|
My position on the license is still pretty much 'as long as they're free enough with the license to give us some good games, who cares if there are some bad ones too?' but boy does that battle royale game look dumb.
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 11:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 10:26 |
|
|
Tarquinn posted:But... why?? 
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 12:12
|
|
|
CottonWolf posted:A lot of guns for a Vampire game… An ak47 is still a drat effective weapon against a vampire!
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 12:53
|
|
|
Turin Turambar posted:An ak47 is still a drat effective weapon against a vampire! It's just bashing damage. A lot of it but still!
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 15:20
|
|
|
Inzombiac posted:It's just bashing damage. A lot of it but still! The humans who are clued in use incendiary ammo.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 15:26
|
|
|
Apparently its lore friendly from fifth edition but it still looks loving stupid.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 16:02
|
|
|
Vampire combat is at its coolest when you do things mortals can't. Rip someone's throat out with your fangs? Cool. Decapitate someone with a thrown manhole cover? Cool. Cleave someone in twain with the broadsword your father gave you before you left for the crusades? Cool. AK47? Meh.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 22:26
|
|
|
Looking forward to the mods that let you play Nines or other Anarch games in it. Just the shittiest handguns possible as you play Kindred Paintball through the city.
|
|
#
?
Jun 11, 2021 22:36
|
|
|
Freudian slippers posted:Vampire combat is at its coolest when you do things mortals can't. Rip someone's throat out with your fangs? Cool. Decapitate someone with a thrown manhole cover? Cool. Cleave someone in twain with the broadsword your father gave you before you left for the crusades? Cool. AK47? Meh. This.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 01:40
|
|
|
Toreador with Guns was a really powerful deck archetype for the card game.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 02:58
|
|
|
Tarquinn posted:But... why?? It was objective based, and very good for that era of gaming.... just not remotely RPG and a complete misuse of the IP.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 03:48
|
|
|
Sinteres posted:My position on the license is still pretty much 'as long as they're free enough with the license to give us some good games, who cares if there are some bad ones too?' but boy does that battle royale game look dumb. I agree, for the most part. The problem is that this could be the best game ever and I wouldn't play it because I simply don't care for battle royale games in the slightest. And it kind of feels like that fad is at its tail end anyway, with the exception of maybe Fortnite. The VTM curse will probably continue with this game with either few people playing or a steep dropoff fairly soon after release. The BR genre is oversaturated enough as it is and I assume the vast majority of people who are interested in that kind of thing are already invested in their BR game of choice. I don't envision a huge number of new people being attracted to a new one just for its theme, and those who are will probably gravitate back to their old BR games fairly soon after, unless by some sheer miracle this one is exceptionally good. I guess I still hope it does well, since it would be good for the IP and make other VTM games more likely, but it's just a weird, weird choice.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 04:18
|
|
|
vampire combat is best when you organize a gang shooting on your immortal rival that forces him to use his vampiric abilities to survive only for the police and/or hunters and/or werepups to clue in and immediately wax him when he's deprived of blood points. meanwhile, you smugly drink a glass of blood that you poured from a wine bottle on the other end of the city, absolutely certain that there's no way the heinous masquerade breach could possibly blow back on you. i'll play the BR tho whatever
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 05:09
|
|
|
Not really related to the VTM video games, but I don't know where else to ask: Is the Geek & Sundry "L.A. By Night" VTM tabletop playthrough series any good? It seems like a pretty hefty time investment so I kinda want to know what I'm getting into before committing to it. Are there any other things like this for VTM around?
