I started playing the Vampire game at the best possible time for the game. I had just given up on two other games as being "too stupid to finish (Sid's Pirates and Leisure Suit Larry)" and was desperately looking for a game to quench my gamers thirst. Then I started Vampire and thanked heavens for small mercies. At last, a game worth my time. And while the game was definitely worth finishing, it unfortunately did not live up to the promise of the begining of the game. I always rate games on story, focusing on character development. And while my character was indeed one mean lady by the end of the game, somehow I felt that she had never progressed as a (dead) person. Not only was she dead, but also her character development was dead too. That is not to say that you won't meet interesting people and do interesting things - it is just that you yourself won't be that interesting. And there were some teasing glimpses into what could have been. At one time you meet up with someone from your "life." Now to me, one of the things that would be so shocking about dying and then not dying would be reconcilliation with my time of life. So I was hoping for some little back-story, some explanation of why my I had been chosen. I would have liked some debts to pay, some friends to help, but to eventually have to leave my living world because of my sudden "difference." Well, that would have been nice, but it didn't happen. Instead you start the game as a weak enigma as a person, and end the game as a strong enigma as a person. There are other quirks to the game. You never have to "rest" in your haven - which at first disturbed me, but which I then grew to like as a game mechanic. The lack of having to break up your missions by going back to your haven during daylight hours made me start to think that the things that were happening were happening over a long period of time, and that as a vampire one night blends into another. Of course, it also helped the gameplay. Since it is completely unbelievable that the protaganist should become so powerful in one night I chose to believe that these events were happening over weeks, perhaps even years. Anyway, it was nice (although it is not completely supported by the game itself - a few references were made to a single night or "few nights"). Also, some skills bordered on the ridiculous. For example, with a relatively high sneaking skill you can basically walk around the most populated, well lighted locales - sometimes even bumping into the guards - and still not get caught. And you might as well start building up your melee skills from the start - the game simply cannot be won without them. Don't try to hack or seduce your way to the end of the game. Basically, this is a good game if, like me, you find yourself out of other decent RPGs to play. While the story is not what it could be, it is not the worst story I have every played through. Many of the characters you meet will be voluptuous and interesting. The levels are nicely done. The graphics are nice. It is just that your character starts out not knowing much, and ends up not knowing much.
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