Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2
- Thread starter GilliamYaeger
- Start date
It should still belong to White Wolf, no. I believe it was pretty big deal at Onyx Path that they are working for "foreign" IPs.
MiracleGrow
Miracles for only $19.99 [They/Them]
- Location
- DOOR STUCK DOOR STUCK PLEASE I BEG U
Can I just say how amazing the ending of the game was? The coffin being full of C4 and the mummy chilling on a beach chair at the end feels like a proper wild Tabletop game ending.
Also the PC giving the middle finger while the tower is exploding is just the best.
Also the PC giving the middle finger while the tower is exploding is just the best.
LordInsane
Loyalist to the Alvarian Merchant's Guild
- Location
- Bohuslän, Occupied Norway
I wonder if you'll be able to remain a Thinblood or if joining a clan with disciplines and weaknesses all (presumably diablerie is involved) is mandated by the story?
- Location
- Georgia, US
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The PC Gamer magazine apparently covered Bloodlines 2 (This is second hand so it'd probably be good to take it with a grain of salt):
- Paradox already had plans to use Bloodlines in some form due to its value, but Hardsuit Labs worked on their own pitch for three months the moment Paradox acquired the IP
- Pitch presentation was so good Paradox immediately began talking pre-production
- First hub surrounds Pioneer Square
- Customise your appearance and background from the start
- Awaken on the floor of a courthouse, victim and witness to a mass embrace. Surrounded by members from different clans and factions you're to be trialed and almost executed, but a firebombing allows you to escape
- Start as a thin-blood due to them being at the center of political issue, and as a way to tutorialise your abilities and introduce you to the various clans and power structures, then joining a clan under unspecified circumstances later
- Five playable clans at launch, less than Bloodlines, but a focus on making every clan as distinct in play style as possible
- "If I'm someone who just likes to punch people in the face, we have a clan for you. If I'm someone that...in a normal roleplaying game, would play as a wizard or something, we also have a clan for that"
- Unique abilities and areas to explore depending on clan. Players who want to "see everything" will need to play as different clans
- Thin blood abilities include the ability to grow bat-like wings, transform into mist, and telekinesis
- End of tutorial has players choose one of these abilities, with its own sub-skills
- Levels design to be navigated in multiple ways, eg slip through a vent in mist form, use telekinesis to rip a fan out of the wall, fly over the gap, etc
- System Shock, Deus Ex, and Dishonored cited as primary inspiration for level design
- Gentrification and the divided between old and new a key narrative theme
- Mysterious woman contacts you via mobile phone, teaches you some of the tutorial stuff, like how to feed
- Feeding requires balancing draining the optimum amount of blood and not killing your target, else risk losing humanity
- Combat primarily in first person
- Able to equip two melee and two ranged weapons at any time
- At high levels can use devastating special moves, where the camera will zoom out to third person
- Meet another thin blood, who is killed by another vampire, then saying to you "You're not on my list"
- "Unsanctioned Seven" side quest has you hunting down the other thin bloods and learning about how vampiric life has impacted their mortal life
- First safehouse is an apartment sub-let by a reclusive vampire named Dale, who acts as a guide to the world
- Apartment safehouse belonged to the aforementioned murdered thinblood, pin board covered in notes and documents, the vamp trying to work out who caused the embrace
- Mitsoda wishes to retain the noir, black humor vibe of Bloodlines in characters and dialogue
- Game dialogue is fully voiced
- No quest markers on NPC heads, must be discovered by your own exploration and engagement
- Example of the above; a missing cat poster. Keep exploring Seattle to find greater density of missing cat posters, investigate the phenomenon, uncover the reason
- More broader choice than Bloodlines in choosing who you want to work for, different experience based on your faction alignment, can insult factions so badly they stop working with you
- Public displays of powers will violate the masquerade, as will feeding, etc
- Masquerade violations of violence will reduce civilian population at night as people are scared to go out, and heavier, frequent violations will see supernatural enforcers sent after you
- Can repair masquerade violations through specific tasks, like joining a clean-up crew to clear up masquerade violations from other vampires
- Clean-up crew run by a weird, desensitized guy named Bart, used an example of the black humor in the game. One clean-up crew mission has you clearing the mess left behind by a vampire + human romantic encounter; "if someone had exploded in a small hotel room, that's what that would look like. You're there to just pick up the pieces. Literally, pick up the pieces, and Bart just comments on whatever's there while eating his noodle soup"
