Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

polonyc2 said:
if they knew the game was in this bad of a shape then why wait until this late in development to remove Hardsuit Labs?...so 80% of the game will still be Hardsuit and 20% another developer?...I have a feeling they might just scrap it all together and start over...
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Paradox continues to grow, but I don't think they have the money to completely start over.
 
Wasn't there something like an SJW coup in the developer studio a few months back? I seem to remember writers being forced off the project and whatnot.
 
Eshelmen said:
Are you sure?

https://www.hardsuitlabs.com/about/

They got Killing Floor under their resume

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Probably just some side content. Tripwire did RO, KF, RO2, got a mod team turned subsidiary Anti Matter Games to do RO2 Rising Storm, KF2, got AMG to make RS2: Vietnam. They split, AMG is making a Cold War Battlefield type game. TWI did Maneater.

Not sure what they're up to today.
 
It looks like Paradox figured out that they got rid of the wrong people in august. It does seem to me like they were pushed out by some that were pushing an overly PC agenda which is funny because if you look past the gritty surface of the first game it has some very positive messages regarding morality and prejudice, it just isn't done in a hamfisted or shallow manner.

I think this latest announcement makes it more likely that the game never sees the light of day or is the next DNF if it does but the projects recent trajectory hasn't looked very promising so it probably also makes it more likely that the game could be good. Maybe they'll bring back the lead writer and creative director that they fired.
 
Jeez. I knew a lot of people that were pumped for this. Casual gamers that didn't really play a whole lot of games, even. Makes me wonder how far along it really was.
 
Domingo said:
Jeez. I knew a lot of people that were pumped for this. Casual gamers that didn't really play a whole lot of games, even. Makes me wonder how far along it really was.
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With what's happened I'm beginning to think that gameplay trailer we first saw was the game close to its release state, and boy was that an embarrassment. The subsequent delay prior to March of last year also did not bode well.
 
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If EA were in charge of this, we'd hear: "Shovel this out"!
Glad paradox had the foresight to see where this would end up. They probably knew we'd have:
1. Game release would follow the path cyberpunk with all kinds of issues
2. No where near cutting edge graphics and such from an unproven dev, probably bad technical foundation
3. SJW controversies galore. Probably SJW gamers hating it AND anit-SJW gamers hating it.
4. Group of hackers get pissed because of above reasons and has extra motivation to hack their source code, ransom then dark web, all the while security recovery efforts prevents patch for all the bugs

Paradox's name gets run through the mud, lose favor with gamers, lack of trust, consoles stop selling, plenty of disappointment.

CD Projekt has already proven themselves with the witcher as a AAA dev that pushes the technical envelope, so they could get by much better. Paradox would just flop without any of the good parts to show for.
 
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Nuts. I was looking forward to another Vampire the Masquerade game. I really liked the last one from what, like mid-2000s or so? I forget. But of course if it was screwed up I'd rather not play it. If CDProjeckt hadn't screwed up Cyberpunk I'd have put them at the top of my list to do a vampire game. It takes some balls to do a vampire game right. It's gotta be gritty, dirty, and a little offensive. Bonus if it's sexy and has good raytraced shadows and such. I think CDProject would have at least been willing to make it as dirty, gritty, sexy and offensive as it ought to be, but then they blew it with that other gritty game (Cyberpunk). So who else could do the job right?

I'm also kind of annoyed at Paradox for getting into games like this in the first place. The Hears of Iron series is one of my favorites. I don't want the Hearts of Iron, Europa Universalis, Victoria, etc. franchises go bust because Paradox botched an RPG.
 
zandor said:
Nuts. I was looking forward to another Vampire the Masquerade game. I really liked the last one from what, like mid-2000s or so? I forget. But of course if it was screwed up I'd rather not play it. If CDProjeckt hadn't screwed up Cyberpunk I'd have put them at the top of my list to do a vampire game. It takes some balls to do a vampire game right. It's gotta be gritty, dirty, and a little offensive. Bonus if it's sexy and has good raytraced shadows and such. I think CDProject would have at least been willing to make it as dirty, gritty, sexy and offensive as it ought to be, but then they blew it with that other gritty game (Cyberpunk). So who else could do the job right?

