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Clan Highlight: Brujah

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Rebels, The Learned Clan, Rabble, Hellenes.

The Brujah are known for their impetuous tempers and defiant natures, and the clan contains some of the most violent vampires. Visionaries and brutes both, the Brujah have fallen from their stature as the Learned Clan to a motley lineage of radicals, troublemakers, and firebrands — all as much at odds with each other as with the systems they claim to oppose.
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Playing a Brujah in Bloodlines 2

If you’re a player who leaves the shadows to the cowards, knows the frontline is where the fun is, and rebels against the establishment, Brujah is your clan.

In Bloodlines 2, Clan Brujah will offer a brutal brawling playstyle with its abilities (in Vampire: The Masquerade, known as Disciplines), getting you into the fray and rewarding you for staying there. The Brujah control the dance of combat by making enemies drop their defenses, knock them around on the battlefield and increase their damage by feeding for powerful finishing strikes.

In social environments, the Brujah are often expected to have a short temper. In Bloodlines 2, certain characters you meet may treat you differently depending on your clan, and while clans have access to angry, violent or threatening dialogue options, throughout Bloodlines 2 you will find unique dialogue sequences for the Brujah. And if you play against the archetypes, characters in-the-know will react.

As a predator of the night, hunting for blood is always a challenge, but the Brujah can often rely on their ability to influence pedestrians’ rage to make them chase you into an empty alley and have a midnight snack.

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Abilities

When you choose your clan, you will start out with a passive ability unique to each clan. You are then able to unlock abilities from the Ability Tree, starting with your chosen clan. Each ability requires spending Ability Points to unlock, which are earned from completing missions, combat and exploration. At the peak of the Ability Tree, you can unlock the clan Perk, a reward to those dedicated enough to unlock all of the abilities for a clan, giving a permanent passive upgrade.

Brutality
Clan Passive

After feeding, become flushed with vampiric strength, temporarily increasing the power of all your melee attacks.​

Taunt​

Use your supernatural Presence to enrage an opponent or civilian prey, compelling them to attack you. While enraged, the target takes increased damage.

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Charge​

Surge forward with preternatural speed and rage, grabbing an enemy you collide with to use as a battering ram to knock down others in your path.

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Lightning Strikes​

Target multiple opponents and unleash an unstoppable hail of punches, with the final strike dealing increased damage.

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Earthshock​

Slam the ground with explosive force, flinging surrounding enemies into the air.

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Pulverise​

Clan Perk

Killing enemies without feeding still activates your Clan Passive.​

Customizing your playstyle​

In Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, you can play your character in different ways. Brujah are a more brawler type, and the abilities are focused around supporting that. We wanted to make sure that this is not an ability optimization game where you need to go through a multitude of abilities and weigh them against each other. Playing a clan should be straight forward if you want it to be.

While this is true, you can also dive deeper into the customization of your playstyle. This is done by visiting important Seattle vampires that are sworn to assist the Sheriff (you) including offering their Blood to help unlock abilities from their clan. Abilities from other clans may cost more AP depending on how well they align with your clans Disciplines. The Brujah Disciplines are Celerity (speed enhancing abilities) Potence (strength enhancing abilities) and Presence (the supernatural ability to attract, awe, or terrify)) so if another clan has a speed enhancing ability it would cost less AP to unlock than an ability for a Discipline Brujah don’t have, such as becoming stealthier which is part of the Obfuscate Discipline. Unlocking additional Clan Perks will make them stack, so you can collect them all if you wish, elevating your power much closer to elder level.

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Image: Ability tree for Brujah. All clan abilities and the clan perk are unlocked. An ability from Banu Haqim has been equipped. Each clan has hundreds of different ability combinations.

While the activated abilities and Clan Perk can be learned from the other clans, your clan passive can not. This means that you can combine features from other clans in hundreds of different ways, but your Brujah playthrough will remain unique from playing as another clan who branches into Brujah abilities.

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Image: Silky, Brujah Primogen in Seattle
 
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Brilliant post. I am very glad that TCR pays attention to what we write on the forum. The announcement of unique dialogue options for the clan and the possibility of any character development taking into account the skills of all clans is a great step forward in the development of the game. And warm applause to the creators for this.
 
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I wouldnt celebrate too early ...
Would be great so see some of those unique dialogues, so we know how different they are in fact.

I mean, if the difference is that you can say "you look like poop" but Toreador can say "really? that belt with those boots?" i wouldnt see much difference. :-/

Dont get me wrong, their existence is good thing ... and adressing their existence in announcement aswell ... and i AM glad both happened.
Im just still tuned towards my sceptical inner wolf, concidering all that was revealed so far ... thats all.
 
