General World of Darkness Discussion Thread QQ Edition

[heralding_bubble]

As WoD fans, we have been living off text games, Earthblood and...Wraith VR game

We take what we can get.

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being fair from what I hear of the Wraith VR game it's apparently pretty great

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

I'm expecting it to flop, hard.

The fans are all upset because it's not a Bloodlines game, and it's got problems when it comes to being a VtM game.

But VtM may gain new fans.

Just not enough to matter.

Not after the years of development hell. Not after the mismanagement. I'm willing to put internet bucks down that PDX already knows they're going to take a loss.

I'm hoping that maybe they might learn lessons from VTMB2 and WTAEarthblood and we might get a decent game... eventually.

But it will not be this game.

being fair from what I hear of the Wraith VR game it's apparently pretty great

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I also heard the Wraith game is pretty good for what it is.

 

[Gereh]

Considering we now have the reviews for Bloodlines 2 and a few days before release, what are your last minute predictions?

Mine is: Average for WoD fans, bad in general. If I didn't love WoD, I wouldn't have spend a dime until it is 50% off and continue playing the new Digimon game.

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my prediction: "okay-ish" for general folks, bad for WOD fans and really bad for fans of the original bloodlines.

As WoD fans, we have been living off text games, Earthblood and...Wraith VR game

Click to shrink...

There also was a Vampire VR Game, called VtM Justice that nobody played because it only released on the Meta Quest. Oh and there was also VTM: Swansong, which wasn't great and VtM: Bloodhunt the Vampire Battle Royal game (It still baffles me that this game has been made). So Bloodlines 2 will probably join the set of recently released VtM games that would have probably been better off without the VTM license attached to it and instead being normal "vampire" games.

Which shouldn't be that surprising, since I'm not sure if anyone making decisions at PDX actually knows what made "WOD" be "WOD" instead of just generic "urban fantasy".

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

VtM: Bloodhunt the Vampire Battle Royal game (It still baffles me that this game has been made)

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I think it's shut down now, which is a shame, because while it wasn't a particularly wonderful VtM game, it fucking slapped as a battle royal.

 

[LeftWaiting]

I think it's shut down now, which is a shame, because while it wasn't a particularly wonderful VtM game, it fucking slapped as a battle royal.

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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt on Steam

Bloodhunt is a thrilling free-to-play battle royale game set in Prague consumed by a ruthless war between vampire factions. Use your supernatural powers, weapons, and wit to hunt your rivals and dominate the night!

store.steampowered.com

Seems to still be active?

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt on Steam

Bloodhunt is a thrilling free-to-play battle royale game set in Prague consumed by a ruthless war between vampire factions. Use your supernatural powers, weapons, and wit to hunt your rivals and dominate the night!

store.steampowered.com

Seems to still be active?

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Ah, I heard they shut down or were planning to shut down the servers.

My computer and internet are now shit, so I haven't been able to play.

 

[Gereh]

I think it's shut down now, which is a shame, because while it wasn't a particularly wonderful VtM game, it fucking slapped as a battle royal.

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I couldn't tell you. I never played Battle Royals but from what I read on the internet it seems like it was a pretty good one. Still from my understanding they tried to market it towards "WOD fans" which I don't think is the right target audience for a battle royal.

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

I couldn't tell you. I never played Battle Royals but from what I read on the internet it seems like it was a pretty good one. Still from my understanding they tried to market it towards "WOD fans" which I don't think is the right target audience for a battle royal.

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Oh, it 100% came out of left field. Most WoD fans were flabbergasted, from what I can remember.

And it definitely came out way too late for battle royal fans.

 

[heralding_bubble]

reviews are starting to come out

 

[shadowdice]

One reaction I loved was "why do they pause the game in the first two minutes to make me Have to kill a guy, with the button and the screen and time slowed down so I have to kill both of them. Why not a cutscene. Why not have a branching storyline where you don't kill the first one and you are carried forward, meet the other guy and have them wondering what is going on with you getting to use persuasion" followed by laughing at how a punch just obliterates people

Which is honestly right in that the powers seem fun but you should have the choice

Another guy who kept thanking paradox was going on about how "open" the game is because of the climbing when it felt like the other game had more stuff around despite it

 

[Maragas]

Crossposting this from SB.
Edit: Fixed the images.

