Paradox has bought White Wolf, plans on giving "some fresh blood" to the WoD/Vampire IPs

[Irenaeus II]

Probably true. I still would like to see it, for lack of other developer option.

 

[Athelas]

I'd approve an Obisdian Bloodlines sequel. Well, let's see.

obsidian doesn't have(and never had) the talent to live up to troika's characters and atmosphere

As much as I love Bloodlines' writing, it is far from reproach. For example, it actively undermines the nuances of its own source material and characters by settling into a cliched plot of good-hearted and passionate rebels vs. stuck-up power-hungry evil bureaucracy (the anarchs vs LaCroix).

What we should hope for is more games that set out to tell interesting new stories in the World of Darkness universe instead of just trying to replicate Bloodlines.

 

[Irenaeus II]

For example, it actively undermines the nuances of its own source material and characters by settling into a cliched plot of good-hearted and passionate rebels vs. stuck-up power-hungry evil bureaucracy (the anarchs vs LaCroix).

You interpreted the setting wrong imo. LaCroix was just naive and ultimately incompetent while trying to uphold his barely held together Princeship in an overcomplicated city. The anarchs were visibly seen as good hearted lunatics at best and at worst delusional troublemakers in game. Exceptions were the magic negro in green which I owe to proto-SJW sensibilities and Jack who was just there but clearly didn't want to fully associate with those losers.

What we should hope for is more games that set out to tell interesting new stories in the World of Darkness universe instead of just trying to replicate Bloodlines.

Yes, I hope they do that too. Replicating plots is for hacks like Jew Jew Abrahams and Ridley Scott

 

[DwarvenFood]

I really hope it's not Bioware or CDPR. Although I don't think VtmB was particularly good either.

I'd love to see a Vampire game written by MCA or Ziets, though.

BTW The twitter link points to a broken url ?
"rpg codex > This game is Satanic - Error"

Not sure who maintains it/ or if old posts can even be editted.

 

[I ASK INANE QUESTIONS]

Only as good as your last one, eh?

Unfortunately. It's a conveniently uncompromising position, perfect for a critic RPGtaliban poster, yeah, but even if you disregard the fact that Obsidian had something of talent bleed in the recent years, and simply stick to examining PoE as a product, you can't help but notice they played a lot of things safe.
I can see them adopting the same approach for a potential Bloodlines 2, which makes sense - cult following or no cult following, it's a very risky product, better make sure it won't alienate anyone.

 

[Rahdulan]

Aww man, I was hoping for a Requiem game. Butthurt alone would add 50+ pages to any game thread.

 

[Jedi Exile]

obsidian doesn't have(and never had) the talent to live up to troika's characters and atmosphere

They don't, but Obsidian still can make a solid RPG, like PoE demonstrated.

Spoiler

Just make Tim Cain project director this time.

 

[Crooked Bee]

BTW The twitter link points to a broken url ?
"rpg codex > This game is Satanic - Error"

Not sure who maintains it/ or if old posts can even be editted.

That's because I linked to the original thread on Twitter before it got merged with this one.

 

[DeepOcean]

cliched plot of good-hearted and passionate rebels vs. stuck-up power-hungry evil bureaucracy (the anarchs vs LaCroix).

Lacroix was a bureaucrat way over his head, not even the Camarilla liked him and it seemed he was on the place more for political convenience than leadership, the Anarchs seemed "good" because they were the typical Brujah white trash without much ambition or intelligence to accomplish anything serious with the exception of Jack that was more interested on trolling Lacroix than defeating the Camarilla." A cliche good versus evil plot is something akin to Vampire The Masquerade: Redemption, Bloodlines didn't have emo vampires.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

So Obsidian turned into SJWs and crap? Weird, because Fallout New Vegas was great. Loss of guys, I guess?

 

[Xor]

I don't think there's much of a chance that Bioware will end up with whatever game is going to come out of this. They're owned by EA, and I doubt EA would approve of them working on another publisher's material. So at least that nightmare isn't likely to come to pass. CDPR isn't likely to happen for the same reason. They're their own publisher, so they have their own games to work on they can take 100% of the profits from. If it's going to be an RPG (and that's not a certain thing), it will probably end up going to Obsidian. Paradox has an established relationship with them from PoE and Feargus will doubtless jump at the chance to SLAM DUNK a Bloodlines sequel.

 

[Athelas]

Lacroix was a bureaucrat way over his head, not even the Camarilla liked him and it seemed he was on the place more for political convenience than leadership, the Anarchs seemed "good" because they were the typical Brujah white trash without much ambition or intelligence to accomplish anything serious with the exception of Jack that was more interested on trolling Lacroix than defeating the Camarilla."

