Bloodlines 2 - Game Update

[Feeona]

I also share the sentiment of negativity toward discord being the primary platform for developer engagement instead of you know the official publisher forum where I can filter for developer posts to see what they are sharing without having to scroll through literal years of random user spam in a single channel rather than across dedicated topic posts on specific subjects I want to look into.

All official information will still be shown here. Us at PDX have our eyes on both here and the Discord so don't worry about that.

 

[Necromass]

All official information will still be shown here. Us at PDX have our eyes on both here and the Discord so don't worry about that.

My worry has always been more about more casual developer input, questions that got answered not in the official Q&A but generally throughout the years that are easily missed and lost in the linar feed of discords general chat channels that often get brough up on the vtmb subreddit by posters like Mr Vinland.

I remember quite early on after the original announcement where I had a question answered about if they kept any of hard suits labs level design. How easy would it be for someone to find that question and the developers response in the Bloodlines 2 general chat channel of the discord compared to on the forum for instance.

 

[Inquerion]

Definitely strong deja-vu and all that.

So, in the end in October 2025 (unless another delay happens once again) instead of getting proper Bloodlines RPG from HSL, we will get Dishonored walking simulator hybrid with poor Fallout 4 dialogue options and cheap version of CP 2077 Johny Silverhand (Fabien) stuck in our heads and constantly annoying us with comments about everything we do?

Also no proper character creation (we are stuck with "Phyre") and no character sheet (intead we will have active and passive "abilities" like in MMO).

 

[Cyhort]

Its not the devs, its the publisher pressure to release sooner.

Publishers have always existed but it's only in the last 10 years or so that delays of major games have become commonplace. Which coincides almost exactly with major publishers ending crunch time. But I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.

 

[SarahGabriella]

So, in the end in October 2025 (unless another delay happens once again) instead of getting proper Bloodlines RPG from HSL, we will get Dishonored walking simulator hybrid with poor Fallout 4 dialogue options and cheap version of CP 2077 Johny Silverhand (Fabien) stuck in our heads and constantly annoying us with comments about everything we do?

Also no proper character creation (we are stuck with "Phyre") and no character sheet (intead we will have active and passive "abilities" like in MMO).

HSL? You mean the studio that couldnt even deliver a finished product?

 

[SarahGabriella]

My worry has always been more about more casual developer input, questions that got answered not in the official Q&A but generally throughout the years that are easily missed and lost in the linar feed of discords general chat channels that often get brough up on the vtmb subreddit by posters like Mr Vinland.

I remember quite early on after the original announcement where I had a question answered about if they kept any of hard suits labs level design. How easy would it be for someone to find that question and the developers response in the Bloodlines 2 general chat channel of the discord compared to on the forum for instance.

How is the answer to that even relevant to anyone but you? The answer to that isnt even usually for fans of the game, so you got a response out of courtesy.

 

[SarahGabriella]

Publishers have always existed but it's only in the last 10 years or so that delays of major games have become commonplace. Which coincides almost exactly with major publishers ending crunch time. But I'm sure that has nothing to do with it.

Ending crunch? Its still bad. And delays happen usually when publishers arent satisfied with what the devs are doing.

 

[Necromass]

How is the answer to that even relevant to anyone but you? The answer to that isnt even usually for fans of the game, so you got a response out of courtesy.

Its not about that specific example its about all the questions the developers have taken the time to answer being hard to discover that could have been very beneficial for curious people looking into the game. Like when the lead writer has often talked about the games narrative etc.

 

[Baalzamon85]

I don't understand why people talk about feedback, it's clearly too late for that, not that TCR ever listened that much to begin with. They plainly state that this delay is about fixing bugs and performance.

I'm always in favour of delaying games , nobody wants a buggy mess except Paradox publishing of old, which I appreciate is changing after the Skylines 2 debacle.

 

[SarahGabriella]

I don't understand why people talk about feedback, it's clearly too late for that, not that TCR ever listened that much to begin with. They plainly state that this delay is about fixing bugs and performance.

I'm always in favour of delaying games , nobody wants a buggy mess except Paradox publishing of old, which I appreciate is changing after the Skylines 2 debacle.

Devs often take in feedback. Gamers just often mistake that to mean that theyre gonna be told what feedback made it in and what didnt.

 

[Sir.Dr.X]

It seems that the next dev diary should be devoted to changes in the version of the game owned by those who purchased it years ago. What will the individual editions of the game currently contain and what extra can owners of the most extensive/most expensive edition count on compared to owners of the standard pre-order. Let me remind you that previously there was talk of 2 DLC in the pre-order itself and a story expansion and a much larger number of clans to choose from. I understand that the current version from TCR is different from the one announced by HTL, but it would be worth considering at least equalizing the number of clans within the DLC/FLC compared to what we could receive from HTL. Unless TCR prefers to provide players with some additional mechanics that HTL did not even consider.

For example, the ability to purchase and furnish headquarters in various parts of the Siatle for our Nomad. Creating a ghoul/butler for this, staffing the headquarters with your servants, furnishing it and expanding it. This would be something worth waiting for. Especially if the DLC included Tzimisce as a playable clan (Tzimisce were not a playable clan in any installment of the games from the world of darkness, it would be worth changing that).

