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

[Eli_Havelock]

I am hopeful we will have a thread along the lines of "Why did Sirotek go bankrupt" several years from now on Bloodlines 2. I want to know the leadup to taking Hardsuit Labs off development. It blows my mind for something reason, especially the press release and how it struggled to put a semi-positive spin on this development.

Off topic, but I am reminded of that retro space horror game Routine, where the developer went AWOL.

This reminds me of Paranoia: Crappiness is Mandatory, except that actually got to see the light of a few days before being taken out back and given the Old Yeller happy ending.

 

[The_Mask]

As a Transylvanian it is always a bit funny to see something undead related die.

Take a second. Put yourself in my shoes.





See? Funny.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

There is only one man who can save this doomed project. In fact, that's his specialty.

Spoiler

Can't unsee the stray neck hair in lower left

 

[Zombra]

has there ever actually been a game with a mid-development developer shift that actually turned out ok?

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...-is-being-released-unsung-story-thread.86513/

From what I saw, game is mediocre, but nothing really wrong with it.

 

[KateMicucci]

If the sickening, sacriligeous christmas trailer ("come dance") was any indication of what the final game would be like, I'm glad this was canned.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Hello gamers

Anne Rice vampires are fucking gay

That's all

Proceed

 

[Jenkem]

someone asked for this:

 

[Ismaul]

We still have utterly no clue as to why Mitsoda got sacked, right?

We were not there, but I'm not particularly into the mindset that it's always the evil publisher fucking with the good guy dev.

It's not completely out of the question that he was fairly shitty at doing his job, you know

So shitty we have the original Bloodlines to prove it! Wait-

 

[Ninjerk]

Whoever said "non-consenting Kindred" was onto something, I think. In the latest version of VtM, vampires will be polite good bois who dindu nuffin and ask for consent. Didn't Lestat do that in Interview? That's homoerotic enough to be palatable to the woke.

Louis, not Lestat.

"I'm going to give you the choice I never had." Something like that's Lestat's line. I didn't remember it before.

Dude, it's not even close to be the same.

Lestat was toying around. He is a whimsical character not a human right activist, wtf are you talking about xd

Besides in the books is Marius who sire that writer. The movie took a few licenses.

edit:

I'm sorry I failed a lore roll for your favorite homosexual vampire thriller.

 

[Ismaul]

No Mitsoda, no Bloodlines.

I don't see them hiring him back, so it's dead. Irreversible damage to the brand and the game. I have no interest in playing the salvage operation of Mitsoda's game. His characters are what made the original good.

They'd better call whatever game they make something else than Bloodlines.

Mitsoda's the guy who wrote the terribly bland Dead State and insisted that they hire Cara Ellison. His abilities as a writer have deteriorated considerably since 2004.

What we know is that Mitsoda needs a good team to perform, he's not that great when on his own. Aside from that, we can't conclude.

 

[Testownia]

Just listened to an interview with that female writer - an older one, of course - where she has a pouting fit over the fact that the translation team told her to stop putting genderqueer pronouns into the game, since only fucking English acknowledges those fantasies, and it's impossible to implement them into other languages. Apparently other languages aren't progressive enough. Racist.


https://www.rebind.io/the-rebind-po...on-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-ii-4799/

 

[Zombra]

Whoever said "non-consenting Kindred" was onto something, I think. In the latest version of VtM, vampires will be polite good bois who dindu nuffin and ask for consent. Didn't Lestat do that in Interview? That's homoerotic enough to be palatable to the woke.

What part of "vampires have to be invited in" did you not understand for 100 years?

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

(Art Director)

 

[fantadomat]

I would take you over the game any day.

I will keep you in me dungeon/basement and make you entertain me on the codex nugget! 100 funny posts per day or no food for you!

 

[TT1]

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

someone asked for this:

spends all 21 minutes and 36 seconds watching intently

Was that a boy or a girl?

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

I would take you over the game any day.

I will keep you in me dungeon/basement and make you entertain me on the codex nugget! 100 funny posts per day or no food for you!

Spoiler

 

[fantadomat]

What precedent is there for a developer being fired after years of work and a completely new developer coming in and salvaging a decent game out of their mess

Prey (originally kinda sorta Prey 2) would probably be the closest analogue... and it came out 12 years after originally announced. Not sure that's a positive act to follow.

Indeed, because Arkane's "Prey" had nothing in common with the original except for the name to trick naive players not being aware that they made System Shock 3 !

Really? I don't think that the original had any fanbase that wanted a sequel. Most likely they just liked the name and decided to stick with it.

 

[fantadomat]

Sooo Spacer's Nugget what is the secret behind this glorious fall? Which faggot fucked which faggot's boyfriend to make such a glorious drama ? You should know a bit of the drama for sure.

