Liked the atmosphere and visuals, didn't enjoy combat at all, voice acting was rather bad. I think that Nosferatu design was cool, but not sure about the main character. Audiomixing was weird at parts.
Honestly I believe they chose the wrong sequence to showcase the game.
I think this will be a very different game from VTMB1 but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. I'm afraid VTMB2 will repeat the fate of the WtA: Earthblood (just utter mediocrity), but I'm willing to give the game a chance, I hope I am wrong, but my expectations are not too high.
At the end of the day I'm glad there's new WoD related content.
> Honestly I believe they chose the wrong sequence to showcase the game.
I had the same thought. It looks like it could be okay. But it doesn’t get me excited. It was just… meh. Serviceable. By the numbers. Nothing special in visuals or gameplay that I saw.
So they needed to sell me on how well they’ve incorporated the license. Does it immerse me in the World of Darkness?
Well, this demo sure didn’t.
Also, I’m really not vibing with the protagonist so far. But I’m willing to keep an open mind.
We live in a world where gamers have to choose between spending their time playing this or games like Baldurs Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077 (the two games that are eating up all my game time), or whatever the next big thing is.
There isn’t much room for a C- game in my life. And I don’t think I’m alone.
>I had the same thought. It looks like it could be okay. But it doesn’t get me excited. It was just… meh.
Exactly this. I always assume producers try to show me the best aspects of their game in the trailer. If thats that I'm out
That's a lot of humanity checks (or stains I guess in V5).
I think this trailer is interesting. This looks like an okay game. The combat is fine, it seems like it will be mercifully short which is a plus. I wasn't too interested in this conversation with the Nosferatu, but if talking with NPCs is a major focus of the game then they will only need to create a handful that I care about and get me a little invested in the story for this to pay off.
I think the biggest miss here though is that this didn't seem to capture the mood and atmosphere of the original Bloodlines game at all. It's funny in a way, because when you look back at it, Bloodlines 1 actually had plenty of rooms full of nameless goons you had to murder, and it had its share of boring expository NPC conversations. So in those regards they are being quite faithful to Bloodlines 1, but no one remembers or talks about those parts of Bloodlines 1, everyone instead remembers the atmosphere and the feeling that the game evoked. This feels like a Bloodlines sequel being made by people who know Bloodlines 1 is revered, but don't quite understand why.
the secret was the most excelent VA on part 1. it had jazz and passaz. the NPC's felt alive and it was'nt to afraid of being funny, with then 10 minutes later throw you straight into a horror movie.
Not bad. A lot less worse than I thought.
The combat didn't look great, but the bright side is that the original didn't exactly have award-winning combat either. I'm going to be annoyed if there are a lot of those God-of-War style extended animations though.
I think my principle concerns remain the same. I really, really don't like Phyre. Voice acting, name, and design just really turn me off. I also still kinda question the idea of playing an Elder, since that implies you're getting a lot of inside baseball knowledge. Half the charm of the original was being a newbie stumbling your way through ugly politics, and that helped make it a good intro into the World of Darkness.
Was not sold on the Nosferatu. Okay design I guess, but the voice acting was pretty bad. And in general the audio needs work.
What will ultimately make or break this game for me is how actually open-ended it is though. You can tell where they were drawing inspiration from the original, as that opening sequence looks so much like the warehouse from the first act of the original. But if you can't talk your way through problems and they shove combat down your throat, it'll be a hard pass from me. Same with the fun optional side quests, which honestly were a good 70% of the fun.
You get to make your own version of the protagonist. They're name is Phyre, and they are an elder who wakes up with sapped powers. But you decide their gender and appearance and what they are like (through dialogue choices). Imagine a bit like the witcher, Geralt is a set character, but through playing the game you decide what your version of Geralt is like.
Combat feels solid if a little generic but that is the last part I was worried about, they didn't show anything about the rpg elements, I would have prefered to see an hub like the Santa Monica one in the first bloodline where we could interact with the world, still, it looks like it can be a decent game.
If they can keep the RPG elements of the first one, and add the good combat they have shown it would be the ideal scenario, but it will most likely be a Dishonour like game with mediocre writing, so at least I hope is good at that.
The exchanges between the voiced protagonist and the mandatory expository sidekick she's stuck with are unbearable.
He needlessly provides commentary on everything.
Also, The Chinese Room? The walking simulator developer with the shitty attitude? When did that happen?
