After another long hiatus, here is a new instalment of Mark Flavian's adventures in the night. The next part of my look at Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines.
Here stands Mark in front of Tseng's. What kind of shop is it, he wonders?
A herbal medicine shop?
Seems that way though I see Tseng takes fashion advice from a certain Doctor Serizawa (Internet cookie for anyone who immediately got that).
Not that Mark is aware of.
If one counts the numerous officers who would be pursuing Mark for multiple felonies, perhaps.
What gives?
Ah... I guess Tseng's method of healing one of pain is to end them... permanently.
Before Mark goes to request for some remedies, some questions.
Ah... a lead! Now for those remedies.
Ah... the late-game armour.... The icon seems interesting...
It is quite interesting indeed. A Mad Pimper?
Here is a newspaper article reminding the player that Ash is an existing character.
After taking off the hat, Mark decides to head into this closed noodle place. Why? Who knows...
Looks like the noodle place is occupied. That is quite the sword there.
What is not being brought forward is the gratuitous Japanese being spoken where the bracketed words are.
So Death, do you often meet up with Deadpool?
So her name is Yukie and she is here to avenge her master. Let's hope her story does not devolve into some stupid harem anime.
Wait, so did the demon kill her master or her family? Or is her master her family?
Hengeyokai is the actual word being used.
So it is a shape-changer like a lycanthrope?
Mark may have met a lot of things but an Asian demon may not be one of them. So far.
Time to go hunt down an Asian demon.
This is where I realised that I was sequence-breaking a little. There is one more person to meet before continuing.
This is Lu Fang. He will be relevant later.
This guy will also be relevant later.
He is also a lousy fortune teller.
Now to check out this shop, the White Cloud.
That doll in the background seems interesting.
In that case, Mark would be suffering from frequent bouts of larceny, lethal beatings and more.
Ah... 2001 animations. Some of the animations are decent and some do not make for good pictures.
I wonder if there is a moral to this story.
So, the moral is to not get greedy or you will bite more than you can chew?
Plenty of guesses but I will bank on "getting away and living happily ever after".
This is why I try not to gamble. In all seriousness, it is expected and it leads to the beginnings of a side-quest.
A fetch-quest for a pair of human eyes. Go on...
Ah... looks like Mark is doing some gouging. Then again, Lin does not need those eyes.
I guess he figured out that Mark is the helpful madman that has been helping people all around Los Angeles.
Now for some questions.
No weapons.
Now we have a name. Mr Ox. I wonder if that is symbolic...
Now to proceed with what Mark was supposed to do: Meet Ming Xiao.
Fancy garden.
Look! Someone to talk to!
That was easy; finding Ming Xiao.
One of the nice bits is the Malkavian dialogue with Ming Xiao. I will explain more later but for now, try to guess what Mark means through his words.
Some of these masks are covered in madness.
Questions. As always.
As one can tell, she does not like Kindred. Her veiled mockery here is one indicator of this.
And here is another. She does enjoy touting Kuei-jin superiority over Kindred.
If one read up a little on the lore, one can tell she is lying here.
If it is a spiritual awakening, why are your kind as despicable as Kindred?
On a related note, a less biased perspective on Kuei-jin can be obtained through the Kalliyan questline that is a part of the Clan Quest mod. It is quite a decent mod overall and I do recommend giving it a go (http://www.moddb.com/mods/vtmb-clan-quest-mod).
So you can survive in daylight? Care to prove it?
It is more complicated than that but Ming Xiao's need to feel superior will never disclose that to Mark.
Yeah... no. It is way more complicated than that.
Yeah... no. There is some form of damnation with existing as a Kuei-jin.
I guess that is one downside of being Kuei-jin.
Yeah, why would Kindred want to be compared to afterlife rejects? The reader can tell I despise Ming Xiao at this point and it is for good reason. It does the writing credit if it can create a character I enjoy despising.
And yet you are still using it anyways. How coarse of you.
It hurts to be compared to Kindred, is it not?
I wonder how would you fare against one of them? The Ravnos Progenitor would like a word.
And now for why I love the Malkavian parts here. As a Malkavian with their insight, Mark is able to pick Ming Xiao's lies on not sharing "false prophecies" apart here. Like the fact that the Kuei-jin have their own prophecies and boogeymen. This part is great at allowing the player to directly throw some barbs at Ming Xiao after all of her barbs towards Kindred.
Let us unnerve her more with the Kuei-jin's own version of Gehenna!
But it will... And unnerving her that much was so worth bringing it up.
Ah... I guess she is interesting in the vampire grandfather.
Challenge accepted!
Now to check for anything untouched topics.
Looks like the Asian demon has a name.
Right.... After your lie on Kuei-jin having no prophecies, I have nothing but 'confidence' in your claims.
I guess Mark will find him by sniffing around for fish.
Oh I am 'positive' that you had nothing to do with it, past playthrough knowledge not withstanding.
There is that name again!
Red Dragon it is!
That old lady looks important.... So does that group of people in the background running into that alley.
Looks fancy. I wonder if Mark can meet Wong Ho in such a simple getup.
Some shrimp fried rice to takeaway and some fried wantons! Oh and access to Wong Ho.
Close enough.
Secret elevators are so conspicuous sometimes.
One odd part about going in the elevator here is that the player character will always be able to hear whatever the hostess says while she is in another room.
Though for some reason, all Mark heard was just "blah blah blah".
