Haunted ocean house, can you skip it?

[turbosnigeln]

To be honest, it scares me ♥♥♥♥less. Even though I've played it many times before.
Even though I know there will be a man standing behind me with an axe and covered in blood I jump five meters.
I just got the mission now, haven't played in a year now... So... Is there a way to skip it?

[jor]

Nope.

A shame on you for trying to skip one of the (if not the) best levels ever made for any game ;)

[turbosnigeln]

Probably is, but it's a gamekiller for me. I am an extremley paranoid person.

[jor]

I can see why. This level still scares me...

It's unfortunately unskippable. You need the locket to proceed in the storyline.

[Wesp5]

It's unfortunately unskippable. You need the locket to proceed in the storyline.

You can give yourself the locket with the console command "give item_g_ghost_pendant". You would also need to set "G.Therese_Quest = 2".

[Reicheru]

Without cheating (using the console) there is no way to skip the quest, since the locket is used to progress the story with Therese and Jeanette. I know what you mean though -- it is still the scariest level in a game for me (and I've played lots of horror games)!

[Tessera]

Bit of trivia:

The "Ocean Front Hotel" level in VTMB won a major industry award in 2005 for "2004's Best Level Design (Any Game)." It's a bona-fide classic. :)

[james_2k]

Its a completely awesome level. great atmosphere and i wish they had done it more.

the ship ones ok too (er elizabeth dane was it?), similar kind of thing, but just not quite as much quality :)

oh and dont forget the raptor as you go into the museum! gets me every time as i always forget about it :)

[Arandie]

Nope, you cannot skip it.

[strangestranger]

You can jump the stairs and miss a good deal of it i believe.

[bors0047]

lol when i read the title i was like 'why would you want to skip this' i understand now. the first time i played was alone in my dorm late at night. the only time ive actually felt literally terrified ever. but that is a good thing. my best solution for you is make sure its light and definitely MUTE your sound.

[spyrochaete]

To be honest, it scares me ♥♥♥♥less.

I'm SO relieved to hear someone else say this! It's a really freaky area, and the resolution to that quest is very satisfying.

If you just can't take the suspensefulness of that map my recommendation is to play with the lights on in your computer room, mute the music, and play some of your own music in the background. Alternatively you can turn the graphics quality way down. Things like these will help remind you it's only a game. :)

[PoSSeSSeDCoW]

I played some techno while playing through the section. It made it considerably less scary.

[Numnums]

was the first time in a long time a game spooked me.

the scare effect is just done so well.

[in.meinem.turm.]

I remember my first time playing it. I absolutely loved it.

But the dino scared the ♥♥♥♥ out of me. I must have smashed my mele weappon 5 times in it when I realised it is no enemy.

The scariest thing in this game for me was the whole death mask production quest line. Including going into that house. The house was really disqusting and things jump at you from out of nowhere.

[brabee]

What what what??? When there is a man with an axe??? I dont think that happened to me :/

[in.meinem.turm.]

What what what??? When there is a man with an axe??? I dont think that happened to me :/

he is in front of one of the rooms "upstairs" but it is easy to miss him.

[jor]

If you're on the second level (up the stairs) and go into one of the corridors at either end, he will appear as you turn around at the dead end.

It is possible that the unofficial patch has made him appear more often, but in the unmodded game there is only the one actual sighting.

[Arandie]

...in the unmodded game there is only the one actual sighting.

Incorrect. There is at least one other sighting - run to the far left when on the ground (main) floor and go into the closed hallway, he should be behind you when you turn around. ;)

[jor]

Ah, right! Forgot about that one since there's no reason to really go there ^.^

[Wesp5]

If you're on the second level (up the stairs) and go into one of the corridors at either end, he will appear as you turn around at the dead end.

That's actually on the ground floor in the corridor to the far left.


It is possible that the unofficial patch has made him appear more often, but in the unmodded game there is only the one actual sighting.

No, the killer can be seen three times even in the original game. I only prolonged his stay and added some laughter to make you look into the right direction. The other sightings are looking down the main hall to the right when the chandelier falls down and looking to the right between some pipes when you enter the boiler room.

[jor]

I never noticed the boiling room. Time to replay...

