Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines: 2 - I want to believe, but...

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Can someone explain to me why Activision felt like Bloodlines 1 just HAD to come out in the absurdly crowded fall 2004 season instead of have another six months of polish and come out in the much less crowded spring/summer of 2005?

Makes zero sense to me, just Bobby being Bobby?

I guess if it had another year of development it could have been overshadowed by the release of the Xbox 360, but another six months would have helped and also increased it's financial chances not going up against stuff like fucking Half-Life 2.

It just makes zero sense to me.

Because game companies were (and still are, to a lesser extent) obsessed with pushing games out to meet the holiday sales season, damn the consequences. No way they were going to have that game miss that launch window. Sonic '06 suffered for the same reason, and its very public failure is the reason companies moved away from that practice.

 

[Adamska]

Can someone explain to me why Activision felt like Bloodlines 1 just HAD to come out in the absurdly crowded fall 2004 season instead of have another six months of polish and come out in the much less crowded spring/summer of 2005?

Makes zero sense to me, just Bobby being Bobby?

I guess if it had another year of development it could have been overshadowed by the release of the Xbox 360, but another six months would have helped and also increased it's financial chances not going up against stuff like fucking Half-Life 2.

It just makes zero sense to me.

Oh that?

Pretty sure it was because the devs were at death's door by then and it was going to shutter; better to put it out and maybe hopefully not die out than die before it comes out.

I mean, Activision is shit so it could've been a forced rush for holidays, but I remember the devs being basically about to shutter right about that point.

 

[Snekposter]

Can someone explain to me why Activision felt like Bloodlines 1 just HAD to come out in the absurdly crowded fall 2004 season instead of have another six months of polish and come out in the much less crowded spring/summer of 2005?

Makes zero sense to me, just Bobby being Bobby?

I guess if it had another year of development it could have been overshadowed by the release of the Xbox 360, but another six months would have helped and also increased it's financial chances not going up against stuff like fucking Half-Life 2.

It just makes zero sense to me.

What other people said, and I believe there was some strange meddling by Valve to not have it overshadow their own Source engine game of HL2. IIRC that's why the facial anims in VtM:B aren't nearly as good as they are in HL2: Valve gave them a less-complete version of Source than their own in-house one.

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

What other people said, and I believe there was some strange meddling by Valve to not have it overshadow their own Source engine game of HL2. IIRC that's why the facial anims in VtM:B aren't nearly as good as they are in HL2: Valve gave them a less-complete version of Source than their own in-house one.

I believe that Valve also had a say in the game's release date, since they didn't want this game releasing before or competing with their flagship Half Life 2.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I think you could already see this in what little promotional material there was for Bloodlines 2. It was too clean, the characters too bland and inoffensive, the setting moved away from LA to Seattle.

That setting could actually be a good idea. You have unrest, fires raging through the nights, destruction, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, police standing back, people getting killed - all at night. A nice environment for vampires, whatever they're up to won't draw much attention and if some people disappear and is found mutilated at the beach that is now normal. Probably just drug cartels moving in.

 

[Agarathium1066]

That setting could actually be a good idea. You have unrest, fires raging through the nights, destruction, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, police standing back, people getting killed - all at night. A nice environment for vampires, whatever they're up to won't draw much attention and if some people disappear and is found mutilated at the beach that is now normal. Probably just drug cartels moving in.

My biggest thought is that they'd absolutely never put that to use even though it would be prime fodder for vampiric fuckery. I can't see many studios willingly discussing that normally, let alone one that is based in the city itself. LA has long been established as a city with a lot of shitty areas in it so that particular cat is out of the bag. Giving Seattle both barrels while also portraying the CHAZ as potentially bad or anarchic bullshit? Nooohohoho they're never gonna do that.

Even though you could easily excuse the violence as being EEEVIL Shovelheads doing it to start shit, or perhaps those fascist Cammies being up to no good. Or just a generalized 'The powerful are taking a piss on the have-nots' story which would still fit within a fairly palatable political stance while working nicely with WOD. But yeah no way in hell.

 

[The handsome tard]

The answer is no, no he can't, which is why he is shocked when you break his domination later on in the game. He thought you were a lower (well, numerically higher) generation, thus could bully you as much as he wants. When you suddenly break his domination out of nowhere, despite it working on you earlier in the game, is when he really starts to freak out toward the end.

Its really interesting when you think about it. About what was going on in Lacrox's head once he realised Domination didnt work anymore.

