Details are sparse as to what kind of game it'll, their only description is narrative RPG and you controlling 3 different vampires to solve a murder, so no character creation.
With the new Werewolf game coming our way I must say that I don't care about VB2 anymore.
I'm waiting for a WtA game since Heart of Gaia got cancelled!
The werewolf game is supposed to be much more linear, though. I definitely prefer vampire, but I'm still waiting for a proper treatment of Mage: The Ascension, but that's probably not going to happen for a video game.
I can't imagine how such a flexible magic system such as the one in Mage could be translated into a computer game.
As every other magic system: Poorly.
Look to D&D. Some spells from tabletop like fireball are easy to adapt, but others like Wish are a hell to even implement 0,0001% of what you can do with it. A list of possible wishes is the best implementation possible IMO. Same with shapechange spells.
Can you aim a fireball to a ceiling to make it fall over your enemies and opening a shortcut to the next floor in a video game?
No, unfortunately. That's why I said "poorly".
Even the disciplines from VtM are poorly translated to VB.
If you create 100% destructive envoriments and make doors, walls, etc with hit points, also implement true varticallity,, you can. Wish in other hands, is impossible to translate fully.
It's like that old trope in computer games were you have to succeed in a lock picking attempt to enter somewhere when the game shows you it's just a half rotten wood door with bits missing that would probably turn to dust if you sneezed too hard in its direction....
Can you aim a fireball to a ceiling to make it fall over your enemies and opening a shortcut to the next floor in a video game?
No, unfortunately. That's why I said "poorly".
Even the disciplines from VtM are poorly translated to VB.
If you create 100% destructive envoriments and make doors, walls, etc with hit points, also implement true varticallity,, you can. Wish in other hands, is impossible to translate fully.
There was a mod for Vampire: Redemption that added mages into the multiplayer. Of course it wasn't as fleshed out as the real spheres. It would be an interesting starting point, though. I'm more interested in stories about the ascension war for control over reality than I am in allowing all the craziness all the different spheres can do.
I just did a quick session with the so-hyped Antitribu Mod for VB.
I'm kind of disappointed. Does anyone know if the story changes or are only the new clans?
Because, honestly, so far I prefer playing the vanilla clans. I was using a Lasombra and Obtenetration seems to do nothing.
I gave it a shot and found Obtenebration annoying. Arms of Ahriman never worked for me and the higher level power would damage anyone around you, which while really powerful, interfered with feeding. It also didn't work on some of the bosses, who were crazy buffed up from the vanilla or plus patch. I didn't try any of the other clans, but heard a lot of their special powers weren't working on some of the bosses too. I don't think I really noticed much story wise, but the combat was much harder in a lot of parts.
I only finished antitribu with Lasombra, but tested a little of Giovanni. As for the powers damaging people around you and interfering on feeding, don't use this powers vs weakelings. And the game changes too little story wise.
The unique mod who changes the story of the game is one that allow a Sabath ending that i don't remember the name.
I only finished antitribu with Lasombra, but tested a little of Giovanni. As for the powers damaging people around you and interfering on feeding, don't use this powers vs weakelings. And the game changes too little story wise.
The unique mod who changes the story of the game is one that allow a Sabath ending that i don't remember the name.
The best way to get through areas is to pump your disciplines, kill everyone, then drain the last guy and pump your disciplines again. Eventually you'll have like 5 spare minutes on your buffs. With the difficulty spikes (I mean really I could not even harm Jezebel Locke) in the mod, I found it too annoying not to be able to run through an area with the disciplines going.
Also the guy in front of the diner in Santa Monica that has a big ass gun and is hostile to only you was just stupid. He will completely destroy you if you walk over there in the beginning. The worst part is, if you fight back in the street the cops go hostile for you defending yourself from a guy shooting a hand cannon at you. No wait, the worst part is that he respawns almost every time you go through the area.
Really looking forward to this game. These guys seem really passionate about it as well, which is great. I hope the game turns out fantastic and sells amazingly well.
Bit of off-topic, but here's an insightful youtube interview about Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition with Mark Rein-Hagen, the creator of Vampire franchise. For those unaware: he has been kicked out of his own brainchild. And the aftermath even got the Moscow Kremlin involved.
Bit of off-topic, but here's an insightful youtube interview about Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition with Mark Rein-Hagen, the creator of Vampire franchise. For those unaware: he has been kicked out of his own brainchild. And the aftermath even got the Moscow Kremlin involved.
