The Vampire Regent [published]

I do enjoy the classic VTM vibe you get from the story but eh… Some of the nomenclature really rubs me the wrong way.

‘Cloud’ evokes something flimsy or decentralized online data storage. Not a social body of any kind. I don’t know whether there’s a deeper reason for this naming or how set you are on it but it doesn’t work for me. Might I suggest ‘parliament’ instead? As in parliament of owls which are nocturnal so there’s actually a point here.

The clan names are awkward to say the least. I don’t know about Aznuit or whether there’s a hidden meaning other than sounding vaguely French. But Balkanic and Saharian being midly geographic just rubs me the wrong way. Saharian especially since to my knowledge the Sahara desert is somewhat sparsely populated and those people that live there band together. Bad ground for a vampire.

Beyond that, the geographical references are just vague and general and don’t give me a lot to work with. The Balkans are a wide multi-cultural space in these days, sitting at the intersection of Europe and Asia as they are. The East Roman Empire to the Ottomans and the Austrians, a lot has happened in that area.

If this is your way of saying ‘think Dracula’ or you want to refer to Transylvania without saying it, might I suggest a reference to Wallachia instead? Alternatively, if you just want to emphasize a generic Eastern European heritage you might try using one of the variations on Vourdalak (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_of_the_Vourdalak).

Merovingian now I don’t get at all unless all Merovingians are directly descended from that line of kings. Where’s the relation? I just don’t get what this js trying to convey.

As I said before, I really enjoy the vibe of this story (though I’m actually not a fan of the random nature of events simply because they’re not created equal in my enjoyment of them). But the nomenclature of the setting is really jarring at times (others like Puppet and Suzerain/Vassal totally work for me, mind you). I’m not even going to voice my thoughts on the city’s name but I wonder why someone would call their town Murderport. Is one of the suburbs Domestic Abuseville? Battery Springs? Arson Heights? Oops, now I talked about it anyway. Sorry.

On an unrelated note but on topic, there were times when I felt choices didn’t fully convey the resulting consequences. Like I had a sniper in place at the meeting with Russell. The choice was literally just to have him there. He tried to take a shot at Russell when he arrived which I’d never intended to have him do. The game just said sniper and meant to shoot Russell while I read sniper and thought just in case things went south.

Same in the vignette with the Priest. I had him followed and questioned by a Merovingian and afterwards my agent killed him despite that not being part of the choice text and something I wanted to not happen.

There was more but I admit I forgot the rest.

Despite all of this it’s a fun little game though I admit that the episodic nature of the vignettes doesn’t draw me in like a tighter story would.

I’d just urge you to really reconsider the nomenclature.

Lastly, I’ve found it vital to convert a good chunk of cash to Ankhs first thing cause you might run into a need for more than 2 Ankhs on your very first outing, with no way of knowing if this is your first game. It might make more sense to start the player out with more Ankhs and less cash.

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Small update today that fixed what was reported here. Also, “Mordhaven” section added to “Show stats”. Every further update will appear on the “Update log” on the first post.

@WhiteWolf @Shawnheatherly
Thank you!

@Spire
Thank you for the detailed feedback!

On the nomenclature:
I have to confess that I never thought of “Cloud”, in-game, as a reference to Cloud Storage. It is the collective word for a group of bats.

We haven’t added so far passages that go deeper into the backgrounds and etymology. Different parts of the world, though, attribute different names for the same vampire aspects. What the player finds in-game is (at least in this version) the contemporary American nomenclature. It is expected that other countries would have other ruling systems than the “Regent system”, for example. A vampire monarchy, someone?

That being said, as with many other elements, the names are on an “alpha-beta” version. There will be changes, possibly. Probably.

Aznuits, as we will further add to the game, are an ancient American tribe. (“Aztecs” + “Inuits”, btw.)

“Merovingian now I don’t get at all unless all Merovingians are directly descended from that line of kings.” Exactly.

I really appreciated your suggestions for a change in the “Balkanic” Lineage name, though. We’ll see what other people say about it, but I do consider changing it.

I’m not even going to voice my thoughts on the city’s name but I wonder why someone would call their town Murderport. As with the Merovingians, exactly.

About the sniper part: this is indeed an inconsistency. Earlier in the development, we had two choices at the C1 Interlude - to try to assassinate Russel and another to place a sniper during the meeting. I messed up here. I will acknowledge this in the next update.

The Priest part: this is a pathway error. Wrong code copy-paste, it seemed. I will also have it fixed in the next update.

And on the initial amount of Ankhs and Dollars: we are really clueless about what amount would be “ideal” for the player to begin the game with. We’ll try to narrow it down in the following updates until we reach optimal values.

