Part 64: VIII - Dance Through The Danger

PREVIOUSLY, ON LET'S PLAY VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE - BLOODLINES: ANTITRIBU MOD:


You will note that it's been over a month. There has not been a new larger patch. Even if there had been a larger patch, it apparently would have done other things. There has only been a minor patch, which supposedly "fixed some dialog bugs". The changelog noted in the readme is the exact same as the last hotfix, so no help there. They said it didn't break saves, and as such, I installed it. Let's hope everything blows up and I don't have to play this mod any more, because this session reminded me as to just why I don't fucking like it. But who am I kidding, I'd just reinstall and play through the entire thing again because I hate myself. But enough self-pity, let's get back to someone else who could also be worth pitying.



And that someone is Victoria, our intrepid heroine with a penchant for collecting primarily assorted prostitutes, but also other characters for no other reason than that it amuses her. I'm torn between putting more points in combat and defensive skills or giving up on the Sisyphean task of keeping up with this combat and just keeping the console on hand for godmode.

So... uh, anybody remember what the fuck we were doing? I sure don't. Well, quickly browsing over the last update reveals to me that we were cleaning up every other possible quest in Hollywood before talking to that jackass AINO, Isaac Abrams, and making our way towards... ugh, I don't even want to think about it.



First off, we deal with the restaurant problem LaCroix put us on, and being the Ventrue stand-in for this mod, we do it with Dominate. Did I mention that we got this quest? Well, if I didn't, I'm now retroactively mentioning it, and now we've done it.



Next up, I decide to take a look around the back alleys of Hollywood, maybe we can run into another little sidequest like we did with the prostitute we saved? Well, the answer is no. Instead, we run into a bunch of dudes like this that want to kill us.



He is clearly a formidable foe, for not only does he wear the Football Pads of +1 Bashing, but he's got a helmet too! Still, he is dispatched with relative ease.



Next to him was a manhole, so I thought "hey, maybe there's something interesting down here!" and went down. Guess what? There's nothing interesting down here. You know what is down here?



More fucking enemies.



And more enemies. Let's just walk up and kill this gu-



SHIT



FUCK



After way more hit-and-fade tactics that should be necessary for some random thug in the sewers, I finally manage to take him down. And what was this fearsome weapon that manages to strike fear in the hearts of vampires, that can tear them asunder in just about a single volley?



An AK-4-fucking-7. Bah. Bah, I say! Next stop, the graveyard, to go and get Romero some help with his problems.



Since dealing with the zombies is already a fucking nightmare in the regular game, I went with the "just get him somebody to fuck" option. However, I can't actually offer to let Victoria fuck him herself, which I'm pretty sure should be an option. Well, getting him a prostitute it is, then...



Well, looks like we have a problem, because I can't find the dialogue option that tells them that you want them to go to Romero. I guess I just hire her and then drag her along to the graveyard?



Nope, she ditched me. What a cunt. I paid for you, and I didn't get anything yet, you don't just cut and run just because your client wants to go to the graveyard. Back we go...



OK, I guess I Dominate one into following me and bring her over that way?



Nope, Romero's not impressed. Well, balls. Guess I have to try and deal with the zombie problem after all.



Alright, now Romero leaves the cabin...



...he leaves the cabin...



...Romero, you're going the wrong way...



...alright, fuck this. Long story short, I went out to take a shit, came back, he was still meandering around and I was still locked into position. I went out to get something to eat and drink, came back, he was still meandering around. After what felt like ten minutes, I gave up and just reloaded. Looks like Romero will have to deal with blue balls until Gehenna comes.





One more sweep of the back alleys leads to Victoria and her newest friend making some more new acquaintances.



Also, I remembered to pick up that money we found in the Red Spot, since we were so rudely interrupted by robbers the last time we were there. 25 bucks, nothing special, but it's still nice to have.



I get it into my head that I want to do the Ash quest next, and do the combat solution to see how that's been changed, so I get another new hooker friend, but then almost instantly send her to the haven because I completely forgot that we can get somebody else on our side.







We convince VV to drink the Animus Stupido, go through some cringeworthy "mua-ha-ha-ha" evil dialogue, and we now have ourselves a new companion! Again!



Also, she has a spiffy new outfit, though due to some crashes, I forget to make her wear that one instead of her default stuff for most of the update.



And here's her stats, courtesy of possession. Seduction out the ass, but nothing much else - as expected, really. Next stop, the Asp Hole.



