Playing "Advocatus Diaboli" - Was March 2020 ever the intended release date?

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The video game community is a very fickle bunch, & quickly turn on devs who promise something-however small-then fail to deliver.
You mean something like importance of thinblood discipline choice bcs traversal uses? :D

Even if its only a very small risk that something they reveal now doesn't make it into the Beta, why take that risk?
On the other hand, there is allways the way, and we seen it few times in clan reveal videos, where Florian did tell us that "this is subject of debate for now and we (meaning they ofc, seem odd to write it differently) are not yet decided how this will be in the end".
Much better reaction, than silence ... since every reaction is better than silence. :D

ask if there will be a public demo to download for free
As far as i know ... there will not be a demo.
Since last year E3, where was anounced the demo, and then canceled ... they let us know that creating (or polish if you wish) a demo is eating time, that they want to spend for game itself.
I was asking about it multiple times, here, on facebook, twitter, and discrord ... or maybe i heared it around here somewhere ... dunno for sure.

Especialy now, when they can just show us in stream how the game look after another half year of work, there is even less reasons for demo, since the employee that will show us the game, can easily play full game with doing just that much as s/he is allowed. :)
 
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look marc is right and really why disagree with him?

That is the whole point of playing the devil's advocate...

Quote:
"In common parlance, the phrase playing devil's advocate describes a situation where someone, given a certain point of view, takes a position they do not necessarily agree with (or simply an alternative position from the accepted norm), for the sake of debate or to explore the thought further using a valid reasoning that both disagrees with the subject at hand and proves their own point valid."
 
As far as i know ... there will not be a demo.
Since last year E3, where was anounced the demo, and then canceled ... they let us know that creating (or polish if you wish) a demo is eating time, that they want to spend for game itself.
I was asking about it multiple times, here, on facebook, twitter, and discrord ... or maybe i heared it around here somewhere ... dunno for sure.

Especialy now, when they can just show us in stream how the game look after another half year of work, there is even less reasons for demo, since the employee that will show us the game, can easily play full game with doing just that much as s/he is allowed. :)

There was a demo at last year's E3.......it wasn't directly playable, but journos could play it indirectly by giving the Paradox Rep instructions.


Ouch, I never realised how long Elif's neck was back in this pre-alpha, until I saw her more recent character model ;).
 
There was a demo at last year's E3.......it wasn't directly playable, but journos could play it indirectly by giving the Paradox Rep instructions.
Maybe that was the problem ... dunno.
I remember that there was pretty big debate around some event (not sure if PDX con, or E3) discusing that there was suppose to be playable demo, but there wasnt ... maybe it was ment like this.


Ouch, I never realised how long Elif's neck was back in this pre-alpha, until I saw her more recent character model ;).
You mean that dancing trailer?
Bcs im pretty sure that Elif's scenes was more like cinematic, than actual gameplay footage. :-/

Meaning her neck will probably be the same. :D
 
Maybe that was the problem ... dunno.
I remember that there was pretty big debate around some event (not sure if PDX con, or E3) discusing that there was suppose to be playable demo, but there wasnt ... maybe it was ment like this.



You mean that dancing trailer?
Bcs im pretty sure that Elif's scenes was more like cinematic, than actual gameplay footage. :-/

Meaning her neck will probably be the same. :D
I doubt that very much.
 
Well ... another WoD news is gone ... and still not even single word about E3 event. :-/
I start to feel like we dont get anything there. :(
 
Honestly? Dont know, dont care ...
I believe there is little reason to every time say "that online event that will be happening instead of e3" -_-
 
We will have to wait for couple of weeks more. There going to be several big announcements (legion, next cod) and after that they'll most probably reveal whether it will be this or next year. I think they are looking for best slot for fall / winter release. Also bloodlines is kinda niche game, so you can't drop it like rdr, gta or cod couple weeks before release, they are going for full reveal during big event.
 
Overall, I can’t imagine marketing was thrilled that they had to shut down the hype train like they did. You really want it to reach a crescendo going up to release, and Feb or March was the perfect target for that schedule. I think the game still has a good chance of doing just fine as they probably have a decent set of preorders. In the end, better to release the product right then have disappointed customers waiting for fixes and improvements, especially on a SP game. In the end, this almost certainly cost the studio some hype purchase money, but better a bloody nose than a knockout blow.
 
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We will have to wait for couple of weeks more.
It kinda start to feel more like months. :-/

I think they are looking for best slot for fall / winter release. Also bloodlines is kinda niche game, so you can't drop it like rdr, gta or cod couple weeks before release, they are going for full reveal during big event.
Yet, you are suppose to let fans look up for something ...
Like "hey there will be this event, and we WILL talk about game you are waiting for last 6 months and didnt hear anything from us, fear not, you will get something from us". Now it is more like "yes, there will be this event, yes we will be part of it ... that is all i can say".
And since they have more projects in development besides Bloodlines, we have no idea if there even is something to wait for ... and there is only certain amount of disapointment usual player can stand before he refund.

