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Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 officially announced

Stuart360

Stuart360

Member
angelic said:
It's being made by identity politics pushers and cretins, see earlier in the thread.
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Remember those sexy vampire club scenes from the first game?, cant wait to see them in this game....

NecessaryCheerfulCuttlefish-size_restricted.gif


tenor.gif
 
Helios

Helios

Member
And their abilities.
Dementation
All Malkavians can impart an imperfect version of their psychosis on others, with often drastic results.

  • Haunt (Blood Cost: 2), the first active Dementation power, imparts an unseen spectre in the victims’ minds. Unable to control themselves, they’ll try to flee in a panic. The (TBA) and (TBA) slots upgrade Haunt.
  • Berserk (Blood Cost: 4), the second active power, fills the vampire’s targets with an uncontrollable rage, causing them to lash out at anything nearby - even the air itself, if no better target is available. The (TBA) and (TBA) slots enhance Berserk.
Note: Use of Dementation, while thoroughly unsettling, is not a Masquerade Violation.

Auspex
  • Aura Sense (Blood Cost: 2), Auspex’ first active, makes the vampire spot NPCs even through walls, read crowds at a glance, and mark individuals, staying aware of them even over long distances. It also reveals the weaknesses in the marked NPC’s attack and defense. The TBA and (TBA) slots enhance Aura Sense.
  • Psychic Projection (Blood Cost: 2), the second active, forces the vampire’s mind from their body. Untethered, they will explore the area in astral form, remaining free to use Aura Sight to mark any character they spot. Even more: The vampire’s own senses have developed to such an extent that they may end up telepathically overwhelming the senses of others for a short while. The (TBA) slot enhances Psychic Projection.
Note: Use of Auspex is not a Masquerade Violation.


Seems like Gangrel and Nosferatu are going to be DLC.
 
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Ivory Blood

Ivory Blood

Member
IbizaPocholo said:
www.gamereactor.eu

Dialogue choices in Bloodlines 2 "organic and realistic"

Studio narrative designer Cara Ellison explains how you can work your way through the dialogue in the upcoming sequel.
www.gamereactor.eu www.gamereactor.eu
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Yeah, didn't see much of that in the gameplay they showed. Frankly the writing and dialogue options were both abysmal. How do you go from the dark, snappy and gripping lines of the first Bloodlines to - "I'm a fucking vampire! I'll bite you now!".

SJW influences and Cara herself do nothing to alleviate my worries about this game either.
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
IbizaPocholo said:
www.gamereactor.eu

Dialogue choices in Bloodlines 2 "organic and realistic"

Studio narrative designer Cara Ellison explains how you can work your way through the dialogue in the upcoming sequel.
www.gamereactor.eu www.gamereactor.eu
Click to expand...
Cara Ellison is writing this game? Ehhh I'm not familiar with her body of work but I really didn't like her in Giant Bomb's E3 thingy. She basically reamed the French localization team because they questioned the appropriateness of a joke about kegels, and she went into full feminist mode. It was embarrassing.
 
Ivory Blood

Ivory Blood

Member
Poor BL2, they killed any hype regarding the game with that awful gameplay at E3. Even places like RPG Codex stopped talking about it, which is pretty telling.
 
Ol'Scratch

Ol'Scratch

Member
I loved the first BL so much. I came from a hardcore love of the OG VtM pen and paper and what they have done to it first when they killed it and replaced the system and "progressed" the storyline with Vampire the Requiem it was over. The new system is even worse and nothing more than a cash in and was an attempt to cash in on the current young adult CW style Vampire revival complete with a strong "this is not your book if you are a misogynist" warning right in the front to also take advantage of the current climate. I have followed this game through a very VERY cute youtuber who has had some in depth access and this games is like a turkey and mash at the local old folks home. There is not a trace of seasoning or spice to be found anywhere. That being said, the game looks competent I would be remiss if I did not say that but it just is not the game i have been waiting all of these years for. BUT the mod support gives me hope. It is tragic to see the horse shit that the garbage of society is able to have on game developers.
 
T

Teslerum

Member
Sigh. Brian goes further into why we won't get Bloodlines 1 Malks, but *A serious exploration of mental illness*

www.gamesindustry.biz

Improving the depiction of mental illness in Vampire: The Masquerade

Mental health institutions in games are environments of hostility filled with gibbering attackers. Indigo Prophecy's as…
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz

"I think more time could have been spent developing [these characters] at the time, but their presentation in the first game is due more to the strain of having to get them out quickly," writer Brian Mitsoda tells us. "I think people still enjoy the unique experience of them, but I don't think they're a great examination of mental illness and shouldn't be held up as one."
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But why Brian, why do Malks have to be a *serious* examination of mental illness. I personally think you did great with Tourette in Bloodlines on that front. Why do we have to get super serious now? Why?

