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

[Delterius]

Nah Vampire Masquerade always was full edgyness and angst. Vampires cant taste anything but the mystical taste of blood/vitae.

pretty sure i remember there's lore about ancient vampires feeding herbs and spice to their blood dolls and it ain't recent

vampires can barely taste something if its really enmeshed with the blood. like alcohol. it just barely matters to them compared to the blood.

 

[Semiurge]

Nah Vampire Masquerade always was full edgyness and angst. Vampires cant taste anything but the mystical taste of blood/vitae.

pretty sure i remember there's lore about ancient vampires feeding herbs and spice to their blood dolls and it ain't recent

vampires can barely taste something if its really enmeshed with the blood. like alcohol. it just barely matters to them compared to the blood.

Like really degenerate alcoholics. They don't care about the flavors or savouring the taste, only the alcohol content matters.

 

[Xelocix]

Correct! If they wanted glory they should have shown a vertical slice or leaked the hardsuit version so we could see how bad it was.

Two HSL version videos and screenshot were leaked recently and Paradox couldn't remove them fast enough, so the latter one it is not ...

I can't find these videos anywhere, do you have a link?

 

[Wesp5]

I can't find these videos anywhere, do you have a link?

I found this link: https://www.goha.ru/25-minut-igrovo...masquerade-bloodlines-2-do-perezapuska-lWOJKQ

 

[0wca]

I can't find these videos anywhere, do you have a link?

I found this link: https://www.goha.ru/25-minut-igrovo...masquerade-bloodlines-2-do-perezapuska-lWOJKQ

Wait is this the new gameplay video or the old Hardsuit Labs one?

 

[Wesp5]

I can't find these videos anywhere, do you have a link?

I found this link: https://www.goha.ru/25-minut-igrovo...masquerade-bloodlines-2-do-perezapuska-lWOJKQ

Wait is this the new gameplay video or the old Hardsuit Labs one?

These are the videos a former HSL employee displayed on his website before Paradox made him take them and everything else BL2 connected down.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

I can't find these videos anywhere, do you have a link?

I found this link: https://www.goha.ru/25-minut-igrovo...masquerade-bloodlines-2-do-perezapuska-lWOJKQ

I finally see this gameplay. Huh, even finished, this game would look at best like "House Party" with a bad combat module (and much less fun). I have this scene in my mind - HS finally allows an executive from Paradox to see a gameplay. They lock themselves in a dark room, the gameplay is playing from a projector, and a pile of men and transsexuals with malebuns are sitting against the wall biting their nails. The presentation ends, the Paradox producer gets up and leaves without saying a word. The next day, HS receives an email: "You are fired."

By the way, what was "Resonance" supposed to mean on the character UI?

 

[Roguey]

By the way, what was "Resonance" supposed to mean on the character UI?

https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_Resonance

 

[Wesp5]

The presentation ends, the Paradox producer gets up and leaves without saying a word. The next day, HS receives an email: "You are fired."

The funny thing is, that both Paradox producers connected to Bloodlines 2 already had left Paradox before Mitsoda and HSL were fired...

 

[La vie sexuelle]

By the way, what was "Resonance" supposed to mean on the character UI?

https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_Resonance

Thank you.

It looks like something between JRPG gems and poor crafting.

The presentation ends, the Paradox producer gets up and leaves without saying a word. The next day, HS receives an email: "You are fired."

The funny thing is, that both Paradox producers connected to Bloodlines 2 already had left Paradox before Mitsoda and HSL were fired...

Did they manage to escape the consequences of their decisions or were they simply forced to leave?

Anyway, it does not matter.

I heard that they are going to reveal the clans from January. I wonder if they will change the set. I wonder if the Malkavians are still with us?

 

[Delterius]

JRPG gems

could you be less specific

 

[Storyfag]

I can't find these videos anywhere, do you have a link?

I found this link: https://www.goha.ru/25-minut-igrovo...masquerade-bloodlines-2-do-perezapuska-lWOJKQ

I finally see this gameplay. Huh, even finished, this game would look at best like "House Party" with a bad combat module (and much less fun).

I like the environments. Lots of nice details. Hell, even the lets-play-it-safe-and-make-a-ripoff-of-Ocean-House sequence is ok. However, calling the combat "bad" is being gentle. It is atrocious! The lip sync on that guard in the first vid is terrible as well. If there were no improvements, I can see why Paradox wasn't happy.

 

[deuxhero]

Lip sync is typically one of the last thing done in games since that's likely to change. Indeed, most VA until just before release will typically be team members doing placeholder like this

 

[Moink]

I heard that they are going to reveal the clans from January. I wonder if they will change the set. I wonder if the Malkavians are still with us?

Clan reveals are meant to be between now and the end of the year, at least according to the website:

Between today and the end of 2023, we will reveal all playable clans in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. In the opening months of 2024, we will reveal gameplay and go into depth on disciplines, playstyles and the experience of playing the game as each clan.

Guessing they will start in October (Halloween).

 

[La vie sexuelle]

I heard that they are going to reveal the clans from January. I wonder if they will change the set. I wonder if the Malkavians are still with us?

Clan reveals are meant to be between now and the end of the year, at least according to the website:

Between today and the end of 2023, we will reveal all playable clans in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. In the opening months of 2024, we will reveal gameplay and go into depth on disciplines, playstyles and the experience of playing the game as each clan.

Guessing they will start in October (Halloween).

Oh, I messed it up again. You're right.

JRPG gems

could you be less specific

Gems.

I can't find these videos anywhere, do you have a link?

I found this link: https://www.goha.ru/25-minut-igrovo...masquerade-bloodlines-2-do-perezapuska-lWOJKQ

I finally see this gameplay. Huh, even finished, this game would look at best like "House Party" with a bad combat module (and much less fun).

