RPGM Crimson Veil [v5.7] [MKRUdesign]

[Rosen King]

Ah, so it's vampire route side quests now, is it? A few questions, then...

1. Will there be more main route side quest submissions in the future? I was planning to resubmit "Building a Better Vampire Hunter", but I think I'd rather keep it in my back pocket for the main route than blow it on the vampire route. Of course, the general idea could easily be reworked since it already involves a captured and transformed vampire, but I've grown attached to the tone of an ethics-impaired nerd and his lovable vamborg golemized vampire assistant trying to "help" Mila, as opposed to a generic mad scientist capturing vampire Mila and converting her into a weapon against her own kind. (Plus, I know everyone including myself really wants the girl/girl stuff, and it's more fun to pair a robot vampire with a robot vampire hunter.)

2. Is there anything to keep in mind about the current progress of the story that could impact the side quests in some way? I actually haven't played since Chapter 2 of the main route and Chapter 1 of the vampire route. Now that the main route's done it's on my to-do list, but I don't intend to rush it before the deadline.

3. Is there a particular way these should be expected to end? On the main route, it's a simple assumption that the good ending will result in the threat being removed and everyone going on with their lives. But maybe there's a particular direction you'd like the "good" ending to lean this time, like a preference for having the threat be corrupted to Mila's own end. That also raises the question of how complex the "reward" should be expected to be, since obtaining a pet [insert monster here] could be a lot more work than, say, getting a new whip.

 

[mkrudesign]

Ah, so it's vampire route side quests now, is it? A few questions, then...

1. Will there be more main route side quest submissions in the future? I was planning to resubmit "Building a Better Vampire Hunter", but I think I'd rather keep it in my back pocket for the main route than blow it on the vampire route. Of course, the general idea could easily be reworked since it already involves a captured and transformed vampire, but I've grown attached to the tone of an ethics-impaired nerd and his lovable vamborg golemized vampire assistant trying to "help" Mila, as opposed to a generic mad scientist capturing vampire Mila and converting her into a weapon against her own kind. (Plus, I know everyone including myself really wants the girl/girl stuff, and it's more fun to pair a robot vampire with a robot vampire hunter.)

2. Is there anything to keep in mind about the current progress of the story that could impact the side quests in some way? I actually haven't played since Chapter 2 of the main route and Chapter 1 of the vampire route. Now that the main route's done it's on my to-do list, but I don't intend to rush it before the deadline.

3. Is there a particular way these should be expected to end? On the main route, it's a simple assumption that the good ending will result in the threat being removed and everyone going on with their lives. But maybe there's a particular direction you'd like the "good" ending to lean this time, like a preference for having the threat be corrupted to Mila's own end. That also raises the question of how complex the "reward" should be expected to be, since obtaining a pet [insert monster here] could be a lot more work than, say, getting a new whip.

1. I don’t plan to end contracts for the main route, but I will be focusing on the vampire route for now.
2. These contracts should, like any side quest, be self contained, allowing for the player to complete it at any point in the story. It does need to work within the context of the story that is built up until chapter 2 of the vampire route, however.
3. Like point 2, these quests should be self contained and their characters shouldn’t be required to react to the story in any way (aside from what has occurred after chapter 2). The “good” ending must leave Mila the same as how she started. Don’t worry about creating a compelling reward, as it will likely be adjusted by me anyway, but if you have a cool idea for a reward that isn’t game breaking, you can include it in your pitch.

 

[Rosen King]

It does need to work within the context of the story that is built up until chapter 2 of the vampire route, however.

Erm... So what happened in Chapter 2 of the vampire route? I guess that's what I was asking. I know the initial premise up through Chapter 1, but don't know if anything crucial changed after that, or if anything that would fit in Chapter 1 would just as easily fit in Chapter 2.

 

[262177]

Seeing as MKRU included a large amount of yuri and yuri subtext as you progress towards the hunter route main ending (no spoilers) - and this was a pleasant surprise; awesome, even - I'm pretty much fine with all ideas that give the player an incentive to spend more time in the game having fun with a contract while taking a break from the main storyline. Contracts and side quests have always been a cool idea when properly planned.

