Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2

[logincrash]

The game would have been a lot more interesting if it was set in the 20s or the 50s but it had to be the <current year> because gender politics.

This never stops them. In fact, setting the story in the past and filling it to the brim with ********* and ******* is a bonus for them. It gives them the perverse pleasure of rewriting history.

[Roguey]

Nosferatu was never on the table, not even when Hardsuit was doing it. No one even bothered to QA test them in 2004 leading to a game breaking crash near the end. They designed content absolutely no one touched, not even the devs themselves. What would be the point?

It sounds more like the devs were seething there was some heckin' bigotry in the first game.

It's a funny joke. You're reading hostile intent where there's none.

That doesn't really contradict my point, but okay. I can agree that older vampires are more likely to have low humanity - does the writing of the game reflect the fact you're playing a more monstrous creature with an increasingly alien system of moral values, though?

Yes. They have "YOU ARE THE MONSTER" all over their marketing. The game opens with your killing a friendly security guard. You find out that when you woke up, you killed the funny detective guy and went on a killing spree on the streets of Seattle. Being a good person isn't on the table.

Can you kill or attack any character in this game and continue on?

Like the original, you're forced to respect the rules of Elysium.

[Bertram_Tung]

It's a funny joke. You're reading hostile intent where there's none.

Not a single person reading this thread is falling for disingenuous ******** like this.

[gerey]

It's a funny joke. You're reading hostile intent where there's none.

I'm pretty sure the "What Dale wanted to put in his body was entirely his own business" is written in a hostile language. Troonery is, sadly, everyone's ******* business since the freaks' fetish is forcing all of us to play along with their insanity.

They have "YOU ARE THE MONSTER" all over their marketing. The game opens with your killing a friendly security guard. You find out that when you woke up, you killed the funny detective guy and went on a killing spree on the streets of Seattle. Being a good person isn't on the table.

I still think they're entirely missing the point of what VtM is trying to convey about being a vampire, and missing the point of Bloodlines by railroading you too hard. Isn't the game doing the same thing Spec Ops: The Line does, only it's worse because the ****** devs keep pretending it's an RPG with meaningful choices?

And yes, Bloodlines 1 made it far too easy to be the good guy, there was never a moment in the game where you were actually forced to confront your monstrous nature, nor were you ever particularly in danger of running out of blood and frenzying.

I'd still rather take the approach of Bloodlines 1 over the narrative cudgel these smoothbrains are employing to convey you're not a good person.

[DemoGraph]

It's a funny joke. You're reading hostile intent where there's none.

I'm pretty sure the "What Dale wanted to put in his body was entirely his own business" is written in a hostile language. Troonery is, sadly, everyone's ******* business since the freaks' fetish is forcing all of us to play along with their insanity.

That's a harsh language.
I'd say that if ***** thinks himself as woman, "do not take if male" is completely legit. But player doesn't have to have this virtue signal in a game about monsters eating humans anyway.

But it begs a question. I've read somewhere that there was a Ventrue in nWoD whose malus was that he could feed only on beautiful women. Will he vomit from ***** blood? If he won't in what exact moment the curse stopped working? Would he be able to run around with fake passports, plop his victim photo on one of them and then feed? Would it work with dog photos? Photos with Tiktok filters on them?
Or would he need to inject some estrogen first? Or does it (gasp!) works on genetic level? Do ******** have female SOVLs? If women, especially gingers, don't have souls, do ******** lose them? When exactly?
These are the questions we need answers for in the first DLC, if not yesterday!

[gerey]

But player doesn't have to have this virtue signal in a game about monsters eating humans anyway.

Well, it's a game about monsters putting on a mask so they can pretend to be human, fooling themselves and others in the process, to make it easier for them to hunt their prey, so kind of on brand for ******.

But it begs a question. I've read somewhere that there was a Ventrue in nWoD whose malus was that he could feed only on beautiful women. Will he vomit from ***** blood?

I think the clue is in the "beautiful woman" bit, ****** are neither.

Also, the vampire can probably smell the rotten, fecal stench emanating from the gaping wound three blocks away.

[DemoGraph]

the rotten, fecal stench emanating from the gaping wound

Ah, the Nossie's favorite!

[Roguey]

It's a funny joke. You're reading hostile intent where there's none.

Not a single person reading this thread is falling for disingenuous ******** like this.

Libtards and conservatards alike like to wallow in their own reality, I know.

I'm pretty sure the "What Dale wanted to put in his body was entirely his own business" is written in a hostile language. Troonery is, sadly, everyone's ******* business since the freaks' fetish is forcing all of us to play along with their insanity.

It's not. Fabien is a silly Malkavian, he doesn't get mad. This isn't like the "******* PRICK" scene from Still Wakes the Deep which was hostile.

