Jack_Daone: So I wanted to do my first playthrough True Blade Runner-style to get my favorite ending(Ray and Crystal partnering up). So I retired Zuben, Gordo(who was a rep), and VK'd Dektora and Lucy. Dektora was human, so she ran off, and I VK'd Lucy in Act 4, and would have retired her had she rolled as a Replicant.

However, I did have to kill a couple of cops and Specials in self-defense while running around in Act 4, and I guess that meant that Ray was now stuck in Rep Sympathizer even though I didn't kill Guzza. So I replayed Act 4 and didn't kill anyone at all. Still VK'd Lucy, and I made sure to complete the events fast enough while also completing the Replicant DNA Chain.

Ray didn't fess up to killing any humans, so I figured I was in the clear. Additionally, Clovis showed up after Guzza was killed to reference the finger breaking scene from the film, so I doubly figured that I was set on the right path as a True Blade Runner. On top of that, I made sure to clear Ray's name with the cops to stop any further ambushes by cops in the sewers or otherwise.

Then I get back to the apartment and Maggie's dead on the ground, anyway, having been killed by Steele. So what did I do wrong, exactly? Was I not supposed to turnover the evidence clearing Ray's name? Was I not supposed to warn Lucy and then VK her later? I'm confused.

PraetorianWolfie: Warning Lucy about Steele is indeed a big one, as far as I remember from the last time I looked into it.
It's a shame that the path branching is not more detailed and nuanced (because at least the mechanics are there in the engine, but are not utilised as much as they could have been).

That said, I am sure we made some fixes to the AI since the ScummVM 2.1.0 release (which GOG bundles with the game), so make sure you are playing with the latest stable if possible (2.2.0 or later)

Jack_Daone: Thanks for the reply. I'll give that a shot, though I'd bought the game only days before I posted this topic.

I noticed that you mentioned in the other topic that helping Lucy significantly increases Clovis' favor toward Ray, but grabbing the briefcase and getting your name clear do the same for Steele. I figured that the scene where Clovis threatens Ray immediately following Guzza's death(and killing Ray if you linger too long) was a clear flag that the game was going with Steele instead of Clovis, though.

But I guess I should just be a dick to Lucy, as well, eh?

PraetorianWolfie: Note, you'd need to grab the ScummVM 2.2.0 from the ScummVM site. You can of course install it on top of the ScummVM folder that GOG sets up in the Blade Runner game folder, overwriting the existing one, so that you can continue using the GOG shortcuts for the game. GOG won't auto-update ScummVM to the latest version on its own (not unless you are on Windows and explicitly run ScummVM directly yourself, but I think even that is not certain for the 2.1.0 version).

Anyway, about Clovis, I guess the case is supposed to be that Lucy doesn't speak with Clovis until after the underground sequence, so Clovis does not know about McCoy being kind to her yet in Act 4. At least that's how I explain that anyway.

Yes, the most certain way would be to not warn Lucy about Steele. You'll avoid the big bonus of friendship with the Replicants that way.

Jack_Daone: Yup. And, indeed, me not warning Lucy and instead trying to VK her resulted in the True Blade Runner endings branch.

On a whim, though, I decided to go back to the saves where I had warned Lucy and tried to rig the VK test against her to see if I could get her to flag as Rep and then retire her. Didn't seem to work even though I moved the calibration slider all the way over to the left. I did the same to Dektora to test it(she was confirmed human on this playthrough when I'd VK'd her previously) and she flagged as a Rep(couldn't retire her because she ran off).

Do you know how that's supposed to work, exactly?

PraetorianWolfie: Yes, I've written a somewhat extensive post about how the VK test works here:
https://www.gog.com/forum/blade_runner/voigt_kampff_test/post2

In theory it would be possible to get an intentionally false result by tampering with the calibration needle, but maybe it also depends on the questions asked. You could see how the score is updated with each question if you enable the debug command (from the ScummVM debugger console) that I mention in that post. Make sure you use a recent ScummVM version or build for that.