>That ... doesn't gibe with the timeline so far given by Paradox
>HSL approached Paradox with a pitch, got the contract
>Paradox fired HSL for Reasons Unknown
>TCR approached Paradox with a new pitch, got the contract
>At Paradox shareholders' AGM we were told three things:
>>>>"HSL delivered nothing usable."
>>>>"The new team have had to start from scratch."
>>>>"This game is targeted at 25m copies sold."
25
gameplay looks phyre
it's going to be onions fricking shit.
Apologize.
I'm sorry
No, post the other one.
milk
What for? Lou is still in.
>ORAORAORAORAORAORA
Man, this gameplay vid made me sad. The scenery and atmosphere look good. And some of the combat as well. But man, Fabien and the MC both suck massive balls. Just pure shit and the developers are complete morons for thinking this would be received well
>No no no, I almost had it! Just a few more days would be enough
>PHYRE HE'S HIDING SOMETHING
Who the hell wrote this garbage.
HE'S HIDING SOMETHING
I'm failing to see the problem with this. It's early in the game, and the target audience for this game absolutely needs to be spoon fed how an RPG works.
>and the target audience for this game absolutely needs to be spoon fed how an RPG works.
That's not it. You'd be right if the Nosferatu was playing it cool or something but he literally admits to hiding something and having an ulterior motive. So Fabien is just repeating shit like a moron.
And bold of you to assume this crap will be limited to early game only.
No, not really. I don't really like Johnny but his character was done rather well.
Jackie plays more of the mentor role but he's never treating the player like a 70IQ mouth breather.
>You'd be right if the Nosferatu was playing it cool or something but he literally admits to hiding something and having an ulterior motive. So Fabien is just repeating shit like a moron.
Yea, because the target audience is moronic. You don't sell 25 million copies making games for smart people.
>But man, Fabien and the MC both suck massive balls.
What's the problem with them?
>What's the problem with them?
- Awful character design, a 400 year old elder is sporting a butch dyke haircut with fricking buzz fades, lmao
- Most outfit are bad and just scream androgyny
- Phyre is one of the most moronic names I've ever seen. sounds like someone's tumblr OC
- Don't want to dunk on the VA too much since we didn't see much but so far, she sounds very weak. like a woman trying (and failing) her hardest to sound tough and mean. same crap the Femshep va did.
- Playing a recently awoken elder who's discovering the world around them is pointless if you're gonna have an annoying homosexual talk to your ear every 2 minutes and keep spoiling shit. And constant back and forth quips between them don't help either.
>- Awful character design, a 400 year old elder is sporting a butch dyke haircut with fricking buzz fades
Nothing wrong with the haircut. Seems like a "you" problem.
>- Most outfit are bad and just scream androgyny
You say that like Phyre the androgynous (likely lesbian) vampire isn't going to be the canon incarnation of the MC.
>- Phyre is one of the most moronic names I've ever seen. sounds like someone's tumblr OC
It is an ehh name, sure.
>- Don't want to dunk on the VA too much since we didn't see much but so far, she sounds very weak. like a woman trying (and failing) her hardest to sound tough and mean. same crap the Femshep va did.
FemShep is best Shep, though.
Sure, may as well give her a rainbow afro. It'd make the same amount of sense.
I want to play as Hulk Hogan Vampire, not as a starbucks employee.
My instinct is that the male vampire option is just included for people who swing that way. He won't be included in marketing and will absolutely be an afterthought in terms of writing.
I saw the concept art for the male phyre, its a twink homosexual, devs are not going to implement a new skeleton just for a tall hyper buffed meatslab vampire, they are going to reuse the same skeleton.
it's going to be the same thing, the MC sex won't matter in terms of writing or anything but looks and voice.
You know how games like VTMB1 were clearly written with a male lead in mind? Well, I expect that the situation will be reverse with VTMB2. The female lead will be the obvious canon choice in terms of dialogue tone. There will be a lesbian vibe to how Phyre relates to other characters, and how they relate to her. Mark my words.
>You know how games like VTMB1 were clearly written with a male lead in mind?
I've played through BL1 several times, with both dudes and women. Never have I felt like they were clearly written with a male lead in mind.
Care to give some examples?
>Care to give some examples?
The way Jeanette relates to the player doesn't really feel lesbian. It feels like the main character was written as male.
i don't think it's about male/female attraction for her, she's simply a schizo vampire that fricks everything.
you're free to post examples of 17th century female haircuts that use modern buzz fades 🙂
>you're free to post examples of 17th century female haircuts that use modern buzz fades 🙂
Wait a minute. Phyre doesn't have a female haircut. She pretty blatantly has a male variation of the pompadour. The hairstyle itself dates back to the 1800s, but female versions tended to be elaborate. Elvis wears a modern incarnation of the male version. The style disappeared for a century of more, but it came back into style in the 40s onwards.
And it's like... no shit the androgynous female vampire has the male version.
>The hairstyle itself dates back to the 1800s
That's cool but Phyre was embraced in the early 1600s, dude.
Like I said, kindly post examples of female haircuts using modern buzz fades or accept the fact that you can't read. Not fricking Elvis, kek.
And here's an actual pompadour from the end of 19th century and even that looks a million times better than Phyre's garbage barista hairdo. Nobody would complain if she had hair like that.
>And here's an actual pompadour from the end of 19th century
That's the female version. Stop trying to use female haircuts. She doesn't have a female haircut.
>uhhh yeah, this early 16th century woman is wearing this very obscure male haircut that also uses modern buzz fades
>that is somehow more likely than the devs being hacks and slamming a crappy San Fran barista look onto her
So you can't post any actual examples. I accept your concession then.
>>that is somehow more likely than the devs being hacks and slamming a crappy San Fran barista look onto her
Why would a 100% British team base the look of their characters on San Francisco?