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Are you allowed to say if the switch from the outfit tab as shown in the January gameplay footage to the character tab as shown in this week's dev diary reflects any changes besides a name change to its contents?

Edit : Also the use of actual in-game content in dev diaries is a welcome improvement over concept art and I hope it continues.
Hope you had a good weekend. Yes, Character is the same as the Outfit tab and will contain the customisation which we will show later.

Glad you're enjoying the in-game content. We want to show as much as we can because it's easier to see how the game feels that way, but we'll be using concept too!
 
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So there is really going to be no way of upgrading our character beyond unlocking a few active abilities? (And a "passive" clan perk)

All the attributes like strength and stamina are gone?

Unlocking a few new active abilities doesn't make me feel anymore powerful. How do we get passively stronger as we level?
 
Unlocking a few new active abilities doesn't make me feel anymore powerful. How do we get passively stronger as we level?
I'm sorry to piggyback off of your question but imo more importantly, how will you differentiate between different roles for your character? Like, the possibilities and limitations that comes with different attributes in a roleplaying game that dictates whether it'd be in your characters nature to solve a problem through, for instance, persuasion, deception, stealth, picking locks, hacking, intimidation, bribery or whatever other way to bypass an obstacle. Or will it be that every character can do everything? Or is Phyre a set character with a set skillset as well?
 
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I'm sorry to piggyback off of your question but imo more importantly, how will you differentiate between different roles for your character? Like, the possibilities and limitations that comes with different attributes in a roleplaying game that dictates whether it'd be in your characters nature to solve a problem through, for instance, persuasion, deception, stealth, picking locks, hacking, intimidation, bribery or whatever other way to bypass an obstacle. Or will it be that every character can do everything? Or is Phyre a set character with a set skillset as well?

Also this. Is every character of the same clan going to have the exact same conversation abilities?

The first game let me specialise into different conversational abilities such as seduction etc.

If TCR have more to show then you'll have to forgive me because maybe it's just this preview, but this is is really sounding like a ton of complexity has been removed for no apparent reason.
 
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I'l just leave this here ...
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Personaly i think its self explanatory ... after all, there are 4 buttons ... 3 of them are used ... one is free ...
How would you like to get there Persuation, Intimidation, Bribing, Seduction, Clan-spefific options, dialogue disciplines ... and some generic decisions? :-/
 
I'l just leave this here ...
View attachment 1092998

Personaly i think its self explanatory ... after all, there are 4 buttons ... 3 of them are used ... one is free ...
How would you like to get there Persuation, Intimidation, Bribing, Seduction, Clan-spefific options, dialogue disciplines ... and some generic decisions? :-/
I watched that clip so many times and this is the first time I've actually noticed the third top dialogue choice I always thought it was some kind of phyre internal monologue subtitle telling us to care about whilem, like Fabians subtitles are telling us , that UI iteration really hard to decipher and overall bad on the eyes. And an odd choice in design I get the idea of reducing dialogue to a single input without a mouse but surely the other four keys X Y A B or other platform equivalents would be better and less prone to accidental misinput.

I also want to know what the UI is like on PC given that all the gameplay we have seen is on console, I hate how games like Deus Ex feel awful to play with mouse and keyboard compared to a controller.
 

I just realized something ...
And i dont really like what that realization is implying ...

There are no Masquerade Breach / Humanity indicators anywhere to be seen! o_O

I mean ... hypotetically they can still be in Character tab ...
But if not, i dont think i would even have fitting words of criticism for that. :-/

Have we seen "character" tab in the past? Anyone?
 
I just realized something ...
And i dont really like what that realization is implying ...

There are no Masquerade Breach / Humanity indicators anywhere to be seen! o_O

I mean ... hypotetically they can still be in Character tab ...
But if not, i dont think i would even have fitting words of criticism for that. :-/

Have we seen "character" tab in the past? Anyone?
Character is the outfit tab as confirmed earlier in the thread and is where we customize Pyhre with various outfits, I doubt we will have a humanity system like BL1 as the devs have stated that we can guide Phyre to embrace fabians more high humanity outlook or not, we are basically jonny silver hands and fabian is V rubbing off on us. You have x humanity so you X unique dialogue options and x unique gameplay modifiers are more of a CRPG system which this game is not. Masurade violation is anyone's guess and we will need to wait until they talk about open-world rpg systems.
 
In the caption it does say that there are hundreds of ability combinations. Granted, that's an easy thing to say and could potentially be based off only 20 abilities. But I'm hoping the skill tree we see is just a small portion of an overall tree.
If we get 5 abilities, each of which can be chosen from 4 different options as in the image, then the amount of different permutations for 5 abilities is 1024.
(4^5)

Yet there are only 20 different abilities in this hypothetical example. Its not bad I guess, but I dont like how different it looks from the PnP RPG. Perhaps devs should put a little more 'flair' to the menu.
 
