I'm almost excited. Looks juicy. But... From all sources one picture comes up: A streamlined, first person platformer/brawler with limited to nonexistent RPG mechanics... All things that are secondary to a good, engaging story, but serve as a quality of life feature. Still, I smell the Syndicate revival case. Remember that cult strategy game ressurected as a FPS no one gave shit about? Hope I'm wrong, I probably am, but I'll be managing my expectation towards this title very carefully. In the meantime I installed original VtM:B 
Don't like the gun thing -at all-. This game better have the best damned melee combat the industry has ever seen.
And yes, of course I'm exaggerating a bit. Adequate melee is fine. But seriously.
I assume this means the gun skills will be removed (or rather, not make a return); can't imagine they have much of a purpose if you're going to toss 'em aside all the time a la Mirror's Edge.
Definitely a bit concerned that, as @atomowyturysta said, it'll be more FPP brawler than RPG but I guess we'll see. I won't work myself up about it until I actually see some gameplay.
"Streamlining" is always a concern at the back of my mind for franchise reboots and sequels. I understand some level of it is needed when a game is as old as this, but over-streamlining has ruined some of my favorite franchises - Splinter Cell, for example. I sincerely hope that does not occur here.
Smooth out the original's rough edges, pretty up the graphics, toss a few archaic ideas to the wind, and add new mechanics. Ideally, we end up with a richer, fuller game and not a stripped-down lesser game like the Thief reboot.
I think this is important to mention given past discussions on this subject in many RPG's
"Fans might notice that while NPCs are fully voiced, the character chooses their own dialogue from a non-voiced list of options, just like they used to."
Source: Forbes
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Also mentions gunplay and combat. As someone who ALWAYS made a melee build in VTMB (because, let's be honest, RPG "mechanics" aside, you're a vampire, a supernatural creature of the night, a fanged predator, not a gunslinger) 'm glad they marginalized that aspect of the old one if it means improving the other aspects that actually stem from the fact that you're a vampire. It's fast, visceral.. and yes.. sexy, and what's sexier than weaving and cleaving through gun-wielding louts, ripping throats and bleeding them dry.
"Fans might notice that while NPCs are fully voiced, the character chooses their own dialogue from a non-voiced list of options, just like they used to."
Source: Forbes
-Edit-
Also mentions gunplay and combat. As someone who ALWAYS made a melee build in VTMB (because, let's be honest, RPG "mechanics" aside, you're a vampire, a supernatural creature of the night, a fanged predator, not a gunslinger) 'm glad they marginalized that aspect of the old one if it means improving the other aspects that actually stem from the fact that you're a vampire. It's fast, visceral.. and yes.. sexy, and what's sexier than weaving and cleaving through gun-wielding louts, ripping throats and bleeding them dry.
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12+ years of experience don't mean nothing, since even they can switch politic in last minute or end up makeing a game that is not what you expected to be.
Owlcat games are new developers and they did great job with Pathfinder Kingmaker.
Also from trailer you can see how gameplay will look like, maybe he like it plus it is his money.
Yeah, I dunno, the Announcement Keynote makes it pretty damn hard to resist...[pre-ordering]
I know right!?
Haven't preordered yet, but man, I'm already starving for more info.
Need 'ma fix!
My choice to pre-order comes from how impressed I am that they have some of the old talent returning and how the PR is focused on engaging fans of the old game. Also a GoG release is kind of unspoken proof of commitment to me in a wierd way.
They really know what to say to get me.
They really know what to say to get me.
I very rarely pre-order before reviews are out (so like a week before release). I may make an exception for CP2077, because who are we kidding I'm buying that game. However I'm otherwise a very late pre-orderer. The gunplay thing doesn't bother me actually. I feel like if I was a vampire, I would probably not want to waltz around with 12 spare magazines on me unless I knew I was walking into all out war.
Not pre-ordering either for now. Need to see more. I want to send a signal that the devs need to earn it first, not because they made a game based on the beloved license.
My highest expectation - the devs pulled off Human Revolution. Like, a game that was made by a completely different team, that didn't have anything to do with people who made the original DX, basically newcomers, but they managed to largely preserve the spirit and bring something new and exciting.