I like the environments. Lots of nice details. Hell, even the lets-play-it-safe-and-make-a-ripoff-of-Ocean-House sequence is ok. However, calling the combat "bad" is being gentle. It is atrocious! The lip sync on that guard in the first vid is terrible as well. If there were no improvements, I can see why Paradox wasn't happy.

Personally, I don't really like the artistic direction they chose. According to the latest trends in technology, we see many, too many streaks of light and flashes. It reminds me too much of cheap horror games on Steam, whose creators want to show what they can do at all costs and end up overdoing it. It still looks okay on the streets, but if the rooms are divided into "white foggy" and "just yellow" then something is wrong.

If I feel any loss from this build, it's that busty lady from the trailer.

 

[notpl]

i also disagree with the notion that bloodlines wasn't an action rpg. the combat wasn't good. but i'm pretty sure that drinking people dry in combat, exploding them into blood, stealth sections, and so much more. people who play bloodlines 1 don't say wow i wish this was a novel instead. they wish it was made with better tech.

Yeah, I've seen multiple people in multiple places hype up Night Road as the best VtM since Bloodlines. But who's actually playing?

11.0 k .. 30.4 k on reviews
~63.7 k by PlayTracker
~16.6 k by VG Insights
~55.0 k by SteamSpy

Like I said, I have extreme doubts that Paradox would take their biggest VtM property and make it more like one of the other less-successful properties (whether Night Road or Redemption).

Night Road is fucking dogshit. Clan reactivity is nonexistent, all the disciplines are just "pay 1 vitae to auto-pass a skill check," you pick one of a couple endings with a single choice at the last moment. It's genuinely less reactive and freeform than Bloodlines itself, a fully 3d action-rpg made in 2004, and all they had to do was write some mediocre prose. Couldn't possibly have taken the author longer than a weekend to crank it out, I kind of admire the brass fucking balls to charge $20 for it as though it were even on the level of a bad indie game.

It barely even has dialogue, really. Comparing it to Bloodlines is absurd.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

i also disagree with the notion that bloodlines wasn't an action rpg. the combat wasn't good. but i'm pretty sure that drinking people dry in combat, exploding them into blood, stealth sections, and so much more. people who play bloodlines 1 don't say wow i wish this was a novel instead. they wish it was made with better tech.

Yeah, I've seen multiple people in multiple places hype up Night Road as the best VtM since Bloodlines. But who's actually playing?

11.0 k .. 30.4 k on reviews
~63.7 k by PlayTracker
~16.6 k by VG Insights
~55.0 k by SteamSpy

Like I said, I have extreme doubts that Paradox would take their biggest VtM property and make it more like one of the other less-successful properties (whether Night Road or Redemption).

Night Road is fucking dogshit. Clan reactivity is nonexistent, all the disciplines are just "pay 1 vitae to auto-pass a skill check," you pick one of a couple endings with a single choice at the last moment. It's genuinely less reactive and freeform than Bloodlines itself, a fully 3d action-rpg made in 2004, and all they had to do was write some mediocre prose. Couldn't possibly have taken the author longer than a weekend to crank it out, I kind of admire the brass fucking balls to charge $20 for it as though it were even on the level of a bad indie game.

11,79 euromoney for text game? Pff!

 

[RagingNomad]

Dev Diary Finally something

 

[Moink]

When we were exploring combat, it started off playing like Dishonored (which we love), but that didn’t feel right for a vampire: players were very cautious and afraid of the enemies they encountered. To us, a Kindred should stalk its prey and strike fearlessly like a predator. We want to build an action experience where players feel confident, almost trolling the enemies with their disciplines. Testers use the phrase “playing with your food,” which we love and illustrates how we think a Vampire: The Masquerade ARPG should feel has come up in playthroughs.

Most action games offer a power fantasy; I like to call ours a confidence fantasy. When you have a supernatural edge and immortality to back you up, there should be a sense of “I know what is going on and, I can control this situation.” We want to give you the tools to do that in combat, conversations, or travelling across the city. When they come together, you should be immersed in the feeling of being a Vampire.

Not sure I like the sound of this honestly.

 

[Child of Malkav]

An imsim VTMB sounds very fun but only Arkane would have been able to do that. Not now though.

 

[Roguey]

BamHam is more appropriate for a vampire game than Dishonored.

 

[Delterius]

indirect burn on the mitsodastans once again as the chinese room meangirls say that we aren't in thinblood county anymore

get in the car loser we are playing with our food

 

[Hellraiser]

BamHam is more appropriate for a vampire game than Dishonored.

WTF is a BamHam?

 

[Delterius]

BamHam is more appropriate for a vampire game than Dishonored.

WTF is a BamHam?

i think its american for sandwich

 

[Cross]

When we were exploring combat, it started off playing like Dishonored (which we love), but that didn’t feel right for a vampire: players were very cautious and afraid of the enemies they encountered. To us, a Kindred should stalk its prey and strike fearlessly like a predator.

Dishonored was already a player fantasy. If they regarded that as too hardcore an experience, it's basically a confirmation that the combat in Bloodlines 2 will be braindead.

With non-combat gameplay, we found early on we were doing the RPG tropes: find a keycard to open a door, turn on a generator to restore power to a lift. We put in a rule that the non-combat gameplay should be about something only a vampire could do; keep it aspirational.

No mention of stealth, lockpicking, hacking or any other non-combat skills. My earlier prediction about this being a glorified action game looks increasingly accurate.

They could do lots of interesting things with the Disciplines, like letting you use Animalism to take control of a rat or insect to scout ahead. I'm not holding out much hope though.