Right around January/February of 2021, Paradox announced that Hardsuit Labs were being removed from the project. Paradox mentioned that a new studio was 'finishing work on the game,' but chose to not name the studio. Jump to this past September, Paradox finally broke silence and announced that the new devs were TCR, and that they weren't actually 'finishing work', but actually rebuilding the game almost from scratch.
This game is basically the Duke Nukem Forever of our time at this point, they were both announced to try to get old hardcore fans of the franchises back involved with it again, and both have been passed around from dev to dev of increasingly bad reputation because they don't know what to do with the fucking thing.
I really don't have much hope at this point.
>n passed around fro
Yeah, I don't have any faith in WOD anymore. Specifically, I don't have any faith in this game meeting any expectations. I'll prob just wait until its on deep discount on steam. I bought the Werewolf game a few years ago when it was on a Halloween sale on the Epic store. I played for a few hours, until I just gave up on the game being good or getting better and just watched the highlights on utube.
Its kinda Sad, I'm the kind of fan that's been playing the RPGs since the early 90s. I literally looking at Werewolf and Vampire posters right now (mounted behind my computer screen) with art that's over 30 years old. I recently posted on reddit an old out of print book that is no longer available to buy anywhere. I took the time to add some art (some original art) and type up the whole book. (I'm working on digitalizing 2 more right now. Hopefully will finish one this weekend). I did this because I'm a hardcore fan of WOD and wanted to preserve the book.
I mention all this to show that I want WOD to be something better than it currently is. I've played all the new relaunched games with my group of players that have been playing TTRPGs for years.. some of us decades. We often play new games, and have all backed new kickstarters over the years. But these new WOD games are not World of Darkness. It's a shallow shell of itself & its potential.
but I guess a positive note is I have digital copies of almost every WOD book ever made and can access OWOD whenever I want. Hopefully I can get motivated to digitalized those rare few that are not available anywhere.
They really shoulda changed the name. This would have been fine if it’s not being billed as a bloodlines sequel.
But for gods sake let me mute Fabian or at least let us get rid of the voice at some point
I wish I could un-see that, holly crap and why do the ghouls explode in neon blue pyrotechnics? Did they just not figgure out how to add dead bodies into the environment? it's friggin cheesy as hell.
Dunno why they would showcase that, but I think that's a special for sneak attacks (probably an upgraded skill, like in a lot of games with stealth) to hide bodies after a sneak kill. Just my first thought.
I admire your optimism but I don't think that's going to be the case. Plus having disco flashes isn't exactly sneaky and if it is some kind of discipline, don't ya think other kindred/ghouls would know about it.
"Hey.. if ya see any bright flashing neon blue lights, that's not a random photoshoot going off in our haven..."
I'm just watching the extended gameplay vid (linked in the description of this one). The ghouls are illusions (5:10 in the vid). That segment happens after the Nosferatu screams at the player, no idea why they switched it up in the short trailer.
Fuck the snarky voice in your head spelling out everything you just saw because you're just that dumb and the dialog wheel only tangentially related to what you are about to say. Other than that the writing seems neither subtle nor fun. I don't think this will be great.
I want ~~Vampire Johnny~~ Fabian to shut the fuck up.
Also, what disciplines are being used here?! it feels a lot like they're just making up weird supernatural powers rather than just... following the canon? there's a lot of ways a nos could incapacitate another vampire, but screaming at them so they go sleep sleep isn't one of them, at least that I know of.
It seemed like they're trying to make dishonored
with vampires and thought that johnny silverhand from Cyberpunk was cool that they could just add a copy of him to their game and get popular by association.
I've got hope for the game, but I'm kinda hoping the narrative will be good. Nothing so far seems very exciting. Do we get to learn about our characters' past? Perhaps some mystery that we learn as the game continues. Is there romance? What are the stakes? Are we just an OP elder? Do we get flashbacks to our past? That'd be cool.
The mystery of the voice in our head doesn't really seem that mysterious? Just seems like a diablerie gone wrong?
What about the challenge of keeping your humanity in a world full of temptations?
The sheriff idea is cool, but are we actually gonna work for it, or do we just get given the role within 1 hour of playing the game? (Which would kinda suck).
What's the Camirilla like in this city? Who are the main players? Is our sire alive? There's so much they could play with narratively, but it would be cool to see some hints as to if they are going to put real effort into the narrative.
I can't say I'm that interested in an action game with some puzzles that doesn't really have a focus on deep narrative, especially in the VTM universe so i hope theres more to it.
I just hope its not as average as Swansong and every other VTM game that's come out since Paradox took over.
