Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 developer diary showcases new fight, weapons, and problem settings

It’s been a couple of 12 months since we final talked about fight in Dev Diary 7, so the staff have put this text collectively to offer you a deeper dive into the issues you are able to do as you go bump within the evening. 

Brawling

When blades come out in BL2, except you have taken additional care to isolate your prey, you are going to be outnumbered. Whereas a number of self-discipline skills will help you escape or swiftly resolve a combat, you will must do a little bit of brawling when these choices aren’t accessible. Spacing is essential – your primary assaults could make brief work of people however are dangerous whenever you’re getting sliced other than all sides.

The essential assaults get used rather a lot, so throughout their improvement, I used to be eager to make time to offer every clan their very own set. Banu is sharp and quick, Ventrue agency and exact, Tremere has a bit extra attain to allow you to preserve distance, and Brujah, effectively, punches stuff. It’s a small factor, however I discovered it actually helped folks get into the perspective and poise of their present clan.

Dashing is a capability Phyre can use no matter clan and is essential for sustaining distance. It could actually even be used aggressively – dashing forwards right into a strike proper because it hits will break your opponent’s guard and depart them open for a counterattack, although that is greatest suited to one-on-one conditions.

Kicks are one other great tool and are nice for dealing with teams – achieved by attacking straight after a touch, you possibly can decide which kind you utilize together with your motion course. A giant swinging roundhouse can stumble a big group however will not create a lot house – whereas a backkick can ship a single enemy hovering away. Each you and your opponents can be ready to withstand assaults used repeatedly, so you will wish to combine issues up a bit to remain on high.

Whereas kicks are nice for getting opponents away from you, telekinesis is ideal for bringing them shut. You should utilize it to yank a selected goal in for a follow-up or a feed, although think about that Kindred and their ghouls could also be anticipating this.

Telekinesis may also earn a fast kill when used to drag an unsuspecting enemy close to the sting of a rooftop, inflicting them to fall to their loss of life on the road under.

Breakable objects, like bottles and ashtrays, may be grabbed utilizing telekinesis after which thrown to create a noise, distracting enemies. In case you actually wish to create a bang, decide up and throw an explosive, equivalent to a gasoline tank – a great way to harm a number of enemies without delay.

Telekinesis can be used to select up weapons from the lifeless, from knives to sniper rifles.  A objective of Phyre’s fight design was to be quick and fluid, so we included the usage of Telekinesis with weapon use to keep up velocity and circulation – you possibly can kill one opponent, dump their gun’s journal right into a second, and toss it at a 3rd to open them up on your subsequent assault.

This may be much more helpful when utilized in tandem with self-discipline skills. For instance, Tremere’s explosive blood curse may be triggered from a distance with a well-placed shot, and Brujah’s taunt (when used with mass manipulation) can encourage an entire staff of opponents to drop their weapons, permitting you to show them on their house owners.

And, after all, the larger they arrive, the tougher they fall- When combating enemies outfitted with explosives, telekinesis can result in an much more devastating turnabout.

– Senior Recreation Designer Max Bottomley

Elixirs

Our setting of Seattle options a big inhabitants of Skinny-bloods: weaker vampires who use alchemy to create highly effective “elixirs” that give entry to the vampiric powers they in any other case couldn’t. As you discover, yow will discover and gather these elixirs to offer you an edge in fight or assist stage the taking part in subject in a tough boss encounter.

The 4 elixirs Phyre can use are:

• Mending Elixir – Immediately restores well being, permitting you to keep away from closing loss of life.

• Blood Elixir – Immediately restores blood pips on your skills, nice for persevering with capability combo chains.

• Potence Elixir – Quickly boosts your energy, growing the injury attributable to your assaults.

• Fortitude Elixir – Quickly turns your pores and skin to marble, decreasing the injury you’re taking from assaults.

Capability Combos

Having just lately began a playthrough to check out my favorite Clan Tremere, I’ve loved the sense of house management a well-planned combat may give you. Beginning out by putting Recall up excessive in order that I can teleport away if it will get out of hand.

Later within the recreation, mixing Disciplines from completely different Clans could make combating extra highly effective Kindred a lot simpler. There are plenty of helpful combos that Ventrue’s Mass Manipulation can present to handle many combatants without delay. The impact of Banu Haqim’s Mute on a gaggle can ensure that the battle will go unnoticed by close by enemies. And it’s not simply your personal powers however the atmosphere that you just’ll have to watch, serving to you discover instruments which might be left mendacity round.

Not all enemies will go down that simply, and I’m actually excited for you all to find out how a lot hassle you’ll be in whenever you face off towards your first Kindred foe. Their powers can shortly make well-planned fights go mistaken if you happen to’re knocked over and surrounded.

Utilizing Cauldron of Blood to attract everybody to the screaming sufferer after which selecting one in every of them to blow up with Blood Curse can blast plenty of the gang away earlier than I even get near the combating. And when it does go mistaken, because it all the time will finally, a fast Blood Curse on the ghoul chasing you possibly can function a really helpful projectile if you happen to kick them into the folks behind them.

No one’s invulnerable to an exploding gasoline bottle telekinetically thrown at their head, they usually’re simpler to goal at whenever you’ve locked them in place with Mass Manipulation. If every thing else fails then you possibly can simply use Possession on a ghoul and make them bounce someplace no one will discover them…

– Josh Mathews, TCR Group Supervisor

Issue Settings

Whereas problem settings are an ordinary characteristic for motion RPGs, we thought we’d point out that they’re included as a result of we recognise our viewers’s different preferences for challenges and attempt to accommodate them with fastidiously designed problem settings. 

For gamers primarily curious about narrative and exploration, Straightforward mode ensures a clean expertise by making fight encounters extra manageable.

Regular mode represents the meant stability of the sport, difficult gamers to adapt and use a mixture of stealth, fight, skills, and elixirs to succeed.

For these looking for a extra formidable problem, Laborious mode delivers an Elder Vampire expertise, demanding mastery of all of your abilities and techniques.

– Mission Design Director Jey Hicks