Are you even reading the posts you're replying to? Or the parts you're quoting?
>that is somehow more likely than the devs being HACKS
Anyway, enjoy this last (You) since you can't produce any actual arguments or examples of the haircut I asked. And no, fricking Elvis doesn't coun lol.
It seems highly unlikely that The Chinese Room are hacks given the god-tier games they've made in the past. They are something of a pleb filter, though.
Amnesia fans are STILL to this day seething that The Chinese Room's Amnesia game is better than the Frictional Games ones. Waaagh, it's not a survival horror game, waaagh they completely changed the gameplay, waaagh there's too much talking, waaagh Dan Pinchbeck is a pretentious hack, waaagh.
they're based in brighton, so basically a shitty UK san fran.
>that also uses modern buzz fades
Wait one damn minute. Fades are not new. Fades existed in the 1600s. Native Americans wore them. The Vikings wore them. Much like other hairstyle patterns they fell from use, and then came back when electric razors made them easier. But fades are literally centuries old. I don't understand why weirdos on the internet are so ignorant of hair history. And why they tangle it up with their dumbass political views so much.
This topic seem to come up constantly with VTM games. People acting like complete morons because they think that various hairstyles are too "modern", and they think razors were invented in 2009.
k, but still looks like shit
>Still can't post a single picture or an illustration of the haircuts
>Just the same passive aggressive statements reeking of pathological narcissism
lol, lmao even
It's not the same studio anymore anon. A couple years ago they had to hire like hundreds of people from different ARPG projects and that includes Mass Effect rejects.
>It's not the same studio anymore anon.
Dan Pinchbeck handled VTMB2's writing and general design until he left in 2023. This game is absolutely his baby. That's why it has a character constantly talking in your ear because all his other games had that.
To be honest she has typical dyke, twitter haircut, it's not female or androgynous, it's not pompadour, just a numale haircut for troons.
Looks like trash.
I don't see how it's particularly different to the protagonist of Vampyr. This haircut is period appropriate, but a bunch of know-it-alls claimed it wasn't.
>A haircut of a WW1 male soldier
vs
>A haircut of a woman living in early 1600s
Why are you like this? Come on, use your brain a little.
Characters in RDR2 have the same haircut. There is no explicit point when the hairstyle appeared historically.
Also Phyre is clearly androgynous and wears male clothing and has a male hairstyle. This isn't a surprise or unusual to anyone who isn't an incel. This seems like a pointless argument because I think really the game will speak for itself. Either it sucks or it doesn't. Culture war idiots will fight over hairstyles and hair dye until the cows come home.
Just a few months ago people were seething about the Prince of Persia protagonist.
the game already looks like shit.
>Prince of Persia
Its a modern Ubishit game, they killed Rayman, they fired Michel Ancel because he wanted to make games outside of the ubishit mold, every single ubishit game deserves the flak and to fail not matter the reason, technical or cultural, frick Ubishit.
>they fired Michel Ancel because he wanted to make games outside of the ubishit mold
No, they fired him because he was a complete hack that they kept around for his Miyamoto-style name prestige. Dude was a complete frickwit. They got rid of him because the scandals around his behavior were going to come back to bite them.
>King Kong
>Beyond Good and Evil
>Rayman
hack
Ubishit deserves to fricking die.
Those games were good in spite of Ancel, not because of him. He's a typical bullshit videogame auteur figure.
>We're now talking about RDR2 for some reason
>still not a single example of the haircuts talked about like an hour ago
>but he'd rather ad-hominem people
So you'd rather just keep embarrassing yourself?
not a single example of the haircuts talked about like an hour ago
What example were we asking for again? I think some people got sidetracked because they keep ignoring that the main character basically presents as male. So they expect them to have a woman's haircut even though that makes no sense. It goes round in circles as a result.
>What example were we asking for again?
Pretending to be a dementia-ridden shill - what a pathetic line of defense. Although it does make sense in your case, hmm.
>presents as male.
Uh oh twittertroon detected
>the main character basically presents as male.
She is very explicitly called the female version of Phyre. You really need to ask for a better script, shill-kun.
Everyone knows that they are using this androgynous model for both because they can't be bothered to make two separate ones, it still doesn't make this haircut make sense on a woman, it just makes it lazy.
>incel
>culture war idiots
It was already blatantly obvious that this shill was some asshurt redditor but thanks for confirmation I guess.
Phyre's hair looks nothing like that.
It's the same haircut, just less protruding.
>it's the same haircut except it's not
kek
Not him, but aren't oWoD vamps stuck with the haircut they had when they were turned, tzimisce or clan curse frickery notwithstanding? Presuming they aren't just having it styled again every single night after they wake up.
>Not him, but aren't oWoD vamps stuck with the haircut they had when they were turned, tzimisce or clan curse frickery notwithstanding?
People have this idea that these haircuts are somehow new inventions, and I have no idea why.
Yes, that is correct.
Ignore that dude, he's clearly being a contrarian.
Kek, look at the little fella go. I sure hope you're a shill because the alternative is so much more pathetic.
>Yes, that is correct.
Of course it's correct. The part that is unclear is why some morons have a problem with an old vampire having the haircut. It's sorta baffling. But these people do have room temperature IQs so it's not really worth arguing with them.
They're basically brain-fried by the idea that it's an "SJW" haircut.
You are not smart and you trying to pretend you're smarter than everyone else in this discussion is plainly just embarrassing. The issue is that she's a woman. You still haven't been able to show any evidence of women having those kind of side buzz haircuts hundreds of years ago. She is completely anachronistic and you know it, you know the complaints are valid, but for some inexplicable reason you decided to make this the hill to die on so you have to keep playing dumb and defending this shit.