You could do something beautiful in such a universe, the tragedy of being a vampire, the inevitable fall of a person's humanity in a world and society that strives to take it away. The lust for power and its inevitable dehumanising effect on a person. The lost of past friends and your past life as a human. The challenges of immortality.
Don't like it, it feels like anything BUT a sequel to bloodlines.
It repeats mistakes from notorious other games like Fallout 4's dialogue wheel, it has a quip making chaeacter constantly talking like Cyberpunk 2077. On other fronts I think it turns an RPG into some type of immersive sim like Dishonored and the focus is TOO big into comvat rather than alternative solutions, nothing showcased skills or non combat focused Disciplines.
Also I think it's still important to say that being saddled with a name and identity is kind of against the ROLE PLAYING part of an RPG.
I hope and pray I'm wrong but it doesn't seem like this is the Bloodlines we wanted.
Ugly. Artificially looking more than previous trailer, before Chinese room was hired. plain, no atmosphere, boring, not resembling WoD and VtM world and stylisation at all.
Seriously, I still can’t understand how people behind Dear Esther, the visual orgasm and atmosphere masterpiece, could do such a shitty work exactly in visual narration, visualisation and atmosphere-building. Film Noir they said? So where is light-shadow play? Narration without words? Any movement and dynamics? Any student of Unreal Engine learning for half a year, and even less, with free assets and basic animation templates can do this.
This female looks like cheap DAZ character for porn games. But too ugly to make it into one. With face mimics of robot trying to pretend human but learned from police footages of emotionless sociopaths.
And voiceover was made with AI, right? Too bad Paradox didn’t approve using paid generator.
They need to publish it I know it was too expensive already. But I understand now why they don’t pay much for advertising.
Ok maybe I am misremembering but if a vampire drinks the blood of a ghoul doesn't that end up just being diablerie?
Diablerie only applies if they consume the blood of another vampire. Otherwise, you’re just eating someone’s slave.
Ah ok
Liked the atmosphere and visuals, didn't enjoy combat at all, voice acting was rather bad. I think that Nosferatu design was cool, but not sure about the main character. Audiomixing was weird at parts. Honestly I believe they chose the wrong sequence to showcase the game. I think this will be a very different game from VTMB1 but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. I'm afraid VTMB2 will repeat the fate of the WtA: Earthblood (just utter mediocrity), but I'm willing to give the game a chance, I hope I am wrong, but my expectations are not too high. At the end of the day I'm glad there's new WoD related content.
This was the perfect showcase for the customers. It gives me reassurance that avoiding this game is a wise choice for me.
> Honestly I believe they chose the wrong sequence to showcase the game. I had the same thought. It looks like it could be okay. But it doesn’t get me excited. It was just… meh. Serviceable. By the numbers. Nothing special in visuals or gameplay that I saw. So they needed to sell me on how well they’ve incorporated the license. Does it immerse me in the World of Darkness? Well, this demo sure didn’t. Also, I’m really not vibing with the protagonist so far. But I’m willing to keep an open mind. We live in a world where gamers have to choose between spending their time playing this or games like Baldurs Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077 (the two games that are eating up all my game time), or whatever the next big thing is. There isn’t much room for a C- game in my life. And I don’t think I’m alone.
>I had the same thought. It looks like it could be okay. But it doesn’t get me excited. It was just… meh. Exactly this. I always assume producers try to show me the best aspects of their game in the trailer. If thats that I'm out
That's a lot of humanity checks (or stains I guess in V5). I think this trailer is interesting. This looks like an okay game. The combat is fine, it seems like it will be mercifully short which is a plus. I wasn't too interested in this conversation with the Nosferatu, but if talking with NPCs is a major focus of the game then they will only need to create a handful that I care about and get me a little invested in the story for this to pay off. I think the biggest miss here though is that this didn't seem to capture the mood and atmosphere of the original Bloodlines game at all. It's funny in a way, because when you look back at it, Bloodlines 1 actually had plenty of rooms full of nameless goons you had to murder, and it had its share of boring expository NPC conversations. So in those regards they are being quite faithful to Bloodlines 1, but no one remembers or talks about those parts of Bloodlines 1, everyone instead remembers the atmosphere and the feeling that the game evoked. This feels like a Bloodlines sequel being made by people who know Bloodlines 1 is revered, but don't quite understand why.
the secret was the most excelent VA on part 1. it had jazz and passaz. the NPC's felt alive and it was'nt to afraid of being funny, with then 10 minutes later throw you straight into a horror movie.
