Bloodlines 2 vs Bloodlines 1 Quality Checklist: - Story, Music: Similar Quality. Plot points remaining unexplained and mysterious just enough to keep you replaying to figure it out using the very discreet clues left all over the game. Pull out your tinfoil hats, if you're into detective work! - Graphics: Obviously far better, good optimization (my specs say I should run this on Low, I'm blasting at full Ultra with 40 fps in the sluggiest fight scenes at 1080p) - Choices Matter: Similar. Bloodlines 1 locked choices behind certain power and skill levels. Bloodlines 2 has no such restriction. The only specific lines you will not see are those of other clans, i.e., A Toreador can't pick the Tremere line. - RPG: Bloodlines 1 is by far a better RPG in the sense that it does follow the tabletop system. Bloodlines 2 does use an unlock system and a system to buy powers to, but it is restricted to powers. Some RPGs go the way of referring skills, proficiencies and dice rolls a lot. Bloodlines 2 went the way of narrative first with customization sprinkled in. Key difference as well, Bloodlines 1 had you play a new vampire, so the usual learning curve makes sense. Bloodlines 2 puts you in the shoes of basically a max level character. You are busted, and everybody knows it. The game does bring you to heel with a key element of the plot so that you are not TOO overpowered for everyone else though. It wouldn't be that funny if you could just sneeze on bosses to give them final death, yes? - Post-Launch Support: Bloodlines 1 didn't get much in the way of support historically post launch due to Troika Games shutting down. But the fans picked it up and are still maintaining an excellent community patch. The Chinese Room has so far been on top of criticism, and already released additional content at this time (Halloween themed customizations) as long with the classical bugfixes. - Launch State: Bloodlines 2 launches in a very good state by modern standards.
First off, my experience of the World of Darkness is limited to the original 2004 game Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines. I did not keep up with news, so you may consider this review relatively unbiased, but also limited in that while I can gauge if the game is worthy of the name "Bloodlines 2", I cannot really measure it against the rest of the existing setting of the World of Darkness. It is also worth noting I never wrote a review for a game, because I never felt compelled to do so. Having not found a review that mirrors my impressions, here is mine. Last thing, I typically only play old games. I played very few titles released after 2012. With that out of the way, the game is truly faithful in every way, good and bad, to its predecessor. The writing is excellent, the story full of memorable characters, and seemingly impactful dialogue choices, and in line with what the original offered - if streamlined. Gone the days of requiring a given level in Seduction, Intimidation, Persuasion to get an option to show, and work. Here, what dictates the choices you have access to, are your previous choices and clan. The game does a good job at keeping track of these choices for the most part. I was surprised a couple of times at how a character reacted seemingly a bit at odds with our past relationship, but the original (even patched) did have a few such surprises as well. The original bloodlines weaved intrigue cleverly, and playing it the first time was a memorable experience in that you kept wondering where this was all going to go, and how you would solve the game's plot. Bloodlines 2 delivered in that, I experienced precisely the same feeling over the last few days. I just finished the game. My mind was blown - it was a rare case of me not finding the right motive and culprits in an intrigue. In terms of length, I would say it is possibly a little longer to beat than its predecessor. My most recent playthrough of Bloodlines took me 30 hours, which is roughly what it took me to beat Bloodlines 2. In both cases, I did all the side content. Bloodlines had a lot of meaningful subplots. Bloodlines 2 has side quests as well, but I would say they are less memorable overall. They do connect into subplots, but they are not very varied in their objectives: kill X, deliver Y. It might have felt a bit repetitive to me. The combat was sincerely not my cup of tea, at first. To start with, I had issues just getting the controls to work, keybinds were not working right for the first two days. I have the distinct feeling this would be far better played on a controler. I played on the hardest difficulty and the challenge was decent, but my number one cause for death was my unresponsive controls, or odd reflexes. For instance, running/walking is a toggle. I have the unfortunate reflex of pressing the run button to run, and while that does nothing in most cases, that reflex truly was my worst enemy for the final boss fight. Combat is heavily dodge