Vampire Bloodlines 2 Thread - All We Know So Far. Chat!

[Sild]

You misunderstand.

The point is not to not have political characters in the game or have them apolitical. On the contrary, have them, but many different kinds of them. As has been pointed out countless times before, it's very much part of the first. In a very satirical way.

The issue is to not limit the portrayal of certain characters or events through a certain ideological filter. To give people the choice of how to handle things independent of how that choice might align with political standings and views of whether or not that's "wrong" or "right".

Give agency to the player character to act and behave in a manner appropriate to their chosen role, within the context of existing in the underbelly of a "world of darkness" and let them shape it. Let them see the gruesome, and terrible things that are only heard of in the most despicable places. That's what the first was about, snarky political comments aside.

 

[Emlaraal]

Gehenna, Jyhad , Second inquisition are upon us , it's like vampires don't have enough to worry about in this timeline. Leave transhumanism to cyberpunk genre. Real life politics are just a ruse used by Camarilla/Vatican and the like to cover up creature of darkness.

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

So you play like Thin-blood????? can they even turn in fully fledged Vampire ???

 

[Sild]

So you play like Thin-blood????? can they even turn in fully fledged Vampire ???

From V5 edition of the tabletop:

"Ways out

Straddling the line between mortality and vampirism, thin-bloods have a choice. While they do not age, and can thus stay thin-bloods indefinitely, most of their kind sooner or later chooses the day or the night. A thin-blood who manages to commit diablerie on a “true” Kindred absorbs not only their power and spirit but also their lineage, turning them into a 13th generation Kindred of their victim’s clan. The Camarilla occasionally dangles this prize in front of dusk-born who show themselves capable of running the dirtiest of errands and surviving, offering up a Cainite sentenced to a Blood Hunt as sacrifice.

Conversely, every thin-blood knows someone who knows someone who returned to the daylight. The story usually goes that they became mortal again by clinging to their humanity until they could hunt down and end their sire, thus ending their curse.

Of course, any mortal who knows about the Kindred is a threat to the Masquerade"

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

On the hand, you can't escape politics in vampire: the masquerade.

This is true, but the point is about not underlining any specific view over the others. To offer contrasting views to be had on an equal basis, with apt consequences, without predisposed judgement from the writer, and not forgetting the grey areas between the polars.

It’s not the devs job to dictate any moral grounds or codes by fiat, but to offer the player ways of expressing his/her character in meaningful and satisfying ways... IF there are politics or philosophical views of ambiguous nature in the game.

If this kind of neutrality and objectivity is something that simply can not be done by the developer, he should withold from including politics or philosophies in his game to begin with.

 

[Sild]

Brian Mitsoda on single-player/multiplayer elements:

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Good to hear it's single player.

Post automatically merged: Mar 24, 2019

From V5 edition of the tabletop:

"Ways out

The Camarilla occasionally dangles this prize in front of dusk-born who show themselves capable of running the dirtiest of errands and surviving, offering up a Cainite sentenced to a Blood Hunt as sacrifice.

Which is kind of weird, since isn't diablerie considered an abominable practice?

 

[Sild]

Good to hear it's single player.

Post automatically merged: Mar 24, 2019

Which is kind of weird, since isn't diablerie considered an abominable practice?

It most certainly is in most places.

However it is acceptable as a form of "ultimate punishment" handed out by the Camarilla for the likes of which Blood Hunts are called. (It's basically a punishment and a reward for capable member, two birds, one stone). Politics.

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

Thin-bloods are not full vampire, thin-bloods are not allowed to join the Camarilla, making them Anarchs by default.

Why would you play as week version of vampire, i know developer say you make your way to the top and can even join a clan, why join malkevians for example if you are not one.

 

[Sild]

Thin-bloods are not full vampire, thin-bloods are not allowed to join the Camarilla, making them Anarchs by default.

Why would you play as week version of vampire, i know developer say you make your way to the top and can even join a clan, why join malkevians for example if you are not one.

Not really, even Anarchs often shun Thin-bloods. And they are still sometimes kill-on-sight for other vamps. But they are not as weak as they were in the first game. Nor as despised.

The answer to you last question is in the quote I posted above.

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

After 15 years and they pull something like this game about vampire and unique clans about internal struggle between them , and you stuck playing like trash who is little stronger than human, with not even a chance to be full vampire.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Would be interesting to see how they'll implement humanity in the game, especially in the way it affects choices and the story. Diablerie for example should cause a drop in humanity. Thinbloods differ in the sense that their humanity should be higher by default. For example they can better experience emotions and so on. If they put all this in the game the right way, it can be interesting. So starting as a thinblood isn't necessarily a bad design choice for writers, it opens interesting options.

 

[Sild]

After 15 years and they pull something like this game about vampire and unique clans about internal struggle between them , and you stuck playing like trash who is little stronger than human, with not even a chance to be full vampire.

Yea, you start out at the bottom of the food chain. Dosen't mean you'll stay there for long though.

 

[lelxrv]

Brian Mitsoda on single-player/multiplayer elements:

View attachment 10995358

Thank F.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

Something positive for a change...

Mitsoda is absolutely right with this one:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1109876977224146944

Just like Tim and Leon were about VA'd protagonist in The Outer Worlds.

(The the hint, CDPR, take the hint...)

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

CDPR didn't have this issue, since Geralt wasn't a "make your own character" kind of choice. With such games getting a voice actor for the protagonist is perfectly fine. But for games where you create the character from scratch, it doesn't make sense.

 

[Rawls]

Sad to see it wont be a voiced character. I really prefer voiced these days. Oh well. Still excited about it very much.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

But for games where you create the character from scratch, it doesn't make sense.

It really doesn't.

So much more can be done to create a more personal feel for the character without a voice. And even if it wasn't a money issue, the costs could be forwarded for more NPC responses for much better effect.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Sad to see it wont be a voiced character. I really prefer voiced these days. Oh well. Still excited about it very much.

I suppose to make it right, they'd need to hire not even 2, but 2 times clan choice voice actors. Some RPGs do make player voice acting for casual remarks, where you can select voice style. But to perform voice acting for all dialogs in the game - that's massive.

 

[Snowflakez]

Fantastic news indeed. I'm so glad the devs have adopted this mindset. I definitely wish CDPR had followed suit, but oh well.

It's more that I think the justifications for voice acting in RPGs where you are supposed to play a character of your own are weak, and usually amount to "but its more cinematic tho" which is not what I want in my games. I want less cinematic, more player freedom. Blank slates are only blank slates if players just pick random choices throughout the game depending on their whims - if they're playing a specific character, it's a personality that is being built due to consistently-selected choices.

At any rate, on the topic of humanity, as some of you know I like to play my games with a relatively low body count. Try to be as moral (in terms of my character's own "code," not real life morals) as my character can be, going with the lesser evil when possible.

In that sense, I probably won't use many vampiric powers at all. It's like in Prey; I never used the alien abilities you get because I wanted to stay as pure as possible.

I understand some would see this as a bastardization of the whole Bloodlines concept, but for me, I love that these games even allow for that sort of playstyle (mostly - sounds like this one might even let you do it more than its predecessor). On a second or third playthrough I may choose differently.

Sad to see it wont be a voiced character. I really prefer voiced these days. Oh well. Still excited about it very much.

Well, most modern RPGs are voiced, so you've definitely gotten the good end of the stick as of late. It's nice that a "big" game (or two, with the Outer Worlds in mind) these days is retaining this concept.

Now I'm just worried the Elder Scrolls 6 will screw it up and go the Fallout 4 route.