Ab-spliffing-to-lutely brilliant! Would always appreciate (WAY!) more choices much more frequently, especially a choice to abstain from any and EVERY action which might eventually lead to even the slightest sexual/romantic plotline or even a scene. Lisn' 'ere, son; I just done got my In Real Life-long wish and was finally turned into a superior being; mortal coil, and by extension the urges related, finally gone and replaced by a single, simple need for sustenance. PERSONALLY and with utter honesty I could not ask for a more perfect existence.
Too early to try and rate this on any scale yet, other than with an unbeating-heartfelt "PLEASE hurry production along!" plea.
Finally I thought I'd give a couple of TOTAL n00b13-pointers, just if you don't care about mind-control and wish to be both adequately stealthy AND absolutely lethal should an operation fail to remain covert. So SPOILERS AHEAD! Just a heads up. Nothing MAJOR! Just a couple first choices, feeding and general attitude. Look away now, you've been warned.
Okay, here goes;
I AM STILL UNCERTAIN WHETHER OR NOT THIS GAME IS SOMETIMES A BIT RANDOM REGARDLESS OF CHOICES MADE! I SEEM TO HAVE GAINED STEALTH 6 WITH CHARISMA EITHER 3 OR 6 USING THE SAME EXACT CHOICES LISTED BELOW! ...aaand after more testing I've had some seriously weird stats on Charisma, same Choices, different Cha. Factor of +- three points. And combat truly does seem to be a bit random? I cannot TELL!!!
ANOTHER WEIRD UPDATE! This time around I had 11 Stealth, SOMEHOW managed to use Mindcontrol to make the bint in the bar look at me mid-conversation (don't ask me why that happened, it usually doesn't) so my Charisma was 6 but after CHOOSING to re-train with Eloise my prowess was 8 and Could Not Fight Off Andrew, thus NO CLAWS! I could've sworn I've received the offer with 8 Prowess! Is this completely random?!? Have I taken too much Adderall or am I not taking enough Adderall? (-Rick Sanchez)
I decided to write this for the Balanced-skillset with low to no interest in Charisma and the associated Mindcontrol-rubbage. This bloke is going to be able to pick some if not most locks and in we sneak, but should the Fabled Faeces hit the Proverbial Propeller, he'll ALSO be able to eviscerate enemies with evident ease. Do bear in mind that these choices most likely (hopefully) lock out or at least make it harder to pursue any future romance with Sharon and ESPECIALLY the fact that none but the Dev and maybe their trusted mates know how Devious a Devil's Deal these claws actually ARE and whether or not it's wise to choose (one of?) your Gift(s) this early in the game. If based in VtM as has been thus far, I'd wager choosing the claws means your Sire, whilst clearly so ancient she's VERY few generations removed from Caine himself, was sired by a, or even The Real OG, as in Original Gangrel from whom all animalistic, loner-Kindred, sorry, VAMPIRES, are descended. Again, this isn't Vampire The Masquerade, but my thinking goes along these lines. And rest assured as the game develops and different gifts present 'emselves, I shall favour brain over brawn. BUT! Early Game Survival! I mean a FIXED 25 points on your Prowess is devastating against humans and I'd say against quite a few Leeches, as well! So this is... you know, ONE way to get them. And still get decent Stealth! (OR Charisma? I haven't the foggiest, YOU test that questline, heh...)
Generally avoid everything even remotely romantic and be aggressive, just don't flirt or joke with Sharon or anyone, don't check up on your Landlady, be a prick, you get the gist. Get a bit MEAN, and DEFINITELY SHOVE OFF ANDREW IF YOU ARE ABLE, for that especially seems to be a prerequisite and/or the final show of aggression to become eligible for accepting the Gift of the CLAWS, not sure, but this was my combo and I got Stealth 11 AND the claws which thus far is my personal best (and seemingly regardless of my choices, I ended up with Cha either 3 or 6). Tried to train more stealth on another run and felt the surge of anger but the claws didn't appear, Markus did. I'm not 100% about the romance/creep/joker-factor is, here, but I'd not risk it on your first try. Be distant and rude. TOTAL GUESS, HERE, BUT; First time you Rise afore Sharon, Peeking under her blanket as she Slumbers results in some creeping BUT finishes with a message I understood meant utter dis-interest in her dead body. My hope is that it removes MC's curiosity and thus as much of the Romance-plotline as possible, giving me at least a choice in the matter. Time will tell.
First Feeding! Very Important!
So many tries on my first run, hehh! And I mean I went FAR into some choices and STILL returned to this crucial choice. Also tried Quit/Reloading Alley&Club MANY times, thinking the underlying scent (and thus the profession of the Donor) might be randomised (and affect something in the future). I still have no clue which scenes might be random and I'm not sure if even the few I suspect actually ARE random!!
I'd Feed off the bloke in the Apartment, for this will raise your Stealth to 6. This is a huge increase AND we get another guaranteed Stealth-session hardcoded into the Storyline, all without losing any chances to raise Prowess at that point and hopefully get those claws. Trying to create a stealthy-but-strong Ranger, not a slap-killable Rogue, should a D&D-analogy be of help. If you have NO interest in stealth, just SLAYING, go straight to the Alley!
Should your first Choice be the Alley (After dozens of Clean Start-runs with starting to feel the safest fucking choice to actually get the damn claws...) with a struggle in mind, you won't find a fight here. Just a drunkard and obviously this isn't stealthy or charismatic in the least, it wasn't even physically taxing BUT you got your 6 Prowess and probably don't need this "guide" to become even more of an unkillable Hulk DUM! ..urr.. meen SMASH!