I'm also kind of annoyed at Paradox for getting into games like this in the first place. The Hears of Iron series is one of my favorites. I don't want the Hearts of Iron, Europa Universalis, Victoria, etc. franchises go bust because Paradox botched an RPG.
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Eh? CD Projekt Red did make CP2077 excellent. It just doesn't live up to the overhype like everyone made for it. They would be the right choice for such an amazing experience IMHO.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Eh? CD Projekt Red did make CP2077 excellent. It just doesn't live up to the overhype like everyone made for it. They would be the right choice for such an amazing experience IMHO.
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I'm not arguing that they didn't get the feel part right... just the part about the bugs on last gen consoles, lawsuits, Sony actually giving refunds, etc. Witcher games, etc. not being quite done when they come out doesn't bother me much. I just wait for all the DLC and patches to get rolled up into a nice tidy package, then buy it and play it. But they really messed it up this time to the point I'm worried about CDProjeckt as a company. They can fix the software, but can they fix the financial and reputation damage?

So basically I agree with you that they'd be a good dev for the job but I'm not sure CDProjeckt is in a position to take it on right now. They've got a big mess on their hands making CP2077 work properly on last gen consoles plus lawsuits and a revenue hit from refunds.
 
zandor said:
Nuts. I was looking forward to another Vampire the Masquerade game. I really liked the last one from what, like mid-2000s or so? I forget. But of course if it was screwed up I'd rather not play it. If CDProjeckt hadn't screwed up Cyberpunk I'd have put them at the top of my list to do a vampire game. It takes some balls to do a vampire game right. It's gotta be gritty, dirty, and a little offensive. Bonus if it's sexy and has good raytraced shadows and such. I think CDProject would have at least been willing to make it as dirty, gritty, sexy and offensive as it ought to be, but then they blew it with that other gritty game (Cyberpunk). So who else could do the job right?

I'm also kind of annoyed at Paradox for getting into games like this in the first place. The Hears of Iron series is one of my favorites. I don't want the Hearts of Iron, Europa Universalis, Victoria, etc. franchises go bust because Paradox botched an RPG.
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Paradox owns White Wolf so it does make sense for them to get into making games based on WoD. Given their growth over the last few years, I think they can whether the storm when/if this fails.
 
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Looks like 2021 release is out the window. From their official facebook page.
 
silentsod said:
They lost hard by not producing something viable with years of development and Paradox made the hard call.

There were quite a few layoffs publicized on Twitter accounts yesterday.
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Not sure the game can be salvaged, but that is excellent news all around.
 
So are people actually attributing these developments to "SJWs" and not just a rocky development process that happens regularly?
 
People decrying SJW are prob being knee-jerk rightwing blowhards. There is no way any of us really know what is going on, so anti-SJW speculation is just a reflection of the stupid culture wars this country is obsessed with.
 
Aireoth said:
Just following the rumor mill, and their visual novel was pretty cringe worthy. But hey, keep reducing things to left and right while pretending it makes you enlightened.
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The VN was done by a different company. Paradox is taking the Games Workshop approach to the WoD license. Selling it to anyone with a half-way decent idea and not bothering to pay attention to the projects or try to maintain any kind of quality control.
 
Aireoth said:
Just following the rumor mill, and their visual novel was pretty cringe worthy. But hey, keep reducing things to left and right while pretending it makes you enlightened.
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If that is directed at me my point was thatthings should not be reduced to left versus right as far as why this game is in trouble.
 
Derangel said:
The VN was done by a different company. Paradox is taking the Games Workshop approach to the WoD license. Selling it to anyone with a half-way decent idea and not bothering to pay attention to the projects or try to maintain any kind of quality control.
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The Games Workshop approach is a real mixed bag. We'll see how it pans out for Paradox because it has yet to do so from a perspective of producing a critical or cult hit since they acquired the rights. I guess sales must be alright or they wouldn't continue on the path?
 
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I'm going to be pessimistic and predict that this game isn't going to come out any time soon, if ever. Assuming it does eventually come out - it probably won't look anything like what they've showed thus far. It looked pretty "last gen" to me all along, so I'd be okay with a pretty major update to the visuals. At this point they're already disappointing people with a massive delay, so they might as well go big or go home.
 
peppergomez said:
People decrying SJW are prob being knee-jerk rightwing blowhards. There is no way any of us really know what is going on, so anti-SJW speculation is just a reflection of the stupid culture wars this country is obsessed with.
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*slow clap*
 
Finally, a proper reason to necro a thread that's been dead for 2 years. :)

I guess we'll see if they have anything to show in September. If it looks really good it might get me to not skip the current generation of vid cards, but it'll have to be done right and have raytracing that matters.
 
Looks like they changed it to a Dying Light clone from that trailer. Disappointed, if true.
 
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