World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs

[Lyre Mors]

Please don't let the developers of fucking Blacklight: Retribution make the new Vampire The Masquerade game. Please. Please. Please.

 

[Life of the Party]

10 days ago:

Agents,

All good things must come to an end, and so it is with Blacklight: Retribution.

Thank you for so much for your loyal support, and love over the years. From the initial PC Closed Beta in November 2011 to today, it has been a great 7+ years. The joy that we got out of Blacklight: Retribution is a testament to you the fans; your loyalty, dedication, support, and ultimate willingness to try our fun, quirky FPS.

Why is this happening? The reality is Hardsuit Labs has been engaged for some time now in some very interesting projects that require the full focus of the development teams and leadership. The studio capacity and resources are and have been entirely engaged with these projects and will be for the foreseeable future. As such, we officially will no longer be patching, updating, or doing technical support for Blacklight Retribution. Account migration will officially shut down as of today, as will the official support site.

Starting today, all items in the PC store will be made free, and we hope that you continue to enjoy the game and items up until the PC servers are shut down on March 11th, 2019. The PS4 version of Blacklight Retribution will continue to operate as-is since there are no game servers being hosted for it.

We welcome your feedback, comments, questions, and memories on our social media @PlayBlacklight or @HardsuitLabs, our Reddit community here and the BLR Discord channel.

As a studio, Blacklight: Retribution will always have a special place in our hearts. One that is largely due to our amazing community, so thank you to all the Blacklight: Retribution fans out there.

--Hardsuit Labs


Important Dates

February 8th

* PC Store unlocked and free
* PC Account migration shut down

March 11th

* PC game servers shut down permanently
* Support shut down

https://old.reddit.com/r/Blacklight/comments/aoj8x3/all_good_things_must_come_to_an_end/

Spoiler

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I figured there would be text-only stuff in the form of Tender connections and probably email and texting via your in-game cell phone. This is a good thing, will make for some interesting and unique interactions in the game. Can't wait to lure some sweeties to my lair to turn them into my undead ghoul minions.

 

[Space Nugget]

Somewhat unrelated, but:

http://gamasutra.com/view/news/3364...change_even_when_youre_new_to_the_culture.php

Where's Paradox headed?

Making more accessible games and partnering with companies as a publisher means Ljungerud said that as CEO, she needs to stop projects as early as she can. But in that process, she doesn't want stopped projects to be gravestones, but learning opportunities. "It's key for us that you're allowed to make mistakes, you have to learn from there. We see canceling projects as part of the process."

"It's not a failure, but it does mean that the sooner we cancel something the better," Ljungerud said ."And canceling projects shouldn't mean canceling teams or canceling jobs."

Does that means Hardsuit Labs is handling the job (of making a RPG, regardless of its quality)?

 

[vortex]

Can Paradox hire Arkane studios to make VMTB sequel?
Is there legal obstruction Paradox working with Zenimax on a game ?

 

[Space Nugget]

Can Paradox hire Arkane studios to make VMTB sequel?

Nope.

Is there legal obstruction Paradox working with Zenimax on a game?

Nope. But we're talking about ZeniMax Media here. The company that made Fallout 76 a thing (and the manner it did). And that's forcing monetization and multiplayer on its own developers.

Probably the higher-ups reject the idea of working on other people's intelectual properties. That's not very profitable. So... there has to be serious money involved.

 

[Yosharian]

Can Paradox hire Arkane studios to make VMTB sequel?

Nope.

Is there legal obstruction Paradox working with Zenimax on a game?

Nope. But we're talking about ZeniMax Media here. The company that made Fallout 76 a thing (and the manner it did). And that's forcing monetization and multiplayer on its own developers.

Probably the higher-ups reject the idea of working on other people's intelectual properties. That's not very profitable. So... there has to be serious money involved.

FO76 has probably still made/will make tons of money, even with it failing the way it has

 

[Space Nugget]

Can Paradox hire Arkane studios to make VMTB sequel?

Nope.

Is there legal obstruction Paradox working with Zenimax on a game?

Nope. But we're talking about ZeniMax Media here. The company that made Fallout 76 a thing (and the manner it did). And that's forcing monetization and multiplayer on its own developers.