Again, thank you, Spire! Please keep in touch during the development. :slight_smile:

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Love your story but i am blocked with oswald fight…:rage:

I killed Oswald pretty easily… xD But i choose “Fencing” when we were asked what we would rather do, it doesnt work if you choose something different (i choose Poker one Time, and tried to skill my Physique high enough but it didnt worked).

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@rialta @Schrodinger

At the moment, Oswald is the only “boss” in the game and also an obligatory encounter.

This will change in future updates. There will be “by-passes” for the Oswald fight, such as, when playing a Balkanic, flying away and leaving Theresa there. And facing, of course, the proper consequences.

At the character generation, there are some options which grant you Physique / Perception / Manipulation points. A character with the “physical laborer” background, for example, will begin with a higher Physique.

Oswald is basically a “Physique-boss”, meaning that most of the combat’s choices rely on Physique checks. Some options require a higher Physique than others. Your feedbacks are essential for us to “fine tune” the skill checks, especially on a boss scene. We plan on revisiting Oswald scene later, and skill mechanics will likely to be adjusted.

Thanks!

Love vampires! Really love the combination of fantasy and realism! Think this is gonna be a great game!

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Romance huh. I’m not opposed to it just don’t go all twilight on us I_I

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Then remember to emote so we don’t mistake you for a robot with built in blood bags Bella.

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@Kingkuntakenta

Don’t worry :stuck_out_tongue: There won’t be sparkling vampires around here.

This reminds me of a quote, by the way.

“In the end, though, it’s all about giving back the teeth that the current ‘sweetie-vamp’ craze has, by and large, stolen from the bloodsuckers. It’s about making them scary again.”

― Stephen King, American Vampire, Vol. 1

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I had no trouble beating Oswald as a Manipulation highest stat character.

I transmuted over to the sniper rifle and shot him then trash talked him to get him rattled then evaded his attack and countered.

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I restart game and i won ! :blush:

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Some typos I encountered

You put the letter back into the luxurious envelop and store it.

envelope

A look at your watch: it is an hour past twilight. It is time for you drive to the Auditorium - the place where the Cloud gathers every night.

your

While the times passes slowly and the steady hum fills your ears, you re-read Russell’s letters in your mind.

time

“Even if pains me to say this,” Theresa continues. “I have to agree with Juarez here. No, these aren’t poor folk neighborhoods. There are, of course, solid motives behind this.”

if it pains

“How you’re doing tonight?”

are you

There is anything the Cloud could help you right now?”

Is there

It’s not hard to read her at all: relaxed muscles, the proud alcohol-induced smiled

smile

Also it’s impossible to survive against Oswald with a Merovingian Vamp whose main stats are Manipulation and Perception (with 15 Physique)…

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i gotta admit having democrat mayor first in decades playing dirty against bunch of Breitbarts is certainly thing i havent seen before. Throught the allegories might want to be bit more subtle.
Also Political discusion with Juarez loops around

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Also what is this *comment edited 12/09
*comment finished 18/09
*comment revised 20/09
*comment grammarly 22/09
*comment rewritten and boss fight added 02/11

It’s (kind of) author’s note about stuff that’s done…

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Looks like a changelog

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@WhiteWolf
That is indeed an efficient way to take him down as a “non-Physique character”. There are some other paths, though (using Induction / Enfever in case you’re playing a Merovingian / Saharian, for instance).

@AmericanShakespeare
Thanks for reporting the typos! They’ll be fixed by the next update (tomorrow, I hope).

It’s currently possible to beat Oswald with a 15 Physique character, though. To try to explain that, I’ll summarize how skills are checked and how “advantages” work.

We have four “skill check tiers” in the game. Easy (> 10), medium (> 20), hard (> 30) and epic (> 40). Most of Oswald’s current checks are hard, but there are some medium and one or two epic.

Plus, you can receive advantages during the battle. If you trash talk like a real Conor McGregor, you’ll receive Physique bonus points for this scene (he got “stunned/distracted” by your words, so to say). It’s the same thing if you are a Merovingian and use Induction on him. Many other scenes feature this advantage system.

@CaesarCzech
Mayor Christie has so many secrets and dirty tricks. Dealing with vampires on a regular basis, for example.

Which political discussion with Juarez loops around, please? Do you remember which scene is that?

And Shakespeare and @Eiwynn are right: we (@MahatmaDagon and me) often communicate through txts during our revision process.

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@Nerull

The necessity of cloud versus being able to act more freely.

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@CaesarCzech
Found it, thanks! Should be fixed by the next version.

Just uploaded some fixes and revisions. The log with the changes is in the first post.

@Eiwynn

I meant the dates.