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

[Infinitron]

https://www.shacknews.com/article/1...querade-bloodlines-2-interview-choices-matter

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 interview: Choices matter
We get the skinny on the upcoming vampire sequel from the folks at HardSuit labs.

The blood moon is high and Seattle's dark denizens are at war. It's time to return to one of gaming's most cherished worlds via the long-awaited sequel Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Developer Hardsuit Labs and publisher Paradox Interactive are hard at work on following up one of the most beloved cult classics in all of PC gaming. The team brought an all-new gameplay demo to Gamescom this year to show off what they’ve been working on since the game was announced earlier this year.

While we were at Gamescom 2019, we got the opportunity to speak with the team about the game and learn what goes into building an experience where player choice drives the outcome of the narrative.

In Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, players will take on the role of the humans recently turned into a creature of the night during an unsanctioned Mass Embrace, thrust right into the battle between factions in Seattle. You're one of the witnesses, so you're going to be crucial to unraveling this mystery and you're going to have to choose a side along the way.

There are three editions of Bloodlines 2 available for fans to pre-order: Standard, Unsanctioned, and Blood Moon. The Unsanctioned version is the deluxe edition of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 and includes the Unsanctioned Blood Pack, which features an art book, in-game dev commentary by Brian Mitsode, the Smiling Jack and Jeanette outfits, severed arm weapon skin, Sarcophagus Table, Damsel's Beret, Voerman Family Portrait, and Stop Sign item. The Blood Moon edition includes all of that plus the Season Pass for Bloodlines 2, called Season of the Wolf. The pass will give access to two story packs and an expansion. All editions are up now on Steam.

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[drgames]

Imagine getting PTSD disorder from playing a videogame.

 

[Duraframe300]

Almost all RPGs should be shorter.

A good CRPG should be at least 60 hours!

Translation: Bethesda is the king of rpgs. Fallout 1 was shit and doesn't isn't one of most quality rpgs ever. Should have had more fetch quests.

 

[Cael]

Imagine getting PTSD disorder for playing a videogame.

Sjws... Not. Even. Once.

 

[Wesp5]

Yes, and if they'd had more time they could have properly finished it. 3 years isn't some magic number at which every game achieves its best final form.

The main problem wasn't the time, but that Troika had to work with an unfinished Source engine that Valve was constantly updating, thus breaking their game.

 

[J1M]

Yes, and if they'd had more time they could have properly finished it. 3 years isn't some magic number at which every game achieves its best final form.

The main problem wasn't the time, but that Troika had to work with an unfinished Source engine that Valve was constantly updating, thus breaking their game.

This statement is incorrect for two reasons.

1) They didn't have to use an unfinished source engine to make the game. Another engine could have been selected.

2) They could have stopped accepting software updates at any time. Obviously each update that broke the game contained some other functionality that was deemed worth the effort of applying it.

 

[Zer0wing]

1) They didn't have to use an unfinished source engine to make the game. Another engine could have been selected.

The alternatives were much, much worse.

 

[J1M]

1) They didn't have to use an unfinished source engine to make the game. Another engine could have been selected.

The alternatives were much, much worse.

Deus Ex was built on the Unreal Engine and released 4 and a half years prior.

 

[Zer0wing]

Deus Ex was built on the Unreal Engine and released 4 and a half years prior.

Just go fuck yourself with your retarded frills.

Troika wanted to develop a cutting edge action rpg with good facial animations and rich detailed environments. The only one who could satisfy their needs was GabeN. In 2001 at least.

 

[Zer0wing]

J1M Hey pussy, why have you deleted your retarded post?

 

[gerey]

They didn't have to use an unfinished source engine to make the game. Another engine could have been selected.

Didn't the publisher force them to use the engine? Or am I remembering things wrong?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Personally I'd say that aside from the reckless move to use unfinished tech was the decision to try and give the game multiplayer. I'd imagine that ate a lot of time and resources that could have been put elsewhere and what ended up flushed down the toilet.

2) They could have stopped accepting software updates at any time. Obviously each update that broke the game contained some other functionality that was deemed worth the effort of applying it.

They actually did. A lot of the problems are because Bloodlines runs on a beta version of Source that's held together with duct-tape and good wishes, one that isn't even compatible with release version of Source either.

Didn't the publisher force them to use the engine? Or am I remembering things wrong?

IIRC it was because of Valve's demo of their face animation tech.

 

[Zer0wing]

Personally I'd say that aside from the reckless move to use unfinished tech was the decision to try and give the game multiplayer. I'd imagine that ate a lot of time and resources that could have been put elsewhere and what ended up flushed down the toilet.

Multiplayer was only a consideration later during development. So, it wasn't the cause. The cause was the developers themselves wanting to add more and more and MORE beyond their original intents with no planned and written in stone design doc beforehand.

Didn't the publisher force them to use the engine? Or am I remembering things wrong?