I can't recall if Mila severely lacked power at the current point of vampire route development; if a player isn't really struggling to progress towards the story (and survive as a vampire) then the focus could shift to something more fun or cosmetic.

Didn't even notice Rosen King had suggested ideas. Ending up with a (turned?) female companion would definitely be fitting for the vampire route.

Pre-emptive edit: Two new posts before I even manage to slap a small one. Talk about slow...

Spoiler

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[mkrudesign]

Erm... So what happened in Chapter 2 of the vampire route? I guess that's what I was asking. I know the initial premise up through Chapter 1, but don't know if anything crucial changed after that, or if anything that would fit in Chapter 1 would just as easily fit in Chapter 2.

Here’s the walkthrough, it should give you a refresher without me having to post it directly to this board:

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[Rosen King]

Hmm... Well, I have one more question that may have been answered in Chapter 3, but I don't think will be mentioned in the walkthrough. Was it ever established how vampires handle the ocean? Do they follow Dracula rules where they can't cross it normally and have to be carried across in their coffin, or could vampire Mila potentially fight someone on a ship? I've got an idea involving pirates and a mermaid, but obviously it will have to conform to whatever the ocean rules are in this setting.

 

[mkrudesign]

Hmm... Well, I have one more question that may have been answered in Chapter 3, but I don't think will be mentioned in the walkthrough. Was it ever established how vampires handle the ocean? Do they follow Dracula rules where they can't cross it normally and have to be carried across in their coffin, or could vampire Mila potentially fight someone on a ship? I've got an idea involving pirates and a mermaid, but obviously it will have to conform to whatever the ocean rules are in this setting.

It hasn’t technically been established yet, but Vampires do not have a weakness to running water in my lore.

 

[262177]

It hasn’t technically been established yet, but Vampires do not have a weakness to running water in my lore.

It's been a while since I touched the good old CYOAs (or read a vampire book, since we both loooove reading books, Bianca team go!) but I believe vampires aren't weak to water per se, only sunlight, anything holy (I'm still chuckling at poor sexy Shalltear Bloodfallen

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- nsfw warning - after noticing oral sex with a Water Goddess - Aqua from KonoSuba/Isekai Quartet is a BAD idea, not because of the water and urine, but because ALL liquids she touches and produces are holy) and in common lore, silver and cold iron.

I kinda want to replay my old books now, but holy shit some of them were HARDCORE. Especially the Lone Wolf ones, though these aren't vampire-themed.

Also, don't feel too obligated to follow classic lore to the letter MKRU, unless you want the game to be dead serious.

ZUN didn't really give a shit about the Scarlet Mansion vampires being sometimes able to casually sunbathe (mostly because they will respawn in another story even if they turn to ashes) or having to protect themselves from the deadly sunrays. Science hasn't established if this was due to ultraviolet or the sun being holy, but science would rather establish it has yet to find an entity that demonstrates full vampiric behavior beyond bloodsucking, improved visibility at night, fangs and pale skin (such as the ability to turn into a bat and travel more conveniently, for example).

Like the trope says,

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. Though I don't mind a traditional (greater, noble) vampire who cannot enter a house unless invited as long as, well, said vampire is a crazy psycho lesbian, and whether I'm a vampire hunter or vampire, I am after her heart for purely sentimental reasons.

 

[Rosen King]

It's been a while since I touched the good old CYOAs (or read a vampire book, since we both loooove reading books, Bianca team go!) but I believe vampires aren't weak to water per se, only sunlight, anything holy (I'm still chuckling at poor sexy Shalltear Bloodfallen

You must be registered to see the links

- nsfw warning - after noticing oral sex with a Water Goddess - Aqua from KonoSuba/Isekai Quartet is a BAD idea, not because of the water and urine, but because ALL liquids she touches and produces are holy) and in common lore, silver and cold iron.

I don't know anything about whatever you're talking about, but the original Dracula novel had him unable to cross running water under his own power. He infamously had to smuggle his coffin onto a boat in order to travel from Transylvania to England.