[Tessera]

I only prolonged his stay and added some laughter to make you look into the right direction.

WTF..?! Why..?

The Ocean Front Hotel level won an industry award back in 2005, Wesp... for Best Level Design. This was before you got your fingers into it.

Did you feel that you were more qualified than Troika... the winners of that award... when you decided to start messing up a classic..?

Incidentally, how does this weird decision on your part qualify as a bug fix, especially when it was much more effective *before* you arbitrarily changed it..? And why are you forcing the users of your "unofficial patch" to accept that kind of undermining nonsense, along with the legitimate bug fixes..? Isn't that rather irresponsible and dictatorial on your part, Werner..?

I'm sorry Wesp... but once again, this falls under the category of wanton sabotage on your part. That may not have been your intention (and to be fair, I don't think it was), but that is precisely what it amounts to. It also demonstrates -- once again -- that you have a very shallow appreciation and understanding when it comes to the meticulously crafted RPG elements of Bloodlines. There was absolutely no reason to change a single thing about the Ocean Front level's ambience. The whole point of that level is to shock the player with the unexpected... not to make it blitheringly obvious.

Also, you have either forgotten or you simply do not care about replay value, Wesp. By pushing everything right into the players' faces, you have essentially denied the users of your mods any future opportunities to discover interesting things on their subsequent gameplays -- things that they may have overlooked on their first run through the game.

Bad call, dude. Really bad call. Your head is still hopelessly stuck in shallow FPS mode... but meanwhile, Bloodlines is not a shallow FPS. It never was. It's a thought inspiring RPG, by every definition that exists for that nomenclature.

[Wesp5]

Did you feel that you were more qualified than Troika... the winners of that award... when you decided to start messing up a classic..?

I did not mess this level up, I actually made it even better! I prolonged the killer appearance in one case from 0.5 seconds to 2.5 seconds and another time from 1 to 5 seconds because most people just didn't notice him at all which is clearly not what Troika intended! I also fixed several bad links to sound files and restored some appearances of the female ghost that did not work because a wrong animation was called, all found due to console errors. Do you really think just because this level got an award Troika did not made any mistakes?

[Feywood]

WTF..?! Why..?

The Ocean Front Hotel level won an industry award back in 2005, Wesp... for Best Level Design. This was before you got your fingers into it.

Did you feel that you were more qualified than Troika... the winners of that award... when you decided to start messing up a classic..?

Tessera, you're a bitter, petty little man, and you only embarrass yourself more every time you post your pretentious nonsense. Thank goodness the forum residents will no longer be subjected to your childish, highly unprofessional tantrums.

On a more positive note, keep up the good (if slightly obsessive) work, Werner; I first played Vampire back when you needed to cheat to skip the bugged Society of Leopold finale, and have been coming back to the game once a year or so to replay it with the new patches. ^_^

[PhoenixUltima]

It might be bad form to further badmouth someone who's already been banned, but Tessera reminds me of all the Fallout uber-fans on NMA who are all "You can't deviate from the original game, that's blasphemy and heresy! BAWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Here he's whining about changes made to a game by a fan patch rather than whining about a sequel that doesn't follow the previous games's format to the letter, but the general "the original content is sacred and holy and can't be messed with, EVER" vibe is still there, and it's still pathetic. Even Deus Ex (WARREN SPECTOR IS YOUR LORD AND MASTER) benefits greatly from a fan mod (Shifter), and that adds in a lot more than just bug fixes and lost content. People need to take games less seriously in general, really.

[Arandie]

"You can't deviate from the original game, that's blasphemy and heresy!"

And guess what, they were correct - Fallout 3 D.C. Wasteland Adventures was an inferior product.;)

[PhoenixUltima]

I actually thought FO3 was better than 1 and 2, although I realize that puts me in the minority (and would probably get me lynched on any Fallout fansite). This isn't really the place for a Fallout 3 argument, though - I was merely trying to point out that you can make changes to a game and end up with something as good or even better; you don't have to follow the game's content like some kind of Holy Scripture.

[cobretti1818]

LOL, I just played this level for the first time yesterday, and felt like major wimp cause I was so scared of it!! I took a few breaks from it, to go into the other room and pat the dog!

