StarForge is not a finished game. It relies too much on procedural generation, and the challenges of navigating the environment and fighting random monsters simply aren't engaging enough to sustain an entire game. There's not enough variety, not enough reward for exploration, and not enough crafting recipes.
But none of that is StarForge's fatal flaw. No, the real dealbreaker for me was that when the time came for me to start building my fortress, I discovered that when the various blocks are stacked, they look terrible. It was a combination of the colors and textures. Most of the more expensive and durable blocks were some variety of metallic-grey, which wound up looking too dark when part of a tall stack. The steel blocks had a rivet pattern that might have been home in a steampunk construction, but weren't what I was going for, at all. And the monolithium blocks have this in-built circuitry which could possibly look cool and science-fictiony, but gave an ugly asymmetry when tiled in a large square.
As a result, I wasn't able to come up with a building plan that met my aesthetic standards and subsequently lost interest in the building portion of the game (I might have been able to salvage something by using corner pieces to give my constructions interesting shapes, but they were such a pain in the ass to orient that I more or less noped out of that idea before it could take root).
What I wound up doing with the last three hours or so was starting up a new file on an "infinite" world and seeing how far I could walk away from the spawn point without dying. Pretty far, it turned out. By the time I was finished, the map's central tower was nothing more than a dim light in the distance.
It was a decent enough experience as far as virtual nature-walks go, and some of the terrain did look pretty awe-inspiring, though it quickly became apparent that the five basic biomes you get on a more typical, area-limited game, are the extent of StarForge's bag of tricks.
I have no regrets playing this game, but I can say with confidence that I have no intent of every playing it again. It's not as dire a game as the Steam store page reviews would make it out to be, but what strengths it has are due almost entirely to the survival-crafting genre. Once I got my framerate issue sorted out, it was a well-implemented virtual park - and nothing else. And that's the biggest thing going against StarForge. There's nothing this game does that other games in the genre don't do as well or better (even the tree-chopping - I recently learned that Medieval Engineers is similarly modeled), and it never quite reaches a point where its elements work together to make it more than the sum of its parts.
I think if StarForge were the only game of its genre, I would be quite happy with what it has to offer. I like the core gameplay elements of exploring a virtual park, hoarding raw materials, and building stuff out of bricks. It's just the game's bad luck that I have so many other options at my disposal.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Monday, March 14, 2016
StarForge - 11/20 hours
I may have been to harsh on this game before. In the last few hours, I've really gotten into it. The turn-around point came when I suddenly remembered that I downloaded a game booster a couple months ago, to help me play Borderlands 2. And when I used it, it worked. My fps went from about 25 average, with dips to the single digits in busy areas, to about 40 average, with dips to about 25 in busy areas.
It was a change that breathed new life into the game. Places that were a chore to visit previously now suddenly opened up and became accessible. I could actually approach the crashed star ship, fight the monsters with my guns, and scavenge new blueprints from the wreckage.
StarForge is still not a great game. There's not enough diversity in you building blocks (it doesn't even have glass), and there needs to be more done to make the biomes feel more distinct (though there is some striking visual design in the various alien foliage), and exploring the crashed spaceship was a lot of fun . . . the first time.
If there were some system to put the kibosh on the proliferation of useless blueprints. If you could customize your vehicles. If monster-hunting was both riskier and more rewarding. Then StarForge could be a genuinely good game. As it is, it's mainly a way to waste some time. I really enjoyed scouting for the wide array of minerals necessary to build my first hoverbike. And riding that thing around has given me a welcome sensation of personal power. But now I'm stuck with what to do next. My most reasonable option is to design and build a structure without any windows, which doesn't really appeal to me all that much.
Still, losing myself in the game has been pretty easy. Which I guess goes to show that I'm a soft touch for survival crafting games. As long as it's even slightly functional, I'll find some way to amuse myself.
It was a change that breathed new life into the game. Places that were a chore to visit previously now suddenly opened up and became accessible. I could actually approach the crashed star ship, fight the monsters with my guns, and scavenge new blueprints from the wreckage.