based, and is fairly simple, once you got the grasp of it. I sincerely resented at first the inability of the character to do like Bloodlines' fledgeling and just buy weapons, ammunition, and use them. In this game, you fight barehanded, always. You supplement that with vampiric powers, chief among them telekinesis, which lets you pick up the weapons of fallen opponents and use them against the rest of their fellows. I felt the combat got easier as the game progressed as my Phyre grew stronger, but a decent bit of that is due to later enemies using automated weapons and explosives which can be turned against them to devastating effect. Combat offers some flexibility in that you can rely on stealth or just raw power to solve most encounters. Your powers cost blood points, like in the original, the key difference is that you do not have a blood pool anymore. You have a health bar that refills partially as you feed - and in this installment you needn't worry about draining your targets dry - if it is not an opponent/cop, you won't - and powers that each have their own blood points. You can feed from critically damaged opponents. Regarding powers, you select a clan early on in the game. I suggest you base your selection on roleplay value as I did. I chose to play a Banu Haqim, because that sounded in line with the character I had in mind. Ironically, from the name of the character, to the story of the character, I almost feel like the protagonist was written with my usual roleplay character my tabletop games in mind. Made me feel right at home! In the original Bloodlines, Clan dictated access to two powers/families of powers. In this sequel, you can custom tailor your character using abilities from all six bloodlines. Not at first, of course, but over time, and that's what I did. The only thing you cannot change is your clan's passive. Later on, you can buy powers from every other clan and swap them at will if you wish. The final ability is a second clan passive, but these are cumulative. You can have all six passives active at the same time, which increases your power level significantly. Especially the one that lets you feed without taking damage from mortals in combat. The graphics are quite good overall - the resolution on some textures is a bit low in my opinion even with maxed out settings. I'm the sort of person paying great attention to detail, it peeves me when I can't read labels well. The game's optimization (even with an optimization mod) isn't great however, and performance tends to degrade after playing a while, making the image less fluid. It is a bit uneven on that front, but not overly problematic. Character customization is limited, but expended in regards to the original. You can make cosmetic changes to your look. Seattle is atmospheric. A bit small I thought at first, but truth be told, Bloodlines wasn't a sprawling open world either. Navigating Seattle is interesting, quite reminiscent of navigating LA in my opinion. I don't feel Seattle will be as memorable to me, but still, it was quite good. The music is a curious blend. There are tracks from the original Bloodlines Soundtrack, weaved in with new ones, but the style is a bit different, and I don't feel they match overly well. The nostalgic in me appreciated the clever use of the soundtrack of the original however. On the downside, when you hit that performance decrease I mentioned earlier, particularly in the streets of Seattle, the music becomes stuttery, which is not a great experience. Bloodlines 2 did pay quite a few hommages to its predecessor, be it in little details found in the world, the radio hostess, or even dialogue that at times refer the events of the first game. There is also a nice cameo, although the voice of the character felt a bit strange to me - but then, 20 years have passed. I do not know if that was the same actor or not. I did say that the game was a worthy sequel also in a bad way. Bloodlines at launch had quite a few bugs, was rushed out the door, and was missing content. I can firmly say that Bloodlines 2 didn't launch with as many bugs for certain, I didn't encounter anything crippling, only had to reload once, and only encountered a character walking through the ground once. Encountered a building with no collision. The issues this time are more about missing basic features. You cannot manually save. It seems the game keeps all your saves, I am not quite sure, I did find a lot in a folder and they seem to cover all I did, but the game only shows the 15 latest. There are graphic options missing - some effects cannot be disabled without mods. There is no new game plus, I would have liked to keep gaining powers. I hate launchers, and you need one. No quest log or history. In conclusion: A proper sequel to the classic. More action oriented, but not at the expense of story quality, roleplay or impactful choices. If you liked the original and are not averse to fast combat, you may like it.
