World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 - VTMB sequel from The Chinese Room - coming early 2025

[Grunker]

Of course the politics are going to be the same regardless of who's on it.

The team seems to have very good and dedicated environment designers, if one goes by SWtD, but the gameplay and writing are utterly degenerate.
If that game is any indication, Bloodlines 2 will feature good graphics

So far everything we’ve seen from BL2 has been non-descript, stock interiors with some blur effects. I have no faith in this game’s atmospheric graphics currently

 

[Fedora Master]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

A Scottish speaking African on an oil rig in the North Sea in 1970.
This is pure libtard wank fantasy.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

A Scottish speaking African on an oil rig in the North Sea in 1970.
This is pure libtard wank fantasy.

There is not "african language". In fact, there is three separate grups: lower niggerish, nubianbutts and kingmufasian.

 

[Fedora Master]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

A Scottish speaking African on an oil rig in the North Sea in 1970.
This is pure libtard wank fantasy.

There is not "african language". In fact, there is three separate grups: lower niggerish, nubianbutts and kingmufasian.

I mistyped. I meant Scottish.
An African speaking Scottish.
And as I said in the SWtD thread, the monsters lurch around shouting things like "FACKIN WANKER" and "MERRY CHRISTMAS YA CUNTS".
So add "complete tone-deafness" to the mix.

 

[gooseman]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

A Scottish speaking African on an oil rig in the North Sea in 1970.
This is pure libtard wank fantasy.

There is not "african language". In fact, there is three separate grups: lower niggerish, nubianbutts and kingmufasian.

I mistyped. I meant Scottish.
An African speaking Scottish.
And as I said in the SWtD thread, the monsters lurch around shouting things like "FACKIN WANKER" and "MERRY CHRISTMAS YA CUNTS".
So add "complete tone-deafness" to the mix.

stop making me want to play the game

 

[Fedora Master]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

A Scottish speaking African on an oil rig in the North Sea in 1970.
This is pure libtard wank fantasy.

There is not "african language". In fact, there is three separate grups: lower niggerish, nubianbutts and kingmufasian.

I mistyped. I meant Scottish.
An African speaking Scottish.
And as I said in the SWtD thread, the monsters lurch around shouting things like "FACKIN WANKER" and "MERRY CHRISTMAS YA CUNTS".
So add "complete tone-deafness" to the mix.

stop making me want to play the game

It's a decent comedy horror.

 

[Vincente]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

Och c'mon, it was obvious statment form Chinese Room.

Whatever I say won't change your mind so sure, it was deliberate, whatever you say.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

Och c'mon, it was obvious statment form Chinese Room.

Whatever I say won't change your mind so sure, it was deliberate, whatever you say.

Oh, don't be so gloomy about that. But yes, argument you posed is very hard to defense. CR has long story with gamegate and general wokeness.

 

[S.torch]

Like the cab driver being Cain himself performing some voodoo tricks to make the protagonist stronger and Romero being able to have epic sex with the female main character.

How does either break the lore? Caine is stated to have episodes of curiosity regatding the activities of his Childer, and unmatched control over the Blood. Hell, Tremere have rituals that temporarily manipulate the target's Generation.

As for the sex, Romero is a Ghoul, so normal mortal rules apply to him in that regard. The MC is young, so using the blush of life is likely very easy for her.

I'm not complaining about those things. I thought Caine helping the main character behind the scenes was very cool. And I found Romero hilarious despite being a minor character. But White Wolf got butthurt about Caine being the cabby because it didn't align with their canon material.

Using that as an argument against Mitsoda/Hardsuit Lab version is dumb. Every other complaint listed (game being woke, poor aesthetics, nostalgia bait, etc.) can be equally applied to what's known so far about TCR's version. But the main difference now is that the game moves in the direction of a hollywoodesque tier production with hollywoodesque tier plot. Which is undeniable just by doing a direct comparison of how both studios approach their gameplay showcase. One did it with the player doing a mission in an open space, the other did a completely scripted scene in an enclosed one.

More than revisionism I would just call it having eyes.

 

[Vincente]

HSL's head writers: We're so so sorry for writing Malkavians in Bloodlines, we'll make sure to punch up this time, we love and include everyone. *parading Mitsoda around like a prize winning cow*

TCR's head writer:

 

[La vie sexuelle]

HSL's head writers: We're so so sorry for writing Malkavians in Bloodlines, we'll make sure to punch up this time, we love and include everyone. *parading Mitsoda around like a prize winning cow*

TCR's head writer:

It looks like hopium. But give me a bit of your stuff.

 

[Wesp5]

But White Wolf got butthurt about Caine being the cabby because it didn't align with their canon material.

Tim Cain explained this some more in his videos. At first WW told Troika they couldn't use Caine, but after they decided to end the old VtM with Gehenna anyway, they allowed them to use him which they did.

 

[PulsatingBrain]

HSL's head writers: We're so so sorry for writing Malkavians in Bloodlines, we'll make sure to punch up this time, we love and include everyone. *parading Mitsoda around like a prize winning cow*

TCR's head writer:

I want to believe, but I remember Lauren Hissrich saying a practically identical thing before going on to absolutely fucking ruin the Witcher series. I'll see if I can find it

Edit: Here we go -

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

They can offer full refunds, they can afford to. I dunno what Paradox is thinking here. Pure hopium?

Could be the sunk cost fallacy. This went too far to merely cut their loses now.

The same was even more true with the HSL version. That thing practically looked finished, yet was canceled.

Dunno, maybe they actually have a good game on their hands this time?