StarForge is still not a great game. There's not enough diversity in you building blocks (it doesn't even have glass), and there needs to be more done to make the biomes feel more distinct (though there is some striking visual design in the various alien foliage), and exploring the crashed spaceship was a lot of fun . . . the first time.
If there were some system to put the kibosh on the proliferation of useless blueprints. If you could customize your vehicles. If monster-hunting was both riskier and more rewarding. Then StarForge could be a genuinely good game. As it is, it's mainly a way to waste some time. I really enjoyed scouting for the wide array of minerals necessary to build my first hoverbike. And riding that thing around has given me a welcome sensation of personal power. But now I'm stuck with what to do next. My most reasonable option is to design and build a structure without any windows, which doesn't really appeal to me all that much.
Still, losing myself in the game has been pretty easy. Which I guess goes to show that I'm a soft touch for survival crafting games. As long as it's even slightly functional, I'll find some way to amuse myself.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
StarForge - 5/20 hours
There's one thing StarForge does better than any other game I've played. Chopping down trees is amazing. You swing your tool at the base of the tree and eventually a break appears in the trunk. Then gravity takes over and the whole trunk falls down, the top tipping over first and then bringing the bottom with it. It's an animation that reaches into some deep, dark part of your brain and makes it want to yell "TIMBER!"
Going through a forest with a chainsaw, hacking down everything you see, is oddly satisfying. It's unfortunate, then, that it took me so long to actually get a chainsaw.
The problem I had was that my original world was very stingy with iron ore. I spent hours wandering around looking for it. Eventually, I got lost in an area with some tall cliffs and then somehow died when I went to get a pillow for a customer. Apparently StarForge does not have a pause function, which is always something that annoys me in a single-player game.
This turn of events frustrated me so much that I deleted the entire world and started a new one from scratch. And in the new world there were two huge iron deposits right near my spawn. I guess that's just how these things go.
Having access to iron has changed the way I view the game. I hadn't realized before that enemies could drop blueprints for new crafting items when you killed them (without a gun, I'd always run away). And with my discovery of new building materials like cement blocks, it actually seems plausible to craft some significant structures. The only problem I've faced so far is that placing ramps has been a pain in the ass. Getting them in exactly the right configuration to smooth out the corners of your structure is incredibly fiddly. StarMade had an interface for this that worked pretty well (even if it was sometimes hard to judge the exact orientation), but as far as I can tell, StarForge does not, and since the developers have apparently given up on the game, it probably never will.
Which is a shame, because the terrain, when it's not randomly disappearing or slowing down to less than 10fps, is nice and organic-looking, so the Minecraft-style stepped buildings are not really in keeping with the game's aesthetic. I suppose I could get around this by building only in rectilinear blocks, but I quickly chafe at the limitations of those kinds of designs.
Ah well, I'm not going to win any architectural design awards with StarForge's crafting system, but chances are I wasn't going to do that anyway.
Going through a forest with a chainsaw, hacking down everything you see, is oddly satisfying. It's unfortunate, then, that it took me so long to actually get a chainsaw.
The problem I had was that my original world was very stingy with iron ore. I spent hours wandering around looking for it. Eventually, I got lost in an area with some tall cliffs and then somehow died when I went to get a pillow for a customer. Apparently StarForge does not have a pause function, which is always something that annoys me in a single-player game.
This turn of events frustrated me so much that I deleted the entire world and started a new one from scratch. And in the new world there were two huge iron deposits right near my spawn. I guess that's just how these things go.
Having access to iron has changed the way I view the game. I hadn't realized before that enemies could drop blueprints for new crafting items when you killed them (without a gun, I'd always run away). And with my discovery of new building materials like cement blocks, it actually seems plausible to craft some significant structures. The only problem I've faced so far is that placing ramps has been a pain in the ass. Getting them in exactly the right configuration to smooth out the corners of your structure is incredibly fiddly. StarMade had an interface for this that worked pretty well (even if it was sometimes hard to judge the exact orientation), but as far as I can tell, StarForge does not, and since the developers have apparently given up on the game, it probably never will.
Which is a shame, because the terrain, when it's not randomly disappearing or slowing down to less than 10fps, is nice and organic-looking, so the Minecraft-style stepped buildings are not really in keeping with the game's aesthetic. I suppose I could get around this by building only in rectilinear blocks, but I quickly chafe at the limitations of those kinds of designs.