Here we go. Lets call this Part 1 of my live musings on Bloodlines 2
This might come across as a weird complaint...I want to feel like a badass Elder vampire. But I am not going to play a mode easier than even easy and without combat achievements. This already tripped a flag for me since a decent part of why you play an Elder is because they are badass. Even our Elder agrees!

Spoiler

So you are forced to feed and most likely kill someone who looks to be a swell guy who thought you were hurt and needed help. Not surprising but I wish I had more control over it.
We either have Potence or 5+ Strength because our MC just ragdolled a dude to a door and bounced him off it. No other explanation.
Fabien sounds great. Our Elder? Eh... I will give him more chances first. Maybe when I choose Ventrue he will suddenly get way better.
Yooo, Luchador mentioned!

Spoiler

We have Telekinesis even without choosing a clan, huh. Wait, are we a Thaumaturge then? What does the codex say? "The Nomad has learned this ability during their lengthy existence" lol
I accidentally grabbed the police with telekinesis and Fabien went "NO PHYRE" like a panicked mom. Hilarious.
We can...glide? How? Codex please explain?! "This is another tool that The Nomad has made a part of their skillset"...you are very helpful Codex. Thank you.
Here Fabien is screaming like a mother hen whenever I try to kill the cops and bam, here is a Ghoul who killed a police. Double standards I say.
Wait? You want me to kill them? Because there are tons of Ghouls here and they can break the masquerade? I am pretty sure leaving a bunch of corpses will also break it...yeah whatever. Let's kill some Anarch Ghouls.
"Mending Elixir" man, what a find in an abandoned crackhouse hotel.
What kind of Anarch Ghouls are these? They sound like Sabbat. "Kill the cops, kill the intruders and mount their heads to the wall"
Soo many reused assets. Like painting and wall graffiti.
Wooo "Potence Elixir", people are leaving magical stuff everywhere.
The Nomed, our MC, had a part in the Crimerian War to defend his homeland. Interesting.
Time to choose a clan! Ventrue here I co- wait, only two Disciplines have a reduced cost? Dominate and Presence? Where is my beloved Fortitude? It mentions Ventrue's "Resiliance" in the description. This aside, It is also the Easy choice, compared to the other clans.
Level 2 and the first look at the ability tree...Yep, there is no Fortitude tree. Expect for just a passive for Ventrue. Very disappointed.
Yooo, radio host is back. Finally something nostalgic.

Man, Seattle is shittier than I realized, there is a pool of blood and it's corpse right next to the main road.

Spoiler

I just killed a dude, caused a Masquerade breach and then hid away until it is fixed. It was pretty fun. But I have to say, not having to worry about Humanity is strange.

Spoiler

I am pretty sure I have no feeding preference, even though I am a Ventrue. Sure, I don't expect to choose, say, Blonde Women or anything specific like that but OG Bloodlines at least made it so that you can't feed on animals, poor and homeless.

This is it for now. I need to sleep.

 

[LeftWaiting]

I am pretty sure I have no feeding preference, even though I am a Ventrue. Sure, I don't expect to choose, say, Blonde Women or anything specific like that but OG Bloodlines at least made it so that you can't feed on animals, poor and homeless.

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In V5 it's Ventrue need to spend Willpower to feed on those outside of their preference, but they can still do it whenever they like as long as they are willing to pay that price.

 

[Maragas]

In V5 it's Ventrue need to spend Willpower to feed on those outside of their preference, but they can still do it whenever they like as long as they are willing to pay that price.

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And in Bloodlines 2 I haven't seen even mention of any Clan drawbacks nor Willpower
I just accept that it is a fact of life for Nomad. Maybe he learned it from the same place he learned to glide.

 

[shadowdice]

And in Bloodlines 2 I haven't seen even mention of any Clan drawbacks nor Willpower
I just accept that it is a fact of life for Nomad. Maybe he learned it from the same place he learned to glide.

Click to shrink...

