Ending (Spoilers)

dana · Post by **dana** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:00 pm

I've never seen this topic posted here before, so I thought that it might be interesting.

Just out of curiosity, who do you side with in the end (if anyone) and why?

Anaximander · Post by **Anaximander** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:49 pm

There have been many threads discussing the game's possible endings. I know this topic was discussed in one of them, but it's been so long I can't remember which one. I tried skimming through a few of them, but I couldn't find it either.

I almost always choose to side with no one and go my own way. By the end of the game I'm pretty sick of all of them. They all just want to use you for their own ends, even the Anarchs. To hell with all of them, I say.

There are a few exceptions.

When I play a Tremere, I side with the Camarilla, but only because I think my Tremere would want to learn more about the secret blood magics of his clan. That means gaining entry to the Tremere pyramid, which means loyalty to Strauss and therefore loyalty to the Camarilla.

As a Nosferatu I'd rather tell them all to go to hell, but one thing I really like about the Nosferatu is their clan solidarity. Mess with one, and you mess with them all. Like my Tremere, my Nosferatu would choose loyalty to his clan, which means a certain degree of vicarious loyalty to the Camarilla.

My Malkavian I play as a wild card. Who he sides with depends entirely on my whims during the course of the game.

shana · Post by **shana** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:52 pm

The Kue Jin ending is pretty bad for your character--I only did that one once!

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:32 pm

The first time through I played Tremere and so I decided I'd side with Strauss and the Camarilla. When I played as a Malkavian I went with the Anarchs then as a Gangrel I took the option to side with none of them. I'm yet to try the Kui-jin and the LaCroix ending, but will no doubt do those when I get around to playing Bloodlines again (I played it so much for months that I'm now having a long break from it lol)

Lestat · Post by **Lestat** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:12 am

Clan usually determines what side I choose in the end. If I play Brujah or Toreador, I find it natural to side with the Anarchs (since the notable Brujahs or Toreadors are of that faction). Tremere & Nosferatu almost always Camarilla (for reasons Anaximander explained well). Gangrel seems most natural for a Lone Wolf ending

. Malkavian, well it just depends now doesn't it (but most of the time Camarilla)? And for Ventrue either Lacroix or Camarilla.
I only chose the Lacroix & Kuei-Jin endings once though...

watorrey · Post by **watorrey** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:54 am

I'm only on my 3rd full game so far. My first 2 games i choose the independant ending but never made it to see the end. My Gangrel can't seem to get thru the second half of the sheriff fight and I lost interest storming the Ventrue Tower with my Brujah (although he may have a chance against the Sheriff.) Perhaps i will take my Toreador all the way to the end... not sure yet. I did keep the last saved games for the first 2 games so perhaps i will go back and try again at some point.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:10 pm

This is a little off topic, but I found the easiest way to get through the sheriff fight as a gangrel was to use the lights to make him fall to the ground then torch him with a flame thrower (it does not rely on firearms skills, at least not in my experience

). Do this a couple of times and he's dead.

Back on topic, I realised I never gave any reasons. I tend to choose my ending based on my characters clan as I like to roleplay a bit, so if I want to be a loner I specifically go for Gangrel and so on.

yrthwyndandfyre · Post by **yrthwyndandfyre** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:51 pm

I've tried every ending at least once, but these days, I always go it alone. Reasons:

A) I get to off the Sabbat. Yeah, I know you always get to do that, but "Nobody steps on my dress and lives!"

B) I get to off the Kuei-Jin. Being set up by Ming kind of ticked my character off, and she's no fun when she's having a Bad Hair Day. Payback can be a real...well, me.:mischief:
C) I get to off Sebastian, just because the jerk ticks my character off pretty much from the get-go. Goth chicks do not naturally cowtow to pompous suits.

D) I get to blow off Nines. He saved my hide twice, but "I got my eye on you, kid."? Yeah, well get your eye on THIS, Dad.

shana · Post by **shana** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:33 pm

[QUOTE=yrthwyndandfyre]I've tried every ending at least once, but these days, I always go it alone. Reasons:

A) I get to off the Sabbat. Yeah, I know you always get to do that, but "Nobody steps on my dress and lives!"

