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

[rusty_shackleford]

How did you find them? A leak? NDA? Current build? Any info on the current developer?

looks like a UI artist posted it, probably as an example of their work for their portfolio
leaks via contract artists happen pretty often

which means you guys also shouldn't read into it beyond the UI elements themselves, which excludes text.

also

I worked throughout 2018-2020 with Paradox Interactive & Hard Suit Labs on Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines II, long anticipated sequel to the cult 2004 RPG.

probably scrapped by now

 

[Kev Inkline]

TL;DR VtMB2's core premise is based on an outdated and tested-to-fail discarded concept.

I never liked the concept of generation. It was invented precisely because it was originally supposed to enforce a similar dynamic in V1 back in 1991 where PCs were supposed to be 13th gen newbies fighting the tyranny of the elders. Of course, as focuses shifted it lost its original place. Now we’re stuck with it because of the mindless adherence to nostalgia, tradition and cargo culting that characterizes pop culture. Removing it in homebrew campaigns or playing VTR is evil heresy deserving of being burned at the stake. /s

Stop using /s. This is not reddit.

1

 

[rusty_shackleford]

TL;DR VtMB2's core premise is based on an outdated and tested-to-fail discarded concept.

I never liked the concept of generation. It was invented precisely because it was originally supposed to enforce a similar dynamic in V1 back in 1991 where PCs were supposed to be 13th gen newbies fighting the tyranny of the elders. Of course, as focuses shifted it lost its original place. Now we’re stuck with it because of the mindless adherence to nostalgia, tradition and cargo culting that characterizes pop culture. Removing it in homebrew campaigns or playing VTR is evil heresy deserving of being burned at the stake. /s

Stop using /s. This is not reddit.

1

yes, it's [/S] to end strikethrough

 

[Storyfag]

Uhhhh........

Probably a Thinblood thing. Disgusting.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Stop using /s. This is not reddit.

My mistake. I should have written “I’m being sarcastic about that last bit, of course.”

 

[Sarkile]

Stop using /s. This is not reddit.

My mistake. I should have written “I’m being sarcastic about that last bit, of course.”

Many Codexers are capable of picking up on sarcasm based upon context.

 

[GhostCow]

Many Codexers are capable of picking up on sarcasm based upon context.

Not being able to is one of the most well known signs of autism so I'm not convinced

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Many Codexers are capable of picking up on sarcasm based upon context.

Not being able to is one of the most well known signs of autism so I'm not convinced

Sarcasm is notoriously difficult to communicate through text.

 

[Wunderbar]

How did you find them? A leak? NDA? Current build? Any info on the current developer?

looks like a UI artist posted it, probably as an example of their work for their portfolio
leaks via contract artists happen pretty often

which means you guys also shouldn't read into it beyond the UI elements themselves, which excludes text.

also

I worked throughout 2018-2020 with Paradox Interactive & Hard Suit Labs on Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines II, long anticipated sequel to the cult 2004 RPG.

probably scrapped by now

seems like everyone just looked at the pictures and missed a link to the source.

 

[Semiurge]

The moment they removed seduction as a skill is the moment this game was doomed, regardless of anything else.

Why would they even.... did this build at least have other verbal skills?

Must be their morbid fear of anything that could be interpreted as sexist. Those humorous but doomed to fail pickup lines from Bloodlines would render them catatonic.

 

[Sarathiour]

Uhhhh........

Yeah, popamole design, but the game is dead anyway

 

[Delterius]

too big head

sawyer must have set a dangerous precedent

 

[Roguey]

Latest Chinese Room newsletter features a non-nda-breaking screen of an audio program with a project named "Wrestler" open that has events for combat, cutscenes, and dialogue.

 

[Fedora Master]

Who gives a shit.

 

[Harthwain]

Latest Chinese Room newsletter features a non-nda-breaking screen of an audio program with a project named "Wrestler" open that has events for combat, cutscenes, and dialogue.

And how is this news exactly?

 

[Roguey]

And how is this news exactly?

It's yet another hint which is all they'll be giving until it's months away from release.

 

[Semiurge]

Goddamn I thought something had happened to push BL2 forward!

Spoiler

 

[Cricket McBangle]

https://career.paradoxplaza.com/jobs/1905783-senior-campaign-manager-world-of-darkness
Paradox looking like they're hiring to revamp their marketing for Bloodlines 2 and Hunter: The Reckoning video game project (I think it's supposed to be a remake of those PS2/Xbox games)

 

[Harthwain]

It's yet another hint which is all they'll be giving until it's months away from release.

Calling this a hint is generous. Unless "Wrestler" means we'll be getting something like this:

Spoiler

Don't get me wrong - really loved that game, but I don't think this is the cRPG combat we need or deserve.

 

[Wunderbar]

Maybe they are inspired by the Mickey Rourke film? :D

 

[Cricket McBangle]

Maybe they are inspired by the Mickey Rourke film? :D

Rik Schaeffer's score has been thrown out in favor of Bruce Springsteen singing about the Seattle I5 traffic jams or something.

 

[Roguey]

https://career.paradoxplaza.com/jobs/1905783-senior-campaign-manager-world-of-darkness
Paradox looking like they're hiring to revamp their marketing for Bloodlines 2 and Hunter: The Reckoning video game project (I think it's supposed to be a remake of those PS2/Xbox games)

I figured that if Harebrained's turn based horror project wasn't Vampire or an original setting, it was Hunter.

Calling this a hint is generous. Unless "Wrestler" means we'll be getting something like this:

Project names don't necessarily mean anything which is why they use them (Steam leaks revealed one of the two projects HBS is working on is called "Project FPS" even though they're both confirmed to be turn-based). One can argue that vampires wrestle with the person they're feeding upon (feeding in combat required a strength/brawling check in Bloodlines). It's also possible this is the other project of theirs.

 

[Wunderbar]

Maybe they are inspired by the Mickey Rourke film? :D

Rik Schaeffer's score has been thrown out in favor of Bruce Springsteen singing about the Seattle I5 traffic jams or something.

jokes aside, I think Schaffer's work has been thrown out for real. He published it under "more music from the vault" title, it even has a new rendition of the unused Downtown theme (the same one that played in that janky E3 2019 gameplay demo).

 

[Cricket McBangle]

Maybe they are inspired by the Mickey Rourke film? :D

Rik Schaeffer's score has been thrown out in favor of Bruce Springsteen singing about the Seattle I5 traffic jams or something.

jokes aside, I think Schaffer's work has been thrown out for real. He published it under "more music from the vault" title, it even has a new rendition of the unused Downtown theme (the same one that played in that janky E3 2019 gameplay demo).

That would be pretty shitty. Paradox has said that they believe that this new version would be something fans would be happy with and if they throw out the final thread to the original, I am pretty sure Paradox has just made an even bigger uphill battle to convince people this is a Bloodlines "2".

Is "More Music From The Vault" actually all of the BL2 work he did? He said did about an hour of original work for BL2 and I don't think the new BL2 theme is in there. The BL2 soundtrack was set for release in November of 2020, IIRC.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

That would be pretty shitty. Paradox has said that they believe that this new version would be something fans would be happy with and if they throw out the final thread to the original, I am pretty sure Paradox has just made an even bigger uphill battle to convince people this is a Bloodlines "2".

Meh, doubt that it would've made much of a difference. VtMB was a product of its times and no sequel will be able to recapture that feel (and in the case of the OST in particular, I recall the guy saying during an interview that the music he composed was heavily influenced by the dark place that he was in at the time).