>>725272783
Fabien's sequences were recycling assets and content from the Malkavian DLC. So much about why Bloodlines 2 is the way it is comes down to really harsh budget and scope constraints.

This is Sarah Longthorne's resume.
https://sarahlongthorne.com/resume
>Writer on crit-path content, covering cutscenes, branching conversations, ambient VO and more across the game. Lead writer for Lou Graham, Ryong Choi, Safia Ulusoy, Benny Muldoon, Ysabella Moore and several unannounced characters. Acted as lead writer across the game for a few months between the departure of TCR’s founder and former Creative Director Dan Pinchbeck and the arrival of current Narrative Director Ian Thomas.
>Workshopped story beats and narrative issues with the wider narrative team, drawing upon reference material and engagement with the community — and working within often immovable parameters — to seek character-true, lore-rich and tone-appropriate solutions that deepen the story, empower the wider team and make the best possible use of our medium where able.
>Presented and iterated on feedback from studio leadership, the wider team, the publisher and other IP stakeholders.
>Designed and implemented narrative systems that complemented the IP, made best use of existing content and provided players with a more variable, bespoke experience within set budgets and constraints.
>Collaborated with design on the conceptualisation of optional and side content.
>Provided feedback and direction to voice actors in the booth.
>Took part in player-facing comms and provided a direct avenue for player relations.
Read it carefully. "working within often immovable parameters". "Made best use of existing content". "Within set budgets and constraints". Everything about this points towards TCR being forced to keep costs down as much as possible.

I like Bloodlines 2, but it is a minimum viable product in so many ways despite a fairly protracted development cycle under The Chinese Room. Hardsuit Labs spent years on a project they were incapable of shipping, and The Chinese Room got paid peanuts to pick up the pieces and assemble a streamlined, flattened collection of compromises. Every aspect of Bloodlines 2 got squeezed. You even see it in how every single reused location got retrofitted into this samey neo-noir aesthetic of dark shadows and coloured lighting, compared to the original version seen here.

Every single quest and character and location and mechanic in Bloodlines 2 has this deep air of compromise. Of what might have been if Paradox had given The Chinese Room a proper budget and maybe forced them to hire some real RPG designers, and not just given them a brag bag of assets and told them to get it done as cheaply as possible.