Ah well, I'm not going to win any architectural design awards with StarForge's crafting system, but chances are I wasn't going to do that anyway.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
StarForge - 2/20 hours
I really wish I was playing Space Engineers. That's pretty much all you need to know about this game. You would rather be playing Space Engineers.
And just to test my theory, in case I was misremembering that other game out of a desperate desire to escape from StarForge into a world of fantasy, I fired up Space Engineers for a side-by-side comparison. It is indeed better than StarForge in almost every conceivable way (the exception is tree removal).
That said, I don't especially hate StarForge. If it weren't for the blog, I'd have no reason to ever play it, but given my current situation, I'm not cursing the heavens or anything like that. Okay, maybe I did a little when I tried tweaking the graphical settings and the game crashed again and again. And maybe I'm a little dismayed at all the clipping and textural pop-ins there are on "fast" graphics (seriously, whole trees would appear to shift position by about a quarter inch - it was very disorienting).
Yet the core of the game - wandering around, reducing random geological features to ground level in order to get the valuable minerals within, avoiding monsters, and (presumably) building stuff up - that all appears to be in order. I don't need a lot more than that to be entertained.
The real question becomes - exactly how tolerable is a diet version of a superior game? Probably not very, considering StarForge's ugly graphics, barren worlds, and sparse crafting options (apparently - it's hard to say, because the wiki and the in-game menus don't agree).
My plan, however, is not to think about it. I'll just roam over the wide-open spaces, search for mineral deposits, harvest mushrooms for meal-replacement shots, and try and stay alive as long as possible. Maybe I'll even build myself a fort or two.
And when it's all over, I'll happily uninstall this game and never think of it again.
And just to test my theory, in case I was misremembering that other game out of a desperate desire to escape from StarForge into a world of fantasy, I fired up Space Engineers for a side-by-side comparison. It is indeed better than StarForge in almost every conceivable way (the exception is tree removal).
That said, I don't especially hate StarForge. If it weren't for the blog, I'd have no reason to ever play it, but given my current situation, I'm not cursing the heavens or anything like that. Okay, maybe I did a little when I tried tweaking the graphical settings and the game crashed again and again. And maybe I'm a little dismayed at all the clipping and textural pop-ins there are on "fast" graphics (seriously, whole trees would appear to shift position by about a quarter inch - it was very disorienting).
Yet the core of the game - wandering around, reducing random geological features to ground level in order to get the valuable minerals within, avoiding monsters, and (presumably) building stuff up - that all appears to be in order. I don't need a lot more than that to be entertained.
The real question becomes - exactly how tolerable is a diet version of a superior game? Probably not very, considering StarForge's ugly graphics, barren worlds, and sparse crafting options (apparently - it's hard to say, because the wiki and the in-game menus don't agree).
My plan, however, is not to think about it. I'll just roam over the wide-open spaces, search for mineral deposits, harvest mushrooms for meal-replacement shots, and try and stay alive as long as possible. Maybe I'll even build myself a fort or two.
And when it's all over, I'll happily uninstall this game and never think of it again.
Friday, March 11, 2016
StarForge - Initial Thoughts
About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)
StarForge is a sci fi survival sandbox. Hunt to eat, dig for resources, craft many items, build a fort, and fight enemies in order to survive! Do this alone, or with other players, in a fully infinite procedural world.
Key Features in StarForge:
Procedural Infinite Voxel Terrain - There are no set boundaries in StarForge; the planet will procedurally generate each time you start a new game. The terrain supports plains, mountains, deserts, mountains, caves, overhangs, rocks, and much more. The world is infinite, meaning you will be able to run in a single direction for as long as your computer can support it.
Underground/Surface/Space Gameplay - Build a tower that ascends into the clouds, through the atmosphere, then into space, and do this in real-time with no loading screens.
Dynamic World - Enjoy dynamic weather patterns, a 24 day and night cycle, and a real time atmosphere. Creatures drop loot and attack the player and sometimes other creatures. Players can also swim and find water or lava in the game.
