#ry plays cony

[ryttu3k]

Onwards with more CoNY! Night 6 through to, well, endgame (it’s not a long game XD;; ), and some closing thoughts.

Oh impressive, didn’t actually piss off Kaiser! Still, that was a hell of a bust XD

Who’s next... Agathon, I think. Heh, when I was watching Outstar’s LP, she got up to the animal blood part and I went, “Huh, I wonder if that’s a Tremere thing, since Invidia was working on sheep blood too?” And, well. Small world XD

“After Agathon parks the car, it’s time for you to enter the nightclub. You glance at the Tremere, evaluating him. It’s obvious this is not his kind of place.” Oh mood.

Juno’s rude :(

“You were too busy licking Aisling’s boots to realise what you had!” “Aisling doesn’t wear boots.”

Oops. Yeah, didn’t impress either Agathon or Aisling much there, alas.

Stalker spotted! :o

Okay, more fun with Kaiser. Wine shop at 232 Mullberry St, ask for the 1821 Special Reserve Donatello Negroamaro. When they decline, say you’re a ‘fedele servitore della famiglia G.’ Ugh, fuckin’ Giovanni. Take it, say ‘grazie’ and nothing else. Got it!

Ugh, Willets Point doesn’t look cheery! Oh well, got the address, at least.

I hear a ‘shrill, unpleasant laugh’. Oh boy, him XD;; Didn’t actually speak to him earlier in this run.

Well, rest of the night is free! Time for D’Angelo, this time! Man, never thought I’d be so relieved to see his ugly mug, but hey, beats the NYPD XD

I mean, being right is one thing, but it’s pretty uncool to realise what’s going on and what it could mean :-\ I like that he does seem fairly compassionate towards the Thinbloods, like he recognises how shit they have it and doesn’t want to make it shittier.

Yeah, Larson’s in a really tricky situation too :-\ But yikes, this shelter is... deeply unpleasant. Definitely prefer Santa Monica beach XD;;

Hi, Sana, nice to meet you. Are you a serial killer, by any chance?

Buaargh grabbed by the throat that was very rude!! Ooof, blood hunt. Even ruder :( Scourge, not fun. Has it ever occurred to them that maybe the mass killing off of Thinbloods would lead to Gehenna? I mean, call it a wild and crazy theory... XD;;

Ooh, lots of choices tonight. I think Benoit, then back to D’Angelo. There’s also the stalker and reporter sidequests, but I want to save those for later (reporter with the Ventrue, stalker with the Brujah, although I think there are two options for the stalker so I might do that one with the Ventrue too... for now, focusing on Benoit with Lamar).

...uh oh. Hunters.

Hmm. That sure was a thing. Back to D’Angelo, let’s see if we can find Sana before the Scourge does...

lmao feeding opportunity on the random flask. Sure why not.

“Something about impending doom and oh lawd, he comin’.” *SNORTS*

“Who are we meeting?” “Better strap in, ‘cause this one’s a doozy.” “Am I meeting your parents?” Wow and it’s only the third date XD

“We want her alive.” / “Don’t be a murderous bitch.” God you have no idea how much I want to do the second one...

D’Angelo and Valerie, huh XD

Poor Sana :(

Oh, uh, hi Qadir! Make yourself at home. Oh you already did. Okay then!

...good talk!

Awww fuck it’s Emma :(

Mrph. No time for that yet, so back to D’Angelo. Sana seems calm. If we can get her out of the city, that’s a better option than turning her over to Panhard, that’s for sure. Hmm, Larson turned someone over to the SI. That is... uncool. Still, if helping her get out is feasible, let’s give it a shot.

Dee and jello. Hee.

Oh fucking - um, hi, Qadir? Okay, yes, fair to say that did not go well.

God this is just sad :( But if we had gone to Elysium, she probably would have been publicly executed, and if we had turned in Larson, he would have been killed instead...

Ahhh, the book reveal. I had already been spoiled for this, alas, but it’s still a pretty neat - and sad - twist.

I’m having emotions over the friendship between a Toreador and a Nosferatu don’t mind me ;_; And that is D’Angelo’s arc complete and achievement got!