"How could they got so much more powerful in such a short amount of time!? Did they...oh God, did they commit diablerie? There could be no other explanation! This isnt fair, I rule this city! I followed the rules to preserve law and the rule of the Camarilla, only for this...NOBODY to come and take everything from me! That power in that sarcophagus should be mine! MIIINE!!!"

Makes zero sense to me, just Bobby being Bobby?

Sorry, I couldnt resist

Can someone explain to me why Activision felt like Bloodlines 1 just HAD to come out in the absurdly crowded fall 2004 season instead of have another six months of polish and come out in the much less crowded spring/summer of 2005?

Activision, and this will be shocking, didnt have much faith in the project. Also Valve forced them to not legally release the game until HL 2 was out so Activision timed it around there and said "Well, that game is out so we must launch ours right away.........Nah, it will be fiiiiiine, cease your worrying"

So it was them doing awful decisions as they usually do. When they have no faith and cant consider the possibility of not releasing a nearly unfinished game to the market to meet a quota, your project is kind of screwed.

That setting could actually be a good idea. You have unrest, fires raging through the nights, destruction, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, police standing back, people getting killed - all at night. A nice environment for vampires, whatever they're up to won't draw much attention and if some people disappear and is found mutilated at the beach that is now normal. Probably just drug cartels moving in.

It requires them to portray a socialist paradise as its actually is like in real life. Aka, they will never do it. Especially showing how everyone involved are a bunch of criminals taking advantage of "woke moral" situations for their own benefit.

A game that directly based will never exist...maybe in a decade or two

Even though you could easily excuse the violence as being EEEVIL Shovelheads doing it to start shit, or perhaps those fascist Cammies being up to no good. Or just a generalized 'The powerful are taking a piss on the have-nots' story which would still fit within a fairly palatable political stance while working nicely with WOD. But yeah no way in hell.

The problem is that, ironically, I think the Camarilla would kind of go into the same cultural route that the NCR has taken in the political gaming sphere.

You know what Im refeering to, the "the establishment guys are bad and anyone else is based, better or whatever and anyone that goes along with them are leftist cucks"

Kind of started off as a joke but it kind of devolved into treating New Vegas like this game where your decisions are this IRL political stance. It cheapens the experience for me as it brings too much reality into a game that wasnt even realised when this social political fuckery became the norm

My concern is that the Camarilla, at least written "loyal" to the source material, would just be basically treated as NCR 2.0 by gamers and if you side with them, you apparently is a reddit user (god, both sides of this argument are fucking morons, I swear to fucking God). And Anarchs are "based".

Nvm that the whole point of Vampire The Masquerade is that there is no "perfect" side or faction, they are all flawed just like they would in real life. People from both sides are just projecting way too fucking much from real life into these games that werent meant to represent much of real life politics (if at all).

That shit takes the fun out of it

 

[Agarathium1066]

The problem is that, ironically, I think the Camarilla would kind of go into the same cultural route that the NCR has taken in the political gaming sphere.

You know what Im refeering to, the "the establishment guys are bad and anyone else is based, better or whatever and anyone that goes along with them are leftist cucks"

Kind of started off as a joke but it kind of devolved into treating New Vegas like this game where your decisions are this IRL political stance. It cheapens the experience for me as it brings too much reality into a game that wasnt even realised when this social political fuckery became the norm

My concern is that the Camarilla, at least written "loyal" to the source material, would just be basically treated as NCR 2.0 by gamers and if you side with them, you apparently is a reddit user (god, both sides of this argument are fucking morons, I swear to fucking God). And Anarchs are "based".

Nvm that the whole point of Vampire The Masquerade is that there is no "perfect" side or faction, they are all flawed just like they would in real life. People from both sides are just projecting way too fucking much from real life into these games that werent meant to represent much of real life politics (if at all).

That shit takes the fun out of it

Yeah there's always a very weird projection from various players in RPGs but I feel like V:TM makes it far more clear that everyone in the universe is looking out for #1 at all times. There's a scant handful of 'true believer' Anarchs, Cammies, and Sabbat but in the end they too are looking to keep themselves comfortable while also pushing their personal or clan goals.

Even Strauss in Bloodlines who is the most reasonable Cammy in the game shows that he isn't any different. He's got his goals, his clan, and at a distant third is the Camarilla's needs. He's still probably placing them higher than most Cainites would normally.

Frankly if someone cannot explain why they like a faction without saying 'They're based' I presume they just personally find them appealing and can't summon up an actual argument.