Loot and Survive - Before the humans landed countless weapons and armor were sent to Atlas. You will find loot chests littered throughout the land, you will need their contents to survive.
Vehicle Gameplay - Hop on board a 4 wheeled all terrain vehicle with a friend and traverse the world. Or jump into a hovercraft for speedy terrain movement. You may also take flight in the space helicopter.
Procedural 3D Tileset - Build anything you want with our unique 3D Tilesets. You can create towns, villages, bridges, forts, and much more. It is also fully destructible! Ramps and stairs are also included.
Physics Sandbox - We are designing the world to be fully dynamic. This currently includes chopping down trees, turrets, and enemies.
Physics Movement - Our movement model is designed closely around the real bio mechanics of biped locomotion; The result is a more human look and feel, and a character that is equipped to intelligently react to dangers far beyond what conventional movement code was designed to handle. It also features a full body IK system.
Resources and Economy - There will be many different resources in StarForge. However, the player can only hold so much at a time. When the player can no longer hold what he mined, he will have to build containers to store them into. This makes resources tangible and gives you the ability to steal other players resources.
Multiplayer & SinglePlayer - We have both modes playable in the game.
Survival - In this mode you are tasked with surviving on the planet. You will encounter enemies, find new blueprints, gather weapons, build a base, and so much more.
Creative - In this mode you have unlimited resources and can build at great speeds. You may also place creatures anywhere you want.
Previous Playtime
0 hours
What Was I Thinking When I Bought This
It was on deep discount and its screenshots looked intriguing. I love building and exploration, and to do that sort of thing in a realistic-looking science-fiction world seemed like a can't miss prospect. It was still in early access at that time, but I figured, what's the worst that could happen . . .
Expectations and Prior Experience
It turns out that this purchase may have been my biggest mistake yet. Looking back at the store page, I found the reviews were extremely negative. Just 18% of the purchasers gave it a good review, which is worse than everything but Ride to Hell: Retribution, and even then only by a bit.
Most of those reviews focused on the fact that the game was released in early access and then not finished. Actual details on the game itself are thin on the ground. It looks like an open-ended survival crafting game where you wander around gathering materials and building equipment, but exactly how many features are present and missing is difficult to say.
If it's just crafting, I think I can live with that. I recently played Windborne and didn't have any trouble with it. However, if the game doesn't actually work, then that could be a problem. I have a feeling that if the game was functional, people probably wouldn't be so bitter about it, but I have no way of telling whether the negative reviews are the result of anything more than dashed expectations.
Well, okay, I have one way of telling.
I'll see you in another two hours or so.
StarForge is a sci fi survival sandbox. Hunt to eat, dig for resources, craft many items, build a fort, and fight enemies in order to survive! Do this alone, or with other players, in a fully infinite procedural world.
Key Features in StarForge:
Procedural Infinite Voxel Terrain - There are no set boundaries in StarForge; the planet will procedurally generate each time you start a new game. The terrain supports plains, mountains, deserts, mountains, caves, overhangs, rocks, and much more. The world is infinite, meaning you will be able to run in a single direction for as long as your computer can support it.
Underground/Surface/Space Gameplay - Build a tower that ascends into the clouds, through the atmosphere, then into space, and do this in real-time with no loading screens.
Dynamic World - Enjoy dynamic weather patterns, a 24 day and night cycle, and a real time atmosphere. Creatures drop loot and attack the player and sometimes other creatures. Players can also swim and find water or lava in the game.
Loot and Survive - Before the humans landed countless weapons and armor were sent to Atlas. You will find loot chests littered throughout the land, you will need their contents to survive.
Vehicle Gameplay - Hop on board a 4 wheeled all terrain vehicle with a friend and traverse the world. Or jump into a hovercraft for speedy terrain movement. You may also take flight in the space helicopter.
Procedural 3D Tileset - Build anything you want with our unique 3D Tilesets. You can create towns, villages, bridges, forts, and much more. It is also fully destructible! Ramps and stairs are also included.
Physics Sandbox - We are designing the world to be fully dynamic. This currently includes chopping down trees, turrets, and enemies.
