Line #15 TearJerker/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines


1	Tearjerking moments in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines''.
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3	* Heather Poe's death at the hands of the Sabbat.
4	** All the more heartbreaking when, before her kidnapping and murder she actually ''tells'' you that she had a dream about being separated from you or dying and the only way you can prevent the latter is by sending her away, even as she begs to stay with you. And worse, if you're Malkavian, you use [[PowerBornOfMadness Dementation]] to wipe her memories of you, [[Series/DoctorWho Donna-Noble-style]].
5	-->''"Oh Heather...I'm so sorry...I'll avenge you!!"''
6	* In the mission "Fun With Pestilence," you're given the job of tracking down a vampire cult that's been spreading disease through the city via the homeless and the prostitutes: however, what the job description doesn't mention is walking into a darkened room and trying to interview a prostitute that's almost dead of the plague; honestly, [[LetThemDieHappy lying and telling the girl that her boyfriend isn't dead of the disease he caught from her]] is hopelessly depressing.
7	** But wait, it gets worse! If you play a [[CloudCuckooLander Malkavian]] and want to get answers out of her, you have to ''impersonate the prostitute's boyfriend'', who is actually lying dead in his apartment one story below you. And she says things like "You were so nice to me, Paul, I'm so glad I met you," and "We'll see each other again, right Paul?" so hopefully. Goddamn you, game developers, goddamn you...
8	** "More Fun With Pestilence" features a teenage drug addict trapped in the Plaguebearer Cult's headquarters; she's probably going to die when the Zombies find her, and she's just as likely to catch the plague and die painfully hours later. The best you can offer her is [[KissOfTheVampire a painless death]]. What makes this saddening is that her last words are "I j-just... just want to go home..."
9	*** You can actually catch her running away and escaping the building before the zombies get her. But the matter of her being a teenage drug addict who's potentially infected with the plague is still a sad reality that you can do nothing to prevent.
10	** The plaguebearers' leader, Bishop Vick, deserves some sympathy. His dialogue suggests that he was Embraced against his will, which drove him to madness, so he decided to take his revenge on the vampires who made him into a walking horror he'd never asked to be.
11	* And just to make sure you still haven't lost sight of your guilt, you have Julius the Thin-Blood begging for his life, begging you to find your heart as you prepare to kill him for leaking secrets of the Masquerade to an aspiring film writer. Thankfully, [[VideogameCaringPotential you can spare him]], but you are doing so at the detriment of your own life.
12	** Even just taking David's script makes you feel kinda crappy, especially if you're a writer yourself. The guy is clearly extremely passionate and enthusiastic about his script and you'll be destroying months of work. You also potentially got his hopes up while doing so, as the main way to get him to give it to you is to pretend you know someone who could get it made into a movie.
13	*** Worse still, you ''do'' know someone who could have it adapted for him; Isaac. But he's Kindred too, and would never let the project happen, even if he did read and like the script. You essentially have all the tools to make David's dream come true, but instead you pointedly avoid doing so, destroy his work, then either kill or chase off his writing partner.
14	* The second meeting with [[WhiteDwarfStarlet Ash Rivers]], after he's been captured and tortured by the [[KnightTemplar Society of Leopold]]; he's clearly both disfigured and traumatized, mumbling "No fire... no more fire... they always come back, and it always burns." Even if you set him free, he's little better, resolving to retreat into the shadows and never be seen again- something he'd been trying so hard to avoid earlier in the game.
15	-->'''PC:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Good luck in Canada]].
16	* The chance meeting with the PC and Samantha can be quite depressing, even more so if you use the persuasive route. Samantha, a friend/relative of the PC before he/she became a vampire, tells the PC that their family's basically worried sick and have been looking for him/her ever since he/she disappeared. After showing great concern for the player, Samantha tells him/her that it's alright and offers to call the PC's family. The problem is, that's a Masquerade violation and you can't let her call them. If you try to persuade her that you're someone else, she'll almost ''desperately'' insist you ''have'' to be her missing loved one, you just have to be. If you're successful at convincing her, Samantha gives you ''very'' down-hearted apology of her mistake before sadly walking away. This is arguably doubles a PlayerPunch and a meanly subverted crowning moment of heart warming.
17	** The encounter really brings home something that isn't touched upon at any point in the game: The Embrace was forced on you without warning, and you've been part of the vampires' strictly-secret society ever since. As far as your human friends and family know, you just fell off the map one night.
18	** It's even ''worse'' for a Malkavian fledgeling. The fact that Samantha, and others, cared about and were looking for the fledgeling shows that before their embrace, they were probably a (relatively) fully functional human being with friends and family. Now they've become little more than a gibbering [[CloudCuckoolander Cloud Cuckoolander]] who can barely hold a decent conversation without descending into madness. Some of the Malk's dialogue choices can also reflect this, displaying a notable amount of concern about Samantha ''knowing'' them and desperately attempting to tell her to keep quiet...only for their maddened rambling to be misinterpreted as the Player Character being high. In those scenarios, it is clear that they still care about Samantha, but their own madness gets in the way of trying to warn her.
