No char gen, no char sheet - confirmed?

[PyrettaB]

So while browsing other forums about this game I came across some interesting posts regarding the customization. Pardon that I'm a bit late to the ball on these ones but I still haven't seen any deeper discussion about it.

While I find it an interesting and bold strategy to sprinkle unpopular truths about your future product in random replies, I'm left curious to what it truly means or if we can consider this confirmed now. Would it be possible to have it completely confirmed that we (well, whoever actually buys it) will be playing a fixed character with a fixed look other than sex and clothes as well as having no character sheet or other customization of skills other than selecting what active 4 combat skills you currently employ?

PDX? TCR? Would anyone like to respond?

 

[Baalzamon85]

The lack of hairstyles is very disappointing, the current female Phyre is just awful. It reeks of trying to save some money on not doing hair physics. It's the wrong choice imo, the current model will hurt marketing more than extra the development cost this would bring.

Isn't it weird we still haven't seen the male 3D Phyre for a game supposedly coming out this year? On the recent Brujah and Tremere dev diaries, the artwork had the male head removed , and the current female was headswapped on to those bodies. Which is part of the reason they look so weird. Is the male being redesigned?

Hmm..I smell a microtransaction scheme coming with other models(that people actually want to play as) locked behind a paywall, good god if TCR does this. You'll get review bombed into oblivion if you do that.

 

[Feeona]

So while browsing other forums about this game I came across some interesting posts regarding the customization. Pardon that I'm a bit late to the ball on these ones but I still haven't seen any deeper discussion about it.

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While I find it an interesting and bold strategy to sprinkle unpopular truths about your future product in random replies, I'm left curious to what it truly means or if we can consider this confirmed now. Would it be possible to have it completely confirmed that we (well, whoever actually buys it) will be playing a fixed character with a fixed look other than sex and clothes as well as having no character sheet or other customization of skills other than selecting what active 4 combat skills you currently employ?

PDX? TCR? Would anyone like to respond?

Yes, I can confirm the above is correct, as it was me who made both those replies.

 

[Pyoro]

tbh I thought I'd just shut about this game, but now I'm really confused -

Yes, Character is the same as the Outfit tab and will contain the customisation which we will show later.

We'll be showing more about customization later in the year. These outfits shown are a few of the many that will be in the game.

(...)

So the "later" information is that there is no information on account on there being no customization?
Or are you being sarcastic about the post ... or for some reason deliberately implying there's none now when there is some? ^^;;;

 

[PyrettaB]

Yes, I can confirm the above is correct, as it was me who made both those replies.

Thank you for a straight forward confirmation.

So the "later" information is that there is no information on account on there being no customization?

I guess informing us that there will be no customization is still information. Technically.

It's funny, I gave up on this game a while ago yet I still somehow manage to feel disappointed.

 

[Feeona]

tbh I thought I'd just shut about this game, but now I'm really confused -


So the "later" information is that there is no information on account on there being no customization?
Or are you being sarcastic about the post ... or for some reason deliberately implying there's none now when there is some? ^^;;;

I know that text doesn't convey tone, but I can assure you that there's no sarcasm on our part. We're just conflating our phrasing a little bit.

Yes, the customization we've confirmed is what will be in the game. We will just be showing more of what we've said at a later date.

 

[Sargerias]

I know that text doesn't convey tone, but I can assure you that there's no sarcasm on our part. We're just conflating our phrasing a little bit.

Yes, the customization we've confirmed is what will be in the game. We will just be showing more of what we've said at a later date.

Well i guess you are fully aware that this is something that will not just earn you critics but also turn away alot of potential customers? In a RPG where you wana "immerse" its contraproductive to force people into certain looks.
Additionaly it makes the game look like you just didnt have the money to make a decent rpg and cut expenses by making 1 Character that looks "male AND female" at once. But i assume your marketing specialists think this is a good move?

 

[Necromass]

Well i guess you are fully aware that this is something that will not just earn you critics but also turn away alot of potential customers? In a RPG where you wana "immerse" its contraproductive to force people into certain looks.
Additionaly it makes the game look like you just didnt have the money to make a decent rpg and cut expenses by making 1 Character that looks "male AND female" at once. But i assume your marketing specialists think this is a good move?

Its best to to think of this as an Action Adventure Game with RPG elements, than an actual RPG because that is what it is now despite what it aims to masquerade itself as.

Tim Cain recently talked about what is an RPG and for him its a series of features mechanics and systems and the less of them a game has the less of an RPG it is and honestly there are so few in this that I can't even see it as apart of that genre anymore.

 

[Azar]

Well i guess you are fully aware that this is something that will not just earn you critics but also turn away alot of potential customers? In a RPG where you wana "immerse" its contraproductive to force people into certain looks.

Hiiiiii

Spoiler

Now Im not saying character creation isn't good, or that having more options is bad; I just wanted to point out that having "a certain look" does not automatically translate to poor sales. Indeed, GTA6 is going to have that, and its likely going to be the most sold game ever.

