Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 "Not impossible for 2023 release"

[Gurkhal]

I'm confused at how Hardsuit Labs could so completely misread the room about why people were going to play the game. Firing the creator (Mitsoda) is insane.

As for Avellone, how did they not figure this was a BIG DEAL.

Possibly.

Although to be honest I have to say that just because Mitsoda was good in 2004 does not mean that he is good now. George Lucas has kind of shown that even if you could create good stuff decades ago does not per necessity mean that you will produce good stuff now.

[Ragged Robin]

Ehhhh, theirs no way my pc has the muscle to run it which I get to wait until till word of mouth spreads.

[AnubisXy]

I'm confused at how Hardsuit Labs could so completely misread the room about why people were going to play the game. Firing the creator (Mitsoda) is insane.

As for Avellone, how did they not figure this was a BIG DEAL.

With Avellone, I don't think it was anything to do with his writing. His writing has always been, at worse, decent and he has a long history of taking franchises (movies, table top games, etc) and turning them into video games. I can't imagine that what he wrote was so off and bad that Hardsuit Labs felt that literally nothing was preferable.

So I have to assume that with Avellone, the reason his writing was never incorporated into the game was due to those allegations against him. At the time the Me Too movement was in high gear and it's likely that the director felt that it would be better to get rid of him than release the game and having a backlash because of his name being on the cover. Of course once those allegations were fully aired they turned out to not be all that terrible - Avellone is kind of a shitty person but not so bad that he needs to be persona non-grata and his work shouldn't be published.

In retrospect, removing his material and essentially tanking the entire project over those allegations seems like a pretty foolish thing to do.

With Mitsoda, who knows why they would get rid of him. Him being on the team is what gave Bloodlines 2 authenticity and got a lot of people excited about it. Firing him was just stupid. I've seen suggestions that he was unhappy at what happened with Avellone and was vocal about using Avellone's work in the game. Possibly at some point the director said, "Fuck it," and fired him too, probably once they realized that without Avellone's material they were basically starting over from scratch anyway. But again, that's just speculation.

[Newb95]

With Avellone, I don't think it was anything to do with his writing. His writing has always been, at worse, decent and he has a long history of taking franchises (movies, table top games, etc) and turning them into video games. I can't imagine that what he wrote was so off and bad that Hardsuit Labs felt that literally nothing was preferable.

So I have to assume that with Avellone, the reason his writing was never incorporated into the game was due to those allegations against him. At the time the Me Too movement was in high gear and it's likely that the director felt that it would be better to get rid of him than release the game and having a backlash because of his name being on the cover. Of course once those allegations were fully aired they turned out to not be all that terrible - Avellone is kind of a shitty person but not so bad that he needs to be persona non-grata and his work shouldn't be published.

In retrospect, removing his material and essentially tanking the entire project over those allegations seems like a pretty foolish thing to do.

With Mitsoda, who knows why they would get rid of him. Him being on the team is what gave Bloodlines 2 authenticity and got a lot of people excited about it. Firing him was just stupid. I've seen suggestions that he was unhappy at what happened with Avellone and was vocal about using Avellone's work in the game. Possibly at some point the director said, "Fuck it," and fired him too, probably once they realized that without Avellone's material they were basically starting over from scratch anyway. But again, that's just speculation.

I agree, sunking the project because of those allegations would be incredibly stupid business wise, the firing of Mitsoda which is the biggest fuckup in all of this, makes me think that the internal strifes of the team were much more severe than they said.

[MyWifeIsScary]

Maybe it's V5's fault.
Publisher says they need to make the setting push the V5 ideal.
Developers want to ignore metaplot so they can focus on their own story/they prefer older editions.
The compromise satisfies neither party.
Publisher replaces developer, rinse and repeat.

Less related to my dislike of a particular edition: We must acknowledge that VTM is a game that says a lot about mortal politics and it's very possible that big disagreements are coming for this, especially with the partisans of today's politics. I would consider VTM a mostly very genuine and scathing left-wing satire of right-wing power structures. It's very possible that someone has a problem with this and wants either more right wing messaging or, more likely, to subvert any genuine left-wing sentiment with non-productive corporate appropriations of radical thought.

[Muad'Dib]

In an interview with Swedish website Privata Affärer (opens in new tab) earlier this month, Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester (who is also the company's resident Great Old One according to his Twitter bio (opens in new tab)) was asked about the status of the much-delayed Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. Via Google Translate, he said that the company "will probably be able to set a launch date for this game reasonably soon" and called a 2023 launch "absolutely not impossible".

"If you look at the pipeline, we've been a little cautious about announcing things because we got burned a little bit on Bloodlines 2", Wester told Privata Affärer, suggesting that its date was made public just a little bit early. "We've said we're not going to release anything until we're pretty sure of an absolute launch date or at least a launch month," he added.[/I]

It was very nice for me to hear this, VtM: Bloodlines 2 and Bloodlines 1 are certainly noteworthy and important for more than one reason. Certainly they are important for WoD as an RPG setting as they allow a different kind of variable experiance through gameplay mechanics and the varied choices / decisions made during playthrough. The Bloodlines game series - as well as other WoD games, such as VtM: Redemption and of course VtM: Coteries of New York - are also noteworthy for being examples of excellent, complex, and interesting PC games. Both standalone (due to excellent story, mechanics, graphics, and gameplay) and in comparison to other PC games from within the particular game genres.

I also hope and consider it distinctly possibly that VtM: Bloodlines 2 will have mechanics, elements, parts, and challanges that will be noteworthy, unique, and novel. Certainly Bloodlines 2 should be a step forward and a definite development as an RPG game - in comparison to Bloodlines 1 and possibly also VtM: Redemption. It would be very nice if this would be visible during most of the gameplay - including when choosing various pathways in regard to locations or storyline, as well as during optional quests.