World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 - VTMB sequel from The Chinese Room - coming early 2025

[Hellraiser]

Yeah, definitely a dumpsterphyre in the making.

 

[Cyberarmy]

>Shows skill tree

>All abilities are unlocked, mix and match except for a exclusive clan passive

>Passive for Brujah is melee buff after feeding



It's over boys

Well, vampire themed gaming is now on your shoulders, no pressure.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

As Infinitron put it "Somebody at Paradox has a serious hardon for the idea of the Bloodlines video game as a 'demonstration of how VISCERAL vampires are.'" As they put it in the first dev diary:

So things like picking locks, hacking computers (admittedly inappropriate for an elder who's been asleep for a century), shooting guns, and picking up and selling loot are all out because those are not vampire-specific activities.

This could work if there was a comprehensive system for using mortal retainers, or influencing mortals to do your dirty work for you.

Need to get inside a locked building owned by thinbloods? Coerce the mortal police to break down the door and act as meat fodder against the thinbloods inside.
Need to hack into a CCTV system? Have a NEET satanist hacker in your back-pocket who thinks you're a messenger from Hell sent to initiate him into Lucifer's super special strike team, like Neo but with horns.
Need to get inside a secret sewage system used by the Nosferatu? Have the local real estate mogul send his thugs to rough up the owners of the overhead building and validate a demolition permit.

But I don't see anything like that in what they've featured so far, which makes me think that they don't really know what a "visceral vampire" is. Vampires aren't supposed to be just mortals with special powers and fangs. They're leeches who corrupt the mortals around them, because weaker and more vulnerable mortals means easier access to blood. Drug-pushing, prostitution, murders, mental health issues, pollution, unrest -- the more the mortals struggle with existential issues the easier it is to feed from them without being noticed or inconvenienced by them. A lot of the clans deal with heightening social issues in mortal society:

Ventrue - Economic issues.
Brujah - Public Unrest issues.
Toreador - Emotional issues.
Malkavian - Mental issues.
Lasombra - Criminal/Corruption issues.
Ministry - Degeneracy issues.

Others like Gangrel, Hecata, Tzimisce, Banu and Tremere don't influence the mortal society as much, because they look inward more so than outward, but they still profit from it.

Crom on his mountain, if you don't shut up you'll end up making the Paradox suits want to make a VtmB grand strategy game.

 

[sayf_allah]

I am betting that this game is not going to come out. I am also praying for it.

 

[Storyfag]

Crom on his mountain, if you don't shut up you'll end up making the Paradox suits want to make a VtmB grand strategy game.

That would have been for the best. Hell, I've seen such mods for CK III.

 

[Semiurge]

Crom on his mountain, if you don't shut up you'll end up making the Paradox suits want to make a VtmB grand strategy game.

So Paradox will be the one to make football manager with vampires?







"You're the one who overlooks things, pulls the strings in the background..."

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Tyranicon Does the latest version of Lou Grand get your seal of approval, at least?

Not really. Looks nothing like Christina Hendricks, which visually was 100% of the appeal of the character in HSL's version, cutscene render or no.

New version looks it was made by someone who was told to make "big booba lady" but isn't sexually attracted to women and this is what we get.

Edit: wait I forgot I make porn and I'm not normal a little bit more inclined toward gratuitous sexual appeal. Uh, she's okay I guess, whatever.

For me, the very fact that a lady with tits is part of marketing shows that not everyone has lost their minds there, and even that if such a woke company finally uses tits in marketing, maybe something is finally changing in the world.

The SJW infection also started with individual cases that pushed the boundary. Now the pendulum must return to its place.

 

[Häyhä]

New model 100% straight decline from Christina Hendricks lady:

Maybe they were afraid of a law suit...

Still, no Christina, NO BUY!

 

[La vie sexuelle]

New model 100% straight decline from Christina Hendricks lady:

Maybe they were afraid of a law suit...

Still, no Christina, NO BUY!

That trailer was CGI, made separately from the game, so it didn't reflect the real appearance of the character.



However, I do not deny that the HSL version would look better. CR characters look porous, like they have acne.

 

[Tyranicon]

As Infinitron put it "Somebody at Paradox has a serious hardon for the idea of the Bloodlines video game as a 'demonstration of how VISCERAL vampires are.'" As they put it in the first dev diary:

So things like picking locks, hacking computers (admittedly inappropriate for an elder who's been asleep for a century), shooting guns, and picking up and selling loot are all out because those are not vampire-specific activities.

This could work if there was a comprehensive system for using mortal retainers, or influencing mortals to do your dirty work for you.

Need to get inside a locked building owned by thinbloods? Coerce the mortal police to break down the door and act as meat fodder against the thinbloods inside.

Yes! A lot of the fantasy of being an uber powerful, oldass vampire is that you're a master manipulator and have deep networks of mortal agents.

Now, I get that the WoD version is basically being some kind of edgy teenager with a modern punk aesthetic, but it's really laughable that a Sheriff, or any vampire with position, should have to do so much legwork themselves.