Isn't everything in that post backed up by the dev diaries? The reason there's no guns, their hatred of "find the keycard" quests, and their general disinterest in making a clone of VTMB1? They also mentioned they cut the number of clans so that each would be unique, and that's bourne out by the fact that, for example, only Tremere has ranged attacks.
devs saying XYZ doesn't mean they're actually gonna do that. it's just excuses. anyone can use sneak attacks, anyone can punch people.
the real reason they're not doing everything the guy mentioned is the lack of time/budget/skills or all of the above.
>anyone can use sneak attacks
Nah, Banu Haqim have stealth disciplines. They'll play like VTM Justice. And the only clan that can use ranged attacks is Tremere.
>Nah, Banu Haqim have stealth disciplines.
okay. we can see the Brujah MC use sneak attacks in the vid, so anyone can use them.
>we can see the Brujah MC use sneak attacks in the vid, so anyone can use them.
What are you talking about? The Brujah MC has no stealth disciplines so they immediately end up brawling. Throwing bottles and grabbing people from behind isn't the same thing as having stealth disciplines.
i never said anything about stealth disciplines. Just that anyone can use sneak attacks so there's NOTHING unique about different playstyles or some garbo PR talk like that.
>The Brujah MC has no stealth disciplines so they immediately end up brawling.
nope. you can easily just sneak around and stealth kill people without alerting anyone because you get your batman sense, telekinesis and floating/flying, as seen on the vid below (timestamp included).
?si=aOqFH83HqPus4lZX&t=304
>Just that anyone can use sneak attacks so there's NOTHING unique about different playstyles
But that's completely wrong.
>nope. you can easily just sneak around and stealth kill people without alerting anyone
That's also completely wrong because they end up alerting the enemies because they don't have any disciplines.
You're literally trying to argue that the void powers in Dishonored don't change how the game plays because it's TECHNICALLY possible to play without them.
https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/clans
>Banu Haqim takes the role of a strategic stalker, using shadows to their advantage. You are a predator on a hunt, and your discipline powers focus on stalking, assassination, and silently moving faster than your foes can track.
>As a Tremere in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, you use your arcane powers to control your own Blood and that of your foes. The playstyle is rewarding when keeping your distance in combat, making enemies scream in agony as you boil their blood, shaping your own vitae into projectiles, or even ripping the blood from their veins.
>Ventrue are blue blooded tyrants who incite obedience in both their allies and their foes. Using the Disciplines of Presence and Dominate, they can mesmerize as well as awe their prey. Feeding builds up Fortitude, allowing the Ventrue to soak up more damage in case any enemy is powerful enough to resist their force of will.
>In Bloodlines 2, Clan Brujah will offer a brutal melee playstyle with its abilities (in Vampire: The Masquerade, known as Disciplines) getting you into the fray and rewarding you for staying there. Exemplified in the video, our Brujah uses charge to gain a burst of momentum, grab an enemy, drag them with you and body slam them into a wall. Don’t assume you’re limited to charging just one enemy either. In early 2024, we’ll be back with a complete list of Brujah discipline powers you will be able to use in game.
This seems borne out by the gameplay videos so far.
see
>>Banu Haqim takes the role of a strategic stalker, using shadows to their advantage. You are a predator on a hunt, and your discipline powers focus on stalking, assassination, and silently moving faster than your foes can track.
BTW there's an entire VTM game none of you have played with a Banu Haqim lead. We know loosely how that clan is going to play already.
>Nothing wrong with the haircut. Seems like a "you" problem.
If you unironically think that haircut is believable on a supposedly centuries old elder you're a fricking moron.
Fabien never shuts up. For example during the mannequin scene that could've been a cool creepy moment in the hands of a more competent developer
Instead, Fabien has to shout "FRICK. OFF." to remind the player "HEY, THIS IS CREEPY RIGHT?" instead of letting them drink in the atmosphere
Imagine if during the Hotel sequence in Bloodlines, Fabien was there, quipping about how ghosts are scary. It'd be god awful.
He has to constantly make useless observations or say meaningless things. "HE'S HIDING SOMETHING", "TALK HIM DOWN", "HE WAS ON A CALL THE WHOLE TIME" these are all things we, the player, can already see or deduce by ourselves. It's like Fabien just says things to fill in dead air and it's annoying
Phyre isn't awful, but her voice acting is awkward, it sounds like she's doing an impression, like a Count Chocula or the Count from Sesame Street and it's difficult to take her seriously when she tries to sound intimidating. In terms of design she's very "modern" and "zoomer", I didn't expect a recently awakened Elder to look like her at all, even taking account that she's trying to blend in the modern world. I would think someone like Fabien would fit that appearance more.
>What's the problem with them?
People want to play as a male character, you fricking tard. Go and tell your bosses that. Their insistence on MUH CANON FEMALE PHYRE is fricking gay and moronic. Their marketing's all fricked. Nobody even knows if you actually CAN play as a male character because of their PHYRE IS A SHE/HER SHE SHE SHE HER HER HER fricking default appearance homosexualry! You stupid c**t!
>Apologize.
Why aren't you posting the PC everyone will be forced to use?
whoever design this outfit and character needs a kick in the groin, holy fricking shit.
Different shit from a different hole is still shit.
>This game is targeted at 25m copies sold
Are they fricking high? Why the frick do people keep listening to the marketing and boardroom morons, they are almost never right. It’s like they think that the VtmB tag alone is going to make people cream their jeans and buy it. This isn’t fricking CoD even now the IP is still niche despite all the motherfrickers talking about it.
fired HSL for Reasons Unknown
Actually we do know because a few years ago a drunk PR person spilled the beans at an event in Brighton. This is from December 2021.