 

[SarahGabriella]

It seems that the next dev diary should be devoted to changes in the version of the game owned by those who purchased it years ago. What will the individual editions of the game currently contain and what extra can owners of the most extensive/most expensive edition count on compared to owners of the standard pre-order. Let me remind you that previously there was talk of 2 DLC in the pre-order itself and a story expansion and a much larger number of clans to choose from. I understand that the current version from TCR is different from the one announced by HTL, but it would be worth considering at least equalizing the number of clans within the DLC/FLC compared to what we could receive from HTL. Unless TCR prefers to provide players with some additional mechanics that HTL did not even consider.

For example, the ability to purchase and furnish headquarters in various parts of the Siatle for our Nomad. Creating a ghoul/butler for this, staffing the headquarters with your servants, furnishing it and expanding it. This would be something worth waiting for. Especially if the DLC included Tzimisce as a playable clan (Tzimisce were not a playable clan in any installment of the games from the world of darkness, it would be worth changing that).

Seattle*

 

[DebbieElla]

It seems that the next dev diary should be devoted to changes in the version of the game owned by those who purchased it years ago. What will the individual editions of the game currently contain and what extra can owners of the most extensive/most expensive edition count on compared to owners of the standard pre-order. Let me remind you that previously there was talk of 2 DLC in the pre-order itself and a story expansion and a much larger number of clans to choose from. I understand that the current version from TCR is different from the one announced by HTL, but it would be worth considering at least equalizing the number of clans within the DLC/FLC compared to what we could receive from HTL. Unless TCR prefers to provide players with some additional mechanics that HTL did not even consider.

For example, the ability to purchase and furnish headquarters in various parts of the Siatle for our Nomad. Creating a ghoul/butler for this, staffing the headquarters with your servants, furnishing it and expanding it. This would be something worth waiting for. Especially if the DLC included Tzimisce as a playable clan (Tzimisce were not a playable clan in any installment of the games from the world of darkness, it would be worth changing that).

There won't be any more Dev Diaries for the forseeable future as we want to focus on making the game, but once we start up the marketing campaign again before release we will make sure to be very clear with what's included in the different versions of the game that will be available, and what happens to current pre-orders.

 

[Inquerion]

HSL? You mean the studio that couldnt even deliver a finished product?

They needed help (especially programmer/technical/engine help), not an axe.

Their version of Bloodlines looked like a proper Bloodlines RPG game (yeah, I saw that old leaked gameplay from a dev build).

Character sheet, proper character creator, silent protagonist, deep dialogue options with skill/perk checks etc. I could clearly see Brian's and other Bloodlines 1 devs input too.

I suppose, if you like Dishonored or just want to play some casual action adventure game with vampire theme, TCR Bloodlines 2 will be fun for you.

It's just not a sequel that many old fans wanted.

In any case, we are stuck with that TCR Bloodlines 2, so hopefully they will use their available development time to at least bugfix and optimize the game and maybe add more RPG elements.

I would love to finally see a well optimized Unreal Engine 5 game .

 

[SarahGabriella]

They needed help (especially programmer/technical/engine help), not an axe.

Their version of Bloodlines looked like a proper Bloodlines RPG game (yeah, I saw that old leaked gameplay from a dev build).

Character sheet, proper character creator, silent protagonist, deep dialogue options with skill/perk checks etc. I could clearly see Brian's and other Bloodlines 1 devs input too.

I suppose, if you like Dishonored or just want to play some casual action adventure game with vampire theme, TCR Bloodlines 2 will be fun for you.

It's just not a sequel that many old fans wanted.

In any case, we are stuck with that TCR Bloodlines 2, so hopefully they will use their available development time to at least bugfix and optimize the game and maybe add more RPG elements.

I would love to finally see a well optimized Unreal Engine 5 game .

Who said im going to play VTMB2? I wont, because it isnt what i hoped it would be. There just isnt a point in reminiscing about a studio that failed.

 

[Nuclearmouse]

Will this delay mean any changes to systems? Or just more fixes/content? Or is it not really possible to discuss where you are focusing your efforts with this additional time?

 

[SarahGabriella]

Will this delay mean any changes to systems? Or just more fixes/content? Or is it not really possible to discuss where you are focusing your efforts with this additional time?

Everything they reveal on here is all they can say publicly at this time.

 

[Jia Xu]

Will this delay mean any changes to systems? Or just more fixes/content? Or is it not really possible to discuss where you are focusing your efforts with this additional time?

The executive producer said in the video that the game is done. They're spending the remaining time making sure the game has a smooth launch. I suspect that they don't want it to be riddled with bugs and be one of those "play it in a year after it has 5 patches" games.

 

[Harwen]

Since obtaining my bloodlines key as part of PDXcon goodie bag, there was global pandemic, I got girlfriend, married her and had child. It puts things into perspective

 

[Azar]

Since obtaining my bloodlines key as part of PDXcon goodie bag, there was global pandemic, I got girlfriend, married her and had child. It puts things into perspective

Yeah. Its crazy you could've been born, get educated, get married and have a child between Bloodlines 1 and Bloodlines 2.