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

[Nortar]

Guys you are hyping this game too much.

There are two possibilities here: either the game is going to suck, or the game is going not to suck

As Rosa would have said "Whether it sucks or not... matters not. It's if you bought it." %) Hence the hype.

 

[Fedora Master]

Isn't bestiality a crime? How is that thing still walking around free?

Relevant

 

[Herumor]

8 pages long preview. I wonder how much of it will contain actually new information on the game, rather than regurgitating what's already been revealed about it.

 

[Chippy]

I leave this thread for a few days...

So bestiality is welcome in the White Wolf universe, but Trump supporters are not. Ok. As Johnny Cash said: "Let he who is filthy, let him be filthy still".

 

[jungl]

Ya you could read that 8 pages of shit everyones already heard or watch 1 hour of gameplay footage here

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw?t=356

https://youtu.be/bpAi70WWBlw?t=356 Looks like the story will be about ventrues hiring you to kill homeless people while malkavians and nosferatu trying to keep them alive and spreading. Third party new to V5 world of darkness known as (((them))) spreading a drug causing the whole shenanigans. Mama milkies christina hendricks vamp wants you to get out there and figure out whats going on.

 

[Herumor]

Well, as it turned out, most of the preview was just repeating what we already know, and it wasn't really 8 pages, since the very first page is just the cover art of the guy sitting on the ferris wheel. Here's some of the bits that aren't just straight out reused quotes we'd heard before:

Unlike the original, both melee and ranged combat are viewed from first-person. It’s a highly improvisational system, with your vampire using his fists, objects in the environment and his powers to gain an edge. For example, your thinblood can yank firearms out of enemy hands using telekinesis, or fly into the air to literally get the drop on an opponent. Also players will be able to equip two melee and two ranged weapons at any a time. But as Schwarzer says, “How you and your equipment looks at the end of that fight might be quite a bit different.” However you approach combat, Hardsuit is keen to ensure that it communicates your supernatural power, speed, and resilience. Even as a thin-blood you can comfortably tear through an armed gang of humans using only your fists. At a higher level, you’ll be able to enact devastating special moves, for which the camera will zoom out into third-person.

After the fight, we encounter a man who turns out to be a fellow thin-blood created in theMass Embrace.We don’t get much time to compare notes, however, as he is immediately killed from behind by another vampire who whispers “You’re not onmy list” to us before vanishing.

After the incident at the pier, for example, we travel to our first safehouse, an apartment sub-let by a reclusive vampire named Dale, who is our guide into the world of Bloodlines 2 much like Smiling Jack was in the original. He’s also the first character you talk to at any length. As you’d expect, dialogue plays a huge role in Bloodlines 2, with your skills and abilities affecting your conversation options. Mitsoda was also keen to retain the noir-ish vibe and black humour of Bloodlines 1. “This game has just been incredibly fun to write. The characters are some of my favourite characters that I’ve ever done for a game, and Paradox has given me a lot of freedom, which I’m not used to from the publisher side, just kind of going, ‘What do you want to do?’.” Mitsoda won’t go into specifics, but Paradox hints that amongst those characters will be familiar faces from Bloodlines 1.

After giving us the basics, Dale lets us into the apartment. Inside is a pinboard covered with notes and documents, put up by the fledgling vamp we just saw murdered as he tried to figure out who was responsible for his transformation. Bloodlines 2’s approach to quest design is closer in spirit to the original than more modern RPGs, in the sense that quests won’t be flagged by NPCs with exclamations marks floating above their heads. You’ll need to explore to uncover new stories and adventures. Among the documentation, for example, is a missing cat poster. As you explore Seattle, you’ll find greater concentrations of missing cat posters in certain areas and, if you take the time to investigate the phenomenon, you can eventually discover where all the cats have gone, and why they have disappeared…

While some quest lines can be stumbled upon, others may arise depending on how you play Bloodlines 2. Unlike the first game, there are multiple factions alongside the Camarilla that you can work for. “You’ll have a different experience based on who you’re working with, and you can even, you know, insult factions to the point where they won’t work with you anymore,” he says. “You can really do a number on your reputation in this game,” Mitsoda explains.

A crucial part of this reputation is the Masquerade, the code of conduct to which all vampires are expected to adhere. The key word here is ‘expected’. You can violate the Masquerade in small ways, such as being spotted feeding by another human, or bigger ways, like going on a public rampage. Both will have ramifications for you and the city. People will be less likely to go out at night, meaning you’ll have fewer bodies to feed on, while repeated violations may cause Seattle’s chief vampire, Prince Cross, to send supernatural enforcers after you. Schlütter demonstrates this at the end of the demo by venturing into the first of the game’s multiple city-hubs, Pioneer Square (Bloodlines 2 follows the hub-and-spoke design of the original). He drops from a rooftop and publicly feeds on a civilian, which causes the police to start chasing him and triggers a Masquerade violation.

