Heartwarming / Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

You wouldn't imagine that Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, a game about scheming, backstabbing, bloodsucking vampires could be at any point heartwarming, but you would be wrong. Observe:

• The opportunity to save the life of Heather in the first act. A young girl crying out for her grandmother is dying because of a hit and run, but you can save her by feeding her some of your vitae. This encounter happens early into the PC's first night as a vampire, making it entirely possible that as a newly-minted bloodsucker, you save a life before ever taking one.
  • It is especially touching when helping her as a Malkavian. So far in the game, your character has acted like the typical Cloud Cuckoo Lander. However, when Heather wakes up and speaks to you after you've fed her your blood, you character can give a reply that actually sounds quite sane, telling her that you only wanted to ease her suffering. It actually quite a touching moment, showing that even a Malkavian PC's humanity is still present under all their insanity.
  • After becoming a ghoul and moving into whichever Haven you occupy, Heather quickly begins engaging in self-destructive behaviour (dropping out of college, isolating herself from her friends and family and trying to hunt victims for you) in order to 'please' the player character. The PC can quickly decide to let Heather go with the justification that they cannot allow her to continue ruining her life for them, letting her return to normal with her life (relatively) intact once your Blood Bond dissolves. A Malkavian can even make the process painless by Dementing Heather into thinking her entire encounter with you was All Just a Dream.
• Jeanette will flirt with you regardless of what clan you are- yes, even a Nosferatu. If you ask her if she's not disgusted by your looks, she responds with a simple "Everyone is a bit ugly on the inside".
• The entire story of E and Lily, the two Thin-Blooded lovers. They're both Friendly Neighborhood Vampires who would never harm a fly. You really want these two characters to get together in the end. The fact that you get to rescue Lily from a Fate Worse than Death in the process only makes it better. They get as close to a Happily Ever After as any character in Vampire: The Masquerade is likely to get.
  • As with most happy sidequests, you get an option to take the low-humanity approach and drive a wedge between the couple. Unlike the others, it doesn't work. The most you can achieve this way is E telling you to stick it.
• Hannah the escort has fallen for a guy, not a client, she just met named Paul. Cursed with an incurable disease by the Plaguebearers, she doesn't know Paul is already dead. Your player character has the opportunity to Let Them Die Happy by telling them Paul sent them. If you're a Malkavian, you can even impersonate Paul with Dementation.
• Your Malkavian can use their Dementation powers to make Heather believe her entire experience with you has been nothing more than a wonderful dream. This allows her to move on with her life and spares her a grisly fate, even as she'll spend the rest of her life dreaming about you, her "Master of Dreams."
• Strauss offers to let the Tremere PC "inside the pyramid", so long as they prove themselves first. Considering how structured that pyramid is, how important it is to the Tremere, and how closely they guard it, him offering a position in it to some days-old fledgling is very touching.
• When the feuding Voerman sisters, having screamed, argued, pointed fingers, revealed themselves as split personalities, and tried to kill each other, finally reconcile:
  The PC: You both must have gotten along at one time.
  Jeanette: Yes... there was a time.
  Therese: When I was a child... I didn't have many friends. I suppose Jeanette was the only one. We never did get to go out of the house much; Father wouldn't allow us-
  Jeanette: He said we'd get hurt. So we stayed inside and imagined our own worlds. And we spent so much time there, together, ruling over those places... those were-
  Therese: Happier times. Before we grew apart.
  • They do immediately threaten to kill you if you tell anybody about them, though. Ironically, this becomes faintly heartwarming in that for the first time in the story, the sisters speak in perfect unison.
    • Even more heartwarming is when you visit them later. They still argue, but it is far more friendly now. And they seem genuinely happy to see the PC again. If anyone feels the end game is depressing visit to the Asylum will serve as proof that your PC did do good.
• Remember Chunk, that security guard the female PC can seduce to get inside the exhibition during the slash the painting quest for Jeanette? Well, LaCroix probably hears that the poor guard lost his job after that and offers the guard a job at his tower. LaCroix doesn't seem that bad, right?
  • Considering that his real security is his Dragon as well as a group of other Ventrue vampires, he probably just wanted his human guard to be a convenient idiot who wouldn't ask questions or figure out what was going on.
  • On the subject of Chunk working for LaCroix, when you first encounter him at the Venture Tower's front desk, one dialog option leads to Chunk giving a big spiel about how he's the thin blue line keeping all the riff-raff out of the tower, and with him on the job, Mr. LaCroix has nothing to worry about. While Chunk's delusion of grandeur is pathetic (and a snarky PC can call him on it), the earnest way that he describes the difference he thinks he's making is somehow endearing.