>1. The Chinese Room is in fact the new studio for Bloodlines 2. This wasn't The Chinese Room's choice. This was Sumo, their parent company's choice. Some in the studio aren't happy with this due to being treated like a boutique studio who can turn around some disaster into an RPG but they're trying hence why they're going on a hiring spree for a new branch they've opened up.
>2. Hardsuit Labs sent Bloodlines 2 in a over a thousand zipped files that were randomly numbered. Some say it was because Hardsuit Labs were disorganized. Others say they did it as a "frick you." Either way, the final verdict on Hardsuit's game from Paradox was "not fun." Others say it was a "total disaster."
>3. The Chinese Room are going to try to re-use whatever assets they can. The writing, the missions, the characters are all being done from scratch. I don't know if they're going to keep some of the characters that have been shown off to the public but basically, it's safe to expect a different story set in Seattle.
>4. Like any project hand-over, most of it had to be thrown out. The lighting from Hardsuit's version was, "completely fricking broken."
Aren't they ditching the original Bloodlines composer for the soundtrack, too?
Short answer is yes. The Chinese Room have their own composers and connections in the music industry. The vibe TCR Bloodlines 2 is going for is completely different to Hardsuit's. The song they used in the re-reveal trailer seems indicative of the new direction.
I have zero interests in the game now. VtMB is my favorite game and VtMB 2 scrapped everything I looked forward to.
I have to wonder what the problem was on the dev side of things; it'd be one thing if the HSL version just sucked, looked lame, and played bad, but this makes it sound like Big Rigs levels of completely fricked and non-functional.
Put simply, Hardsuit were in way over their heads, and Mitsoda was unstable. They had constant turnover, people leaving the studio on a weekly/daily basis. The production was completely dysfunctional. I just don't know why Paradox didn't step in sooner. If they had, maybe they could have fired Mitsoda early on and assigned new people to turn the game around. But they ended up with a game 4-5 years into development and it was an undercooked clusterfrick.
This kind of incredible set pieces are only possible with cinematic events and voiced protagonists. Fricking wasted potential, the project. The chinese room has zero chance on turning this project into anything good.
>and Mitsoda was unstable
what does this mean
like he didn't show up for work? or he was insane?
guys needs to wear his anxiety gloves
what do you think?
seriously? this is the first time i hear any of this
do you have an article on this or more info?
> I’ve worked on Bloodlines 2 for almost five years. The story and main cast was initially conceived in my living room. I helped develop the pitch for Hardsuit Labs and helped pitch the project to Paradox in Las Vegas. I’ve been in charge of the narrative since the beginning, working long days and sometimes weekends to deliver a successor to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, and I’ve never been led to believe that I hadn’t succeeded. Very obviously, I have also been involved in the PR and marketing side of things, even though it was one of the most difficult parts for me. I’m a pretty private person – press and crowds tend to heavily trigger my social anxiety (which, if you’ve ever wondered about the gloves, they are “armor” that make me feel less exposed in situations that trigger my anxiety).
>This autistic dude from vtmb 1 comes with a sequel project
>Would gladly work with you for 5 fricking years in a project
>Clearly not a social face
>Randomly fire him and drop the project to scavenge the IP
>and fire the sound crew too, not that VTMB1 was literally carried by story and music anyways
Sounds like massive mismanagement issue from Paradox. 5 years to suddenly pull the plug?
It looks at least more interesting than what we've got now, having a little crazy for a narrative director is probably a good thing, for all their inclusivity talk, this is an unironic case of discrimination against neurodivergency, let the man cook!
>and Mitsoda was unstable
It's all speculation galore in these threads. I've heard every version under the sun, that HSL were incompetent, that Mitsoda was fricking Cara Ellison, that their studio was a wreck, that the feminists slowly pushed everyone else out and so on and so forth. The truth of the matter is, nobody knows for sure what happened yet everyone is happy spewing any story they read from a previous thread as truth.
We have actual proof that Mitsoda's wife divocred him during the time BL2 was in production since divorce papers are public.
You can just watch the leaks.
https://vimeo.com/834466015
https://vimeo.com/834465967
If you don't have an account, just download the vids via some online tool, there's gorillions of those.
Looks like shit. Where's the rpg?
It looks like shit but still better than the TCR version.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume their entire effort amounted to a handful of mediocre vertical slice showcases like this and nothing actually tying it all together.
Some parts look interesting. LD seems fine (and I guess this was from the LD portfolio).
Looks like beta, so unfinished obviously, but It's still curious what could come out of it.
Something had to be REALLY wrong with the project to be dropped at 90%. Wonder what was it.
Too bad that no build was leaked. Maybe community could continue the lifelong tradition of polishing the turd out of VtMB game.
General incompetence of Paradox, Hardsuit and Mitsoda. The atmosphere and employee retention were awful - they were having weekly meetings that revolved around stuff like
>John, Betty and Patty are no longer with us
>But please welcome Josh, Matt and Eve
Now imagine something like that going on for a long time, it's just impossible to work on a bigger project this way. Working on someone else's code (even worse if it's bad code) is pure nightmare.
this is why wow is shit
beyond the fact that the pay is bad, nobody in their right mind wants to go work on blizzard's 20 yo spaghetti code
>Malkavians won't be playable
Frick this gay earth.
This looks much more faithful to the first game than the Chinese Room one.
>Malkavians won't be playable
Could be one of the DLC clans. The current cope is
>They're making you pay extra to make Malkavians truly unique from the rest of clans
I'm always skeptical about adding new classes/races to a story driven RPG where you'd expect the game to react in meaningful ways to your class/race.
Because you need to go back through the entire game post-release and record new lines with the voice actors where appropriate.
The fact that Malk and Nos won't be in at release makes me believe that either they'll feel half-assed compared to the other clans or that clan choice doesn't have that much reactivity in the base game. None of those situations are good.
Also, post source.
