Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong Dialogue System explained

Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong's Dialogue System is the crux of the entire experience, offering players a way to change the outcome of conversations and confrontations should they perform carefully. The Dialogue system in Swansong is complex. While there is a tutorial early in the game, it shoves an excessive amount of information in the player's face that's hard to remember. Here is an explanation of the Dialogue System in VTM: S.

Dialogue choices in Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong

Dialogue allows players to choose their responses in conversation during critical points in the Swansong campaign. When Dialogue choices emerge, players have several unique Skills they can use to combat their opponents.

Related: Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong Blood Labyrinth Puzzle Guide

Willpower

Willpower is a resource that players can use during Dialogue to face their opponents. Specific Skills require players to use this limited resource. Players can find Willpower at the top-left segment of the screen. Players can tweak how much Willpower they use to increase their chances of success against their opponents, but opponents can do the same. Beat your opponent, and you get a free Willpower token. Willpower regenerates at the start of each level in Swansong.

Disciplines

Disciplines are another skill that Vampires have at their disposal in Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong. These skills will generate Hunger for Emem, Leysha, and Galeb. If the Hunger bar maxes out, players risk losing control and attacking the nearest mortal, exposing themselves. These Skills are available in and out of Dialogue, with each Vampire using unique Disciplines.

Focus

Players can temporarily increase their skill levels in Swansong by initiating Focus. Focus only functions for skills requiring Willpower and not Discipline and Knowledge. Opponents can use Focus to raise their skill levels by a single point in conversations, while players can increase their Skills up to twice. You can see the chance of your success in the current Dialogue option at the bottom of your screen before choosing an option.

Dialogue Ties

If players and their opponents have the same Skill level in a conversation, a Dialogue Tie occurs. The game will roll a die in the face of Dialogue Ties to see who comes out on top, with outside factors like passive bonuses and penalties influencing the outcome.

Related: What Skills should you level up in Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong?

Character Profiles

To customize each Vampire to your playstyle, players can choose a Character Profile to get them started. Character Profiles automatically upgrade specific skills depending on which profile players choose. We recommend the following profiles for the characters in Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong:

• Emem: Jack of All Trades
• Leysha: Investigator
• Galeb: Veteran

Confrontations

Confrontations occur at points in the story where the outcome can change drastically. In a Confrontation, there are multiple stages of Dialogue where players can only fail a certain number of interactions and still influence the opponent. Each Confrontation tells players how many opportunities they can miss, and failing a Confrontation will ultimately bar players from their goal of persuading their opponent.

Traits

One way to boost Skills, Disciplines, and Hunt Abilities is by upgrading Traits. Traits offer a passive boost to player abilities once players complete specific tasks or several functions. Players can see which tasks they need to complete and how many times they must complete them.

Suspicion

If players perform too many high-profile actions in Swansong, players will raise the Suspicion. Raising Suspicion causes Dialogue and conversation options to become more difficult. The higher the Suspicion, the more challenging conversations will be in Swansong. Suspicion is universal in Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong, meaning all characters share this meter. Players can check their suspicion levels in the Traits tab of the Character menu.

For more on Vampire The Masquerade: Swansong, visit our other articles on Pro Game Guides, like Is Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong cross-gen?