- Background choices impact quest structure and options. Eg background of being a police officers, for a mission at the police station will allow you to walk straight in the door, but that comes with complications of its own as others recognize you
- Emotional resonance provides temporary buffs based on emotional state of victims fed upon. Eg, angry victims will provide a melee buff. Repeatedly feeding on angry people will provide a permanent passive bonus
- Built in Unreal Engine 4
- Pitch presentation was so good Paradox immediately began talking pre-production
- First hub surrounds Pioneer Square
- Customise your appearance and background from the start
- Awaken on the floor of a courthouse, victim and witness to a mass embrace. Surrounded by members from different clans and factions you're to be trialed and almost executed, but a firebombing allows you to escape
- Start as a thin-blood due to them being at the center of political issue, and as a way to tutorialise your abilities and introduce you to the various clans and power structures, then joining a clan under unspecified circumstances later
- Five playable clans at launch, less than Bloodlines, but a focus on making every clan as distinct in play style as possible
- "If I'm someone who just likes to punch people in the face, we have a clan for you. If I'm someone that...in a normal roleplaying game, would play as a wizard or something, we also have a clan for that"
- Unique abilities and areas to explore depending on clan. Players who want to "see everything" will need to play as different clans
- Thin blood abilities include the ability to grow bat-like wings, transform into mist, and telekinesis
- End of tutorial has players choose one of these abilities, with its own sub-skills
- Levels design to be navigated in multiple ways, eg slip through a vent in mist form, use telekinesis to rip a fan out of the wall, fly over the gap, etc
- System Shock, Deus Ex, and Dishonored cited as primary inspiration for level design
- Gentrification and the divided between old and new a key narrative theme
- Mysterious woman contacts you via mobile phone, teaches you some of the tutorial stuff, like how to feed
- Feeding requires balancing draining the optimum amount of blood and not killing your target, else risk losing humanity
- Combat primarily in first person
- Able to equip two melee and two ranged weapons at any time
- At high levels can use devastating special moves, where the camera will zoom out to third person
- Meet another thin blood, who is killed by another vampire, then saying to you "You're not on my list"
- "Unsanctioned Seven" side quest has you hunting down the other thin bloods and learning about how vampiric life has impacted their mortal life
- First safehouse is an apartment sub-let by a reclusive vampire named Dale, who acts as a guide to the world
- Apartment safehouse belonged to the aforementioned murdered thinblood, pin board covered in notes and documents, the vamp trying to work out who caused the embrace
- Mitsoda wishes to retain the noir, black humor vibe of Bloodlines in characters and dialogue
- Game dialogue is fully voiced
- No quest markers on NPC heads, must be discovered by your own exploration and engagement
- Example of the above; a missing cat poster. Keep exploring Seattle to find greater density of missing cat posters, investigate the phenomenon, uncover the reason
- More broader choice than Bloodlines in choosing who you want to work for, different experience based on your faction alignment, can insult factions so badly they stop working with you
- Public displays of powers will violate the masquerade, as will feeding, etc
- Masquerade violations of violence will reduce civilian population at night as people are scared to go out, and heavier, frequent violations will see supernatural enforcers sent after you
- Can repair masquerade violations through specific tasks, like joining a clean-up crew to clear up masquerade violations from other vampires
- Clean-up crew run by a weird, desensitized guy named Bart, used an example of the black humor in the game. One clean-up crew mission has you clearing the mess left behind by a vampire + human romantic encounter; "if someone had exploded in a small hotel room, that's what that would look like. You're there to just pick up the pieces. Literally, pick up the pieces, and Bart just comments on whatever's there while eating his noodle soup"
- Background choices impact quest structure and options. Eg background of being a police officers, for a mission at the police station will allow you to walk straight in the door, but that comes with complications of its own as others recognize you
- Emotional resonance provides temporary buffs based on emotional state of victims fed upon. Eg, angry victims will provide a melee buff. Repeatedly feeding on angry people will provide a permanent passive bonus
- Built in Unreal Engine 4
Reveen
Castro-Trudeauist
Oh yeah. Yeeeeeah. I bet you guys aren't going to try developing this on the Source engine again.
