our possession. We're holding on to that for sure.

quote:

<Subject> DANG! It's big you know!!!111
<From> Hung Low

PENIS ENLARGEMENT! Watch the girls cum running! Call today! 1-800-BIG-STICK!

This a copy of the one we get in our haven or actually something semi-original?

quote:

<Subject> seeker
<From> a friend

Hey, newcomer. Are you looking for something?

I got really frightened for a second after reading that email. Like I was going to leave the menu and instantly be killed by something I didn't see. Thankfully, nothing of the sort happens and we check out the second part of the computer.



Hrm, so we're talking about a gargoyle here! That might be interesting to have... we do already have the potent blood, but we probably don't know a lot about gargoyles yet. Thankfully, we do know somebody that does...



Next, we drop by Carson's one more time to nab the stuff from his chest that we couldn't get to earlier thanks to a lack of Lockpicking. Stat-building books are always welcome.



Then, we continue the bounty hunter quest. Everything goes off without a hitch.



For some fucking reason, the quest description for the gargoyle quest is written in first person, when all the other ones are written in second person. Why? I don't know. I just don't fucking know. Next stop - the Ocean Hotel.



And here we are. The Ocean Hotel - widely considered to be one of the high points of the entire game, a master class in atmosphere. You know what this needs?



More combat. Specifically, we get to fight some Sabbat before we can get into the little shack that holds the key for the hotel. From what I played before starting this LP, this seems to be a running theme for this mod. For some reason, they decided to shove new combat encounters into many situations that don't need them at all. Thankfully, the Ocean Hotel proper has been spared this treatment.



We dispatch the enemies with relative ease and make our way into the hotel.



Inside the hotel, nothing much has changed. Good thing too, since it was pretty much perfect already. There were only three notable things. First, I managed to jump over the breaking steps and could have skipped an entire part of the hotel. However, I didn't, since there might have been new goodies down there. There weren't. Oh well.



Second, when the scene suddenly shifts to the hotel before the fire, the sunlight actually hurts you. How does that work? The sun isn't real. Is this some sort of reverse Deny thing where the imaginary sun hurts you because you believe it's real?



And third and most importantly, something has been changed in the room beyond this door - the one where the ceiling collapsed and you use the planks to jump up to the next floor. Are you ready for this?




You aren't.




No, seriously, you aren't ready. Get ready.




Here we go.






DUNNNNN



DUNNNNN

Yes, for absolutely no fucking reason whatsoever, the mod adds a TV showing a three-to-four-frame GIF of Count Orlok from Nosferatu, the classic German silent film, just standing around. This was the point where I knew I was going to be in for some shit. Just look at this. It's so pointless that it almost becomes incredibly awesome.

The only reason I can imagine the modders could have thought of for putting this here is to scare people. It certainly scared the shit out of me - just imagine, you're just playing through the Ocean Hotel for the fifteenth time, not expecting anything special, and suddenly you round the corner and are staring right into Count Orlok's face. Immediately, your mind is flooded with questions. "Why is this here?" "Wait, is something going to happen?" "Is a Nosferatu going to pop out of this TV and maul the shit out of me?" "Is the TV going to explode?" "WHY IS THIS HERE, MODDERS? WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?"

And then it turns out it does absolutely nothing. Fucking genius. In fact, it's so genius that I doubt it was intentional - they just wanted to make another pop culture reference, didn't they? They didn't even consider how this could be perfect paranoia fuel. Oh well, even if the intention might not have been there, the effect is. Anyway, we grab the pendant and fucking leg it.



Next stop, the Gallery Noir.



First off, you probably immediately noticed two things. One - this lighting is terrible. Apparently, I just missed the light switch. Whoops. Secondly - "Setites weakness"? What's that about?



Might it have something to do with these urns that are suddenly spread around the gallery?



Anyway, we slash the paintings in the correct order, the blood streams combine, and out pops...



...a fucking mummy. No, honestly, it's a mummy. I know you can't see it, just trust me on this one.



This mummy is a puzzle boss! Because what Bloodlines needed was puzzle bosses. Oh wait, no it fucking didn't. Well, we still get them regardless, so let's deal with them. This one requires us to run around the gallery, dodging the mummy's blood-point-sucking spell, and shooting the urns until this sand stuff comes out of it.



When we get hit with the spell, it makes things even harder to see, which is just marvelous.



Once we destroy all three urns, the mummy becomes vulnerable. However, it's still invulnerable when it comes to ranged attacks, so we have to go in close.



Thankfully, it's slow and easily dealt with, though it does pack a fair punch. Also, for some reason, I couldn't steal the money. Was it because I didn't turn the lights on? Oh well, we're not really hurting for money.



Therese sends us to the diner, and we see these four savoury individuals hanging around.



I want to complain about this texturing, but I don't know where to start. Though the painted on suspenders might be a good place to do so. Also, I guess the heating in the diner isn't the best around.



