Blood Bowl 2

[BloatedGuppy]

Some questions for everyone regarding the upcoming Blood Bowl 2.

1. Do you play Blood Bowl? Are you thinking of playing Blood Bowl 2?
2. If so, would you fancy playing some multiplayer?
3. If so, and there are enough people interested, do you fancy starting an Escapist league?

If you DON'T play Blood Bowl, or are wondering WTF I'm talking about, here's one of their interminable hype trailers:


Kind of like XCOM crossed with football crossed with Warhammer.

 

[Weaver]

I've played blood bowl table top and was a big fan of the last video game.
I'm thinking of playing BB2 - BUT

I despise that they've split the pre-order bonus between Lizardmen OR Wood Elves. The fact you can't get both really bothers me. It also bothers me the kind of slim race roster they're releasing with as well.

The notion of pre-ordering a Cyanide game kind of scares me as well. They're hit and miss with their products working properly. Likely I'll be getting the game way down the line when the DLC is bundled with it.

If the game turns out to be *excellent* I will cave and buy it, but not until that's proven to me.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I despise that they've split the pre-order bonus between Lizardmen OR Wood Elves. The fact you can't get both really bothers me.

You CAN get both. The other is just available as DLC. They were apparently both developed as DLC, but the game getting pushed back changed their plans, so they set one up as a pre-order bonus.

It also bothers me the kind of slim race roster they're releasing with as well.

Yeah it's unfortunate. Given they're aiming for race-specific AI this time, and that Cyanide does nothing if not slowly, I can sort of understand why they limited their scope somewhat. Although I'm sure there's also a "We'll sell it as DLC!" greed element involved.

The notion of pre-ordering a Cyanide game kind of scares me as well. They're hit and miss with their products working properly.

I've played a bit. It's pretty solid. It's Blood Bowl, with a cleaner interface and slightly better AI.

 

[kris40k]

1. Yes, I love Blood Bowl, and used to play the tabletop with my friends. Tournament brackets and everything. Blood Bowl 2 is on my wishlist, but I tend to be a late adopter/patient gamer/cheap-ass and hardly ever buy anything day 1. However, I have slacked off playing online due to...
2. multiplayer is brutal on me. I'm no a horrible player, but it seems that everyone left playing online are like hardcore experts and I get mercilessly beaten. Not fun. Like a pick-up chess game against a pro tournament player kind of not fun. So, I occasionally play against the AI now. With that said...
3. I would be interested in an Escapist league. I'm assuming not everyone is going to be pro's so I may have a chance

 

[tippy2k2]

I do not play Blood Bowl but a dashingly handsome Escapist member [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/BloatedGuppy] kicked me the game's concept/trailer about a week ago and there is a very very very good chance that I'm going to be getting it.

I would equally fancy multiplayer but I'm going to assume that because I am a console gamer that I shall be shunned and not allowed D: (Also, there's probably not a cross platform play but mostly me being shunned for being a console guy).

 

[ChupathingyX]

I only just started playing Chaos Edition about a month ago and I'm loving it. So I don't think I'm going to buy 2 so soon considering it has nowhere near the same amount of factions, will probably be really buggy, and the Bretonnians don't seem that interesting.

It's Blood Bowl, with a cleaner interface and slightly better AI.

From what I've seen the Ui looks kinda ugly, and the trailers do a horrible job at showing the game. What kind of improvements, in your opinion, have been made?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

From what I've seen the Ui looks kinda ugly, and the trailers do a horrible job at showing the game. What kind of improvements, in your opinion, have been made?

AI seems slightly better in the games I've played. Does a better job of mitigating risk, and a better job of tailoring plays to the race in question. Long term, this is likely the biggest improvement.

Graphics and animations are obviously significantly improved.

The UI is *much* cleaner, I'm kind of shocked to hear it described as "ugly". Compared to the abortion the first game was saddled with it is a veritable work of art. Still needs toggle grid and a confirm function for end turn (which is ridiculously easy to hit by accident), but it does a much better job of communicating information to the player. Tackle zones are nicely visible when moving, and it labels how many tackle zones you're moving into on any given square. Percentage chances on dodges, passes, etc are made visible to you before making the move. Scatter range is shown on kicks. It's quite elegant at times.

Visual comparison between the two titles:

Spoiler: Blood Bowl 1

Spoiler: Blood Bowl 2

What is it specifically about that second UI you find "ugly" as compared to the first?

 

[ChupathingyX]

What is it specifically about that second UI you find "ugly" as compared to the first?

Eh, it just looks really white and washed out, but if it gives more info more effectively then I'm sure it'll grow on me, just like the first one. Looking at your picture I did notice that it tells you what rolls you need to make before making a move, which is nice.

 

[Mikeybb]

1) played it for a long time. A little bit in board form. A lot in a very old release of the game. Quite a lot in the latest version. I find myself looking forward to this release too.

2) never really played multiplayer much, partly due to time issues of my own (though if it runs a turn by email system, that could fit with me.), so as such not really paying much attention to the multiplayer aspects given it'd be something I'd only ever get time to dip into at best.

3) despite what I said above, I'd be interested in this. Not as a player but as an enthusiastic spectator. You could have a league, a thread reporting results each week like match of the day. Maybe even match commentary to get all us folks in the peanut gallery whooping with delight.