Note that they said that they dont want to repeat Bloodlines1 misstakes ...
And one of bigest misstake of Bloodlines1 was horrible marketing, i know that situation then was much more dificiult for publishing then how it looks now, but i just cant help the feeling that they are repeating this misstake. And even if this wasnt the worst, it still dont help at all. :-/

On the other hand ... the xbox trailer (come dance) was also not anounced in WoD News ...
Wich i also find to be incredible fail from marketing people. :-/
Especialy since all they need to do was allow Outstar to tell us, that there is another trailer coming up in few days. :-/

Overall, I can’t imagine marketing was thrilled that they had to shut down the hype train like they did.
Exactly.
 
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Overall, I can’t imagine marketing was thrilled that they had to shut down the hype train like they did. You really want it to reach a crescendo going up to release, and Feb or March was the perfect target for that schedule. I think the game still has a good chance of doing just fine as they probably have a decent set of preorders. In the end, better to release the product right then have disappointed customers waiting for fixes and improvements, especially on a SP game. In the end, this almost certainly cost the studio some hype purchase money, but better a bloody nose than a knockout blow.

I suspect that, had they known for certain that March 2020 was no longer viable back around E3 2019, then they would have probably held off on the Clan & Faction reveals until the latter half of 2020.
 
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It kinda start to feel more like months. :-/


Yet, you are suppose to let fans look up for something ...
Like "hey there will be this event, and we WILL talk about game you are waiting for last 6 months and didnt hear anything from us, fear not, you will get something from us". Now it is more like "yes, there will be this event, yes we will be part of it ... that is all i can say".
And since they have more projects in development besides Bloodlines, we have no idea if there even is something to wait for ... and there is only certain amount of disapointment usual player can stand before he refund.

Note that they said that they dont want to repeat Bloodlines1 misstakes ...
And one of bigest misstake of Bloodlines1 was horrible marketing, i know that situation then was much more dificiult for publishing then how it looks now, but i just cant help the feeling that they are repeating this misstake. And even if this wasnt the worst, it still dont help at all. :-/

On the other hand ... the xbox trailer (come dance) was also not anounced in WoD News ...
Wich i also find to be incredible fail from marketing people. :-/
Especialy since all they need to do was allow Outstar to tell us, that there is another trailer coming up in few days. :-/


Exactly.

Dev Diaries are usually around the last week of a month, or the first week of the next month. Now I know we all want one that reveals something massive......but I am happy to hear anything at all.

Interesting point, though. The X Box Series X trailer had an age rating on it. That almost always means that the ESRB/PEGI boards must have seen a fairly feature complete version of the game, as that is the only way a rating can be given (I only know this because CP2077 had a similar issue recently). That suggests to me that the Alpha must have been pretty close to completion as far back as early May. That definitely makes me hopeful.

One last thing......what I am finding very useful to take my mind off the lack of solid news, is to just play a LOT of other games. I am currently flitting between so many games right now that I barely have any time to think about Bloodlines 2 or CP2077 ;).
 
Honestly? Dont know, dont care ...
I believe there is little reason to every time say "that online event that will be happening instead of e3" -_-

Pretty sure that the ESA is not doing an online version of E3. However, I do know that Geoff Keighley & IGN are both doing their own online replacements for E3......only these events are going to be staged over weeks to months, not merely a few days.
 
Dev Diaries are usually around the last week of a month, or the first week of the next month. Now I know we all want one that reveals something massive......but I am happy to hear anything at all.
Personaly i dont need anything "massive" just something that is related to game, something that will tell me some bits and pieces at last ...
I know that i tell that multiple times here, and probable will few times ... but that last one contained litteraly nothing related to game, except that they are working from home ... as most of us (who can ofc) do for last two months. And as much as i want to, i just cant call that info "new". :-/

It seems to me like whole marketing team just felt into torpor, or was fired ... bcs we get new trailer, not even single word about it before it was released ... we get new websites, still not even single word before ... both things was ofc commented by Outstar in WoDNews, but only after that happened (wich seem too late to me). :-/

Ofc i also wait for next DD, and hope for something interesting ... we all do.
Ofc i also wait for that "E3 but not exactly E3" event ... some of us do.
I just cant help the feeling that this dev>fan comunication is ... well, not optimal at least.

One last thing......what I am finding very useful to take my mind off the lack of solid news, is to just play a LOT of other games. I am currently flitting between so many games right now that I barely have any time to think about Bloodlines 2 or CP2077 ;).
Well i gues none of us is sitting here on forum, refreshing site every second, and hoping something new will appear. :-/

Pretty sure that the ESA is not doing an online version of E3. However, I do know that Geoff Keighley & IGN are both doing their own online replacements for E3......only these events are going to be staged over weeks to months, not merely a few days.
Hey i dont know about that, honestly i dont even know what ESA is. :D
I was talking about this:
especialy about:
The Guerrilla Collective will feature developers from companies such as Rebellion, Raw Fury, Paradox Interactive, Larian Studios, Funcom, Versus Evil, ZA/UM, Coffee Stain Studios, 11 bit Studios, and Humble Publishing. On June 6 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET...