Importantly, the Masquerade isn’t a one-way descent into chaos.

You can restore your Masquerade rating to a certain extent. One way to do this is to join Prince Cross’ clean-up crew, which clears up the messes left behind by Masquerade violating vampires. The clean-up crew exemplifies the weirdness Mitsoda and Hardsuit are hoping to carry over from Bloodlines to the sequel. The organisation is run by a man named Bart, who has seen every kind of horror imaginable and is completely numb to it. An early quest involves clearing the mess left behind after a disastrous romantic entanglement between a vampire and a human. “If someone exploded in a small hotel room, that’s what that would look like,” Schlütter explains. “You’re there to just pick up the pieces. Literally, the pieces. And Bart just comments on whatever is there, eating his noodle-soup.”

Hardsuit Labs want players to explore Bloodlines organically. This extends beyond how players find quests, to how they solve them. In the early game, your choice of character background will impact upon your experience. If you choose Police Officer, for example, then should you need to visit the police station, you don’t have to find a back entrance and sneak around, you can just walk through the front. But even this comes with complications. “Your colleague will come and say ‘Hey where have you been the last two weeks? Social security has covered for you, but you need to get back to work’,” Schlütter says.

It all sounds enormously ambitious. There are many other systems and ideas explained that I’ve barely touched upon. Schwarzer states that Hardsuit labs “set out to provide as many active unlocks as possible during your progression system” while the developers point out there will be extensive customisation options that let you enrobe your vampire however you like.

That about wraps the stuff anyone might give a shit about.

 

[throwaway69420]

It’s definitely taking political stances on what we think are right and wrong

The developer is taking a refreshing approach of weaving politics into the game, both in terms of narrative and gameplay.

Clooney says it’s central to Bloodlines 2 that the writers are actively taking a political stance in this sequel

gender pronouns

senior writer Cara Ellison

Ellison […] worked as a narrative consultant on 2016’s Dishonored 2.

“It’s fifteen years later and things have changed,” Mitsoda said. “We have to be very sensitive about how we handle things like mental illness and that was a concern for us and for Paradox, in how we can make a mature story but if we do anything, we do our homework and make sure that we are punching up and not punching down.”

“It was very of its time,” Ellison said of the first game. “It approached certain topics differently. How we look at stuff has matured since then.”

It's not going to capture the niche atmosphere and feeling of the first Bloodlines game. AT BEST, it's going to be mediocre. It's NOT going to be good unless this is all to bait hard-left consumers into giving the devs their money, which is almost certainly not true judging by the aposematism on display amongst their developers ranks. I WAS pretty pissed about this travesty in the making but then I realized videogames haven't been good for years and years, so eh, who cares. We still have the first game to enjoy as well as the rest of our backlogs. Fingers crossed that it flops and all the perpetrators of this crime are left jobless. Same wishes for the idiots who wrote the latest nWoD books and caused an international incident with their debased, insane idiocy. (Not going to happen with leftist nepotism but one can hope.)

 

[HarveyBirdman]

1:100 odds says you're the chosen thin-blood who gets special powers by the mid-game.

 

[Zombra]

Cat posters? I don't want to collect cat posters.

Speaking of sexiness, Ellison has (wisely) retreated from Twitter for the time being, so hasn't answered my very pertinent tweet:



Mitsoda has been more talkative, maybe he'll answer a similar one I sent him just now:

 

[HansDampf]

Didn't someone somewhere in this thread post a RPS article of hers in which she was gushing over VtMB, and basically admitted to be gay for Jeanette?

 

[Raziel]

Are we in the clear or is he telling sweet little lies?

 

[Jedi Exile]

I wonder could it be possible that the player is not actually a thin-blood unlike others sired during mass embrace, but a normal vamp, although he/she thinks to be one up to a certain point in the game.

 

[ArchAngel]

I wonder could it be possible that the player is not actually a thin-blood unlike others sired during mass embrace, but a normal vamp, although he/she thinks to be one up to a certain point in the game.

That would explain the "you are not on my list" comment but it would not explain access to thin blood powers.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Are we in the clear or is he telling sweet little lies?

"The characters are some of my favourite characters that I've ever done"

Is that even proper English ?

