>>3866090
Bait aside, I haven't played the full game, currently at the quest to get Benny’s black book from the police department, but here’s my pros and cons so far

PROS
>The OST is actually pretty neat & atmospheric, it makes me sad it hasn’t been released yet
>Male Phyre’s voice makes my loins tingle & rumbles smoothly in headphones
>The sound design/mixing in general is pretty stellar
>Powers that I’ve tried so far feel pretty cool; I chose Toreador & charming the tanky bruisers in NPC groups to take out the small fry while being whittled down themselves was fun
>City atmosphere has a nice balance of coziness without losing the whole “cold/dreary” aesthetic
>Acting normal on the ground level vs. being a full vampire menace across the rooftops is a pretty inspired gameplay choice
>Story has been mostly engaging thus far
>Performance has not been as bad (playing on PS5) as I’ve heard. Only had one outright crash & biggest stutters are when leaving Lou’s hotel/Silky’s bar, otherwise it’s pretty smooth
>All the main NPCs feel distinct & fairly interesting (except Ryong & Tolly)
>Graphics in general are nice, especially with the VFX of powers

CONS
>No blood/mana system to use your powers at will (like oh, idk…Bloodlines 1) & being able to just slot whatever quartet of powers you want is dumb
>Emptying the mag of a gun in 1 use instead of individual shots is really dumb
>No lock-on mechanic for when group fights get hectic is practically retard-tier dumb
>No dedicated save system is BEYOND retard-tier dumb & truly worth jail time
>Phyre’s cosmetic options are pretty lackluster
>Turning the “masquerade” into a stealth meter with almost no consequence is crazy
>No hunger/frenzy system kills the VTM fantasy
>Fabien’s gameplay sections are truly mind-numbing and make me yearn for death
>Writing is borderline nonsensical in tone
>Primogen's quests they give are below fallout 4 tier
>Fallout 4 dialogue trees feel shitty, more news at 11

>>3866099

Fabiens crap is boring, as you stated.

No weapons.

No stats.

No inventory.

No real dialog options like in the first game- and that's key.

The whole game feels like it was made by someone that may have played the first one as a homework assignment, then spewed out their assignment last minute. There's absolutely no understanding of what made the first game so good. No love at all. Just a gloss over, and sent off to customers.

That last part is what I've been thinking the most about since finishing. I mean, I was there 21 years ago in November. It came out 1 week before HL2, and forced us to make a steam account to play. I was there.

It was janky and didn't have a lot of options for looks. Male or female. Clan. But we had outfits which acted as armor. We had stats we could improve. We had builds.

The dialog was absolutely the best- always offering choices based upon your clan, or even different understanding of what was said based on clan.

The environments in the first game, while small by today's standards, varied. For bloodlines 2 it was just static- Seattle snow at night.

First game has different havens. New game just one. Only 1 radio is listen to, and it's not even in your haven. Wtf. Little things.

The persons making this game obviously felt the understood the assignment, but failed miserably. Because they simply didn't care and this did not understand why the first game was so cherished by so many. The game feels like it was made under pressure and tedium.

>>3866410
Idk, its clear like you said that TCR was forced to rush out "a VTMB game" by the leeches at Paradox. And maybe my standards have loosened over the years but I don't...hate it? Dishonored is one of my favorite franchises & the gameplay with Phyre reminds me a LOT of that. Especially playing as a Toreador with Blink.

I agree with most of your gripes - but most of that I would argue, like a lot of discourse has pointed out, comes from marketing this as a sequel to Bloodlines when it really has nothing to do with the first game, from a mechanics/story standpoint or otherwise. I think if Paradox hadn't been greedy to cash in on their IP purchase & given this another year of development it would've been a pretty serviceable AA title. They clearly wanted to make some kind of immersive sim type of game, but everything about it screams "rushed job" and for every positive there's two negatives. I don't know. I don't hate it, and I'm kind of interested to see what the DLC updates will bring but...yeah, it's not as deep RPG with memorable moments as the original. Still has the bones of a good game if they had time/weren't The Chinese Room.

>>3866099
>Bait aside
Not him, but I don't even think it's bait. It has literally no customization. There's no items, no stats, no dialogue choices and you're an on rails protagonist. You need at least 1 axis of customization to be an RPG. Picking a few different hair/outfit options doesn't count.

>>3866569
>Idk, its clear like you said that TCR was forced to rush out "a VTMB game" by the leeches at Paradox

What are you talking about lol? Sure the version from Hardsuit labs was janky, but it was an actual RPG. TCR literally could have just used this version and improved it a bit. Has actual stats, stuff like lockpicking, weapons, dialogue choices and throws in the shitty dancing and stuff from the original. They spent 2 years removing features from a game and turning it into a walking simulator with a basic story. I wouldn't call that rushed at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xRCZePzzqM

>>3866090
That's anti-troonpiremitic or something

>>3866594
>TCR literally could have just used this version and improved it
That is not how game dev works.
You also forget that the game and production was such a shitshow they had to drop it entirely and go with a different studio. Also what you see in a small vertical slice is NOT what a game is.

>>3866090
This image doesn't do anything to tell me whether the game is an RPG or not.

>>3866090
Last time I checked it on Steam Brutal Legend still didn't have Strategy or RTS-related tags upfront. VTMB2 is called RPG only because it's "le long-awaited sequel" to an actual RPG. It's not an RPG and neither it's a real sequel nor it is long-awaited, since I believe most people interested in its name moved on. I mean, I wasn't even interested in the idea of it when I saw the first trailer to a game that never came out. The one with androgynous hobo on the bridge doing some strange SPIRITUAL LEADER shit with grabbing the POV cameraman's hands or whatever he was doing.

>>3866588
NTA but I think it's bait because OP is posting about a non-RPG on the RPG board.

>>3868385
Yeah, wasn't there a story about how the publishers one year called on some videogame industry veteran director who is known for taking a pile of unfinished mess, the unmotivated devs and beating the mess into something resembling a finished product? Not a masterpiece or anything, just an actual game? The guy took a look at the devs and what they hadn't made in all that time, washed off his hands and quit right there.