Vampyr - vampire action-RPG from Life Is Strange devs

[Monkey Baron]

Vampyr is going to be one of those games where it isn't fulfilling to be evil

Out of curiosity, what does it look like when a game makes it "fulfilling to be evil"?

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines has a lot of fun dialogue options for being evil, although it's also dependent on the clan you choose. And it also is very fulfilling from a roleplaying standpoint - it's really hard to go back from having low humanity because you've given into the urges of the Beast at that point. You'll find yourself frenzying people for lightly insulting you, for example. It's completely out of your control.

Another great example is Planescape: Torment. You can manipulate your companions, especially a certain one into doing heinous acts against their will. There are also opportunities to sell and sacrifice your companions at several points of the game.

 

[Prime Junta]

Vampyr is going to be one of those games where it isn't fulfilling to be evil

Out of curiosity, what does it look like when a game makes it "fulfilling to be evil"?

It looks awesome and terrifying.

I'll add Mask of the Betrayer to the list. Fully embracing your curse is all that. I still feel dirty about some of the stuff I did to those poor imaginary characters.

 

[toro]

Vampyr, Dontnod’s upcoming vampire RPG, is going to make your actions in game count. For instance, while it lets you take the lives of NPCs, each of your actions have very real and meaningful consequence. If you kill an NPC in game, that’s it for them- they’re gone for the rest of the game, the game autosaves at that point, you can’t revert to an older game to get them back. In that regard, it works a lot like From Software’s Souls games.

https://gamingbolt.com/if-you-take-a-life-in-vampyr-you-cant-take-it-back-say-developers

 

[fantadomat]

Vampyr is going to be one of those games where it isn't fulfilling to be evil

Out of curiosity, what does it look like when a game makes it "fulfilling to be evil"?

It looks awesome and terrifying.

I'll add Mask of the Betrayer to the list. Fully embracing your curse is all that. I still feel dirty about some of the stuff I did to those poor imaginary characters.

What did you do? I never go for loosing control in games. It feels like a loss on principle level.

 

[Anomander Rake]

Can you tell me the heinous acts against the will of the npc himself in Planescape torment?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

the haunting mansion

Everyone touts this over and over, but it was just a lame, boring mission. So linear with try-hard jump scared. Other games did this sort of thing much better. Looking back, it's hard to tell why it was even in the game and it is incredibly boring to replay.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Vampyr, Dontnod’s upcoming vampire RPG, is going to make your actions in game count. For instance, while it lets you take the lives of NPCs, each of your actions have very real and meaningful consequence. If you kill an NPC in game, that’s it for them- they’re gone for the rest of the game, the game autosaves at that point, you can’t revert to an older game to get them back. In that regard, it works a lot like From Software’s Souls games.

https://gamingbolt.com/if-you-take-a-life-in-vampyr-you-cant-take-it-back-say-developers

eh...creative autosave design usualy ends up being painful to play, but I tip my imaginary fedora to their attempt

 

[Zombra]

the haunting mansion

Everyone touts this over and over, but it was just a lame, boring mission. So linear with try-hard jump scared. Other games did this sort of thing much better. Looking back, it's hard to tell why it was even in the game and it is incredibly boring to replay.

Don't be edgy. Of course Ocean House Hotel isn't scary when you replay it or if you pick it apart. Same as games are easy when you read a fucking walkthrough. If you went in blind it was weird and unsettling at worst and downright scary at best. I bet you watch horror movies with the lights on and pointing at the seams in the monster suits. After reading a spoiler synopsis.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Don't be edgy. Of course Ocean House Hotel isn't scary when you replay it or if you pick it apart. Same as games are easy when you read a fucking walkthrough. If you went in blind it was weird and unsettling at worst and downright scary at best.

No seriously, it was boring the first time I played it and it is constantly overhyped. It was all gaming magazines talked about, probably because they never played much past it.

You are a re-born, walking death machine faced with jump scares. Come on. You are the one who should be PERFORMING the jump scares in this setting. I mean, one of the characters even straight up tells you that ghosts can't hurt vampires before you go there. So I just kept asking myself what the point of it all was.

It kept threatening a gruesome scare with the baby head in the dryer article etc, but in never actually produced one. It was shooting blanks the whole time and quickly became tedious.

The Witcher 3 did a similar, much shorter mission about a haunted house as well and I have to say that the impact was about the same, except it wasn't as annoyingly long.

