How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

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BEAST
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How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

Post by BEAST »

I didn't get to play Blood 2 until some years recently. Although there's much of its gameplay that I appreciate, such as some of it weapon effects and character animations, it was a far cry from how I initially imagined it. For a long time, I had only imagined how the game played based upon the screenshots and reading the walkthroughs. I remember playing the demo before and after my dad installed a Voodoo Graphics Card into our Windows 95 or 98. I could hardly play it without cheats before the card, because it kept skipping. After the card, it looked beautiful from the smoke effects and smooth animation. Years later, when I got to play it in full, it didn't look as good as I remembered. For awhile, the GOG version didn't work so well until I got my recent computer, and I'm glad I could play it with the WSAD keys and the mouse.

I appreciate the texture work in the weapons and some of the levels, I appreciate some of the enemy design, I appreciate the fluid character animation, I appreciate some of the enemy behavior, and I appreciate some of the level design (some of Transfusion's maps which are borrowed from Blood 2 made me appreciate them a little more). There are even some aspects to the story which grabbed my interest, like the characters speculating whether the Reality Beta are in league with the Cabal or not. On the whole, it is rather unfinished, and doesn't live up to the original ambitious design for Blood 2.

I've been revisiting some of the old games from the late 90s, and it got me thinking about stuff that I would have expected from Blood 2. (My list also includes movies, too).

1. Quake 1:

When I first saw a shot of the Shikari, I somehow thought it resembled a Shambler. It then got me thinking that the game could be a fusion of Quake's gameplay and Blood's. I thought that the gameplay and the monsters would be Quake-like while the art-style remained the same.

2. Interstate '76

There's something about graphics and terrain of Interstate '76 that makes me think of Blood II. That game didn't have any in-game polygonal characters (except in cutscene) but when I look at the Texan terrain of the game, the Quake-like moving skies, and the car gameplay, I think: "Blood II could have used that."

3: Mechwarrior 2: 31st Century Combat

That classic Activision vehicular combat game which SHOGO would've topped if it had the time. I know it's a single textured game with old polygons, but it's still got an impressive futuristic atmosphere to it. The futuristic sound quality and the vast environments are what I'd want to see in Blood 2.




4. Half-Life 2

I totally see Half-Life 2 as being a more successful take on the plot which Blood 2 was going for. Both games involved main characters emerging in a future they are unfamiliar with in a gritty urban setting, deal with another freakish species from a different reality, face some familiar old foes in new forms, are allied with new characters whom the hero knew, and are up against a villain who is a mad CEO who think themselves prophets and use interdimensional critters on the city's people. I could see Gideon being obsessed with getting Caleb like Dr. Breen getting Freeman: following your progress and constantly taunting you without breaking into cutscene.

5. Star Wars: Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight

Levels like Double-Cross on Nar Shadda, The Lost Disc, Into the Dark Palace, Palace Escape, and Fuel Station Launch all have that scale which I expected from Blood 2's city levels. Especially in Double-Cross on Nar Shadda, in which you tread through a trashy futuristic city environment, and encounter thugs and innocent bystanders along the way. The way the levels are designed, and the player's choice in approaching civilians, was something I see fitting in Blood 2's setting.

6. No One Lives Forever

I've explained before why NOLF would fit with Blood 2 in another thread.

7. Batman, Batman Returns, Ghostbusters, and The Crow

I imagined Blood 2 as having settings, weapons, and enemies which paid homage to all those films.

8. The Matrix

This film which has a cyberpunk take on 1999 just makes me think of Blood for some reason. The Agents make me think of the Cultists, and the corporate buildings make me think they belong to Cabalco. (There was a time when I thought The Matrix was an alternate interpretation of Blood before I saw the movie, just because of the gothic atmosphere and Trinity saying "They're after you.")
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Re: How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

Post by dosgamer000 »

I agree with alot of what you say BEAST. The creepy interdimensional enemy angle of Quake 1 was present in Blood II. Some of the otherworld creature designs are truly surreal; I can compare the Shikari to the Vore or Fiend for example. Matrix-type cyberpunk motifs were there as well, at least in apperence. There is no virtual reality for Caleb to digitalize in but it would've been a great chance to "mind jack" Caleb and make him relive his terrible past. Although that happens in the Nightmare Levels so...heh. If I may, I have a few ideas about themes that could've easily fit B2 like a glove.