 

[pomenitul]

It's proper colloquial English, Frenchman.

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Guys you are hyping this game too much.

There are two possibilities here: either the game is going to suck, or the game is going not to suck after Paradox releases his 50 dlc(s) as it happens for every game. Why are you watching a game that will be complete 6 years after the release?

(btw, is 6 years after release still too soon, considering Paradox precedent behaviour?)

Who doesn't like to watch a dumpster fire burn?

 

[Prime Junta]

Isn't bestiality a crime? How is that thing still walking around free?

There is no federal bestiality law in USA, I'd imagine there's a few states lacking laws against it.

You appear to be familiar with the legislation on the topic.

 

[Lord Commissar Alexer]

I am honestly wondering how many DLC's this game will recieve...

 

[Roguey]

An early quest involves clearing the mess left behind after a disastrous romantic entanglement between a vampire and a human.

Grunker, who loathed the "sweep these floors" quest in Risen, will surely be thrilled with this.

 

[Grunker]

An early quest involves clearing the mess left behind after a disastrous romantic entanglement between a vampire and a human.

Grunker, who loathed the "sweep these floors" quest in Risen, will surely be thrilled with this.

Your memory is infallible.

EDIT: Also bollocks to you for reminding me of that nonsense

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Could be fun.

 

[True Ukrainian]

The player will probably be a thin blood who can raise their strength past their generation level using the resonance mechanic. The mass embrace will probably be an experiment and the terminated thin bloods were the failures.

 

[TrueNeutralPaladin]

Unlike the original, both melee and ranged combat are viewed from first-person. It’s a highly improvisational system, with your vampire using his fists, objects in the environment and his powers to gain an edge. For example, your thinblood can yank firearms out of enemy hands using telekinesis, or fly into the air to literally get the drop on an opponent. Also players will be able to equip two melee and two ranged weapons at any a time. But as Schwarzer says, “How you and your equipment looks at the end of that fight might be quite a bit different.” However you approach combat, Hardsuit is keen to ensure that it communicates your supernatural power, speed, and resilience. Even as a thin-blood you can comfortably tear through an armed gang of humans using only your fists. At a higher level, you’ll be able to enact devastating special moves, for which the camera will zoom out into third-person.

This whole "player is a thin-blood but it's okay because they're totes super-strong in this game" is really off-putting.

---

This is an interesting read:

https://gamingtrend.com/feature/rev...ie-vampire-the-masquerade-5th-edition-review/

 

[ZVERMIX]

Didn't someone somewhere in this thread post a RPS article of hers in which she was gushing over VtMB, and basically admitted to be gay for Jeanette?

Yup, that was we. The articles:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/06/20/s-exe-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-part-1/
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/24/vampire-masquerade-sex-e/

Some excerpts:

For this week’s S.EXE I thought I’d write you the first part of my spiral into the dark, sexy overtones of one of the best-written western RPGs we’ve got, and my quest for someone there who gives a damn about me (Jeanette)

And I say to you: is there a time at which vampires were not flimsy sexy sulkbros? Sex is the monster, my dears. The libido is the monster. It’s just who possesses it that’s under contention.

But as I say, VTMB is gutsy, in that it embraces the fang metaphor, the penetrative act – it wholeheartedly embraces an erotic overtone in a way that makes you aware that games tend to actively avoid such material.

However, what rescues VTMB from my sighs of ‘maybe we should have more diversity in the presentation of bodies here’ is the writing.

Why can’t I just stay around my own kind? I don’t deserve human contact. I’m a mess. I have to find her (Jeanette). Yeah, she sticks in the mind. She’s here to welcome me. Ah, I think. I will go through hell for you, before the sun comes up. Yes, a special kind of hell.

Bloodlines treats characters as much more complex than we have a right to expect from games, though I think there could be huge improvement in its treatment of women and sexuality, and its treatment of people of colour is very poor. It still manages to stand out from other games in the way it welcomes sexual themes

Yeah, she's definitely gay for Jeanette. And she likes the original's brand of "sexy" (with some "diversity" reservations).
Also, during the announcement she said she's constantly looking to make the sequel "sexier" in all ways possible. So there's some optimism for you Zombra.

 

[shiteatingnippledick]

Bloodlines 2’s approach to quest design is closer in spirit to the original than more modern RPGs, in the sense that quests won’t be flagged by NPCs with exclamations marks floating above their heads. You’ll need to explore to uncover new stories and adventures.

Important NPCs with exclamation marks is the norm now. Exploring is so last decade in video games.