But great chance it can be Mass Effect: Andromeda or even something worse. Plus considering all that "woke" talk I'm hearing. Deja vu effect is strong here.
My highest expectation - the devs pulled off Human Revolution. Like, a game that was made by a completely different team, that didn't have anything to do with people who made the original DX, basically newcomers, but they managed to largely preserve the spirit and bring something new and exciting.
But great chance it can be Mass Effect: Andromeda or even something worse. Plus considering all that "woke" talk I'm hearing. Deja vu effect is strong here.
Indeed. Why spend money ($60!) on a game we know little about, that I won't get to play for a year, when there are so many affordable options I could take advantage of right now? But to each one's own.
That's not to say I won't be following with interest. I believe the devs have confirmed no voice acting for the protagonist already. Hopefully the first of many good signs.
I would actually say they did a terrible job, when it launched it was such a buggy mess that it was literally unplayable for some people, and many others found they couldn't progress because of broken quests, as well as countless mechanics, feats etc. not working properly.
Not to mention all the things missing for anyone actually familiar with tabletop Pathfinder. It's a pretty shallow experience in comparison.
Though in their defence they at least have worked hard since then to squash all the bugs, and it has shaped up to a somewhat decent though flawed game. I expect that they were forced, for one reason or another, to release far earlier than they should have.
It's part of the reason why I would never consider pre-ordering Bloodlines 2, no matter how much I loved the first one. They might have brought in a few of the original people, but Hardsuit Labs as a whole has not made an RPG before so a lot of things can go wrong and probably will.
Talks about streamlining, stuff like them making up their own powers rather than being true to Vampire the masquerade lore, and RL political talk is leaving me worried.
The only thing giving me hope is that they hired the original Bloodlines writer, and Chris Avallone has also had a part in creating the story to some unknown degree, but he also did on Kingmaker and that wasn't enough to make me enjoy the game.
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I wouldn't read too much into it. That website -- just like the websites it is "Against" -- is extremely biased. There are better, more neutral sources to get your info from. Alternatively, wait for gameplay/more official info.
I loved Pathfinder: Kingmaker and thought it did as good a job as you could possibly hope for in translating the tabletop Pathfinder experience to video game format.
In fact, it did such a good job that many players despised the game the first few days (bugs aside, of course) because certain enemy types confused them (swarms, trolls, etc.) when they couldn't kill them normally.
I understand if you disagree, but if you compare the source material and the game side-by-side, it really does seem like they did the best they could. If they went any further they would have been better off making a turn-based game (Which would have been fine by me, but thats not what they wanted to do).
As for Bloodlines 2, yeah, I'm definitely a bit concerned as I said before. But I'm going to wait for gameplay, just as we've all done with Cyberpunk 2077.
Good to hear about the dialogue stuff. I disagree about the gun combat, but I actually usually prefer melee over ranged in RPGs anyway (with the exception of bows/crossbows in medieval games), so I guess I'm more arguing in favor of the idea of gun combat still being a thing rather than personal investment.
It just feels like unnecessary streamlining, which I'm always against (chest armor + leg armor being welded together in Skyrim is another example).
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I get what you're saying. To me, it makes more sense they would choose to go that way. This isn't to say i hope or think it's going to be more streamlined, i'd rather reserve any judgment on the mechanics, until, well, i know what those mechanics are.
Reducing or removing guns from skill options could be offset by expanding on the melee options. In the first you had 5 levels in firearms, 5 levels in melee.... that's it. Take away firearms and expand on melee and you'd have an RPG that's melee focused, true, but much more in-depth melee focused.
That's how i like to see it.
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I read the RPG preview, which I don't think is linked in the OP, and it says this:
To me, that implies firearms are definitely in. The whole article's full of promising information, so I highly recommend it.
This forum has a weird layout.
This thread is in the "Other Games" section but it shows up on the main "Hot Topics" page because it is a damn hot topic!
[must remember to quote posts before sneaky edits are made]
This thread is in the "Other Games" section but it shows up on the main "Hot Topics" page because it is a damn hot topic!
[must remember to quote posts before sneaky edits are made]