Probably the higher-ups reject the idea of working on other people's intelectual properties. That's not very profitable. So... there has to be serious money involved.

FO76 has probably still made/will make tons of money, even with it failing the way it has

That's the point. It's all about the...

Spoiler

My 76th post... how appropriate.

 

[Cael]

Guys, seriously, why are you going on about the quality of a potential Vampire game? Allow me to demonstrate:

Me: Vampire!
Fanboi: *SPLOOGE!!!*

 

[ColonelTeacup]

Nothing good can come from a remake. In todays ultra progressive world not only will they butcher the combat further and simplify the dialogue and quests, but they will replace the original iconic soundratcks with bland creations and sjwify the game.
Imagine damsel turned into a sassy black communist girl actively fighting "trumps america".

 

[HansDampf]

 

[Wesp5]

Text only quests? You mean the ARG or what? We are pretty sure the ARG is only teasing for the real thing...

How quickly we forget.

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...he-masquerade-game.126124/page-3#post-6008565
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...he-masquerade-game.126124/page-4#post-6009186

They didn't tease any of those though, they were just small fishes ! Also as for text only quests in Bloodlines, I'd bet the poster quest was a late addition to not let some already build items go to waste that otherwise were unused. At least I saw it that way when I added some more . And about Arkane studios, no thanks! We'll get ten maps which we'll have to visit over and over with endless respawning enemies! That's not what Bloodlines was about...

 

[Life of the Party]

I've been reading a bit about the other WoD settings.

Wraith: The Oblivion reminds me of Planescape and Charon of The Nameless One.

Charon, the first Ferryman and only Emperor of Stygia, is one of the most pivotal figures in Wraith: The Oblivion. Originally from the ancient civilization of Mycenae, Charon is responsible for the formation of several institutions of the dead, including the Ferrymen, the city of Stygia, and the Hierarchy.

Charon was chosen for this role by Fate, through its agent the Lady of Fate. When he first died, the Lady told him that he would be the way by which the restless would travel from the underworld to their final destination. Under her auspices, he performed many heroic quests, including rescuing Nhudri from the Labyrinth and the foundation of Stygia.

In Stygia, Charon's headquarters were the Onyx Tower, the tallest and grandest building in Stygia. From here, bearing his scythe Siklos, he built and commanded the Dark Kingdom of Iron for around two thousand years.

Like every wraith, Charon was subject to the temptation and occasional control of his Shadow. However, Charon was not just any wraith, and his Shadow had the potential to wreak more havoc than normal. Exactly which decisions made over the millennia of Stygian history were hard choices by Charon and which sadistic choices by his Shadow are open for discussion. However, it is known that as the twentieth century rolled around, he was further and further consumed by the crimes he committed, slipping regularly into madness and despair.

This internal struggle culminated in a potent castigation ritual that separated his Shadow from him; the resulting creature fled into the Labyrinth, where it became the animating force of the Malfean Gorool. In 1945, the Fifth Great Maelstrom caused Gorool to rise from the Labyrinth. Charon came forth to fight him, and ended up being dragged below the Weeping Bay, taking the beast with him. He did not return, and the kingdom of the dead fell into chaos with his departure. The Deathlords in particular were eager to take his place in charge of the Dark Kingdom of Iron.

What nobody but the Lady and a few Mnemoi knew was that this, in itself, was Charon's plan. Too long corrupted by his Shadow, Charon was unable to save Stygia from the trials to come. However, as a newborn wraith, Charon would not have the skills necessary to do so either. To that end, he arranged for his memory to be held by the Mnemoi, fettered himself to the world, and cast himself into the Sunless Sea. All to be reborn and return when Stygia needed him the most.

Fifty years later, it was discovered Charon had been reincarnated as an ordinary human named Charles Anderson living in London, England. He was reaped by a group of wraiths following an attack on Stygia by the Dark Kingdom of Jade. Shortly thereafter, unrelated circumstances caused the Sixth Great Maelstrom to begin; an army of Spectres took the opportunity to attack Stygia with the Maelstrom's first wave. Charon helped push them back, but he discovered much of his memories and wisdom, which he left with the Mnemoi Guild, had been lost or destroyed because their planned-out persecution had gone horribly wrong. He transcended shortly thereafter, leaving behind a small group of young wraiths to lead the remains of his kingdom.