 

[WhatIsThePunchline]

I think that's thinking in the limited scope of Bloodlines 1 again. The original game is a shallow wade into vampire society. You're a fish out of water forced to do the dirty work of the big players in the setting and attempting your best to survive for what seems a few crazy nights to possibly a few months as shit hits the fan.
The main appeal for me in an RPG is growth, not just in powers and the amount of weapons your carry, but also in acquiring assets, allies, and information. To ideally capture the main draw of the setting you should be able to slowly climb the ranks and participate in the subterfuge, not just be a victim of circumstance as before. It can be justified in that the events of the story doesn't just transpire within a limited timespan regarding a single incident.
And then you could have multiple ways to fail, find yourself pissing off someone even more powerful, face challenges near impossible to overcome, supposed friends and allies betraying you, but it would be appealing if the opportunity to claw your way to the top of the shitpile was there.

I agree. Grand scale politics is the best way to play any world of darkness splat. Difficult to pull off in a video game sure but not impossible.

 

[Martys_not_smarty]

I agree. Grand scale politics is the best way to play any world of darkness splat. Difficult to pull off in a video game sure but not impossible.

Has that ever been a thing? Has White Wolf ever made a module taking players back to the days where old school vampires were blowing up islands in the war against Nurgle? I might be remembering that wrong it could have been a volcano.

 

[WhatIsThePunchline]

Has that ever been a thing? Has White Wolf ever made a module taking players back to the days where old school vampires were blowing up islands in the war against Nurgle? I might be remembering that wrong it could have been a volcano.

Yes, politics has always been a thing. Not sure what you are referencing though.

 

[God of Nothing]

Its really interesting when you think about it. About what was going on in Lacrox's head once he realised Domination didnt work anymore.

"How could they got so much more powerful in such a short amount of time!? Did they...oh God, did they commit diablerie? There could be no other explanation! This isnt fair, I rule this city! I followed the rules to preserve law and the rule of the Camarilla, only for this...NOBODY to come and take everything from me! That power in that sarcophagus should be mine! MIIINE!!!"


View attachment 3242950

Sorry, I couldnt resist


Activision, and this will be shocking, didnt have much faith in the project. Also Valve forced them to not legally release the game until HL 2 was out so Activision timed it around there and said "Well, that game is out so we must launch ours right away.........Nah, it will be fiiiiiine, cease your worrying"

So it was them doing awful decisions as they usually do. When they have no faith and cant consider the possibility of not releasing a nearly unfinished game to the market to meet a quota, your project is kind of screwed.


It requires them to portray a socialist paradise as its actually is like in real life. Aka, they will never do it. Especially showing how everyone involved are a bunch of criminals taking advantage of "woke moral" situations for their own benefit.

A game that directly based will never exist...maybe in a decade or two


The problem is that, ironically, I think the Camarilla would kind of go into the same cultural route that the NCR has taken in the political gaming sphere.

You know what Im refeering to, the "the establishment guys are bad and anyone else is based, better or whatever and anyone that goes along with them are leftist cucks"

Kind of started off as a joke but it kind of devolved into treating New Vegas like this game where your decisions are this IRL political stance. It cheapens the experience for me as it brings too much reality into a game that wasnt even realised when this social political fuckery became the norm

My concern is that the Camarilla, at least written "loyal" to the source material, would just be basically treated as NCR 2.0 by gamers and if you side with them, you apparently is a reddit user (god, both sides of this argument are fucking morons, I swear to fucking God). And Anarchs are "based".

Nvm that the whole point of Vampire The Masquerade is that there is no "perfect" side or faction, they are all flawed just like they would in real life. People from both sides are just projecting way too fucking much from real life into these games that werent meant to represent much of real life politics (if at all).

That shit takes the fun out of it

sabbat was real shit and too based to survive into modern V5

Realtalk, The Camarilla is the most stable of the bunch but highlights the key problems in having a bunch of elders bickering over petty shit. The Anarchs may seem like a great idea at first but highlight the problem of living forever: what the fuck are you gonna do when there's no one to fight against and you dismantled the system? Sabbat are full on living forever and being an inhuman beast is great. The problem is it sucks for everyone else and it's constant chaos.

 

[iceteayo]

>mfw the game that introduces zoomers to Vampire the Masquerade is a fucking Battle royale that actually didnt flop and seems to gaining traction.

