I could only see [Larian] doing any of the games in this universe if they hired outside writers, Brits or Americans who can really write in English. I don't know if shit is getting lost in the translation, or if they are just too over-the-top with some of the goofiness in their dialog, but their current "style" absolutely would not work with a WW game.
Yeah, when the subject of which devs could do it came up, I found myself thinking that it needs to be an American-English-first-language studio. Feels politically incorrect to say, but I think it's true. And not just ANY American studio of course. There's an atmosphere that could easily be screwed up by the wrong people.
I guess if the game is set in a different country, then natives of that country should write it (and let us hear the native voice acting with English subtitles
only). So if Larian does it, set the game in Brussels I guess. But I still think their writing style would be wrong.
The Secret World's Funcom could pull this one off I think. That game had really nice writing and atmosphere (with strong horror overtones). Investigation missions had some very interesting and creative puzzles, something I think would fit Masquerade pretty well.
Huh! Actually I agree that their writers could do the job! I can't completely get behind the idea though because of their love of
cutscenes. I like TSW a lot, but the pacing of those cutscenes is horrible, horrible. If (and only if) they could change that writing from cutscenes to actual dialogues, no more than one or two sentences at a time, I could see it. I love dialogues, but hate lengthy cutscenes. Also they mix in a little too much humor with the darker stuff; it's kind of hard to take TSW seriously, and it's a genre that's best when taken seriously.
Also, very much enjoyed your outline for an investigation and "dialogue battle" type game. I'd back the fuck out of your Kickstarter pitch.
I want a Telltale Games version of Vampire.
Not gonna lie. I would pay money for that. I know, crucify the heretic, blah blah blah.
In Bloodlines you cannot even kill that one Garou
Dont you juust squish him in a door?
Abusing bugs and exploits is not what I consider part of the game.
So let me rephrase myself, you were not meant to kill him. It was not part of design because in Lore, average Garou is almost unkillable by average Vampire and in this case you were not even prepared.
So you think that giant wolf-crushing door with an elaborate set of controls and dramatically long animation time was just there as another way for you to get in and out of the observatory? And Source engine physics at the time were so excellent that it worked to kill the monster? And that whole animation where the thing is struggling to not be crushed was just procedural Source AI?
It's OK to have a boner for werewolves, but come on, man.
Well, shit, after Dead State's plot I'd rather not have anything Mitsoda-related in my oWoD. Malkavian dialogue in VtM:B could buy only so much goodwill.
Bah, the Malk stuff was great, but far from the only good writing in Bloodlines.
I agree with
Gruncheon that Brian can still write. It's easy to pick on Dead State because the intro was so awful, but the writing got much better after that (though I also agree that many of the characters were a bit too one-trick).
I guess I'm conflicted about Brian and a new Bloodlines for a couple reasons. 1) He's married now; 2) Times have changed a little. I'll say it right out: part of what I liked (and still like) about Bloodlines is its sometimes sexually centered portrayal of women. Though there were certainly strong female characters that weren't sexualized at all (Ming Xiao and Pisha are a couple obvious examples), you also had really over-the-top characters like Jeanette and V.V. (and if I'm really being honest, Heather - I mean, wow). They were cartoonishly overdone, but seduction and sexuality are part of the deal with the whole vampire mythos, aren't they? And there
are real life women who base their personas on sexuality - ask any stripper - soooo, it makes sense to me to have these kinds of characters in a story of this type. (Additionally, the sexual history of Jeanette and Therese made possible the most powerful scene in the game.) However, it would be difficult for
any writer to get away with characters like these in today's political climate, I think; and as a married man, I frankly don't see Brian as having the necessary - er -
tension in his life to write them as colorfully as he once did. I think a certain amount of repression is necessary to be able to create "fantasy" seductive characters like these, and happy as I am personally that he doesn't have to have that frustration in his life any more, it's going to mean that those fantasies may no longer be available for him to draw upon. And even if they are, he might not be able to really indulge them on the page with his wife looking over his shoulder. Basically I want to see Brian tap into the weird parts of his brain that basic courtesy dictates he hides the rest of the time. I want a strip club owner to sell me a quest with the promise of sex. I want, without even trying, to mystically enslave a college girl who swears she'll do
anything if I just let her stay near me. I want a lunatic in a nightclub to be
so flirtatious and innuendo-laden that it gets to be annoying! I want to see another scene with an innocent person being stalked and killed by flying heads in a house wallpapered with human leather, and I want it to be OK for that scene to be more disturbing because the victim is a woman.
Who knows? I could be mistaken on several counts. Maybe married life makes one (or Brian in particular) more frustrated than ever, with richer fantasies. Maybe Annie would totally back him up and indulge him in writing slutty women characters. And maybe there is a studio out there that would have no problem embracing the blatant emphasis on sexuality that Bloodlines had. But I doubt it. I'd love to be proven wrong.
