World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs

[Dwemer Puzzle Box]

Also Roguey it's not exactly racist to call a Kuei-jin a demon, that's more or less literally what they are, at least partly:
(...)

I've recently went through all my oWoD pdfs - I still have no clue why they're KINDRED of the East when everything about them (thousand hells, relationship with yama kings and mortals, the not!vampiric powers, and the general "let us remind you that they're not really vampires" approach) would make a lot more sense if they were a part of Wraith* lineup.

Spoiler

*still the best game of oWoD

 

[Lacrymas]

While searching for pronoun usage, I came by this very delicious satirical essay on language policing from 1985 - http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/purity.html

It sounds like it could've been written today.

That essay by Douglas Hofstadter is a satire attacking those who resisted feminist demands to change the English language by removing gendered pronouns. I'm certain that someone adopting the same tactic today would be condemned as a vicious racist, regardless of his intentions.

Ok? I only said it's about language policing, and it is, not about which side it is on.

 

[Rahdulan]

Fedora Master Rahdulan more likely Demon Shintai

The Demon Shintai allows a Kuei-jin to manifest his Inner Demon, transforming his flesh to resemble the servants of Yomi Wan

And Yomi Wan being the Eastern Hell, its demons are mainly of the hentai variety. More dots in the Discipline does nothing but boost some stats and allow you to grow more demonic limbs n' shit:

https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Demon_Shintai

Probably a bit of both, although I forget whether Kuei-Jin "Disciplines" can actually combine in the same fashion usual Disciplines can aka having X amount of dots in multiple Disciplines lets you use special stuff if you know how to. You're probably right considering "gain demonic feature" is pretty vague so you can get away with a lot.

Also Roguey it's not exactly racist to call a Kuei-jin a demon, that's more or less literally what they are, at least partly:
(...)

I've recently went through all my oWoD pdfs - I still have no clue why they're KINDRED of the East when everything about them (thousand hells, relationship with yama kings and mortals, the not!vampiric powers, and the general "let us remind you that they're not really vampires" approach) would make a lot more sense if they were a part of Wraith* lineup.

I think that's just using them as equivalent to Kindred for convenience because, as you said, Cathayans themselves deny any familiarity. I'm more of a Dark Ages sucker.

 

[Dwemer Puzzle Box]

I think that's just using them as equivalent to Kindred for convenience because, as you said, Cathayans themselves deny any familiarity.

Which makes it even worse, since all this "we're not vampires, in fact we're better than you'll ever be, silly, silly cainite" is pretentious even by WoD standards.
Then again what isn't?

I'm more of a Dark Ages sucker.

 

[Grunker]

Also Roguey it's not exactly racist to call a Kuei-jin a demon, that's more or less literally what they are, at least partly:
(...)

I've recently went through all my oWoD pdfs - I still have no clue why they're KINDRED of the East when everything about them (thousand hells, relationship with yama kings and mortals, the not!vampiric powers, and the general "let us remind you that they're not really vampires" approach) would make a lot more sense if they were a part of Wraith* lineup.

Spoiler

*still the best game of oWoD

Well the term fits due to one fact: they’re sustained by chi and their curse means they get it by drinking blood. But yeah the term is clearly a western simplification

 

[alyvain]

It's also likely intentionally amusing that like many lefties, she goes hard into being sexist and racist when mad.

But was she a SJW-type leftist? She's like old-school (well, now they seem to be old-school) guerillafags who keeps AK-47 under the bed and believe that the Zapatista Army did nuthing wreng. Language police wasn't that important among leftists back then.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Shut up you dumb bitch.

 

[Prime Junta]

But was she a SJW-type leftist? She's like old-school (well, now they seem to be old-school) guerillafags who keeps AK-47 under the bed and believe that the Zapatista Army did nuthing wreng. Language police wasn't that important among leftists back then.

It still isn't. Liberals are the ones obsessed with language-policing, not leftists. (Although to be fair there are leftists who have been infected with that mind virus as well.)

(The confusion is understandable. Because "socialist," "Communist," or even "social democrat" were not acceptable for use in polite company in the US, everyone to the left of Dwight Eisenhower was dubbed "liberal," with a qualifier "progressive" applied to those a bit more to the left. In actual fact "liberals" included a whole bunch of different groups that really didn't have much in common at all. Nobody outside the US would even think of plonking Damsel into the same category as, say, Hillary Clinton.)