I can't tell you how relieved I am to come here and read that it's not just me.

PS. Great game, glad I listened to the recommendations, and gave an old game a shot.

[Blackwood550]

The scariest thing in this game for me was the whole death mask production quest line. Including going into that house. The house was really disqusting and things jump at you from out of nowhere.

That was the scariest thing for me too. It was ♥♥♥♥ing sick...literally. Blood all over the place and a big ♥♥♥♥ing set of what looks to be cow ribs on the table...

I don't know what possessed me to look in the oven for blood though o.O

[W1slicer]

This is probably getting a bit old, but I've found after a few forced play throughs that turning the volume off, having your lights on, someone else in the room with the door closed, and keeping your camera facing down to the floor entirely for most of the time, makes it much more tolerable if like me you find this part of the game terrifying. Yeah I know I'm pathetic, I just don't like ghost stuff...

My dog came charging off to go bark very loudly at the window one time, I nearly jumped out of my seat and had a heart attack at the same time.

[Saxen]

You can give yourself the locket with the console command "give item_g_ghost_pendant". You would also need to set "G.Therese_Quest = 2".


Does this mean that i could give Jeanette the pendant, and then slash the paintings, and then come back and give Therese another pendant again? That would be so great.

[Wesp5]

Does this mean that i could give Jeanette the pendant, and then slash the paintings, and then come back and give Therese another pendant again? That would be so great.

Theoretically this would be possible, but the game probably sets other variables too, if you give the pendant to Jeanette.

[RGtheBold]

Nope.

A shame on you for trying to skip one of the (if not the) best levels ever made for any game ;)

I agree that is one of the more interesting and thrilling levels in the game. If it scares you i can understand it is a bit frighting, but sometimes its nice to give your heart a little jolt.(not advisable for people with a bad heart)

[Kittehs!]

This part of the game made my hairs stand on end. F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. 2, to a certain extent, are the only other games to rouse my primordial sense.

[Godziller]

You can just use noclip if you enable the developer console, all you have to do is fly around and complete the main objectives. It makes it a lot less fun though :(

[Witzzard]

@Wesp5 I don't know if the extension of the time you can spot the father was needed (i think i was quite able to spot him before that - only on the second playthrough tough) but nice work with the laughters and also the fix of some sigthtings of the mother - i guess it was quite hard to spot her on quite some occassions.

@topic i'm really amazed how this level still get me bit scared after playing through it at least 6 times. The (ambient-(?))music in this map is brilliant.
I'd just to imagine how great Grout's mansion and such could have been if Troika would've had more resources to hands...

[Wesp5]

@Wesp5 I don't know if the extension of the time you can spot the father was needed (i think i was quite able to spot him before that - only on the second playthrough tough)


Most people only spotted him on after they read somewhere that he can be seen. Also it didn't really work with the mothers voice e.g. she says "behind you." and he is already gone by that time.


I guess it was quite hard to spot her on quite some occasions.


Her model had wrong animations assigned so you couldn't spot her before I fixed these bugs...

[Witzzard]

Most people only spotted him on after they read somewhere that he can be seen. Also it didn't really work with the mothers voice e.g. she says "behind you." and he is already gone by that time.
As said i'm not sure if this was needed... but i understand this decision ;)


Her model had wrong animations assigned so you couldn't spot her before I fixed these bugs...
Yes, bad wording from me, in my playthroughs i spotted her less often (given her non-buggy appearences) than the father - so it's nice to see that you fixed situations in wich you're more able to see her.

It really takes a lot of commitment and love for this game to work on it over years and so i really appreciate your work and the time you spend on this.

[Solstice66]

You would also need to set "G.Therese_Quest = 2".

How do you set that?

[whalleywhat]

The level's decently spooky, but it's got nothing on Shalebridge Cradle.

[Jito463]

The level's decently spooky, but it's got nothing on Shalebridge Cradle.

I have to concur. After playing Shalebridge a few times, it's not really as creepy, but that first time through, is especially nerve-wracking. And you don't even have to play with the lights off, for it to creep you out.

[kitekrazy]

The werewolf one was scary too because he's big and stealthy. You really couldn't hide.