Physics Movement - Our movement model is designed closely around the real bio mechanics of biped locomotion; The result is a more human look and feel, and a character that is equipped to intelligently react to dangers far beyond what conventional movement code was designed to handle. It also features a full body IK system.
Resources and Economy - There will be many different resources in StarForge. However, the player can only hold so much at a time. When the player can no longer hold what he mined, he will have to build containers to store them into. This makes resources tangible and gives you the ability to steal other players resources.
Multiplayer & SinglePlayer - We have both modes playable in the game.
Survival - In this mode you are tasked with surviving on the planet. You will encounter enemies, find new blueprints, gather weapons, build a base, and so much more.
Creative - In this mode you have unlimited resources and can build at great speeds. You may also place creatures anywhere you want.
Previous Playtime
0 hours
What Was I Thinking When I Bought This
It was on deep discount and its screenshots looked intriguing. I love building and exploration, and to do that sort of thing in a realistic-looking science-fiction world seemed like a can't miss prospect. It was still in early access at that time, but I figured, what's the worst that could happen . . .
Expectations and Prior Experience
It turns out that this purchase may have been my biggest mistake yet. Looking back at the store page, I found the reviews were extremely negative. Just 18% of the purchasers gave it a good review, which is worse than everything but Ride to Hell: Retribution, and even then only by a bit.
Most of those reviews focused on the fact that the game was released in early access and then not finished. Actual details on the game itself are thin on the ground. It looks like an open-ended survival crafting game where you wander around gathering materials and building equipment, but exactly how many features are present and missing is difficult to say.
If it's just crafting, I think I can live with that. I recently played Windborne and didn't have any trouble with it. However, if the game doesn't actually work, then that could be a problem. I have a feeling that if the game was functional, people probably wouldn't be so bitter about it, but I have no way of telling whether the negative reviews are the result of anything more than dashed expectations.
Well, okay, I have one way of telling.
I'll see you in another two hours or so.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - Wrap-up
Well, I really did not enjoy the last 3 hours of the game. I think the problem is I chose to play a brawl-based character. As a result, it took about a dozen hits to take down the mortals in the kuei-jin headquarters, Ming Xiao's demon form was a tedious fight where I had to whittle down her hit points, I was constantly being thwarted by enemies becoming invincible in ragdoll, and the fight with the giant bat at the end was total bullshit.
But in the end, I discovered that the sarcophagus contained, not an ancient vampire, but a bomb, which I found out when I was presented with the choice of either opening it myself or dropping the key for a wounded Lacroix to scramble over. Naturally, I chose to use it myself, because as foolish as doing so was, I had no way of knowing that Lacroix wouldn't gain ultimate power.
I'm glad I played this game. I can see why it's well-loved. There's a lot of fun stuff in there, and I can't think of a better modern-day vampire rpg. However, I'm not eager to play it again. If the final fights gave me so much trouble as a Brujah (they get super-speed, super-strength, and a debuff aura), how much more difficult would they be as a fragile clan, like the Tremere or the Malkavians? I suppose I could have used more stealth, and perhaps saved myself a few fights, but I don't see how you can stealth past the bosses.
Mostly what this game did for me was make me hungry for a sequel or a remake or another game in the same genre. I'd love to be able to get lost in a huge, gothic-punk open world and just spend hours and hours being a vampire. That's not a criticism of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines though. The thing I love about this game is that it had the vision to try and bring the World of Darkness to life. It's just that the farther I got into the game, the less I felt like I was playing my vampire and the more I felt like I was playing a particular character in the game-maker's story. And it's that feeling you get when you have a fresh character and you're emerging from your haven for the first time, and you've got this whole world to explore, filled with fresh NPCs to assault and exsanguinate that is the best part of the game.
It's a testament to the power of V:tM - Bloodlines that even after some long and frustrating final dungeons, I still want more.
But in the end, I discovered that the sarcophagus contained, not an ancient vampire, but a bomb, which I found out when I was presented with the choice of either opening it myself or dropping the key for a wounded Lacroix to scramble over. Naturally, I chose to use it myself, because as foolish as doing so was, I had no way of knowing that Lacroix wouldn't gain ultimate power.
