Ways to avoid the Railroad

[ZP]

After multiple playthroughs and exploring some of the different paths the story can take I get the impression that by and large, many of the choices you make storywise are rather irrelevant to the outcome and the game will Railroad you on to a few of the more common endings/plot devices.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the battle in Chapter 11 at the fair: unless you keep making very specific choices the game will automatically push you in to helping the thin bloods kill Amanda, after which what happens to you depends on your path and relationship scores with various people.

I started this thread for people to share the various ways they have discovered to avoid being Railroaded and explore different outcomes of the story (since that is what makes visual novels fun in the first place)

What I found so far
(all the other things I tried resulted in Monroe doing a Kill Steal and the humans inadvertently helping her regardless)

To get Embraced
- Always choose the options for path of immortality
- Maximize relationship with Amanda
- Warn Amanda about the attack
- Try to stop the fight

To stop the fight and get Monroe to leave town
- Do not choose path of righteousness options
- Maximize relationship with Monroe and Amanda
- Do not warn Amanda about the attack
- Try to stop the fight

[Tolfdir]

Does anyone know how to prevent the raid at Amanda's house that forced Ending 2 on you ? I got Ending 3 once, and wanted to re-read its final pages and got 2 two times instead, when choosing to stop the fight. Yuck.

[Modern Punk]

Originally posted by Tolfdir:

Does anyone know how to prevent the raid at Amanda's house that forced Ending 2 on you ? I got Ending 3 once, and wanted to re-read its final pages and got 2 two times instead, when choosing to stop the fight. Yuck.

The Ending 1 and 2 railroading is caused by the Tradition break by Amanda. Don't be busybody and don't tell anyone about the supernatural stuff unless needed.

Do the following below as much as possible.

Don't go talk with Ms. Clark, sneak to the room at western end or eavesdrop at the dinner party.

Keep Duke alive when he went crazy. Avoid saying unexplained supernatural stuff when being interviewed. If possible, try to give enough details to satisfy the interview.

Don't use the newspaper option if you went to speak to Ms. Duncan.

When you sneak into Amanda house, don't use contacts to get yourself out or avoid accusing Amanda is vampire to Gabriel.

Keep it a secret about what happens to Tyler, don't force the thinsblood to reveal the body. Don't tell your group about your interaction with the thinbloods.

Avoid finding Zane and Sheriff in Chapter 9.

To get Ending 3, you need to keep Monroe alive, have high relation with Amanda and going Path of Immortality.

[Tolfdir]

How do you keep Duke alive? He did in all my 4 pay through so far. Actually, the lat two have been "rapid click througths."

Curious: why should the eavesdropping matter at the dinner party? After exploring some options, I like to go to the rooftop for first eyes on eyes but I don't know if this furthers anything.

Can Amanda kill Monroe? I don't think I have seen such an option yet.

[Modern Punk]

You keep Duke alive by with Convince Duke (high charisma + persuasion) or Shoot Duke (high dexterity + combat). Don't pick the other option except for the 2nd skillcheck when he went crazy.

No idea, the code say so. Maybe it shows that the both Mayor and Sheriff want to keep the Tyler death a secret.

Yes, Amanda can kill Monroe, when your group is planning in the festival, you tell your team to lure the thinbloods to Amanda so that she can kill them.

[Tolfdir]

Thanks. I told my team many times to lure the thin bloods to Amanda so she can kill them and sill, Monroe lives.

[Modern Punk]

Ya, Amanda has a soft spot for Monroe, you need to kill her by yourself. And to do that you need to pass a combat skill check.

I think the option is only unlocked by when you tell your team to lure the thin bloods to Amanda.

[ZP]

Yes it seems the only way you can side with Amanda and not broker peace is to actually physically attack Monroe yourself. Now from this point I found a few things could happen:

Ending 1 - Damian takes out Amanda
You need to tell everyone about vampires (IE go around doing stuff to breach the masquerade), choose options for Righteousness, AND have a bad relationship with Amanda (refuse to work for her or cooperate on anything)

Ending 5 - Promote Tourism and Urbanization
Don't go telling people about vampires, have a good relationship with Amanda