A Look at Vampire the Masquerade – Bloodlines Part 15

After some leave of absence, I am back for a short while with a new instalment of Mark Flavian's adventures into the night in this look at Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines. In the previous bit, Mark begun his journey into the sewers.

In the World of Darkness, police brutality seems to be the norm, rather than the exception.

Onward into the sewers, Mark will go!

Where rats are aplenty (unless the player character is a Ventrue).

Now to proceed along this sewer passage.

Before entering this large pipe.

That leads into this room with a hostile creature inside.

One that can be easily handled with a firearm or two.

After pulling that lever, it is time to proceed onward.

Eventually, the passage will split into two, revealing two doors. The one here is locked.

Unlocking it reveals a crate with ammunition. My guess is that the crate was placed here so that players can restock after dealing with that vampire in the previous part.

The other door reveals this room with these two items highlighted.

The first is this newspaper which explains why no humans are in here.

The second is this ledger that reveals the process of these sewers being sealed off.

Up here is a formerly bricked up passageway.

The door here leads back to the Hollywood sewers. Contrary to some belief, the Sewer level does allow players to go back to the overworld rather than being one long, unending stretch. It is long but it does not lock you in.

Moving on, there are these hostiles to deal with down this passage.

This is why Mark kept the Glock despite having a revolver.

Now to proceed down the passages.

I am willing to bet that there are enemies to shoot at around this corner.

I must be psychic!

Both passages lead to dead ends.

So the player would have to resort to crawling around in pipes.

Some of the pipes leads into this hidden area.

Unlike my other previous characters, Mark Flavian is skilled enough to hack this computer.

Confession time: I honestly did not plan to use this backdoor. I was expecting to crawl through the entire Sewers which consists of this level and two more levels. Using this shortcut was not my original idea but when given the opportunity to bypass such a long level, I am going to take it. 

So, reader, join me as I bypass the Sewers!

The passage takes me to this part of the Sewers.

Up ahead is one of the monsters that Mark would have encountered in a later part in the Sewers.

Time to introduce this thing to the world's most powerful handgun (according to Harry).

That previous statement may not be accurate but I will admit that the Colt Anaconda is quite useful.

Past where that thing was standing is this control station.

Inside is this lever.

Which unlocks this door to this passage.

Which leads to this room.

With a creature straight out of Silent Hill living inside. In actuality, this is another one of those creatures that Mark would have encountered later on if he explored the Sewers normally.

Now to get this door open.

Which leads into this room.

In this room is this note. Jump down, eh?

Looks like it is alright to follow instructions on notes stuck to walls.

These rubbish infested tunnels make up the Nosferatu Warrens.

When the player wanders around this place, they may hear whispers, similar to the Malkavian voices. More on that later.

This split passage does serve a purpose: To illustrate the fact that the red liquid in the passage on the right is hazardous to the player character.

Here is a bridge to nowhere over a pool of hazardous liquid.

While Mark is here, he might as well pick up this CD-Rom that is just lying around out here.

Now proceed along...

Over this poorly built bridge on top of hazardous liquid.

As indicated by the loss of health, this liquid hurts.

Now to move on into the seemingly inhabited areas.

Many of these doors are not interact-able.

Along this passage though...

There happens to be a proper door.

Inside is this person who just happens to be doing the same thing you are doing, dear reader.

Essentially, this is a troll's worst nightmare: Someone who is capable of attacking them directly from a different screen.

I can relate to what he is saying here: Stupidity does bring out the asshole in me.

Important tip: Never open links in e-mails from sources you cannot identify. Even if the e-mail claims to be from something like Paypal or a courier site, it is most likely a virus that a vampire stuck in to kill your PC.

The first step to dealing with a problem is recognizing that there is one. In the case of Malkavian madness, that is probably the only step that you can take.

As stated above, Mitnick is the IT guy of the Nosferatu here. He is probably used to telling people to turn things off and on again.

Something tells me that the shortcut I used was part of the Plus additions of the Unofficial Patch. I am not complaining though since the Sewers are quite a drag to go through.

It is true that older tech cannot be hacked. 

Now for questions.

Regarding the warrens.

Essentially, this explains the source of those whispers: Other Nosferatu. They are so good at using Obfuscate that they can sneak right up to Mark and whisper in his ears.

With how difficult it is to reach the Nosferatu, I believe Mitnick here.

With his Obfuscate ability, Gary will probably find Mark first.

Ah... there is a secret network.

This line of dialogue leads to a quest line.

The quests are stealth-based but do-able for players who have been putting points into the right skills.

Since Mark is a kindhearted madman, he offers to aid Mitnick strengthen the hidden network of the Nosferatu.

So... he could have ended the world if he got bored... This is why you try to remain civil or amicable to people online. You never know if they happen to be a hacking master with access to nuclear launch codes.

Hmm... Go on.

I guess Mitnick did not use decent anti-spyware products. At least he had the right idea to unplug his computer; it is one way to ensure a virus does not operate on a computer.

So he must have been quite ugly and used a lousy rig before becoming a vampire.

Now for this door.

Which contains a blue blood pack.

Now for Door #3!

With a clearly upset vampire in it.

Who?

Mark would comment if he knew who she was talking about.

