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

[Häyhä]

It is possible to go from bad to worse. In this case, eh, who knows or cares, neither studio did provide or have provided anything to be excited about. Hardsuit couldn't deliver a game so no point really comparing anything since it was all concept level work, we'll see if CR can actually get the game out.

 

[Cheesedragon117]

Post-Alpha? Now, I don't want to jump to conclusions, TCR, but I believe the common masses of plain people call that a "Beta".

Welp, that "sneak peek" was painful. The facial animations remind me of JRPGs where they only made one set of lip-synching for the Japanese dialogue, so they don't match the English voice acting. Except, that can't be the case here.

Now, considering this is likely the first conversation that takes place in-game, I think we can expect some degree of railroading from Lou's dialogue tree. I'm cautiously optimistic that things branch out once you're dropped into the open world proper. The voice acting and writing aren't too terrible, all things considered, and it's nice to see that the "Lou" character can still be accurately nicknamed "Rackula" by players. Her hair is sexy, too.

Verdict: Looking grim, but it's still too early to pass judgement just yet.

 

[sosmoflux]

Too early for you to pass judgement, maybe.

 

[anvi]

Didn't this get cancelled?

 

[Caim]

Didn't this get cancelled?

 

[Trithne]

Yes, but Paradox had already started taking preorders for a game that was several years away from release. They probably feel they're required to put something out to try and not throw their reputation in the gutter.

 

[S.H.O.D.A.N.]

Banu Haqim/Assamite seems like a nobrainer to me.

Do Assamites still get darker the older they are? Can a 300+ year old Assamite Elder even look like the protagonist?

 

[Caim]

Banu Haqim/Assamite seems like a nobrainer to me.

Do Assamites still get darker the older they are? Can a 300+ year old Assamite Elder even look like the protagonist?

Sure, they look like this:

 

[Häyhä]

Damn, who knew Gerey was actually an Assamite methuselah who got cremated by the Camarilla(?)

 

[ColaWerewolf]

Do Assamites still get darker the older they are? Can a 300+ year old Assamite Elder even look like the protagonist?

Not in V5, no. Their new bane is that it's more difficult to stop themselves from diablerie compared to other vampires. The tremere curse that made vampire blood poisonous to them was also broken.

V5 did a lot to make the assamites playable and actually sought after by the players, to the point of almost pandering.

 

[DeepOcean]

Most* RPGs don't have super-compelling dialogue checks and this includes Bloodlines itself.

True but kinda not true, its been a long time since I played Bloodlines but i still remember a dialog check where, if you were a malkavian, with enough dementation, you could induce someone to howl to the moon and become permanent crazy and if you were a Ventrue, you could order that person to forget about you, it was one of the few moments where you had a check but I think that sort of thing fits really well on the fantasy of being a certain archetype of vampire (what clans basically are).

I would like more of that stuff and not less. It is a pity that developers always neglect dialog checks as pretty much 80% of people dont replay games.

 

[Xelocix]

 

[Semiurge]

Most* RPGs don't have super-compelling dialogue checks and this includes Bloodlines itself.

True but kinda not true, its been a long time since I played Bloodlines but i still remember a dialog check where, if you were a malkavian, with enough dementation, you could induce someone to howl to the moon and become permanent crazy

That's probably the quest 'Necromantic' where you can use different methods to convince Simon Milligan to shut up about what he's seen in the abandoned hospital. I use the dementation option as a Malk. With all other clans I use the persuasion feat to send him back to the hospital, and to Pisha...

 

[Wesp5]

There are a lot of cool Malkavian Dementation choices in dialogues, like you can make Samantha believe you are her lost pet turtle or make the patron at the Lotus Blossom think he is a frog. Quite often you got several options: Dominate, Dementate, Presence (added by the plus patch), Persuasion, Seduction and Intimidation! HSL clearly wanted to include something like this, but it isn't visible at all yet from the videos that TCR presented...

 

[NecroLord]

There are a lot of cool Malkavian Dementation choices in dialogues, like you can make Samantha believe you are her lost pet turtle or make the patron at the Lotus Blossom think he is a frog. Quite often you got several options: Dominate, Dementate, Presence (added by the plus patch), Persuasion, Seduction and Intimidation! HSL clearly wanted to include something like this, but it isn't visible at all yet from the videos that TCR presented...

You can make Tommy Flayton believe he is eating maggots at the Cavoletti Cafe.

 

[Semiurge]

There are a lot of cool Malkavian Dementation choices in dialogues, like you can make Samantha believe you are her lost pet turtle or make the patron at the Lotus Blossom think he is a frog. Quite often you got several options: Dominate, Dementate, Presence (added by the plus patch), Persuasion, Seduction and Intimidation! HSL clearly wanted to include something like this, but it isn't visible at all yet from the videos that TCR presented...

You can make Tommy Flayton believe he is eating maggots at the Cavoletti Cafe.

 

[Joyvankek]

All signs point to the fabian is being in there as a vessel for devs is... sensibilities.
It wouldn't surprise me if it turns out that like in C2077 we will be secondary character along for the ride.

Also I don't like the look of our PC nor do I like it's name, "Phyre" really? Just why?
Why can't I make my own PC like I could in VtM:B?
I don't need customizable look of my PC, though it would be nice to have that option, I don't want to look like some butch lesbo, or metro faggot.
Chose his backstory, as what kind of elder he was in the past.
Could be done like it was done in Tyranny, if we want to have some NPC's recognition of our past deeds.

Didn't this get cancelled?

It's in dev hell, and it seems we're up for a disaster.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Quite often you got several options: Dominate, Dementate, Presence (added by the plus patch)

They were cut content?

 

[Reinhardt]

hey all decided to just live and let live and throw a rave together in the Levant

wild guntruck and paraglider appears.

 

[Child of Malkav]

If malkavian clan is in the game do you think they will rewrite all the dialogue options from the perspective of the clan member or add any unique interactions? Probably not, they struggle to get the game out as it is. Jesus this will be bad.

 

[Reinhardt]

Newly made vampire endangering the Masquerade by selling copious amounts of hair to barbers and hair stylists around the city, causing Masquerade threat.

or becomes richest e-thot ever

 

[Roguey]

Why can't I make my own PC like I could in VtM:B?

You couldn't. You could choose a clan that had its own particular model and a name that no one called you by.

 

[Wesp5]

Quite often you got several options: Dominate, Dementate, Presence (added by the plus patch)

They were cut content?

I don't know, but the PnP people complained that Presence could not be used in dialogue so I added some occasions. Not many though, because there needed to be suitable answers...

 

[Cross]

Making the protagonist an Elder was always a dumb idea. You can't have a protagonist with centuries of history and immense power also function as a player avatar who gradually improves their skills while doing chores for NPCs. It just doesn't work. Planescape: Torment doesn't count because the Nameless One was designed to be a blank slate for the player, lacking even a name, and that game explored the tension between being both a player-defined and pre-defined protagonist.

You're not getting anything like that here. This tranny (?) looking creature is clearly a pre-defined character in the mold of a Commander Shepard, designed to be as bland and inoffensive as possible, to the point of androgyny. The video repeatedly mentions Mass Effect as an inspiration, as if that wasn't obvious already. Most of the things she (?) says are unprompted, without any input from the player.

So no skill checks, no stealth, no alternate playstyles, no meaningful character customization or development. Just a bunch of badly written, barely interactive cutscenes and combat. And considering they've never designed gameplay before, having solely made walking simulators, the combat system in this game might turn out to be an even bigger disappointment than the narrative.

 

[Fedora Master]

This is what you goons deserved.