I'm glad I played this game. I can see why it's well-loved. There's a lot of fun stuff in there, and I can't think of a better modern-day vampire rpg. However, I'm not eager to play it again. If the final fights gave me so much trouble as a Brujah (they get super-speed, super-strength, and a debuff aura), how much more difficult would they be as a fragile clan, like the Tremere or the Malkavians? I suppose I could have used more stealth, and perhaps saved myself a few fights, but I don't see how you can stealth past the bosses.
Mostly what this game did for me was make me hungry for a sequel or a remake or another game in the same genre. I'd love to be able to get lost in a huge, gothic-punk open world and just spend hours and hours being a vampire. That's not a criticism of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines though. The thing I love about this game is that it had the vision to try and bring the World of Darkness to life. It's just that the farther I got into the game, the less I felt like I was playing my vampire and the more I felt like I was playing a particular character in the game-maker's story. And it's that feeling you get when you have a fresh character and you're emerging from your haven for the first time, and you've got this whole world to explore, filled with fresh NPCs to assault and exsanguinate that is the best part of the game.
It's a testament to the power of V:tM - Bloodlines that even after some long and frustrating final dungeons, I still want more.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - 20/20 hours
Chinatown turned out to be mostly filler. I had to rescue a bratty kidnapping victim, destroy a local gang, and get experimented upon by a mad scientist who somehow knew about the existence of vampires. Only after I tread water for a few hours was I rewarded with information that would put the main plot back on track - the sarcophagus was stolen by clan Giovanni, all I had to do to get it back was fight my way through their mansion . . .
. . . and the catacombs underneath.
Fucking catacombs.
However, once I got through yet another dismal underground level, the plot once again picked up. I returned the sarcophagus to the Prince and had a not at all suspicious conversation where he denied having a sinister hidden agenda in a totally plausible way. There was a brief tease as that Beckett guy showed up again, claiming that the sarcophagus was nothing more than a mundane relic. And yet . . . we couldn't get it open.
I guess sledgehammers were out of the question, because the Prince sent me to retrieve an expert on the Sarcophagus who had recently been "rescued" by the Society of Leopold (the Catholic church's secret order of vampire hunters) and was being held against his will at their seaside monastery . . .
. . . in the caves below the chapel.
Fucking caves.
I'm not entirely sure why a game with such a cool and evocative above-ground setting keeps sending me to these bland subterranean tubes, but I have to count this as a major flaw. There's just so much, thematically, that can be done with things like a church housing an elite order of fanatical militant priests or a mansion inhabited by a corrupt and incestuous family ruled by its own ancient dead, that it seems a real shame to reduce these encounter to "smack random enemies in a featureless, grey corridor."
From the sarcophagus expert, I learned that the thing probably held the body of Messerach, an ancient Assyrian king who only the credulous would believe is a vampire of legend (wink) just because he was the only recorded monarch for more than 200 years and tales told of his habit of drinking the blood of his enemies. Of course, knowing as I do the backstory of Vampire: the Masquerade, I can say with confidence that Messerach is not necessarily an ancient and insanely powerful vampire, but if I were in my character's place, I certainly wouldn't want to take any chances.
After that, I had to single-handedly slay the remaining Sabbat, just to tie up a loose end. Fighting my way through an abandoned hotel was a nice change of pace from the various tunnels I'd been through before, though I wasn't pleased to see that Tzimisce again, not after I thought I killed him (I still don't know his name or what his deal was, except that he seemed to have a very poor grasp of the dangers of pissing off a high-xp Brujah.)
I think what strikes me most about the last stretch of the game is the way that I'm helpless to go against the very obviously stupid decisions the plot forces me into. Like, once I recover the sarcophagus, why do I bother to return it to Lacroix? And once I talk to Lacroix and discover his manipulative behind-the-scenes scheming with the Kuei-jin, fueled by his unhealthy obsession to possess the secrets of the sarcophagus, regardless of the cost, why do I agree to try and help him find a way to open it? And once Ming Xao, the Kuei-jin leader, appears to me out of nowhere to reveal, unprompted, that she had the key and was canceling her alliance out of fear of Lacroix's treachery, why do I bother to volunteer this information that the Prince wasn't actively seeking and hadn't instructed me to find? And then, once Lacroix decides that he must go to war with the Kuei-jin and sends me as an emissary to negotiate a truce with the Anarchs, why on earth do I not say "this guy is clearly gearing up to backstab us all, don't trust him?"