Why on earth are you telling me LaCroix is not representative of the Camarilla when that was precisely what I was complaining about in my post? But that's the story the writers set out to tell. They choose to make the most prominent Camarilla character a power-hungry villain who tries to have you killed multiple times even after all you do for him. Meanwhile, the characters that represent the anarchs are the cool dudes who save your life on half a dozen occasions, whose side quests involve helping out the local community and saving human lives and who are willing to help you even after you betray Nines. The contrast is obvious.
Of course, there's Strauss, a Camarilla member who offers a counterpoint to LaCroix. But he needs your interverence before he can even accomplish anything, which doesn't reflect favorably on the Camarilla's organization either.

Bloodlines didn't have emo vampires.

I never said it did. There is plenty of middle ground between 'I didn't like this particular part of the story' and 'I think this entire story sucked'.

 

[The Goe Goes]

I think Obsidian is the most talented and experienced SH in doing other's brands sequels, and it's the only hope to see untouched the buggy spirit of Bloodlines.

Spoiler

day one mess of bugs

 

[DeepOcean]

Why on earth are you telling me LaCroix is not representative of the Camarilla when that was precisely what I was complaining about in my post? But that's the story the writers set out to tell. They choose to make the most prominent Camarilla character a power-hungry villain who tries to have you killed multiple times even after all you do for him.

Yes, Lacroix is the villain but my point was about if the story was a good vs evil cliche plot and it was not. Lacroix used you, yeah, he was a major asshole for you and as I said he was a petty, vindictive and short sighted bureaucrat not a force for evil, Bioware style, the Camarilla dude makes clear those are particular Lacroix flaws not necessarily of Camarilla as a whole and the Nosferatu that work for the Camarilla think him as a joke. I didn't end Bloodlines thinking he is a force for evil that do evil for evil sake, just a fucking treacherous and ruthless dick.

Meanwhile, the characters that represent the anarchs are the cool dudes who save your life on half a dozen occasions, whose side quests involve helping out the local community and saving human lives and who are willing to help you even after you betray Nines. The contrast is obvious.
Of course, there's Strauss, a Camarilla member who offers a counterpoint to LaCroix. But he needs your interverence before he can even accomplish anything, which doesn't reflect favorably on the Camarilla's organization either.

Yes, they are more symphatetic towards you but that is natural after what happened on the judgement, they see you as some white trash nobody as them but that doesn't mean they are a force for good, they may be sympathetic because they want to fuck Lacroix and they think you can help them and is a potential recruit not that they are bleeding heart liburals that go out of their way to save strangers from Sabbat. They may be good for you but not a force for good, if you start as a Tremere, the Tremere primogen is very sympathetic towards you too and want to help, that means he is good?

Bloodlines didn't have emo vampires.

By emo vampires I meant the traditional good two shoe types and Bloodlines doesn't have them.

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

I've not played Bloodlines to the very end, but that aside I never saw LaCroix as "the villain". I really liked the guy even, he had a certain style and charisma.
If you perceive him only as one-sided evul and the Anarchs as just teh good guys you've probably got internalized SJWchy.

 

[Irenaeus II]

I've not played Bloodlines to the very end, but that aside I never saw LaCroix as "the villain".

That explains it. Consider completing it or at least reading the plot on wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade_–_Bloodlines#Plot

Btw, fledgeling means PC in this context.

I really liked the guy even, he had a certain style and charisma.

Yeah, he was amusing, clearly out of his depth in this town, Sheriff or not.

 

[Roguey]

Well, Yeah. In the industry where developers have a high rotation of emplyees over the years it makes a difference. Obsidian of today is not the Obsidian of five years ago and so on...

It is best compared to F1 Racing teams. The team may be the same and it may had been an ultimate champion in the past but now the engineering teams is different, pit-stop mechanics are new employees and the drivers themselves may have changed. The fame may be still there, but not necessarly the people that made it happen.

Let us look at their last game with good story and mechanics:

Judging by that Obsi haven't retained almost anybody save Sawer from F:NV - well, I'd say that judging Obsi by PoE's merits (hah) and flaws is appropriate.

Unfortunately. It's a conveniently uncompromising position, perfect for a critic RPGtaliban poster, yeah, but even if you disregard the fact that Obsidian had something of talent bleed in the recent years, and simply stick to examining PoE as a product, you can't help but notice they played a lot of things safe.
I can see them adopting the same approach for a potential Bloodlines 2, which makes sense - cult following or no cult following, it's a very risky product, better make sure it won't alienate anyone.

