Submitted 2 weeks ago by simple@piefed.social to games@lemmy.world
If you don’t plan on making a successor that plays and contains the features the userbase would expect, don’t name it like it’s a sequel.
They ruined the name of a perfectly good franchise just to attract the fanbase, nobody wins and everyone is angry.
A statement from one of the Paradox PR reps:
"I actually played Bloodlines 1 quite recently, and it is a good game, but it is also an old game, and there are many things that would not fly today," Lilja said. "But I understand why people were super psyched by it in 2004, because it had a lot of cool [elements], and the feeling of being a vampire is really strong, regardless of other features. But I think people, they remember their feelings about it. And if they replayed it, I think they would see that it's a competently good game by 2004 standards, now that it's patched.
Seems like their approach to Bloodlines 2 isn't much of "high flyer" in the year 2025.
In defence of the PR rep, they were open about Bloodlines 2 not having much to do with the original and that it was more of vampire themed linear action game.
But in that case, why would you have internal targets of 2M+ initial sales if your plan is to have a radical departure from a well known cult classic RPG known for its roleplaying and strong writing?
Not replying to you but to that statement, they’re absolutely wrong. I’ve never finished Bloodlines, life keeps getting in my way and I keep losing my save file (this is not unique to Bloodlines, there are several other games that are in the same bag). My point is every few years I start a new save on the OG bloodlines, and that game still holds out great, sure graphics are outdated, but other than that it’s a great game even by today standards, and while I haven’t played bloodlines 2, I’m fairly confident from everything I’ve seen it’s a worse game by every metric that matters. These people think that graphics can overcome anything, but that’s one of the least important parts of the game.
To be fair, the first part of the game is by far the best. The unofficial patch adds back in a heckton of content in the late game, but even then, it feels sparse. I have very fond memories of exploring Santa Monica though. The game felt huge and exciting, even playing it for the first time in 2019.
Damn, I should try install it again. I’m running Linux now, and if I recall, I had some problems getting it working. I should take another crack at it.
Paradox really needs a management shakeup.
I honestly don’t know what Paradox was smoking with this one. They get the license, cool, they hand it off to a studio that…while is known for being a support dev or doing ports they DID manage to get the original Bloodlines writer on board and then it was delay, delay, delay, fire the creative team, more delay, switch studios, start completely over, call it a day, and then claim “yeah we’re not going to make one of these style games again…we’d rather continue to nickle and dime our customers with strategy games.”
They were smoking the drugs they bought from printing money with bad overpriced dlcs.
Publishers are a key ingredient in the recipe for trash games. Buying IP and telling some dev team that is doing it for the paycheck to slap something together is not making a game, it’s parasitism.
I love VtM:B but I never had high hopes for this one. Direct sequels made by unrelated developers rarely work out.
Can’t wait for the next sequel that will be some kind of live-service multiplayer game with lots of cosmetic DLC.
Dang, they’re a joke.
Weird that they want to expand out of the strategy game genre by turning a love RPG into a basic action adventure game.
WoD is probably my favorite but I’m not touching a paradox game cos they have the reputation of shit
Paradox has lately been really good at admitting fault and then mismanaging the next big game outside of their bread and butter grand strategy games. They need to shake up their management because it’s becoming clear they’re giving unrealistic timelines/budgets/demands for these games
They’re fucking up left and right.
When they announced the pre-order bonus, it seems clear that this might not be a good day one purchase. Will probably give it a look some time, but i should replay Troikas version first.
What? VTM2 came out?
When?
I legitimately did not know it was released.
Is that part of why its flopping?
Or is the gameplay bugged to fuck/story shit/etc?
Don’t get too exited. Maybe in a year or two all the bad has been patched out and it might become an actually good game.
I’m really hoping that they go th3 CDPR route
Yep. I’m waiting at least 2 years.
I already completely forgot this had come out
NeverKnowsBest made a video about it, which I think is worth a watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWuokRjedOA
He also pins the blame squarely on Paradox.
Paradox owns the world of darkness ip entirely right now. I wonder if this call to refocus their efforts on their core competencies will mean selling it off.
They haven’t done too well with it. They’ve released several games and I think some solo dev interactive fiction have been the only ones getting positive reviews: Earthblood, Swansong, Bloodhunt, and now Bloodlines 2 have all done pretty poorly. Even the tabletop RPG has seen better days, with 5th edition causing quite the controversy, mostly with Werewolf. Hell they closed White Wolf down for a while because the books caused controversy.
Paradox have done a terrible job with the IP.
givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Wasn’t the studios fault
They fought to change the name since the beginning because they knew it would be impossible to deliver a real sequel and while this name might get initial sales it would cause blowback killing the game almost immediately…
Which is exactly what happened.
Like, they’d have loved to make Masquerade 2, but they weren’t given the time or funds to make it.
Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
The worst part is that this failure will probably kill any chance of The Chinese Room getting to actually take a proper swing at this, from scratch, with time and a real budget. It really feels like if they were allowed to do that they would hit it out of the park. Bloodlines 2 is a much better game than the review scores suggest, mostly weighed down by the expectations people put in the Bloodlines name.
Agent_Karyo@piefed.world 2 weeks ago
Chinese Room is clearly a bad fit for Bloodlines. They have zero experience with RPG games.
They make good walking-sim style gaming experiences with strong atmosphere and world-building, but they've never made any RPGs.
Their gameplay also tends to a bit subpar. The original Bloodlines had some flaws with gameplay (combat), but you still had a lot of different gameplay options and approaches.
And why shouldn't people have expectations for a strong roleplaying experience and player freedom for a Bloodlines game?
Stamau123@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
What a shambles