[MarkG]

The werewolf one was scary too because he's big and stealthy. You really couldn't hide.

I just found the werewolf level annoying; it deliberately put my character into a situation that I wouldn't have got into, and then severely limited my options for surviving it. I really hate games that force me to do something that I wouldn't have done myself.

The haunted house, on the other hand, is possibly the best game level I've ever played. Ice Station Evil in NOLF2 is probably the closest to it.

[kitekrazy]

I just found the werewolf level annoying; it deliberately put my character into a situation that I wouldn't have got into, and then severely limited my options for surviving it. I really hate games that force me to do something that I wouldn't have done myself.


Great point. Too reminiscent of the GTA series.

[MergedLoki]

I haven't played it in years. is that the level where you find the diary of the woman and like see a vision of the past etc.?

haunted... hotel or house or whatever it is?

first day I bought the game me and a buddy were taking turns on missions (how awesome would this game be in an MMO with co-op vamp. clans/missions etc.?)

and we were both freaked out lol.

[IR_Wildman]

I haven't played it in years. is that the level where you find the diary of the woman and like see a vision of the past etc.?

haunted... hotel or house or whatever it is?

something like that, you do find her diary, and near the end you end up in the room that returns to the way it looked in the past until you pick up the locket/neck-less then you return to the present

[Marajade13]

You can give yourself the locket with the console command "give item_g_ghost_pendant". You would also need to set "G.Therese_Quest = 2".

... So I got the item... but that second one doesn't appear to be a legit cheat. The console doesn't like it.

[Saijin_Naib]

Just got to this mission. Unnerving as hell, I like it :D

This game is continuing to surprise me. I was just about to bag it forever, but I was bored. Kind of glad I gave it another 15 minutes.

[Prisoner416]

You can noclip to the locket to pick it up, but why would you skip one of the best Quests?

[dnalysis]

Well, I'll be damned, I played this level ~10 times and never spotted the murderer. Except for that one appearance between the pipes, but you cannot see much of him there anyway, I just assumed it was a random ghost or a glitch. Will look out for him on my next play-through :)

[tratan3]

I played nasferatu, and believe me I was obfuscated almost everywhere in the basement. Made me feel safer, even once I figured out it was probably unnecessary (it was also a bit easier to see). I too thought the game was glitching when I saw him at the steam pipes, but then I was worried that he was just invisible and waiting to strike...
I wandered in circles a bit after getting out of the elevator shaft, and so I was completely unprepared for him appearing behind me at the dead end. I jumped!

Oddly, the death mask area didn't bother me at all. Neither did the demoness who eats gibs. I suppose I didn't have much respect for humanity by that point.

The werewolf part was a bit frustrating until I learned to take advantage of his scripted jump in the observatory room. Also that timer is a god-**** liar. I actually would have been disappointed if obfuscate had worked, would have been an anticlimax. Wasn't really scary though.

The hotel did creepy right, though. Like Shalebridge Cradle, neither experience I will soon forget.

(Yet I'm considering quitting on this Ming Xao fight :/)

[Smear]

I played nasferatu, and believe me I was obfuscated almost everywhere in the basement. Made me feel safer, even once I figured out it was probably unnecessary (it was also a bit easier to see). I too thought the game was glitching when I saw him at the steam pipes, but then I was worried that he was just invisible and waiting to strike...
I wandered in circles a bit after getting out of the elevator shaft, and so I was completely unprepared for him appearing behind me at the dead end. I jumped!

Oddly, the death mask area didn't bother me at all. Neither did the demoness who eats gibs. I suppose I didn't have much respect for humanity by that point.

The werewolf part was a bit frustrating until I learned to take advantage of his scripted jump in the observatory room. Also that timer is a god-**** liar. I actually would have been disappointed if obfuscate had worked, would have been an anticlimax. Wasn't really scary though.

The hotel did creepy right, though. Like Shalebridge Cradle, neither experience I will soon forget.

(Yet I'm considering quitting on this Ming Xao fight :/)

Weridly enough, in the TT game, Obfuscate works just fine on a Werewolf unless they are peering through into the real world from the spirit world (The Umbra). Meanwhile, obfuscate DOESN'T work on Wraiths at all, because they are constantly peering into the real world (The Quick) from the lands of the Dead (The Shadowlands). Obfuscate only effects direct viewers who are seeing the Vampire in real time, you see... Watching a recording will break it, or being in another world and using magic to look through into ours breaks it.