I can explain gliding as being under telekinesis as enough points in it lets you fly but the fact that they don't explain it makes me think they either reused assets from the previous version or went "what are vampire powers?"

That they don't have fortitude for Ventrue is stupid

 

[Maragas]

Part 2 of my live musings on Bloodlines 2

Loading the save and...we are doing checkpoints? What kind of save system is this? No actual autosave? I killed like 3 people, ran from the cops and waited until my masquerade breach was gone and none of it got saved?
Huh, there is also no manual save. Add another mark to my disappointment tally.
Using Heightened Senses, we are supposed to follow the scent trail of Fabien. Why I am mentioning this? Because I just realized even though our character has Auspex, Auspex doesn't have a discipline tree. Which ties to my point about whether we were Thamaturge or not in my previous post, since we have Telekinesis. We aren't, since "Blood Sorcery" is a discipline tree in this game and right now it is locked for me even though Telekinesis (aka Movement of the Mind) is a Thamaturgical Path/Blood Sorcery).
Why I am talking about this? Because abilities in this game make no sense. In fact from what I have seen, fricking Earthblood has superior RPG mechanics, including the ability tree.


I just noticed, like 1/3 of all NPCs are police. Or Man in Black clones since I saw the same cops like, three times while walking. Huh, maybe that's why some NPCs blindly follow you for you to feed on, they feel safe. Or other NPCs are clones too since I also saw their dopplegangers.
So this is the Sherrif and he is something alright...what kind of Sheriff is he? He sounds as bloodthirsty as a Sabbat member, has as much grace as a Sabbat shovelhead and says fuck the Prince and fuck the Camarilla. Also, leaving a headless corpse sure doesn't sound like giving a fuck about the masquerade but what do I know.
Oh look, what did I say. Double standards! I get "instant execution" as an Elder and game over screen in the forced stealth section while you have a literal masquerade breach printed on the gazette. What kind of city is this? Everyone who even slightly knows of the supernatural is going "Yep, vampires" reading this.

Spoiler

Continuing, someone wrote strange marks on city walls using our Elder blood? Marks that can only be seen by Auspex too Huh. Interesting. I can imagine numerous things about what's going but honestly, this is the only part that makes me continue playing this rather than playing something else like Digimon or No Man's Sky or Kenshin
I will praise something about the game though. Movement, while not to the level of game Bloodhunt, is great. I like the verticality and speed of our character. That and Fabien.


So another Ghoul segment. I admit, combat is decently fun. If only because I like the feeling of beating dudes with my bare hands. Plus I cleaned up 8 Ghouls in like a minute.
But...what's with these anarch ghouls? I am sorry to say but, coming to a vampire with fists and knives isn't going to do shit. Furthermore, why the hostility? I didn't even say anything but the moment I was in the zone and I got spotted, they came to me like I owe them money. No talk, no dialogue, not even a warning.
Not to mention I am sure leaving piles of corpses isn't conducive to keeping the masquerade but hey, I am starting to doubt anyone gives a shit about it here outside of gameplay segments.

We found Fabien's corpse and that's right, we killed him. The world will miss its noir detective Malkavian. But really, that's what you get for blindly opening a human-sized chest.
Meeting the two times former Prince Lou Graham, she somehow managed to sound more arrogant than even LaCroix, which is saying something. Speaking of LaCroix, do you guys want to read a funny thing? Here. Anarchs are taking credit from the Fledgling of Bloodlines 2 and saying they dealt with LaCroix! Hah, never change Anarchs.

Spoiler

Oh look, I found one place that will definitely get attacked by Werewolves in the future! It's where the current Prince resides and it is called Weaver Tower!

