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

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The only thing that is disappointing here is your comment.

It's a pre-alpha! How did you miss that?



VTMB is unfinished game.

Its indie game, it won't become that better. The studio was re-branded from Zombie Studios, probably to escape the association with sub-50% Metacritic turds nobody even heard about they made before.
 
Wait a minute... Didn't devs say the game won't have quest marks????
 
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Low budget game compared to others, quick animation to open doors and animation for when you fall from heights. Not that difficult, uh?
I haven't seen a single level on NPCs' heads or any legendary gun in the whole demo, some may say it's clearly not an RPG.

[Sard Edit: nope.]
 
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Woof that needs a bit more time in the oven before a public showing it's sad to say.

Its indie game, it won't become that better. The studio was re-branded from Zombie Studios, probably to escape the association with sub-50% Metacritic turds nobody even heard about they made before.

I dunno they made Blacklight Retribution so there's that.

EDIT: The gameplay footage has brought my expectations down a fair bit, it looked great up until the combat parts then it started showing it's cracks. I've cancelled my pre-order and will wait for release instead. Besides I'll have Cyberpunk as well around that time.
 
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Going to concur with the others. They should not be showing it this early. That combat looks absolutely dreadful, and not just because the player has forgotten how to use both thumbs at the same time. :p

Weird flip animation in combat, climbing animation, that horrendous dance animation. Enemies are braindead and don't react to being smacked in the face with a pipe in any believable way. You can say what you want about animations not mattering. Fine. But these animations are just unnecessary. Why is the camera constantly switching between first and third for something as simple as climbing? It's jarring. Why does the camera switch mid-combat, mid attack even?

Either let players switch at will, or stick with one perspective. For the record, I hated when Deus Ex did this, too, but I was a bit more OK with it because it was used in scenarios that made more sense (minus the stupid takedown animations). This time around... blargh.

I'm still reserving judgement, of course. I loved the first game, and a year from now, I'm sure this game will be solid, too.

Oh, also, as @Mybrokenenglish said, this game is proof that you can have brief little animations for opening doors and the like. Not terribly complicated.
 
I think the 20-minute demo looks fairly decent for what it tries to do with a low budget. Very bloodlinesy in many respects, skillchecks in dialog, apparently c&c present, and yes, even combat. And unlike most, I actually hope they don’t over-hone their combat.

Characters don’t seem as charming as in the original, but... what can you do.
 
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Going to concur with the others. They should not be showing it this early. That combat looks absolutely dreadful, and not just because the player has forgotten how to use both thumbs at the same time. :p

Weird flip animation in combat, climbing animation, that horrendous dance animation. Enemies are braindead and don't react to being smacked in the face with a pipe in any believable way. You can say what you want about animations not mattering. Fine. But these animations are just unnecessary. Why is the camera constantly switching between first and third for something as simple as climbing? It's jarring. Why does the camera switch mid-combat, mid attack even?

Tbh I can't complain about the animations, I mean look at Bloodlines 1 dance.


But I fully agree with your issues with the combat. I probably wouldn't mind the swap to 3rd person as much if the maneuver that went with it actually bloody worked.
 
Tbh I can't complain about the animations, I mean look at Bloodlines 1 dance.


But I fully agree with your issues with the combat. I probably wouldn't mind the swap to 3rd person as much if the maneuver that went with it actually bloody worked.
It's hilarious how similar the dance animation is between the first game and BL2.
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I think the 20-minute demo looks fairly decent for what it tries to do with a low budget. Very bloodlinesy in many respects, skillchecks in dialog, apparently c&c present, and yes, even combat. And unlike most, I actually hope they don’t over-hone their combat.

Characters don’t seem as charming as in the original, but... what can you do.

What about the combat did you enjoy?

I don't mind RPG-based combat; on the contrary, I prefer it. But if that means enemies barely, or in some cases, don't even react to your hits at all... Think I'm going to have to take a hard pass there.

I believe the melee in Bloodlines 1 even seemed to have more impact than this.

EDIT: Side note, what makes you say this game is being made with a low budget? I was under the impression, given its price tag, that this is aiming to be a full-budget AAA (only referring to budget) or AA game.
 