One fun extra thing is that since VV has 10 Seduction, we can use her to seduce blood dolls, then come back and drink from them as Victoria later, since the game doesn't actually know that it was a different person that did the seducing.



So, we run into Ash being a mopey fuck, and instead convince him to not be such a mopey fuck and go shoot up some hunters instead.



So here we are in the sewers, with our motley crew of adventurers - a movie star turned vampire, a stripper/prostitute/whatever turned vampire, and just a plain prostitute. I like to think that Victoria was up to her share of debauchery as well before being Embraced (she's a Giovanni, after all), so she fits right in. Time to go kick some hunter ass. Don't mind the "Creation Szlachta" discipline I've got, that's a bug that happens when I possess somebody and then go back. I can't actually use it, and it doesn't show up again if I switch disciplines - unless I possess somebody and leave again.



The welcoming committee is not far off, and it packs a fair punch, but this is one of the rare situations where the player actually has the numbers in their favor, so they go down fairly easily.



Some more enemies show up in the next area...



...and of course they hit like a fucking truck. Apparently, I'm supposed to attribute this to the appearance of an "Ultra Hunter"? Wonder what that's about. I'm sure it's not a boss that's way too powerful for me, that would be totally unexpected!



Sadly, however, it is exactly that. Here, I got his attention with a shot that missed.



Here's my health about a second later. This might take some time.



Also, he can cast some sort of magic that hurts and locks me into place. That doesn't help.



So, at this point, it's just a matter of throwing enough meatshields at the problem for me to hide behind, and carefully chipping away at his health...



...I might have a shot here...



...one second later. FUCK.



Second attempt. Got myself holed up and ready to move ou-



-oh god damnit he fucking moved this time.



WELP.



The third attempt didn't go much better, either. Once that fucker locks on to you, you've got about a split second to make your move and get the fuck out of his line of sight, else you're deader than shit.



So fuck this, godmode to the rescue.



You know, I've never really thought about it before now, but melee characters are FUCKED in this mod. Unless you pump defense like there's no tomorrow, guns can shred you in seconds, barely enough time to close the distance, let alone get a single hit in.



And of course, if you try and make a melee move, you advance further down the level, spawning even more hunters that will just wreck your god damn shit. Why do we even need hunters if some fuck with an AK-47 can just tear a vampire apart without any major problems, anyway?



In a side area, we find this item. I don't use Auspex. I don't even HAVE Auspex. Well, let's not look a gift dot in Inspection in the mouth.



But of course, just turning on god mode doesn't mean all problems are just gone, as Ash wishes to prove here as he has the Ultra Hunter tear through half his HP in about two seconds before I manage to draw the fire back onto my own invincible character.



The fucker finally goes down to concentrated four-character fire, and of course he was also just carrying an AK-47.



The rest of the mission isn't anything special and probably wouldn't have given me any major fits if I wasn't using godmode. We run into some more colorful characters (these are hunters, right? From the Society of Leopold?) and kill them.



Ash gives us a sweet amount of cash, and what's that dialogue option I spy? "Join my group"? This is going where I think it's going, isn't it?



Oh, yes, it is. The Animus Stupido comes back into play, and Ash joins our crew of dominated servants. I like this, because it's a way to stick it to that asshole, Isaac. Suck it, Isaac! Your beloved childer works for me now! At least, I think he does?



After the conversation finishes, nothing happens, I talk to him again (netting another sweet 500 bucks), and now I get these dialogue options. Weird, did he join my team or not?



Well, as we reappear in the sewers, it's just Victoria, VV and Random Prostitute, so I guess not?



It's at this point that I notice a change in companion behavior - they seem much more likely to respawn at the exact same spot I'm at. Here, they're blocking the way to the exit, so I have to trudge back and try a different spot. Annoying. Next stop, Isaac.



I engage in a bit of an asshole-off with him, though he obviously wins, being the bigger asshole, and we get sent off to the internet cafe.



On the way, we run into Samantha, and... oh god, I can add her to the collection as well? Fucking score! She gets added to the list of people hanging around the haven. Must be getting awfully crowded up there.



Anyway, go to internet cafe, go to back alley, talk to dude, dude dies, go to Isaac, talk about Ginger Swan, go to internet cafe, learn about Ginger Swan, go to graveyard. Not even sure if all those steps are necessary, but I took them anyway.



We head to the graveyard, and all of a sudden my character moves slowly into this place and locks, which is code for "something is about to happen and we want you to stand right here, so do it". What happens?