 

[ga♥]

The buildings are good because of atmosphere, not because of what’s usually called level design. They’re quite simple, repetitive, and there’s not much to do in them.

Compared to modern games little is repetivie in Bloodlines and all interior maps are unique. But there are a lot of issues like they not fitting in the building from the outside and similar!

What always annoyed me was how enormous is grout mansion on the inside. While outiside is just a regular house.

 

[Grunker]

But was she a SJW-type leftist? She's like old-school (well, now they seem to be old-school) guerillafags who keeps AK-47 under the bed and believe that the Zapatista Army did nuthing wreng. Language police wasn't that important among leftists back then.

It still isn't. Liberals are the ones obsessed with language-policing, not leftists. (Although to be fair there are leftists who have been infected with that mind virus as well.)

(The confusion is understandable. Because "socialist," "Communist," or even "social democrat" were not acceptable for use in polite company in the US, everyone to the left of Dwight Eisenhower was dubbed "liberal," with a qualifier "progressive" applied to those a bit more to the left. In actual fact "liberals" included a whole bunch of different groups that really didn't have much in common at all. Nobody outside the US would even think of plonking Damsel into the same category as, say, Hillary Clinton.)

Eh, the language police have infested a lot of the leftist movements you're talking about. Not necessarily becoming dominant, but they at least have a presence. I like this summary by self-declared jacobin Jamie Palmer:

Stigmatise, Shame & Silence

 

[Prime Junta]

Eh, the language police have infested a lot of the leftist movements you're talking about. Not necessarily becoming dominant, but they at least have a present.

True, we must be ever vigilant against the stealthy infiltration of liberalism into our midst.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_03.htm

Spoiler

sam harris is a racist nitwit however

 

[Grunker]

Eh, the language police have infested a lot of the leftist movements you're talking about. Not necessarily becoming dominant, but they at least have a present.

True, we must be ever vigilant against the stealthy infiltration of liberalism into our midst.

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_03.htm

Spoiler

sam harris is a racist nitwit however

Use the we carefully, I am but a filthy social democrat with folk socialist tendencies

Edit: oh, and incredibly strict views on immigration

 

[TrueNeutralPaladin]

But was she a SJW-type leftist? She's like old-school (well, now they seem to be old-school) guerillafags who keeps AK-47 under the bed and believe that the Zapatista Army did nuthing wreng. Language police wasn't that important among leftists back then.

It still isn't. Liberals are the ones obsessed with language-policing, not leftists. (Although to be fair there are leftists who have been infected with that mind virus as well.)

(The confusion is understandable. Because "socialist," "Communist," or even "social democrat" were not acceptable for use in polite company in the US, everyone to the left of Dwight Eisenhower was dubbed "liberal," with a qualifier "progressive" applied to those a bit more to the left. In actual fact "liberals" included a whole bunch of different groups that really didn't have much in common at all. Nobody outside the US would even think of plonking Damsel into the same category as, say, Hillary Clinton.)

I don't know how the terms are currently used in Europe, but in the United States, it's typically "progressives" who are the ones obsessed with language policing and other SJW nonsense. Liberal is used as more of a generic term for the Left at present. Once upon a time, it meant something similar to the current meaning of the term libertarian (which itself has been used to denote very different things at various times). That's why you'll occasionally see someone specify "classical liberal" (meaning advocating both social and economic freedom in general).

It is most definitely a clusterfuck of terms and makes political conversations more difficult.

 

[Hirato]

They should ask Alex Jones to eb the lead writer

I'd absolutely love if they do sort of "podcasts" you can listen to in game (just because it's been 15 yeas and radio's kind of dying...), that's exactly like Joe Rogan chatting with Alex Jones.
Where the latter's standin will spend about 50% of the time talking about things you just did, and the other 50% going off the absolute deep end.

ala, Deb of Night every time Gomez called in with his conspiracies.

 

[Oreshnik Missile]

Well if all that crazy shit is going on, I would be very reassured to find dick and balls still where they ought to be

 

[Sykar]

I seriously wonder here.

you are turned to a vampire. A *vampire*. A blood-sucking, mind-controlling vampire. You just found out that the supernatural is real and there is a whole underworld that operates the hierarchy of this state and keeps it hidden from everyone. Not only that, but you are being hunted by creatures of darkness to whom you are at best a useful pawn and at worst food.

And the first thing you must choose is pronouns.