I still think they're entirely missing the point of what VtM is trying to convey about being a vampire, and missing the point of Bloodlines by railroading you too hard. Isn't the game doing the same thing Spec Ops: The Line does, only it's worse because the ****** devs keep pretending it's an RPG with meaningful choices?

At no point has the game said "you're a bad person for doing this" to me yet. But being bad is just part of the reality of being a vampire. The other vampires aren't any better.

And yes, Bloodlines 1 made it far too easy to be the good guy, there was never a moment in the game where you were actually forced to confront your monstrous nature, nor were you ever particularly in danger of running out of blood and frenzying.

I'd still rather take the approach of Bloodlines 1 over the narrative cudgel these smoothbrains are employing to convey you're not a good person.

You're a new vampire, holding on to your humanity is expected. It takes years/decades/centuries of unlife before you inevitably find yourself in a situation where you have to get blood through unethical means. Do that a few times and it stops being a big deal. Reaches a point where continuing your existence is evil in and of itself.

[Bertram_Tung]

It's a funny joke. You're reading hostile intent where there's none.

Not a single person reading this thread is falling for disingenuous ******** like this.

Libtards and conservatards alike like to wallow in their own reality, I know.

I'm pretty sure the "What Dale wanted to put in his body was entirely his own business" is written in a hostile language. Troonery is, sadly, everyone's ******* business since the freaks' fetish is forcing all of us to play along with their insanity.

It's not. Fabien is a silly Malkavian, he doesn't get mad. This isn't like the "******* PRICK" scene from Still Wakes the Deep which was hostile.

I still think they're entirely missing the point of what VtM is trying to convey about being a vampire, and missing the point of Bloodlines by railroading you too hard. Isn't the game doing the same thing Spec Ops: The Line does, only it's worse because the ****** devs keep pretending it's an RPG with meaningful choices?

At no point has the game said "you're a bad person for doing this" to me yet. But being bad is just part of the reality of being a vampire. The other vampires aren't any better.

And yes, Bloodlines 1 made it far too easy to be the good guy, there was never a moment in the game where you were actually forced to confront your monstrous nature, nor were you ever particularly in danger of running out of blood and frenzying.

I'd still rather take the approach of Bloodlines 1 over the narrative cudgel these smoothbrains are employing to convey you're not a good person.

You're a new vampire, holding on to your humanity is expected. It takes years/decades/centuries of unlife before you inevitably find yourself in a situation where you have to get blood through unethical means. Do that a few times and it stops being a big deal. Reaches a point where continuing your existence is evil in and of itself.

******

[Valter]

2 hours in and my curiosity is mostly sated.
The writing is below expectations. I expected unpalatable writing, but voice acting is also just meh for most characters.
The gameplay is surprisingly fun. The combat feels fast, as does the climbing. It just feels fun to be so fast. Maybe it'll grow old quick. The combat is still barebones ubersimplistic though.

Enemy variety also seems very low.

But was it any better in Bloodlines 1? I just remember normal enemies being thugs that either melee you or shoot you. The bosses were more memorable though (i hate the chinese)

[Valter]

That doesn't really contradict my point, but okay. I can agree that older vampires are more likely to have low humanity - does the writing of the game reflect the fact you're playing a more monstrous creature with an increasingly alien system of moral values, though?

Yes. They have "YOU ARE THE MONSTER" all over their marketing. The game opens with your killing a friendly security guard. You find out that when you woke up, you killed the funny detective guy and went on a killing spree on the streets of Seattle. Being a good person isn't on the table.

I ultimately understand that this is the point they want to hammer home and I just felt whiplash over not having a choice because Bloodlines 1 never forced you into a situation of starvation. Hopefully this is just the starting premise to really force you to confront the monstrous nature of a vampire, and that there's more player agency later down the line now that you're in control of yourself.

[MrTwinkls]

...and so the libtards were the real monsters all along. The end.

[Bertram_Tung]

2 hours in and my curiosity is mostly sated.
The writing is below expectations. I expected unpalatable writing, but voice acting is also just meh for most characters.
The gameplay is surprisingly fun. The combat feels fast, as does the climbing. It just feels fun to be so fast. Maybe it'll grow old quick. The combat is still barebones ubersimplistic though.

Enemy variety also seems very low.

But was it any better in Bloodlines 1? I just remember normal enemies being thugs that either melee you or shoot you. The bosses were more memorable though (i hate the chinese)

off the top of my head, not an exhaustive list by any means, there were thugs, chinese thugs, russian gangsters, vampire hunters, sewer monsters, insane vampires inside malk primogens house, cops, SWAT, zombies, vampires from different clans including cappadocians and their undead minions, security guards, Tzimisce abominations, Kuei-Jin shapeshifters, kung fu monks, plaguebearers, not to mention a bunch of unique optional minibosses like the hegeyōkai, werewolf, serial killer, gargoyle, mercurio, etc

[Valter]

Enemy variety also seems very low.