Now to say goodbye to Emma :(

“It’s going to leave a scar, boy. But a true artist knows those are not something to hide, but to display with pride.” Man, I so wonder what Qadir would be doing if he wasn’t Sheriff. He’s a Toreador! What’s his creative outlet?

God that scene is so sad ;_; Also Qadir is such a good character, seriously.

Next up - now that D’Angelo’s arc is done, over to Agathon.

He’s such a good grandson ;_;

Time for Benoit part three. Final part, I think? God that’s an intense scene. In Outstar’s LP, she had Lamar run, so I haven’t seen the outcome of it, but. Yeah. That’s full-on. And that’s the achievement done, so back to Agathon!

Ahh dang. Asked about the notes instead of the missing Invidia. Ah well, I’ve seen that text option - the next step is syncing it up with Night Road.

I mean. In fairness. Juno’s right, the Tremere are pretty shitty XD;; Got the notes back with Celerity, though! (Didn’t think Presence was a good idea, she’d probably just counter with Dominate.) Oof, wonder what she did to Agathon, though?

Oooh, she’s House Carna!! Okay, that’s damn cool... and now I’m wondering if she was right after all XD No chance of convincing Aisling and Agathon to ditch the Pyramid and go join Carna too, huh? Either way, arc done, and achievement got!

Oh huh, now I’m out of options XD Won’t have enough time to do Hope or Tamika’s runs, so... I guess let’s start the stalker and journo ones? I think I’m going to run out of time before endgame, though. Or, I can deliberately fail at recruiting someone for the achievement... yeah, okay, let’s go say hi to Hope.

Hi chat! Nice to meet you all! Friendly crowd here! God this is so much funnier having seen Hope’s arc already.

“Any last words?” “Your chat room sucks ass.”

V I B E C H E C K

Lamar: “What.”

Hope’s show is goddamn wild. Also, confirmation that it definitely is set in 2019.

Huh. Not the impression I got from the description of v5 Blush of Life, it’s supposed to be normal saline.

Aaaand the reveal! I love the username InfodumpDeliveryService lmao

Whoops. Accidentally succeeded in recruiting her XD Well fuck it, we’re only just meeting with Torque now, let’s see how far I can get before endgame!

“Heard this is the place to meet hot chicks who hate the patriarchy.”

Man I wish you legit could join the Anarchs XD;;

Yeah not surprised Mia is a Brujah XD I bet she and Damsel would get on!

Hmm. Fun times with stalkers, I guess. Oh rude just got beaten up :(

Huh. Wonder if Bruce’s mysterious master is Samira, the Banu Haqim primogen?

Hrmm. Could try failing with Tamika, I guess. Hi Gangrel dude I like your tree tattoo! Raoul, gotcha. Oh goddammit I accidentally recruited again XD

Oh fuck police D8 Oh, right, that was the stalker. Fun times! Oh shit that note was from Adelaide, right, because those definitely sound like stereotypical Malk speech patterns XD;; ...Or not, because it’s time to meet ‘the boss’ :|

RIP Vince but not too much of the P.

God Callihan is repellent I’m so glad, uh, SoNY happens.

Okay, nasty stalker, let’s see what you’re on about! Or not because Sophie is being scary as fuck and forcing the poor kid to meet with Torque D:

Poor Lamar’s just realised he’s a pawn and is like, “...well fuck.”

Okay, now we’ve set all that up, now we go meet with the stalker XD;; Aaand... she thinks Lamar is pretty, and got an achievement XD;;

Well that was a rude as hell awakening. D’Angelo, you are a sight for sore eyes!

Man the music that plays here is giving me super strong Bloodlines vibes.

Ooof, back to that apartment. That’s fun.

And of course this is the part where the game all falls apart :-\

Just... god. This is probably the biggest problem with CoNY, and the reason I didn’t bother getting it until it was like... 60% off. The bulk of the game is great - the writing is intriguing, the design is stunning. But the choices themselves are so limited it’s barely worth even getting it at 60% off!

