Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2

Bought this after watching Interview with the Vampire, I was looking for something immersive and found the next best thing Cyberpunk 2077 x Vampires its a fun game with a decent story and dialog it doesn't deserve the hate. Definitely worth it on sale.

Sadly I have to admit that this game is bad. I already knew that there where some problems and for some it is a decent choice but not for me. I know "The Chinese Room" from one of their narrative games and thought that the game will live up to that, but sadly the former development stands in the way, or maybe the self-understanding of franchise or idk. So, to what makes it good: The games has very skilled usage of narrative tools to guide the player along the story. The characters are interesting and have, well character. The plot, I can't say, since I'm not far enough in, but looks like a vampires plot, with intrigues, deception so on. Now to the bad part. In my opinion the gameplay is a unsatisfying mix of "immersive sim" and narrative game. Between you and the story progressing a rather unfun and lame fighting experience stands. And this always, and the problem is not so much, that there is a fight, or the way the fight plays, but mostly that it feels so badly shoehorned in. And this makes sense, since in a narrative game you would need to solve a puzzle before the story progresses, here it is a fight. A lot of enemies, making you feel less and less power full as the games progresses. You get swarmed when you draw too much attention, but only from groups that are supposed to swarm you. You will end up in abusing the NPC-pathing (like chase barriers) to progress to the next story bit. While this might work for some it is off the mark for me. I loved the immersion of the old part, the feel to be part in a society that is tron between the desperate bunch, not part of the big players. And this immersion made the feel of the game for me. Seeing the developer I was ready to still try, since you could had made such an epic story out of it but everything around it just feels like it is in the way. There to satisfy a projected need but not well enough executed to actually fit. Those little pieces just really feel off and are far too many in between to be fitting. From my personal taste I also loved the contrast of a society from the middle ages and before acting in the modern world, this installment is more of a noir story type, while also a fitting way it is not my cup of tee. Bat that's a personal preference. It's enraging how much I would love to like that game and how much it tries to take me down. I hope that there will be another one, but a "better composed" one. Be really daring and go for a CyberPunk like, but the the Vampires universe (nothing short of that will satisfy the one hoping for a successor of blood lines) or focus on a well crafted story, where fights (that need to keep the masquerade) don't cause victims in the dozens in some back allies. There is so much more to say, what doesn't quite work, but those are the main points for me.

I played the first game. Wasn't a fan. However, the second one hits the spot. Remember a game called the Darkness? Feels very similar, which is a good thing, but you are the one to fear. You are an alpha vampire who can do all kinds of sweet supernatural stuff. Such a cool vampire fantasy sim. The story is fairly good,, too. Got the game and all DLC on sale. 100 % worth it.

Юность и дрожь в коленях, когда ты сидишь на уроке и с нетерпением ждёшь, когда можно будет сорваться домой и запустить исцарапанный диск с оригинальной Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, эта игра не вернёт. И это точно не та игра, которую мы ожидали - она более... казуальная, предсказуемая, вылизанная... и как будто вышла сразу устаревшей. Есть сцены, где кровь вьётся рекой (и места, где её буквально бассейн налит) - но они выглядят излишне постановочно и контролируемо, оттого даже самая безудержная по сюжету ярость и жестокая жестокость не всегда смотрятся убедительно, а механика романтических отношений... её всё равно что нет, что в подобной игре - преступление (тем более это бросалось в глаза мне при первом прохождении, когда я играл за вампира клана Тореадор). ...и тем не менее. Там хороший, интересный город - хоть npc там и не отличаются разнообразием активностей и не устраивают каких-то сценок и интеракций, которые бы добавили городу жизни - этот город богат деталями, и построен хорошо - им удобно пользоваться, в том числе для перемещения по крышам - а попадающиеся тут и там детали и странные улики добавляют ему характера. Деталей вообще много, и про каждую найденную вещь можно прочитать в кодексе - притом многие из них совершенно несюжетные, таким образом искать их не требуется - это награда для любопытных. Через записи кодекса и расспросы персонажей раскрывается глубина города, его истории и характеров персонажей - она там есть! Сюжет - скорее сильная сторона. Он достаточно длинный, запутанный и увлекательный - хотя о том, кто главные злодеи, можно догадаться почти сразу, это истории не портит. Возможно, ей не хватает некоторой нелинейности, ветвистости... Она как будто есть - у разных персонажей можно вызывать положительные реакции в зависимости от реплик - но они по большому счёту ни на что не влияют, и нигде нельзя посмотреть твой текущий уровень репутации у NPC. Очень нравятся переходы от Файла к Фабиану, от прошлого в более глубокое прошлое и настоящее - это не даёт потонуть в однообразии. И Фабиан нравится, он отличный сосед. Понравились способности персонажа и, в целом, его развитие (опять же без ветвлений) - и возможность собрать себе уникальный набор способностей, заимствуя скиллы других кланов. Способности там хорошие, увлекательные, полезные. Органично входят в боевую систему и позволяют делать действительно творческие вещи. А с доработкой боевой системы в последнем патче (вышел с дополнением про Изабеллу) стало совсем хорошо. Боёвка быстрая, к ней (как и к перемещению) надо привыкать. Я в целом доволен. Поначалу мне игра не понравилась, но со временем я проникся её очарованием, и сейчас с удовольствием прохожу второй раз.

This is another of those sequential storyline games. The developers have a very specific series of steps your character is required to navigate. You definitely do not have much control over the development of the story, who your character is, or how the game is actually played. They might as well have just wrote a book or made a movie for you to watch. I find it terribly boring and I've really tried to enjoy it.

Можно по крышам бегать голубей гонять.

Played after the first DLC patch, completed the game within ~30 hours. The story is really good and characters are well developed. Leans more into political horror side of VTM and executes well. Fabian's private eye side of the story fits nicely with the main storyline and fits the theme well. Combat and navigating the map are fun after you get a hang of it (and get some abilities). They can be a bit clunky at times though. however the skills are fun to use and feel powerful. While I can recommend the game - because I've truly enjoyed it, there are some drawbacks I'd like to mention: there's pretty much one way to solve quests: kill everything that moves and make some dialogue decisions. I haven't replayed the game, but feels like there isn't that many branching off points of the plot, it mostly affects your ending. There's not much sneaking quests (which I'm glad for, because it's mechanically under-developed) or clever ways to complete quests. On the VTM:B vs VTM:B2 topic - I've completed VTM:B last year and this 'sequel' is reminiscent of it, though I get why people are not thrilled with the game being marketed as a sequel. I'm glad they left off some parts of it, e.g. attribute points, in favor of a well developed ability system and multiple locations in favor of a single, bigger site of Seattle. I also like they've set it up as an "elder vampire" rather than "new fledgling" - allows you to explore the theme from a different perspective. In my opinion, this could be a worthy successor, if there were more quests and ones that can be completed in different ways + some overall polish (or more depth) to the existing mechanics.

This Isn't Bloodlines your looking For (Go to Bloodlines 1 for that). Worst this isn't the Bloodlines 2 that was announce in 2018 it's what is Left of it's Corpse.

I had the best time playing this. It isn't like the first bloodlines unfortunately (There are a couple easter eggs which I loved). Go in with low expectations and you will enjoy it as much as I did. The combat was fun and the dialogue was sometimes quite funny. Fabien's part was a bit "slow" but it was a good break from all the chaos lol. Great mixture of action, mystery solving, interesting story, and small element of rpg.

It is a uncomplicated and a nice way to spend a few fun hours. Seems like it is a vampire detective story