>I'm always skeptical about adding new classes/races to a story driven RPG
Of course. Any sensible person would have such mindset.
And one of these clans isn't even gonna be playable in the main campaign - it's gonna have its own separate side story.
Itirick
>And one of these clans isn't even gonna be playable in the main campaign - it's gonna have its own separate side story.
Meh, I doubt it'll be anything like an expansion, it'll probably be a short story that you can finish in an afternoon.
What a disappointment
And thanks.
Ye, that's what I meant. A mini-campaign of sorts.
any more of these?
most are tasteless
>Because you need to go back through the entire game post-release and record new lines with the voice actors where appropriate.
If it's DLC is planned in advance then they're already recording. They're just cutting it out of the game because the DLC is being made with a separate budget.
Source plz.
I was sceptical of VTMB2 when Hardsuit were making it because the pre-release videos didn't look great, but they had some of the original team in there (writer, composer, etc) so parts of it might still end up OK
However I immediately stopped giving a shit at all when The Chinese Room got involved because they have not made ONE good game, all they can do is walking sims (AKA games without gameplay)
if is correct with
>This wasn't The Chinese Room's choice. This was Sumo, their parent company's choice
then that is one of the most moronic decisions I've ever seen, it's like hiring a guy in a coma with no limbs to make a guitar-only instrumental album, why the frick would you expect anything good to come from that?
Whose choice was it for the moronic preset female protagonist?
>25m
Now I feel bad for TCR.
They're not impossible numbers given this game has... zero competition. If it is the Cyberpunk 2077 of vampire RPGs it may have great legs. But I feel they need better marketing if they're hoping to sell those kinda numbers.
The trailers range from really fricking boring to bad, and you have remember that this game will generate a lot of shitposting from the bloodlines fandom.
Its basically Th4er all over again, a mediocre pile of shit wearing the skin of a better game.
>Its basically Th4er all over again
It's basically Human Revolution all over again, or at least that's what Paradox are hoping.
Doesn't literally every other Johnny Silverhand conversation in Cyberpunk involve him saying shit like that?
Paradox is hoping for a Human Revolution, but will get T4ffer, the gameplay is your bog standard shit from 2014-2015, its not original or unique anymore.
They are not cool.
>Paradox is hoping for a Human Revolution, but will get T4ffer, the gameplay is your bog standard shit from 2014-2015, its not original or unique anymore.
Name a single game that plays like this.
Mankind divided
That indie about killing people with a cane in the sewers with Caleb voice actor
Monomyth
Beyond the Cidatel
I hope you're not trying to imply Cyberpunk is the gold standard that everyone should try to copy.
Cyberpunk is basically the best FPS/RPG ever made, to be fair. And for better or worse The Chinese Room are clearly copying from it along with Dishonored.
I wish they'd shown the same scenario with different clans showing how their unique disciplines change the game experience.
For example, apparently Tremere are the only clan with ranged attacks via their blood magic. And the Banu Haqim are the stealth clan, as seen in the VR Dishonored-like VTM Justice. They chose the Brujah in the demo who are the brawler clan, but I really feel like they should have placed them in context.
>I wish they'd shown the same scenario with different clans showing how their unique disciplines change the game experience.
those are supposed to be released later this year
Sure, but it really seems like the marketing for this game is ass-backwards. There's so much pointless debate that only exists because they don't just fricking show what we want to see. And I don't mean nitpickers. I mean people with basic questions like "So how much of an impact do your choices have on quests?"
For sure. If not for the release planned for Q4 2024, I'd say they simply don't have that much to show yet. But since that can't be the case, I have no idea wtf are they doing. These 10s clips of clan reveals were just awful.
They either don't have anything more to show or they're not confident in what they've already made
Boy, their confidence must be at the absolute bottom now, after the gameplay vid.
There's barely anyone even willing to compliment their footage without also voicing concerns. It's clear they're not making a game the audience wants, and they must be aware of it
I don't think the others are ready for showcase. They've shown what they thought is the best they had. Which is worrisome if that is the case.
STANDING HERE
frickin FOTNS over here
someone get Akira Kamiya on the blower!
pure SOVL
the fricking 25 M target sales is hilarious to me.
last year only like 5 games managed to break that fricking milestone, and 2 of them are part of the yearly slop for subhuman and the other was a game that had its early access released 4 years ago
>25m
isn't that like what triple AAA games get?
Why do they think they can get numbers like that?
I've seen porn SFMs with better raised hands animation than this. Your shoulders are supposed go up when you raise your hands why are his shoulders static
>"This game is targeted at 25m copies sold."
are they completely insane?
>"This game is targeted at 25m copies sold."
Don't you mean 2.5 million copies? Because there's no way these types of games ever hit more than ten million copies in lifetime sales, let alone 25 million, and I don't think this game will be the one that breaks that perception.
>Because there's no way these types of games ever hit more than ten million copies in lifetime sales
Cyberpunk 2077 absolutely sold that.
I'm so depressed bros...
>Sidekick who never shuts up and constantly points out the obvious or tells you how to feel
>No inventory
>No character sheet
>No evidence of weapons or firearms
>Linear demo with no evidence of any alternative options or even skills like Seduction or Intimidate
>Probably only 3-4 dialogue options because of the console layout
>Fallout 4-tier dialogue
>4 clans at launch
>awkward voice acting
>awkward animations
>Arkham Vision, which means no Investigation
>No Rik Schafer
What even is this game? It's literally nothing like Bloodlines
who never shuts up and constantly points out the obvious or tells you how to feel
The reason he exists is because the developers realized that casual gamers would hate playing as a proper VTM vampire instead of a wacky cartoon like in VTMB1. This is sorta connected to how a lot of casuals thought the characters in VTM Swansong were "unlikeable". So Phyre is a b***h, and the voice in her head basically speaks for the audience by whining about how she should be less of a vampire klansman.