1. Dark City - Noir movie that features a bunch of trenchcoat and hat wearing bad guys called Strangers. Although the general architecture was better suited for B1, the idea of a revenant being hunted through the streets of a dystopia is cool.

2. Resident Evil 2 - Okay, this one is more like a game that "clicked" in my head with B2 when I reached the sewer levels of the second chapter (the one where the Cabal has bunkered themselves in to stop Caleb and you have to snipe them on the walkways.) The dreadful urban enviroments and occasional ambient music of RE2 seemingly exists in some parts of B2. One area, called "The Marshalling Yard" absolutely oozes darkness, solitude, and the track that played it this section is so cold. One could compare it to B2's "Bloat Ambience." Both games had great industrial enviroments as well.

3. Shadow Man - There is already a voodoo doll ingame and Shadow Man is all about voodoo. Deadside is basically the Otherworld in apperence but with a much stronger "chaotic" tone to it. There are bone gates, walls made of flesh, and lakes/waterfalls of blood. There are temples made to house sacred artifacts that the player must obtain to move forward. At the center is a "big black bloody tower" which is a massive base built to house the absolute most evil people of humanity. A cathedral to pain if you will and inside are torture chambers and other horrific stuff that I can easily imagine the Otherworld civilzation housing similar areas. There were already impalememt sites at the area leading to the final Gideon fight afterall.
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Re: How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

Post by N0t_mINe »

Thank you BEAST, thank you for reminding me of one of Blood2's few redeeming qualities, i.e. the strange ability of this game to inspire flights of imagination. I have lost that said ability quite recently, and while I doubt I'll get it back, you have still managed to remind how good the gothic fires of a brooding, tower filled, distopian tech world could feel against the darkness. I agree with your comment about HL2. With magical elements and a darker, more cinematic enviroment, a hint of b2 appears. Maybe we can thank Mike Desault for that as he joined up with Valve after leaving lith. Some of the games you mentioned I have never played, but the suggestion of larger, more open map set looks to be something of a theme in your post. Many of the films mentioned are also spot on.
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Re: How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

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@dosgamer000

I like your list. Now you got me thinking of the possibility of a cyberpunk Blood mod or level. It makes me wonder if a Blood-themed mod can be done for Deus Ex or System Shock 2. I would long to see the virtual reality aspect from System Shock 1 and The Lawnmower Man for Blood 2.
N0t_mINe wrote:Thank you BEAST, thank you for reminding me of one of Blood2's few redeeming qualities, i.e. the strange ability of this game to inspire flights of imagination. I have lost that said ability quite recently, and while I doubt I'll get it back, you have still managed to remind how good the gothic fires of a brooding, tower filled, distopian tech world could feel against the darkness. I agree with your comment about HL2. With magical elements and a darker, more cinematic enviroment, a hint of b2 appears. Maybe we can thank Mike Desault for that as he joined up with Valve after leaving lith. Some of the games you mentioned I have never played, but the suggestion of larger, more open map set looks to be something of a theme in your post. Many of the films mentioned are also spot on.
You're very much welcome, N0t-mINe. And thank you for appreciating my flights of imaginative fancy. It's been a rough time for me these past few months, and I'm gratified that I'm in good company with all you lovable bloodites. I still try to keep my imagination going, despite the grammatical errors and run-on sentences I make in the process.

I would like to elaborate a little why I listed Interstate '76. The ingame graphics remind me a little bit of Lithtech's engine. The cutscenes (which are rendered versions of the game's graphics) even looks like a Lithtech game with advanced character animations. Here are some examples of what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVZU0DC6AE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBnYm12EmMk
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Re: How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

Post by VGames »

I think Blood 2 would be great with a set up like the Left4Dead series. 4 players each playing one of the Chosen each with their own abilities. I know u can do this already with the coop maps that come with my mod, but I'm talking about a campaign designed just for what I'm talking about. Maps that force the chosen to work together. An upgrade system would be incorporated of course. I think that would be awesome. And big open maps too. With lots of paths.
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Re: How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

Post by dosgamer000 »