You have three choices of characters, with their own opening chapters and own individual scenes with their touchstones. You have four choices of coterie members, and three sidequests. You can probably get in at least three full story arcs and a sidequest or two, but you’re only ever limited to two of your coterie members showing up at the not-yet-endgame.

So let’s say you decide to play all three protags, which, indeed, is encouraged (there’s an achievement for it). You are going to repeat coterie arcs and side quests, because there simply aren’t enough for three unique playthroughs.

And then you get to the end and literally everything is scripted. You get attacked by the SI. You get rescued by your two coterie members (and then never see them again, despite the game being called Coteries of New York). You meet Torque, you escape the SI, Sophie reveals her plan to Torque, you go to Ellis Island, Adelaide kills Sophie (and despite the fact that you’re given multiple options there, none of them work), Arturo does his spiel, end of game. You don’t even get to choose between ending up blood bound or going “no fuck you” and at least dying with a bit of dignity!

I just. I really want to like it, and there genuinely is a lot there to like! But uuuugh the ending. Like damn at least give the poor protag the option to choose what happens to them!

Anyway. Not sure what’s next. To get all the achievements, you have to finish with all three protags, so that’s three full runs and a lot of repetitiveness (compare to, say, Bloodlines or Night Road. I have eighty-five hours on Night Road and there’s still stuff I haven’t seen!), so I can’t even just... rush it through up to the meeting with the touchstones on the third play. Nope. Gotta finish it :-\

Final rating: 6/10

8/10 characters, 9/10 atmosphere, 8/10 story aside from ending, 3/10 story ending, 2/10 replayability. Final consensus: get it on major sale if you can, otherwise, you might as well just watch an LP. I might do that instead of doing a third run, although I at least want to do a second.

But yeah. Either way, I’m definitely going to be setting it aside for a while. I want to do a short-play game (probably ABZU), then back to Bloodlines for my Tremere Cammy run. At least there’s still plenty there to explore, even if the endgame combat is pretty repetitive! It has actual different endings and your choices actually matter!

[ryttu3k]

Okay! Time to start Coteries of New York! Starting with Lamar, the Toreador character, since he was the main in the LP I watched and I want to get a feel for the game with a familiar character before jumping straight into new characters.

Couldn’t notice it much in the LP I was watching, but the music is super pretty here.

Oooh yeah the Toreador sire’s eyes are literally glowing. Presence, I guess.

Berghain is an Anarch Elysium, huh.

Qadir is such an interesting character! Like there’s this sense that he really doesn’t like a lot of his duties as Sheriff, especially with new fledglings, but he can still be... um. Harsh. F to Howard.

Oh hmm, he was recruited by Calebros. Wasn’t Calebros the one who couldn’t ditch the position of Prince fast enough? XD

Interesting how many of the prominent characters in CoNY are Toreador!

Excuse me Sophie there is nothing wrong with Ikea :(

Alrighty, decision time! The LP I watched had Hope and Agathon. I think I’m going to go with Agathon again, just because I want to see what references I can find to Invidia and Night Road, and for the other... ngl I kind of like the irony of a Toreador and a Nosferatu in the same coterie, so let’s go with D’Angelo!

(When I play the Ventrue, I’ll go with Tamika and Hope, and then for the Brujah, I’ll just go with whatever paths I liked best.)

Hi Aisling! How’s things? Honestly she and Agathon are like. Two of the only valid Tremere XD

...hm. So, I know they’re talking about Invidia here. “A member of our clan disappeared without a trace a handful of nights ago” means she must have left New York for New Mexico extremely recently. Night Road starts in November 2019 and was released in September 2020; CoNY was released in December 2019 and is probably set earlier in the year. So she would have only been in KXG for a handful of months. I’ll have to double-check any references to Invidia’s movements in Night Road, maybe run through with a Tremere Courier for a bit.

“That seems to deplete his social battery for the night.” Agathon is deeply relatable XD

Right, time for some fun with True Faith XD;; Benoit, you are very odd.

Next up, D’Angelo! “From 30 feet away, he could probably pass for a bum with a nasty skin condition. From five feet away, he looks like something made to be seen from 30 feet away.” Harsh XD

Man, I’m sympathetic towards Thinbloods and Larson so I really hope he’s not doing the cleaver thing because... ew.