19	** There's also something particularly gutting about the fact that you can ''try'' to convince her to be your SecretKeeper, but it's impossible; if you admit it's really you, she ''always'' makes the call, no matter how high your persuasion is. The worst part is, under normal circumstances, ''she's doing the right thing!'' She truly cares for your character and is only trying to help, but in doing so, she risks both of your lives. The closest thing to a decent ending with this scene is to simply convince her you aren't... you, and that's truly heartbreaking.
20	** Take a look at her face after successfully convincing her you aren't her friend; she'll be wearing a devastated expression as she walks away.
21	* Imalia was a supermodel who after accepting an award for most beautiful woman alive, was kidnapped and turned into a hideous Nosferatu by Gary Golden. She now spends her nights crying alone in a filthy basement, and puts up a bitchy facade to try to convince herself that nobody will ever call her beautiful again.
22	** Her character is made [[AssholeVictim somewhat less sympathetic]] when she delights at the fact that Tawni Sessions, the next hot model that rose to popularity following Imalia's disappearance, committed ''[[DrivenToSuicide suicide]]'' after scandalous photos of her were leaked [[PlayerPunch during one of Imalia's sidequests]]. This is obviously a TearJerker moment in and of itself.
23	* At the end of the Voerman questline, if Jeanette dies, just look at the expression on Therese's face. Pure heartbreak out of the IceQueen we thought she was.
24	* Arguably the fact that, in the main ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' canon, [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Gehenna]] is not only proven to be real, but eventually ''occurs''; [[DoomedByCanon making everything that happens over the course of ''Bloodlines'' meaningless]]. In particular, we have [[AdventurerArchaeologist Beckett]], who researches relics of vampiric history and yet fervently ''[[FlatEarthAtheist denies]]'' that Ghenna, Caine and the Antediluvians are real.
25	* Reading the Ghost House Diary found in the kitchen reveals the husband killed everyone over a misunderstanding, believing his wife was cheating (she wasn't). This detail only becomes more unsettling as if you read, it clearly states the wife was killed in a bathroom she locked herself in, but you find the Diary next to an empty bottle of booze in the kitchen, meaning he most likely figured out what happened from reading and got drunk. It's also never stated in the diary the fire started before her death, meaning he possibly committed suicide after having a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment.
26	** Even worse, if you give the diary and the wife's amulet to Jeanette, she throws both into the ocean to spite her sister (who had wanted to clear the ghosts out and sell the property), ensuring that the ghosts will be forever trapped in the hotel, unable to move on.
27	* Trying to coax V.V. on the subject of her past as a human - specifically, by calling her Susan - will result in you being given the saddest, gentlest brush-off, even if she's in love with your character by this point. It also gives some hints of DarkAndTroubledPast for her:
28	--> '''V.V.:''' There's only one part of my body that I don't want anybody entering, and that's my head. That other name... never say it again, [[ThatManIsDead it belongs to a dead girl.]]
29	-->...I'm not that girl. [[IHatePastMe She was flawed. She was naive. She was nobody. And now she's dead.]] Let the dead rest in peace. My name is VV. Show yourself out. I'd like to say a prayer for someone I used to know.
30	* The immediate aftermath of Griffith Park can make a player feel pretty downtrodden and hopeless; all those allies and even some friends that you've spent the game making have all turned on you and there's a blood hunt on your head. [=LaCroix=] threw you to the wolves (literally), and Nines isn't around to clear your name. One step outside your haven will have you come face-to-face with several vampires looking to kill you, and even Jack can't offer to do much more than get you a ride. Faced with these circumstances, one can almost forgive any player who was tricked into thinking siding with the Kuei-Jin was their best choice.
31	* The Serial Killer has an unexpectedly sad backstory: His entire family had been murdered in a botched robbery, and the men that were responsible got off with very little punishment on manslaughter charges. He ends up becoming a "serial killer" in order to get vigilante justice.
32	** What's worse is that when you confront him, he seems to only be trying to scare you off and doesn't attack directly. Once you reach him, he opens by telling you to leave because he has no conflict with you. He then explains his backstory and implies he plans to continue his "justice" on other criminals. You can choose to either kill him, leave him or persuade him away from his ways. The persuasion check is very high (level 8 of a maximum 10), however, and if you're not playing as a socially inclined character, you're unlikely to be able to get it without cheats. Which means generally, you have to choose between killing someone who only wanted proper justice for his family and then lost himself to the beast, or letting a violent and masquerade-violating killer go loose to horrifically murder whoever else he deems "deserving".

Context TearJerker / VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines