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

[Ezeekiel]

After Battletech I wouldn't trust HBS with any known IP.

For what it's worth, Kiva's gone.

Oh? Just moved on, or did he get fired?

 

[user]

I wasn't following this for the last few months - and now everyone got fired? Why? What happened? Can anyone summarize?

 

[Hellraiser]

I wasn't following this for the last few months - and now everyone got fired? Why? What happened? Can anyone summarize?

High turnover, key people (Mitsoda included) getting fired/leaving, delayed release date. Basically a clusterfuck.

 

[Wunderbar]

I wasn't following this for the last few months - and now everyone got fired? Why? What happened? Can anyone summarize?

Cluney guy mismanaged the project and was fired. Mitsoda was Cluney's friend and was fired too, just to be sure.
Then Paradox realized that there's no one to fix the project, so they have hired some ubisoft corporate drone.
Then Paradox realized that Cara Ellison isn't quite up for the task to do the massive rewrites, so they had her fired too, and got some mass effect andromeda writer as a replacement.

One bad decision after another.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

It was more like - despite her own writing ability - Cara Ellison could see the writing on the wall and quit.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

As anyone who has survived her masturbating space pirates in Void Bastards knows, that was indeed not a compliment in any way whatsoever. Aside from some jokes thematically lifted from HHGTTG, that game ripped off Alien to blow the concept of humor out the aft airlock.

 

[Caim]

Pretty sure Saints Row 2 had a bulge slider for both men and women.

 

[Momock]

Pretty sure Saints Row 2 had a bulge slider for both men and women.

It was Saint's Row 3, and for men only. Women have the boobs slider.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

As anyone who has survived her masturbating space pirates in Void Bastards knows, that was indeed not a compliment in any way whatsoever. Aside from some jokes thematically lifted from HHGTTG, that game ripped off Alien to blow the concept of humor out the aft airlock.

Was tempted to check this out (not because of Ellison), but now I probably will wait until... well, until.

Also heard the game gets repetitive as shit pretty fast, so there's that, too - but again, haven't played it.

 

[Semiurge]

If this means that the blue haired turk Elif gets flushed down with the rest, I'm okay with it. Resetera lowlifes were cumming in their panties because the game featured yet another muslim.

 

[Vincente]

If this means that the blue haired turk Elif gets flushed down with the rest, I'm okay with it. Resetera lowlifes were cumming in their panties because the game featured yet another muslim.

I agree, we need more Assamites.

 

[Grunker]

Bloodlines was all about getting to Story Content or Dungeon Content without a bunch of gamey stuff getting in the way. Seems to be better received than The Outer Worlds which takes the approach you want.

I agree with your overall sentiment but at the same time I think I've finally nailed down what defines the Rogueyism. It's these oddly specific, out-of-context comparisons that elevate peripheral points to the status of central arguments.

Like, I in many cases prefer hub-based games because they free up developer resources and mean you don't have to take the open world into account which unloads a WHOOOOOLE lot of design tension. But... is that really the reason why people like Bloodlines and dislike The Outer Worlds? In fact, is it even *a* reason? Or does that have much more to do with all the stuff Bloodlines does brilliantly despite its flaws while The Outer Worlds doesn't do really much of anything that well?

It's like... if a Roxorism is identifying all the flaws and qualities of something and then letting whether he likes that thing govern whether flaws should be blown out of proportion and qualities understated - or vice versa - a Rogueyism is using hyperspecific comparisons to argue something regardless of whether these hyperspecific examples are all that relevant in the broader scope of why something is true (or not).

 

[Delterius]

Take the hubs from Bloodlines and add more detail, maybe even verticality. Instead of really tiny looking streets in downtown, create a few of life-sized blocks. And so on. No need for an open world. That's already the approach they decided for Bloodlines 2, no?

 

[Roguey]

I agree with your overall sentiment but at the same time I think I've finally nailed down what defines the Rogueyism. It's these oddly specific, out-of-context comparisons that elevate peripheral points to the status of central arguments.

Like, I in many cases prefer hub-based games because they free up developer resources and mean you don't have to take the open world into account which unloads a WHOOOOOLE lot of design tension. But... is that really the reason why people like Bloodlines and dislike The Outer Worlds? In fact, is it even *a* reason? Or does that have much more to do with all the stuff Bloodlines does brilliantly despite its flaws while The Outer Worlds doesn't do really much of anything that well?

It's like... if a Roxorism is identifying all the flaws and qualities of something and then letting whether he likes that thing govern whether flaws should be blown out of proportion and qualities understated - or vice versa - a Rogueyism is using hyperspecific comparisons to argue something regardless of whether these hyperspecific examples are all that relevant in the broader scope of why something is true (or not).

TOW is what immediately came to mind, but overall I believe the fixation on having constant dopamine hits in games (as mentioned here in TOW's case) is a trade-off of getting short-term highs for long-term malaise, resulting in a less-satisfactory experience overall.

 

[Mintbarbecue]

Will end up the same as Cyberbug 77 released as Early access (which is disservice to real Early access games that devs actually work on) more like paid Beta version selling millions.
Which will also set an even more agressive trend in the AAA game industry, towards releasing half finished games as legal scams. Kind of reminds me of Teleshopping network.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Will end up the same as Cyberbug 77 released as Early access (which is disservice to real Early access games that devs actually work on) more like paid Beta version selling millions.
Which will also set an even more agressive trend in the AAA game industry, towards releasing half finished games as legal scams. Kind of reminds me of Teleshopping network.

Seems like a trend, as if there might be a lesson to be learned about trying to port the new hotness onto 7 year-old Game Rigs 4 Retards. If it weren't for that CDPR could have put more Polish onto the PC version.

 

[karoliner]

I don't think this is ever coming out.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well, maybe when the Werewolf game comes out. They'll ride the WOD waves and cross their fingers.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

I don't think this is ever coming out.

This is probably an actual internal developer quote. Several developers.

 

[Ranarama]

Pretty sure Saints Row 2 had a bulge slider for both men and women.

It was Saint's Row 3, and for men only. Women have the boobs slider.

That's a shame, what kind of character creator wouldn't allow you to accurately size the mound your female character has?

 

[Fedora Master]

I don't think this is ever coming out.

Good.

 

[prengle]

I don't think this is ever coming out.

that would be a nice thing and we can't have nice things this decade, nope

 

[Delterius]

It's coming out.

Paradox shall wield the full power of Sweden's economy (their bottomline) to make this work.

 

[TheChickenKing]

It seems that publishers have found that releasing a half-assed game and then half-assedly committing to finishing it to a state just barely below "acceptable" is more profitable than outright cancellation so I can't imagine this won't get released at all. Hopefully the extra dev time for them to properly woke-ify the game will also be used to make the gameplay less shit than it's looked in most of the pre-release footage.

 

[Yoomazir]

I bet Paradox is now regretting not hiring Obsidian for this game when they had the chance.