Of course the dev is free to ignore and make up whatever rules they want, but the point is that I didn't know if that rule had been established, and didn't want to contradict it. Since chapter 3 apparently takes place across the ocean, that rule might have been used to further along the story, or visibly broken because it would have gotten in the way of the story. And these restrictions aren't always a bad thing, since just thinking of ways to get around it gave me the idea to include a reference to the aforementioned plot point from Dracula (smuggling a coffin onto a ship and then picking off the crew one by one). Funny enough, it also has a character who can turn water into holy water, since mermaids otherwise aren't very dangerous to someone who doesn't have to breathe. (At least not the kind of innocent, fairy tale mermaid this character is supposed to be.)

Anywho, I've already submitted my idea, but let me know if there's an issue I need to fix or the e-mail didn't go through or something.

 

[anubis1970]

I don't know anything about whatever you're talking about, but the original Dracula novel had him unable to cross running water under his own power. He infamously had to smuggle his coffin onto a boat in order to travel from Transylvania to England.

Of course the dev is free to ignore and make up whatever rules they want, but the point is that I didn't know if that rule had been established, and didn't want to contradict it. Since chapter 3 apparently takes place across the ocean, that rule might have been used to further along the story, or visibly broken because it would have gotten in the way of the story. And these restrictions aren't always a bad thing, since just thinking of ways to get around it gave me the idea to include a reference to the aforementioned plot point from Dracula (smuggling a coffin onto a ship and then picking off the crew one by one). Funny enough, it also has a character who can turn water into holy water, since mermaids otherwise aren't very dangerous to someone who doesn't have to breathe. (At least not the kind of innocent, fairy tale mermaid this character is supposed to be.)

Anywho, I've already submitted my idea, but let me know if there's an issue I need to fix or the e-mail didn't go through or something.

Considering Dracula was based on several European legends about undead blood-suckers, including nosferatu, and that there are hundreds of vampire-like creatures from cultures around the world; I don't think that there's one hard set of rules about what vampires can and can't do. The only general thing that 90% of the lore agrees on is their weakness to sunlight.

 

[Rosen King]

Considering Dracula was based on several European legends about undead blood-suckers, including nosferatu, and that there are hundreds of vampire-like creatures from cultures around the world; I don't think that there's one hard set of rules about what vampires can and can't do. The only general thing that 90% of the lore agrees on is their weakness to sunlight.

I know that. That was my point, there are a lot of different rules used by a lot of different stories, and one of the common ones (which was present in the most famous vampire story of all) is that vampires sometimes can't cross running water. So I asked about whether that one applies here, because I wanted to stick to the rules used by this story.

Edit: A funny thing to note about that, too, is that sunlight wasn't actually lethal to Dracula. He just couldn't use most of his powers during the day. So despite being the most famous vampire story, it doesn't even follow the most common "rule" about vampires in modern fiction.

 

[262177]

the original Dracula novel had him unable to cross running water under his own power. He infamously had to smuggle his coffin onto a boat in order to travel from Transylvania to England.

Interesting, didn't know that... I suppose bats and fog were more recent takes to get around this... mobility problem.

A funny thing to note about that, too, is that sunlight wasn't actually lethal to Dracula. He just couldn't use most of his powers during the day. So despite being the most famous vampire story, it doesn't even follow the most common "rule" about vampires in modern fiction.

I've read stories that use this one too, where sunlight weakens the vampire during the day while they gain tremendous powers during the night, but sunlight itself doesn't hurt them nor immediately turns them to ashes.

 

[Pic]

I want to spend some words on the update. I really like all the new maps, loved all the bosses' outfits and appearances. Hope to see more of Ashe in the vampire route since her is my favourite character and good job for the goal you reach with the end of the main story, it is a very fun and enjoyable game.

 

[Dirty_Purity]

Great game in almost every aspect except levelling. Amount of save-scumming necessary to get enough vampire dust is just ridiculous and without save-scumming I am always underlevelled because of very weird random.

Also, vampire route is kinda disappointing to be honest. Pretty much everything what happened on the hunter route before switching to vampire route loses its importance and it is like completely separated story.

 

[mkrudesign]

Spoiler: Weekly Update 1/8/22

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[262177]

Thanks for the weekly report as usual MKRU. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with, those first entries look cool.