The whole situation with that is just ridiculous. The main reason they generally give for him and a lot of the old schoolers being pushed out is that story about that vampire in Chechnya having LGBTQ people killed. I mean this is the world of darkness and horror is supposed to be a major theme. The story's also allegorical to what's going, since it's the typical fascist kind of move, shift the blame for the countries problem to a minority. It was a huge overreaction on the part of people and especially Paradox.
The whole situation with that is just ridiculous. The main reason they generally give for him and a lot of the old schoolers being pushed out is that story about that vampire in Chechnya having LGBTQ people killed. I mean this is the world of darkness and horror is supposed to be a major theme. The story's also allegorical to what's going, since it's the typical fascist kind of move, shift the blame for the countries problem to a minority. It was a huge overreaction on the part of people and especially Paradox.
I only have a little bit of sympathy for him.
A - he sold it. If he wanted to remain total creative control, he shouldnt have sold it.
B - I do think the Chechnya thing was pretty problematic. I dont know that I think anyone needed to be fired for it, though.
The whole situation with that is just ridiculous. The main reason they generally give for him and a lot of the old schoolers being pushed out is that story about that vampire in Chechnya having LGBTQ people killed. I mean this is the world of darkness and horror is supposed to be a major theme. The story's also allegorical to what's going, since it's the typical fascist kind of move, shift the blame for the countries problem to a minority. It was a huge overreaction on the part of people and especially Paradox.
I dont have a lot of sympathy for him.
A - he sold it. If he wanted to remain total creative control, he shouldnt have sold it.
B - I do think the Chechnya thing was pretty problematic. I dont know that I think anyone needed to be fired for it, though.
They wanted him back for V5 because he does good work, it's not like he tried to muscle his way back in. He's got plenty of other things going for himself right now working for the Georgian government, so it's not like he needs the work. It's not like gay people have been singled out in the game world or anything, virtually every group has been killed or manipulated by various forces in the game world, it being a dark reflection of our own world. If anything the books have been very pro LGBTQ over their whole history going back to the '90s. To me the story's calling the people who are perpetrating these atrocities in the real world monsters.
They wanted him back for V5 because he does good work, it's not like he tried to muscle his way back in. He's got plenty of other things going for himself right now working for the Georgian government, so it's not like he needs the work. It's not like gay people have been singled out in the game world or anything, virtually every group has been killed or manipulated by various forces in the game world, it being a dark reflection of our own world. If anything the books have been very pro LGBTQ over their whole history going back to the '90s. To me the story's calling the people who are perpetrating these atrocities in the real world monsters.
And now they dont want him back. I dont see that as an issue, since he sold his stake to the world.
I'm not accusing him of being anti LGBTQ. I'm not accusing the game as a whole as being anti LGBTQ.
The World of Darkness is supposed to be a dark reflection of our own world, but that comes with a tacit requirement to be careful about how you portray real world atrocities, especially contemporary ones (in my eyes anyways, and evidently in a lot of others - including Paradox's).
They wanted him back for V5 because he does good work, it's not like he tried to muscle his way back in. He's got plenty of other things going for himself right now working for the Georgian government, so it's not like he needs the work. It's not like gay people have been singled out in the game world or anything, virtually every group has been killed or manipulated by various forces in the game world, it being a dark reflection of our own world. If anything the books have been very pro LGBTQ over their whole history going back to the '90s. To me the story's calling the people who are perpetrating these atrocities in the real world monsters.
And now they dont want him back. I dont see that as an issue, since he sold his stake to the world.
I'm not accusing him of being anti LGBTQ. I'm not accusing the game as a whole as being anti LGBTQ.
The World of Darkness is supposed to be a dark reflection of our own world, but that comes with a tacit requirement to be careful about how you portray real world atrocities, especially contemporary ones (in my eyes anyways, and evidently in a lot of others - including Paradox's).
But he didn't even have anything to do with that story. He didn't write it, nor did he have editorial control in V5. I liked the work he did on the game and would have liked to see him continue contribute to the property. Hopefully they pull their heads out of their asses and bring him back at some point. It doesn't matter if he sold it, I enjoyed his work and wanted more and a lot of people liked his work, too. I don't think it's particularly fair to say one group can't be persecuted in a setting, plus that's completely boring if you know nothing bad can ever happen to a gay charcter. If you watched the video @Kamigoroshi posted, he gets into that, saying Game of Thrones had some great female characters, but they wouldn't have been as great without the world being that sexist towards them, making them stronger and giving them challenges to overcome. Perfect worlds are boring and interesting stories need conflict, villains and challenges to overcome.
