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

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Paradox not only intends to make no sequels, but also not make ANY dlc? Hooooooly shit. I thought having a bakers dozen 20 dollar DLC's was a requirement for any paradox game.
 
They're in full "Let's just get the product out the door and wash our hands of this." mode.

Also, the entire fifth edition line just made it's way onto humble bundle. I still wouldn't fucking buy it.
 
Tactical Wizard said:
They're in full "Let's just get the product out the door and wash our hands of this." mode.
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I’m morbidly curious just how much money they’ve dumped into this pit. After this much time in Development Hell, and with the fact that even in the Normie Parts of the Internet the only talk about this game is either “Release Date?” or “Jesus Fuck, let this game Die”?

There isn’t a hope in hell of this game breaking even. I’m legitimately curious if someone at Paradox has run the numbers and realized that just scrapping the tame as a Tax Write Off wouldn’t make back anywhere close to the amount invested…
 
Fuck these people.
Bloodlines 2 is more "spiritual successor" than sequel to "a competently good game by 2004 standards", say Paradox
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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 won't be an "open sim" like the 2004 original game, according to Paradox Interactive.
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it'll be an action-RPG with a relatively linear story set in the World Of Darkness universe.
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it also reflects Paradox's view that the original Bloodlines has been "mythologised" a bit: people love the memory of it more than the reality, and there are aspects of the 2004 game, according to Paradox's deputy chief executive officer Mattias Lilja, that simply "wouldn't fly today".
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So how confident are Paradox that Bloodlines 2 will stick the landing, at this point? The answer, more or less, is "quietly", but it won't be the "same but better" sequel elder Nosferatus are hankering for.
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"So it's going to be an action-RPG in the World Of Darkness. [...] I hope and feel that we will be able to deliver a game that puts you in the World Of Darkness."
Those gifted with preternatural vision may detect a careful qualification there. Not "a sequel to Bloodlines" but "a game that puts you in the World Of Darkness".
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Lilja downplayed associations with the original game when I asked whether Bloodlines 2 would still be some kind of immersive sim. He also suggested that Bloodlines hasn't aged all that well, and that taking inspiration from it too zealously could be counter-productive.
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"It's about setting the right expectations," he said. "The first Bloodlines game - it is what it is, and people who've played it recently will see that it's a game from 2004, that is now patched so that it works. But there's also a lot of ideas about what that game was, that are more, not to offend anyone, mythical.
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I'm sympathetic to the idea that older games tend to disappear beneath a cloud of nostalgic make-believe - we're seeing it right now, with certain chunderhead reactions to Bloober's Silent Hill 2 remake. So which aspects of the original Bloodlines does Lilja think people are mythologising? Sadly, he didn't go into much detail.
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"I actually played Bloodlines 1 quite recently, and it is a good game, but it is also an old game, and there are many things that would not fly today," Lilja said. "But I understand why people were super psyched by it in 2004, because it had a lot of cool [elements], and the feeling of being a vampire is really strong, regardless of other features. But I think people, they remember their feelings about it. And if they replayed it, I think they would see that it's a competently good game by 2004 standards, now that it's patched.
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lol
"We do expect it to recover its investment," Lilja said, somewhat to my surprise.
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Usually they let bots and shills shit on the old game to prop up the new one.
Bold strategy to do it yourself. Probably not a good one.
 
I don't understand why they are even calling it Bloodlines 2 at this point. It's very clear the target demographic for this game is new players and not people who liked the first game. It's probably even hurting them at this point I think I wouldn't mind a liner action Vampire the Masquerade game but you put Bloodlines in the title so I'm thinking it's going to be like the original one.
 
What was it they said? A midnight pitch by tcr saved bloodlines 2? Why didn't they just pitch an entirely different game set in VtM?
 
Anon88 said:
I don't understand why they are even calling it Bloodlines 2 at this point. It's very clear the target demographic for this game is new players and not people who liked the first game.
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Calling it anything else runs the risk of lumping it in with the other half dozen DoA shovelware VtM titles out there. Bloodlines has stayed relevant within the gaming zeitgeist for so long that I'd imagine many people who have never even considered playing it have at least heard of it. Even if old fans are irate, that's still people talking about it, although in the current era of gamifying ruining studios by not buying their lukewarm wokeslop, they're playing a dangerous game.
 
FuckMeGentlyWithAChainsaw said:
Fuck these people.
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it also reflects Paradox's view that the original Bloodlines has been "mythologised" a bit: people love the memory of it more than the reality, and there are aspects of the 2004 game, according to Paradox's deputy chief executive officer Mattias Lilja, that simply "wouldn't fly today".
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The ego of these people, holy shit.
They didn't make the first game and yet they act like they're the experts.
 
Know what made the first, nay the only game in the series memorable? It had SOUL that's what, great voice acting, memorable characters and character interaction and all using the newly created source engine that's what made it memorable.
 
Martys_not_smarty said:
Know what made the first, nay the only game in the series memorable? It had SOUL that's what, great voice acting, memorable characters and character interaction and all using the newly created source engine that's what made it memorable.
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Somehow, that fucker Chunk is a more endearing character than a good portion of what modern writing generates, and he's just the most stereotypical Rent-A-Cop ever, complete with spewing nonsense at all times to try and seem important and knowledgeable than he really is.
 
