Vampire Bloodlines 2 Extended Gameplay & HSL Comparison, Dan Pinchbeck Blog, is this Bloodlines?

[@lurkchan]

if you're interested in more bloodlines 2 coverage or just bloodlines in general, check out these two videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZi1dYuOot2brKs kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4DXoayKZ5mjfcU

[@9768236]

Honestly the HSL version is much more what I wanted out of Bloodlines 2. Yes it's jank, yes it's unfinished, combat is awful and is a constant member berry feast, but it had some kind of soul and Mitsoda clearly had a vision here that HSL most likely didn't have the skills or talent to actually fulfill. TCR's version is just not Bloodlines 2. That's Paradox' fault for still keeping Bloodlines 2 as the title and it's VtM, but it's not Bloodlines 2. Here's hoping for a Mitsoda-cut to leak at some point. We know some of the HSL's devs obviously have some kind of build of the Mitsoda-cut laying around with the tower-thats-not-ocean-house-hotel video, so hopefully someone will silently leak it and show us what Bloodlines 2 was supposed to be to the masses even though it probably will be unplayably buggy. Or Mitsoda could at least do an "Epistle 3" blog post.

[@lurkchan]

i doubt we'll get a playable build but it would be fascinating. i do imagine that 5-10 years from now once the NDAs erode we'll get some narrative of what exactly happened at HSL

[@neerGdyahS]

As soon as I read the quote "The inspirations were clear for me: dark US dramas like the Succession, The Sopranos, The Wire, House of Cards." I started to get worried. I get what he's saying, that's one aspect that really needs to be in VTM, but it does leave me worried that they'll lean too far in that direction and water down the more mystical and ancient traditional aspects of it. Hopefully I'm being paranoid. PS Both version have an feel that's just a hint too up it's own ass (even for VTM which should be slightly) "OOOOOH trippy vision sequences! Isn't that cool?"

[@TitansBaneYT]

Just seeing HSL’s version just makes me wish that Paradox just gave TCR or whoever whatever HSL had so far and just told them “Hey, try to finish this and fix it.” because in terms of the RPG aspects, the HSL is exactly what I wanted for Bloodlines 2. TCR obviously has much better combat but the most important aspect, the RPG elements, just so far look completely stripped down and oversimplified.

[@loreofdarkness7902]

The HSK's version has potential. We can wonder what could have been if they would finish it. But I really look forward to TCR's version. I like what they shown so far.

[@redrum47]

The problem with the whole 'voice in your head' thing is that they're all trying to be Johnny Silverhand but with a only fraction of the charm.

[@JillRobertsIsmyGF]

It was sloppy writing in Cyberpunk & it's sloppy writing again for vtmb2

[@tigre2azul]

i just hoped they would take the combat and animations of TCR and everything else from HSL

[@endahannan2085]

Man the HSL leaked gameplay makes me so sad, it looks almost exactly how I would want a VTMB2. If they had just transplanted TCR combat onto that then it could have been amazing (although I would prefer if they keep weapons/inventory, I don't like how there appears to be none in TCR).

[@lurkchan]

i agree that a combination of the two would have been great. if only we had the timeline where ka'ai cluney worked for TCR initially, and got mitsoda to pitch with them

[@DaneInTheUS]

Thank you for including the HSL leaked HSL gameplay. That has a lot in common with bloodlines 1 but it's clear that the HSL gameplay is alpha at best. Missing textures. Missing animations.

[@wnyduchess]

I never thought id say i hope bloodlines 2 DOESNT come out but here we are

[@wnyduchess]

this is what happens when you fire Brian Mitsoda

[@Bram_Reaper]

@@wnyduchess yep

[@lurkchan]

i can understand the sentiment. for me personally, i have invested so much time into this game that it would be a real shame if i didn't get to play some version of it

[@wnyduchess]

@@lurkchan I'm just so disappointed, I remember how excited I was when Paradox bought the rights to WoD. I've wanted bloodlines 2 for so long that seeing that this is what they've attached to that name is just so disappointing.

