Choice of the Vampire - community input [SEE POST 1305]

I chose to throw a birthday party for George in St. Louis and got this


This is despite having taken the kindest options every time we’ve interacted, and helping with the school for the blind.

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Hmm. That line is supposed to be a reflection of the “motivation” you chose when hiring him. I’ll double-check the logic there.

EDIT: Yeah, I suspect that you were mid-playthrough when I pushed the new build. I changed some of those values, and that mismatch is what’s giving you this.

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I have one small suggestion. If you go the criminal underworld route, if you summon mortals to fight West, you get Egan’s Rats. From my own knowledge, I knew what they were, but you might include at least a line or two in the game to give a little background.

Also, a very minor addition
Original:
“Have you been to the Rosebud? The Silver Dollar Saloon? Or any of the supper clubs in Chestnut Valley? The music is inescapable.”

“I’m sorry to say that I have.”

"You should broaden your horizons,

Suggestion: I believe you need a ‘not’ in the second line of “I’m sorry to say that I have.”

Original:
A crack echoes through the night. And a moment later, where the might Beast once stood, there is only ash.

Suggestion: might before ‘beast’ probably should be ‘mighty’

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When talking to Estefania Rios e Hidalgo in one of the later chapters we have basically the same conversation about the origin of the race and how the blood works that we had back in the early chapters. My relationship with her was classified as “functional”, so that might have something to do with it.

Please please please add Appollo v KKK. I didn’t realise I wanted something so bad until I saw it!

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Hm, regarding the scenario where Aichinger asks the PC to help investigate why customers are being drawn away from the biergarten because of the baseball, the PC has the chance to say that they expect a debt from Aichinger, to which he agrees.

However, after my priest performed the investigation and helped Aichinger resolve the situation by suggesting that he make the musical entertainment a regular part of the schedule, there was no acknowledgement from Aichinger about now owing a debt.

Also, since Aichinger does agree to owing a debt if the PC helps with the situation, I think that it would be logical to ask Aichinger to consider a debt from the PC fulfilled, namely the debt that my priest owes Aichinger after asking and being allowed to establish a haven in Aichinger’s territory. Perhaps there might be an option to ask Aichinger if helping him with the baseball situation will clear the debt owed to Aichinger.

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A bit of text that reads a bit off. If you confront Partridge in the first gathering, it reads like this:
Original:
“How dare you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“How dare you ask that of me?” he repeats.

“It is an honest question. It is almost as though you want no one to win.”

“You are wasting my time with these insinuations, Miss Okshakla. Now, if you will excuse me,” he says, trying to escape your presence.

Suggestion: It seems like there is a line missing between “I’m sorry?” and “How dare you ask that of me?”. It feels like you meant to have the player answer with a clarification, and it is missing.

That’s…not a happy scene. Which is why I’ve held off on writing it.

You haven’t hit the whole Egan’s Rats plot? If your Enterprise is the criminal underworld, you should hit it just after the beer symposium in 1889.

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My mistake. I think I overlooked it since “Snake” has the first name of Thomas, and Egan went with Tommy.

Anyways, I found a few more things. One is a serious continuity issue, the others are minor grammar parts.

The continuity part is that when I met Estafania at the fair during the first go around, it is possible to fight her. When you do, you get this:

Your fangs are buried in Rios’s neck, and you suck as though your unlife depends on it. For it absolutely does. When the moment of her expiration nears, you welcome it. This is not the first time you have consumed the heartsblood of another of your kind, nor will it likely be the last.

I am a little unclear whether the player consumes her entirely at this point. If so, maybe some mention of the corpse would be good. If Estafania has plot armor, then maybe some interference interrupts the encounter. Note: The interruption does happen if you meet her in the ‘round 2’ of the fair when West arrives on the scene.

The other reason I think a little more clarification would be nice is because it then went to this page (nothing wrong with the page, just mentioning it for location purposes)
To add to the madness of the Exposition, the Democratic National Committee has chosen St. Louis to host the nominating convention this year. Of course, the last time the national convention was held in St. Louis, a Democrat won the vote but lost the election in exchange for the end of Reconstruction.

Heh, and now I can imagine an Estafania who survives spreading the word the player tried to consumer her (at least with her escape if West arrives)

Onto the minor grammar stuff:
Original: Maeve is stunned by your gesture. Of course, the fact that you ensure her loyalty by regularly threatening to murder her whole family makes renders this deed mostly moot.

Suggestion: I think you can remove ‘makes’ before ‘renders’

Original: Betty Cowper sees him to the door. You wait a few minutes and then excuse yourself.