In other words, the Werewolf fight for a Nosferatu might have gone something like:

Obfuscate.
Stand perfectly still and spend every drop of blood you have to increase your physical stats.
Catch tram in a wild panic/latch onto werewolfs head and pull it off with a frenzied scream.
???
Profit. :D

[dnalysis]

Obfuscate.
Stand perfectly still and spend every drop of blood you have to increase your physical stats.
Catch tram in a wild panic/latch onto werewolfs head and pull it off with a frenzied scream.
???
Profit. :D
This is exactly what I did with my Toreador, minus Obfuscate. There was a place between some rocks where the Werewolf couldn't see me, I just stood there until timer ran out and ran for the tram like I was on fire XD

[badson]

Nope.

A shame on you for trying to skip one of the (if not the) best levels ever made for any game ;)

I know everyone has their opinions but wow...best level ever made?????? Sayyyy wuuuuuttt

[sparks454alive]

Yes that level has won industry awards for it's sheer depth of creepyness.

[TheMcD]

Let me preface this by saying that I am a VERY easily scared person in regards of pop scares. And by God, the Ocean House screwed with me HARD.

It started with one of the lamps on the outside blowing up - I had the volume up because the TV was on in the same room. I then put on my headphones instead and forgot to turn the sound down. That pop scared the bejeezus out of me. Then the house goes Poltergeist on me, I'm taking damage from all sides and keep running into other stuff attacking me while running from other stuff. Then I run into the dead ends and HOLY CRUD IT'S A GUY WITH AN AXE RIGHT IN MY FACE. And then OH GOD THE CHANDELIER IS FALLING. And then GOOD GRIEF THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE. And it just went downhill from there, running and panicking all over the place. The moment I caught that locket, I just said "screw this I'm right out of there" - the thing was, I thought I had to like fight the ghost of the murderer to bring peace to the other ghost, and I originally planned to do that, but half-way through the house I axed that plan and decided to leg it ASAP.

Being a Ventrue, I really wasn't looking forward to any combat with any ghosts, so that that didn't happen was a good thing.

If this game wasn't so damn good, I would have quit. It's a sign of a very good game that it actually manages to make me conquer my paranoia and weak nerves with this hotel, and manages to bring me to slug through the Nosferatu search in the sewers, which was NO fun at all.

In retrospect, the Nosferatu search was way worse than the Ocean House, just because the search was just no fun at all. Especially for a guy that makes combat stuff his dump stat in favor of charisma and the like.

Besides that, the dino statue in the museum entrance scared the hell out of me too. Just for the HOLY CRAP IT'S A DINOSAUR KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT.

[sparks454alive]

LOL well stated.

[FreshFTGrave]

I feel like such a wimp, I hadn't been scared from a game since I was a kid and then I get Vampire and the ocean house scares my socks off :P it's actually worse for me when I know something is coming but I don't know what or when or where o.O Like with all the creepy tension and then a lightbulb explodes and I'll jump xD ah I gotta pull myself together and finish this quest xD

[big_cjc]

Okay now I feel a bit of a noob, I have finished the game all the way through at least 20 times over the years.....not ONCE have I noticed a man with an axe in the mansion, although I spotted the daughter all the time.....dammit, time for another play through.....

[Wesp5]

If you want, we could give you some spoilers about the three places where you can see him. After all he is visible only for seconds...

[big_cjc]

I will just create a save point before I go in and give it a good explore :)

[Tanukisan]

Crouch in "sneak" mode, and look around a lot. (:

[Wesp5]

Crouch in "sneak" mode, and look around a lot. (:

I don't think it's as easy as that. The first appearance you will only notice when you look into the right direction while something else is happening to distract you. The second appearance you will only notice if you listen to the ghost and turn around fast. The last appearance though can hardly be missed if you watch the environment...

[Longshot007]

You guys would fall apart at the seams if you ever played Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3

[Wesp5]

You guys would fall apart at the seams if you ever played Shalebridge Cradle in Thief 3

No. While that was scary as well, you could at least do something about it. As far as my rusty memory serves me...

