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I was recently inspired to play V:tM - Bloodlines again by moving into an apartment with an elevator/lobby just like Skyline Apartments in the game. Anyway, having played a few times, I decided to do a max XP run with a Malk. The +2 Inspection gets you 2XP from Knox without sinking points into Perception or Investigation. Never played a Malk before. Pretty fun.

Anyway, I can't get the +1 Melee bonus from Nines. I tried right after the Elizabeth Dane, after meeting LeCroix, and waiting. I've read about this being a problem online in a few areas (though oddly not here) and some suggested waiting. So far, all waiting is doing is getting me the "I don't have time response." I've completed all the other side missions, so all I got left is Grout's mansion.

A friend told me it was removed from the code, but he also claimed the +1 Finance from Fat Larry was removed, and that's still there as of patch 6.9. So I have no idea what to do. Same friend claimed that the +1 melee would have happened after asking Nines about his past. Tried that with the old save, and still nothing.

The last possibility to cross my mind is that although my melee skill is 1, my melee feat is 4 (3 Strength + 1 Melee). Maybe my feat hast to be under 4? Any other ideas?

I'm about to just console code the bonus in myself.

LegioCorvus wrote:I was recently inspired to play V:tM - Bloodlines again by moving into an apartment with an elevator/lobby just like Skyline Apartments in the game. Anyway, having played a few times, I decided to do a max XP run with a Malk. The +2 Inspection gets you 2XP from Knox without sinking points into Perception or Investigation. Never played a Malk before. Pretty fun.

Anyway, I can't get the +1 Melee bonus from Nines. I tried right after the Elizabeth Dane, after meeting LeCroix, and waiting. I've read about this being a problem online in a few areas (though oddly not here) and some suggested waiting. So far, all waiting is doing is getting me the "I don't have time response." I've completed all the other side missions, so all I got left is Grout's mansion.

A friend told me it was removed from the code, but he also claimed the +1 Finance from Fat Larry was removed, and that's still there as of patch 6.9. So I have no idea what to do. Same friend claimed that the +1 melee would have happened after asking Nines about his past. Tried that with the old save, and still nothing.

The last possibility to cross my mind is that although my melee skill is 1, my melee feat is 4 (3 Strength + 1 Melee). Maybe my feat hast to be under 4? Any other ideas?

I'm about to just console code the bonus in myself.

The bonus you get from Nines is for Brawl, actually. It requires you to have that skill lower than three, otherwise he just mentions you obviously don't need his help(meaning your Brawl skill is 3 or higher).

Argent Blood wrote:The bonus you get from Nines is for Brawl, actually. It requires you to have that skill lower than three, otherwise he just mentions you obviously don't need his help(meaning your Brawl skill is 3 or higher).

I got the +1 Brawl bonus.

The thing is, almost every XP guide mentions getting +1 Brawl when you first go downtown and a +1 Melee after the Elizabeth Dane/before Grout's mansion.

I've almost always got the +1 Brawl after I discovered it's existence (my first few playthroughs I usually had a Brawl of 3 before downtown) but I've never received the +1 melee, despite it being mentioned by multiple sources.

You can look it up in the dialog files and see the exact requirement for that bonus. I don't have the game installed at the moment, so I can't tell you exactley where they are, but is should be something like nines.dlg.
It's pretty easy to understand them, even if you don't know Python.

Octarine wrote:You can look it up in the dialog files and see the exact requirement for that bonus. I don't have the game installed at the moment, so I can't tell you exactley where they are, but is should be something like nines.dlg.
It's pretty easy to understand them, even if you don't know Python.

Thanks. Looked it up. Found the dialogue path (503 -> 491) but didn't find any requirements. Looks like it might be "time" dependent, where "time" is a variable that either increases or decreases depending on the questions asked.

Maybe someone else with better Python skills can figure out what the requirements are.

Yes, it look like you need to have the variable G.Nines_Time < 3. I guess you took the wrong dialog option somewhere so you can't get the melee bonus now. Try changing it through the console and see if it helps.

The easiest way to get anything from Nines, especially the melee bonus, is to follow the dialogue options in the walk through. Also, do not have your melee already high. Keeping it low will help. IF you don't follow the conversation precisely, or have high melee, you will not get the bonus. Also, the same thing with your firearms skill, a little later on.

Thanks everyone.