>VTM Swansong
FRICK OFF c**t
Some of the decisions made on Bloodlines 2 will absolutely be informed by Swansong, because Swansong is the hardcore RPG version of VTM, while Bloodlines is the casual friendly version.
>oh boy I love LARP trash
>I love talking about muh feels and muh emotions
>love soap opera
>vampire conspiracy and world building ? that is dork shit
Modern WoD is written for women by women, or homosexuals.
Behold, one of the best characters WW ever created.
>Swansong is the hardcore RPG version of VTM
>casual gamers would hate playing as a proper VTM vampire instead of a wacky cartoon like in VTMB1
>to achieve this, they made the experience fricking NOTHING like VTMB1
So which is it?
>>No evidence of weapons or firearms
Because they want the player to focus on disciplines instead of generic FPS gameplay.
>>No inventory
Because they don't want quests where having an inventory would be relevant. Only quests based around your vampire experience.
>No character sheet
Replaced with a skill tree like the modern Deus Ex games.
>Linear demo with no evidence of any alternative options or even skills like Seduction or Intimidate
They do suck at demos.
>4 clans at launch
Which all play uniquely, instead of being copypaste.
>Arkham Vision, which means no Investigation
Not sure what you mean by that.
>No Rik Schafer
Not unusual for sequels by new developers to go with new composers. I don't think the only person who worked on The Darkness 2 from the first game was Mike Patton.
>Because they want the player to focus on disciplines instead of generic FPS gameplay.
I don't care, I want to roleplay as fricking Blade, gun-toting blade wielding creature of the night.
or Alucard
even Vincent is more vampire than Phyre.
>Because they want the player to focus on disciplines instead of generic FPS gameplay
So they made the game first person only? Stopped reading right there, you're just a brain dead shill.
>So they made the game first person only?
Dear Esther and A Machine for Pigs and Everyone Goes to the Rapture were first person, and they didn't have guns. Are you completely mentally handicapped? They wanted to get rid of guns to focus on melee, stealth, and blood magic. That's super obvious reading the new clan descriptions and watching the dev interviews.
Also, where do you think they got the idea to have a narrator yapping in the player's ear? Dear Esther, that's where. Dan Pinchbeck may have departed TCR, but this game reeks of his design ideas.
>Because they want the player to focus on disciplines instead of generic FPS gameplay
>>God created men and Sam Colt made them equal
Forgot my image
>>>No evidence of weapons or firearms
>Because they want the player to focus on disciplines instead of generic FPS gameplay.
We are getting 2 game releases that get it wrong in opposite directions.
Suicide Squad has a cast of developed characters with their own unique styles, but they are all just Calladooty riflemen in the game. Zero focus on their own "hero abilities" or w/e.
Bloodlines 2 has a cast of developed character classes (clans) and goes 100% in on their abilities. There is zero general framework of stuff that every class can do, and is augmented by their specific skills. Its just their specific skills.
In both cases it feels like current day devs are failing at a problem that was already solved by Team Fortress, MOBA games and Overwatch.
>Which all play uniquely, instead of being copypaste.
Lol. I hope you're at least getting paid instead of doing this for free.
Someone in another thread said something that made a lot of sense, it was along the lines of "this game isn't made for fans of Bloodlines, it's made for the zoomers who are aware of Bloodlines and its cult status but couldn't stand to actually play a 20 year old game, so now that a new game with the same title is coming out, they can finally see what it's all about, even if it has nothing marginally resembling what made Bloodlines special in the first place."
It's always the case with remakes and other sequels to cult classics.
>20 year old game
The game is going to be complete dogshit
I find the forced accent on "Phyre" downright insulting. Are they unironically using the Blizzard character diversity chart?
It's going to be shit.
>nobody
>nothing
fricking lol, this is great
>"This game is targeted at 25m copies sold."
Somehow, somewhere, there are suits dumb enough to believe that this piece of shit will remotely exceed 2 million copies sold
ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA
Phyre is based on Ruby Rose, possibility a canadian man.
It looks so fricking bad
Do you have to play as a girl?
no, there's supposed to be a dude too. tho the devs only showed concept art for him.
did you even watch the video I linked? i even posted a timestamp that proves you wrong.
>You're literally trying to argue that X
nope, never played it. stop typing like a dumbo and pay attention.
>did you even watch the video I linked?
Yes, and you're wrong.
>nope, never played it.
Oh... so you're just completely ignorant. That makes sense. The game is blatantly trying to be Dishonored, and they've cited it as a primary influence. Go play Dishonored, because if you haven't played it you have no context for what we're talking about.
>Yes, and you're wrong.
cool. shame the video I posted proves I'm right and you're now deflecting like a child.
But you're wrong because they fail stealth because they don't have stealth disciplines. You clearly have no understanding of stealth design and you're making yourself look very silly.
>But you're wrong because they fail stealth because they don't have stealth disciplines
5:08 - successfully walked to a guy, stealth-killed him and walked away. the enemy in front doesn't notice and doesn't care. this is done as a Brujah. keep coping, child.
>5:08 - successfully walked to a guy, stealth-killed him and walked away. the enemy in front doesn't notice and doesn't care.
Uh... what exactly is your point? Are you somehow arguing that non-stealth clans shouldn't be allowed to do silent takedowns? Again, you clearly don't understand the stealth genre. Like how in Cyberpunk you can do takedowns, but if you wanna stay in stealth and complete missions stealthily you absolutely need a built for that with optical camo and so on.
Your entire argument is nonsense from top to bottom because you've never played a stealth game in your life.
>Uh... what exactly is your point?
you'd know if you read my posts. instead of going on pointless tyrades.
