Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is finally launching on October 21, and yes you'll technically be able to play as a Malkavian vampire
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is finally launching on October 21, and yes you'll technically be able to play as a Malkavian vampire

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is finally launching on October 21, and yes you'll technically be able to play as a Malkavian vampire

Lasombra and Toreador being locked behind DLC doesnt exactly spark my confidence
I don't have much faith in this for a LOT of reasons, but that aspect isn't necessarily bad.
Bloodlines 1 was... interesting. The problem is that the coolest clan to play as was Malk but Malk also only really "worked" as a second or even third playthrough when you can understand all the fourth wall breakages. In a world where the budget of the game would line it up with (let's say) a 60 USD price point but it was actually 50+DLC=60?
That actually seems perfect to me. The people with a lot of faith/hype pay full price. The rest of us get the game at a discount and then buy the DLC on sale in a few months.
That said? I am not familiar with Lasombra but Toreador are basically the charisma clan and... most CRPGs are best played as a charisma/diplomacy build anyway. So... yeah. Feels kind of bad?
Like, I will always think locking NG+ behind DLC (hi Sega/RGG) is a ridiculously shit feeling thing to do. But also? It sort of makes sense that the people who would even care about NG+ are the ones who are really into the game.
But I think a better example is how a lot of ARPGs will wait for the DLC to add the advanced classes that either require a lot more piano playing or who are just a radically different design philosophy (often minion masters) that the game just wasn't actually built around.
Which I think gets back to Day One DLC always feeling bad but actually making a lot of sense if you understand the game dev lifecycle. Like, I'll never like it but I also acknowledge there isn't a lot of value in "We finished up the DLC during QA but aren't going to sell it for a month so that people don't get pisssy"
Unfortunately, in Australia the base game is $85, and the version that includes Lasombra and Toreador is $130. That makes the DLC almost as much as an entire new game, not merely a DLC.
But yeah, I agree that if the DLC was added to a game that was receiving otherwise good press, and if it didn't feel like they had just lopped off something that most players are going to want, I could maybe look past it. But this really feels like pouring salt into the already gaping wound.