A Look at Vampire the Masquerade – Bloodlines Part 24

Now we proceed back into the night with this look at Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. Last time, Mark was told to find Nines Rodriguez in Griffith Park in order to convince him and the Anarchs to join forces with the Camarilla to fight off the Kuei-jin.

Here we see the cable car station leading up into said park.

Looks like only one cable car is operating tonight.

Good thing the cable car is already prepared.

It looks to be a long ride there and back. Hopefully there is no surprises up in the park.

A quick level transition and Mark has reached the park proper.

So he steps off.

Immediately outside is Nines.

Since Mark has been passing info to the Anarchs at times, Nines treats Mark as someone who's helping the cause.

That is a fair point to raise seeing as the Prince does seem bent on war against the Kuei-jin.

To be fair, the Camarilla would commence the slaughter later on if need be but Nines is right about the Kuei-jin too.

Rather strange, indeed.

Like mentioned before, something is strange.

Oh... so Smokey's gonna come over to deliver a lecture?

I was kidding about the lecture thing... 

The second option does seem like something Mark would say.

You say tram, I say cable car. Also, what's with the urgency?

Uh oh... wait, what's up with werewolves?

Now, Mark will try to suggest approaches to the werewolves.

No talking, so fight?

So no fighting. That leaves one option...

SHIT!!! The Joestar family technique has failed us!

Looks like the observatory is our best shot. With Nines around, Mark may be able to-

And there goes Nines. Damnit. Could this get any worse?

Okay, so a time limit. At least it isn't raining.

Crap, it is raining embers. Still, what else could go wrong?

Oh...

WEREWOLF!!!

Mark's only goal: SURVIVE!!!

In the original version of the game and even with the Unofficial Patch, it is recommended to flee from the werewolf. In the former's case, fleeing is mandatory as the werewolf does not register damage.

You can't outrun it. You can't destroy it. If you damage it, nothing of note happens. It will keep coming. Eventually you will weaken, your reserves will be gone.

The scariest part about the werewolf is that it bypasses cheats as well. The werewolf bypasses console commands and is more than capable of killing the player. The Unofficial Patch adds health values to the werewolf allowing for conventional weapons to hurt it but unless your player character is built like a tank and has every point in their weapon skill, resistance is futile.

Hmm... that is a rather large opening for the telescope.

Near the place where Mark experienced Final Death, there was a power box. Switching it on turns on power for the observatory. Which includes the large doors for the telescope.

With the right timing, Mark is able to lure the werewolf into the doorway and then close it while the werewolf attempts to climb through to kill Mark.

No matter how strong a living mortal creature can be, having one's body crushed by giant slabs, like an observatory dome, will be fatal. The player gets a fair amount of experience for killing the werewolf.

Upon killing the werewolf, no matter how long it took, the cable car shows up immediately. That's mighty ironic of you.

With that, Mark has plenty of points to use.

Along with that, Mark can finally read that book in his inventory.

With Nines nowhere to be found, Mark flees from Griffith Park. So one reminder for vampires, don't mess with werewolves.

Now for some additional experience for escaping the park.

Which Mark uses to max out Obfuscate. Now nothing will see him coming.

Even in that getup.

Hey, Jack is here!

And it looks like it is almost dawn. Time to make like a banana and split!

After one Carlton line, Mark and Jack are back in the Santa Monica safehouse.

Wait, why is Mark fleeing?

Again, what is going on?

Uh... did something major happen again?

So now LaCroix has placed a blood hunt on Mark now like he did Nines. Except unlike Nines, Mark can't hide out in Griffith Park. After that fire, werewolves would likely kill any vampire that haplessly wanders near the park.

That explains the fire.

And the Anarchs believed him? That can't be right...

Time for what?

Before Mark can make a choice though, he will need to get out of here alive to decide. Also, what did happen to Nines?

Likewise, Jack.

Essentially, every vampire in the area will be around to hunt Mark down.