I hope the guys making it manage to build on what they've learned from before and release a great game.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I attempted playing BB:legendary edition for like an hour, and I got really frustrated with it so I just ragequit/uninstalled and didn't look back (I had other big releases at the time to play, so I didn't care to play it at the time). I honestly probably had the wrong mindset going into the game, so if there were good tutorials or such I'd probably play it again and consider getting the second one.

After watching that trailer you posted, it *LOOKS* like alot of fun, but god dammit the memories of getting annoyed really doesn't sit well with me.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I attempted playing BB:legendary edition for like an hour, and I got really frustrated with it so I just ragequit/uninstalled and didn't look back (I had other big releases at the time to play, so I didn't care to play it at the time). I honestly probably had the wrong mindset going into the game, so if there were good tutorials or such I'd probably play it again and consider getting the second one.

After watching that trailer you posted, it *LOOKS* like alot of fun, but god dammit the memories of getting annoyed really doesn't sit well with me.

I did the same with Chaos Edition. Thing is, you really need to know how to play. TB did a league with a bunch of Polaris guys a couple of years ago and he put out a helpful tutorial type video with help from cKnoor. Watching that and a few of the matches was a good way to learn how to play.

OT: Yeah, not going to be an early adopter on this one. Don't trust cyanide to not make a buggy piece of crap fresh out of the gate.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I attempted playing BB:legendary edition for like an hour, and I got really frustrated with it so I just ragequit/uninstalled and didn't look back (I had other big releases at the time to play, so I didn't care to play it at the time). I honestly probably had the wrong mindset going into the game, so if there were good tutorials or such I'd probably play it again and consider getting the second one.

After watching that trailer you posted, it *LOOKS* like alot of fun, but god dammit the memories of getting annoyed really doesn't sit well with me.

I did the same with Chaos Edition. Thing is, you really need to know how to play. TB did a league with a bunch of Polaris guys a couple of years ago and he put out a helpful tutorial type video with help from cKnoor. Watching that and a few of the matches was a good way to learn how to play.

OT: Yeah, not going to be an early adopter on this one. Don't trust cyanide to not make a buggy piece of crap fresh out of the gate.

thanks for the tip, by TB I'm assuming you mean total biscuit, yeah?

I'll have to redownload the game over dinner then give the tutorial(s) a romp.

 

[tacotrainwreck]

I got real excited about Blood Bowl and I bought the Chaos edition a few months ago when it went on sale. It took me a while to get around the learning curve, but I love me some Orcs and Skaven.

I got excited when I first saw Blood Bowl 2, but I saw how stripped down it was. The rules match the tabletop game, and that's fine. But stripping down the races and removing the open campaign for something more story-driven kind of ruined it for me. I might wait until they re-release all of the old races and maybe by a 'complete' edition later. In the meantime, I still like me some blood bowl

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

thanks for the tip, by TB I'm assuming you mean total biscuit, yeah?

I'll have to redownload the game over dinner then give the tutorial(s) a romp.

Yeah, Totalbiscuit. cKnoor does some good in depth ones, and watching and analysing the TGS/Polaris lot play after you've got a grasp of the basics is entertaining and educational.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I got excited when I first saw Blood Bowl 2, but I saw how stripped down it was. The rules match the tabletop game, and that's fine. But stripping down the races and removing the open campaign for something more story-driven kind of ruined it for me.

Wat?

There's a story driven campaign mode included, but they won't have removed the ability to create a custom league without the story. That would be absurd. That's how 98% of people played Blood Bowl. The story mode is more like an extensive tutorial than anything.

thanks for the tip, by TB I'm assuming you mean total biscuit, yeah?

I'll have to redownload the game over dinner then give the tutorial(s) a romp.

Yeah, Total Biscuit, Crendor, Dodger, Angry Joe et al ran a Blood Bowl tournament a couple years back. There was a followup tournament called Speedbowl where they had CKnoor involved and tried to keep the turns ridiculously short, but it sort of petered out. CKnoor was running roughshod over the competition. If you're looking for entertainment the original tournament is the place to look, although the quality of play is pretty rough and the videos are LONG, they can be pretty funny. The beginning of the Angry Joe vs Dodger match is an all time classic.

If you just want to learn how to play, there are quite a few instructional videos. CKnoor is good to watch for this, and I believe they released at least one "how to play Blood Bowl" video alongside one of the Polaris tournaments. It's a pretty simple game to learn, reasonably difficult to master. It's one of those turn based risk-mitigation games like XCOM that has people screaming "too random" when they don't fully understand how it works.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'll have to redownload the game over dinner then give the tutorial(s) a romp.

Here's one of the videos, Total Biscuit's rundown on the game:

 

[NinjaTank56]

I play a good bit of Blood Bowl 1, and have been watching some streams of the BB2 beta and it looks like they improved the UI a lot. That said, they removed the grid and names button, which is really weird. I will probably get it once they add some more races I like besides orcs, like vampires.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I'll have to redownload the game over dinner then give the tutorial(s) a romp.

Here's one of the videos, Total Biscuit's rundown on the game:

thanks for the insight and video link, I'll browse through that and hopefully take a more successful attempt at a match tonight.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Welp, gave it a go after browsing the tutorial, won my first 2 games in a campaign as the dwarves...wasn't easy, but it was much more fun than the first time I played it.

 

[FirmlyUninformative]

No undead? No sale.
Seriously, they felt it necessary to put in two kinds of humans and three kinds of elves before any flavour of undead team? Heresy.

Looks like it'll be a future DLC bundle/whatever edition pickup in future for me. Preferably at a hefty discount.