No. The publisher just got butthurted over lost deadlines.

 

[HansDampf]

Deus Ex was built on the Unreal Engine and released 4 and a half years prior.

Imagine facial animations in an Unreal Engine.

 

[Zer0wing]

Imagine facial animations in an Unreal Engine.

Oh yeah, all those expressive facial animations in, say, Unreal 2 and DE:IW.

 

[Cross]

Bloodlines is unfinished in ways that have nothing to do with engine-related issues though. E.g. one of the most obvious oversights is that they didn't seem to have recorded any voice sets, so civilians, cops, criminals, ghouls, vampires and even named NPCs and bosses all have the same stock voice actor saying the same stock lines during gameplay ('Hey! Stop right there!').

 

[Infinitron]

https://wccftech.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-gamescom-preview/

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Preview – Protect the Masquerade

So, let’s get something pretty simple out of the way – I’m incredibly excited about Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. I’m a huge fan of the original, still one of the best RPG’s ever in my eyes, despite it being incredibly clunky upon release and for so long after that. When it was teased and then announced, well I became as excitable as the yappiest of puppies. This was almost on the same level as my giddiness for Three Kingdoms: Total War. So, when I got offered the chance to check it out at Gamescom, there wasn’t a chance that I wouldn’t jump on the chance.

Now, the problem I have is simple. It was a hands-off demo. I so wanted to have a hands-on with the game but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. I was told, however, that the very first hands-on demo for press and the public will be available at PDXCON in October. Still, that’s enough about that, let’s talk about the game itself and what I got to see.



I know it’s getting a bit trite now to say “this game looks good” – or something along those lines – because we’re at the stage now that to make a game actually look bad, you have to do something seriously wrong. In the case of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, it looks fantastic. Even from the forty or so minutes I spent watching the game being played in front of me, I could feel the atmosphere oozing out of every corner. Seattle looks fantastic, with steam rising from vents, the neon of the night club cast over the streets and the movement of what few people there are wandering the streets at night.

Naturally, this environment and the dark does help you – to an extent anyway. There are areas that you desperately need to be careful, keeping up the masquerade. For those who aren’t aware, the masquerade is the cover that keeps the fact that vampires exist hidden from the rest of the world. If you perform supernatural feats in specific ‘masquerade areas’, such as town squares, you’re going to get noticed. Frankly, do anything not-human in front of a person, you’re going to bring down the wrath of the vampiric community.

Indeed, you have to be careful throughout, never mind just with keeping the masquerade. Don’t drink enough blood, you may go feral. Another interesting fact about blood now is that it’s got a flavour, dependant on the mood your victim is in. This leads into the new desire system, where you get a taste for a particular type of blood, and particular types of blood can offer different boosts.

Still, drink too much out of a certain person and you’re going to kill them, which will have an impact on the humanity system within the game, affecting your character (and likely the story) in different ways. More than the humanity system, your decisions as you progress will also unlock or cancel out options along the way. In dialogue, you can have the option to negotiate or coerce people, and more. It’s exactly as you would imagine from a full-blown RPG of this calibre.



So here, you’re actually a thinblood, essentially the bottom of the chain in vampiric society. As you’ve seen from earlier trailers, you start on trial after being turned against your will. This is what can make the World of Darkness so special, the hierarchy of society, the politics of the world and the intrigue around everything. Naturally, you’re going to get sucked into it, being a new vampire and a part of a particular clan. Fortunately, unlike in the first game, you’re going to have more options of who you actually work for.

That’s something that was mentioned by the developers while they were showing us the game. Here in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, you’ll have multiple options to choose from as you progress. Do you want to work for the Brujah or the Malkavians? Maybe the Ventrue? You’re going to have multiple options. When asked, the developers said they’re aiming for roughly 30 hours within the first playthrough, dependant on how much you want to explore, and more after due to the options available and the multitude of sidequests and mini-stories that will be littered throughout.

Naturally, this is how it should be. Letting you choose your own story, which begins with character creation. With three Thinblood Disciplines to choose from, these being Chiropteran, Mentalism or Nebulation, then with the clans, your appearance and then the decisions within the game, there’s a lot of moving parts that will define you as the type of person vampire you are.



There are other ways to kill of course, particularly in combat, which was shown off quite well during the presentation, after showing off the different glow people give off based on their blood style. Naturally, in combat, you have multiple options, such as going in all aggressive-like or taking the sneaky route. Depending on the type of vampire you are, there are a number of abilities that will help you along the way. Some designed to kill, some to incapacitate. That or, you know, you could just pick up a big gun and shoot people to death.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 seems to be all about choice and that’s what appeals to me the most, after getting the setting right. The setting of Seattle seems like an ideal choice, not least because developers Hardsuit Labs are based there, but simply due to the fact it’s thought of as a fairly dark, cloudy and wet place. Ideal for those who avoid the sun. The way it’s set out here is also very similar to the first game, not being an open world, but with hub areas where other areas come off as spokes of a sort. This should allow for a more focused and detailed approach to the areas.