Something was wrong with my game here. For some reason, this particular vampire would not face Mark in the right direction. In other playthroughs, she does not do this. I guess she must be scared to face mad folk.

Hey! I resent that remark. Coach class equates to bad, it is not worse.

Ah... Imalia... Why does that name sound so familiar? Also, casual Malkavian insight.

This, as Gary will later point out, is a Nosferatu past-time. They usually turn good looking people, obviously on their high horse, and bring them down. Some may say this is karmic payback, others will say it is vindictive. I say it is both.

Exactly what I just said up there,

That must have been quite the surprise.

Writing it down now...

Hmm... She certainly is living up to her label of cold-hearted bitch.

Now, Mark is a kind-hearted madman so one would think that he would not want to aid Imalia destroy someone's life. On the other hand, he is a vampire and Imalia is someone in need of help so his moral compass can be shaky.

Essentially, this is a stealth mission.

So the mission is this: Sneak in, place the four cameras in the right spots, activate them with a laptop in the apartment and do not be seen.

I wonder how bad could her secret be...

Like I said, stealth mission,

Now to get some questions answered.

Here is the list.

Gary Golden's location. That is all I will post for her responses since this may take a while.

Moving past this broken bridge...

And crouching to get through this tunnel...

Through these doors.

Mark reaches this room.

Looks like Gary is present.

Huh... a new voice.

No... I will miss dear Voicy!

Shouldn't the voice know since it's living in Mark's rather crowded head?

Momma also said life is like a box of chocolates: They get your clothes dirty if you play with them.

Though not as much, thanks to replaying this game so much.

It is getting obvious that Gary is toying with Mark but Mark plays along.

A nice touch here is how the first dialogue option shows how frustrated Mark is getting. The fact that he sounds coherent as he punctuates his statement goes well to show how frustrated Mark is getting.

Said frustration persists here.

Wow... the second dialogue option is the most homicidal I have seen Mark so far.

Let's not forget that Gary is a well-informed leader of the Nosferatu here.

That is true. This is Nosferatu territory.

Ah... crud.

Wow... short and concise. Mark must be getting frustrated at this point.

Well, Gary, you're no Ocean House Hotel.

He wants it so hard...

Here is a nice touch... the game actually keeps the dialogue box present while suddenly allowing control over the camera.

He does not look that bad, to be honest. The bowtie is a nice touch.

From this, one can tell that Gary suffered a similar fate to Imalia.

The sarcophagus is a lot like a town bicycle at this point.

It is a nice subversion here that the creatures turned out to pose no threat to the Nosferatu. After all that build up, Gary calmly points out how insignificant those creatures were.

Ah... the first real mention of the Kuei-jin by name.

So that Cathayan from Santa Monica was related to a faction already in LA. Interesting...

Which means that the favour involves finding this Barabus.

Of course, I would pick the option that references a movie.

Looks like there's big trouble in little China.

Ming-Xiao. A name for the leader of the Kuei-jin.

Sounds reasonable and dangerous.

Too bad the game is foreshadowing upcoming events.

Now for advice.

Basic rules for any proper game. Players are supposed to think.

Looks like the Kuei-jin are a force to be reckoned with, based on his response.

Payphone... How does one dial a specific payphone?

With that, he vanishes without a trace.

Now to move on. Mark proceeds through the only other unused door in the room.

The passage leads up to a ladder.

That leads to this door.

Which happens to hide the secret passage to the Nosferatu hideout.

That happens to the mausoleum of the graveyard.

What a convenient shortcut.

Let's check in with Romero.

At least he is not making Daikatana yet.

Now to head back to Hollywood!

Here is a loading screen that briefly describes the long secret war between the ancients.

Now to check in with Isaac.

A reward for going through the Sewers? Sweet, I knew I liked Isaac for a reason.

Now to go ruin someone's life!

Here is Tawni's home.

Quick tip to new players: Make sure you enter this building crouched, lest you alert Tawni by entering with proper posture.

Now to head into Tawni's apartment proper.

Obfuscate (and a decent Sneak stat) is Mark's greatest friend here.

Aaaand here's Tawni! To be honest, she is not that fat.

Now to place the first camera in the kitchen... At least I think this is the kitchen...

The challenge of this part is how small the apartment is which makes sneaking around difficult (unless you have Obfuscate like Mark).

Now to place a camera on the nightstand.

And just in time since Tawni's boyfriend arrives in the room with firearm in hand.

Well, as one can guess, a camera has to go in the bathroom. The problem, the boyfriend has to go to.

Once he leaves though, it is a simple case of placing the camera. That 'totally' does 'not' look inconspicuous

Now to activate the cameras.

Hopefully, Imalia remembers to wipe this program interface from Tawni's laptop.

After typing in Cleopatra to activate the cameras, Mark gets this message.

Now to escape unseen.

Thank goodness for Obfuscate.

Do not forget to continue sneaking until you exit the building! If not, all that effort would go to waste due to poor stealth mechanics.

Now to check in with Isaac for that reward.

I wonder if Dubai would miss their Pearl?

Now to end this part here at the entrance to the Graveyard. Join Mark next time as he attempts to resolve more side-quests and reach Chinatown.