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

[Harthwain]

Although, knowing nu-White Wolf, Paradox and Fucksuit Labs they would much rather provide the option to just frolic freely on the surface alongside everyone else and accuse onlookers of being 'racist' or provide the option to be a 'Transferatu', a Nosferatu who's actually a pretty princess inside and out.

Just so you know, it was possible in Bloodlines 1 to walk relatively freely on the surface, because the detection radius for your ugly Nosferatu mug was very generous.

 

[Rean]

Just so you know, it was possible in Bloodlines 1 to walk relatively freely on the surface, because the detection radius for your ugly Nosferatu mug was very generous.

Yes. But the game was imperfect and incomplete and, after all, still a videogame and not tabletop. There was a lot of content that would be missed if you were only allowed to traverse underground. People still were terrified of your appearance, though. Would it be politically correct to call someone a monster based on their appearance in 2021? A Nosferatu doesn't look that much worse than the average Hardsuit employee, after all.

 

[Harthwain]

Yes. But the game was imperfect and incomplete and, after all, still a videogame and not tabletop.

It being a video game has nothing to do with it and it could've been handled better. Make the detection radious larger, but "suspiction" meter filling slower depending on distance, so you could still do a quick pass at longer range. And I am not mentioning the possibility of stealthing your way around.

There was a lot of content that would be missed if you were only allowed to traverse underground. People still were terrified of your appearance, though.

In my experience it was mostly cosmetic. A nice touch, certainly, but cosmetic still. And this pains me a lot in cRPG as of late: instead of players coming to their own solutions, the game has to pre-bake solutions and all player's potential paths has to be "standardized". It's the biggest problem I have with the narrative-style games and the main reason why I am angling towards games that only have "bring me X" requirement as your objective, leaving you free how you handle the "bring me X" thing.

Would it be politically correct to call someone a monster based on their appearance in 2021? A Nosferatu doesn't look that much worse than the average Hardsuit employee, after all.

I don't really give a damn, because I am - as they say - based when it comes to some stuff. You want to make a game about vampires? Then you might not want to be a politically correct nancy. It's not going to pay off anyway if you don't know how to make a good game in the first place, because it's not the political correctness that sells games, it's the product itself. So if you have a solid, non-politically correct game, then I think the players are going to appreciate it. We have examples of that around us already.

 

[Storyfag]

If they wanna play Nosferatu, then they'll have to crawl through the sewers just like their ugly as fuck ancestors have traditionally done. Although, knowing nu-White Wolf, Paradox and Fucksuit Labs they would much rather provide the option to just frolic freely on the surface alongside everyone else and accuse onlookers of being 'racist' or provide the option to be a 'Transferatu', a Nosferatu who's actually a pretty princess inside and out.

Or y'know, just let the Nosferatu wear a gimp mask? Works wonders, I... uh... heard.

 

[Delterius]

the sabbat thugs wearing hoodies are like a non retarded version of the nosferatu player character

 

[Neki]

I feel like rooftops would be a cool alternative to a sewer section, or maybe your nosferatu character when wearing a big hoodie could be disguised when around hobos.

Its there any(lore) reason other than it would make the game boring that nozzies can't just drive a car with tinted windows?

 

[Caim]

Its there any(lore) reason other than it would make the game boring that nozzies can't just drive a car with tinted windows?

They would need to get out of their cars eventually.

 

[Storyfag]

Its there any(lore) reason other than it would make the game boring that nozzies can't just drive a car with tinted windows?

They would need to get out of their cars eventually.

Take the hint, dammit:

 

[DeepOcean]

Never undertood the problem with the nosferatu, just buy a hoodie to hide the ears then claim your appearance was because you are an english man that overdosed too much on crack.

 

[Storyfag]

Never undertood the problem with the nosferatu, just buy a hoodie to hide the ears then claim your appearance was because you are an english man that overdosed too much on crack.

Keep in mind not every Sewer Rat has the stereotypical Count Orlock look. Their disfigurements are as varied as Toreador passions.

 

[Caim]

Never undertood the problem with the nosferatu, just buy a hoodie to hide the ears then claim your appearance was because you are an english man that overdosed too much on crack.

Keep in mind not every Sewer Rat has the stereotypical Count Orlock look. Their disfigurements are as varied as Toreador passions.

Yeah that as well. Requiem does this by giving them weird smells, shadows that don't follower their lead, their words match their mouths like a Hong Kong dub or they just give you the willies. Not sure how later editions of Masquerade do this.

 

[Neki]

They would need to get out of their cars eventually.

Easily solved by parking in a dark empty alley and/or having nozzie garages

Keep in mind not every Sewer Rat has the stereotypical Count Orlock look. Their disfigurements are as varied as Toreador passions.

If you look up count orlok in duck duck go there is a image of hitler on his wikipedia page.

