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Reviews VideoGame / Vampire The Masquerade Swansong

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IndustriousArc Since: Feb, 2016
01/17/2025 17:27:13
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Dang it feels good to be a monster

This one's a diamond in the rough.

The mechanics are the game's weakest point, the skill system seeming intuitive from the start but often punishes you for not speccing in a particular way. It's easy to make a build that is completely useless for 75% of skill checks, and so I would not judge you at all for using a guide.

Notes that helped me (spoiler free, but hidden for being gameplay hints):

  • Leysha only needs 1 Point of Security, and nobody else needs any for the Exploration skills. Keys and passwords are always hidden in the environment.
  • Presence is useless, don't put any points into it.
  • Psychology and Persuasion are the best social skills, as they come up more often.
  • Ignore the Physical Attribute, and don't put Social or Mental any higher than 3.
  • Galeb needs his Dominate

Mechanics aside, don't worry too much about failing skill checks.

Outside of Confrontations, a failed conversation will usually just result in having less information.

And in Confrontations, if you really want to win it, you can F4 out of the game on failures. You'll go back to the start of the Confrontation upon booting it back up.

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Your reward for putting up with the mechanics is a fascinating vampire story.

This game really puts you into the mindset of a monster. Callousness, selfishness, and self-preservation are the ideals that vampires live by.

The main characters are evil, all three of them.

You are monsters.

You are villains.

Accept this going in, and you'll be able to enjoy a story about the banality of evil and how far these monsters will go to protect themselves and the things that they care about.

The events of the game circle around the Court of Boston, with the three main characters having different positions in the court.

  • Galeb is the fixer. He is the Prince's "get stuff done" guy. He is the tired monster, who has been doing this for a long time and is hardly ever surprised by anything.

  • Emem is the up-and-comer. She is the new talent that is caught up in the court's games. She is a relatively young monster, who finds herself lost in a sea of betrayals and constantly fighting for survival.

  • Leysha is the outsider. She's a tormented seer and sneaky shadow. She is a protective monster, who is desperate to protect her young daughter who may or may not be there.

Each of them are pushed against a wall when the Court of Boston finds itself under siege, and these monsters need to go to extraordinary lengths to survive and protect what's important to them.

In that way, it's pretty much the perfect representation of playing Vampire the Masquerade.


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