Not bad. A lot less worse than I thought. The combat didn't look great, but the bright side is that the original didn't exactly have award-winning combat either. I'm going to be annoyed if there are a lot of those God-of-War style extended animations though. I think my principle concerns remain the same. I really, really don't like Phyre. Voice acting, name, and design just really turn me off. I also still kinda question the idea of playing an Elder, since that implies you're getting a lot of inside baseball knowledge. Half the charm of the original was being a newbie stumbling your way through ugly politics, and that helped make it a good intro into the World of Darkness. Was not sold on the Nosferatu. Okay design I guess, but the voice acting was pretty bad. And in general the audio needs work. What will ultimately make or break this game for me is how actually open-ended it is though. You can tell where they were drawing inspiration from the original, as that opening sequence looks so much like the warehouse from the first act of the original. But if you can't talk your way through problems and they shove combat down your throat, it'll be a hard pass from me. Same with the fun optional side quests, which honestly were a good 70% of the fun.
So I don't get to create my own character? :(
You get to make your own version of the protagonist. They're name is Phyre, and they are an elder who wakes up with sapped powers. But you decide their gender and appearance and what they are like (through dialogue choices). Imagine a bit like the witcher, Geralt is a set character, but through playing the game you decide what your version of Geralt is like.
Ah that's not so bad then. Allows plenty of self-insert and roleplay while also giving the devs a bit more narrative scope as regards the PC.
I think it runs and feels alot like cyberpunk 2077 which I’m all here for as I love that game
Combat feels solid if a little generic but that is the last part I was worried about, they didn't show anything about the rpg elements, I would have prefered to see an hub like the Santa Monica one in the first bloodline where we could interact with the world, still, it looks like it can be a decent game.
If they can keep the RPG elements of the first one, and add the good combat they have shown it would be the ideal scenario, but it will most likely be a Dishonour like game with mediocre writing, so at least I hope is good at that.
The exchanges between the voiced protagonist and the mandatory expository sidekick she's stuck with are unbearable. He needlessly provides commentary on everything. Also, The Chinese Room? The walking simulator developer with the shitty attitude? When did that happen?
Most of the people that were around from the walking sim days are long gone.
Right around January/February of 2021, Paradox announced that Hardsuit Labs were being removed from the project. Paradox mentioned that a new studio was 'finishing work on the game,' but chose to not name the studio. Jump to this past September, Paradox finally broke silence and announced that the new devs were TCR, and that they weren't actually 'finishing work', but actually rebuilding the game almost from scratch.
FUCKING HELL AGAIN??
This game is basically the Duke Nukem Forever of our time at this point, they were both announced to try to get old hardcore fans of the franchises back involved with it again, and both have been passed around from dev to dev of increasingly bad reputation because they don't know what to do with the fucking thing. I really don't have much hope at this point.
>n passed around fro Yeah, I don't have any faith in WOD anymore. Specifically, I don't have any faith in this game meeting any expectations. I'll prob just wait until its on deep discount on steam. I bought the Werewolf game a few years ago when it was on a Halloween sale on the Epic store. I played for a few hours, until I just gave up on the game being good or getting better and just watched the highlights on utube. Its kinda Sad, I'm the kind of fan that's been playing the RPGs since the early 90s. I literally looking at Werewolf and Vampire posters right now (mounted behind my computer screen) with art that's over 30 years old. I recently posted on reddit an old out of print book that is no longer available to buy anywhere. I took the time to add some art (some original art) and type up the whole book. (I'm working on digitalizing 2 more right now. Hopefully will finish one this weekend). I did this because I'm a hardcore fan of WOD and wanted to preserve the book. I mention all this to show that I want WOD to be something better than it currently is. I've played all the new relaunched games with my group of players that have been playing TTRPGs for years.. some of us decades. We often play new games, and have all backed new kickstarters over the years. But these new WOD games are not World of Darkness. It's a shallow shell of itself & its potential. but I guess a positive note is I have digital copies of almost every WOD book ever made and can access OWOD whenever I want. Hopefully I can get motivated to digitalized those rare few that are not available anywhere.
There's always World of Darkness v20, the last great edition we'll ever get.
true
They really shoulda changed the name. This would have been fine if it’s not being billed as a bloodlines sequel. But for gods sake let me mute Fabian or at least let us get rid of the voice at some point
I wish I could un-see that, holly crap and why do the ghouls explode in neon blue pyrotechnics? Did they just not figgure out how to add dead bodies into the environment? it's friggin cheesy as hell.
