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[Retropunch]

I know exactly what that trailer was - it was a rushed out trailer before they got everything*quite* fitted together. I've seen it loads of times before, and it's exactly why you get all those weird cuts, janky animations, out of time lip syncs and all the rest. They probably got squeezed into making it to try and ride off the cyberpunk excitement, and ended up pushing it all out a bit early.

I don't think any of it looked 'bad' though - it just looked unfinished and it does say 'pre-alpha' at the bottom, so you imagine they'll put a lot of polish on it. I'm also not worried about the writing/dialogue - I thought the exposition dialog was fucking awful, but I think it'd probably make sense/look better in-game. The devs have probably seen it so many times in-game with all the animation that it feels way better to them.

Really not trying to make excuses, just that I feel this is a case of a premature release of a gameplay trailer rather than an accurate picture.

[Cruxador]

it just looked unfinished and it does say 'pre-alpha' at the bottom

Yeah but on the other hand it also says release date Q1 2020. There's only so much room for improvement.

I'm also not worried about the writing/dialogue

Yeah, I expect corny from a White Wolf property. It's the quality of the acting that bothers me more.

[Retropunch]

it just looked unfinished and it does say 'pre-alpha' at the bottom

Yeah but on the other hand it also says release date Q1 2020. There's only so much room for improvement.

It depends, if they mean late April 2020 that's a good 9 months off which I feel is quite a while for improvements these days. It does depend - if they've got most of the content together and its just polishing then it's a good amount of time, but if they're still actively designing it then yeah it's going to be tight to turn it round.

If it was a bunch of nobodies making it I'd be more dubious, but the team worked on Dishonoured and other Arkane games, which have always been really polished.

The big fear is always that they've stripped it way down and everything will be in a DLC, but I'm holding out hope.

[nenjin]

My bigger fear is that they fall in to the same thing that fucked up Bloodlines 1. Too ambitious.

Like we've seen a couple roof top sequences. The implication being that there's a lot of play to be had on the rooftops. When the reality might actually be that it's basically relevant for one or two missions then stops being a thing, other than making a dramatic exit from various NPC-based rooftops.

But yeah, throughout the video I kept noticing the player avatar and seeing that it was about the blandest thing you could make, and the same one was used in every take. That pretty much shouts "alpha" to me. So I'm not taking much super seriously.

In the end though, this feels like one of those trailers I could have waited for when things were more polished and interesting.

[Cruxador]

My bigger fear is that they fall in to the same thing that fucked up Bloodlines 1. Too ambitious.

With Paradox captaining the ship, it won't have the same thing that fucked up Bloodlines 1, because that was ambition that exceeded their development schedule. Paradox is happy to extend development and just sell more DLC.

Like we've seen a couple roof top sequences. The implication being that there's a lot of play to be had on the rooftops. When the reality might actually be that it's basically relevant for one or two missions then stops being a thing, other than making a dramatic exit from various NPC-based rooftops.

It's not hard to include roofs though. They're just the tops of buildings. Then slap some collectibles on top and set a couple scenes there and... What more do you want from a rooftop? Let the vampires that can fly use them to do dive attacks and that kind of Batman/Prototype/etc air stuff that's popular. Doing rooftops right is not a high bar.

But yeah, throughout the video I kept noticing the player avatar and seeing that it was about the blandest thing you could make, and the same one was used in every take. That pretty much shouts "alpha" to me. So I'm not taking much super seriously.

In the end though, this feels like one of those trailers I could have waited for when things were more polished and interesting.

Sure, that bit specifically is definitely something there'll be improvements to. On the other hand, the overall quality of textures strikes me as something that maybe not so much. And the voice acting? Not a snowball's chance.

[nenjin]

Doing rooftops right is not a high bar.

It's about whether or not it's actually woven in to the game as a whole correctly. That the overall design factors it in. You can put a flat surface on a building and let the player get up there, sure. Assassin's Creed, Batman and even Shadow of War have that because it was designed from the ground up around that idea, around verticality and interesting verticality. (Shadow of War noticablely took a very basic approach where verticality is entirely to set you up to attack guys.) Those are big open world sandbox games that put a big emphasis on the city being scaleable.

