Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2

Zero-Cool

Teaser trailer just released, game launching Q1 2020 on PC, PS4 and Xbox. Can not wait!

IGN Preview
https://m.ie.ign.com/articles/2019/03/21/vampire-bloodlines-2-demo-preview-reveal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYvWfDxhm_s

Sired in an act of vampire terrorism, your existence ignites the war for Seattle's blood trade. Enter uneasy alliances with the creatures who control the city and uncover the sprawling conspiracy which plunged Seattle into a bloody civil war between powerful vampire factions.

Become the Ultimate Vampire
Immerse yourself in the World of Darkness and live out your vampire fantasy in a city filled with intriguing characters that react to your choices. You and your unique disciplines are a weapon in our forward-driving, fast-moving, melee-focussed combat system. Your power will grow as you advance, but remember to uphold the Masquerade and guard your humanity... or face the consequences.

Descend into Seattle’s Dark Heart and Survive the Vampire Elite
Seattle has always been run by vampires. Hunt your prey across Seattle locations faithfully reimagined in the World of Darkness. Meet the old blood founders present since the city’s birth and the new blood steering the tech money redefining the city. Everyone has hidden agendas - so choose your allies wisely.

Enter into Uneasy Alliances
Choose a side among competing factions, each with their own unique traits and stories, in the war for Seattle’s blood trade. The world will judge you by the company you keep, but remember no one’s hands stay clean forever.

Experience the Story
Written by the creative mind behind the original Bloodlines, Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2 brings the ambitions of the first game to life and sees the return of a few fan favorite characters.

Ri_Nollaig

oh yes please!!!
16 years after the previous

Sarn

I only played the first one a few years ago and really enjoyed it. If they can maintain the quality gameplay and do a good job modernizing it, all the better.

Kiith

Delighted with this news. The first is fantastic, and with some of the original people involved, hopefully they will keep the feel of the previous games. Hope they keep how different the game can be with the different clans.

Also, maybe Jeanette will be back

Mr Crispy

Already available to pre-order on GOG, so not an Epic Store exclusive... yet.

:pac:

Xenji

Looking forward to this, must be about 12 years since I last played the original.

Zero-Cool

Darch Nemesis wrote: »

Already available to pre-order on GOG, so not an Epic Store exclusive... yet.

:pac:

Preorder up on Steam as well, a dev had said they would do their best not to be exclusive.

I think I'd prefer a 3rd person mode like Vampyr but can understand them using 1st person for immersion. I'd love to see the demo that was shown to media, just to get a glimpse of what it looks like.

Mitch Connor

THis game is going to get sh1t on - you can set up your human character as non-binary and chose your pro nouns.

K.O.Kiki

>No gameplay
>Already has a Season's Pass
>Already has STORY CONTENT locked behind DLC

F Ú C K O F F

Dyr

Apart from all usual DLC bull****, that this thing is going to be so neutered and weak wristed to appease the sensibilities of *current year* hysterics that it will be a shadow of the original

One of my favourite PC games of all time, but yeah, they can **** OFF

Zillah

Bambi wrote: »

Apart from all usual DLC bull****, that this thing is going to be so neutered and weak wristed to appease the sensibilities of *current year* hysterics that it will be a shadow of the original

One of my favourite PC games of all time, but yeah, they can **** OFF

Was there anything in the original that would particularly set off the Twitter brigade if it came out now? Not that I can think of.

Wooooweee are they kicking my enthusiasm in the nuts with this one:

Zero-Cool

Twitch stream of launch event done in the guise of a Tender meetup. Trailer is shown at 4 hours 3 minutes with a Q& A with devs after. If interested, about 3 hours 30 minutes in, it looks like the host announces Tender was setup for Vampires to feed on unsuspecting public but other vamps weren't too happy with it. If you have a Tender account, you can link it to Paradox and unlock DLC in game.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/399100804

K.O.Kiki

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Twitch stream of launch event done in the guise of a Tender meetup. Trailer is shown at 4 hours 3 minutes with a Q& A with devs after. If interested, about 3 hours 30 minutes in, it looks like the host announces Tender was setup for Vampires to feed on unsuspecting public but other vamps weren't too happy with it. If you have a Tender account, you can link it to Paradox and unlock DLC in game.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/399100804

WTF is a Tender account.

And why would one need to link accounts to unlock BS in a game?

Zero-Cool

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

WTF is a Tender account.

And why would one need to link accounts to unlock BS in a game?

Marketing app ongoing the last month to look like a dating app i think but people had figured out it was a marketing campaign to a possible Bloodlines 2. Basically finds your perfect match (to feed on). You can unlock a Tender t-shirt to wear in game as a little bonus, no big deal. Apparently in-game you can see what kind of blood people have using a sense mode, peoples emotions change the flavour and you can get an acquired taste. Apparently Tender hinted towards this without the whole blood sucking bit. Not sure fully about it as there's no way I'd be able to explain a made up dating app for vampires on my phone :pac:

Varik

Malkavians dialogue, and the reactions to it were one of the better parts. If you played a malkavians in a later play though you could see some of the prophetic meaning in it which looked like raving nonsense.
malkavians are problematic now though.