[Fáberer]

I`d rather play the Ocean House level than the malkavian primogen mansion...now that`s one sick place and scares the s*** out of me.

[TheMcD]

I`d rather play the Ocean House level than the malkavian primogen mansion...now that`s one sick place and scares the s*** out of me.

Really? I thought that one was a cakewalk compared to the Ocean House. Just some freaky enemies - I noticed nothing else out of the "ordinary" (ordinary meaning par for the course in the realm of this game). I actually really liked that area - thought it was more "moody" than "scary". Might have something to do with the fact that two of my favorite characters have major roles in that part (Grout and Bach).

[bjassie]

I just recently started playing again. And as I started the game I also started to remember the quests etc. And after like 20 min into the game it struck me.ohhh ♥♥♥♥! I have to do the haunted hotel quest. And when I got out of the sewers to get to the hotel I already started to ♥♥♥♥ my pants. I turned of the sound and still some parts in the hotel scared the living poop out of me.

And thank god I was rushing trough the whole thing so that I did not have to see the killer O.o

[GrimrockFan]

This was one of the scariest parts in any game for sure. The werewolf scared the bejesus out of me the first time too.

[Quolli]

The scariest part for me was when you get to that snuff house place. God, I hated that place, with those weird things CRASHING THROUGH THE WALLS, DEALING AGGRAVATED DAMAGE AND SCREAMING LIKE BANSHEES.

The werewolf was scary the first time for me but I died then because the cable car door opened outwards and I couldn't step back to open it since the werewolf was right on my tail.

[Smear]

The werewolf was scary the first time for me but I died then because the cable car door opened outwards and I couldn't step back to open it since the werewolf was right on my tail.

I died the first time on the Werewolf because I figured I'd just do what people do with Werewolves in TT... Use Presence and Dominate to make him beg like a puppy and send him off to kill his packmates.

... Turns out that the Bloodlines team didn't have that in mind. :( I pumped a few rounds into him wildly, back stepping as quickly as I could, before ending my immortal life, unable to stop him from bounching me against a fence. Miserable! :(

[Tanukisan]

But you learnt you lesson. (: In the latest patch, apparently, it is possible to damage the Werewolf. Now, will you stand your ground, or retreat to the relative safety of the building and close the doors on the problem?.... (:

[Corsaire]

I just realised that the Ocean House Hotel does not have a ballroom in it. I give this hotel 3 out of 5 stars!

[ManjimaruFIN]

But you learnt you lesson. (: In the latest patch, apparently, it is possible to damage the Werewolf. Now, will you stand your ground, or retreat to the relative safety of the building and close the doors on the problem?.... (:

People know that its possible to kill the werewolf, right? I didnt know about it when I played the game through originally, I found out only afterwards, but Im pretty sure its possible without any patches. Cause it doesnt happen via combat.

As for being scared, yeah the first time I played ocean house hotel I was scared ****less. Most awesome level design ever. Since then it has lost its spark somewhat, speeding thru it helps..

The werewolf on the other hand.. Will make my heart jump out of my throat even today. :eek:

[Fearamoan]

first time in Vampire i was creeping around like a scared kitten like most players

the ocean house area was relatively well made, and definitely had an air of creeping dread and made me look around sharply for enemy's
( something resident evil taught me to do, thinking about it )

im not going to type a bio, but ive been surviving horrors for a while now if i hadn't 'seen it all before'
( it's in the name, if you think about it )
i probably would have pooped my pants too.
people that like these levels /games should definitely check out the amnesia / penumbra series too.
everyone else should probably steer clear, lol :D

however! never fear for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVgMc8hkS8k
is here.

maby play that loud next time you're in a haunted mansion type area, it might be enough to kick your brain into parody mode. who knows.

last thought, if someone had spare time to edit it, you could cut some gameplay to the song and make something pretty awesome.

( there are phones, ghosts all the elements in the song in the game. )

[SpiritedTreasur]

I love this quest. I give it a 10 for imagination in games. The best quest I have ever done in any game.

However-
Answering your question. I did read there was a way to skip it..

"OceanHouseQuestComplete()"