 

[fantadomat]

the haunting mansion

Everyone touts this over and over, but it was just a lame, boring mission. So linear with try-hard jump scared. Other games did this sort of thing much better. Looking back, it's hard to tell why it was even in the game and it is incredibly boring to replay.

Not really,it is a nice change of pace. It could be finished in ten minutes if you know it. It is not scary but it is atmospheric and creepy. It goes well with the tone of the game. What it didn't have to be in the game are the sewers.

 

[Prime Junta]

What did you do? I never go for loosing control in games. It feels like a loss on principle level.

Consumed ancient spiritual beings and released an equally ancient evil upon the world. Fed an innocent family of bystanders to man-eating monsters. Betrayed and murdered my companions and made wearable trinkets out of them. That sort of thing.

 

[Anomander Rake]

Another great example is Planescape: Torment. You can manipulate your companions, especially a certain one into doing heinous acts against their will. There are also opportunities to sell and sacrifice your companions at several points of the game.

can you tell me to which npc you are referring to, when you say that you can manipulate him into doing heinous acts against their will?

Because to be honest, I played Torment a tons of times and one thing that deluded me was the fact that being evil is basically playing against your own chance of survival in the game itself, from the tears being usable only by lawful good, to sword, special items, and even npc being stronger if you act good.

Beside, selling your companion into slavery is not an evil act, it is a masochistic act, especially in the scenery you're into.

And the few chances of being evil are actually deconstructed by the pure unwillingness of the devs to actually expand upon it. For example, you can find the evil book, now I can't remember the name that actually tempts you into committing vile acts, but when you finish "reading" it, you only gained a few pitiful spells and you are actually left wondering why it was added in the first place ~

 

[LESS T_T]

Vampyr, the upcoming action-RPG from DONTNOD Entertainment, explores tortured protagonist Dr. Jonathan Reid’s growth in power through savage combat gameplay in today’s Becoming the Monster gameplay trailer. By sacrificing the very citizens Reid swore to protect, players will learn and evolve powerful vampire abilities in their struggle to defeat London’s deadly foes. Vampyr releases June 5 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, with preorders now available.

In Vampyr, the greatest source of XP to learn and enhance abilities comes from the blood of London’s citizens, who Dr. Jonathan Reid has set out to save from the epidemic sweeping through the city. The question is less “Do I kill?” than “Who do I kill?” Investigating citizens’ lives will allow Reid to decide who is more ‘deserving’ of sacrifice – or he can simply give in to his hunger and treat the mortals as blood bags. Either way, killing certain citizens will have a greater impact on the local ecosystem than others, while simply killing too many may cause an entire district to collapse.

After draining the blood of his victims, Reid can learn and evolve powerful combat abilities. Close combat abilities allow Reid to close gaps quickly, pouncing from afar before slashing with deadly claws, while others such as Bloodspear allow him to deal damage from a distance. At the higher levels of power, some abilities are feared by even the vampires themselves. Abyss allows Reid to unleash the shadows from within, while Rage targets and strikes entire groups of enemies with a terrible fury. Learning and evolving these abilities will aid in the doctor’s quest to save London – but at what cost?

Vampyr releases June 5 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Preorders are now available at www.vampyr-game.com

 

[Alienman]

I have a feeling this will be good. Maybe ELEX good.

 

[Tao]

That trailer spoiler a bit too much for my taste.

 

[fantadomat]

Ouhhh edgy trailer. This no Vampire game,in them you care about politics between clans and humans are just cattle. Here they talk about morality and other pointless shit.

 

[Monkey Baron]

Another great example is Planescape: Torment. You can manipulate your companions, especially a certain one into doing heinous acts against their will. There are also opportunities to sell and sacrifice your companions at several points of the game.

can you tell me to which npc you are referring to, when you say that you can manipulate him into doing heinous acts against their will?

Because to be honest, I played Torment a tons of times and one thing that deluded me was the fact that being evil is basically playing against your own chance of survival in the game itself, from the tears being usable only to lawful good, to sword, special items, and even npc being stronger if you act good.

Beside, selling your companion into slavery is not an evil act, it is a masochistic act, especially in the scenery you're into.