//edit:
There is some online event about Crusader Kings 2 at June 2 ...
So spart of hope was lighted in my heart, bcs i find it unusual, that they will do two different online casts about same game in 4 days wide. :-/
 
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I suspect that, had they known for certain that March 2020 was no longer viable back around E3 2019, then they would have probably held off on the Clan & Faction reveals until the latter half of 2020.

but you all need to remember if BL2 released in march this year then it would have made the same mistake as BL1 and the result would be the same like it..thats the main reason for there delay..(that and competition with other gaming studios) but with e3 taking place online (if it is june 6th) we'll finally get to see BL2..trailer (and maybe some gameplay) and hopefully a release date..the game is suppose to release this year and if BL2 is shown off june 6 on the online event id imagine the release would be july..reason why i think that is if BL2 pops up then that can only mean it finished..idk is that how it works? once a game is revealed with a release date that mean its finished or its finished and they check the game to see if everything is ok before they release it on the release date given?
 
My guess is that due to several factors, its taking far longer than initially expected.

- First is "Hardsuit Labs" themselves.. they have been cranking out mediocre unspectacular games for 20 years. "Bloodlines 2", if they are planning on even doing it halfway justice, is a completely different beast that requires so much more in.. well.. pretty much every faucet of the game. They've never done anything even approaching this scale, and that takes time. Short cuts and quality usually does not mesh well. I am guessing that they have not been able to plan properly for this simply due to inexperience of games on this scale.

- Second, Paradox might, for whatever reason, have spectacularly miscalculated the release window. This would not be the first time, they did the same with... uuuh.. Hearts of Iron 4 if i recall ? (Johan proudly announced the release date and behind him you could see the lead developer (podcat) roll his eyes).. and the game wasn't released until at least a year beyond its initial release date.
 
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but you all need to remember if BL2 released in march this year then it would have made the same mistake as BL1 and the result would be the same like it..thats the main reason for there delay..(that and competition with other gaming studios) but with e3 taking place online (if it is june 6th) we'll finally get to see BL2..trailer (and maybe some gameplay) and hopefully a release date..the game is suppose to release this year and if BL2 is shown off june 6 on the online event id imagine the release would be july..reason why i think that is if BL2 pops up then that can only mean it finished..idk is that how it works? once a game is revealed with a release date that mean its finished or its finished and they check the game to see if everything is ok before they release it on the release date given?

Sorry, I think you might be misconstruing what I am trying to say. My point is that, if the OP's "Devils Advocate" argument were real, then I think the Developers would have spaced out the Clan & Faction reveals over a much longer time-frame. The fact they didn't really confirms that they genuinely believed a March date was achievable, back in May 2019. With the benefit of Hindsight, I am extremely glad that both the Devs & the Publishers decided to give the game more room to breathe.
 
I recently speculated with my friend about this ...
And we come with a little different outcome.

Since Bloodlines2 had massive marketing campaign last year, and it was really great one heading to March ... we believe that game was originaly ment for that date, but it should have ben, well lets say "not A-rated game" but more like lower.
Specificly something like we seen on demo, maybe not exactly that, but something simmilar.
Since we both believe that this game have one main purpose only and it is to find out how huge fanbase this universe have, and if there is some chance for Bloodlines 3 ...
We believe that there was plan to create "awerage game", and see what will happen, after all many people (us included) still play Bloodlines1 despite its graphic and find it awesome ... but number of preorders was big enough, and also feedback from demo was negative enough, for someone to realize that this game is worth futher investiment and create, dunno the right word, but lets say "abowe awerage game".

And it also reflect current marketing situation ...
They allready showed us everything they was planning to show, last year.
Now there is silence, bcs no one knows for sure what else they can show ... sadly they probably didnt read What we know so far, where Vahouth writed together some suggestions. :(
 
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I recently speculated with my friend about this ...
And we come with a little different outcome.

Since Bloodlines2 had massive marketing campaign last year, and it was really great one heading to March ... we believe that game was originaly ment for that date, but it should have ben, well lets say "not A-rated game" but more like lower.
Specificly something like we seen on demo, maybe not exactly that, but something simmilar.
Since we both believe that this game have one main purpose only and it is to find out how huge fanbase this universe have, and if there is some chance for Bloodlines 3 ...
We believe that there was plan to create "awerage game", and see what will happen, after all many people (us included) still play Bloodlines1 despite its graphic and find it awesome ... but number of preorders was big enough, and also feedback from demo was negative enough, for someone to realize that this game is worth futher investiment and create, dunno the right word, but lets say "abowe awerage game".

That's a pretty good hypothesis. However, I feel that part of the delays are to coincide with next-gen. Take Cyberpunk 2077 for instance. The game is delayed to November 19. And just on the dot, PS5's leaked release date is November 20 for North America. I have to say I'd be damm curious as to what is the eventual release date Bloodlines 2 will be settling on.
 
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