Aside from the Anarchs and the Voermann sisters, Mark does not have a lot of non-Camarilla friends. Except for the Nosferatu in Hollywood.

So, Mark's goal is to reach Jack's cabbie.

Right now, Mark probably wishes he was with Heather. Hopefully she's okay.

Farewell, Jack.

Your friend from prior e-mails leaves a new message: "A true master has played the entire game before the first move."

And so Mark heads out.

Immediately, the reader can see that the streets of Santa Monica are a combat zone.

A quick drain ought to help out here.

Lingering around are various vampire NPCs. All hostile and all using potential player character models.

From experience, the Gangrels in Protean form is most dangerous due to their claws being able to inflict aggravated damage.

With gun and powers in hand, Mark goes to town on the rest.

Good thing Mark's AUG comes with a zoom function.

As the other ways forward are blocked off, Mark proceeds through the parking lots.

Some nearby humans act as blood supply.

While the rest are other vampires.

Each one to be killed off or snuck by.

Now the final stretch.

With a trusty Desert Eagle.

Gunning the rest down, Mark sees the taxi at the far end.

Upon reaching him, Mark simply tells the cabbie to gun it.

You get quite a bit of experience points for escaping the Blood Hunt. Good thing the vampires only knew how to stand around, waiting.

Mark seems...oddly terrified.

The third option seems like an interesting thing to say.

The cabbie gives this curt response.

And now Mark is panicking.

So Mark tells the cabbie that "we" have all been judged. Interesting pronoun usage.

Now Mark is freaking out.

That is quite an understatement after that freak out.

After all the help Mark gives to the Anarchs, not once has he been treated like one of them and the Camarilla have been using him through out. I doubt Mark would see them as a safe bet. As for the Kuei-jin, seeing what they would do to the Mandarin for failure would not raise confidence of them being forgiving employers. That and Mark told off Ming Xiao. 

So maybe, Mark should just flee.

So, Mark can keep running if no one seeks to help him.

That... sounds interesting. Tell me more.

In essence, Mark can reject every faction and break away from the Jyhad as a whole. To live as an unaffiliated legend should he survive all this. The downside is that many would like a chance to kill a legend if they ever encountered them but the upside, freedom from the intricacies of vampire society.

The cab driver emphasizes his role as a transporter. Ferrying his passengers off to their desired destinations.

There is plenty of risk but the reward... Just maybe worth it to this mad vampire.

Time to carve out this legend with ash and a pile of corpses.

Before that, time to arm up.

I wonder how is Mercurio.

Per Rosa's prediction, Mercurio remains one of the few people Mark can freely trust. So, he still provides Mark with the gear.

I am not sure if this applies to the vanilla version of the game but in the version with Unofficial Patch, Mercurio also sells body armor too so that you can get it if you released Heather from ghouldom.

After that, it is time to visit Vandal for spare blood.

And then a quick stop to Mark's Downtown Haven.

Now to showcase a little exploit.

To initiate the normal transition back to the cab, Mark would need to leave via the front door. But due to the vents of the Downtown Haven, Mark can walk out the ground floor entrance.

Which allows him to explore the Downtown when it should not be accessible.

The most useful part of this exploit is access to money from the club.

And the blood doll in said club.

Now to carve out this legend.

With a quick blood drain. I did say corpses after all.

Now for another Unofficial Patch addition, Yuki the hunter.

Kinda. If you count killing evil people as behaving.

So the obviously menacing temple did not give that away first? Granted, World of Darkness architecture is generally more menacing.

Now to team-up with Yuki.

And by team-up, I mean fight on my own and watch her flail around due to janky companion A.I.

She tries at least.

Now for more draining.

More sneaking.

More draining.

More hallway entering.

More draining.

And some rat draining.

Going through all that leads Mark into this room with two doorways on either side.

Both have stairways leading downwards.

To one of two doors like this one.

And with that, Mark has broken into Ming Xiao's lair. This seems like a good place to stop for the night. Mark's legend will continue in a future installment of my look at Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.