I ended up just putting 3XP into melee so I could double use the book from the Empire Hotel. So far it's the only XP I've missed, save 1XP for not killing Julian for writing the screenplay. He's too pathetic, and I couldn't do it roleplay wise.

Currently at the Hollowbrook Hotel with very good stats. It's amazing how much free XP you can get with the Malk's insight. (Well... 4XP... but, still good). Might go Nosferatu my next playthrough, and try to get the melee bonus then.

I don't remember the precise sequence of events here, so I might be a tad off on this. When you get to downtown, after you see the Prince, you then are free, or relatively free, to move about downtown. At some point after you talk to Max in the Chantry, you then should go to the Last Round, talk to everyone there. I do believe this is where you can pick up one bonus from Nines. There are actually 2 bonuses, not one. The walkthru here has a good base for the first conversation. Follow that, and you will get a bonus. It doesn't matter what you are. I do believe that you should have one melee already, but don't quote me on that right now. I do have the game installed, but I Think I'm going to uninstall it, and reinstall it again, so I have a clean game. Anyway, I'm digressing. If my memory serves me correctly, the order is talking to the Prince, maybe going through the Dane, or waiting (I think this is a choice you can make), talking to a couple other people, talking to Max, then talking to Damsel, you can talk to Nines, and get the melee point. That's the first one. There is a chance to getting another one later from him. I have a walkthrough printed out. I'll go through it later and see what's what for sure.

Melee from Nines

I'm pretty sure that a high melee rating won't hurt you.
It has been a while since I last played Bloodlines (I've been playing Redemption via lan with 3 friends, 4 laptops, it's fun that way) but I remember that I did not use any XP to reach levels 4 and 5 of melee. There's the book and then there's Nines.
-spoilers below-
You just have to talk to him at the right time, just before he disappears (so visit the anarchs' bar often) and it's tricky, you have to choose the right dialogue options or he'll just basically tell you to shut up. I remember it's a conversation he starts by saying that he only has 2 minutes to spare with you. He'll tell you this even if you have joined the anarchs. Yeah, I know, you don't get much respect from anyone in the beggining, but you'll be the one to ignore them later if you wish it so. :mischief:

Lukeatus wrote:I'm pretty sure that a high melee rating won't hurt you.
It has been a while since I last played Bloodlines (I've been playing Redemption via lan with 3 friends, 4 laptops, it's fun that way) but I remember that I did not use any XP to reach levels 4 and 5 of melee. There's the book and then there's Nines.

You're right. You don't need to put more than 1 or 2 points into melee weapons because there are 2 books and Nines will train you 1 point as well. However, Nines will only train you for your 1st point, 2nd point or 3rd point. If you already have 3 points, he'll tell you you don't need his help.

So, to maximize experience, put 2 points into melee (or just 1 if you don't mind exploiting glitches), either from free points at character creation or from earned experience, then get Nines to train you, then use the 2 books. One of the books will only work for the 3rd or 4th point and the other book will only work for the 5th point.

Nines will actually train you twice in melee, not once. Read the walkthrough.

Here's how it worked out for my Tremere male.
I put two points in Melee before helping Knox and meeting Gimble. When I got downtown I got Nines to raise my Brawl from 2 to 3 and did the Dane. Got back and went to Skyline Apt2 and got the Kendo book. Raised my research enough to use it. Sold it to Fat Larry and bought it back twice.
So now it was at 4 . I went to Nines and got the two minute warning. First question was
1) Tell me about LA
2) Why LA
3) You must have learned something in all this time

He taught another melee point so now I'm at 5 and I dont need the huge lockpick or research skill to use the Fu Syndicate book.

I think I will go for Max Xp on my next play thru. I'm going to play a female Gangrel. I figure playing Gangrel is the best way to exploit Beckett and Female to get extra XP from Romero.
After that I want to try Toreador female with super social skilz and experiment with the patches and mods.
My slow laptop can play this old game well and I'm lovin it.

LegioCorvus wrote:Anyway, having played a few times, I decided to do a max XP run with a Malk. The +2 Inspection gets you 2XP from Knox without sinking points into Perception or Investigation. Never played a Malk before. Pretty fun.

Anyway, I can't get the +1 Melee bonus from Nines. I tried right after the Elizabeth Dane, after meeting LeCroix, and waiting.