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 05:34
|
|
|
TheAnomaly posted:It was objective based, and very good for that era of gaming.... just not remotely RPG and a complete misuse of the IP. Yeah, it was a very good Counterstrike-like (graded on the curve of console exclusive shooters of the mid-2000s) with some interesting powers and abilities. It was ahead of its time in some ways, but definitely a misguided use of the IP and it flopping is probably why we didn't get another Shadowrun game for 10 years.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 05:35
|
|
|
this BR game seems like a massive masquerade breach
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 05:59
|
|
|
Mr Scumbag posted:Not really related to the VTM video games, but I don't know where else to ask: I listened to a couple episodes and it just wasn’t for me. Just felt like they were trying to be too dark and brooding.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 09:31
|
|
|
CharlestonJew posted:this BR game seems like a massive masquerade breach Funny thing is, if it's being based in Prague there's an excellent chance it actually is a massive masquerade breach in canon and is basically the one time you could justify a battle royale shooter. The Conclave of Prague is a big V5 thing, was an utter clusterfuck in all the ways that Conclaves aren't supposed to be if managed right, and when you read between the lines it's where the Camarilla fully goes full wannabe aristocratic rear end in a top hat with no regrets and makes the Sabbat's founding members look downright justified in wanting to purge the Camarilla from existence. To recall it as best as I can while fitting in the details of the game: (Spoilers because it's long, has details about the gameplay that were purportedly leaked, and even a lead in to what might be the start of the mechanics for an actual MMO down the line. If you want to avoid the lore dump and get into the people supposedly leaking details about gameplay elements just skip past the spoilered stuff to the actual gameplay part of the post.) The Conclave of Prague was where the Camarilla went mask off in regards to being the "better choice" of the three Sects in response to the Second Inquisition. They basically went full tyrant and hosed over anyone in the Sect that wasn't in the middle to upper ranks. They threw the Anarchs out of the Camarilla (in front of the Anarch contingent attending no less) in the hopes the Inquisition would kill them and leave the upper ranks of the Camarilla alone (Literally what lead to the Sabbat being formed way back when, by the way.), tried to go full fash over it's younger members that remained, and basically made a whole bunch of decrees out of reactionary fear and opportunistic power grabbing that retroactively justified every bit of criticism from it's detractors that was ever given. Theo Bell's* reaction to these things (and discovering that the Camarilla and Hardestat in particular was running a slave ring for it's upper members to feed on and experiment on in the hopes that they'd survive the Withering and no one else down the chain of command would. Said slave ring was a plot point in the novels too, only this time it's made up of Kindred being enslaved and experimented on. This, despite the Camarilla claiming to represent all Kindred.) was to kneel at Hardestat's feet while Hardestat was smugging it up over what he'd assumed was a definite victory over his (honestly, at this point justifiably pissed off) enemies...and then blow Hardestat's head clean off with a shotgun loaded with dragons breath rounds while in full view of the attending membership entire conclave as part of his resignation from the ranks of the Camarilla's elite enforcers. The Brujah, already smarting over how the Camarilla was clearly using them and the young as target practice for the Inquisition (again, in probably the biggest contradiction of the Camarilla's justification for existence) immediately revolted as a clan with only a few ancient members representing philosophically oriented groups like the Hellenes staying behind. Ditto for the Anarch's, who at that point due to the Camarilla's selfish elder favoring dickery had no reason not to essentially declare a new Anarch rebellion right then and there. The Camarilla for it's part was shocked! How could this rabble rebel after we clearly told them they were going to take it up the rear end and like it! Don't they know their place? Also, holy poo poo Theo Bell just murdered the literal founder of the Camarilla in front of the who's who of the global membership of the Camarilla.  Their idea to fix this? More tyrannical, flagrantly corrupt, and hypocritical decrees! It's heavily implied in some of the lore (including this game I guess) that the Camarilla went full Sabbat in the vein of that time the Sabbat laid siege to DC and straight up had Vozhd roaming the streets of Washington DC. And by DC, I mean that time in the novels where the Sabbat and Camarilla had it out in open warfare in the capital of the USA, burned a good chunk of DC down (after the Cam burned another good chunk of it in scorched earth gang warfare tactics), and generally just said the gently caress with it to the masquerade.