My vampire gangster game will go really hard into hierarchies. Right now I'm playing with the idea of having whole separate crews that can perform various functions on a Battle Brothers-like map, and also function as alternate parties.

But even something that's strictly menu-based would work, but most modern devs won't care, and it really weakens the whole power fantasy.

Because y'know, vampires need minions, man.

 

[Wesp5]

No, I get that the WoD version is basically being some kind of edgy teenager with a modern punk aesthetic, but it's really laughable that a Sheriff, or any vampire with position, should have to do so much legwork themselves.

Not just legwork, the Sheriff is punching enemies to death because they have no better weapon? Just remember the Sheriff's sword from Bloodlines. Will Phyre knock some offender out in a court with her bare hands?

 

[Hellraiser]

I am betting that this game is not going to come out. I am also praying for it.

Honestly considering what the Chinese Turd and Paradox are doing here, this would be the only way for anyone to come out of this with dignity.

Nobody fucking liked the gameplay reveal, this is a game with no fucking appeal to anyone, it will get review bombed hard and hopefully flop bad enough to sink the studio and serve as a warning for the future. The only way I see it gaining any kind of following is if the writing caters to the female demographic (shippers, bioware fangirls, visual novel crowd, wiccan chicks and the like).

Bethesda could have gotten away with Fallout 3 shitting on the core fanbase of the IP because they had consoletard Oblivion fanboy neophytes starved for moar and open world clunky FPS with RPG mechanics had some novelty factor. What novelty does this game bring? What market niche wants this type of game the Chinese Turd is making?

 

[Häyhä]

That trailer was CGI, made separately from the game, so it didn't reflect the real appearance of the character.

Yes, I'm aware of that.

 

[Storyfag]

(shippers, bioware fangirls, visual novel crowd, wiccan chicks and the like

 

[Baron Tahn]

master manipulator and have deep networks of mortal agents

Now that would be cool. Instead of hacking/lockpicking or some modern things (still reckon there should be gunplay tho) you just make a call and the blurry shape of a nosferatu darts up under obfuscation and unlocks it FOR you.

 

[ColaWerewolf]

(shippers, bioware fangirls, visual novel crowd, wiccan chicks and the like

Even the mightiest tzimisce shudders in abject terror to the moist nethers queefed by bioware fangirls when Astarion enters their visual cortex.

The Flood that washed away the city of Enoch is a blessed baptism compared to the rancid bathwater of gamer girl thirst. The antediluvians are better off asleep, for they know not the horrors of the modern age.

 

[The President]

The Brujah Clan is presented as the clan that has to fight brutally and get up close and directly fight enemies, but if your fist are the only weapon then every clan is going to end up going up close and directly fighting enemies, minus stealth of course.

 

[Tyranicon]

The Brujah Clan is presented as the clan that has to fight brutally and get up close and directly fight enemies, but if your fist are the only weapon then every clan is going to end up going up close and directly fighting enemies, minus stealth of course.

Is it basically confirmed that there are no weapons at all?

No chargen, no stats, no inventory.

 

[Caim]

The Brujah Clan is presented as the clan that has to fight brutally and get up close and directly fight enemies, but if your fist are the only weapon then every clan is going to end up going up close and directly fighting enemies, minus stealth of course.

Is it basically confirmed that there are no weapons at all?

No chargen, no stats, no inventory.

No equipment, no armor, no alchemically altered blood to give you boosts, no temporary buffs given by quests, no boosts from just having slept, no advantages from your Nature and Demeanour, no buffs from backgrounds, no items, Fox only, Final Destination.

 

[Latelistener]

I like how they said they didn't want it to look like Dishonored, because otherwise the main character will hide from everyone and try to do things things through stealth, when Corvo was completely overpowered physically compared to any other human in the game and on top of it had supernatural powers. These devs have no clue even about games they're inspired with.

 

[Wesp5]

I like how they said they didn't want it to look like Dishonored, because otherwise the main character will hide from everyone and try to do things things through stealth, when Corvo was completely overpowered physically compared to any other human in the game and on top of it had supernatural powers.

To be honest they kind of have a point here. While Corvo was completely overpowered physically compared to any other human in the game and on top of it had supernatural powers, Arcane decided that using these to kill people was not the correct way, so they enforced stealth with their Chaos system.

 

[conan_edw]

I mean why name it Bloodlines at all if it's going to stray away that far. It could've been any "Vampire :The Masquerade - Whatever" and they'd still have a brand/IP recognition.

 

[Fedora Master]

They want "visceral" they should've done Werewolf, not Vampire.

 

[Fedora Master]

I mean why name it Bloodlines at all if it's going to stray away that far.

Why name it Baldur's Gate 3?
Oh right. Name recognition.

 

[conan_edw]

I mean why name it Bloodlines at all if it's going to stray away that far.

Why name it Baldur's Gate 3?
Oh right. Name recognition.

I'd argue that VtM itself is already a recognized setting with some following and some of the prominent bloodlines characters already belong to it, and it's not like Bloodlines was a commercial success to begin with to latch on its name, so I still don't see the need to use the name.