And the few chances of being evil are actually deconstructed by the pure unwillingness of the devs to actually expand upon it. For example, you can find the evil book, now I can't remember the name that actually tempts you into committing vile acts, but when you finish "reading" it you only gained a few pitiful spells and you are actually left wondering why it was added in the first place ~

Edit: to the moderators: please remove my prior message in the middle of the page. DON'T REMOVE THIS POST PLEASE

I'm talking about Dak'kon. In the last area of Sigil (I haven't played in a while so the specifics might not be perfectly accurate) there's a sick Gith woman, and I believe Dak'kon pleads for you to put her out of her misery. So you can force him to make her suffer and he has no choice but to obey you. Interactions with Dak'kon were probably the most notable parts of an evil playthrough for me since you have so many opportunity to disparage him. But I do agree with you, I think the evil playthrough could've definitely been expanded upon, and I personally didn't mess with the evil booklet because I was playing as a thief during my evil playthrough.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

The OST has already been released:

https://olivierderiviere.bandcamp.com/album/vampyr

 

[Zombra]

Hey, same guy who did the ObsCure sound track

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Ouhhh edgy trailer. This no Vampire game,in them you care about politics between clans and humans are just cattle. Here they talk about morality and other pointless shit.

Yeah, that was one thing I appreciated about VTM. They do a great job of making you feel like you are in this secret world and everything outside is irrelevant. That said, there is a place for morality and considering humans in these sorts of games, so it may still be interesting depending on how well it's written.

 

[fantadomat]

Ouhhh edgy trailer. This no Vampire game,in them you care about politics between clans and humans are just cattle. Here they talk about morality and other pointless shit.

Yeah, that was one thing I appreciated about VTM. They do a great job of making you feel like you are in this secret world and everything outside is irrelevant. That said, there is a place for morality and considering humans in these sorts of games, so it may still be interesting depending on how well it's written.

Absolutely true.... but it is coming from the studio that give us this:

Not a chance to have anything really smart that makes you scratch your head in this game.

 

[toro]

Ouhhh edgy trailer. This no Vampire game,in them you care about politics between clans and humans are just cattle. Here they talk about morality and other pointless shit.

Yeah, that was one thing I appreciated about VTM. They do a great job of making you feel like you are in this secret world and everything outside is irrelevant. That said, there is a place for morality and considering humans in these sorts of games, so it may still be interesting depending on how well it's written.

Absolutely true.... but it is coming from the studio that give us this:

Not a chance to have anything really smart that makes you scratch your head in this game.

Why not both?

 

[Zombra]

Not a chance to have anything really smart that makes you scratch your head in this game.

Don't be ridiculous. This game will set incredible challenges for Codexers. Consider:

• The intent is to make killing someone for xp a difficult moral choice
• The assumption is that this will fail and the choices will be easy and obvious
• But they will be easy and obvious only from the point of view of French hipsters
  Example: killing a Nazi will be the choice you're "supposed" to make and awards the most xp
• Codexers have a diametrically opposed point of view
  Example: killing a Nazi is reprehensible to a Codexer, who would prefer to murder a schoolteacher or charity worker which are worth less xp
• This will make decisions genuinely edgy and difficult

∴ in attempting to set difficult moral challenges, they are logically bound to inadvertently succeed.

 

[fantadomat]

Ouhhh edgy trailer. This no Vampire game,in them you care about politics between clans and humans are just cattle. Here they talk about morality and other pointless shit.

Yeah, that was one thing I appreciated about VTM. They do a great job of making you feel like you are in this secret world and everything outside is irrelevant. That said, there is a place for morality and considering humans in these sorts of games, so it may still be interesting depending on how well it's written.

Absolutely true.... but it is coming from the studio that give us this:

Not a chance to have anything really smart that makes you scratch your head in this game.

Why not both?

As i said,not very smart writing.

Zombra,very fair points mate. It will be a true struggle between killing XP and killing a fellow grognard.Still they will most likely give the most XP for some retarded orphans thinking that the game will be played by morally superior warriors for justice. I will certainly try a no kill/feed run when it comes out. Prey's no power run was fun.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'm sure the moral choices will be truly hard hitting conundrums just like in Bioshock.

Honestly though I don't see how I could care about any moral choices. I'm buying this game to play as a Vampire and if becoming a stronger Vamp means killing people then I'm going to do just that. It's not like I'm going to play one of the few Vampire games that gets made just so I can actively avoid being one. I like the angle the developers are working here by making the main character a doctor, but I think this is something that would work better as a book, movie or any other non-interactive entertainment medium. I don't feel the appeal in trying to be 'good' within this game when all that leads to is being punished mechanically by having interesting abilities cock blocked from the player. It's literally Bioshock and its non-choice again. "Do I let this girl live and gain nothing from it or kill her so I can summon Bees?"
Well, maybe the writing will be good enough to warrant a replay where you don't gobble up everything, but that's just my initial reaction to this.