But was it any better in Bloodlines 1? I just remember normal enemies being thugs that either melee you or shoot you. The bosses were more memorable though (i hate the chinese)

off the top of my head, not an exhaustive list by any means, there were thugs, chinese thugs, vampire hunters, sewer monsters, insane vampires inside malk primogens house, cops, SWAT, zombies, vampires from different clans including cappadocians and their undead minions, security guards, Tzimisce abominations, Kuei-Jin shapeshifters, kung fu monks, plaguebearers, not to mention a bunch of unique minibosses like the hegeyōkai, werewolf, serial killer, gargoyle, etc

Yeah and all those humanoids, as different as their origins may be, were just "guy with Melee Weapon" or "guy with Ranged Weapon." Do you remember if the enemy vampires ever use magic on you? That would be cool
The monsters and minibosses were probably my favorite enemies yeah, like the Gargoyle a great one.

[gerey]

Hopefully this is just the starting premise to really force you to confront the monstrous nature of a vampire, and that there's more player agency later down the line now that you're in control of yourself.

A good way to use such an opening would have been to have the protagonist, or the voice in his head, ask how they feel about killing the guard (guilty, indifferent, excited etc.) to establish a baseline personality, and how they'd interact with other NPCs.

Do you remember if the enemy vampires ever use magic on you?

Yes, vampires do use their disciplines against you.

You don't usually get to see them use their powers much because you're killing them too fast.

[Bertram_Tung]

But was it any better in Bloodlines 1? I just remember normal enemies being thugs that either melee you or shoot you. The bosses were more memorable though (i hate the chinese)

off the top of my head, not an exhaustive list by any means, there were thugs, chinese thugs, vampire hunters, sewer monsters, insane vampires inside malk primogens house, cops, SWAT, zombies, vampires from different clans including cappadocians and their undead minions, security guards, Tzimisce abominations, Kuei-Jin shapeshifters, kung fu monks, plaguebearers, not to mention a bunch of unique minibosses like the hegeyōkai, werewolf, serial killer, gargoyle, etc

Yeah and all those humanoids, as different as their origins may be, were just "guy with Melee Weapon" or "guy with Ranged Weapon." Do you remember if the enemy vampires ever use magic on you? That would be cool
The monsters and minibosses were probably my favorite enemies yeah, like the Gargoyle a great one.

pretty sure i remember fighting vampires who were using celerity and potence. the giovannis for sure, and i think some brujah/shapeshuftung gangrel/nossie at some point in later game(though its possible some of that is plus patch stuff)

the vampire hunters used crossbows and torches to light you on fire, kinda different from standard guns/melee (plus it was cool how they would randomly appear in a flash of light depending on the number of masquerade violations you had )

some monsters spit acid

zombies grab you/immobilize you and eat your brains

[Valter]

Hopefully this is just the starting premise to really force you to confront the monstrous nature of a vampire, and that there's more player agency later down the line now that you're in control of yourself.

A good way to use such an opening would have been to have the protagonist, or the voice in his head, ask how they feel about killing the guard (guilty, indifferent, excited etc.) to establish a baseline personality, and how they'd interact with other NPCs.

Dragon Age 2 still mogging all over these new kids on the block. Modern devs would never consider such intricate systems

[J1M]

So you can't disable post processing effects that everyone hates or change the FOV without mods or editing ini files? Great start. Since I wont be touching this game for at least two years to find out I ask you guys. Can you kill or attack any character in this game and continue on?

In the telekinesis tutorial if you attack someone instead of distracting them it is game over.

[Bertram_Tung]

So you can't disable post processing effects that everyone hates or change the FOV without mods or editing ini files? Great start. Since I wont be touching this game for at least two years to find out I ask you guys. Can you kill or attack any character in this game and continue on?

In the telekinesis tutorial if you attack someone instead of distracting them it is game over.

thats how it worked in the original game's optional tutorial from jack too, iirc

[J1M]

So you can't disable post processing effects that everyone hates or change the FOV without mods or editing ini files? Great start. Since I wont be touching this game for at least two years to find out I ask you guys. Can you kill or attack any character in this game and continue on?

In the telekinesis tutorial if you attack someone instead of distracting them it is game over.

thats how it worked in the original game's optional tutorial from jack too, iirc

Bloodlines 1, 0/10!