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What about the combat did you enjoy?

Enjoy? Nothing. I said the demo looks fairly decent for what it tries to do (as a Bloodlines sequel). It’s pre alpha build played with a controller, and regardless of that, I expect a little clumsiness.

As for the budget... It’s a small no name company hired by a studio that’s made some wealth from milking out DLC’s for menu-games.

The whole situation sounds like a Piranha Bytes deal with Deep Silver, large game, but not really AAA. Or Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds, which isn’t a AAA game either (by admission of the devs).
 
Enjoy? Nothing. I said the demo looks fairly decent for what it tries to do (as a Bloodlines sequel). It’s pre alpha build played with a controller, and regardless of that, I expect a little clumsiness.

As for the budget... It’s a small no name company hired by a studio that’s made some wealth from milking out DLC’s for menu-games.

The whole situation sounds like a Piranha Bytes deal with Deep Silver, large game, but not really AAA. Or Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds, which isn’t a AAA game either (by admission of the devs).
Ah, fair enough.

If it's low-budget from the get go, I'm much more willing to forgive this sort of thing, especially as it's in an early state. Still not so sure about the $60 price tag, though. I've paid far less for far more when it comes to "true" RPGs. I suppose I'll have to wait and see closer to release when we get more footage.

And you're right, it definitely feels bloodlines-y, so I suppose that in and of itself is a success at this stage. It could very well have gone the Splinter Cell route and completely ditched the core DNA of its predecessor(s).
 
Ah, fair enough.

If it's low-budget from the get go, I'm much more willing to forgive this sort of thing, especially as it's in an early state. Still not so sure about the $60 price tag, though. I've paid far less for far more when it comes to "true" RPGs. I suppose I'll have to wait and see closer to release when we get more footage.

And you're right, it definitely feels bloodlines-y, so I suppose that in and of itself is a success at this stage. It could very well have gone the Splinter Cell route and completely ditched the core DNA of its predecessor(s).

Games are way overpriced these days in general. So the pricetag is something I completely agree with. The same is true of The Outer Worlds.

But on the note of gameplay, still... I'd be disappointed if this one turned out to be something super polished and honed and grinded to complete and utter edgelessness. Games that have tried and done that have usually been bad.

And before it comes to mind to ask, no, that doesn't mean I like "unfinished" games. But I do like games that decidedly have their gameplay edgy in a sense that there is a conscious decisions to use design that might seem unorthodox by comparison to the games more mainstream peers.

I've paid far less for far more when it comes to "true" RPGs.

I'm actually willing to pay quite some extra if a game actually caters to my tastes more specifically than less (Bloodlines 2 is not one I'm quite comfortable paying 60€ for, nor is CP2077 yet). I through several hundred €uros on the Kickstarter and Fig games, when that was still a thing. Some were more worth it than others, and one is still waiting for judgement.

If CDPR made a cyberpunk game close to my specifications (not by my demand, but on their own accord), I'd gladly pay 100€ or a bit more for just the game, no CE or swag or anything. It'd last me years, so money well spent in that regard. I doubt any of these new games give me anything past initial runthrough.
 
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I never expected a AAA quality game either, my greivences came from how combat looked just so janky with mismatched animations etc. If they sort out that one thing then I will be happy to plop down $60
 
I am super pleased so far. Hilariously bad player notwithstanding. I loved everything I've seen, very BL 1.

Quite happy I dropped on the Mega Whatever Preorder.
 
My only request is that they ditch the goofy-looking third person switches in and out of combat. Either make it an always-optional choice as it was in the first game (barring using guns), or stick to one or the other with only the occasional, non-jarring switch (2077's TPP/FPP vehicle perspectives).

After thinking about it more and discussing it here, I'm willing to forgive every other nitpick as an early state of the game sort of thing. But the perspective shifts? That's a deliberate design choice, and one I'm quite concerned about. I feel like it might be cool the first time, but after 30 wall-climbs or ridiculous-looking combat flips, I'm going to get pretty darn sick of it.
 
Yeah, the somersaults look stupid.

I don't mind the climbing of high walls though. it'd be more jarring if it looked like going on an elevator or that the PC jumped up there.
 
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