I like how Eric Fenstermaker received a lot of praise for his contributions to NWN2's act 2, MotB, and New Vegas, and Matt MacLean received praise for his contributions to Mask of the Betrayer and for writing 95% of Alpha Protocol's emails, but they deliver one botched effort and they're FUCKING HACKS.

FO:NV isn't exactly a "character-driven" game either. Fallout itself isn't a character-driven series. Historically, Obsidian has had a better time of it producing non-character driven games. In modern times, "character-driven" typically means "cinematic" (something that the Witcher 3/CD Projekt fandom ITT doesn't exactly disprove...) and Chris Avellone himself said that Obsidian can't and shouldn't try to compete with Bioware and other companies in that area anymore.

So yeah, it's a valid argument to say that they're not the ideal choice for a "Bloodlines 2", although they might just decide to try for it anyway.

Obsidian's likely not going to bother playing the cinematics game (especially considering Feargus Urquhart's thoughts on the matter), but cinematic dialogue quality comparable to Dragon Commander is feasible. They'd have to have something like that anyway for their episodic Skyrim.

obsidian doesn't have(and never had) the talent to live up to troika's characters and atmosphere

I find most of Obsidian's games better-written than everything Troika ever did, particuarly Arcanum and Temple of Elemental Evil.

I've not played Bloodlines to the very end, but that aside I never saw LaCroix as "the villain".

Uh huh.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Hey, I still like Fernstermaster or whatever he's called. He's just never around to defend himself, one might even forget he exists.

 

[Havoc]

If devs don't defend themselves here, they will be branded hax forever.

 

[J1M]

I'd approve an Obisdian Bloodlines sequel. Well, let's see.

Edit: As long as it is an RPG.

But I'm sure you would approve a Warhorse Studios Bloodlines game even more.

In today's climate, this is the only man I would trust to uncompromisingly portray the source material:

 

[J1M]

I don't think there's much of a chance that Bioware will end up with whatever game is going to come out of this. They're owned by EA, and I doubt EA would approve of them working on another publisher's material. So at least that nightmare isn't likely to come to pass. CDPR isn't likely to happen for the same reason. They're their own publisher, so they have their own games to work on they can take 100% of the profits from. If it's going to be an RPG (and that's not a certain thing), it will probably end up going to Obsidian. Paradox has an established relationship with them from PoE and Feargus will doubtless jump at the chance to SLAM DUNK a Bloodlines sequel.

NBA
NHL
NFL
FIFA
James Bond
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
Minions
Simpsons
Hasbro (Monopoly, NERF, GI J.O.E., etc.)
The Beatles

I left out the licences they published before acquiring studios.

 

[Xor]

Oh, I wasn't aware the NFL, NHL, and whoever owns James Bond, the Lord of the Rings, and the Simpsons all had their own game publishing divisions.

There's a huge difference between buying a license to make games based on some intellectual property from a company who has nothing to do with the game industry and licensing an IP from another publisher who already produce their own games. And that was my point. Why would Paradox ever license a Vampire game to EA when they could just make the game themselves and keep all the profit?

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

I'd approve an Obisdian Bloodlines sequel. Well, let's see.

Edit: As long as it is an RPG.

But I'm sure you would approve a Warhorse Studios Bloodlines game even more.

In today's climate, this is the only man I would trust to uncompromisingly portray the source material:

This guy is a bruh, but I don't really like the decision to make the mainquest in Kingdom Come without c&c, although I get the reasoning.

 

[J1M]

Oh, I wasn't aware the NFL, NHL, and whoever owns James Bond, the Lord of the Rings, and the Simpsons all had their own game publishing divisions.

There's a huge difference between buying a license to make games based on some intellectual property from a company who has nothing to do with the game industry and licensing an IP from another publisher who already produce their own games. And that was my point. Why would Paradox ever license a Vampire game to EA when they could just make the game themselves and keep all the profit?

Curious: How many weeks into the past does your knowledge of the game industry and EA stretch?

If there is money to be made, a deal can be done.

 

[Xathrodox86]

IIRC, Caitiff or "thin-blooded" vampires are way stronger than what most other vampires think: they are able to learn most discipines for a reduced price and sunlight doesn't affect them that much. However, that may be caused because of White Wolf's inability to balance anything.

Thin-bloods and dhampir are stupid ideas that take up valuable space that would be better used for a deeper look into a real clan or the introduction of some WoD crossover elements.

Actually the idea of Thinbloods isn't bad, as it can be a base for an interesting campaign, centered around social prejudice. Besides WW's games strongest points were all the different lore snippets and the sheer abundance of fluff (sorry for that horrible word).

Plus I loved Rosa in Bloodlines. So there's that.