I am curious which 2 XP you mean from Knox. Would that just be the Asian Vampire hunting him? I got that quest with inspection 1 just talking to him.

Also, if you do a max XP run, note that a bonus from a character which you could also have gotten from a book (costing money, but hey, I never had any money problems), is wasted.

In other words, Brawl 0 to 5 costs 15 xp. 3 xp for level 1, Nines trains you to 2, book learns you 3 and 4, and 12 xp for level 5.

Melee 0 to 5 costs 3 xp. 3 xp for level 1, Nines trains you to 2, book learns you 3 and 4, and last book learns you 5 (unless you don't want computer 5 and research 9, then it's better to just spend 6 xp for level 1 and 2, use the book, and let Nines teach you level 5).

To get the bonuses from Nines, you need to talk to him once before the Elizabeth Dane, and once after. You cannot get both bonuses after, because as soon as you have received one bonus, you have to wait until the story state advances to the next step, and in case of Nines that means Grout is killed, blood hunt is called, and next time is at the Werewolf park and he gets owned before he can teach you anything.

Melee 4 is plenty to play anyway. Too bad max Potence + max strength + max melee/brawl is not much stronger than blood buff + max melee/brawl. Plus patch fixes that though, somewhat.

sunsmountain---I am curious which 2 XP you mean from Knox. Would that just be the Asian Vampire hunting him? I got that quest with inspection 1 just talking to him.

With a Perception of 3 or greater, you will "see through" Knox' plan and know Bertram was trying to manipulate you. You'll get new dialog choice saying,"something doesn't add up with your story, Knox" and when he 'fesses up you get 2XP.
It's a great game, isn't it ?

To get a ton more from the whole game, play as a Malkavian. That will get you more than normal.

Actually, a Malk was my 2nd character. Though I admit being a little distracted at the time by her looks...

Her looks seem to be a little adjusted too in 7.0, was she re-skinned?

So for max XP run, you recommend Malkavian.
And for strongest combat discipline combination? (vs vamps).

I didn't recommend Malk for a mass XP, rather getting more out of the conversations than normal. It can be a bit hectic for that. Now a female gangrel is good, as well as a Tremere. I've yet to try a Nossie, But then again I like travelling normally.

Sir Twist wrote:I didn't recommend Malk for a mass XP, rather getting more out of the conversations than normal.

Oh, my bad, was unsure which of the 2 advantages you meant. Of course insanity being one of them :laugh:

It can be a bit hectic for that. Now a female gangrel is good, as well as a Tremere.

Tremere are a bit creepy and are treated sometimes as such. Thaumaturgy is powerful and in melee they're a challenge if you don't take brawl or melee. I recommend getting some brawl though, to feed during fights, or use the blood chalice. My female Tremere is good in firearms to supplement thaumaturgy (to save blood). Firing Blood Purge, followed by a shotgun blast or 6 is very rewarding.

Gangrel seem a bit boring though (you sometimes have Beckett for flavor), like Toreador (who actually have nobody). Brujah and Ventrue would have their Last Round / Lacroix story lines, though all 4 are not in my top list.

At least Ventrue get their Dominate lines... which is like Intimidate but worse cos you don't get money and it sucks blood?...

I've yet to try a Nossie, But then again I like travelling normally.

You can, pretty much. Just walk behind the people or about half a street width in front of them, and they won't notice you. Even if they run away, it takes quite a while before enough of them reach 1 cop, which would cost you 1 Masquerade point yet entering the sewers resets any breach. Once down, you'll find sewers are sometimes even quicker than above ground.

Using Nightwisper Ravens on mob 1 while using obfuscate and then stealth kill on mob 2 is nice, though Malks get that too with Dementation. Nossie, Tremere and Malk is my current top 3.

Yeah, gotta love the insanity of the Malks and the insight. They can see through some of the stuff that is there in the game that everyone else gets.

Torries actually have a person. The Baron of Hollywood is one. And I think the only one.

Tremeres, despite the general animosity against them, are actually rather interesting bunch of people. The magic is good. I personally like to combine the magi with the melee, and firearms. What the firearms won't get, the magic will. What that won't take care of, the melee will.

Gangrels, may seem boring, but they are good at close combat, and melee. That's why I like them.

I don't care for Ventrues, but they are good for a laugh, at times.

Brujahs are a little boring to me, but are like Gangrels, except the various transformations. They can get the job done in a pinch.