You will see the Lasombra around here and there. He will be watching you from afar, then disappear. Eventually Beckett will send you an email asking you to find an apprentice of his who has gone missing. Follow that quest, and you will get the sword. It starts after you get to Downtown, kill all the plague-bearers, and finish the Carnival of Death quest.

The game just suddenly started having all sorts of issues. Taking forever to start up and load saves, and my hotkeys disappearing. So I bit the bullet and reinstalled. While I was at it I updated to the latest version of the Unofficial Patch. Seems to work ok now.

But now I am having another problem. I am getting a CTD when I try to enter buildings. Seems it is because of save game incompatibility with the new version of the UP.

So now I can either go back to the older version of the UP, which I would rather not do. Or I could start January over. I don't think I want to do that either. I finished delivering the sarcophagus to Lacroix just before the trouble started. So I am mostly through the game. I think I might just call it done.

So I think I will start a new character. I have been wanting to try a Nosferatu for a long time. And a Gangrel. And of course a Malkavian.

I tried a Nossie start, using the Presentable history. I thought that it would let you go out in public without a masquerade violation. Nope. It just gives a +1 to Charisma. Persuasion uses Charisma as a base, so in spite of being a Nosferatu, it is still probably useful. But it also comes with a higher cost to buying Obfuscate. So I am going to re-roll my Toon, with a different history. I think I'll skip the tutorial this time, and try using the console to give myself all the stuff you otherwise lose by doing so.

And it worked just fine. Just paste the following into the console:

give item_g_lockpick; give item_w_tire_iron; give item_w_thirtyeight; give item_w_baseball_bat; giftxp 2


I also noticed something interesting. In the opening sequence where you get Embraced, my character started out using the Brujah skin before she was bit. Then it switched to the Nosferatu one afterward. Then in the theater the first time they showed my sire he was human-looking. I am not sure what base model he was using. Then the screen flashed white, and he was a nosferatu. So interesting how they switch the models out like that.

Neat! As rushed as the game was, I’m kinda surprised they paid that much attention to detail!

Good luck with the Nossie play through. I’ve never had the drive to even attempt that!

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Feb 18 2021, 01:59 PM

Playing the Nos is definitely different. At first I thought you had to take the sewers everywhere, and could never go out in public at all. But that is not quite the case. I have played the first couple of quests into the Medical Clinic and the beach house, and have not taken to the sewers yet.

However, you do have to be careful about getting too close to people. An icon that looks like a theater mask pops up in the upper right corner of the screen when you come near someone who will violate the masquerade by seeing you. It gets more solid the nearer you get to them, and there is even a red arrow in it pointing to the person. So far when those people have gotten too near I have been able to simply crouch and sneak, or scamper away, to avoid the masquerade violation.

Knowing who you can talk to is still confusing. For example, I found I can talk to Trip in the pawnshop with no problem. Same with Bertram's ghoul (I forget the guy's name), and the people on the beach. The bums seem to ignore me, but I do get the masquerade warning icon around them. I think they are just bad at noticing. The hookers and cops definitely go hostile if you get too close to them. I have yet to try to walk into the Asylum (or any other club) to see what happens there.

But you must be able to talk to the side quest givers, or you will miss out on most of the game. So my guess is that they are safe? It is a good thing I have played the game enough to know who is who now. Otherwise I would have no idea who to even try talking to, and who to avoid like the plague.

Yeah I feel like, as with Malks, Nossies are definitely a second or third play through clan. I am glad to hear that being in the open isn’t an automatic Masquerade violation. That actually makes me feel a little better about potentially playing as one at some point.

I found some improved game maps here. I copied the sewer maps for Santa Monica and Downtown to my phone, so I can use them for reference. I still get confused whenever I am in the sewers.


Kalma has woken from the grave

On the prowl

Drinks are on the house



I am using the Less Hideous Nosferatu (Female) mod. I do not like the bondage outfits the vanilla game has the Nosferatu in.

I don’t like the Nossie outfits either. This mod looks like a vast improvement. Looks like it’s using the Gangrel heavy leather outfit as a base.

I took a look at both, and that is basically it. They took the Gangrel Heavy Leather outfit and recolored it to make it darker. So far it is the only outfit I have seen from the mod. I should use the console to get them all to see what they look like. They might all be just that one.


Here is an example of that Masquerade warning in the upper right. It is pointing to the bum right beside Kalma

Here is a safe distance to stand in the open. If they get closer, the Masquerade warning appears. It starts getting brighter the closer they get, until they notice you.

Here is Arthur Kilpatrick's reaction to talking to him

And here is Trip's

OTOH, I tried talking to the lady who runs the cash register in the diner. She screamed, and literally passed out.

I did notice something neat when I did. When I first walked in, a guy was on the phone. It was the serial killer, calling up Muddy to meet him. It is literally the other end of the same phone call you hear on the recording machine at Muddy's girlfriend's apartment. So that was neat. You can talk to him, but he does not have anything to really say, except to leave him alone.