 

[cyborgboy95]

This developer seems like a likely one. They just cancelled their own project because someone made them an offer they couldn't refuse.


https://www.bluesnews.com/s/221276/earthbreakers-takes-a-break

Everyone at Petroglyph sincerely appreciates all of your support and enthusiasm for Earthbreakers. Since starting this project last year we have been approached by a publisher to work on an exciting new game that has required all our available resources, including the majority of the Earthbreakers team. This means that for now, we need to place Earthbreakers on hold while we focus our full attention in making this new project as great as it can be. We still believe in Earthbreakers and will keep you appraised as to when we will resume development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph_Games

The project they were postponing:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1188870/Earthbreakers/

Doesn't look great, but at least they should be inheriting the engine/assets from Hardsuit if this is them.

 

[Storyfag]

This developer seems like a likely one. They just cancelled their own project because someone made them an offer they couldn't refuse.


https://www.bluesnews.com/s/221276/earthbreakers-takes-a-break

Everyone at Petroglyph sincerely appreciates all of your support and enthusiasm for Earthbreakers. Since starting this project last year we have been approached by a publisher to work on an exciting new game that has required all our available resources, including the majority of the Earthbreakers team. This means that for now, we need to place Earthbreakers on hold while we focus our full attention in making this new project as great as it can be. We still believe in Earthbreakers and will keep you appraised as to when we will resume development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroglyph_Games

The project they were postponing:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1188870/Earthbreakers/

Doesn't look great, but at least they should be inheriting the engine/assets from Hardsuit if this is them.

Petroglyph? They are an RTS developer first and foremost. Though old Westwood did make the Lands of Lore series...

 

[Nutria]

Yeah, old old Westwood did stuff that wasn't RTS but that was decades ago. None of those people would still be around now.

 

[Jenkem]

the game is being made by piranha bytes that's why there's been no news of elex 2 and paradox is waiting for e3 to announce this

 

[True Ukrainian]

Obfuscate allows Nosferatu to pass as ugly humans. Experienced Nossies are fully capable of walking about in public. If you don't want the hassle of sewer traversal, just give Nossies that ability as a Level 1 obfuscate passive. Its a bit of a cheat, but saves a ton of developer work and player hassle.

 

[DeepOcean]

So, I was right, you can obfuscate into an english man on crack.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Petroglyph? They are an RTS developer first and foremost. Though old Westwood did make the Lands of Lore series...

That's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison.
Westwood also made Eye of the Beholder, Legend of Kyrandia, Blade Runner... They were essentially known for being one of the most versatile and accomplished development studios of their era, not to mention they basically invented the modern RTS as a genre.
Not exactly confident Petroglyph could flex a similar range.

Also, not sure if it was already discussed in the last pages, but someone in the known informed me just yesterday that Paradox itself confirmed Bloodlines 2 is being re-written from zero and to not expect it before 2023 at the earliest.
In the end it sounds one of these cases where an attempt to be a cheap ass at the beginning is turning into a mid-budget production with all the costs of "triple A" title.

 

[Storyfag]

Petroglyph? They are an RTS developer first and foremost. Though old Westwood did make the Lands of Lore series...

That's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison.
Westwood also made Eye of the Beholder, Legend of Kyrandia, Blade Runner... They were essentially known for being one of the most versatile and accomplished development studios of their era, not to mention they basically invented the modern RTS as a genre.
Not exactly confident Petroglyph could flex a similar range.

This is not a comparison. Petroglyph is Westwood's successor in many ways. Mainly because of being founded by former Westwood employees.

Obfuscate allows Nosferatu to pass as ugly humans. Experienced Nossies are fully capable of walking about in public. If you don't want the hassle of sewer traversal, just give Nossies that ability as a Level 1 obfuscate passive. Its a bit of a cheat, but saves a ton of developer work and player hassle.

Not a bad idea. Still forces the Nossie to take at least 1 point in obfuscate tho, but mechanically it makes sense as an expression of their Clan weakness.

 

[Herumor]

maybe your nosferatu character when wearing a big hoodie could be disguised when around hobos.

Or just use Mask of a Thousand Faces, a three-dot standard power of the Obfuscate discipline that does the following: Change your appearance and mannerisms to mimic someone else

It's not like this would be too hard to pull off in terms of gameplay.

 

[typical user]

Yeah the hoodie is a good solution. Nosferatu can still make people panic if he talks to them and violate the rules if he walks too close to a cop or something.

 

[Storyfag]

just use Mask of a Thousand Faces, a three-dot standard power of the Obfuscate discipline

Do you even read yourself? Do you even remember how many dots can a starting character put into Disciplines?

 

[Herumor]

Do you even read yourself? Do you even remember how many dots can a starting character put into Disciplines?

It's been a while since I last played Bloodlines, but wasn't it 2 dots? In any case, it wouldn't be too far off where you could have 3 dots in Obfuscate.

 

[Cael]

You need to be a certain generation to be able to get 3 dots in any Discipline. IIRC (and it has been a while), at character creation you basically have to dump most of your points to lower your generation to about 9th or 8th, and you really won't have much left over to get 3 dots in anything.