Snekposter said:
Somehow, that fucker Chunk is a more endearing character than a good portion of what modern writing generates, and he's just the most stereotypical Rent-A-Cop ever, complete with spewing nonsense at all times to try and seem important and knowledgeable than he really is.
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Chunk is a genuinely alright dude. What always threw me for a loop was the porn shop owner. You find out that he does in fact have morals and keeps his operation above board despite being a degenerate sleaze merchant. I didn't see that one coming.
 
Tactical Wizard said:
Chunk is a genuinely alright dude. What always threw me for a loop was the porn shop owner. You find out that he does in fact have morals and keeps his operation above board despite being a degenerate sleaze merchant. I didn't see that one coming.
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Flynn? This is a joke, right? In his own words "the dirtier the better".

What I really didn't expect out of Hollywood was frigging Velvet Velour being not just a Toreador sexpot for players to ogle over, especially thanks to Source Engine's Havok implementation, but also a deeply internally conflicted and mentally fucked up woman unable to really come to grips with her own death.
 
Snekposter said:
Flynn? This is a joke, right? In his own words "the dirtier the better".

What I really didn't expect out of Hollywood was frigging Velvet Velour being not just a Toreador sexpot for players to ogle over, especially thanks to Source Engine's Havok implementation, but also a deeply internally conflicted and mentally fucked up woman unable to really come to grips with her own death.
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You wanna be a fucked up dick in the game you play a kook you can break Chunks brain, deadname Susan....errr Velvet and see through all of Mings patronizing bullshit. Oh and also you can get into a shouting match with a stop sign that's always fun.
 
I genuinely want this game to be good, but not good in the way of being a perfect or even decent RPG.

No, I just want to roleplay as a vampire DOOM SLAYER

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I am PAYNE!


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I'm not lookin for Shakespeare, I just want to beat some ass and save humans.



As for the new visual novel I played half of it.

The first title was a pretty neat introduction to the world and average experience of a new fledgling under Carmilla (As a glorified errand boy/pawn). The second was a genuinely Great experience that had a good story paired with excellent music and visuals. Both games for 5 bucks on sale were a worthwhile experience in my opinion. Dam near based at points even for allowing you to not a vampire asshole, a positive portrayal of Christianity and somehow managing to actually cover covid and censorship in the second one without sounding cringe.

Following on that, Reckoning is... ok. And is probably the greatest sin of its existence. It's a game that either feels like it switched writers or tried wayyyyy too hard to follow the perspective of a younger hip millennial vampire. Let me back up a bit. The thing that made the other games so interesting and cool was the overall progression and establishment of vampire politics/changing fortunes. You do get some of that here, in fact most of the major players return and have some interesting developments. The problem is that they made a mistake following a new main character that is on the drink coaster tip of being tolerable.

I genuinely get what they were trying to do. It's a playthrough that's split between two characters. The "hip" Asian thief chick WAYYY over her head contrasted with her partner who actually knows what he's doing. You play as the chick, get manipulated and used and then you play as the partner and get all the subtext of what's going on. He is genuinely an interesting character, but because you basically have to replay the game with few differences aside from his thoughts it gets really boring. There's no great mystery here, It's just an ok story with a subpar main character that drags down an interesting and decently written co protagonist. In fact I haven't actually finished his playthrough yet because im so bored with the story.
⋖ cørdion ⋗ said:
Yet another visual novel. How many half-assed "games" have they released between Vamp 1 and 2? Would the game had been out already if they didn't make all these random ass fucking games nobody asked for? Do people who stan WoD even exist?
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The first two new york vampire VN's were actually pretty decent if short. The second one in particular Id go so far as to call it based. it wouldn't be a bad combo to buy for 5 bucks on sale. The 3rd one is pretty bland though.

Rockzo said:
What this post is referring too.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sAJ9_Sqco18
This is the third in a series about vamps from NY I think. GoG has a few more of these and the steam reviews for this one arn't good. Apparently they got a different artist and changed the story with no payoff to decisions made before according to one review. There's also a hunter meter that goes up and the story forces you to use disciplines, raising the threat level. It seems like a rushed story that's not worth the time even if the character is a Ravnos.
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The art is not good. I wouldn't be surprised if it was AI generated. Normally I dont give a dam but when you go from a 10 to a 6 its a pretty noticeable downgrade. Music is really bland too. Shadows was so kickass it was ridiculous.




The music now is just... generic as shit. literal dUN DUN DAAA crap.

The hunter/discipline meter is totally optional. You can just turn it off before you start a game, I have no idea why the hell they even added it or what it does other then be annoying. Also compared to the last game, being a Ravnos is portrayed as so boring. They have a really well written Malkavian side protag though. That's about the best aspect of the game.
Tactical Wizard said:
Chunk is a genuinely alright dude. What always threw me for a loop was the porn shop owner. You find out that he does in fact have morals and keeps his operation above board despite being a degenerate sleaze merchant. I didn't see that one coming.
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A guy I knew went inside a shop once to get it off his bucket list. He was shocked to find a genuinely nice owner with cute cats sleeping behind the counter.



I honestly think modern WOD sucks because of the overt focus on being evil or morally grey. It's boring.

Yeah I get it, monsters of the night and shit. But ive noticed that the best moments ive had with the overall franchise were in the first two VN's when I acted human and actually cared about people and god.
 
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