Grout's Mansion (Spoiler I guess)

[ShatteredMind]

There's a large ornate polished round room in Grout's Mansion. I didn't come across it before. Is it a Plus addition? Sunlight streams in through the ceiling and can kill you. There's an item on the floor, but otherwise nothing to do except turn around. The room has great music. I googled this room but can't find a thing on it. What's the story with this room? Does it have any significance to the game's story?

[Wesp5]

This room is a plus patch restoration after a concept art from Bloodlines including an original unreleased Rik Schaffer musical piece and other unused assets :)! Other than that it is not important, just another strange room in the Malkavian Maze we created after beta screenshots! Sadly, we don't know what Troika intended to do with the maze, right now it's only a shortcut in the mansion to avoid fighting through the basement...

[Touch of Oblivion]

If you're playing the Unofficial Patch Plus version, it's likely from that.

[ShatteredMind]

Well it's awesome and is enhancing the internal role play I tend to do automatically when I play this game. I had wondered if this might be the maze you mentioned in the changelog. I think the maze itself is the area with upside down doors, but the only way out that I've found so far is back up to Grout's room's antechamber. I probably entered the maze from what you intended to be its exit. That would explain why the phone seemingly does nothing, and why it's not a maze from my point of view, but rather a stretch of hallways with some locked tight doors and a couple quite intriguing dead ends.

[ShatteredMind]

Originally posted by Obtenebris:

If you're playing the Unofficial Patch Plus version, it's likely from that.

I've only ever played the Plus version. I know it goes against the general recommendation but I read the changelog before I first played and I was satisfied that the essential experience would not be tarnished by playing Plus only.

[ShatteredMind]

It would be great if Grout's wife's heart was stored in the mausoleum-esque chamber in the center of the marble room. It would have been removed from her body, staked, and kept in one of the same style of glass display cases that line the outside of the room where her body resides. And there could be a journal of Grout's nearby, describing the terrible ritual which safeguards her unlife with magical protection, but has left her in an indefinite state of torpor until the deed is reversed.

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Originally posted by ShatteredMind:

Originally posted by Obtenebris:

If you're playing the Unofficial Patch Plus version, it's likely from that.

I've only ever played the Plus version. I know it goes against the general recommendation but I read the changelog before I first played and I was satisfied that the essential experience would not be tarnished by playing Plus only.

Have you done a Malkavian playthrough yet? With the plus patch there's a lot of good stuff in store for fans of the Malkavian clan.

[ShatteredMind]

I am currently. I was playing Nosferatu before, until I realized the patch wasn't working the first time around. Nosferatu began to bore me because my character was such a powerful fighter with Potence. The Blood Guardian, Gimble and the Quei-Jin all fell in seconds.

My character now has high defense (I guess, I can still die in short order) but I'm specializing in ranged for the first time, which is a complete bust so far compared to melee. I'm not even bothering with the plaguebearers until I gain more XP and weapons. I had enough trouble with Grout's ghouls. I tended to get the snot beat out of me and then feed on the last one to bring me back to health. When absorbing damage until a feed attempt connects is more favorable than using your shotgun, you know your character is not ready for the big time yet. I kind of like being disadvantaged because it lets me get creative with disciplines. Stealth kill while invisible is a huge plus. I didn't realize it meant 100% invisible until I tried. I remember reading in the past that you can stealth kill the Blood Guardian, so I kept trying to sprint and duck around paintings until I was out of sight for a split second and went invisible.

In the museum at the very end I realized I could feed on a guard, then stop him from retaliating with a quick dementation. Then I made my escape. I missed the fetish and the small box, if it even exists, so I'll play it again soon.

There have been some nice additional bits of dialogue so far.

[Wesp5]

Originally posted by ShatteredMind:

It would be great if Grout's wife's heart was stored in the mausoleum-esque chamber in the center of the marble room. It would have been removed from her body, staked, and kept in one of the same style of glass display cases that line the outside of the room where her body resides. And there could be a journal of Grout's nearby, describing the terrible ritual which safeguards her unlife with magical protection, but has left her in an indefinite state of torpor until the deed is reversed.

Nice idea, but I don't think it would work. We don't have a model heart in one of these glass cases and you also wouldn't be able to enter the mausoleum building in the middle of the chamber.

[Solomon Birch]

I loved this addition. The mannequins were genuinely creeping me out.

[OldMemes.biz]

As of current (I see this thread is old) there's a reason now for this awesome room; there's a switch in the back where the light shines in (you will take fire damage). Hitting that switch lets you get to the mannequin room if you backtrack (the room Solomon is mentioning).

[Leper Kahn]

1. What's the deal w/the mannequin area?
2. What's the deal with the "small" box Lacroix mentions? Does it even exist?

[Wesp5]

Originally posted by Leper Kahn:

1. What's the deal w/the mannequin area?

That's just to freak you out, it's the Malkavian Maze recreated from beta screenshots :).

2. What's the deal with the "small" box Lacroix mentions? Does it even exist?

Yes, that box contained the key to the sarcophagus and you need to get the key later...

[Leper Kahn]

Originally posted by wesp5:

Originally posted by Leper Kahn:

1. What's the deal w/the mannequin area?

That's just to freak you out, it's the Malkavian Maze recreated from beta screenshots :).

2. What's the deal with the "small" box Lacroix mentions? Does it even exist?

Yes, that box contained the key to the sarcophagus and you need to get the key later...

Thanks a bunch; I'm all for puzzles, but I hate trying to solve a puzzle that doesn't exist. I've done the maze, found the item, which doesn't seem to effect anything including Patty, but it's still a nice touch.

But wait, does that mean that the box can still be found sooner, rather than "later"?

[Wesp5]

Originally posted by Leper Kahn:

But wait, does that mean that the box can still be found sooner, rather than "later"?

No. The key out of the box is pretty much the last thing you find...

[Leper Kahn]

Originally posted by wesp5:

Originally posted by Leper Kahn:

But wait, does that mean that the box can still be found sooner, rather than "later"?

No. The key out of the box is pretty much the last thing you find...

Thanks.

You ever consider just doing your own thing? I am, or at least was, pretty good at writing, and systems/mechanics (NOT coding/programming).