Spoiler

I am going to say it, so far Camarilla in Seattle is incompetent as fuck. They make LaCroix look like Mithras. Anarch Ghouls are assaulting the Prince, they are in the fucking skyscraper. They are being assaulted with a bunch of Ghouls and Thinbloods. Mooks that are worse than Sabbat Shovelheads in the first game. Seattle Camarilla is a joke. Do you guys remember how much stuff you had to get through to reach LaCroix in the first place? These jokers had their guards mulched because , get this, their Sheriff is rogue. Apparently, their Sheriff is their only line of defense against Ghouls and Thinbloods.
And get this, they are trying to force an issue on our Elder because of his recent actions. When their Sheriff is rogue, Anarchs are literally attacking everyone, including their little skyscraper and they are within arm's reach of our Elder. The only reason they are even alive at this point is because our MC isn't at his full power, otherwise these Darwin award winner would join the anarch ghouls in the afterlife. And I really want to kill all of them but I can't.
(Also, the marks with our Elder Blood, they are even on the outside of the elevator of the Weaver Tower.)


Yeah, I am done for now. I will go do something else. A new Prince so weak but so arrogant that she makes LaCroix look like a saint. A Court so weak but so pretentious. If I can't kill them at the end of the game, I will be pissed, to be honest. Because I certainly don't feel like an Elder right now.

 

[shadowdice]

Watching a play through of what they call bloodlines 2 has irritated me enough that I want to write a story just about an elder ripping everyone's heads off

Or Jubal from my VTMB story

 

[Maragas]

Watching a play through of what they call bloodlines 2 has irritated me enough that I want to write a story just about an elder ripping everyone's heads off

Click to shrink...

Playing through it caused me to want to stop playing it and play something else.
Which I did.
God, Seattle Camarilla is so pathetic but also so pretentious that it actually made me angry. A week-old Prince so up her own ass that she is dismissive towards an Elder even as Anarchs infest the city, a rogue Sheriff roams the streets, masquerade breaches are literally on the front page and the previous Prince is murdered.
So far, only Fabien looks decent among everyone.

 

[Skitzyfrenic]

Watching a play through of what they call bloodlines 2 has irritated me enough that I want to write a story just about an elder ripping everyone's heads off

Or Jubal from my VTMB story

Click to shrink...

Were you expecting a response other than Dark Shadowdice saying 'dew et?'

 

[shadowdice]

A thing I ended up doing for my WOD stories(and campaigns) is run through Transylvania chronicles and Giovanni chronicles as backstory of my version of the world using NPCs

Specifically with like half the coteries for both groups being from Sabbat or independent clans but back in the dark ages to give me Bloodlines of the groups closer to the Camarilla so I have easy backstories for unusual clan characters my players may want in a campaign as my players are not great in preparing backstories

Edit

Playing through it caused me to want to stop playing it and play something else.
Which I did.
God, Seattle Camarilla is so pathetic but also so pretentious that it actually made me angry. A week-old Prince so up her own ass that she is dismissive towards an Elder even as Anarchs infest the city, a rogue Sheriff roams the streets, masquerade breaches are literally on the front page and the previous Prince is murdered.
So far, only Fabien looks decent among everyone.
[/QUOTE
That is a large part of why

Elder: I slaughtered scores of ghouls and vampires to get here while your people hid behind doors or were flailing around. You do not open your mouth to give demands. You smile, nod, and accept the compliment of me using the word Prince to a puppet and the legitimacy given by my continued presence near you instead ensuring that you are an example of the word defenestration for backtalking one who was an Elder when your sire's sire was still walking in the sun

Click to shrink...

 

[Vague Wanderer]

A somewhat random question, but what's the thread's view on the advancement rate of a "normal" Mage in Awakening 2e? Mages can pretty explicitly game the beat economy by giving themselves conditions with magic and then resolving them before the spell expires, and while they're only allowed to do that once per scene and can only generate Arcane Beats, most Mages are going to want to spend most of their XP on Gnosis and Arcanum anyway. But at the same time, the "normal" Mages stated out in Nameless and Accursed definitely don't seem to be powerleveling.

So, how to rationalize this? Just take the beat economy as an artifact of gameplay and say Mages just learn normally? Or just say that mind fucking yourself repeatedly tends to be bad for Wisdom? Something else? Curious what the thread's view on this is.

 

[Nervaqus987]

That is a large part of why

Elder: I slaughtered scores of ghouls and vampires to get here while your people hid behind doors or were flailing around. You do not open your mouth to give demands. You smile, nod, and accept the compliment of me using the word Prince to a puppet and the legitimacy given by my continued presence near you instead ensuring that you are an example of the word defenestration for backtalking one who was an Elder when your sire's sire was still walking in the sun

Click to shrink...