Real life acquittances said I needed to "jump on this game its fucking sick bro" and these guys have no idea what a pen and paper RPG is. So I tried it and by god am I shocked at how well this game plays/feels.....but why is it a BR tho the amount of violations and open clan warfare seems to be kinda lore breaking to say the least and im not even that into this setting.

 

[BibiLivesMatter]

It looks like it died and then rolled over and died again. Why can't Paradox come out and just says it over?

I hope we get to see or play a early build of VTMB 2 in half a decade. Like how dead island 2 early build got leaked in 2020. Sucks that it kind of confirms the game is either cancelled or put on the back burner, but probs for the best too with not releasing a abomination that taints the IP more.

 

[The handsome tard]

sabbat was real shit and too based to survive into modern V5

Realtalk, The Camarilla is the most stable of the bunch but highlights the key problems in having a bunch of elders bickering over petty shit. The Anarchs may seem like a great idea at first but highlight the problem of living forever: what the fuck are you gonna do when there's no one to fight against and you dismantled the system? Sabbat are full on living forever and being an inhuman beast is great. The problem is it sucks for everyone else and it's constant chaos.

The problem is that people nowadays cant help but blur the lines between IRL and in game politics and to project.

"If X resembles X IRL, the game X must be exactly like IRL X!"

So they dont see it for their own actual values. That kind of displays almost a selfish inability to distinquish fiction from reality. Because even people that hate the people politicizing anything are kind of doing the same thing, even if it was just to annoy the former initially.

Frankly if someone cannot explain why they like a faction without saying 'They're based' I presume they just personally find them appealing and can't summon up an actual argument.

I feel like terms like "Based", "Karen" and others have kind of lost their meaning and are now used (obviously not always) to end arguments.

And I want to make it clear that this is both sides being infantile idiots.

Kindly remove your IRL politics from my fucking games, you cocksuckers.

 

[UnsufficentBoobage]

Can I use this thread to vent how I was dicking around making a setting with giant vampires, then Lady Dimitresku happened and I felt like I should bin it all immediately?

 

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

Can I use this thread to vent how I was dicking around making a setting with giant vampires, then Lady Dimitresku happened and I felt like I should bin it all immediately?

Why throw it out now?! Nah, bruh, go on wit yo bad self!

 

[The handsome tard]

Can I use this thread to vent how I was dicking around making a setting with giant vampires, then Lady Dimitresku happened and I felt like I should bin it all immediately?

Hey, we all bros here.

I wont go into details but I did have a character that resembled a fucking pokemon in the newer gens and I felt like throwing it all away.

But the important thing is "who gives a shit" when your thing is going to be unique and its own thing?

You can vent here or PM me if you feel like doing so privately.

The point is, relax and think things straight

 

[Agarathium1066]

>mfw the game that introduces zoomers to Vampire the Masquerade is a fucking Battle royale that actually didnt flop and seems to gaining traction.

Real life acquittances said I needed to "jump on this game its fucking sick bro" and these guys have no idea what a pen and paper RPG is. So I tried it and by god am I shocked at how well this game plays/feels.....but why is it a BR tho the amount of violations and open clan warfare seems to be kinda lore breaking to say the least and im not even that into this setting.

A bloodhunt from what I know of it is a declaration by a powerful figure that whatever their target is needs to face final death and they needed to see it yesterday. I don't know what explanation there is in the BR as I've never played it but I did see it outright had you diablerizing your foes to gain power if you could. Perhaps it's meant to be set in Gehenna or an all out war scenario between the various factions.

I did see that you could end up as Sabbat, Camarilla, or Anarch so I would lean more the latter. War were declared and your opponents gave enough of a reason to openly war in the streets, crack open your fellow cainites like a can, and I believe free reign to feed on humans who are nearby.

Can I use this thread to vent how I was dicking around making a setting with giant vampires, then Lady Dimitresku happened and I felt like I should bin it all immediately?

Unless your setting is purely focused on curvaceous vampire women chasing the party or player around a castle I say don't worry about it. There's been plenty of spikes in popularity with vampires due to media but it rarely scratches the surface. Hell even Dimetrescu is not a normal vampire but instead a fungal superhuman who turns into a weird dragon creature.

If your players end up hooting about big booby lady then it's free reign to drop one in that murders them all in a less than sexy manner, even.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Can I use this thread to vent how I was dicking around making a setting with giant vampires, then Lady Dimitresku happened and I felt like I should bin it all immediately?

Just keep at it. The coomers have already mostly moved on already. By the time you're done they won't even remember how to spell her name anymore.