[@wnyduchess]

I think the biggest thing for me is the dialogue system. I feel that style is so reductive to what a roleplaying game is fundamentally. How am I supposed to roleplay the character when I don't even know what they're going to say? It's the same thing that killed bioware games for me.

[@GodReigen]

Yo, that HLS footage with the exploration segment at the beginning was like a direct spiritual successor to the first game's Ocean House Hotel. Really hit the vibe!

[@skeletonking4119]

59:34 that’s insanely and instantly !! Reference to vtmb1!!!! The final death of any vampire character is automatically a skeleton and ash!!! As it meant to be for old vampires!

[@gregorymifsud5389]

Is it just me ? i just can't play a role playing game as a character named phyre. What kind of name is that anyway. Who is named phyre in the middle ages ? unless they want to be burned at the stake

[@JillRobertsIsmyGF]

They had so many better options to choose from for a character name. The Nomad, The Slayer ect. Why they settled for Phyre is beyond me.

[@mattstansbeary3068]

The HSL Bloodlines 2 was on the Unreal Engine 4 while the TCR version is made in Unreal Engine 5. Really how different the 2 Games are they could of Done Bloodlines 2 & 3 and called it done. My issue is Yes call it VTM: Awaken or VTM: Bloodlines Awaken The thing with it is put it as far away from going this is a Sequel to the 2004 Bloodlines Game and more of Don't compare the 2 Games this is a standalone Game but in the Bloodlines Titles. The only reason I'm saying this is when people think of Bloodlines 2 they think of how close HSL version was to the first Game. When the Chinese Room version is not that close to the HSL Version or VTM: Bloodlines 1. Put distance between the Game and make it seem like a whole new Game and a Whole new Bloodlines. Like they say this is not your Grandfather Bloodlines Game.

[@noonesomeone669]

The game looks fine but doesn’t need to carry the Bloodlines name. It seems like a AA action game that took a lot of inspiration from games in the early 2010s. The HSL version captures more of the mood of the original but that is likely down to Mitsoda being on staff. Another vampire game is nice to see but it is just that to me (not a sequel to Bloodlines 1).

[@JillRobertsIsmyGF]

It's just another Mediocre WoD game like Swanson who tf wants another one of thos

[@CliffBackerTheThird]

The Chinese Room gameplay looks soo much more disappointing after seeing it side by side with the HSL one. Sure the combat looks jankier , but I would've taken it exactly as is as long as all the other RPG elements are intact. They are supposed to release this year and so far they have only ever shown combat. Everything else is just words on paper at this point. We're supposed to take their word for it that there's going to be some form of exploration , some, (however limited) character customization and at least a few meaningful RP choices here an there. (they certainly didn't show any) Whatever The Chinese Room are making looks nothing like Bloodlines in any shape or form at this point and there's absolutely nothing appealing about it. If they named it anything else I still probably wouldn't play it based on it's own merit. I just wouldn't have been as disappointed about it.

[@itzbeelzebuddy]

Actually sobbing, Chinese room fucking rumbled

[@skeletonking4119]

1:00:17 that’s message on your left is from character! By the way that mobile your have is NOT yours! But rather it belong to another Thinblood of whom everyone think you are him! Which also his apartment and his belongings is yours, which a very fitting for bloodlines 1 reference too!

[@skeletonking4119]

Hopefully this video won’t goes down due of paradox .. I blame paradox for this!!

[@BeachSalad]

I wonder if the DLC that's a different story from the base game is maybe us playing as Fabien before/after he gets stuck in Phyre's head? We know it's a clan DLC but we don't know what clan Fabien is yet.

[@lurkchan]

my guess is malk or lasombra for dlc clans, unsure if that'll include Fabien but conceptually, it's interesting

[@sospokemika1197]

If they just continued to work on HSL version's combat it would have been perfect. What a waste.

[@mnk9073]

HSL had the right idea and the proper vibe but lacked the tools and the talent to make anything of it. TCR is just doing a railroaded interactive novel-walking simulator with badly stitched on combat zones that might have been "good" in 2016. It's basically _Shadows of New York_ with better graphics. Paradox should just sell the rights to someone capable and stick to what they know, shilling the 36th DLC to some grand strategy snoozefest...