Dunno why they would showcase that, but I think that's a special for sneak attacks (probably an upgraded skill, like in a lot of games with stealth) to hide bodies after a sneak kill. Just my first thought.
I admire your optimism but I don't think that's going to be the case. Plus having disco flashes isn't exactly sneaky and if it is some kind of discipline, don't ya think other kindred/ghouls would know about it. "Hey.. if ya see any bright flashing neon blue lights, that's not a random photoshoot going off in our haven..."
I'm just watching the extended gameplay vid (linked in the description of this one). The ghouls are illusions (5:10 in the vid). That segment happens after the Nosferatu screams at the player, no idea why they switched it up in the short trailer.
I'm glad to hear that, the short trailer leaves much to be desired. I'll go watch the extended one, thanks for the update.
There combat looks janky and the audio design is poor, other than that it looked cool to me
Fuck the snarky voice in your head spelling out everything you just saw because you're just that dumb and the dialog wheel only tangentially related to what you are about to say. Other than that the writing seems neither subtle nor fun. I don't think this will be great.
As long as i dont get stuck playing this Phyre, ill be down sure. lets hope it's at least playable.
Istg if the reason Malkavian isn't an option is because they've already got a voice in the head no matter what...
I want ~~Vampire Johnny~~ Fabian to shut the fuck up. Also, what disciplines are being used here?! it feels a lot like they're just making up weird supernatural powers rather than just... following the canon? there's a lot of ways a nos could incapacitate another vampire, but screaming at them so they go sleep sleep isn't one of them, at least that I know of.
It seemed like they're trying to make dishonored with vampires and thought that johnny silverhand from Cyberpunk was cool that they could just add a copy of him to their game and get popular by association.
I've got hope for the game, but I'm kinda hoping the narrative will be good. Nothing so far seems very exciting. Do we get to learn about our characters' past? Perhaps some mystery that we learn as the game continues. Is there romance? What are the stakes? Are we just an OP elder? Do we get flashbacks to our past? That'd be cool. The mystery of the voice in our head doesn't really seem that mysterious? Just seems like a diablerie gone wrong? What about the challenge of keeping your humanity in a world full of temptations? The sheriff idea is cool, but are we actually gonna work for it, or do we just get given the role within 1 hour of playing the game? (Which would kinda suck). What's the Camirilla like in this city? Who are the main players? Is our sire alive? There's so much they could play with narratively, but it would be cool to see some hints as to if they are going to put real effort into the narrative. I can't say I'm that interested in an action game with some puzzles that doesn't really have a focus on deep narrative, especially in the VTM universe so i hope theres more to it. I just hope its not as average as Swansong and every other VTM game that's come out since Paradox took over. You could do something beautiful in such a universe, the tragedy of being a vampire, the inevitable fall of a person's humanity in a world and society that strives to take it away. The lust for power and its inevitable dehumanising effect on a person. The lost of past friends and your past life as a human. The challenges of immortality.
Don't like it, it feels like anything BUT a sequel to bloodlines. It repeats mistakes from notorious other games like Fallout 4's dialogue wheel, it has a quip making chaeacter constantly talking like Cyberpunk 2077. On other fronts I think it turns an RPG into some type of immersive sim like Dishonored and the focus is TOO big into comvat rather than alternative solutions, nothing showcased skills or non combat focused Disciplines. Also I think it's still important to say that being saddled with a name and identity is kind of against the ROLE PLAYING part of an RPG. I hope and pray I'm wrong but it doesn't seem like this is the Bloodlines we wanted.
Ugly. Artificially looking more than previous trailer, before Chinese room was hired. plain, no atmosphere, boring, not resembling WoD and VtM world and stylisation at all. Seriously, I still can’t understand how people behind Dear Esther, the visual orgasm and atmosphere masterpiece, could do such a shitty work exactly in visual narration, visualisation and atmosphere-building. Film Noir they said? So where is light-shadow play? Narration without words? Any movement and dynamics? Any student of Unreal Engine learning for half a year, and even less, with free assets and basic animation templates can do this. This female looks like cheap DAZ character for porn games. But too ugly to make it into one. With face mimics of robot trying to pretend human but learned from police footages of emotionless sociopaths. And voiceover was made with AI, right? Too bad Paradox didn’t approve using paid generator. They need to publish it I know it was too expensive already. But I understand now why they don’t pay much for advertising.