>anyone can use sneak attacks, anyone can punch people.
simple as. nothing unique about it, and it doesn't matter how literally you take the PR blogposts. the gameplay vid proves that you can successfully do stealth as a non-stealthy clan. so you're wrong.
can use sneak attacks, anyone can punch people.
>simple as. nothing unique about it
You're a complete moron who needs to play VTM Justice, but I imagine you lack the eye hand coordination for that.
good thing I never claimed four (4) clans will be TOTALLY unique from each other and super special awesome. cause that was kinda moronic.
>who needs to play VTM Justice
nah. it does look cool but I'm not interested in VR right now - will definitely check it out at some point in the future, when the tech progresses even further.
But they are unique. The stealth disciplines (turn invisible, teleport distances, stuff like that), are restricted to one clan. The ability to attack from a distance with projectiles is limited to another clan. So if you want to play VTMB2 stealthily, you will be severely hobbled unless you play as the stealth clan. If you want to avoid close-range attacks, your only real option is Tremere.
In VTM terms, the Banu Haqim are the only clan who have Obfuscate. This is historically associated with Malkavian. Also, Banu Haqim have blood that is poisonous to humans. So they'll have a massive advantage when fighting against human opponents, which will completely change how human engagements go compared to the other clans.
This stuff is all very basic and very self-explanatory.
i get what you're trying to say. the thing is all that translates to only FOUR vtmb1 clans that are even less unique from one another because there are no conversational/RP skills and even outfits are shared between every clan.
plus every clan having access to telekinesis, batman sense and flying/floating sucks even more in terms of uniqueness.
you can also play as a twink homosexual,
>please respect my pronouns
>VTMB sold 72k copies
>"we want 25 million starting before DLC cosmetics and the gacha launch"
Anyone know the average shareholder IQ?
Same IQ as morons who forced cdpr to push out cyberpunk in 2020
The game is no better in 2024
More like 25 copies, hau hau hau hau hau!
In December 2023, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines was bought by >$10K players for a total of $30K.
Heh. I should still have a pre-order from Epic store. They fricked up their discounts few years ago and I got the pre-order for $5 or something like that.
Haven't even bothered with a refund. $5 might be worth it for lulz alone.
>>"This game is targeted at 25m copies sold."
I thought Ventrue were supposed to be smart.
Is there any supporting evidence for the 25m copy claim?
Because if that is their expectation, this is gonna be the biggest write-off ever for them
when a game crosses the 10 years in dev hell mark, the release IS a writeoff
>Duke Nukem Forever
>The Last Guardian
>VTMB2
>Geyond Good and Evil 2
The issue for Paradox here will be that, if this game underperforms, their entire WoD investment will become a disaster. The franchise currently has now mainstream capabilities and won't develop them without this game.
Massive, massive money sink.
Why they can't learn already that fantasy setting requires at least fantasy appearance, not dev self insert slapped on player model
>it's another western vidya franchise/company in full meltdown mode
i'm getting so tired, guys
It will only be a meltdown if the game sells poorly. Something to remember is that this game has a LOT of pre-orders. So if they succeed at making the game fun, it's going to automatically sell a lot of copies and have instant momentum.
But the question is how well the game overall will hold up. We can't answer that because the devs have shown very little of the game because the marketing department is stupid.
i wonder how many millions they've poured into the game by now
Hard to say. But a substantial amount of money. If this version is a failure Paradox will be kicking themselves. I suspect that Sumo Digital (who are the actual party behind this version) cut some kind of deal where they're partially funding it or somehow insulating Paradox from its potential failure.
>cut some kind of deal where they're partially funding it
this also seems to be the deal for the new tomb raider game that hasn't been revealed yet but has been announced
it looks like more and more companies will be forced to find funding from external sources in the coming years
A lot. But the times when you can just take up another loan to keep trying until you somehow roll the next Fortnite are almost over.
Remember when vampire games had hot girls and breasts jiggled? Good times
I just want a vampire game where I can run around and dick around in a power fantasy. World of Darkness stuff can be kinda neat and goofy too.
>"This game is targeted at 25m copies sold."
That confirms the "leak" from a few years ago. There was a "leaker" who said Paradox were deluded enough to believe this was going to be "Cyberpunk 2077 with vampires" including in terms of level of sales. That also explains the "voice in your head" nonsense.
>There was a "leaker" who said Paradox were deluded enough to believe this was going to be "Cyberpunk 2077 with vampires" including in terms of level of sales. That also explains the "voice in your head" nonsense.
In Cyberpunk 2077 they do the obvious thing, and you control a random nobody normal modern guy, and the "voice in your head" is the celebrity from the past. In Vampyr 2 we control the ancient demigod, and we have some hoodlum voice in our head. Literally no reason to do it like this. Just reduces player immersion and customization options.
The Elder thing is even more moronic when you consider the following
>the game puts some mambo-jambo plot device on the MC that saps your powers, so you're an Elder in name only (may as well be a fresh lick line in vtmb1)
>you awake after 300-400 years in an alien environment but you can't even discover all that for yourself because there's a quipping homosexual stuck in your head that never shuts up
I was actually glad they seemed to try something different but that didn't last long. Who the hell thought of these plot points?
>Literally no reason to do it like this.
It's for millennial writing, unironically. The hoodlum dude will be just here to quip and do the "DID YOU JUST DO THAT? YOU PUNCHED HIM INTO HIS FACE! WOW!" level tier writing.
Because it isn't expected from an Elder to quip like that, so someone must play the obnoxious millnial writing tard. And why not have him be a voice in your head.
And yes, of course, this is an absolutely moronic decision.
>no malkavian
>no fun dialogue because "mental illness is real u know"
>25m
Post sauce, I refuse to believe they're this delusional.
Holy fricking shit, why do the shoulders bend like that? Did they frick up the topology on the model or something?