I mean, they could. Source is still being used just fine. But Unreal can do so many different kinds of games that it's probably the best choice for doing all the things this game wants to do.
I mean, they could. Source is still being used just fine. But Unreal can do so many different kinds of games that it's probably the best choice for doing all the things this game wants to do.
- Location
- Georgia, US
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, I'm sure Unreal 4 is a natural choice considering the history
Also, wasn't Valve making Source 2? Or did that come to nothing like 99% of the cool things they've talked about developing?
- Location
- Luton Airport
So do you start off as a shovelhead?
GilliamYaeger
M'crazy.
ngl, this is the most awesome thing I've heard about the game yet. I for one look forward to Viscera Cleanup Detail with Vampires.
- Location
- Georgia, US
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Agreed, if there are more features like this (and they're handled well) then I feel that there could be a very real chance that Bloodlines 2 could surpass 1.
The Masquerade and getting Masquerade Redemption was always a non-issue in the original and considering the importance of the Masquerade (it's in the name of the title after all) that was a shame, this is a much more interesting way to handle it.
Reveen
Castro-Trudeauist
It would be really interesting if there were a limited number of redemption missions and we're some of the only ways to get it. So you have only a set amount of Masquerade violations you can role back. After which point you're fucked and basically have to try to play the rest of the game like that.
- Location
- Georgia, US
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking. By making them proper missions it's plausible that they'll be limited in number, which could make Masquerade violations something that actually matters and one has to avoid.
Dear god, my hype is at dangerous levels
The Victorian
Elven Supremacist
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I hope the game retains the silly humour of the original, and steers well clear of excessive "vampire angst."
And for god's sake please keep Avellone on a leash. The last thing this game needs is some pretentious, long-winded twat delivering logorrheic lectures to the player character in the most tedious purple prose imaginable.
And for god's sake please keep Avellone on a leash. The last thing this game needs is some pretentious, long-winded twat delivering logorrheic lectures to the player character in the most tedious purple prose imaginable.
Reveen
Castro-Trudeauist
I mean, it really depends on what they do with it. PUBG is Unreal 4, and from what I understand has a big underlying layer of bank to it. And I play Day of Infamy which is Source, and it's perfectly fine.
The big thing about it though is that source games are mostly shooters, and a ton of them are built off a giant tower of duct tape of modding going all the way back to Quake. Whereas Unreal has a way more varied library of different kinds of games that thave been built on it.
- Location
- Texas, US
So I just finished my first ever run of Bloodlines, documented on TVTropes and SB and not here because I dunno why. Amazing, amazing game.
RP'ed a very proud to be a vampire Gangrel who was all about the Beast within. Sided with Strauss.
Ending is too abrupt for my taste, although conversations online reveal some stuff I thought were unexplained (like what the deal with The Mandarin was) are explained if you can hack the computer. Fucking knew I couldn't trust Ming Xiao, even with her having 10x the charisma of Lacroix. The Kindred have to stick together.
I thought Downtown was the highlight in a lot of ways be it design, story,music or quests.
Of course a pretty memorable - and I think most memorable from there - sidequest is dealing with the Plaguebearers/Brotherhood of the Ninth Circle. Perhaps it's because I'm coming from Warhammer 40K and was always a Chaos fan but I loved 'em a lot. Hardest bosses in the game for me (except Ming Xiao) , some great voice-acting and dialogue, finding their headquarters and the disease-ridden things that were once human..... The whole thing is just very memorable. Wish they had a few more quests with them, actually.
Also there appears to be mild speculation on a few things relating to them. For one, what type of vampire is Bishop Vick?