BEAST wrote:@dosgamer000

I like your list. Now you got me thinking of the possibility of a cyberpunk Blood mod or level. It makes me wonder if a Blood-themed mod can be done for Deus Ex or System Shock 2. I would long to see the virtual reality aspect from System Shock 1 and The Lawnmower Man for Blood 2.
N0t_mINe wrote:Thank you BEAST, thank you for reminding me of one of Blood2's few redeeming qualities, i.e. the strange ability of this game to inspire flights of imagination. I have lost that said ability quite recently, and while I doubt I'll get it back, you have still managed to remind how good the gothic fires of a brooding, tower filled, distopian tech world could feel against the darkness. I agree with your comment about HL2. With magical elements and a darker, more cinematic enviroment, a hint of b2 appears. Maybe we can thank Mike Desault for that as he joined up with Valve after leaving lith. Some of the games you mentioned I have never played, but the suggestion of larger, more open map set looks to be something of a theme in your post. Many of the films mentioned are also spot on.
You're very much welcome, N0t-mINe. And thank you for appreciating my flights of imaginative fancy. It's been a rough time for me these past few months, and I'm gratified that I'm in good company with all you lovable bloodites. I still try to keep my imagination going, despite the grammatical errors and run-on sentences I make in the process.

I would like to elaborate a little why I listed Interstate '76. The ingame graphics remind me a little bit of Lithtech's engine. The cutscenes (which are rendered versions of the game's graphics) even looks like a Lithtech game with advanced character animations. Here are some examples of what I mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVZU0DC6AE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBnYm12EmMk
I have no experience with Deus Ex or System Shock (gasp) so I cannot help you there. But I'm pretty sure System Shock was the game with the breakable weapons and I find the idea honestly dumb. It is good to see people still brainstorm about Blood frequently however. Makes me feel less alone in my enjoyment of the series.
VGames wrote:I think Blood 2 would be great with a set up like the Left4Dead series. 4 players each playing one of the Chosen each with their own abilities. I know u can do this already with the coop maps that come with my mod, but I'm talking about a campaign designed just for what I'm talking about. Maps that force the chosen to work together. An upgrade system would be incorporated of course. I think that would be awesome. And big open maps too. With lots of paths.
If Blood 2 had a good bot system, I would be playing Bloodbath levels offline for hours and hours. So many Bloodbath maps were made for it but hardly any SP things to mess about with. You mention playable Chosen and at one time, Blood 2 was supposed to have story modes for Ophelia/Ishmael/Gabriella but that fell through after the fanbase thought a more story-driven game with only Caleb was better than spreading it four ways. Regarding upgrades and abilities, I always saw them like this: Caleb is the jack of all trades character with a preference for standard firearms. His abilities are basic but userful (things like double damage, scaring enemies away with his evil gaze, etc.) Ophelia is a fast scout/sniper that's great for hit and run. She can preform 1 hit kills on unaware enemies by killing them with a knife and her specials contrast Caleb's (ability to increase defense, extreme speed, etc. Her magic skills are much more honed than Caleb's but she is still capable of using guns like anyone else. Ishmael is a mage/necromancer who can abuse arcane things like Life Leeches with ease and can raise the dead or drain the life out of enemies with his sickle/scythe. Low health and strength but like I said, he's a mage. Gabriella is the heavy weapons user with high defense/health/capable of using the heaviest weapons easily. Her specials are warlike in general, completely focused on making her a better combatant. The melee weapon for her could be a great sword or something (off-beat in a sci-fi setting but so is a Flare Gun or Pitchfork.)
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Re: How I Imagined Blood 2 Would Play Like

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dosgamer000 wrote:I have no experience with Deus Ex or System Shock (gasp) so I cannot help you there. But I'm pretty sure System Shock was the game with the breakable weapons and I find the idea honestly dumb. It is good to see people still brainstorm about Blood frequently however. Makes me feel less alone in my enjoyment of the series.
System Shock 2 had the breakable weapons. System Shock 1 was fortunate to not have breakable weapons, or force players to repair them. If it were possible to mod a Blood textures and enemies into System Shock 2, I would hope that the downgrading weapon system could be removed also by modding. System Shock 1 feels a little more dynamic in the cyberspace department, and part of me wishes that the best stuff of System Shock 1's engine capabilities could be combined with the BUILD engine's capabilities (particularly, Blood's version of the BUILD engine). As for Deus Ex, that game is capable of being modded in fantastic ways, as demonstrated by The Nameless Mod. It's gameplay may not be for everybody, but would like to see someone experiment with putting elements of Blood 1 and 2 into a Deus Ex framework. The UNATCO troopers could be reskinned into the Blood 2 fanatics, and the male NPCs in black suits and the female NPCs in goth clothes could be the Cultists.

There out to be a modification community which operates similarly to Ludnum Dare: pose a challenge for a modification, and see what the modders come up with.

Just so you know, it also makes me feel less alone to be with cool Blood fans like you. :)
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