That 5th generation patriarchal Sabbat asshole is not allowed to suck you dry until he addressed you properly with xir/xis/whatevervbullshitfloatsyourboat! Otherwise he will get dogpiled by purpled haired social injustice creampuff thin bloods on Twitter, the evil bastard!

 

[Havoc]

Or get banned for using Deus Vult memes on their official discord. It feels like the game is going to be infested.

 

[Prime Junta]

plz invent some new material, this is really tired

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I love how these YouTube channels centered around "GAMING OUTRAGE" latch onto Bloodlines 2's possibility of being an SJW deathpit as though they actually give a shit.

It's called clever marketing. Those videos wouldn't be made if there were no comments made by devs that can be interpreted in way some people deem as an evil SJW. After a year people will forget about those comments, but they will still have some memory about the game. Just as marketing experts have foreseen. They play both sides of the conflict. I bet they laughed out loudly trying to think of comments that will trigger people the most.

 

[Havoc]

I love how these YouTube channels centered around "GAMING OUTRAGE" latch onto Bloodlines 2's possibility of being an SJW deathpit as though they actually give a shit.

It's called clever marketing. Those videos wouldn't be made if there were no comments made by devs that can be interpreted in way some people deem as an evil SJW. After a year people will forget about those comments, but they will still have some memory about the game. Just as marketing experts have foreseen. They play both sides of the conflict. I bet they laughed out loudly trying to think of comments that will trigger people the most.

I do hope it's like this. The newer WoD (Chronicles also) are infested with SJWs, the newer they get. It gets harder to read every time.

 

[gerey]

I seriously wonder here.

you are turned to a vampire. A *vampire*. A blood-sucking, mind-controlling vampire. You just found out that the supernatural is real and there is a whole underworld that operates the hierarchy of this state and keeps it hidden from everyone. Not only that, but you are being hunted by creatures of darkness to whom you are at best a useful pawn and at worst food.

And the first thing you must choose is pronouns.

The only way to fight monsters is to become one yourself.

 

[TrueNeutralPaladin]

So how did that bodyguard outfit (and Tender shirt) promo work?

I'd planned on snagging it to have in case the game ends up being good, but there was a fire in the building that day and I was too busy dealing with the chaos at work to finish the "quests", link the accounts, and watch the Twitch stream as it was broadcast.

Did they send codes or emails to accounts watching the stream or what?

 

[laclongquan]

I seriously wonder here.

you are turned to a vampire. A *vampire*. A blood-sucking, mind-controlling vampire. You just found out that the supernatural is real and there is a whole underworld that operates the hierarchy of this state and keeps it hidden from everyone. Not only that, but you are being hunted by creatures of darkness to whom you are at best a useful pawn and at worst food.

And the first thing you must choose is pronouns.

Oh, there's a psychological reason for it.

You find solace in defining who you are. What you are.

And to choose pronoun is just a way to define what sex you are. And it's a very important facet of our personality.

If you ever NOT find importance in what sex you are, people will see a fat, bald, hairy male wearing sailor skirt uniform and girl's fairy wand, running around cons. Bright pink shirt and pink wand.

 

[HansDampf]

I love how these YouTube channels centered around "GAMING OUTRAGE" latch onto Bloodlines 2's possibility of being an SJW deathpit as though they actually give a shit.

It's called clever marketing. Those videos wouldn't be made if there were no comments made by devs that can be interpreted in way some people deem as an evil SJW. After a year people will forget about those comments, but they will still have some memory about the game. Just as marketing experts have foreseen. They play both sides of the conflict. I bet they laughed out loudly trying to think of comments that will trigger people the most.

Classic outrage virus, also propagated via misleading clickbait headlines and youtubers who thrive on internet drama, like our prestigious cRPG connoisseur Sargon of Akkad, the go-to channel for in-depth vidya game discussion.
Who knows, maybe the writing is going to turn as ham-fisted as that Rudi fanfic. But until we see some evidence of that, as in actual characters and dialogue from the game, I'd like to remain fabulously optimistic. Because everything else I've read so far sounds like the best possible scenario for a VtMB sequel anyone could have realistically hoped for.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

TBH I find the entire premise of this game very problematic. What if you don't consent to being embraced? How do they think players who have been raped will feel when encountering this?
edit: I'm being serious. I hope the writers take this into account and allow you to end the game early just by saying No and having the vampire respect your wishes.