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How would you like to get there Persuation, Intimidation, Bribing, Seduction, Clan-spefific options, dialogue disciplines ... and some generic decisions? :-/

I remember devs mentioning using such abilities or skills in dialogue, and they said that different characters react differently to different kinds of social interaction. I took this to mean that a coward like Willem might have a strong reaction to coercion, but someone powerful like Lou would not be as easily scared. On the other hand Lou might have a stronger reaction to something else, such as stroking her ego or something.

Now this is assuming this stuff doesnt get cut during development...
 
Character is the outfit tab as confirmed earlier in the thread and is where we customize Pyhre with various outfits
I knew that ...
I just (foolishly/naively? silencely strike out what doesnt apply) hoped it wouldnt be "just outfit". :-/

Otherwise, why even call it character? :-/

Im sory if anyone feel following part of the coment being insulting or agressive ...
But if that really will be the case, im calling out Chineese Room for being frauds and liars. :-/

You have x humanity so you X unique dialogue options and x unique gameplay modifiers are more of a CRPG system which this game is not.
I gues that is fair point ...
Still, struggling with your inner beast is kinda core part of whole Vampire the Masquerade ... just as (to nobody's surprise, at least i hope so) Masquerade ...
Im not really sure how would they do either, without some indicators. :-/

I mean ...
From what we have seen so far, there were several minor Red Flags ... personaly i would be willing to cast them all to the side, to at least keep open mind ...
I was somehow at peace with this thing not having quite litteraly anything to do with Bloodlines, yet be called Bloodlines 2.
But if this fear will be prooven as corect ... it would be quite fair to say that this dont have quite litteraly anything to do with Vampire the Masquerade either. :-/

I dont think anyone could blame people for that being dealbreaker for them. :-/

I remember devs mentioning using such abilities or skills in dialogue
Oh yes ...
My bet is that what is 4th option for.

You get 3 generic stuff ... and 4th will be occasional discipline, or clan-specific choice.

In other words ... and i admit that im sceptical by this point, so its quite possible that my vision were blured ... i simply dont believe they wrote (and more importantly: RECORDED) whole game for each clan separately, so they feel perfectly unique.
Not to mention that just bcs your character will have something special to say/do ... it will have any effect on the rest of the story.

they said that different characters react differently to different kinds of social interaction.
True.
That was said ... not shown tho. And that is my problem once again.

bcs:
- Im sory Phyre ... i need to do this. *blow himself up*
- You deserve this you 'insert insult here'! *blow himself up*
- I dont know what to do, can you help me? *phone rings* *blow himself up*

Technically IS different interaction ... and yet, it have litterally zero impact on anything.
And we have seen this method being used in gaming industry in past few decades over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over ... and i would be here for a long times to list them all, but it could go on.

I took this to mean that a coward like Willem might have a strong reaction to coercion, but someone powerful like Lou would not be as easily scared.
I honestly thought that was the dialogue choice we have seen in revealed gameplay. o_O
Phyre was insulting him, using her power, influence and status ... did any of that lead to desired outcome? I wouldnt say so. :-/

And that makes me worried ...
Bcs from what i have READ around here, i have come to simmmilar conclusions ... but what i have SEEN, didnt fit them at all. :-/

Now this is assuming this stuff doesnt get cut during development...
That would be weird ...
Since the game is coming out in more or less half year ... they REALLY should be focusing on bugfixing and polishing right now ... meaning that features, writing and recording dialogues should be done by now ... more or less, ofc.

Cuting things this late in development ... especialy things that were officialy promised ... is never a good sign. :-/
I dont say it never happened tho!
It can ... but it shouldnt.
 
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That would be weird ...
Technically its not weird at all (its just a scary thought)

If they realize they cant do something in time for the deadline, they may end up cutting it altogether. It happens all the time. If we are lucky, such stuff might get released at a later date.

But yes, I worry also about the discrepancy between what we have been shown so far, and what the game is supposed to have. I start to worry if much of this stuff is going to be ready in time. And even so, there is a difference between "It's ready and we are just finetuning it" and "We are in the crunch trying to get this ready in time".
 
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Well ... i cant claim that im personaly experienced in game development ... i mean, i could, but it wouldnt be true. :D
BUT!
Several (7, is that still few, or can i use several? I wanted to, since it sounds like Sevenal. xD ) of my friends are working in various game developing companies on various positions ...

And they all told me that *this* close to release, all things that could have ben cut, would be allready cut ... UNLESS ... and yes, that is VERY scary thought ... something would went horribly, horribly, horribly wrong.
Like "oh shoot if the leadership finds out, the whole project can get cancelled" kind of wrong. :-/
 
Since the game is coming out in more or less half year ... they REALLY should be focusing on bugfixing and polishing right now ... meaning that features, writing and recording dialogues should be done by now ... more or less, ofc.