Game will either get **** on by the morally superior or be ****.

Usually have my mind made up on either purchasing a game or not early, even if I don't plan on pre ordering. Will really have to see the response to this at release to decide.

Dyr

Zillah wrote: »

Was there anything in the original that would particularly set off the Twitter brigade if it came out now? Not that I can think of.

Wooooweee are they kicking my enthusiasm in the nuts with this one

You already have the likes of Polygon declaring the first one problematic due to sex workers, racial stereotypes and Malks possibly upsetting actual nutters, while pointedly expecting this one to "do better."

Sephiroth_dude

Never played the original, whats it like?

Dyr

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Never played the original, whats it like?

It's showings its age badly but in terms of story dialouge and atmosphere its a classic

Zero-Cool

Ah Polygon, getting upset on the potential of people being upset...

aaronjumper

Coming to console too nice.
I'd heard about the original only a few months ago and thought it looked good, even if as said already it didn't age well.
Will keep an eye out and hope it's good.

Love RPGs that aren't set in a medieval/fantasy setting.

Zillah

Bambi wrote: »

It's showings its age badly but in terms of story dialouge and atmosphere its a classic

I checked some of the cutscenes on Youtube there and WOW, I did not remember the models being so chunky and twitchy. It was released on the bloody source engine but it looks five years older than Half Life 2.

Varik

Zillah wrote: »

I checked some of the cutscenes on Youtube there and WOW, I did not remember the models being so chunky and twitchy. It was released on the bloody source engine but it looks five years older than Half Life 2.

Half expect them to start the cutscenes in a t pose as they're loaded in. What got me is the cycling facial animations when you were talking to people.

It actually was released before Half life 2, and in fairness the source engine is what Apex and titan fall run on it had a bit of work done on it.

same day as hl2

Dyr

Zillah wrote: »

I checked some of the cutscenes on Youtube there and WOW, I did not remember the models being so chunky and twitchy. It was released on the bloody source engine but it looks five years older than Half Life 2.

I think it was the first game to be developed on Source and Valve screwed them over because HL was delayed so they didnt let them release it until after HL came out

Zero-Cool

I watched a let's play of bloodlines 1 last night. Wow, that has not aged well, should have stayed in my memory.

Devs joked about poor sales because they released the same day as half life 2 but don't have this problem this time, eh Valve?

All fun and games until Cyberpunk decides to release the same day..

Dyr

Given the **** they're taking for their woke nonsense they might not need any competition to sink their sales


It's funny you mention how janky the original looks because that announcement footage for bloodlines 2 looks poor to me, very generic movement and that scrambling animation with the hands looks awful.

I'm not too pushed on what I've heard, PC/console release, controller support and fast moving emphasis on melee combat. Sounds like arse.

Mr Crispy

What "woke nonsense"?

Varik

They got accused of being alt rights, fascists, and white supremacist. They then bowed to the pressure, and went far the other way.

Most was nonsense, normal vampire tropes they got attached for. The masquerade for example is the laws that keep vampires secret, and people started calling it (irl) totalitarian hence the creators (irl) must be too.

One thing that did deserve flak for was a story they put out a while ago, one of the fictitious plot\historys is that the inquisition targeted vampires so did a lot of other pogroms and the like. So they applied the same to a modern event, that being recent murders in Chechnya of lgbt people.

dreamers75

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Never played the original, whats it like?

Very good but you need a fan made patch to play, developers fcuked off fairly early after it was release.

Is this the same developers?

brianregan09

Absolutely loved the lore and the story of the original , hope the sequel can be even half as good

Necro

Given my involvement in playing the RPG version here on Boards, would be bizarre if I wasn't excited for this

Zillah

dreamers75 wrote: »

Is this the same developers?

Nope. The publisher is Paradox Interactive, who are very reliable (and acquired all of the White Wolf IP after all of the unpleasantness with CCP a few years ago), and a small developer (Hardsuit Labs) whom I have never heard of before, but they've got the main writer from the first game back, which is a very good sign.

Zero-Cool

RopeDrink wrote: »

It's a sad day when you can't create anything without it being hailed as an example of your own character. Games, books, movies, everything gets put under a microscope and any hint of anything is then ballooned into "OH SO THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK, EH?!" and the magical power of everyone getting offended begins.

As for this game, loved the original - but I'm too old and wise now to just throw them <100e without even knowing what to expect from a sequel in return. I'll keep my eye on it but the nostalgia and joy of the original won't squeeze money out of me so easily, nor will it make me look too hard. I'm sure we've all been burned too many times regardless of publisher/creator these days. Still, if they wow me then they can have all my wallet. We'll see.