• Pisha's interaction with a Malkavian PC. She isn't the least bit worried or annoyed of the Malkavian and even goes as far to casually correct them when they call her a Black Widow, saying a Mantis is a more apt nickname, implying 1) she's been called worse by other Kindred, and 2) she's done a lot of soul-searching about her nature. Very impressive for a freaky-looking cannibal vampire.
• When you meet your friend, Samantha, in Hollywood, she starts exclaiming about how everyone thought you were dead, asking if you we all right, saying that everything will be fine, wondering if you have amnesia, organizing all your old friends from your mortal existence to get back together and try to jog your memory. You can persuade her not to make the call, which gives you a Masquerade redemption, but it feels surprisingly good to know that there are still people in the daylight world who care about you, and letting her make the call (while it puts a ding in your Masquerade violations) is heartwarming in that you still have one connection to the world of humanity.
  • Another occasion where the Malkavian can create heartwarming; you can keep the Masquerade without leaving Sam heartbroken. Instead she's overjoyed that she got to see her childhood pet turtle again.
  • In fact, there's a heartwarming moment in the Samantha encounter even if you act like a jerk to her at first—if you do that, instead of assuming you never came back because you have amnesia, she assumes you never came back because you're on drugs...and then says nobody's judging you, everyone will just be happy to hear you're alive.
• Thrust into an undead life as a vampire, cursed with an incurable addiction to blood, surrounded by plotting elders, hounded by hordes of enemies both human and supernatural — you would think that even Gandhi would abandon the gentle path. Yet despite all the horrors the game throws at you, you can still end it with a maxed out (and saintly) Humanity Rating of 10!
  • It's even more impressive for the Malkavian, who despite being batshit crazy is still motivated to retain their humanity, and downright amazing for a Nosferatu, who is cursed to be so hideous they can't ever show themselves in public, yet STILL manages to maintain their humanity.
• The whole ordeal with Jack in the beginning is kind of sweet. He takes the time to show you the ropes of being a vampire, and depending on how you've played out, he'll return to help you out. He's like an undead big brother.
  • His lines in a couple of the endings also fit the page. If you choose LaCroix ending or opened the sarcophagus in the Independant/Anarch ending, he'll express some regrets that you ended as a collateral victim of his plan against the Prince.
• On a similar note to Jack, interacting with Beckett can be heartwarming in a subtle way, especially if playing as a Gangrel. He almost always treats a player with some level of respect and politely answers their questions. Given he's one of only two people you are outright told you can trust, it almost becomes easier to look up to him in the same way.
• Your mileage may seriously vary on this one, but if you pursue the LaCroix ending, LaCroix offers you a place at his side, as a reward for being so loyal to him! He doesn't backstab you, he doesn't think You Have Outlived Your Usefulness, instead he gives a huge speech about everything you've made possible and how awesome you are in general, so when LaCroix rules the world how would you like to have a place at his side, for making his greatness happen? Then you and he open the sarcophagus... and of course the heartwarming moment is shot straight to hell given what you find inside the sarcophagus.
• However, becoming Max Strauss's Sheriff is pure Heartwarming. He's a true leader and he trusts you.
• Throughout her three quests, Velvet slowly grows more fond of the player (provided you complete her quests the way she asks) and eventually, she'll insist you call her by her nickname; VV. Later, she'll start to email you endearingly terrible poetry, and seems to have grown quite the crush on you.
  • Additionally, her fondness for David Hatter is pretty sweet in its own right. She does get genuinely very angry with you if you kill him. Once you bring back his masquerade-violating script, she admits she's having a hard time bringing herself to destroy it and will ask you do it for her.
• The first bit of the Anarch ending can also be this. You're basically at an all-time low after what happened in Griffith Park; Nines is gone and everyone thinks you killed him, losing you your Anarch-aligned allies. LaCroix was the one who threw you under the bus, so going back to the Camarilla doesn't feel like an option either. Provided you side with the Anarchs in the cab ride, you can lament to the Cabbie that you should have joined them properly the moment Nines saved you. He'll in turn offer to take you somewhere where the rebellion is still alive, though he'll warn that you'll likely spend the rest of your life fighting off other factions as a part of their ranks. If you answer that you wouldn't have it any other way, he'll drop you off at the back of a Hollywood hotel. There, you're greeted surprisingly fondly by Skelter, who assures you you're safe and that Nines is both alive and waiting inside. Inside, you'll also be stopped by Damsel, who will playfully banter with you a bit before letting you into Nines' room. He'll be waiting inside with the werewolf's head as a trophy sitting on the table, and though injured, is perfectly alive and well. Before sending you on the two final missions, he'll even comment that he'd have joined you in ripping Ming Xiao and LaCroix a new one if he wasn't so banged up already, and is notably the only sideable faction leader to do so. Needless to say, it's pretty heartwarming and really makes the player feel like they've found a group of decent friends and allies they can actually trust.