 

[RagnarokCzD]

I dont understand why so many people is laser focused on Geralt in topic of "pre-made protagonist" as example ...
Come on people, Geralt was appealing LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG before first game ... being Geralt is very important part of the apeal of that game ...

If you want to compare those things, search between games that created brand new protagonist ... and it still can be done:
Vampyr ... great game, but nobody remembers Jonathan ...
Metal Gear Solid ... awesome game, people liked Snake ...
Star Wars: Fallen order ... awsome game, Cal Kestis become fans favourite ...
First Tomb Raider ... i dont remember that one, and i dont even know if Lara or Inidiana Jones were first, and they possibly helped each other in popularity ... still Lara was a phenomen in her time, nobody can dispute that.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

Well i guess you are fully aware that this is something that will not just earn you critics but also turn away alot of potential customers? In a RPG where you wana "immerse" its contraproductive to force people into certain looks.
Additionaly it makes the game look like you just didnt have the money to make a decent rpg and cut expenses by making 1 Character that looks "male AND female" at once. But i assume your marketing specialists think this is a good move?

Congratulations!

You are in the process of managing your BLOODLINES 2 expectations given the realities handed to TCR.

TCR has not been hired to develop the game you are so obviously looking for. They have been hired by Paradox to develop pretty much the game you are coming to expect.


I will quite enjoy my pre-order of the game that TCR is in the process of describing to us / developing for us.

 

[PyrettaB]

You are in the process of managing your BLOODLINES 2 expectations given the realities handed to TCR.

Congratulations indeed. While I agree with you that it is probably wise to manage expectations of the games PDX publish, particularly since their 3 latest releases on steam sits at a comfortable mixed in overall user reviews and I do believe they managed to break a new record with the 4% positive on that DLC the other day, perhaps it would be wise for paradox to manage those expectations a little bit more directly and less in random answers on xitter and steam forums. After all there is a risk that some people might have pre-ordered the game and expect it to be mechanically similar to the predecessor and have a character sheet.

 

[Borgratz]

Congratulations indeed. While I agree with you that it is probably wise to manage expectations of the games PDX publish, particularly since their 3 latest releases on steam sits at a comfortable mixed in overall user reviews and I do believe they managed to break a new record with the 4% positive on that DLC the other day, perhaps it would be wise for paradox to manage those expectations a little bit more directly and less in random answers on xitter and steam forums. After all there is a risk that some people might have pre-ordered the game and expect it to be mechanically similar to the predecessor and have a character sheet.

I think finding out that the game doesn't have a character generator/sheet will probably happen in the first 2 hours

 

[RagnarokCzD]

Kinda late, when you allready payd for it, no?

 

[Borgratz]

Steam and epic let you return games within the first 2 hours of playing, pre-ordered or not.

Not sure if you can pre-order the game at a store that doesn't allow that (you shouldn't!)

 

[Marc_Hicks]

To be fair, I don't recall the original Bloodlines having a huge amount of character customization beyond clan and the male/female option. I just want to be able to pick from all the Camarilla clans in the rule book.

 

[RagnarokCzD]

I don't recall the original Bloodlines having a huge amount of character customization beyond clan and the male/female option.

2 points:

1.) How is that relevant?
2.) I would dare to say that for its time, differences in clothing were quite impressive.

 

[PyrettaB]

To be fair, I don't recall the original Bloodlines having a huge amount of character customization beyond clan and the male/female option. I just want to be able to pick from all the Camarilla clans in the rule book.

Visual costumization, no. For those who care about that, the original was very limited (although each of the clans did have two unique looking presets at least). This would be one of those areas where I think many would've expected an improvement over the original.

When it comes to skills, I'd argue that the original is one of the better games of it's time for making different characters feel different. I remember experiencing the game very differently going for a gun focused character, a melee one, a stealth one, a skill monkey, a smooth talker etc. Reducing that down to 4 active skills and two passives is a straight downgrade imo.

 

[Prussian Havoc]

To be fair, I don't recall the original Bloodlines having a huge amount of character customization beyond clan and the male/female option. I just want to be able to pick from all the Camarilla clans in the rule book.

I agree. Excellent points. :bow:

TCR is doing a helluva great job working from whole cloth rather than spending thrice or more as long trying to weed through abandon code in styles, shorthand, processes and routine practices not their own.

This is now TCR’s Bloodlines 2.

It is no longer vapoeware.

It’s also not wishes…

…nor hopes…

…or should have’s, would have’s or could have’s.

Bloodlines 2 is longer hamstrung by those who couldn’t make it work and never did manage to give us a game.


This is TCR’s Bloodlines 2… and they are doing a masterful job of communicating precisely what it will be… for those who take the time to pay attention.

I enjoy each update and am glad that the worst is behind us. Our long bright journey through the sunlit and joyous world of mortal beings will be at an end in the fullness of time…


…Seattle and Bloodlines 2 awaits us

 

[RagnarokCzD]

they are doing a masterful job of communicating precisely what it will be…

Oh yes ... failure.