[logincrash]

Played it for an hour or so.
The gameplay is not an RPG in the slightest. It's a more action-y Dishonored. The one cool thing is the glide ability. Using it in the open world feels really nice.
The writing has been pretty lame, though I haven't been subjected to much faggotry so far. The protagonist looks very gay, no matter the haircut or the outfit.
The game looks and runs like dogshit, courtesy of UE5. I had very frequent framerate drops in the open world, both on Low and Ultra graphics settings. No FOV setting is annoying. Crouching adds a dark vignette that obscures your field of view even further.
Had it been a standalone vampire game, I would've said to wait a year or three to see if they pull a Cyberpunk 2077 and iron out all the issues. But as a sequel to Bloodlines, it's an insult.
Do not recommend.

[J1M]

The only reason glide feels good is because it makes you move 3x faster and the walk speed is so slow.

[Vaako]

2 hours in and my curiosity is mostly sated.
The writing is below expectations. I expected unpalatable writing, but voice acting is also just meh for most characters.
The gameplay is surprisingly fun. The combat feels fast, as does the climbing. It just feels fun to be so fast. Maybe it'll grow old quick. The combat is still barebones ubersimplistic though.

Enemy variety also seems very low.

But was it any better in Bloodlines 1? I just remember normal enemies being thugs that either melee you or shoot you. The bosses were more memorable though (i hate the chinese)

Wasnt better but from the looks of it these new thugs look like a mix between antifa thugs and the black April O'Neil version just less fat. So pretty much like concord characters.

[Atlantico]

The game looks and runs like dogshit, courtesy of UE5. I had very frequent framerate drops in the open world, both on Low and Ultra graphics settings.

It may run like dogshit on new machines, i.e. much worse than you'd expect but it runs ok on a 13 year old AMD FX8350 / Vega 64 -- I'm getting easy 25-30fps at 1440p in medium graphics. Frequent framerate drops in the open world but on my toaster that's expected.

I think this game runs really well all things considered, especially that the CPU I'm running this on is rated like 50% below the minimum spec for the game. GPU that I have is better than minimum tho.

[Voolux]

I know it might be early to ask. BUT...
Do we got any mod that changes the main character into a more feminine / masculine look? I'm literally getting tired of how my dude vampire looks during cutscenes.
And the haircuts are just... let's say are absolute dogshite.

[Vaako]

I know it might be early to ask. BUT...
Do we got any mod that changes the main character into a more feminine / masculine look? I'm literally getting tired of how my dude vampire looks during cutscenes.
And the haircuts are just... let's say are absolute dogshite.

Wouldnt get my hopes up for that Unreal engine is ****** to mod and I doubt anyone who actually could make a mod like that would not care enough about a game you maybe play for 20 hours and then never again.

[Rand]

I would assume Caine, or maybe God not letting it happen because the whole point of vampires is to teach Caine a lesson and force him to repent. Also, Antediluvians are very powerful and neither mage faction really wants to go poking the bear in his den, so as long as they stay asleep and inactive they're willing to let them be.

This is very deeply western religious thinking: the god creates a massive problem that festers for centuries and causes grief and murder for the innocent to make a questionable point that probably won't work anyhow because it doesn't make sense.

[Fox1]

Did anyone really expect this game to not be woke **** capitalizing on nostalgia? The entire point of making modern sequels or remakes of cult classics or old franchises of the 2000s is to take a giant **** on someone's childhood memories and inject marxoid reeducation into them overtly as a humiliation ritual. For the newfags it's just brainwashing under the guise of entertainment.

[The_Mask]

I know it might be early to ask. BUT...
Do we got any mod that changes the main character into a more feminine / masculine look? I'm literally getting tired of how my dude vampire looks during cutscenes.
And the haircuts are just... let's say are absolute dogshite.

A game has to have a few fun elements to it for people to want to mod it. I doubt you're ever getting mods for this trash heap.

[LemonDemonGirl]

It's a funny joke. You're reading hostile intent where there's none.

I'm pretty sure the "What Dale wanted to put in his body was entirely his own business" is written in a hostile language. Troonery is, sadly, everyone's ******* business since the freaks' fetish is forcing all of us to play along with their insanity.

That's a harsh language.
I'd say that if ***** thinks himself as woman, "do not take if male" is completely legit. But player doesn't have to have this virtue signal in a game about monsters eating humans anyway.

But it begs a question. I've read somewhere that there was a Ventrue in nWoD whose malus was that he could feed only on beautiful women. Will he vomit from ***** blood? If he won't in what exact moment the curse stopped working? Would he be able to run around with fake passports, plop his victim photo on one of them and then feed? Would it work with dog photos? Photos with Tiktok filters on them?
Or would he need to inject some estrogen first? Or does it (gasp!) works on genetic level? Do ******** have female SOVLs? If women, especially gingers, don't have souls, do ******** lose them? When exactly?
These are the questions we need answers for in the first DLC, if not yesterday!

******** are NEVER beautiful nor women