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

I had the impression Ka'ai Cluney has/had a serious drinking problem. I mean, as I was "researching" his social media presence, it was like 99% of his jokes were about booze (some even included MCA). Hell, even when talking about the origins of Bloodlines 2 (something along the lines: "I was drinking in the pub, you know, texting with Brian, so I shared my ideas for a sequel, then he told me his own ideas for it, yadda yadda, time passed quickly, I went home and had Brian join me for a few drinks and to work on a pitch in my living room, and then we drank to that.")

 

[fantadomat]

I had the impression Ka'ai Cluney has/had a serious drinking problem. I mean, as I was "researching" his social media presence, it was like 99% of his jokes were about booze (some even included MCA). Hell, even when talking about the origins of Bloodlines 2 (something along the lines: "I was drinking in the pub, you know, texting with Brian, so I shared my ideas for a sequel, then he told me his own ideas for it, yadda yadda, time passed quickly, I went home and had Brian join me for a few drinks and to work on a pitch in my living room, and then we drank to that.")

Well,to be a good writer you have to be a drunkard....but not every drunkards is a good writer.

 

[Spacer's Nugget]

I had the impression Ka'ai Cluney has/had a serious drinking problem. I mean, as I was "researching" his social media presence, it was like 99% of his jokes were about booze (some even included MCA). Hell, even when talking about the origins of Bloodlines 2 (something along the lines: "I was drinking in the pub, you know, texting with Brian, so I shared my ideas for a sequel, then he told me his own ideas for it, yadda yadda, time passed quickly, I went home and had Brian join me for a few drinks and to work on a pitch in my living room, and then we drank to that.")

Now with source: https://www.pcgamesn.com/vampire-th...vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-interview

PCGN: Why did you decide to go with Seattle as the location for Bloodlines 2?

Ka’ai Cluney: In late 2015, I saw that Paradox had acquired the World of Darkness IP. For a long time I’ve been friends with Brian Mitsoda, who was the writer on the original. So, maybe a little recklessly, I texted Brian and asked him if he would be interested in putting together a pitch. He said, ‘Okay’. Well, he was a little more excited than that, and probably within the first couple of hours I was at a bar, he was at home, and we were texting back and forth.

It probably took us about half an hour to come up with Seattle, and then maybe an hour and a half to come up with the major conflicts. Then it all went from there. That weekend, I went over to Brian’s house, drank a bunch of whiskey, and came up with basically the core plot of the game. Well Brian did, I just drank.

 

[deuxhero]

Just listened to an interview with that female writer - an older one, of course - where she has a pouting fit over the fact that the translation team told her to stop putting genderqueer pronouns into the game, since only fucking English acknowledges those fantasies, and it's impossible to implement them into other languages. Apparently other languages aren't progressive enough. Racist.


https://www.rebind.io/the-rebind-po...on-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-ii-4799/

Wow, this game still manages to look worse every time I see it. Only other game I saw accomplish that was Cyberpunk 2077. Difference being Cyberpunk I started mildly optimistic about, but this I was horrified from the start. I wonder if they've reached center of the Earth in expectations or if the new team will dig deeper.

 

[Tao]

Whoever said "non-consenting Kindred" was onto something, I think. In the latest version of VtM, vampires will be polite good bois who dindu nuffin and ask for consent. Didn't Lestat do that in Interview? That's homoerotic enough to be palatable to the woke.

Louis, not Lestat.

"I'm going to give you the choice I never had." Something like that's Lestat's line. I didn't remember it before.

Dude, it's not even close to be the same.

Lestat was toying around. He is a whimsical character not a human right activist, wtf are you talking about xd

Besides in the books is Marius who sire that writer. The movie took a few licenses.

edit:

I'm sorry I failed a lore roll for your favorite homosexual vampire thriller.

It's not only that you failed the lore check, it is that you also failed your own point. But you're welcome.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Anyway the Mass Effect Andromeda writer is now claiming she barely had anything to do with this.

Looks like Short-Time Samantha's gotta make sure everyone knows she's in the clear, gotta wash your hands of that other icky project so you can put your stain on something else!

I wonder if they'll keep her partner there if they have nothing to do, since Waaaaaaananen is quite the quivering spineless cunt as well - and well, there's no longer any system design to worry about since the design was so amazing the entire studio got fired.

On Mitsoda: (Since Wesp5 posted and others), it seems like Mitsoda's writing is pretty good, but I'm not so sure about him working with teams, that might be more the issue. Mitsoda seems like one of those writers where it's best if he's the only writer and no one else on the team cares about the story.