If you would took out all of the sauce, pasta and cheese out of spaghetti would it still be a spaghetti?
What made first Bloodlines so great was not the combat, which was clunky at best, not the enviorment design which was an illuminated box in a void, not even the grand intrigue.. it was the writing of characters. From the simplest bum sleeping the cold night under uncaring sky, to pornography seller, exotic dancer that dreamt of being a vampire hunter, impoverished factory worker that now unwillingly lead the rebel movement, to the prince in the ivory tower that cried every night from the weight of his own ambition, every character had their unique voice and felt in place in the niche they occupied and delievered sometimes one of the funniest and propably bone chilling lines by today's standards. You could feel that their absence would make a difference, because they were interwoven with the place they came from. And they were absurd, and wild, and unapologetic. This game was not loved because it was perfect, it was mended and put together throughout the years like leprosy patient suffering from memory loss, just because people believed in it so much.
Now years later, after many promises and shining like a beacon on the stormy sea of development came Bloodlines 2. It was one thing first, then the other, no one could agree what it was supposed to be, they only knew what name it should have. And that name carried history. Did you know that Beckett was supposed to be in this game? That Santa Monica ferris wheel was shining in the background like some worn out polaroid? That the Sofia was supposed to be a completely different clan? Anyways.. This time problem was not rushed artistic process or unfortunate launch, that swallowed the first like a Leviathan. There was no coherent vision behind it.
So I landed in Seattle on a cold december night, stiff and grumpy, my character with the same amount of comprehension as I had as a player. The interiors were nice, appropriately worn down and decrepit. I admired the light, the character models, and early chaos of encountering a hostile welcoming party with additional voice in my head. I liked that voice, we even became friends.
The first crack appeared when I had to complete a sequence and game showed me that any other approach was a failure. I like to pay for my mistakes with my own cash, not with loading screen with "you are in the game and you failed" message turning back time so I don't trip on my own shoelaces. If I wanted to borrow safety I would buy an insurance. So no alternative paths, no at least 4 different ways to approach. Do not touch the grass, we worked on it.
The importance of dialogue was downplayed significantly, you could feel that every choice was tailored to yield very concrete result, and looking back your goal was to be liked. Preferably by the one party you wanted to win over. How does that fare for roleplay? Choose your favourite cup in this gambling, and forget about adding your own stakes.
The character were replaceable. Everyone seemed to live very isolated lives, that means if the Nomad had not interracted with them, there was minimal chance that they would play any significant role in the very city they lived in. Characters of course are not real, and they do not wander off on their own so it's a storytellers job to give the illusion that they would leave the impression on the place they live in. They did something before, they succeeded/failed and now have to deal with the consequences with or without you. This does not have to be a world saving quest, they might have just lost the wallet and trigger the whole "you shouldn't be even alive" thing. Those vampires live long if they are smart. They do small things. Story doesn't start with you.
The biggest offenders were combat system, which very quickly turned into competition of how many punches you can do in 10 minutes, as the alternatives were limited. The side quests which were as exciting as uber ride with driver that was an autopilot. And the most invisible one being Masquerade system going from zero to one hundred very quick with no Humanity involved. I can assassinate 5 people without batting an eye, and do not have to face my own inner discoveries? All of them had easy solution, all of them easy to forget.
Have I mentioned there's not much interacting with humans beside feeding? There's also that. Vampire is humanity's shadow, and here we are not even looking at the light.
Cannot say much about the plot, since they completely divorced from the Gehenna panic from the first game and newly formed threat of thin-blood vampires slipping out of the control of powerful elders. Seattle felt like an island of Doctor Moreau. Somehow cut off so much that it allowed things to grow and twist in it's underbelly. You could feel the threat only in specific places, and that threat didn't ripple into the public until it inevitably boiled over. Life went as usual. (no spoilers)
They also shouldn't weight the final outcome of the game on singular decision. Unknowingly choosing one will lock you out of 5 other endings. The Sheriff and Toreador's Primogen questlines actually suffered from the fact that they were expanded upon in the DLC.
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