** Any vampire that the Camarilla could catch within Prague that broke the masquerade (again, just a lovely justification for killing them at that point) was killed. Any vampire that wasn't in the middle to upper membership was slaughtered or fought back. Any independent clan members attending as a guest were presumably killed too or had to fight for their lives. Hell, any vampire that had a grudge against another vampire could just finger his rivals and a bloodbath would ensue due to the disarray and the state of reactionary retaliation the Camarilla was in due to Theo Bell capping Hardestat and then going Anarch in full view of the conclave. Meanwhile the Anarchs predictably did not support being slaughtered by an outraged and openly hypocritical Camarilla and reacted in the way you might suspect they might. Said reaction involved lots of gunfire, edgy clothing, and fire. The end result of this mess? There are literal vampire riots in the streets of Prague as the Masquerade just ceases to exist. The Cam uses the masquerade as an excuse to slaughter their enemies. The Anarchs want to either GTFO or kill as many wannabe nobles. And of course the Second Inquisition notices this, realizes that this situation is basically Washington DC all over again, and proceeds to mobilize to slaughter as many vampires before the Camarilla increases their petulant tantrum even further and burns the city down like they did to DC or the Anarchs anarch too hard. TL;DR: It's an event that's implied to be a gigantic clusterfuck and basically invalidates the Camarilla's existence in a multitude of ways, proving they're not much better than the Sabbat once you get past the civilized charade. *If you don't know who Theo Bell is, just know that he's a signature character of the original series of novels, was a former slave, is basically the one decent Archon the Camarilla has, has steadily been mistreated by the Camarilla higher ups (including but not limited to having a global blood hunt called on him after he exposed the aforementioned slave ring in the alternate canon of the novels) more and more over time, and like many former slaves has a personal line where if he catches slavers in the act he is not letting them walk away. Hardestat really was a smug dick in assuming he'd kiss the ring after he pulled that series of stunts. **It's's been pointed out by fans that this incident is one of the multitude of reasons why the various intelligence agencies know of vampires and are convinced that they need to be purged. So good going, Sabbat and Camarilla. In particular, the latter had one job --- keep the masquerade and don't engage the Sabbat in literal open warfare on the streets --- and hosed it up so hard (in the novels of the original series no less, so this one can't be laid at the feet of V5 having issues) there's now an international campaign to exterminate them.  Rockstar Massacre posted:vampire combat is best when you organize a gang shooting on your immortal rival that forces him to use his vampiric abilities to survive only for the police and/or hunters and/or werepups to clue in and immediately wax him when he's deprived of blood points. If comments from people/testers posting details/leaks about the game on youtube are to be believed then that seems like what they're going for? Only in a more actiony way. For instance, actually getting a major/too many masquerade breachs gets a blood hunt automatically called on the offender/s that marks their rough position for everyone on the map to hunt them down. So basically, what happens off screen when the masquerade violation stat in Bloodlines hits zero. Only this time we get to see what happens in the lead up to the executions. Ditto for there actually possibly being a Bloodlines-esque sneaky/political element to gameplay. According to people defending the game on youtube (from the sounds of it, they sound like testers that are peeved at how management is loving up advertising the game), maneuvering your rivals/enemies into breaking the masquerade marks them for death for anyone not having broken it. Which seems like it might end up being actually kind of rad and seems like the absolute bare bones of a more complex system the MMO might have used if it had come out. So there's some speculation there too. Alternatively, this could lead to a hilarious pile up as incompetent vampires proceed to get multiple breaches while hunting the breaching offender, leading to them being the next person to get blood hunted and so on and so forth as the prince/Conclave/however it's handled face palms in an increasingly angry manner. Presumably if they're going full RPG with the political/sneaky dick end of things more than they are it being a BR then you can also get a blood hunt on you for not being Camarilla aligned. Or even simply being perceived as not being loyal/loyal enough to the Camarilla can get a blood hunt called on your head if they want to go that way. Meanwhile, it seems SI agents make it tough to avoid this without clever planning. And that's not counting other vampires trying to trick you into outing yourself so they can legally kill you and the civilians that saw you. Meaning there's a layer of strategy going on where you might want to blend into the masses as a vampire in this setting would while doing...whatever the objective of the game is. Which at first glance seems to be more complex than a simple "kill all the mans" type battle royale. To give an idea of it, from a journalist who played the game: A journalist pointing out that the game feels like Bloodlines in terms of aesthetics, and even has a journal ala traditional RPG quest tabs. posted:https://www.vg247.com/2021/06/11/vampire-masquerade-bloodhunt-optimistic Suffice to say that it seems like the game could end up being far more complex than the trailers imply, actually does have the Masquerade and some sneaky dick/Vampire elements as a core element of gameplay, and the marketing team for this game may actually be even worse than the Bloodlines 2 marketing team and are generally loving up the presentation to the point of poisoning the well in terms of interest. The latter thing is especially hilarious since it's gotten to the point where i've seen two or three people outing themselves as testers in the comments of videos about the game. They took it on themselves to defend the game (and potentially break a NDA in the process) by giving actual details about the game instead of relying on an in game trailer to sell the product, point out that the game they've played is actually really good, and basically were politely saying that whoever is handling advertising of the game is a moron obsessed with the BR craze that likes to hold crucial details about the actual VTM oriented gameplay back from advertising the game.  