 

[Nano]

I find that hard to believe seeing as he only joined the team during the last year of development. All of the NPCs in the game were voiced, so they would've had to re-record tons of dialogue in a very short amount of time. Maybe it could be true for the NPCs Brian himself voiced like Romero and the news reporter, but the rest? It's doubtful they could've gotten a busy voice actor like Phil LaMarr (who back then was also working on Justice League, Futurama, Static Shock and many other animated shows) to come back at a moment's notice and redo the lines for Skelter, Dennis, Malcolm and Fat Larry.

Retard.

 

[Tyranicon]

I am curious if Still Wakes the Deep actually has good writing or it has "good writing for modern audiences."

I could probably spare the time to watch a walkthrough.

 

[Semiurge]

That thing practically looked finished, yet was canceled.

What little gameplay was previewed showed clunky, railroaded exploration. HSL had good character designs though, and many seem to be reused in TCR's version, as the intended characters in some cases. It's unclear if Damsel and Damp will appear in TCR's version at all, as themselves or otherwise.

 

[Fedora Master]

I am curious if Still Wakes the Deep actually has good writing or it has "good writing for modern audiences."

I could probably spare the time to watch a walkthrough.

It's no Soma
The writing itself is fine, the problem is the setup. It's like making random characters from Who Goes There women, there's no reason narratively to do so. It affects nothing.

 

[Vulpes]

One Scot thinking National Front supporter is a prick = inevitable left politics and "utterly degenerate" writing.

A Scottish speaking African on an oil rig in the North Sea in 1970.
This is pure libtard wank fantasy.

So some nigger doesn't like an anti-immigration poster? Wow!!! Who could have seen that coming???
Imagine thinking nogs are a new trend in England that just appeared out of nowhere recently. This might come as a surprise, but blacks have been moving in since WW1 ended, hence Enoch Powell's famous "Rivers of Blood" speech in 1968 that urged the government to re-emigrate the non-whites living in the UK to another country. If anything, the topic of immigration actually fits 1970 Britain as evident by the fact that the Tories won the general election that same year thanks to Enoch pushing the party towards an anti-immigration platform (which the Tories never followed up on).

HSL's head writers: We're so so sorry for writing Malkavians in Bloodlines, we'll make sure to punch up this time, we love and include everyone. *parading Mitsoda around like a prize winning cow*

TCR's head writer:

Vampires can go either way when it comes to ideology. In the Brujah clanbook there's a pro-Confederate historian that gets Embraced by an Elder that wants to restore the Confederacy, while there's also a charismatic neonazi in the same book who gets Embraced by a Sabbat vampire due to his ability to rile up a crowd despite the problems his racial beliefs might cause.

But the main difference now is that the game moves in the direction of a hollywoodesque tier production with hollywoodesque tier plot. Which is undeniable just by doing a direct comparison of how both studios approach their gameplay showcase. One did it with the player doing a mission in an open space, the other did a completely scripted scene in an enclosed one.

The mission in the 2019 gameplay showcase was a scripted chase sequence set within a linear dungeon that's separated behind a loading screen from the rest of the world.

That guy was the only guarantee music wasn't going to suck and now he's gone.

The fun part is that Paradox could have easily got punk and metalheads to do the music for Bloodlines 2. Cristina Scabbia (the singer of BL1 credit song) was just commissioned by a boomer shooter to do the soundtrack of their game recently.

As mentioned earlier, Rik Schaffer likewise didn't believe that he could make a soundtrack today that's as good as the old one. Punk and metal also weren't as prevalent as you make it out be. With the exception of the main menu and the end credits, you only heard those songs in some of the nightclubs and bars in the game where it made sense (the exceptions being VV's strip club and the Glaze in Chinatown), certainly not while exploring Grout's mansion, the LA sewers, the streets of Chinatown, etc. Troika wanted the music fit the world and not the other way around. Their vision of the World of Darkness was a lot like a mid to late 90's action movie where it felt like you were part of the criminal underworld. Moreover LA was still the home of American punk subculture back in 2004, while the sequel takes place in a different city around 20 years later. It's like expecting GTA San Andreas to have the same songs playing on the radio as Vice City. More importantly, even Hardsuit Labs thought the same since the club in the E3 demo did not play punk rock, metal or anything of that sort.

 

[Vincente]

It's unclear if Damsel and Damp will appear in TCR's version at all, as themselves or otherwise.

This was from the delay announcement video.

 

[The President]

You can bet money Damsel will be featured in the Anarchs dev diary this Wednesday. She’s definitely in.

 

[Larianshill]

People will be crying about how Damsel was "ruined", but Damsel was pretty shit in the original too.

 

[Semiurge]

People will be crying about how Damsel was "ruined", but Damsel was pretty shit in the original too.

Let's see if she's still the commie stereotype she was, or if the edges have been honed to not draw even more negative attention towards certain current day movements. If she's still commie, she should be as fugly as possible. So far the only glimpse of her in-game model were those few seconds in some reveal video where the lighting wasn't so flattering to her face.

 

[Vulpes]

People will be crying about how Damsel was "ruined", but Damsel was pretty shit in the original too.

Only personality-wise, she was still as bangable as most of the women in BL1. Meanwhile Damsel in BL2 looked like a middle-aged tranny when HSL first showed her off, so I hope TCR scrapped her altogether.

Spoiler

 

[Tyranicon]

It's no Soma
The writing itself is fine, the problem is the setup. It's like making random characters from Who Goes There women, there's no reason narratively to do so. It affects nothing.

-spends 10 minutes watching insipid small talk with non-memorable NPCs delivering clumsy exposition-

I actually thought it was going to be better than this.

I'm assuming it improves once the action starts?

Edit: lol, no it doesn't.