World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 - VTMB sequel from The Chinese Room - coming Fall 2024

[whydoibother]

I could figure that much myself, given that they initially pitched it as "first person melee combat like in Marvel movies" or whatever it was, and Marvel kinda went out of fashion 5 minutes later.

The pitch was "RPG that feels and plays like a sequel to Bloodlines" and Ebba decided she wanted something that followed more modern design trends.

I am 100000% sure they said this game will have great first person melee combat (unlike other games, they specifically added), and used Marvel movies as example of how that would look. Its been tattooed on my brain.

 

[Roguey]

I am 100000% sure they said this game will have great first person melee combat (unlike other games, they specifically added), and used Marvel movies as example of how that would look. Its been tattooed on my brain.

You're getting lost in minutiae.

 

[Roguey]

Anyway good news, Plaion updated their store release dates to a very obviously placeholder December 31 2024. Paradox seething.

 

[Cricket McBangle]

It's not an RPG but Paradox's biggest game this year, Cities Skylines 2, comes out a few days before the alleged date.

That Harebrained Schemes game Lamplighters League comes out earlier that month too.

 

[whydoibother]

It's not an RPG but Paradox's biggest game this year, Cities Skylines 2, comes out a few days before the alleged date.

That Harebrained Schemes game Lamplighters League comes out earlier that month too.

Oooof, they wouldn't be that petty. Plus its a completely different type of game. And while Cities Skylines is also very different, its mass appeal, and will draw players from every other game. This won't:

 

[Zombra]

Did we ever learn why Brian Mitsoda got sacked? I lost complete hope for the game when that happened.

I'm sure Roguey has more complete information, but from reading around a little my impression is that he is basically weird and hard to work with (this isn't the first time he didn't play well on a team - look at Alpha Protocol). I can easily imagine some creative difference or even simple day-to-day expectations that neither side was willing to budge on. I think the only solid information there is is the statement by Ellison (who I believe quit right after Mitsoda was canned) that it had nothing to do with any kind of misconduct on Mitsoda's part. Maybe they were just paying him more than they thought his name was worth.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Fully expecting that HBS game to be a complete flop, incidentally.
I just don't see it having any particular appeal.
But time will tell.

 

[Cricket McBangle]

It's not an RPG but Paradox's biggest game this year, Cities Skylines 2, comes out a few days before the alleged date.

That Harebrained Schemes game Lamplighters League comes out earlier that month too.

Oooof, they wouldn't be that petty. Plus its a completely different type of game. And while Cities Skylines is also very different, its mass appeal, and will draw players from every other game. This won't:

Putting this and Bloodlines 2 in the same quarter as Cities Skylines 2 makes a lot of sense from a "we have to write quarterly reports to our investors and if we put Bloodlines 2 out there by itself, we're going to look like shit" point of view. But at least Lamplighters probably didn't cost anywhere close to what Bloodlines 2 accrued over 7 years of development.

 

[Wesp5]

Well, the GUI of the game above certainly looks very similar to the one from the HSL videos...

 

[Space Satan]

We have a bright future of grim vampire storytelling upon us

 

[Berengar]

It's not an RPG but Paradox's biggest game this year, Cities Skylines 2, comes out a few days before the alleged date.

That Harebrained Schemes game Lamplighters League comes out earlier that month too.

Oooof, they wouldn't be that petty. Plus its a completely different type of game. And while Cities Skylines is also very different, its mass appeal, and will draw players from every other game. This won't:

Holy Fortnite what is that character face design

 

[Sarkile]

Oooof, they wouldn't be that petty. Plus its a completely different type of game. And while Cities Skylines is also very different, its mass appeal, and will draw players from every other game. This won't:

I will probably pick up Skylines 2 eventually, but I doubt I will ever touch this thing. And this is coming from someone who has purchased multiple copies of the Shadowrun games.

 

[Dodo1610]

Sometimes I get sad that there still is no sequel to VTMB, and then I remember that in HSL's Bloodlines 2 they didn't allow you to own guns because even the idea of buying and owning a gun in a video game set in the USA was triggering for the devs.

 

[Roguey]

Sometimes I get sad that there still is no sequel to VTMB, and then I remember that in HSL's Bloodlines 2 they didn't allow you to own guns because even the idea of buying and owning a gun in a video game set in the USA was triggering for the devs.

I believe if the reason was truly anti-gun they would have said so or not even allowed the player character to use a gun. Just a dimwitted "Why would a vampire want to keep a gun after it's out of bullets?"