New night, and let’s leave it there for now!

[ryttu3k]

Time to jump back into CoNY! Ending issues aside, I want to get the achievements out of sheer stubbornness, so I’ll do the other two routes and the rest of the subplots with Eric, then try the Forever Alone ending with Amanda.

Brujah time!

So repetitive. Kind of fun seeing more snarky responses to the same options with Eric instead of Lamar, though.

Noticed an error - first hunt, just had Eric go for a stroll, but after the confrontation with the Anarch dude, it did mention a potential victim and like. Nope, that was what he was avoiding. Consistency!

I still very much appreciate Hope’s InfodumpDeliveryService username.

Oh Hope XD;;

Had to restart because I fucked up with Tamika, took the opportunity to do one of the early-fail achievements. Got back to it, and poor Eric has had a bad pill (er, second-hand) enroute to Kaiser. That’ll be interesting XD

lmao note to self don’t use Presence on Kaiser. ...hey I just realised that all three protags have it - Toreador, Brujah, Ventrue. And Toreador and Brujah share Celerity, too. One way to cut down on coding disciplines, I guess!

Legitimately though Hope’s usernames... captainacab, goatseintheshell... Hope pls...

Aaaand we’re done. Achievements left to get - The Managerial Call (embraced as a Ventrue), Damned If You Don't (accept your fate at the trial), A Face Only A Mother Could Love (no friends :( ), Consider This My Resignation Letter (meet someone from your life as a Ventrue), and New York Trilogy (finish with all three).

Going to knock off Damned If You Don’t now, then my third and final run will be to play as Amanda, make no friends, only actually pay attention to her opening chapter and meeting with someone from her life, and try to get the dang thing over and done with ASAP XD;;

Man. Yeah, 6/10. Would have been so good if not for the ending and the complete repetitiveness XD;; Even in only a second run, I was repeating stuff!

[ryttu3k]

Okay, time to finish off CoNY! This run should be straightforward... unless I mess up... but yeah, only really got four achievements left.

Oops. The blood bag scene went a bit different this time XD At least Qadir knows what clan she is now! He’s more polite to her too, I’m noticing?

Game, this is not a very nice set of options. Game, you’re gonna force poor Amanda to get a strike, aren’t you.

Surprisingly, no. Go figure XD

Pfft Sophie saying she can only guess at your clan... I mean she's already puked up a blood bag and used Dominate, it's pretty obvious, Sophie!

So I had to restart because I failed at failing and succeeded, so after going through the first four nights again, with some help from the Steam forums, I have successfully failed at recruiting D’Angelo! One down, three to go!

Whew, failed with Tamika pretty quick. Hope was nice and straightforward, just flat-out refused to do the show. Just got Agathon left, and then I do whatever (which will be the main plot stuff and all the sidequests, probably) until endgame!

Hehe this room (or one on the same floor, anyway) was in my fic.

DONE. Now to get to the end of the game! Three achievements left - Consider This My Resignation Letter, which will happen over the natural course of the game, A Face Only A Mother Could Love, which is what I was setting up for, and, once I get to the end, I’ll have The New York Trilogy and be done with it!

*snicker*

I imagine that scene was extremely cathartic.

Welp, ate Frank. That’s one way to take care of nosy reporters!

Actually got Samira’s name this time! Mia described her as one of the Lawmen, which makes her sound more like a cop. ‘Judge’ is much cooler. Vigilante shit and all XD

Let! Amanda! Smooch! Sophie!

Jackie to the rescue XD;; A Face Only A Mother Could Love get! Just gotta get to endgame and I’ll be completely done with CoNY.

Kaiser picked the ringtone, didn’t he.

“Your career is moving at breakneck pace!” Arturo...

Aaaand done. Done with this run and with Coteries of New York.

Check here and here for my runs with Lamar, and here with Eric. Review on the second post with Lamar, and honestly, yeah, still stands. Maybe drops from 6 to 5.5 because of the sheer repetitiveness.

Next, Shadows of New York, which only has two endings and has choices that are actually meaningful!