B) I get to off the Kuei-Jin. Being set up by Ming kind of ticked my character off, and she's no fun when she's having a Bad Hair Day. Payback can be a real...well, me.:mischief:
C) I get to off Sebastian, just because the jerk ticks my character off pretty much from the get-go. Goth chicks do not naturally cowtow to pompous suits.

D) I get to blow off Nines. He saved my hide twice, but "I got my eye on you, kid."? Yeah, well get your eye on THIS, Dad.

[/QUOTE]

yrth, you are too funny!! I still think Nines is a hottie!! Watch out Fable may close this thread now that I've said that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yrthwyndandfyre · Post by **yrthwyndandfyre** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:24 pm

[QUOTE=shana]yrth, you are too funny!! I still think Nines is a hottie!! Watch out Fable may close this thread now that I've said that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[/QUOTE]
Well, as Fable has not closed it down, yet, then thank you, Shana.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:31 pm

[QUOTE=shana]yrth, you are too funny!! I still think Nines is a hottie!! Watch out Fable may close this thread now that I've said that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[/QUOTE]

I'd really rather not, just in case anybody else had something to add that wasn't spammy. So let's both wait for that event, and not put up any posts that might turn to dust sooner than a vampire revealed to the sunlight.

EvilBelgian · Post by **EvilBelgian** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:06 am

[QUOTE=Anaximander]
When I play a Tremere, I side with the Camarilla, but only because I think my Tremere would want to learn more about the secret blood magics of his clan. That means gaining entry to the Tremere pyramid, which means loyalty to Strauss and therefore loyalty to the Camarilla.
[/QUOTE]

Note that if you are already in the Tremere pyramid if you got your chantry
haven.

I've taken each ending at least once now. My least favorites are the Kuei-jin and the Lacroix ending because you only will have to fight one boss plus the fact that these endings arent exactly beneficial for your character.

yrthwyndandfyre · Post by **yrthwyndandfyre** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 4:24 am

[QUOTE=Anaximander]When I play a Tremere, I side with the Camarilla, but only because I think my Tremere would want to learn more about the secret blood magics of his clan. That means gaining entry to the Tremere pyramid, which means loyalty to Strauss and therefore loyalty to the Camarilla.[/QUOTE]

Having never played the P&P game, I'm not precisely what you would call an expert, but is there any particular reason why loyalty to your Tremere Lord would transpose into loyalty for his particular political leanings? You can do one without the other (I always do), but is there a particular kind of character assassination that I'm unwittingly indulging myself in? Personally, I don't think so, but Inquiring Minds Want To Know.

Anaximander · Post by **Anaximander** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:39 pm

Having never played the P&P game, I'm not precisely what you would call an expert, but is there any particular reason why loyalty to your Tremere Lord would transpose into loyalty for his particular political leanings? You can do one without the other (I always do), but is there a particular kind of character assassination that I'm unwittingly indulging myself in? Personally, I don't think so, but Inquiring Minds Want To Know.

Like you, I'm no expert. I did read a little something about this recently, however:

Weakness: Hierarchy. All Tremere are expected to be loyal to the Seven Elders who rule the clan - but just in case, all Tremere are required to drink the blood of the Seven Elders. This ingestion creates a mystic link among all members of the Tremere, but particularly between elder and younger Tremere. A Tremere character must make a Psychic roll to resist a direct command from a Tremere elder (difficulty varies, depending on the absurdity of the command - for example, refusing a request to deliver a message would be difficulty 5 or 6, but refusing a command to kill oneself would be difficulty 2). Additionally, Tremere elders need spend one fewer Blood Level than usual when using Dominate powers against recalcitrant younglings.

