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

[Vincente]

The last annual report said they'd already found a developer to take over this game so would seem pretty neutral all round? Still no word on who that developer is though I take it?

My guess would be Harebrained Schemes because they made RPGs before, and are owned by Paradox.

 

[Zombra]

My guess would be Harebrained Schemes because they made RPGs before, and are owned by Paradox.

Not the worst possible outcome, assuming a different studio would be doing the engine work. (Obv HBS doesn't have experience with first person stuff.) I like the idea of them doing the writing, C&C, and scenario design, and the expectation of full voice acting would put a hard $ limit on HBS' tendency to too much text.

 

[Mefi]

Only thing to the Harebrained idea is that they were working on two unannounced titles (one of them a TTB) even prior to Bloodlines 2 being pulled from original studio and Paradox announcing a new dev had been found. Doesn't look like they've been hiring enough for a third game since. It's certainly a logical guess and very possible all the same.

 

[mondblut]

I like the idea of them doing the writing, C&C, and scenario design

The tranny battletech harebrained? That one?

I'm sure they'd keep the hardsuit or whatever's legacy burning bright.

 

[Nutria]

They didn't do a great job on BattleTech, and I've certainly got some issues with their Shadowrun games, but is there really anyone out there who Paradox would be willing to work with who would do better?

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I just want more entries into the SRR series tbqh. If them helping Paradox with this increases the chances of Paradox funding another SRR game later on, I'm all for it.

 

[mondblut]

They didn't do a great job on BattleTech, and I've certainly got some issues with their Shadowrun games, but is there really anyone out there who Paradox would be willing to work with who would do better?

I dunno, somebody without gender-confused dangerhairs in important roles?

 

[Nutria]

They didn't do a great job on BattleTech, and I've certainly got some issues with their Shadowrun games, but is there really anyone out there who Paradox would be willing to work with who would do better?

I dunno, somebody without gender-confused dangerhairs in important roles?

That's why I said "who Paradox would be willing to work with".

 

[DeepOcean]

For HBS, the tranny is gone but the cucks who thought it was a good idea to have a mentally unstable individual with an axe to grind with anyone that didnt cut their dicks on important roles remain there so there is always a danger there. I wouldnt mind they making Bloodlines 2, realistically, pretty much any other american developer are members of the testicular cancer support group for arrested masculinity at this point and it isnt that they can find better candidates.

Even when companies like Paradox go for places where it is easier to find based developers like on eastern europe, many times they go shopping for the most cucked slavs they can find, Owlcat is a big example of that. Honestly there is no will from Paradox or any developer option that would guarantee this wont end on a big woke turd.

 

[markec]

They didn't do a great job on BattleTech, and I've certainly got some issues with their Shadowrun games, but is there really anyone out there who Paradox would be willing to work with who would do better?

I dunno, somebody without gender-confused dangerhairs in important roles?

That's why I said "who Paradox would be willing to work with".

I wish they hire Neocore, at least they would manage to make a visually interesting game.

 

[Roguey]

My guess would be Harebrained Schemes because they made RPGs before, and are owned by Paradox.

Nah, they said the reason they couldn't announce the studio was because the contract wasn't finalized yet. They're working with an external partner.

For HBS, the tranny is gone but the cucks who thought it was a good idea to have a mentally unstable individual with an axe to grind with anyone that didnt cut their dicks on important roles remain there so there is always a danger there.

Kevin transitioned into Kiva mid-development. I'm sure they were just as blindsided by it (hence why Kiva was fired; not for being trans, but for being a source of aggravation for everyone else).

 

[Vincente]

Nah, they said the reason they couldn't announce the studio was because the contract wasn't finalized yet. They're working with an external partner.

I wonder what the details on this contract are then... probably some sort of hard time-limit on development time? Since Hardsuit was supposed to release Bloodlines 2 in 2018.

 

[Raghar]

They didn't do a great job on BattleTech, and I've certainly got some issues with their Shadowrun games, but is there really anyone out there who Paradox would be willing to work with who would do better?

If you meant these isometric shadowrun games they were crap. The combat system was horribly lacking. Basically it looked like some people who didn't even have a clue about combat system on grid space programmed combat system.