Aaand going to the club SHOULD trigger your Vulcan Mindmeld-nonsense of which I am not a fan (yet, AND WHICH SEEMS TO BE RANDOM UNLESS (if even then) IT'S YOUR FIRST CHOICE), nor do I know ANYTHING further related to plotline development, especially the Hunter-fight outcome, should you choose this. I am intrigued, I admit, but I know Mindcontrol is ALWAYS a gamble, even with mere mewling mortals, let alone trying to use it against any of my Elder Kindre-- VAMPIRES, that is.
AFTER A WHOLE LOT OF TESTING I AM RATHER CERTAIN THAT NO MATTER HOW YOU MANAGE TO ACCOMPLISH THESE TWO PREREQUISITES, THE CLAWS ARE OFFERED; You MUST be able to throw Andrew off you, and it might even be that unless you are able, the second prerequisite has already been forfeit, for you must (regardless of HOW, apparently) have attained a certain level of Prowess, (OUTDATED, EDITED) over six seemed plausible and I thought eight WAS verified. This was not the case this run. If you strike lucky and manage to hit that huge, angry lesbian so she'll call you just CLOSE to worthless but maybe not totally, I think you might be able to train with Merrick instead when given the choice and still get the claws. Despite your first meal? I. Don't. Know. Even with Skipping, this is a LOT of testing and time wasted.
Don't Check on Landlady, Don't Thank Back, Do Peek 1st Time(Covering her should raise compassion? Totally unknown, but if you wanna C a nice, if lifeless C-cup, go for it. Shouldn't matter, but I've been wrong oh, so many times with this game...), don't obey her blindly after Ass-trid but Ask Why(challenging her? Impact unknown), Throw Off Andrew(An absolute must! Not sure about much, but this seems crucial), (Put Your Clothes Back On, haven't even tested the alternative) and (the following did NOT work my last run, but I'm nigh certain it did with the same stats&choices on a run before that) MAYBE train fighting again depending on your Prowess? (seems random, and if you do exceedingly well the first time there's not a lot to be gained from the second session, I DO NOT KNOW!!! I just made every Fighter-decision and ended up with Prowess 16, and after Claws it was the same old 25 as I got with as low as ... Eight I think? (I though Prowess 8 was VERIFIED, but a fresh game proved me wrong, again!) BUT IF YOU MANAGE TO Get Claws, you get 25 Prowess. Not previous Prowess+25, it just sets it to 25. Everytime. No more, no less. Unless I'm proven wrong, once again.
SO, hopefully that'll get your Vitae flowing, but even more hopefully there's new content on the near horizon! Thank the Developer(s) for this amazing vampire story! Too early to give scores, but thus far from a strong B+ to a slight A- and only because there is so VERY much banter on the lines of "Yes" or "He he.." and some unavoidable "flirts" and responses I would dearly wish to decide for myself. Remnants of lingering sexuality in a creature the males of which Sharon explicitly described all but utterly impotent without going to preposterous lengths to manage an erection whilst most females lose all interest in the pointless, repetitive act which only serves the purpose of compelling animals to sacrifice their own well-being if not their life in order to create the next generation. You would be amazed at how many species live their lives happily until they mate and die, almost like humans do, just only on the inside while several species quite literally bang once and drop dead. Or the female devours the male (also found in Homo Not-So-Sapient, but again only METAPHORICALLY sucking the life outta any bloke dumb enough to fall for their vicious wiles.)
So albeit birth-control is a non-issue, why would they? Let us be honest, here. Coitus is hardly all that 'sophisticated' an act, provides negligible amounts of pleasure under the best of circumstances without EVEN taking the newfound mega-ecstasy-bliss gained from blood into account and is in absolutely no way a requirement for the propagation and continued 'survival' of the 'species'. Be vampires the product of some Sosio-PATHETIC Skyfaery Cloudgoblin Überrüler In The Sky torturing innocents with a self-replicating, transmittable 'curse' or be it simple evolution, a virus or bacterium that needs to be passed by the blood into a dying gastronomic system (to fend off the natural immunity system, maybe?), with lesser effects (contamination being fought unless a third dose is administered) on patients very much alive, whom yet ingest the carrier-vitae enough times to establish a presence enough to defeat the body's automatic defences (Thralls) whilst stimulating areas of the brain responsible for excretion of oxytocin and dopamine, making the subject mimic feelings of love and causing irrevocable obsession towards the genetic makeup of the one responsible for contaminating them. This happens during natural childbirth, and the sudden release of hormones (mainly oxytocin) after all that pain is the reason most mothers are unreasonably attached to their children, despite what fucking cunts they grow up to become. Oh, how I wish Almighty Science could explain the Nos-ability to Hide In Plain Sight, for if there's something I truly loathe, it's all these ludicrous, illogical Organised Superstitions waging war over whose Skydaddy is the least despicable. Can't we keep these laughable flights of fancy in fantasy literature and games where they belong, not brainrape children with this (quite literally) unbelievable tosh in schools?!? Pretty please? Let's evolve just a tiny little bit, yeah? Dude, pray to your Rainbow-crapping Unicorn 'god' all you want, but don't force this harmful, utter garbage on someone too young to see through the oh, so obvious holes in your Holey Books, mmkay? I'd apologise for the religulous rant, but I actually hope I offended some gullible person enough to make them really THINK for once. Just ONCE.
-Sanguinarium