It's all very mysterious. Perhaps the ending was, indeed, rushed.
My current status is that I've just survived Lacroix's ambush (though I lay partial blame on Nines Rodriguez for choosing to meet in werewolf country), having successfully evaded a badass werewolf with the aid of a timely glitch, and now I have to fight my way through Santa Monica as vampires from all across California pursue me in a Blood Hunt.
I expect I have around another hour or so of game left, so I think I'll stick it out. I'm curious about what's in the damned box and it would be nice to be able to punch Lacroix in his smug little face.
. . . and the catacombs underneath.
Fucking catacombs.
However, once I got through yet another dismal underground level, the plot once again picked up. I returned the sarcophagus to the Prince and had a not at all suspicious conversation where he denied having a sinister hidden agenda in a totally plausible way. There was a brief tease as that Beckett guy showed up again, claiming that the sarcophagus was nothing more than a mundane relic. And yet . . . we couldn't get it open.
I guess sledgehammers were out of the question, because the Prince sent me to retrieve an expert on the Sarcophagus who had recently been "rescued" by the Society of Leopold (the Catholic church's secret order of vampire hunters) and was being held against his will at their seaside monastery . . .
. . . in the caves below the chapel.
Fucking caves.
I'm not entirely sure why a game with such a cool and evocative above-ground setting keeps sending me to these bland subterranean tubes, but I have to count this as a major flaw. There's just so much, thematically, that can be done with things like a church housing an elite order of fanatical militant priests or a mansion inhabited by a corrupt and incestuous family ruled by its own ancient dead, that it seems a real shame to reduce these encounter to "smack random enemies in a featureless, grey corridor."
From the sarcophagus expert, I learned that the thing probably held the body of Messerach, an ancient Assyrian king who only the credulous would believe is a vampire of legend (wink) just because he was the only recorded monarch for more than 200 years and tales told of his habit of drinking the blood of his enemies. Of course, knowing as I do the backstory of Vampire: the Masquerade, I can say with confidence that Messerach is not necessarily an ancient and insanely powerful vampire, but if I were in my character's place, I certainly wouldn't want to take any chances.
After that, I had to single-handedly slay the remaining Sabbat, just to tie up a loose end. Fighting my way through an abandoned hotel was a nice change of pace from the various tunnels I'd been through before, though I wasn't pleased to see that Tzimisce again, not after I thought I killed him (I still don't know his name or what his deal was, except that he seemed to have a very poor grasp of the dangers of pissing off a high-xp Brujah.)
I think what strikes me most about the last stretch of the game is the way that I'm helpless to go against the very obviously stupid decisions the plot forces me into. Like, once I recover the sarcophagus, why do I bother to return it to Lacroix? And once I talk to Lacroix and discover his manipulative behind-the-scenes scheming with the Kuei-jin, fueled by his unhealthy obsession to possess the secrets of the sarcophagus, regardless of the cost, why do I agree to try and help him find a way to open it? And once Ming Xao, the Kuei-jin leader, appears to me out of nowhere to reveal, unprompted, that she had the key and was canceling her alliance out of fear of Lacroix's treachery, why do I bother to volunteer this information that the Prince wasn't actively seeking and hadn't instructed me to find? And then, once Lacroix decides that he must go to war with the Kuei-jin and sends me as an emissary to negotiate a truce with the Anarchs, why on earth do I not say "this guy is clearly gearing up to backstab us all, don't trust him?"
It's all very mysterious. Perhaps the ending was, indeed, rushed.
My current status is that I've just survived Lacroix's ambush (though I lay partial blame on Nines Rodriguez for choosing to meet in werewolf country), having successfully evaded a badass werewolf with the aid of a timely glitch, and now I have to fight my way through Santa Monica as vampires from all across California pursue me in a Blood Hunt.
I expect I have around another hour or so of game left, so I think I'll stick it out. I'm curious about what's in the damned box and it would be nice to be able to punch Lacroix in his smug little face.
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