Author Adam Tinworth has suggested that the Lady of Fate named Charon after the demon of the same name. The demon Charon, a Halaku, created the Underworld. By invoking the name of the builder of the Shadowlands, the Lady passed on the power of that name to Wraith-Charon - something he would have needed to get the fledgling Stygia off the ground.

In the real world, Charon is named for the classic figure from Greek mythology. The original Charon was the ferryman for the river Acheron; he would take the souls of the dead across the river to wikipedia:Hades for an obolus.

The classic Charon also makes a brief appearance in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

 

[Jedi Exile]

I wonder why people ask for WtM game made by Arkane. It is clear it will be a fun game to play (if you like 'immersive sims'), but not an RPG.

 

[Lacrymas]

Bloodlines is also an "immersive sim".

 

[Roguey]

Bloodlines is also an "immersive sim".

It doesn't follow the principles, it's too gamey and has a third person camera.

 

[Delterius]

oh no

if you continue down this path, darkness awaits you

 

[Twiglard]

I suppose if they aren't abstracting, these text-only quests

"Abstracting", that's what it's called these days? To my horror, I first imagined questgivers with opaque yellow question marks offering a reward for "kill 10 Sabbat members". Abstracting, you say.

It doesn't follow the principles, it's too gamey and has a third person camera.

It has a bona-fide atmosphere. That can't be said about all of these cookie-cutter first-person games of today.

Though the second hub could be less corridor-ish in nature.

 

[user]

Bloodlines is also an "immersive sim".

It doesn't follow the principles, it's too gamey and has a third person camera.

What do you mean by too gamey? What camera should it have? And what's an example for an immersive sim?

 

[Delterius]

oh no

if you continue down this path, darkness awaits you

i warned you

 

[Roguey]

It has a bona-fide atmosphere. That can't be said about all of these cookie-cutter first-person games of today.

What do you mean by too gamey? What camera should it have? And what's an example for an immersive sim?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_sim

Gamey: for example, you can only pick up one kind of each weapon so you can't stockpile knives and sell them all at the store (at least not without frequent backtracking). There are also human bosses with loads of health. Emergent gameplay? What emergent gameplay? The multiple choices/paths/branches through Bloodlines are all determined by the designer. No jumping over that mere locked fence that bars your path in the first hub.

They must also be first person.

 

[Lacrymas]

F/TPS/stealth game, whatever.

 

[user]

It has a bona-fide atmosphere. That can't be said about all of these cookie-cutter first-person games of today.

What do you mean by too gamey? What camera should it have? And what's an example for an immersive sim?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_sim

Gamey: for example, you can only pick up one kind of each weapon so you can't stockpile knives and sell them all at the store (at least not without frequent backtracking). There are also human bosses with loads of health. Emergent gameplay? What emergent gameplay? The multiple choices/paths/branches through Bloodlines are all determined by the designer. No jumping over that mere locked fence that bars your path in the first hub.

They must also be first person.

Hadn't seen that wiki entry before - I am a religious follower of wiki definitions. So, game-y as not realistic enough and not sandbox-y enough, I see. First person doesn't seem to be an absolute requirement according to the entry, but it helps.

Wtf though:

Rick Lane of PC Gamer noted that while earlier games in The Elder Scrolls series were not immersive sims, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion(2006) transitioned the series to an immersive sim.[1]

 

[agentorange]

They must also be first person.

X-Com would qualify as an "immersive sim." It's a nonsense term. The very concept of "immersive" is totally subjective. Someone could feel immersed in playing Mario 64. And what if someone speed runs a game and finds all sorts of ways to get through a level that were not intended by the developer, does that constitute emergent gameplay, even if the game was not built with the intention of providing large amounts of emergent gameplay?

"Immersive sim" is a nonsense term.

 

[Delterius]

when you swim in real life, what perspective is the camera at?

checkmate atheists