I don't so far get that impression from what this game has shown. There's a feel to big sandbox games designed around verticality, and it appears a bit more gimmicky here than in those games. Maybe it's closer to Dishonored in this regard. Less open world go where you want-ness and more controlled and level driven. Which is fine, if it's done well and not just for the occasional show piece.

For example, they showed people jumping off roof tops to land on multi-storied scaffolding to chase guys down and fight them. (Assuming that wasn't completely staged.) Will the design have stuff like that sprinkled all over? Or is it basically just a set piece because someone said "hey it'd be cool if...." and then it's not really followed through with in the rest of the game. Just spitballing here.

And the voice acting? Not a snowball's chance.

Yeah no, I'm fully aware of that. That guy is going to be the first to die as soon as it's reasonable and I can get away with it.

[Cruxador]

That guy is going to be the first to die as soon as it's reasonable and I can get away with it.

You mean the initial narrator? His voice is annoying but I thought his acting was actually significantly less terrible compared to the two giving out the slug killing mission. I wasn't actually thinking of a specific character. As a whole, this VA quality occupies the space in between the quality of an anime dub and that of a melodramatic comedy that you might watch accidentally while sick or intoxicated.

[ZebioLizard2]

The "Guide" character's voice is a fair bit grating.

[Majestic7]

I will put on my prohet hat and say there will be a haven invasion mission where you have to avoid sunlight or streak through a sunlit street from cover to cover or something. Likely connected to being betrayed by someone.

[Cruxador]

I will put on my antihet hat and remind you that pride isn't for you.

_{This is just a pun, and this post contains no sincere opinions.}

[Mech#4]

There's some longer gameplay videos being uploaded by various game sites. Here's one from GameSpot. It covers a mission to track down a Nosferatu for some data they have, showing dialogue choices, terrain navigation and combat.


There's another gameplay video that was uploaded by IGN. The video is... rather funny since the person playing (apparently a tired Paradox employee) is about as good at using a twin-stick controller as I would be, I.E. not at all. Coupled with the apparently low sensitivity of the controller sticks there's a lot of awkward turning and slow dodging.

Both videos show the same section of gameplay. Though to do get a bit more gameplay from the fumbling around and some different dialogue choices taken. The employee was playing while taking directions from the journalist beside them.


As people have already noted, the lip-syncing needs some work. The combat is also a bit wonky with the A.I. fumbling around a bit when attacking the player. I still like the visuals of the game and the lighting looks really nice to me. I also like the character models and the parkouring up and over walls is a neat feature. The disciplines look cool with the first video showing off some of the Tremere abilities. They both also show off Nebulation, turning into a mist cloud to pass through a ventilation duct. A bit odd if it can't be used to pass through an iron bar gate or chain-link fence.

[ZebioLizard2]

AI fumbling is a bit generous given how poorly some of them attacking is. The rifleman's exact six seconds before firing another burst is certainly something that is hilarious. He sees you tanking all these shotgun bullets, pipe hits and other things and it seems like he's trying desperately to conserve ammo as if he's paying 200$ a round.

[Retropunch]

Urgh they absolutely flopped that just by having such a rubbish person controlling it. It's someone who clearly can't play that kinda game well, and it's frustrating to watch.
Whilst I don't think the melee combat looks amazing I think a lot of it is down to the skill of the player making it look way worse than it is - they're constantly leaping past them and looking the wrong way which makes the combat movement look worse than it is. All in all it looks very alpha-ish, but it DOES look as though they've captured the feeling of the first game - that's something really impressive.

I'm not saying they've nailed it, but it feels as though Bloodlines is back rather than that they made a random RPG/FPS with the same name

[MorleyDev]

Guys. Guys. Guys. Guys. Guys.

It's back.

[scriver]

Hehe. Complete trust in developers restored?