swansong IGN review - 5/10

[Coffee Break Hero]

https://www.ign.com/articles/vampire-the-masquerade-swansong-review
meta score is nice though. 69

[Shinno]

Originally posted by tyl0413:

Originally posted by Shinno:

Finished it today and it's mostly okay... Ugly, buggy, sometimes unreasonable, very unfair but okay, even enjoyable at some parts. 6-7 from me.

So worth a playthrough when it comes to Steam at 80% off.

With all DLCs no less!

[Coffee Break Hero]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

From videos I've seen of the game, I would really hope there's some kind of New Game Plus option, so that players can go back and try to complete the game with higher abilities and skills. As it currently stands, I don't see how you could possibly get the high tier powers and specialties, unless you A) hyper specialized into them, or B) the game allows you to accrue extra XP by repeating the same levels over and over.

IIRC in bloodlines there are options in santa monica you can only access if you have skill levels that are impossible to achieve at that point in the game

on my 4th playthrough I played with cheats (infinite skill points) to get all the things

[Coffee Break Hero]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by Coffee Break Hero:

IIRC in bloodlines there are options in santa monica you can only access if you have skill levels that are impossible to achieve at that point in the game

on my 4th playthrough I played with cheats (infinite skill points) to get all the things

Could you elaborate, please? It's been years since I played Bloodlines 1, but I stopped counting how many times I beat it after my 10th run.

I know that in the base version of the game (the one without the fan patches), Blood Buff automatically pumps your physical attributes up by 5 points, which can give you a hefty boost on skill checks.

I don't specifically remember examples but iirc there are instances of hacking and dementation and more that are only available if you buff yourself with hacks.
I may be wrong though.
maybe it's possible to min max in a way I was not aware of.
been like 4 years since last playthrough.
I keep telling myself I'll play again before BL2 comes out lol

[Coffee Break Hero]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by Coffee Break Hero:

I don't specifically remember examples but iirc there are instances of hacking and dementation and more that are only available if you buff yourself with hacks.
I may be wrong though.
maybe it's possible to min max in a way I was not aware of.
been like 4 years since last playthrough.
I keep telling myself I'll play again before BL2 comes out lol

I'm sure you'd need to invest XP into Dementation to pass its related skill checks. But for Hacking, you can use Auspex to boost your skill. It boosts your Perception and (I think) Wits, both of which the computer skill uses.

yap. I member using auspex to pass checks.
I don't have any specific examples in my head. there's probably a reddit thread somewhere about santa monica high skill checks

[Shinno]

Originally posted by GrandMajora:

Originally posted by Shinno:

Finished it today and it's mostly okay... Ugly, buggy, sometimes unreasonable, very unfair but okay, even enjoyable at some parts. 6-7 from me.

Is there a new game plus option? Because from what I've seen, it's almost impossible to max out more than 1 skill / discipline on a single playthrough, unless you hyper specialize all your XP investments into it. You'd also need to play through each level perfectly, missing zero opportunities and failing no checks to get the most amount of XP possible.

Nothing I can see, except a 'skip dialogue' option.