I haven't even seen any gameplay of this, but all I'm thinking of is;


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ze_X5MvM4

 

[shadowdice]

I haven't even seen any gameplay of this, but all I'm thinking of is;


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ze_X5MvM4

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Yup

There is even an Anarch that comes in trying to threaten you with like 3 other people saying "did you look around you are outnumbered" after you finish draining blood from the Sherriff who can create localized earthquakes with his stomps at the same time that you slaughter dudes that came at you with shotguns

The game's characters have no relation to what happens around them as they should come in, look around, and realize that the Brujah they had covered in concrete fucking Flexed his way out and had a fight with someone that resulted in Craters in the ground and at least a dozen of their shotgun ghouls ripped to shreds on top of the TRAILS of blood that run through their base where a dozen more ghouls have had their heads ripped off

In contrast I ran a session in my game where my players are all 8th gen vampires with 12 cartel goons outfitted with SWAT gear

They woke up hearing screams on the radio and their driver missing their head before seeing what what they weren't sure was a werewolf, Baali elder, or demon

What they knew was that THIS was out of their league given all the bodies despite their preparation and that they were willing to head into the building that had demonic bees because they heard there was a helicopter there and they were hoping that whatever this was could not fly

That is the reaction someone should have when they see an elder vampire that they think has drained several dozen people in less than half an hour

 

[heralding_bubble]

A somewhat random question, but what's the thread's view on the advancement rate of a "normal" Mage in Awakening 2e? Mages can pretty explicitly game the beat economy by giving themselves conditions with magic and then resolving them before the spell expires, and while they're only allowed to do that once per scene and can only generate Arcane Beats, most Mages are going to want to spend most of their XP on Gnosis and Arcanum anyway. But at the same time, the "normal" Mages stated out in Nameless and Accursed definitely don't seem to be powerleveling.

So, how to rationalize this? Just take the beat economy as an artifact of gameplay and say Mages just learn normally? Or just say that mind fucking yourself repeatedly tends to be bad for Wisdom? Something else? Curious what the thread's view on this is.

Click to shrink...

I mean wasn't the "get inspired > use inspired to boost a roll > get inspired from said roll > use inspired to boost a roll > get inspired from said roll > etc" cycle a thing too?

 

[Maragas]

Yup

There is even an Anarch that comes in trying to threaten you with like 3 other people saying "did you look around you are outnumbered" after you finish draining blood from the Sherriff who can create localized earthquakes with his stomps at the same time that you slaughter dudes that came at you with shotguns

The game's characters have no relation to what happens around them as they should come in, look around, and realize that the Brujah they had covered in concrete fucking Flexed his way out and had a fight with someone that resulted in Craters in the ground and at least a dozen of their shotgun ghouls ripped to shreds on top of the TRAILS of blood that run through their base where a dozen more ghouls have had their heads ripped off

In contrast I ran a session in my game where my players are all 8th gen vampires with 12 cartel goons outfitted with SWAT gear

They woke up hearing screams on the radio and their driver missing their head before seeing what what they weren't sure was a werewolf, Baali elder, or demon

What they knew was that THIS was out of their league given all the bodies despite their preparation and that they were willing to head into the building that had demonic bees because they heard there was a helicopter there and they were hoping that whatever this was could not fly

That is the reaction someone should have when they see an elder vampire that they think has drained several dozen people in less than half an hour

Click to shrink...

Like, even when there were no V5 BS like Beckoning and SI, where every big city had a decent amount of Elders, Prince's authority depended on how powerful he actually is!
You had things like Elders killing Sheriffs because Prince dared to order them to attend a trial.

Spoiler

Unless you yourself were a powerful Elder or Methuselah, like Mithras, you had to respect and compromise with the Elders of the city even as the Prince.

Now you are telling me losers without any security, literally since they don't have a Sheriff, they just got their mortal security mulched by Ghouls and Thinbloods and they are at arm's reach of an Elder, are pompous towards an Elder?
God, 5th Edition ruined everything.