But he didn't even have anything to do with that story. He didn't write it, nor did he have editorial control in V5. I liked the work he did on the game and would have liked to see him continue contribute to the property. Hopefully they pull their heads out of their asses and bring him back at some point. It doesn't matter if he sold it, I enjoyed his work and wanted more and a lot of people liked his work, too. I don't think it's particularly fair to say one group can't be persecuted in a setting, plus that's completely boring if you know nothing bad can ever happen to a gay charcter. If you watched the video @Kamigoroshi posted, he gets into that, saying Game of Thrones had some great female characters, but they wouldn't have been as great without the world being that sexist towards them, making them stronger and giving them challenges to overcome. Perfect worlds are boring and interesting stories need conflict, villains and challenges to overcome.
To be clear - you're replying to me, but I've not argued against most of what you've said above. For example, I didnt say he wrote it. I didnt say he was anti LGBTQ. I'm not taking those positions. I have also not suggested that one cannot tell a story in which real world groups are victims of persecution. I dont even think Paradox is saying that. I also even clearly stated I dont know that he should be fired for it (although I also dont feel particularly bad, given the circumstances).
However, I do believe that those situations need to be handled carefully. That level of required care/scrutiny increases dramatically when you take something that is happening in the real world right now and convert it to fit within your story (which is why the GoT reference to female characters isnt a particularly strong argument in the interview). To head off another point, one you've started making above - "You know nothing bad can happen to a gay character" is a dramatic oversimplification of the situation. It wasnt that persecution of LGBTQ was itself the direct issue. It was the fact that it poached an on-going massacre targeting a minority. There's an important difference between these two things.
I agree that perfect worlds are boring. Stories need conflict - but that conflict sometimes needs to be carefully approached. Co-opting a real world ongoing tragedy might not be the best place to go with it.
But he didn't even have anything to do with that story. He didn't write it, nor did he have editorial control in V5. I liked the work he did on the game and would have liked to see him continue contribute to the property. Hopefully they pull their heads out of their asses and bring him back at some point. It doesn't matter if he sold it, I enjoyed his work and wanted more and a lot of people liked his work, too. I don't think it's particularly fair to say one group can't be persecuted in a setting, plus that's completely boring if you know nothing bad can ever happen to a gay charcter. If you watched the video @Kamigoroshi posted, he gets into that, saying Game of Thrones had some great female characters, but they wouldn't have been as great without the world being that sexist towards them, making them stronger and giving them challenges to overcome. Perfect worlds are boring and interesting stories need conflict, villains and challenges to overcome.
To be clear - you're replying to me, but I've not argued against most of what you've said above. For example, I didnt say he wrote it. I didnt say he was anti LGBTQ. I'm not taking those positions. I have also not suggested that one cannot tell a story in which real world groups are victims of persecution. I dont even think Paradox is saying that. I also even clearly stated I dont know that he should be fired for it (although I also dont feel particularly bad, given the circumstances).
However, I do believe that those situations need to be handled carefully. That level of required care/scrutiny increases dramatically when you take something that is happening in the real world right now and convert it to fit within your story (which is why the GoT reference to female characters isnt a particularly strong argument in the interview). To head off another point, one you've started making above - "You know nothing bad can happen to a gay character" is a dramatic oversimplification of the situation. It wasnt that persecution of LGBTQ was itself the direct issue. It was the fact that it poached an on-going massacre targeting a minority. There's an important difference between these two things.
I agree that perfect worlds are boring. Stories need conflict - but that conflict sometimes needs to be carefully approached. Co-opting a real world ongoing tragedy might not be the best place to go with it.
To me that's perfectly reasonable to take world events and comment on them in fiction. The way way I read the story was that it was comparing the people committing the atrocities to monsters. The best fiction draws on real life and events. A huge amount of great Sci-Fi/Fantasy takes real situations but reworks them into the lore. I don't think it's a "dramatic oversimplification of the situation" saying that people take things way too over the top when a story features a group being persecuted and a vocal minority overreacts to the situation. Mark Twain's work made prodigious use of the N word, and many special interest groups have tried to get his works banned from classrooms, but they've mostly lost because the works portray racist people as foolish and horrible, but provide an accurate portrayal of how things were at the time. Accurately portraying atrocities is essential, lest we ignore what is really happening. If anything, the whole mess has helped draw attention to the plight of LGBTQ people in Chechnya.