Do not forget to pick up this throwing star. Gary will be asking for it at some point.
Time to go speak to Wong Ho and he seems troubled.
Three guess as to what happened and the first two do not count.
Based on your distress and the fact that the cutscene clearly showed the kidnapping attempt.
Finally, Mark gets praise for his foresight.
For that praise, feel free to maintain said behaviour.
I wonder if there is any relation to Tracer Tong.
I wonder what the brave path would be. Open war?
What I did not manage to screenshot here is the animation of him answering a phone.
Well that was easy.
Sounds simple enough.
In a nutshell, Mark has to rescue a girl from a massage parlour.
Oh and there is this guy to speak to.
How fishy...
This person is as friendly as an angry shark as one can tell.
As impatient as a hungry bull shark, I see.
I wonder if this loyalty is like a cleaner fish and a shark?
Now to convince him using persuasion. Something one cannot do with an actual shark.
How direct, like a shark rushing towards a meal.
I wonder if sharks get paranoid over killer whales. I know killer whales are pretty terrifying.
A fish market. Where I imagine, a shark would love to be in.
Here is Lu Fang again. I will come back to him once he sobers up.
As far as I can tell, this particular NPC was added in by the Plus version of the Unofficial Patch since I do not recall ever encountering him in older versions.
This is the only time Mark has ever seduced a guy into being a blood-doll.
This is the actual blood-doll NPC of Chinatown. The Seduction requirement to convince her however is way too high and far too much of a waste to spend when other skills are available.
Since Mark had taken up Mr Ox's quest, the normal entrance to the noodle shop is closed.
Mark will have to use the back entrance to get to the eyes.
With a sufficient Sneak score, it is cakewalk to sneak past these mooks.
Here lies Lin and here are his eyes. Gazing at you, reader.
Now to get back to Mr Ox.
Hello again, Mr Ox.
I am not sure what Mr Ox gives in the normal version of the game but here in this patched version, he hands Mark an artefact.
And here is another quest.
Someone who constantly breaks mirrors and steps on cracks?
Ah... that sounds simpler.
Here is the artefact in question. It is rather useful.
Now to return to the young demon hunter.
Not much insight on Kuei-jin but it does directly contradict what Ming Xiao says about ghost people.
What a strange coincidence that Mark has been smelling fish all around.
Her response to asking for her katana is rather sensible while aggressive.
Mark now reveals the location of the hengeyokai.
Where she will wait by the entrance until Mark shows up.
Here is a map of Chinatown in this part of the post because I only realised that I forgot to take a screenshot of this.
Here is the Lotus Blossom. Since it is on the way to the fish market, Mark may as well finish up the two sidequests here.
As the reader can tell, this area is a combat zone.
So Mark will sneak around and look for ways to bypass enemies while searching for Kiki.
This stairwell is one way to get around here.
The women here are non-hostile so a player character does not need to sneak around them. The men in leather jackets though....
With that in mind, it is time to level up Dementation.
As the reader can tell, Mark's attempt to be stealthy did not go so well. Then again, most of the enemies here are only human so there is no point for stealth here.
Time to head down those stairs first to this hallway.
Eventually, Mark reaches the marked locker where the bad luck charm was supposed to go.
The instant he does so, he is greeted by this fellow.
With a little help of Dementation, the fellow walks away thinking he is a frog.
One annoying flaw in the game design here is how long range abilities does not work if the enemies are not standing.
In fact, enemies have to be standing like this for long range abilities to work.
When they do work, it is cool to watch. Like this Vision of Death.
Well, that drew their attention.
Good thing Obfuscate is a thing.
Since Mark used up a lot of blood, he goes to replenish it with this Tong's blood.
Now to unlock this padlocked door.
And here is Kiki.
She seems friendly.
Friendly like a rattlesnake.
No wonder the Tong locked her up with wood and nails.
Not exactly. Mark is their farewell committee.
I guess treasure translates to spoiled rotten.
I feel no shame for scaring Kiki like this. She was just asking for it.
Since Mark already took care of the guards, getting Kiki out is cakewalk.
A nice feature here is how the player does not need to escort Kiki all the way back to Wong Ho. She is competent enough to find her way back once she gets outside.
Now to meet up with Yukie to wash off the stench of Kiki.
Mark will get the shark bait ready.
Here is Mark and Yukie being sneaky while I just realised that I forgot to equip Mark's pimp coat.
I wonder where is Zygaena.
At least the Malkavian can give the impression of being aware of this guy's true identity.
Target? Looks like this guy is working with someone. Perhaps a certain female Kuei-jin?
One can obviously tell that this guy is the actual Zygaena... if they have some shred of genre saviness.
As the reader can tell by my 'subtle' hints, Zygaena is a shark. Or rather a land-shark. In actuality, hengeyokai are shapeshifters from the Asian region in the World of Darkness which includes land-sharks.
One odd thing in this fight was how Yukie's combat AI was not working properly. Leaving Mark to handle the dirty work.
With enough bullets and shotgun pellets, Zygaena goes down for the count. Note the burst coolant tank in the background for it freezes Zygaena in place to allow the player to wail on him.
With Zygaena dead, Yukie is grateful to the other demon of the night.
With Mark being a friendly madman, nature-defying seems simple enough.
Here is an extra bonus for clearing out the fish market.
And with the land-shark dead, it is time to end Mark's adventures here for now. Tune in next time in the near future for the next instalment into this look at Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines.