Paradox has released a video of a shortened, less meandering version of the demo I was shown during Gamescom, so you are more than free to see what you think of it yourself. The fact that this is still in a pre-alpha stage, with something that looks this good and with the ability to wander around the hub as they were, leaves me with good thoughts about the final product. That final product is scheduled to be released on the PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sometime in March 2020.

 

[Roguey]

Didn't the publisher force them to use the engine? Or am I remembering things wrong?

The original plan was to do Journey to the Center of Arcanum in Source for Sierra, however, the bad blood between Sierra and Valve made this impossible, so they took their idea for a first person Source RPG to Activision.

 

[J1M]

J1M Hey pussy, why have you deleted your retarded post?

Having a boomer moment? The post was never deleted.

 

[J1M]

I'll grant that it may not have been possible to do the same quality of facial animations in another engine. Hard to say for sure what would have been possible if all of that effort dealing with an unfinished engine had just been invested in animation instead. Though I consider facial animation graphics a strange hill for RPG fans to die on. My point was that years prior game systems of equivalent sophistication had been implemented in another engine.

 

[Alexios]

I'll grant that it may not have been possible to do the same quality of facial animations in another engine. Hard to say for sure what would have been possible if all of that effort dealing with an unfinished engine had just been invested in animation instead. Though I consider facial animation graphics a strange hill for RPG fans to die on. My point was that years prior game systems of equivalent sophistication had been implemented in another engine.

Isn't your point about Unreal made moot by the very game this thread is about? Having seen this gameplay, pre-alpha or not, I can only imagine how much worse Bloodlines would have been had it been made in this engine. It was never meant to be a game like Deus Ex, which was more of a gameplayfag's game while Bloodlines focused on the intrigue of individual characters (hence the need for quality dialogue animations). People generally only remember Deus Ex's dialogue because of how comical it was.

 

[J1M]

I'll grant that it may not have been possible to do the same quality of facial animations in another engine. Hard to say for sure what would have been possible if all of that effort dealing with an unfinished engine had just been invested in animation instead. Though I consider facial animation graphics a strange hill for RPG fans to die on. My point was that years prior game systems of equivalent sophistication had been implemented in another engine.

Isn't your point about Unreal made moot by the very game this thread is about? Having seen this gameplay, pre-alpha or not, I can only imagine how much worse Bloodlines would have been had it been made in this engine. It was never meant to be a game like Deus Ex, which was more of a gameplayfag's game while Bloodlines focused on the intrigue of individual characters (hence the need for quality dialogue animations). People generally only remember Deus Ex's dialogue because of how comical it was.

Since every statement of this post contains glaring factual errors I'm going to assume it is an attempt at trolling.

 

[Alexios]

I'll grant that it may not have been possible to do the same quality of facial animations in another engine. Hard to say for sure what would have been possible if all of that effort dealing with an unfinished engine had just been invested in animation instead. Though I consider facial animation graphics a strange hill for RPG fans to die on. My point was that years prior game systems of equivalent sophistication had been implemented in another engine.

Isn't your point about Unreal made moot by the very game this thread is about? Having seen this gameplay, pre-alpha or not, I can only imagine how much worse Bloodlines would have been had it been made in this engine. It was never meant to be a game like Deus Ex, which was more of a gameplayfag's game while Bloodlines focused on the intrigue of individual characters (hence the need for quality dialogue animations). People generally only remember Deus Ex's dialogue because of how comical it was.

Since every statement of this post contains glaring factual errors I'm going to assume it is an attempt at trolling.

Unsurprising. No one could even attempt an honest argument in favor of this absolute travesty of a game.

 

[J1M]

I'll grant that it may not have been possible to do the same quality of facial animations in another engine. Hard to say for sure what would have been possible if all of that effort dealing with an unfinished engine had just been invested in animation instead. Though I consider facial animation graphics a strange hill for RPG fans to die on. My point was that years prior game systems of equivalent sophistication had been implemented in another engine.

Isn't your point about Unreal made moot by the very game this thread is about? Having seen this gameplay, pre-alpha or not, I can only imagine how much worse Bloodlines would have been had it been made in this engine. It was never meant to be a game like Deus Ex, which was more of a gameplayfag's game while Bloodlines focused on the intrigue of individual characters (hence the need for quality dialogue animations). People generally only remember Deus Ex's dialogue because of how comical it was.

Since every statement of this post contains glaring factual errors I'm going to assume it is an attempt at trolling.

Unsurprising. No one could even attempt an honest argument in favor of this absolute travesty of a game.

Why would someone 'defend' a game that isn't out yet? You sound confused.

 

[Nano]

They didn't have to use an unfinished source engine to make the game. Another engine could have been selected.

And lose Valve's physics tech? Fuck that. Think before you post.