This isn't about him losing control over the game. It's about fans losing a great artist who started it all and still had a lot of good content to contribute.
To me that's perfectly reasonable to take world events and comment on them in fiction. The way way I read the story was that it was comparing the people committing the atrocities to monsters. The best fiction draws on real life and events. A huge amount of great Sci-Fi/Fantasy takes real situations but reworks them into the lore. I don't think it's a "dramatic oversimplification of the situation" saying that people take things way too over the top when a story features a group being persecuted and a vocal minority overreacts to the situation. Mark Twain's work made prodigious use of the N word, and many special interest groups have tried to get his works banned from classrooms, but they've mostly lost because the works portray racist people as foolish and horrible, but provide an accurate portrayal of how things were at the time. Accurately portraying atrocities is essential, lest we ignore what is really happening. If anything, the whole mess has helped draw attention to the plight of LGBTQ people in Chechnya.
This isn't about him losing control over the game. It's about fans losing a great artist who started it all and still had a lot of good content to contribute.
Taking an established and ongoing event, and putting it into your world (in the way that happened) is dramatically different than "Knowing nothing bad can happen to a gay character". This is what I called an over-simplification. They do not equal each other. If you've ever played a Paradox game, you'll know that they will show some amount of historical persecution, but only in the appropriate context. For example, in Crusader Kings II, you can take loans from Jewish moneylenders, and you can expel them from your country. You cannot recreate some of the awful medieval era pogroms that occurred in those eras. Frankly - the inability to do so seems like common sense to me.
Similarly, in Hearts of Iron IV, you can choose the level of direct force the government exerts in occupied countries. You can be "gentle" all the way to "harsh" - but there is an absolute and necessary distance placed between selecting those vague policies and recreating specifics of Nazi Germany's occupation. This isnt done because the developer is shying away from the plight of those in occupied countries, but because there is no tasteful way to put it into the game. Broadly speaking, I think that same logic applies to Whitewolf.
I'm a historian. I have a deep appreciation for the need to accurately portrayal of current events of all sizes, shapes and manners. There are many important and valuable ways to do that. I'm not sure this was one of them.
Anyways - we have a politics thread for where this conversation is going. I'm pretty sure I understand your point, and I think I've been as clear as I can be. I'll leave well enough alone.
To me that's perfectly reasonable to take world events and comment on them in fiction. The way way I read the story was that it was comparing the people committing the atrocities to monsters. The best fiction draws on real life and events. A huge amount of great Sci-Fi/Fantasy takes real situations but reworks them into the lore. I don't think it's a "dramatic oversimplification of the situation" saying that people take things way too over the top when a story features a group being persecuted and a vocal minority overreacts to the situation. Mark Twain's work made prodigious use of the N word, and many special interest groups have tried to get his works banned from classrooms, but they've mostly lost because the works portray racist people as foolish and horrible, but provide an accurate portrayal of how things were at the time. Accurately portraying atrocities is essential, lest we ignore what is really happening. If anything, the whole mess has helped draw attention to the plight of LGBTQ people in Chechnya.
This isn't about him losing control over the game. It's about fans losing a great artist who started it all and still had a lot of good content to contribute.
Taking an established and ongoing event, and putting it into your world (in the way that happened) is dramatically different than "Knowing nothing bad can happen to a gay character". This is what I called an over-simplification. They do not equal each other. If you've ever played a Paradox game, you'll know that they will show some amount of historical persecution, but only in the appropriate context. For example, in Crusader Kings II, you can take loans from Jewish moneylenders, and you can expel them from your country. You cannot recreate some of the awful medieval era pogroms that occurred in those eras. Frankly - the inability to do so seems like common sense to me.
Similarly, in Hearts of Iron IV, you can choose the level of direct force the government exerts in occupied countries. You can be "gentle" all the way to "harsh" - but there is an absolute and necessary distance placed between selecting those vague policies and recreating specifics of Nazi Germany's occupation. This isnt done because the developer is shying away from the plight of those in occupied countries, but because there is no tasteful way to put it into the game. Broadly speaking, I think that same logic applies to Whitewolf.
I'm a historian. I have a deep appreciation for the need to accurately portrayal of current events of all sizes, shapes and manners. There are many important and valuable ways to do that. I'm not sure this was one of them.
Anyways - we have a politics thread for where this conversation is going. I'm pretty sure I understand your point, and I think I've been as clear as I can be. I'll leave well enough alone.