EDIT:

A love letter to VMBL. The over-blown narrative/intro as to what constitutes 'role playing' ends at 4:30. Those who are familiar with the game will get it - those who haven't the faintest idea about Bloodlines might learn a little something, but is a bit too meaty if you just want a quick and dirty review.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFLdh7g9dBU

I know this joke is old now, but... Bloodlines still has better facial animations than Andromeda (and I say that as someone who liked Andromeda) :P

That's a great video, thanks for that, would love to play again but my potato of a laptop couldn't play even that.

Icyseanfitz

this news came out of no where and has me so excited but then on the fist post i see dlc bull**** :rolleyes:

Skerries

as Ropedrink says about jumping in early I will hold off to see what it is like first as I loved the first game and replayed it there a few years ago with the fan patches but it still looked janky.
It can be pre-ordered for about €40 on the usual grey sites so will hold off till closer to the time

Dyr

In other news the Senior Writer is former Journo Cara Ellison, she who started the moral panic about Hotline Miami 2s non-rape rape scene.


That bodes well....

Shiminay

I don't think I've played the original, but I've played several WoD tabletop RPG's and so the world seems quite interesting. Might have to pick up the original and give it a run through to see what all the fuss is about.

Zillah

Shiminay wrote: »

I don't think I've played the original, but I've played several WoD tabletop RPG's and so the world seems quite interesting. Might have to pick up the original and give it a run through to see what all the fuss is about.

Definitely a good idea. They capture the tone of the tabletop very impressively, and there are nods to the jyhad

Shiminay

It's €4.49 on GoG's sale atm so it'd be rude not to

TheRepentent

Shiminay wrote: »

I don't think I've played the original, but I've played several WoD tabletop RPG's and so the world seems quite interesting. Might have to pick up the original and give it a run through to see what all the fuss is about.

Buggy as hell but still worth playing.

oddly enough just got the VtM 5th edition rule book and will be starting a campaign nearly 20years after first playing it

Shiminay

Well all conventional wisdom says to install the Unofficial Patch which I did before starting. I've never been too particularly fussed about how a thing looks as long as it's clear what's what. It runs ok and whilst it's clearly showing its age, it's more than adequate for playing through, so I'm looking forward to getting stuck in this weekend.

Varik

So there's another world of darkness vampire game announced "Vampire The Masquerade" in addition to this now.

Publisher Bigben Interactive
Developer Big Bad Wolf (The Council)

More details at gamescom at the end of august.

Mr Crispy

So that's two Vampire: The Masquerade games, and Werewolf: The Apocalypse all in development!

Varik

People were worried what clans would and wouldn't be in this, some comments made that it'd be limited.

Malkavians got announced today. Just Gangrel and Nosferatu from the last game that haven't been announced yet.

B.A._Baracus

I was a big fan of the original and for anyone that still hasn't played it you should as it still holds up.
The biggest, and best factor, of the game is the atmosphere. From roaming the dark streets of LA to this awesome background soundtrack that plays. It's a shame the game didn't sell more. But it released the same month as Halo 2, Half Life 2 and MGS3 so go figure.

The sequel does look very promising however. This time set in Seattle but taking a lot of the beats from the first game. In truth, you'll probably find out that this game is more of an updated version than a sequel but that's not a bad thing.

Really happy this is getting a switch release too. Would have been better if it got an xbox one release tho.

Burgo

18 minutes of gameplay footages. Apparently it was an IGN journalist playing, but they really should have showcased someone else, anyone else!

Dyr

Burgo wrote: »

18 minutes of gameplay footages. Apparently it was an IGN journalist playing, but they really should have showcased someone else, anyone else!

Hard to tell if the combat is total pants or if it just looks like it is because its a games journo playing

That' said the switch to third person for certain moves is a really bad sign to me

The dialogue and voice acting are both really flat and pedestrian compared to the original

Environments look good

Zero-Cool

I had to stop when he got to the combat, was painful to watch.

Either the combat and controls are really bad or the journo is, and I quote a youtube comment, " playing using a steering wheel."

Varik

Saw on their own site someone commented "Right Stick. The most lethal enemy known to vampire."

Apparently it was one of the Devs playing, few sites have it with little difference of character appearance and skills/clan. So some dev running through it again and a again with each person/group. Same poor control either way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVZ5oQLtXw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybopB0_4Abk

Zero-Cool

Wow that's some last gen control then, at least they have until spring to tighten them up.

Varik

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Wow that's some last gen control then, at least they have until spring to tighten them up.

Says it's more the person rather than the game.

Unless they're moving slowly like that to stop tearing or frame drops.

Shiminay

I've watched a couple of minutes of one of those videos and it looks terrible, who on earth thought it was a good idea to release that?

Also: we may not see the Gangrel clan in the game because the wrestler of the same name now owns the rights to it https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/exclusives/exclusive-free-white-wolf-gangrel-now-owns-his-name Seems like there was a messy over and back in the courts with this.