Probably something wrong with the weight map
>25m
They should be glad if they even get 2.5m lmao
No Tremere wife from Hardsuit's version, I fricking riot
Elif might still be in the game, just like Lou is. I really like her design, she just needs a shorter neck,
This game is giving me major Thi4f vibes. It's going to be a wet fart that kills any hope for a future installment.
Best case scenario we get a big fan mod for the OG VTMB like Black Parade.
Man, does anyone remember that Tender ARG back in 2019 that led to the game's reveal in a live event where they invited a bunch of journos and did some cringe theatre where they killed a dude on stage or something, and by playing the ARG we were gonna get unique outfits in-game and shit? Where does the time go...
I remember, it was really fun honestly. My first and last ARG.
I actually did well enough in the ARG to get invited to the reveal.
I miss having any kind of hope at all for this game.
>Darth Phyre Demensia Ravaine Ct'hulhu Bada'sse
A vampire.
Okay, I watched the two leaked missions from the Hardsuits's build and, man, I'd rather have that than the Phyre-not-Silverhand clown fiesta we're getting in December.
The combat was rough for sure as are some WIP aspects of the footage but there are definitely good elements to it
>actual fricking character sheet with multiple skills, feats and attributes (not just a dumbed down skill tree)
>actual melee and ranged weapons
>actual inventory
>actual dialogue system and not a console wheel
>no lame voiced protagonist that looks like a California student
>solid atmosphere in the Pacific Tower and the other location, a homage to Ocean Hotel and Grout's mansion
>actual blood pool and not shitty abilities you need to charge separately (wtf are you doing TCR)
>ACTUAL feeding during combat, not a cutscene (you could get damaged/interrupted while feeding)
They even listened to initial feedback and removed some of those idiotic shifts from 1st to 3rd person with the MC doing backflips,
that's not surprising, hardsuits made blacklight retribution which was one of the best shooters i've ever played
their bloodlines game looked kinda moronic but it was infinitely better than what we're getting now
Oh, and I forgot to mention character creation - that's always great to have.
these dudes somehow managed to take two concepts i love, tomboys and slavic girls, and ruin them both in making phyre
leave it to the british to be tasteless mongoloids
>tomboys and slavic girls
I wonder if she is still in the game
>a homage to Ocean Hotel and Grout's mansion
I think that PT was more of an inspiration. Looks alright nevertheless.
The lame part that it was just a walking simulator. Yeah, that's just some beta footage, but honestly I couldn't see a lot of space for RPG/immersive sims parts there.
But maybe that was the whole point of that level. It's kinda pointless to speculate w/o playing the actual build.
hard agree. in the worst case scenario (that we're probably in) both HSL and TCR's versions are pure shit. but at least with the HSL build it's an rpg that tried and failed instead of a dishonored clone made to solely to appeal to the lowest common denominator to recoup paradox's losses. part of its probably the appeal of lost media, but if nothing else the old game had a lot more intrigue going for it with all the different warring sects and hooks than vampire cyberpunk 2077 seems to
>25m
even without all the behind the scenes crap, this was always delusional
Expecting even 1 million sales with a GOOD VtM game would be pushing it.
Paradox really don't seem to understand how niche the WoD IP is or why anyone that's already into it even likes it in the first place. As far as games go it's only really known for a single game from 2004 that flopped on release.
They should've learned this from when the battle royale game completely died after a month or so. Yet now they've got a game that's too dumbed down to appeal to anyone that liked the first game but also lacks the budget/marketing to even dream of competing with Cyberpunk or whatever the frick. It's absolutely moronic management.
Make it make sense, Gankerros.
>Make it make sense, Gankerros.
they are swedish
i cba going into all the ways the swedish are barely human and awful creatures
but what matters here is that the swede is extremely arrogant and believes themselves superior to any other being in existence
the game will be a grand success because it is published by the might and perfect swede and anything else is impossible
until ofc it bombs horrifically and gets yet another "mostly negative" review like most paradox games and dlc
in which case the fault lies with the consumer who is childish, racist, and anything else that they come up with
sweden
> Game is a complete cluster frick.
That is called going full Troika.
They are just staying true to the games roots.
I could maybe believe a suit being delusional enough to expect 2.5 million sales from a Bloodlines 2.
25 million is so hilariously out of whack it must be a typo.
Been playing Night Road. It's pretty alright and I like how it incorporates the TTRPG better than the VNs, but it really could use a better UI and some sound effects and graphics in addition to the handful of character portraits it has. Even a basic HTML porn game utilizes the space on screen better, it's really tedious that your stats are in another screen and you have to go back and forth to check your dots when there's plenty of unused space on the left and right side of the text.
Agreed about audio/graphics, but I think the decision to hide the character sheet was a solid one. Having them right there on screen is immersion breaking.
Idk man, it takes me out of the story much more when I have to constantly switch between screens whenever I want to confirm literally anything about my character.
>25m copies sold
This has to be a joke. Getting even 5 mil is a huge undertaking full price. For 1 mil on release they could pat themselves on the back. Because it'll have a good tail with DLC.
If this is the price to sink The Chinese Troons, I'll happily pay it.
what's the status on vampire impregnation in the latest release of VtM? Last time I checked only thin bloods could pull that off because caine's curse got tired of getting passed down like a used up rag or something something end of the world signs. But with enough effort and blood some madlad could pull that off through some weird discipline or magicks, but mostly with a entire town's blood bank to bankroll it. Obviously it's one of the most moronic shit a vampire would try to do.
I don't understand Paradox's thought process giving it to HSL or TCR in the first place. VTMB was made by probably the most elite RPG makers of their time when it came out, there's maybe 1 or 2 veteran studios today that could make a vtmb sequel without it being utterly garbage, and even then it's not a guarantee because writing standards in general have fallen off a cliff in modern games.