Regarding your shoulder tendon pain, tried a shoulder pad? If you've seen a physician for it you've probably already had the recommendation depending on the damaged area (especially if the tendon is trapped due to excessive tendon fatigue).

Great game in almost every aspect except levelling. Amount of save-scumming necessary to get enough vampire dust is just ridiculous and without save-scumming I am always underlevelled because of very weird random.

Also, vampire route is kinda disappointing to be honest. Pretty much everything what happened on the hunter route before switching to vampire route loses its importance and it is like completely separated story.

I've had the opposite experience with leveling here. Collecting those parts was fun especially once Faahlda becomes one with you.

Enemies respawn if I recall correctly, so except for unique battles and unique items, you shouldn't have to savescum (unique items by design should also be 100% drops). RNG-based stuff is always annoying (ah, the memories of 1 in 4096 drops that felt like a goddamn rigged gacha) but the leveling system in CV is pretty unique. Maybe additional lootable vampire parts would help but following MKRU's guide, I've never had any issue here and I can assure you my luck is so terrible I could fail hundreds of hits at capped THAC0 (or get hit by crits all the time with capped AC). 25% chance items literally wouldn't drop in 20+ fights (not that unlikely but still frustrating) and that did include leveling items.

MKRU also made sure to pretty much add Faahlda in every critical spot so you'll almost always have a way to reach her to talk to her without going all the way back to Noctorna HQ.

Do make sure you collect, use and hoard every single laurel you can, and also get and reinforce the best gear you can for the situation. Not just the optimal gear, elemental affiliation and status resistance is important too.

For Vampire route, I believe MKRU has plans to make it carry over, but I'm not sure about those exploration-type players who keep Dorian for later in a save then completely forget about him (not exactly sure where I caused a sequence skip to happen, but when I came back after freeing all false memories, he was already dead, so I had to revive him and kill him again, it was either that or exploit the Tragic Bride memory glitch, and I wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything else in there - I tend to break a lot of things by testing everything).

For a no male interaction allowed route or if you want to become a vampire after freeing all false memories plus one then you'll have to exploit the glitch once. If you're shameless or really love the tragic bride (I did have a soft spot for her, she does have a moving storyline) then you can just "talk" to her freed soul twelve times or more (this assumes you did her contract) then step on the middle pedestal.

Technically and if I'm not misremembering, you're supposed to become a vampire if you surrender or lose to Dorian in chapter 3 (and at this point Mila is "reborn" as a newborn vampire). I actually don't remember how I got past him without fighting him, he was already dead when I got back, but since I never killed him, I ended up missing a false memory.

The short version would be that you'll want to play them as separate stories either way. Play it the same way you'd play classics. Multiple sets of saves.

 

[Rosen King]

Oof, a rival pirate submission and a rival mermaid submission. Makes sense to pit the two mermaids against each other from the start, although with the possibility of both pirate quests ending up as the winners I worry that the vote will be split by people who want to make sure there's more variety. (Although they could be tied together if they do both win, with the story of the ghost pirates' treasure being revealed by Gloria at the end of her quest, or something like that.)

Also oof, pinched tendon. Never fun.

 

[Dirty_Purity]

Enemies respawn if I recall correctly

They do? I am not sure how to trigger their respawn then usually in RPGM games enemies respawn on every entrance in location but it definitely not the case here. I noticed that some locations are repopulated with more powerful enemies in new acts but that is it.

 

[262177]

They do? I am not sure how to trigger their respawn then usually in RPGM games enemies respawn on every entrance in location but it definitely not the case here. I noticed that some locations are repopulated with more powerful enemies in new acts but that is it.

Might be my memory playing tricks on me but they should be back if you exit and re-enter maps (unless beating them activates a self-switch) and late game enemies definitely respawn via voodoo magic after a quick timer.

I'll do an early run just to make sure. Or maybe even check the project lol.

Edit: My bad, they indeed use self-switches. That was just the late game then, sorry about that!

 

[Blanton]

Spoiler: Weekly Update 1/8/22

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Ok I guess you can make the quest description too short