[@pheonixshaman]

There is some theories that Paradox got TCR's publisher to make the game quick to fulfill the preorders for BL2 that had already existed for years, rather than give the money back.

[@Supersectoidmeme]

Man, i can just subscribe and like this video, im very glad to see really bloodlines fan, im been one of that guy in 2019 what say "parkour in fight, bad club music,bruh..." but now i see how we/me was wrong(sorry for eng)

[@Supersectoidmeme]

Totrent shop is the best way to buy bloodlines 2

[@mytotim8978]

Where did you get the gameplay from hardsuit version? Because that is not the gameplay they reveal, that is a new mission, similar to the hotel one in the original bloodlines.

[@lurkchan]

Source is supposedly Larry Vallely, a level designer at Hardsuit Labs who shared the footage about a year ago on an artstation account

[@DaneInTheUS]

My concern here is that they're making what's likely a good game ... but it may not be a good BLOODLINES game. There's a lot of heritage to honor and respect and it doesn't seem like they are doing that. Not listening to your core audience is generally not a good move. The people that'll potentially buy this are people that want a full fledged RPG. Stats. Numbers. Equipment. Customization. And that just doesn't seem to be there. They REALLY need to start showing more RPG elements, More dialogue, More non-combat gameplay in general if they want to win over their core audience.

[@thebakedchef]

Great video mate, I think they could make it a decent game but I'm keeping expectations low for now. It just doesn't sit right that they haven't talked about or shown rpg elements yet especially for a sequel to a game where it was big, just call it something else and I think it would be received much better

[@oskarniepowiem1776]

what rumor system is, is that they were to lazy to due dialogue based on past that would fit lore and be meaningfull for specific background so they just.mushed it all together. this whole thing looks like fun action game with rpg elements not competent rpg with action elements.

[@anonymousee716]

on Steam message boards, someone remarked that they work in adjacent industry to voiceover/music and know some of the original devs. they claim that the money wasn't there for the full voicework for multiple branching reactive NPC options and that the money was not there for fully animating all of those other characters, so they animated "our" character instead.

[@Heavenlyhounds96]

So many comments under the video were comparing this *15 minutes of gameplay* to Forspoken and similar trash from last year. Particularly commenting on Phyre and Fabien talking to each other about their situation. It's almost like people forgot about another game that has more constant chatter, (and even less witty dialogue), than Forspoken which was a bad game. Like you know...High on Life? I haven't played that game either but I know for a fact it is far more comparatively non-stop babbling than this game or even Forspoken. This game honestly feels like its dialogue and banter are NOT trying to be Joss Whedon's MCU entries. :P So many uncultured swine somehow able to form sentences, (just not of their own creativity :P ). As for my thoughts. Would I have preferred what we were teased years ago? Absolutely, more clan options, it had more individual personality I think than this game, (which still looks decent, better than Forspoken or other bad games from last year). BUT...I will gladly take this game because we've been NEEDING a proper Vampire: The Masquerade video game for YEARS, (outside of visual novels and in-name-only games like that Battle Royale). Also...I would rather have an actual game released...than one trapped forever in development Hell. -.-

[@lurkchan]

yea actually not a bad comparison, though i think people may have forgotten high on life because of everything surrounding justin roiland. i see a lot more comparisons to cyberpunk and fabien being VTM silverhand

[@skeletonking4119]

1:11:30 oh! Those for their actual game… not bloodlines 2. Because they fully focus upon their own game rather someone else game. Which they put little resource into it..

[@JillRobertsIsmyGF]

At this point the copers are saying Bloodlines 2 doesn't have to be a Bloodlines 2. Make that make sense.

[@anonymousee716]

seems like "only" combat feeding and only using abilities if you charge them up. i hate that kind of thing unless it's run like spell cooldowns. i want to use abilities when i see fit, and just deal with the fact that they have drained me. this "charging up" seems less intuitive to me to a creature that simply has abilities instead of energy weapons. i hate to say this but my instinct is that the mismatch is that Brits are too emotionally reserved to make a game that has the punch that original BL had. they will almost always go with the passive, nonresponsive or too-subtle option and believe we're too obsessed with guns (hence no weapons to knock out those pointless mannequins you can't even feed from in the reveal) here as a culture.