 

[Vincente]

If you meant these isometric shadowrun games they were crap. The combat system was horribly lacking. Basically it looked like some people who didn't even have a clue about combat system on grid space programmed combat system.

Really? I didn't play much ''grid space combat" games but I thought Shadowrun's combat was okay, not like I would play an RPG for it's combat. Care to elaborate on how it was bad?

 

[Raghar]

Have you played Fallout?

https://youtu.be/yFsDIXEJ5RQ?t=167
Look at this, and while it's not the worst example of combat. It shows they took the combat system from XCOM, and then added some damage system on top of that.
You can see problems like:
-Flimsy chairs are used as a cover.
-Enemies can fire through themselves without being hit by a stray bullet.
-Damage and weapons feels off. It doesn't look like you are firing lethal weapon, or people using body armor.
-Action points basically feels like the person who gets the turn can execute the victim without being hit back.

Basically the sum of the parts feels being on visual novel level, not as an isometric RPG.

 

[Vincente]

I'm sure chairs, and other "empty shield" covers just made it so you're not in open so you don't get hit for extra damage, and offer no actual cover bonus whatsoever.
Also in Fallout, I actually kind of disliked how dangerous friendly fire could be. After getting blasted by Ian's SMG, I made sure that I was not in his LoS. Still, can see how this can be important for some people.
All in all, I still enjoyed both Dragonfall and Hong Kong, so we would have to agree to disagree on the games being ''crap''.

 

[jackofshadows]

The combat was total crap in Shadowrun games. That doesn't make them crap as a whole though, I always considered them storyfag games. Some other aspects were fine so who cares about combat system regarding new vampire game especially since there's its own existing tabletop system, it's not complete shit, right?

 

[Jason Liang]

-Enemies can fire through themselves without being hit by a stray bullet.

... That's exactly what Smartgun systems are supposed to do.

-Damage and weapons feels off. It doesn't look like you are firing lethal weapon, or people using body armor.

You're using the prelude training mission, with a starting character, as your example. Eiger, the only companion that uses heavy guns, is not even in the mission. It's not as if Temple of Trials is exemplary of the rest of Fallout 2 either.

-Action points basically feels like the person who gets the turn can execute the victim without being hit back.

... I'm not sure you understand the concept of turn-based. Could you explain your criticism better?

And good combat is not about realism, but about dramatic tension. Dragonfall has a lot of memorable and dramatic combat encounters. And the challenge is pretty good as well, if you play it with ungimped AI.

 

[Alienman]

Kevin transitioned into Kiva mid-development. I'm sure they were just as blindsided by it (hence why Kiva was fired; not for being trans, but for being a source of aggravation for everyone else).

You know where he is working now?

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Kevin transitioned into Kiva mid-development. I'm sure they were just as blindsided by it (hence why Kiva was fired; not for being trans, but for being a source of aggravation for everyone else).

You know where he is working now?

40% or more chances that he isn't working anywhere today.

 

[Roguey]

You know where he is working now?

Kiva's been a "self-employed design consultant" ever since leaving HBS and since this isn't a Chris Avellone-tier name we're talking about, that likely means being an unhireable mess other than for short-term, likely-remote work.

All of HBS's glassdoor reviews are completely positive but this is a notable sentence

HBS ships cool games, moves fast, hires for culture (mainly respectfulness and low ego), and anyone who slips through who ends up showing patterns of non-correctable toxic behavior doesn't last long.

Given Kiva's pouty Battletech post-mortem articles, this looks rather applicable.

 

[Alienman]

Any notable drama from that time worth reading for fun?

 

[santino27]

HBS ships cool games, moves fast, hires for culture (mainly respectfulness and low ego), and anyone who slips through who ends up showing patterns of non-correctable toxic behavior doesn't last long.

Given Kiva's pouty Battletech post-mortem articles, this looks rather applicable.

Props to HBS if so. These days 'non-correctable toxic behavior' is often code for "white dude is white duding" and it's rare to have it apply equally to other demographics.

 

[Fedora Master]

Dead tranny game

 

[Sarkile]

Dead tranny game

Best type of game! It occurs at a rate of 41%!