I'll mostly leave it alone, but I just want to say that a lot of great art is provocative. While I disagree with you on a lot of points, I think that the story's succeeded in that it's got us talking about it and the situation. Good fiction should make you think and talk about situations. I generally try to keep my head down and out of the politics thread, I'm not really looking to get into that in this forum.
Comments
https://kotaku.com/vampire-the-masquerade-swangsong-coming-in-2021-1839192265
Details are sparse as to what kind of game it'll, their only description is narrative RPG and you controlling 3 different vampires to solve a murder, so no character creation.
I'm waiting for a WtA game since Heart of Gaia got cancelled!
The werewolf game is supposed to be much more linear, though. I definitely prefer vampire, but I'm still waiting for a proper treatment of Mage: The Ascension, but that's probably not going to happen for a video game.
As every other magic system: Poorly.
Look to D&D. Some spells from tabletop like fireball are easy to adapt, but others like Wish are a hell to even implement 0,0001% of what you can do with it. A list of possible wishes is the best implementation possible IMO. Same with shapechange spells.
Can you aim a fireball to a ceiling to make it fall over your enemies and opening a shortcut to the next floor in a video game?
No, unfortunately. That's why I said "poorly".
Even the disciplines from VtM are poorly translated to VB.
If you create 100% destructive envoriments and make doors, walls, etc with hit points, also implement true varticallity,, you can. Wish in other hands, is impossible to translate fully.
Yup, it is possible. Not easy, though.
I'm kind of disappointed. Does anyone know if the story changes or are only the new clans?
Because, honestly, so far I prefer playing the vanilla clans. I was using a Lasombra and Obtenetration seems to do nothing.
I gave it a shot and found Obtenebration annoying. Arms of Ahriman never worked for me and the higher level power would damage anyone around you, which while really powerful, interfered with feeding. It also didn't work on some of the bosses, who were crazy buffed up from the vanilla or plus patch. I didn't try any of the other clans, but heard a lot of their special powers weren't working on some of the bosses too. I don't think I really noticed much story wise, but the combat was much harder in a lot of parts.
The unique mod who changes the story of the game is one that allow a Sabath ending that i don't remember the name.
The best way to get through areas is to pump your disciplines, kill everyone, then drain the last guy and pump your disciplines again. Eventually you'll have like 5 spare minutes on your buffs. With the difficulty spikes (I mean really I could not even harm Jezebel Locke) in the mod, I found it too annoying not to be able to run through an area with the disciplines going.
Also the guy in front of the diner in Santa Monica that has a big ass gun and is hostile to only you was just stupid. He will completely destroy you if you walk over there in the beginning. The worst part is, if you fight back in the street the cops go hostile for you defending yourself from a guy shooting a hand cannon at you. No wait, the worst part is that he respawns almost every time you go through the area.
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-narrative-director-talks-high-expectations-demos-and-delays/
An interview from the table top side about what's happening there in V5, with a mention on how the PC game will tie into.
https://www.thegamer.com/vampire-the-masquerade-interview-president-ceo-modiphius/
The whole situation with that is just ridiculous. The main reason they generally give for him and a lot of the old schoolers being pushed out is that story about that vampire in Chechnya having LGBTQ people killed. I mean this is the world of darkness and horror is supposed to be a major theme. The story's also allegorical to what's going, since it's the typical fascist kind of move, shift the blame for the countries problem to a minority. It was a huge overreaction on the part of people and especially Paradox.
I only have a little bit of sympathy for him.
A - he sold it. If he wanted to remain total creative control, he shouldnt have sold it.
B - I do think the Chechnya thing was pretty problematic. I dont know that I think anyone needed to be fired for it, though.
Edit - Also, he's apparently a Yankee's fan : P
They wanted him back for V5 because he does good work, it's not like he tried to muscle his way back in. He's got plenty of other things going for himself right now working for the Georgian government, so it's not like he needs the work. It's not like gay people have been singled out in the game world or anything, virtually every group has been killed or manipulated by various forces in the game world, it being a dark reflection of our own world. If anything the books have been very pro LGBTQ over their whole history going back to the '90s. To me the story's calling the people who are perpetrating these atrocities in the real world monsters.
And now they dont want him back. I dont see that as an issue, since he sold his stake to the world.
I'm not accusing him of being anti LGBTQ. I'm not accusing the game as a whole as being anti LGBTQ.