And while I can live with that, this post just destroys the game for me even further:

In 2020, four and a half years of effort will pay off in the release of the sequel to the game that first gained him notoriety 15 years ago. All of these years haven't just taught him about how long it takes to breathe life into a game like this, though. It's also about finding an outlet and learning to punch up instead of down. With Bloodlines 2 on the horizon, he now wants to be more considerate in portraying mental illness.

"I'm still generally pissed off about the political climate in the US, but I'm much better at channeling that aggression into my work than generally being stressed out about it," he says. "I'm still looking for ways to use the medium to tell a different story than can't be done in any other format."

This comes as a reiteration of his desire to have Bloodlines 2 take a more firm political stance. One way in which he seeks to do this is by not kicking an already beleaguered group of people while they're down with regard to mental illness.
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Punching up, not down, hating Trump and *taking a firm political stance*. The whole shebang. Oh boy, I'm alredy excited about the lack amount of roleplaying options I will have in this game
 
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Scopa

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Teslerum said:
Sigh. Brian goes further into why we won't get Bloodlines 1 Malks, but *A serious exploration of mental illness*

www.gamesindustry.biz

Improving the depiction of mental illness in Vampire: The Masquerade

Mental health institutions in games are environments of hostility filled with gibbering attackers. Indigo Prophecy's as…
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz



But why Brian, why do Malks have to be a *serious* examination of mental illness. I personally think you did great with Tourette in Bloodlines on that front. Why do we have to get super serious now? Why?

And while I can live with that, this port just destroys the game for me even further:



Punching up, not down, hating Trump and *taking a firm political stance*. The whole shebang. Oh boy, I'm alredy excited about the lack amount of roleplaying options I will have in this game
Click to expand...
Yep. This game is going to suck rotten arse. Nothing surer.
 
Helios

Helios

Member
Teslerum said:
Sigh. Brian goes further into why we won't get Bloodlines 1 Malks, but *A serious exploration of mental illness*

www.gamesindustry.biz

Improving the depiction of mental illness in Vampire: The Masquerade

Mental health institutions in games are environments of hostility filled with gibbering attackers. Indigo Prophecy's as…
www.gamesindustry.biz www.gamesindustry.biz



But why Brian, why do Malks have to be a *serious* examination of mental illness. I personally think you did great with Tourette in Bloodlines on that front. Why do we have to get super serious now? Why?

And while I can live with that, this post just destroys the game for me even further:



Punching up, not down, hating Trump and *taking a firm political stance*. The whole shebang. Oh boy, I'm alredy excited about the lack amount of roleplaying options I will have in this game
Click to expand...
Brian, what in the hell happened to you?
 
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T

Teslerum

Member
Helios said:
Brian, what in the hell happened to you?
Click to expand...

Seattle.

Which is funny, because back in the day Annie (his wife) was a frequent and popular member of the rpgcodex of all things. Then they went to Seattle, she began working on Guild Wars 2 and Annie went super sjw during Gamergate.
 
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Doczu

Doczu

Member
Are they saying that a mentally unstable vampire is problematic and needs to be carefully crafted so it won't upset anyone?
Since the first news broke out i was sure about not getting the game, but now i can't wait for it to be shredded to pieces and put the blame on toxic GG gamers.
Fuck it, there is nothing sacred left, i'll just replay the original for the "i don't even know which" time.
 
Kadayi

Kadayi

Banned
Makariel said:
hm... I will wait for reviews but the way this is going I think it will be a LTTP game for me once all the DLC is included.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I was very tempted to back this with the initial release trailer, but the more news that comes out the more it sounds like it could well be a disaster in the making in terms of direction. I'll be waiting for the user reviews on this before handing over any cash for sure. Pity.
 
KyoZz

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
Not impressed by this ray tracing integration.
The more I see about this game, the more I am disappointed
 
T

Teslerum

Member
Care Ellison Interview

We may get trigger warnings for quests and classes! Oh, joy. Wouldn't want to get all these people *PTSD*. No sir.



I have one question : is triggering people one of your concerns ?
Click to expand...

100% yes, we are absolutely concerned that some content in the game could be difficult for players living with trauma or a mental health issue. For the Malkavians we will make sure to describe to the player what they may experience when playing. But what may be difficult for us is making some of the systemic or scripted events turn on or off selectively. We are moving away from the 'fishmalk' portrayal for this iteration of Bloodlines, so we expect the Malkavians to be a much more unsettling or scary experience this time around.