Suffice it to say that their ambush attempt doesn't exactly go well, though they do inflict a fair amount of damage - that shotgun the fat dude has really smarts. When you get into a fight with multiple people with automatic weapons or shotguns, you better watch the fuck out, because they'll tear you a new asshole in no time.



We convince the sisters to get along for the XP boost, though I honestly considered killing off Therese to get the chance to bone Jeanette (after passing by the first chance to bone her, that is). I really wanted to see if the mod changed something in that scene. I'll probably check that out later at some point.



For now, we need to finish off our business in Santa Monica by blowing up the warehouse.



Then the game crashed. Fairly certain this is my first crash that wasn't brought by me mucking about with the console in ways I shouldn't have. Let's hope this isn't a recurring theme.



So then I have to go through the last few minutes of gameplay again because the autosave is a temperamental little minx that only works when it wants to.



This time, we make it to the warehouse without any major problems, though we're off to a great start when the pissing guy that was supposed to be an easy kill notices me. Next, we make our way to the empty room before the train yard.



Um, hello? I just said I wanted to go to the empty room before the train yard. Emphasis on empty.



This isn't going to end well, isn't it?



OH GOD HIT THE FUCKING DECK. So yeah, surprise, this room suddenly holds six enemies that really don't like your face. I could have dominated the leader girl into falling over, which would have scared everybody else away, but this way I can get their stuff easier.



The prime strategy here is to just hide behind the open door and shoot the shit out of whomever walks out into your crosshairs.



And then, once you've taken a few out, you can just go out shooting. Still, if you take this too easy, you're going to get murdered hard - three enemies with guns is a big problem at this point.



Things occasionally go pear-shaped from here. More enemies + more damage = bad.



Thankfully, Necromancy comes to my rescue several times during this segment (though it doesn't stop me from occasionally getting a Final Death shoved up my ass while I'm trying to summon zombies) - I've upgraded it to level 3, which means the zombies are now capable of moving (very, very slowly) and attacking.



They actually deal fairly massive damage, all things considered. These things are going to help a ton during bosses.



Of course, zombies don't help when you're met with five enemies with ranged weapons on a raised surface. The easiest solution here is to play chicken and pop up from behind a box, hoping you can get a pot shot off and quickly get back behind your box - this is harder than it seems, because the enemies seem to get a shot off pretty much instantly if you hit them and you're in their sights. Basically means you have to shoot them on the way down.



And then I open a door, get a Sabbat clawing at my face and a guy shooting me with an Uzi, run the fuck away...



...and get killed trying to summon zombies. Such is unlife.



The next attempt goes a lot smoother, thanks in part due to this Sabbat here triggering a trap I never knew existed. Moving the container...



...slams it into these metal stand things, which launches one of them into the air...



...and it lands on two guys, dealing massive damage and death. Fucking sweet.



Of course, that moment of things going really well has to be balanced out, so when I engage in melee combat with this guy...



OH GOD WATCH OUT WHERE YOU'RE SWINGING THA-



AND BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! In a fit of incredible luck, the explosion leaves Victoria with a sliver of health. Thankfully, I've spotted something that might solve that problem...



...hey there, how's it going? What are you doing in a dangerous place like this? All sorts of dangerous folks, gangsters, smugglers, maybe even vampires!



CHOMP.



Even though that solved our health problem temporarily, the game isn't shy about throwing us right back into the fire.



Shotgun + axe + Uzi = plenty of dead. Eventually, they get taken out with a Blood Buff + Potence combo attack.



We then find this artifact in one of the rooms nearby - a +1 to Manipulation but a -1 to Scholarship. In essence, this means a plus to Haggle but a minus to Persusasion, which is kind of suboptimal. I'll keep it around because , but I don't really like this thing.



Finally, we get to arm the bomb and fucking leg it.



SUDDENLY, WOLF! This fucker can kick your ass several ways from Sunday, so I'm very glad I have my three zombies around to tank hits and deal good damage while I mostly hang back and take pot shots. It goes down without much trouble.



SUDDENLY, SEMI-OBSCURE WOD REFERENCE! This seems to be a running theme throughout this entire mod - taking semi-obscure groups like the Pander and the Blood Brothers and working them into the game somehow, even if it doesn't make sense. Basically, the concept seems to be "We have this group within the Sabbat, what do we do with it?" "Just throw it in, like we really give a shit.".



The hell of it is that they seem to have gone to great lengths to make these characters, so I can only imagine they're going to be mercilessly reused throughout the entire game. Here we see one of the Blood Brothers using Octopod, an ability from their special discipline, Sanguinus, which allows you to send your limbs or organs to another Blood Brother in your Circle. We don't get to see a lot of their abilities, mostly because I hack them to bits before they can cause any real damage - and trust me, they're damn well capable of dealing serious damage.



The rest of the trip back goes without incident, which means we've just finished off Santa Monica in three updates. How fast things go once you don't have to write out dialogue any more, eh? Next time, we'll be checking out downtown, at which point I'll be starting to go through some things blind - I've seen some stuff, but not all of it. Fun will probably ensue. I hope.