This guy shows up. No, the subtitles didn't break, the guy just speaks in some weird backwards tone, probably ripped from some other game.



The conversation obviously goes nowhere, and he summons a bunch of skeletons, then teleports out. Random combat encounter time, yaaaaaaay!



Nothing really special about this combat, it just breaks down into a massive clusterfuck with one or two skeletons in the back shooting some ranged attack, and it fairly quickly ends since none of the skeletons have guns, the destroyer of vampires.



Though the main enemy has one special thing about him - when you get him down to half health, he suddenly turns invincible for a whole minute and you just have to wait. Fucking riveting design, lads.



This guy pops up again, says something, and disappears.



We also get this really fucking helpful quest note. "What do you gotta do?" I don't fucking know, call the Ghostbusters? I'm pretty sure there's no procedure on "guy shows up, talks backwards at you, summons skeletons, then leaves". Anyway, we get the video tape.



On the way back, I get fed up with my companions constantly respawning at my current location and send one away, hopefully that will solve the problem...



So, now I only have... two companions? Ash? Where'd you come from? I suspect what happened here is that when I made Ash a companion, it forced him into the party, fucking things up by having three permanent companions even though you're only supposed to have two, and that forced the constant respawns and stuff. Now things seem to be better, though they're still kind of buggy, but that's just standard buggy compared to the extra buggy we had before. Also, as a side note, the VV model is not made for running. Her tits just go all over the god damn place, it's ridiculous. It's clear that it was never supposed to run (since all she does in the vanilla game is saunter around), and the model can't handle it. It's part really weird and part really hilarious. Kind of like the first time you find the "money" console command.



Also, here's Ash's stats. A bit better in combat than VV, but still eh all around. Anyway, we get the tape to Isaac.



You know, I've seen this video way too many times now. The girl seems to have gotten a makeover for entirely arbitrary reasons, but the video is still mostly the same.



I just wonder how the fuck they got shots like this. For a "snuff" film, this has some pretty fucking impressive cinematography. You'd think that in fucking Hollywood of all places, they wouldn't buy that something like this is not staged.



While talking with Isaac, our companions get bored and start photobombing the LP. I guess I can live with that. Next stop, the Sin Bin.



We get our information from Flynn...



...and Ash starts levitating and clipping through walls and doors. All in all, just another day in Antitribu Mod. Then, to the telephone, then, to the Luckee Star.



We find the key to the internet cafe door, and I find myself getting fucking stuck because VV won't move all of a sudden and the door frame prevents me from crouchjumping over her, though she did get out of the way after about a minute of bumping into her.



Next stop, the internet cafe. The Geodudes here are not that big a deal, since they don't have GUNS, but something more disconcerting happens - I lost the healing factor somehow. This is going to cause some problems down the line, especially with... ugh, THAT coming up.



Oh, and all the human enemies here are ghouls, so they explode upon being killed, because that's what they do, I guess? Sure hope you didn't roll up a melee character! Hell, even ranged characters will have big problems with this, given the enclosed environment these studios are.



These explosions really are a bitch to deal with. Here's me killing one of those guys that was using a melee weapon, so he was relatively close to me.



This is where the explosion ended up throwing me. That's across the entire room, up to the god damn ceiling.



We make our way through the studios, almost dying a few times along the way, since I wasn't properly prepared with blood packs. Had to pop one of the Elder Vitae, since that was the only blood pack type I had left.



And before we get the tape, we obviously have to fight another one of those ghouls with a melee weapon in an even more enclosed environment. Hope you like taking damage!



So, we get the tape, get almost killed by Geodudes on the way out because our companions got stuck at the box climbing and vent crawling bit and for some reason aren't respawning nearby right now, and get the tape back to Isaac. Again, nothing new on the tape.



And with that, we're now ready to go to King's Way. ...actually, I lied. We're not ready. I know this because I'm not ready. I'll never be ready for this fucking segment in this fucking mod. But it's still going to happen.



One quick trip to the haven to see what's been happening here - things are pretty crowded, indeed.



Very crowded. I didn't see Samantha, though. Maybe I have to dismiss some followers to get them to file in? There has to be some sort of upper limit, though I was never informed I was hitting it or anything.



This guy's still here too. I'll have to remember to come here when I'm low on blood some time.



And, to finish things off, here's a shot of Victoria's stats. Decided to once again go heavy on the defense, since I know what's coming up. So, next time, it's going to be those sewers. I'm coming full circle on this LP.