Rachel and I have discussed some ways to be kinder to players who might have PTSD issues in particular, and one of the things we are considering pitching to the team is a part of the accessibility menu where we outline the thematic content of each mission so that you can prepare yourself ahead of time for a particular mission, choose not to play a side mission that might involve some issues you feel uncomfortable about, or grab a friend or partner to play through certain content with you. What we may do is give players a run down in that menu of what to expect from Malkavian playthroughs so that you can make a more informed choice about whether you feel comfortable playing that way. That way, we are not changing the experience, but we are giving you space and time to consider when you'd like to continue.

Does that sound like a good idea to you? This is all still being worked out of course, but we really care about it, and I hope that our game can be considerate in a way that works for you. I'd also love to talk to you over email about what you personally experience as difficult in games, it would be wonderful to know more about how to design a game from scratch for these issues, so we begin from the start to make the system work for you.
Click to expand...
 
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Ivory Blood

Ivory Blood

Member
Cool. Trigger warnings in a game about what it means to lose your humanity and become an undead monster. Absolutely appropriate, yes sir.
 
T

Teslerum

Member
Also

I am extremely aware of my responsibilities in this area, and though I joined the writing team about three years late, I have done everything I can to serve everyone who might come to the game. Primarily, we are trying to deconstruct how gender and sexuality works a little bit more in this game so that it is much more complex, however 'attraction' still works on a he/she structure currently because of the way the system has been built. So if you choose a she pronoun, for example, vampires who are usually attracted to someone who is a 'she' will have dialogue specifically written to convey that, regardless of what your body has been customized to look like. If you are a 'he', you might get completely different dialogue. Or, if the vampire you are talking to is attracted to he and she vampires, a high enough stat to flirt with them would open up positive results. So, we write dialogue for every eventuality of character, as all our NPCs make judgements on you based on the way you customize play and how you choose to speak to them. We try to write for the plurality of the modern world - if we know people who are NB, gay, straight, bi, asexual, or if we know interesting weirdos, nerds, introverts, etc we write in vampires who reflect this reality. I personally also feel this reflects the history of the people who have kept the IP alive over the years - there are a great deal of people for whom the tabletop and original game was important and they should feel like they live in a World Of Darkness that recognizes them. But honestly, this is not so vastly different from the way Brian wrote Bloodlines 1, except it has got a lot gayer because that reflects our increased awareness of LGBT players.
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Re: the representation for nationalities, that is a very interesting question, as I often hear very poor Scottish accents in games myself. I often talk with Rami Ismail about this, as he deals with the international game dev community on a large scale every day for Game Dev World, and about how there is a huge lack of language and international diversity in games.

In short, yes we recognize that international rep wasn't very good in Bloodlines 1.
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Oh, that sounds lovely............ Bloodlines 1 that did the cardinal sin of not representing every country on earth.
How dare you Troika, I'm just glad that Cara Ellison is here to rectify that blunder.

:messenger_hushed:

I'm also glad that all those npc's recognize and honor my pronouns of course. Might get PTSD.
 
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Ivory Blood

Ivory Blood

Member
Teslerum said:
Also





Oh, that sounds lovely............

:messenger_hushed:
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Fuckin fuckity fuck fuck. international rep my ass. Here in Russia, Bloodlines is a cult game. I didn't hear anyone cry about those hilarious russian mafia guys that were very obviously voiced by people who never uttered a word of russian language in their lives.

Also the big first paragraph - FUCK YOU Cara Ellison. Was Rudy and Chechnya backlash not enough for PDX?

edit: I'm fucking triggered for real. Fuck.
 
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Ivory Blood

Ivory Blood

Member
angelic said:
Fuck Cara Ellison, the worst hire in the history of game development. If anyone needs staked, it's her.
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I think she is a Camarilla ghoul who was given orders to throw any interest general public had in vampires into trash. All in the name of upholding the Masquerade, of course. /s
 
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Scopa

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Teslerum said:
Care Ellison Interview

We may get trigger warnings for quests and classes! Oh, joy. Wouldn't want to get all these people *PTSD*. No sir.

Click to expand...
Teslerum said:
Also





Oh, that sounds lovely............ Bloodlines 1 that did the cardinal sin of not representing every country on earth.
How dare you Troika, I'm just glad that Cara Ellison is here to rectify that blunder.

:messenger_hushed:

I'm also glad that all those npc's recognize and honor my pronouns of course. Might get PTSD.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t even play this game for free.

Why can’t these yabbering activists invent their own games instead of destroying the legacy of a beloved series?

Oh, that’s right. Because no one would buy that game. The only way these idiots can get a sale is by attaching themselves to a known IP. It’s pathetic.
 
V4skunk

V4skunk

Banned
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