Based on that, it would be very difficult for a young Tremere to be disloyal to whatever political faction the Temere Elders have sided with. Now, in this game we never actually see this ritual take place. You could assume that your character never drinks the blood of the Seven Elders and decides to go her own way. I find it extremely unlikely that Strauss or any other Tremere who is part of their pyramid would be willing to teach you any more blood magic in this case, however.

yrthwyndandfyre · Post by **yrthwyndandfyre** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:06 pm

[QUOTE=Anaximander]Based on that, it would be very difficult for a young Tremere to be disloyal to whatever political faction the Temere Elders have sided with. Now, in this game we never actually see this ritual take place. You could assume that your character never drinks the blood of the Seven Elders and decides to go her own way. I find it extremely unlikely that Strauss or any other Tremere who is part of their pyramid would be willing to teach you any more blood magic in this case, however.[/QUOTE]

Then that introduces an additional variable. Strauss says he talked about you "with my Lord". Hence, he is not one of the 7 elders, and even if you drank the blood of the 7 elders, that would tend to make you loyal to their political leanings, which are not necessarily those of Strauss hiimself. Maybe the 7 elders consider Lacriox an upstart nobody and want him taken out of the picture, perhaps with the specific purpose of making Strauss the Prince of the Camarilla in LA, or maybe just creating an opening for a different Ventrue that is more amenable to their agenda. Then you would be loyal to the Tremere Elders, while at the same time acting contrary to Strauss personal loyalties.

As the game notes, the plans of the elder vampires are obscure, and convoluted, and seldom does any vampire really know for whom they are working, or why.

Anaximander · Post by **Anaximander** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 8:56 pm

Then that introduces an additional variable. Strauss says he talked about you "with my Lord". Hence, he is not one of the 7 elders, and even if you drank the blood of the 7 elders, that would tend to make you loyal to their political leanings, which are not necessarily those of Strauss hiimself. Maybe the 7 elders consider Lacriox an upstart nobody and want him taken out of the picture, perhaps with the specific purpose of making Strauss the Prince of the Camarilla in LA, or maybe just creating an opening for a different Ventrue that is more amenable to their agenda. Then you would be loyal to the Tremere Elders, while at the same time acting contrary to Strauss personal loyalties.

Strauss is most deffinately not one of the 7 elders. As I understand it, these 7 are considered Tremere's "childer," though the term doesn't really apply to them as it does to other vampires, due to the unusual means by which they became Kindred to begin with.

As Tremere himself, Strauss would also have partaken in the blood of the elders, and be thus bound to their will. I agree that you and he may have differing, even opposing individual goals, but ultimately you answer to the same lords.

The info I posted says that drinking the blood of the Elders creates a mystical link between all Tremere. If I'm reading it correctly, it gives any older Tremere a certain degree of control over younger ones. Perhaps I'm misreading it. One of the PnP players on the forum will have to clarify, I think.

Solusek · Post by **Solusek** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:04 pm

What you also should keep in mind is that even after you've consumed the blood of the Seven Elders, you are able to resist their commands, once you've gained a certain level of strength.

Considering that your character at the end is able to resist LaCroix's Dominate, who also is an elder, you might as well be able to resist the commands of the seven Tremere Elders at some point.

If we now assume, that Strauss has reached the necessary degree of power to keep the 7 off his back it again leads to the conclusion that the plans and/or political intentions of Strauss may have nothing to do with those of the 7 Elders.

At least we do know that there are some elder vampires who although not having an important "political" position who are not to be messed with, even not by whole factions. Like Jack for example. And as we do not really know much about Strauss, neither his history, nor his powers, it pretty much leaves large room for speculation.

So long,
Sol.

Tranquil-chan · Post by **Tranquil-chan** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 4:39 pm

Heh...

I chose two endings, myself: the LaCroix ending and the 'unaffiliated' one. The reason being, as I played the game, my character Sayoko (a female Toreador, made absurdly buff by the autolevel glitch, heh heh) began to develop a story of her very own. In fact she's since become the protagonist of a novel-in-progress I'm working on, naturally without all the lovely copyright infringement.
Now, Sayoko hits like a tank and is fairly intelligent, but she has one major failing point: she's horribly, HORRIBLY naive. It's kind of a samurai metality- once she decides on someone to be loyal to, she'll follow them to the grave. Literally. I tried to talk some sense into her, but she's got this "my ouji-sama can do no wrong" thing going on.

Okay, okay, the real reason was that from the moment I started playing the game I fell for LaCroix. I always fall for the villains. That would be MY major failing. ^^