Edit: My personal thoughts on this are that making a BR game out of all of this is...odd. But certainly a different take in the ways they could go in portraying these events. Due to how toxic kindred society is the whole thing was written like it was a powder keg primed to go off. And from what we know in the text it definitely seems like it could have been an every man for himself type situation when it went down. Whether it's a good idea to do it that way however is another thing entirely. More interesting is the fact that they might be designing mechanics for a masquerade violation system that could fit in a MMO or open world game. If the leaks are true then there's no reason they need to go that in depth with a masquerade and masquerade violation system to let you kill other players if the system is just for a BR. Ditto for modeling an entire city and detection mechanics for civilians alongside SI kill teams for revealed vampires if it's just part of a quick cash grab. I mean, if the SI actually respond to masquerade breaches then you've essentially modeled the rudimentary mechanics of an open world game like GTA or Red Dead Redemption, only with the SI as the local "police force" (Albeit one presumably that can wipe the floor with you.). It'd be stupid of them not to capitalize on this down the line if they're going that route. Adding more fuel to the fire, the game appears to be openly cribbing from the old World of Darkness MMO footage in terms of looks and feel. This applies to other areas of the rebooted VtM too. Some of the concept art was even reused in V5, interestingly enough. Also, that was a lot more  than I intended. loving V5's management is so heavy on the out of game drama, PR gently caress ups, and scandals that explaining stuff like this in full easily turns into a dissertation all in of itself. 
Archonex fucked around with this message at 13:46 on Jun 12, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2021 10:42
|
|
|
So bloodhunt might be good?
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 05:36
|
|
|
Holy poo poo if it's a structured GTA online with vampire powers and politics I am going to lose myself in it HARD. I've been looking for something to fill the hole in my heart that was left by APB (lovely though it was in a lot of ways) and GTA online doesn't do it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 06:27
|
|
|
Inzombiac posted:Holy poo poo if it's a structured GTA online with vampire powers and politics I am going to lose myself in it HARD. Rip APB. Nothing more fun than rolling out with your pals in a fully kitted out car to rumble on some fools. Day Z also briefly had that same feeling.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 06:54
|
|
|
Mr Scumbag posted:Not really related to the VTM video games, but I don't know where else to ask: Its okay. Like brap said, it takes itself a bit too seriously most of the time to the point that the players celebrate when they manage to make the Storyteller (Jason Carl) crack a smile. It becomes increasingly overproduced and theatrical with each season. If you don't like how seriously it takes itself, there is also its sister series Seattle by Night with the Penny Arcade people. It has much more playful atmosphere and is shorter with only one season.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 08:49
|
|
|
Mr Scumbag posted:Not really related to the VTM video games, but I don't know where else to ask: Poil fucked around with this message at 10:59 on Jun 13, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 10:37
|
|
|
I've jumped into it. It's mostly pretty decent, but Jason Carl definitely takes himself a bit too seriously while also coming off as a bit awkward in front of a camera. The woman who plays Annabelle is tough to watch, too. She gets flustered every time she has to speak and flounders for a good long time as she decides what she wants to say while everyone awkwardly watches and waits until they can move the story along and save her from her deer-in-headlights moments. Seems like she's literally never done this before, which is weird. Hopefully she gets better. I'm going to keep going for the time being. I think I can get used to Jason Carl's weirdness, at least. The other players are pretty good and natural.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 16:31
|
|
|
It takes them a little while to get into their stride, it gets better. I think Annabelle is going for the "wtf is going on? vampires???" thing. But that could just be my interpretation.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 16:55
|
|
|
You might be right. She does say that she's very new to it at the top of the second episode, but also seems to be way better, now, but still a bit awkward. I'm guessing she got a lot of advice from the other players, but also wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm digging this. It's good to watch with some colored LEDs set to purples, blues and reds with some Bohren & Der Club of Gore or VTM:B soundtrack music played low at the same time. Mr Scumbag fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jun 13, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 18:58
|
|
|
Keep an eye out for the neat obfuscate effect they'll add later on. 