As far as Nossies go, from videos I've seen most quest-givers react as if your character has a mask on, or has been in an accident. They must do it that way I suppose, in order for all quests to be available for Nossies too. Otherwise parts of the game would be unplayable, even parts of the MQ.

It seems that way, but sometimes with some wrinkles. I tried talking to the old lady at the Santa Monica diner. But she screamed and passed out. Instead I had to take Lily's purse and the bail bond, which were on the counter behind her.

When I got to the Ventrue Tower Downtown I went in to talk to Lacroix. But the guard would not buzz me up, and the elevator would not work. Instead I had to leave and go down into the sewers. There is a section that runs under the Ventrue building, which I was able to use to get into the basement, and from there get into the elevator.

I also found that as a Nosferatu you cannot use the cab to get from area to area. Instead you have to go down into the sewer. You need to find a map of the entire city (not one of just the local area). When you mouse over it, it will bring up the area transition map. You also get a book in your inventory about using the sewers.

All around, it is a lot different from playing one of the "normal" clans. It is a lot more challenging. But it also makes the game feel a lot different.



If this guy only knew how near he was to death

Kalma has turned into quite the ninja

As a Nos, she has to use these maps to travel around

Trying to talk to the guard at Ventrue Tower

Fat Larry's reaction to a Nosferatu

Some advice from Jack

Yes, I remember hearing about this in a video. It really is different playing a Nos, but then again it shouldn't be like the other clans and I think all in all they got around the problem pretty well.

Nice set of pics, btw.

I made some more discoveries playing a Nosferatu today.

First is the people who mill around the entrance of the Downtown club Confession will not break the Masquerade or call the cops if they see you. So you don't have to sneak or Obfuscate by them. I went to Santa Monica to try it there at the Asylum. But no one was around to experiment on.

Next is that Obfuscate at rank 4 allows you to stand up and walk/run while still invisible. That makes getting around a lot easier. However, I am getting better at using the sewers since I printed off some maps. Plus, those 3 blood points that Nossies get per rat really is a good deal. That was well done, the game gives you a reason to want to be down there.

Finally, the first time I got to Downtown Heather was no where to be found. I just assumed that if you play a Nosferatu she does not become your ghoul. I just finished the Elizabeth Dane recon mission, and she was there. I am guessing finishing that quest is the trigger for her appearance. Well, I was not expecting her to show up in the sewer! She was at the point where you warp in, right by the Ventrue Tower sewer entrance.

Here's a question for you Bloodliners: How did you solve Fat Larry's briefcase quest first time playing?

I don’t recall this quest.

In Vampire: the Masquerade- Bloodlines 2 news, Paradox has announced that they are delaying the game again due to developers Hardsuit Labs being removed from the project.

My first time I just went in and killed people. Then I found out you get extra XP if you sneak in and take the briefcase instead. So I reloaded my save and did it that way.

I also found in my current Nosferatu run through that making stealth kills on the way in also deprives you of the XP bonus. Even though you are still sneaking. So I had to redo that as well.


I read this a few hours ago. It looks to me like the game is dead. Literally everyone on the project has been fired or quit at this point.

Exactly! I’m a bit surprised they didn’t just cancel the game outright. How good can it be after having a whole different dev team come in and finish it? We’ll see I guess, but I’m not holding out much hope that it’ll be any good. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised? *shrugs*

As far as I can remember, Fat Larry has never offered any of my fledglings a quest. Was it something I said?

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: Feb 24 2021, 04:08 AM

Here is what one of the walkthroughs says about Fat Larry:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIDE QUEST: TRAFFIK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OUTCOME: 2-4 XP, +1 Finance [1-5], $500

Fat Larry will give you this quest after you've bought a weapon from him [+: or
talked with him twice]. He wants you to go and steal a suitcase from an Asian
gang. There are two ways of doing this, either a full-front assault or the
sneaky way. Try to get the suitcase without anyone noticing for a bonus (2 XP).

For a full-front assault things are simple, go down the parking levels and kill
everyone until you reach the leaders, then grab the standing SUITCASE (1 XP).
Note that making stealth kills appears to count as doing this.

If you want to take the covert path, you must use the vents in order to move
through the underground parking. There will be ladders on the walls that will
take you to the vents. If you don't have Obfuscate you must note the pattern in
which the guards move in order to avoid them. The last vent will land you right
beside the gang boss and next to the SUITCASE. Grab it and then you're free to
kill everyone if you want. In one of the parking levels you'll also find a CAR
STEREO.

Now go back to Fat Larry (1 XP), if you persuaded him before to get a discount
as reward you'll get +1 to Finance, and finally take your hard earned money
($500). If you haven't talked to Venus yet, or if you are a Nosferatu and Venus
won't talk to you, Larry will point you to her and put in a good word for you.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a weapon from him. That might explain why I never got the quest.

I think just buying ammo from him triggers it? Can't say for certain though.


As for Crow, first couple of times I killed everyone but then I learned about the sneaky approach and subsequently did it that way instead.