[@bnawr4336]

VTMB2 is action RPG, enough said. The previous version was bad, too, you can check forums, comment sections, some people didn't like it back then, either, now it's romanticized. Personally, I didn't like how it was almost a carbon copy of the 1st one, in that awful Christmas trailer, I noticed there's a scene which is similar to when 3 Sabbat ambushed you, it's not the only thing that's very similar to the 1st one. The dialogues now were less inspiring.

[@fu955]

god the lakt stuff looks so much better and actually like a rpg . istead of a weak beat them up action stuff we are going to get

[@NotUnymous]

The HSL Version dont show the RPG-Elements yet, thats worrying for sure but finaly doesnt have to mean the RPG is bad, just, that we'll have to wait to build an opinion about it. The combat of HSLs version is a little to faithfull to the old VtmB 1 - and lets be honest, the first Vtmb was known for its rather dull and bad combat. The blood-mechanic in VtmB 2 tho is a huge improvement, as it resembles the Doom 2016 "get close and stay in action" mechanic wich counts as a gamebreaker in modern 1-player-action gameplay. So its promising that they took that up and gives me slight hopes. Animations looks jank, I agree on that. but its whats cost a lot in development and regarding the history of the game... yeah... we still got some time but I assume not to get to hopefull with that. On the other hand, it doesnt bother me as much. It wont be a AAA game no matter what so comparison with AAA seems to be a little off on this regard. The rest is hard to tell. We only got one specific mission, would be great if we get some gameplay-talk. Dont know why we doesnt got that. Can guess its either that they know that the next shitstorm will hit them if they release their system or that they just arent that far in their development and lots is still open for change? Or maybe its something completly different, who can tell? Overall, this trailer made me a little bit more hopefull. But I admit that I'm coming from very low expectations. Honestly, I didnt thought it would be finished at all before that clip. *Edit: I also do like the atmosphere a lot of the trailer, the characters do look interesting too, so there is that too.

[@RainFox919]

We want the HSL Version as your Gen Z haircut Girlboss commands it i mean Elder😂

[@boram1760]

This is the first time I'm seeing HSL version and now I'm even more sad it'll never see a light of day. It oozes atmosphere. The bloodlines2 we are gonna get feels so bare and empty in the comparison. Also I hate the chineseroom combat (hsl one sucks too), waves of same looking enemies, feeding that lasts less than a second, ghouls that turn into blue sparks? what?

[@sergamaralinevods]

I love bloodlines 1 it's terribly jank and still works incredibly well… bloodlines 2 is going to be fine but god do I have so many questions to ask lol

[@skorne741]

Must we play as Phyre?

[@lurkchan]

yea, only exception might be the dlc they said would be a different kind of playthrough, but you might still be phyre

[@18francesco18]

The locations look so bland and generic, they seem to have completely failed to capture the urban gothic atmosphere that made the first game so memorable.

[@sarablack-h1h]

all voice protagonist video games are utterly terrible and usually the voice actors are just phoning it in this is not a Hollywood movie

[@mrillmatic95]

the story elements the choices you could make how they effected the story. being cannon to the table rpg and the combat in vtmb was ass and if you didnt use guns end game you were fucked

[@neerGdyahS]

I was scared as hell of what the HSL version was going to be like, nothing retroactive about it and plenty of people felt the same. I was ready to skip the game. I didn't think everything about it was going to be shitty, but it wasn't purely the combat. For example, the dialogue options may have been more CLEAR but the actual lines were also basic and kinda mechanical.

[@vincentnicolae9440]

This garbage is cyberpunk 2077 2.0 all over again only looks and feels less enjoyable and way worse and dumb, a very original creative idea on the Dev's part. I am expecting Johnny Silverhand Keanu Reeves to show up at some point🤣👎

[@bhaktapeter3501]

She hulk with fangs

[@diegotambor9283]

No, is not.