 

[Cricket McBangle]

Sometimes I get sad that there still is no sequel to VTMB, and then I remember that in HSL's Bloodlines 2 they didn't allow you to own guns because even the idea of buying and owning a gun in a video game set in the USA was triggering for the devs.

I think they said they were aiming for an improvisational combat loop inspired by Jackie Chan movies. Because you are a vampire, you are very strong, melee weapons break after a few hits and guns has to follow suit but there were skill upgrades that allowed you to do things with guns the normal person could not do (I'm not sure what Florian meant by this exactly. I think he wanted to avoid a Firearm stat upgrade thing because a player would think "I'm aiming a gun at a guy so I should hit that guy")

 

[Zombra]

I still love the idea of guns being disposable in the hands of supernatural monsters. Like if you're in a bar fight and you hit a guy with a chair because it's stronger than punching him, you don't save the chair and carry it with you the rest of your life. It's just not a big enough advantage to be worth thinking about. Same deal.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

I still love the idea of guns being disposable in the hands of supernatural monsters. Like if you're in a bar fight and you hit a guy with a chair because it's stronger than punching him, you don't save the chair and carry it with you the rest of your life. It's just not a big enough advantage to be worth thinking about. Same deal.

Handguns are significantly easier to lug around than a chair, and in a setting dependent on maintaining a sophisticated mass deception campaign leaving bullet wounds in people is far less conspicuous than bite marks or tearing them apart.

 

[Caim]

I still love the idea of guns being disposable in the hands of supernatural monsters. Like if you're in a bar fight and you hit a guy with a chair because it's stronger than punching him, you don't save the chair and carry it with you the rest of your life. It's just not a big enough advantage to be worth thinking about. Same deal.

Handguns are significantly easier to lug around than a chair, and in a setting dependent on maintaining a sophisticated mass deception campaign leaving bullet wounds in people is far less conspicuous than bite marks or tearing them apart.

New idea: vampire whose drinking style is shooting someone with a gun then drinking from the hole.

 

[JBro]

Sometimes I get sad that there still is no sequel to VTMB, and then I remember that in HSL's Bloodlines 2 they didn't allow you to own guns because even the idea of buying and owning a gun in a video game set in the USA was triggering for the devs.

I think they said they were aiming for an improvisational combat loop inspired by Jackie Chan movies. Because you are a vampire, you are very strong, melee weapons break after a few hits and guns has to follow suit but there were skill upgrades that allowed you to do things with guns the normal person could not do (I'm not sure what Florian meant by this exactly. I think he wanted to avoid a Firearm stat upgrade thing because a player would think "I'm aiming a gun at a guy so I should hit that guy")

That sounds so stupid.

 

[Zombra]

I still love the idea of guns being disposable in the hands of supernatural monsters. Like if you're in a bar fight and you hit a guy with a chair because it's stronger than punching him, you don't save the chair and carry it with you the rest of your life. It's just not a big enough advantage to be worth thinking about. Same deal.

Handguns are significantly easier to lug around than a chair, and in a setting dependent on maintaining a sophisticated mass deception campaign leaving bullet wounds in people is far less conspicuous than bite marks or tearing them apart.

Factually correct, but feels like you're missing the point. Sidebar, if your campaign to deflect attention involves shooting people with guns, you already fucked up, a lot. Anyway I doubt the new studio picked up the idea.

 

[The President]

I’m curious where the idea of Hardshit being anti-gun (allegedly) led to guns being disposable came from?

 

[Zombra]

I’m curious where the idea of Hardshit being anti-gun (allegedly) led to guns being disposable came from?

Yeah, I never heard that. Dodo1610 are you talking out your ass?

 

[Cricket McBangle]

I’m curious where the idea of Hardshit being anti-gun (allegedly) led to guns being disposable came from?

They aren't as far as video games go. They know shooters best with their debut title being an F2P PS4 shooter called Blacklight Retribution which did alright until they killed it with the parity patch and then abandoned it. Politically, it's not too much of a stretch to assume a company filled with Seattle residents would have a less than favorable view on firearms in real life but to think that extended into how they designed the combat is absurd.

 

[Wesp5]

From what I remember, they just wanted to avoid making it a typical shooter, because it should be more of a vampire simulator instead. Though I don't know why fighting with melee weapons would be more typical for vampires. As has been mentioned they argued that simple melee weapons would break due to the vampire strength, but when I last talked with the producer, I think I convinced him that this would make no sense for swords and guns.

 

[Fedora Master]

The setting has rules specifically for this shit, why is it even controversial?