• The serial killer turns out to be an independent Gangrel who was getting vigilante justice on the men who'd murdered his family and gotten off on manslaughter charges. In your final confrontation with him, he'll imply that he plans to continue his crusade of "justice" to other criminals, and the player will have to decide whether to kill him or let him go. With a high enough persuasion, however, the player can Take a Third Option ask him if his family would have wanted this for him. He'll then break down into tears, realizing that they wouldn't and promising to change his ways.
  • An extra bit of heartwarming concerning this character with the plus patch: If you were Anarch-aligned AND managed to persuade him, you can mention to him that he should check out The Last Round downtown, presumably to join the cause. Skip to the end of the game to the Anarch ending, and you can actually find him helping guard the Anarch Stronghold ^note He's outside the building in the far corner of the patio standing in the shadows, near where Skelter is guarding. The guy not only truly took your words to heart and changed his ways, but he actually found something else to be passionate about and joined the cause at your recommendation!
  • One overlooked fridge heartwarming possibility within this quest chain is finding the homeless man scared out of his mind having witnessed the brutal murder of Sean Milton in Downtown. You can intimidate or simply convince him to never speak of the event in question; but by using Dominate the PC ends up mentally erasing the event from his mind and sparing a man who is already well down on his luck further hell from a lifetime of nightmares.
• Nines sticking up for the player more than once counts. The game doesn't offer a definitive answer as to why, but Jack points out that Nines also spent his time as a fledgling sireless and that he has a soft spot for the little guy. Given that Nines never really takes advantage of the fact that he saved you nor seems to expect anything for it, Jack's theory seems to be the correct one.
  • This is surprisingly backed up further if you were rude to Nines in your first encounter at the Last Round, as speaking to him again after the Elizabeth Dane quest will lead to more bickering... but if you keep pushing, he'll eventually compliment your "fire" and advise against picking random fights with people like this, as he points out that doing so with anyone besides himself will likely end in your death. Even when you've been nothing but rude and dismissive to him, he's still kinda trying to look out for you.
• If you choose the Camarilla ending where you don't side with LaCroix, you end up staggering into the Chantry during a bloodhunt, hoping beyond hope that Strauss will listen to you, knowing perfectly well his faction wants you dead. His first words to you are to immediately express relief you're alive, showing that he believed in you all along and never once entertained the possibility you were guilty of what LaCroix insisted you were.
• Even in non-Camarilla endings, you'll never have to fight any Tremere or Nosferatu while storming LaCroix's tower (you only fight humans for most of it, some Ventrues on the 7th floor, and the Sheriff on the 8th), which suggests that both Gary and Strauss didn't believe your guilt and had decided to remain uninvolved in LaCroix's plans.
• There's something oddly touching about the way Strauss and Nines treat the Malkavian PC. Most people react with annoyance, assume you're on drugs, or act creeped out when they first hear you spouting trademark Malkavian Purple Prose. The two of them are rare examples who have specific Malkavian dialogue, but still don't really seem to mind your strange speech patterns at all.
  • Strauss recognizes that you aren't simply spouting nonsense and warns you not to speak too liberally about your visions, as it might make you a target. Overall, he reacts with gentle amusement and your eccentric way of speaking doesn't change his opinion that you're a capable neonate even slightly.
  • Nines is even slightly nicer to a Malkavian PC over the others when you go to speak to him at his bar after he saves you from the Sabbat. When referred to as an "Anarch Prince" by a sane clan PC, he'll be annoyed with the insinuation and warns that they're fighting words. When referred to as the same by the Malk, he calmly explains why the implication wouldn't be taken too kindly around there and warns them away from doing so. Beyond that, he largely treats them exactly the same as he would any other clan.
• If you sided against the Camarilla in the end, but played as a Tremere who was on good terms with Strauss throughout the game, you can still go speak to him while in your Haven in the Chantry between the final two missions. There, he'll express his sympathies about the mix-up and assure you he doesn't believe your guilt. He makes no move to stop or otherwise convince you away from your path, even though you are essentially turning your back on the clan by going Anarch/Independent.
• A small one, but if you played as a female PC, seduced Chunk in your first encounter, and completely played along with his flirting every time you returned to LaCroix's building, during the final level he won't be there to stop you from entering the building where he would be otherwise. Presumably, he quit upon getting the order from LaCroix to not allow your entry, which is a rather sweet show of loyalty.