The World of Darkness is supposed to be a dark reflection of our own world, but that comes with a tacit requirement to be careful about how you portray real world atrocities, especially contemporary ones (in my eyes anyways, and evidently in a lot of others - including Paradox's).
But he didn't even have anything to do with that story. He didn't write it, nor did he have editorial control in V5. I liked the work he did on the game and would have liked to see him continue contribute to the property. Hopefully they pull their heads out of their asses and bring him back at some point. It doesn't matter if he sold it, I enjoyed his work and wanted more and a lot of people liked his work, too. I don't think it's particularly fair to say one group can't be persecuted in a setting, plus that's completely boring if you know nothing bad can ever happen to a gay charcter. If you watched the video @Kamigoroshi posted, he gets into that, saying Game of Thrones had some great female characters, but they wouldn't have been as great without the world being that sexist towards them, making them stronger and giving them challenges to overcome. Perfect worlds are boring and interesting stories need conflict, villains and challenges to overcome.
To be clear - you're replying to me, but I've not argued against most of what you've said above. For example, I didnt say he wrote it. I didnt say he was anti LGBTQ. I'm not taking those positions. I have also not suggested that one cannot tell a story in which real world groups are victims of persecution. I dont even think Paradox is saying that. I also even clearly stated I dont know that he should be fired for it (although I also dont feel particularly bad, given the circumstances).
However, I do believe that those situations need to be handled carefully. That level of required care/scrutiny increases dramatically when you take something that is happening in the real world right now and convert it to fit within your story (which is why the GoT reference to female characters isnt a particularly strong argument in the interview). To head off another point, one you've started making above - "You know nothing bad can happen to a gay character" is a dramatic oversimplification of the situation. It wasnt that persecution of LGBTQ was itself the direct issue. It was the fact that it poached an on-going massacre targeting a minority. There's an important difference between these two things.
I agree that perfect worlds are boring. Stories need conflict - but that conflict sometimes needs to be carefully approached. Co-opting a real world ongoing tragedy might not be the best place to go with it.
To me that's perfectly reasonable to take world events and comment on them in fiction. The way way I read the story was that it was comparing the people committing the atrocities to monsters. The best fiction draws on real life and events. A huge amount of great Sci-Fi/Fantasy takes real situations but reworks them into the lore. I don't think it's a "dramatic oversimplification of the situation" saying that people take things way too over the top when a story features a group being persecuted and a vocal minority overreacts to the situation. Mark Twain's work made prodigious use of the N word, and many special interest groups have tried to get his works banned from classrooms, but they've mostly lost because the works portray racist people as foolish and horrible, but provide an accurate portrayal of how things were at the time. Accurately portraying atrocities is essential, lest we ignore what is really happening. If anything, the whole mess has helped draw attention to the plight of LGBTQ people in Chechnya.
This isn't about him losing control over the game. It's about fans losing a great artist who started it all and still had a lot of good content to contribute.
Taking an established and ongoing event, and putting it into your world (in the way that happened) is dramatically different than "Knowing nothing bad can happen to a gay character". This is what I called an over-simplification. They do not equal each other. If you've ever played a Paradox game, you'll know that they will show some amount of historical persecution, but only in the appropriate context. For example, in Crusader Kings II, you can take loans from Jewish moneylenders, and you can expel them from your country. You cannot recreate some of the awful medieval era pogroms that occurred in those eras. Frankly - the inability to do so seems like common sense to me.
Similarly, in Hearts of Iron IV, you can choose the level of direct force the government exerts in occupied countries. You can be "gentle" all the way to "harsh" - but there is an absolute and necessary distance placed between selecting those vague policies and recreating specifics of Nazi Germany's occupation. This isnt done because the developer is shying away from the plight of those in occupied countries, but because there is no tasteful way to put it into the game. Broadly speaking, I think that same logic applies to Whitewolf.
I'm a historian. I have a deep appreciation for the need to accurately portrayal of current events of all sizes, shapes and manners. There are many important and valuable ways to do that. I'm not sure this was one of them.
Anyways - we have a politics thread for where this conversation is going. I'm pretty sure I understand your point, and I think I've been as clear as I can be. I'll leave well enough alone.
I'll mostly leave it alone, but I just want to say that a lot of great art is provocative. While I disagree with you on a lot of points, I think that the story's succeeded in that it's got us talking about it and the situation. Good fiction should make you think and talk about situations. I generally try to keep my head down and out of the politics thread, I'm not really looking to get into that in this forum.