Cuting things this late in development ... especialy things that were officialy promised ... is never a good sign. :-/
I dont say it never happened tho!
It can ... but it shouldnt.

I would be shocked if this game comes out this year. Given the amount of concept art still being used, reused scenes , missing male Phyre, only heavily edited gameplay.. these are all warning signs that this game is far from an alpha version. My guess a delay for late 2025 will be announced soon.
 
I would be shocked if this game comes out this year. Given the amount of concept art still being used, reused scenes , missing male Phyre, only heavily edited gameplay.. these are all warning signs that this game is far from an alpha version. My guess a delay for late 2025 will be announced soon.

It worries me too. Further postponements of the game will only disappoint more fans waiting for it. Blodlines 2 will be compared to Blodlines and Vampire the Mascarade Redemption. Both titles are excellent RPGs played by crowds of fans to this day. This is a great challenge that could elevate TCR to the level of game development giants or ruin the studio. However, to meet this challenge, TCR must release the game not only on time but also in a condition in which it can be easily compared to its predecessors.
 
It worries me too. Further postponements of the game will only disappoint more fans waiting for it. Blodlines 2 will be compared to Blodlines and Vampire the Mascarade Redemption. Both titles are excellent RPGs played by crowds of fans to this day. This is a great challenge that could elevate TCR to the level of game development giants or ruin the studio. However, to meet this challenge, TCR must release the game not only on time but also in a condition in which it can be easily compared to its predecessors.
No, I don't think it needs to be released on an arbitrarly set deadline by some executive. I think the vast majority of gamers prefer to delay games to not cut content and give more polish. Stressing a deadline is why Cities Skylines 2 and Victoria 3 were in quite rough shapes on release day. A game like Bloodlines 2 which has probably very little replay value(given the CR design..) has even more reason to delay to avoid a disastrous launch. If it releases half baked it's due to paradox accepting it's a failure and just want to stop hemorrhaging money.
 
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Its obvious that games must be released at some point. They are extremely expensive endeavors and they must start earning back the costs eventually. Money doesn't grow on trees.

Usually moved deadline is a symptom, not a cause. Cyberpunk was in development for 10 years; its release delayed three times to a total of 7 months, and it still released a godforsaken mess. The problem was not the deadline, but the ridiculous ambition of CDPR coupled with their own problematic game engine.

Everything Ive seen from BL2 is promising to me in the sense that the devs don't seem to be excessively ambitious. What they have said to do, is basically just stuff that BL1 already had. And that game was from 2004. People say that what they see is disappointing, but that tells me precisely that this is not the same kind of AAA-game that would be impossible to produce. They are not shooting for the moon and that is good.

Still, I worry about how onesidedly brujah things we have seen so far..
 
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My guess a delay for late 2025 will be announced soon.
Honestly?
I would probably welcome that.
Cyberpunk was in development for 10 years; its release delayed three times to a total of 7 months, and it still released a godforsaken mess. The problem was not the deadline, but the ridiculous ambition of CDPR coupled with their own problematic game engine.
As someone who personaly knows people who were working on it, i feel urge to stand up for them.

That thing with new engine indeed didnt help, but it was wrong call right on the start, all those years in the past.
The reaason Cyberpunk was released in such state, was bcs investors were pushing to release "no matter the state" bcs thats what people demanded, and they all were massively canceling preorders, so suits started to worry about their cut ... developers were beging for more time, nobody cared.

Wich by the way, is quite common story in gaming industry from what i know. :-/
(Looking at you ActiVision and VtM:Bloodlines)

In fact, Cyberpunk is great example of how horribly wrong can things go, if massive amount of people adopt this "let your wallet talk" mentality. :-/
And they just keep demanding, no matter what.
kind of AAA-game that would be impossible to produce.
I dont really think Bloodlines 2 as people imagine it would be impossible to produce ...

Really, when you take it over and over, there is not even much they demand that this version lack ...
- deep story (ok, we dont know yet)
- meaningfull dialogues with more than 3 options
- character creation (we can still be Phyre ... just let Phyre be anything from teenage asian girl to elderly black man ... it worked great for Shepard, or Revan)
- show exactly what our character say, when we pick dialogues
- option to mute Fabian

What have i missed?
Those are not sky high demands IMHO. o_O
They are not shooting for the moon and that is good.

Still, I worry about how onesidedly brujah things we have seen so far.
I would say it could be good ... the problem is, we dont really even know where they are actually shooting ... nor even if they are shooting at all in the first place. :-/

And i most certainly wouldnt say that this single minded laser focus is just the Brujah problem ...
But we will see with next clan i gues.
 
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