GameBanshee Forums

Does anybody else get frustrated with some aspects that can only be achieved with impossibly high stats?

for example - persuasion needs to be very high indeed for the Giovanni mansion secrets side quest and the books - well I had to sell 3 of them as it was almost impossible to use them: I spent limited XP and raised the research feat only to then find that other stats had to be high for the book to be useful. it would help if the book said what research level and what other level was needed and when it would cease to be available - some books are below you by the time you can read them too. argghh!!!

it is fair enough that each player makes choices and that XP needs to be earned, but there is not much XP going round and even my game-finishing characters had some areas of poor ability - as I raised subtefuge, ranged, intelligence, security and dexterity to high levels to be a charming assassin. that kind of profile can get you through the wasps' nests of enemies with full ammo pouches ready to blast away at the end-bosses. even saving up XP for a while and having 30 in the bank after crushing the werewolf, there were areas like research that I couldn't get to the level needed to combine with the basic requirements of the books.

Actually, I was saddened that there were fewer places where a skill of 9 or 10 would be required....

V:TM doesn't do random number checks. If your skill is high enough to do something, that means you did it, no rolling of the virtual dice and such. Now, say I make a character with Persuasion of 10. I would darn well expect the game to provide me with chances to use this skill. Combat skills are always useful, but non-combat ones sometimes tend to suffer (the uselesness of investigate). That's probably the main reason why Blood Buff is so overpowered - to give the physically weaker characters a fighting chance. If I'm a Strenght 4, Stamina 4 Brujah, Blood Buff isn't going to do much for me. However, if I'm a Strenght 2 Toreador cornered by Sabbat, Buffing may be my only chance...

In general, the game is fairly well balanced. For instance, the stats and skills required for research also boost conversation skills (scholarship for persuade and intelligence for intimidate), so I usually had a decent research as a byproduct.