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2021 19:08
|
|
|
wtf is "swansong" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D1sUQoUr28
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 05:59
|
|
|
crepeface posted:wtf is "swansong" How is it possible they keep releasing worse and worse looking teasers for this game. It's almost embarrassing...
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 06:13
|
|
|
hobocrunch posted:How is it possible they keep releasing worse and worse looking teasers for this game. It's almost embarrassing... I'm pretty sure that's yet another game and not Bloodlines 2 related. They seem to be throwing poo poo at the wall to see what sticks.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 06:27
|
|
|
Oh dear, that walking animation. ...Eh, I'm gonna end up playing it anyway. Mumbly fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Jun 14, 2021 |
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 07:16
|
|
|
Malkavian with Separation Anxiety? I can dig it.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 07:17
|
|
|
Mumbly posted:Oh dear, that walking animation. oh god and yeah :/
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 09:19
|
|
|
Fair Bear Maiden posted:I don't think Paradox would contract a first-party dev (how would that work? I mean, obviously the game would be PC/Xbox exclusive, but I'm sure it would also be more legally challenging to put together the contract, not to mention Obsidian is reportedly extremely busy right now and likely doesn't have a free team). Harebrained Schemes I think would be a great fit from a writing standpoint IMHO, they don't seem to do the whole first-person immersive sim gameplay though. Paradox will never work again with Obsidian not after the graft they pulled with Tyranny.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 10:08
|
|
|
Savy Saracen salad posted:Paradox will never work again with Obsidian not after the graft they pulled with Tyranny. What was this? I enjoy hearing industry gossip stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 10:13
|
|
|
thebardyspoon posted:What was this? I enjoy hearing industry gossip stuff. I think they're referring to the fact that at one point Chris Avellone alleged that they were getting more money out of the project than they should have by having an executive producer on budget? Of all videogame scandals, that one seemed like a blip in the radar even if true to me.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 11:49
|
|
|
Savy Saracen salad posted:Paradox will never work again with Obsidian not after the graft they pulled with Tyranny. Or you know, Obsidian is now owned by Microsoft, so why would they seek another publisher. crepeface posted:wtf is "swansong" This looks just criminal, there never will be another good WoD game, lol
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 13:08
|
|
|
Sinteres posted:My position on the license is still pretty much 'as long as they're free enough with the license to give us some good games, who cares if there are some bad ones too?' ... I think this pretty much sums up my thoughts. I was really disappointed when Bloodlines 2 was put on hold, and some of the newly-announced ganes look a bit off. But over the last few months I played Night Road and Shadows of New York, and was really surprised by how good they are. I'm very happy to ignore several crap games if it means we still get the odd pearl here and there.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 13:32
|
|
|
A point and click adventure game would probably work quite well in the VTM universe. Gives them the opportunity for great music and evocative graphics alongside good writing and story but at a decent budget.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 14:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 10:26 |
|
|
Bloodhunt sounds rad actually because I've always wanted a game that can successfully hybridize social stealth with shooter action. All the successful ones thus far have taken a very, very limited scope, and that's not exciting. I guess that's the case because this genre is really hard.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2021 14:16
|
|