Following him and emptying his pockets is a simple enough affair. Humans exist to satisfy your needs. Why should you behavior towards them in any other way?

Suggestion: In the second sentence before this, I think the ‘you’ should be ‘your’

Original: It’s actually easier that you anticipated; you are, in fact, the better swordswoman. Within a few moments, you pierce her heart with your blade.

She sputters blood and dies in the arms of her brother

Suggestion: In the first sentence, the ‘that’ should ‘than’

Original: Finally, she is empty. You drop her body to the ground. Even now the flesh is withering away; soon, the corpose of an old woman lays before you.

Suggestion: There is a misspelling of corpse

I know this is a long shot, but I thought I’d ask just in case.

Would you ever consider allowing the choice to select the two randomized stat points at the beginning? Perhaps release it as a DLC? I would gladly spend a dollar for the option.

It is not because I want to min-max the mechanics, rather it’s quite the opposite! I have a vision in mind for how I will roleplay my character’s choices, as well as her backstory.

I’ve talked about Zéphyrine a few times before in this thread. She starts off in the beginning as an elegant, convent-educated, pianoforte-playing young lady of color who values refinement.

Despite coming-of-age in her mortal years amongst “the violent nature of life at the intersection of rival civilizations”, I do not imagine the thought of picking up a gun would have ever crossed Zéphyrine’s mind.

The blood she remembers from adolescence is not that which stains the battlefield, but a trickle from her knuckles after being caned during etiquette lessons at the Ursuline convent school.

Nor would Zéphyrine risk her fragile veneer of respectibility by dealing with illicit goods.

After all, what advantage would a woman of her color and station gain from association with a disreputable merchant? Surely her nights were better spent taking advantage of what these American entrepreneurs had to offer.

Whenever I receive these fighting, strength, and streetsmart stat bonuses, I admit I do restart and replay until I get my desired charm and English skills.

This isn’t about wanting to “boost” anything. Both +1 charm and English are currently attainable with Zeph’s build. I have gotten them many times after some effort. Unfortunately, it is up to pure chance. I simply would appreciate convenience, and I am willing to pay for it.

EDIT: I’m not sure if I’m reading the code of the new build correctly. But are you now only able to get random boosts on stats that are 1 or less?

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Great catch. Fixed!

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I also see we have a new content warning…

CoV: “Vampires. Amoral, blood-sucking, exploitative, manipulative, murdering, self-destructive vampires.”

Zéphyrine Chaigneau: "Bonsoir, mes amis! I just came back from funding a school for blind children, meeting with the former slaves I helped free, and a long heart-to-heart conversation with Hiram Eliot. Alas, I fear I must excuse myself. I need to pray the rosary to steady my mind.”

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You know this is going to make me write something to ruin your particular vampire, right? :slight_smile:

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My vamp Thomas Manners (Yank entrepreneur) would probably fall into the same traps as Zephyrine… :smile:

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…You already took Hiram from her. She’s barely going to remember the next 20 years as she straggles northwards on auto-pilot.

I dread what more you have planned.

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Also, I don’t mind waiting for a response to my previous post.

But I just need to know if you changed the allotment of random stat boosts in the new build. Because either you did, and I’ve been wasting my time restarting… or I’m just having horrible luck today.

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I haven’t pushed a build since Saturday.

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Yeah, that was the one I meant. But I also haven’t tested it in a while, so it could have been an older update? I wrote my post before testing the Saturday build.

I will try again.

EDIT: This is what I am specifically refering to.

Code

If I am understanding this correctly, then if one has a stat at 2, it will not be randomly bumped up. The last time I read this section of the code, it only skipped the stat if you were at 3. (I think. Because I have yet to get an agility boost, which were very common in my last playthrough’s replays. An FPOC has 2 agility always, if I’m remembering right.)

EDIT 2:

I could swear some of these stats have been switched around...

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[quote=“mistylavenda, post:812, topic:88”]
But I just need to know if you changed the allotment of random stat boosts in the new build. Because either you did, and I’ve been wasting my time restarting… or I’m just having horrible luck today.
[/quote]i thinkj

I’m going through the same thing. If I recall correctly, the last stat point I received was back in chapter 4-5.

Maybe the different items/notes/possessions can provide stat bonuses or speacial effects. At least during this “testing period”. Also at the end of chapter 4 (iirc) is the last checkpoint.

It is getting tough out there without a save function and/or skip button/menu.

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Error?

Wrong?

She shouldn’t have showed up in my play through. I drained her of blood and tossed her body.

Idk, am I supposed to report things like this?

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