Two, does him being a "Bishop" mean he is or was part of the Sabbat?
I'm a newbie to WoD so I'm glad I found this list of books to read up on all aspects of VTMB:
Bloodlines Primer
Sadly, no Demons in Bloodlines so no books on that but it's still a very helpful resource.
Super excited for the sequel. I'll content myself with reading lore until next year I suppose. Should prob replay Bloodlines again once I have had time to relax and do other stuff.
RP'ed a very proud to be a vampire Gangrel who was all about the Beast within. Sided with Strauss.
Ending is too abrupt for my taste, although conversations online reveal some stuff I thought were unexplained (like what the deal with The Mandarin was) are explained if you can hack the computer. Fucking knew I couldn't trust Ming Xiao, even with her having 10x the charisma of Lacroix. The Kindred have to stick together.
I thought Downtown was the highlight in a lot of ways be it design, story,music or quests.
Of course a pretty memorable - and I think most memorable from there - sidequest is dealing with the Plaguebearers/Brotherhood of the Ninth Circle. Perhaps it's because I'm coming from Warhammer 40K and was always a Chaos fan but I loved 'em a lot. Hardest bosses in the game for me (except Ming Xiao) , some great voice-acting and dialogue, finding their headquarters and the disease-ridden things that were once human..... The whole thing is just very memorable. Wish they had a few more quests with them, actually.
Also there appears to be mild speculation on a few things relating to them. For one, what type of vampire is Bishop Vick?
Two, does him being a "Bishop" mean he is or was part of the Sabbat?
I'm a newbie to WoD so I'm glad I found this list of books to read up on all aspects of VTMB:
Bloodlines Primer
Sadly, no Demons in Bloodlines so no books on that but it's still a very helpful resource.
Super excited for the sequel. I'll content myself with reading lore until next year I suppose. Should prob replay Bloodlines again once I have had time to relax and do other stuff.
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The Victorian
Elven Supremacist
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Vick is a Toreador (as evidenced by his use of the Celerity Discipline), and his title of "Bishop" is because he's a cult leader.
Although it's good to remember that being a member of a usually-Camarilla Clan doesn't mean one isn't Sabbat, that's the point of Antitribu.
Also Panders( Sabbat Caitiffs) can technically have any of the "common" Disciplines,
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- Location
- Texas, US
For what it's worth, somebody in this thread said
https://steamcommunity.com/app/2600/discussions/0/133261907142002141/
Then somebody theorizes he's a Baali, who I don't know much about.
Somebody elsewhere also brings up that special sword you can find in the game. It's apparently named after "The True Black Hand" who want to usher int he end of the world as soon as possible. They used this to explain why Vick's ideas apparently clash with the Sabbat's so much.
Even if he was Sabbat though, seems just as likely he went rogue. His Embrace was clearly not a happy one and he doesn't buy into the Caine stuff clearly
That's...probably a good thing, the Baali are bad.
First off, they are supposedly Infernalists, which is WoD-speak for satanists and demon-worshippers.
Although this isn't strictly true...
Second, their IIRC Dark Ages book includes a little boy Baali seducing a Catholic Priest and then putting parasitic Hell-worms in the guy's body...
Yeah, like I said, bad.
edit:
They also IIRC automatically follow a Path instead of having Humanity;
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- Location
- Texas, US
I was interested in demons when I first started reading about WoD and the various beings within. Bloodlines doesn't touch on them at all, though. Like vampires they seem to run the gambit from decent to OMGRUN.
Bloodlines made me curious about WoD Werewolves, too. Not really a werewolf fan but the game certainly puts a big spin on them. After that 10 ft tall juggernaut werewolf wrecked my day in Bloodlines I had to know more.
I've heard though, at least in oWoD that the various ...uh, settings? are incompatible with each other. Like, the rules for how they work don't jive.
Mmm, it's more that the metaphysics/history don't jive.
Although Demon explicitly states that the world has a Multiple Choice past, and that the correct answer is;
"All, yes, even and especially the contradictory choices."
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