Introduction

So, what's all this then?

This is Vampires Dawn II: Ancient Blood, the direct sequel to Vampires Dawn: Reign of Blood. It's a German game made by Alexander "Marlex" Koch, and was released in 2005. The game was made with RPG Maker 2003, so the basic engine hasn't changed much, with the exception of the battles, which now run on the Active Time Battle system instead of the "everybody acts once, with the order depending on their Speed stat" system the first game used. Apart from that, the sequel has expanded the gameplay with a fair share of new systems, the maps have gotten bigger, there's a lot more custom assets... really, everything has gotten more. In my opinion, Vampires Dawn II is the apex of the German RPG Maker scene's renaissance that happened around this time, which I've brought up a few times before in other RPG Maker game LPs. This, to me, is the biggest release there ever was for German RPG Maker games.

So is this going to be a translation LP again?

Actually... no, and I'm as surprised by this as anyone. But here's the thing: In August 2016, an English translation of Vampires Dawn II was released. I gave it a look, expecting it to be of similar quality to the one of the first game, which had a few too many mistakes and rough translations for my tastes. And it turns out... it's actually solid! There's the occasional hiccup in there that I would have made sure to iron out if I were doing the translating (but that's largely because I'm a stubborn guy like that), but by and large, the translation is perfectly solid, and hey, they even translated all the graphics into English! As such, I'm going to be using that translation, because hey, that's going to be a TON less work for me. Less work is good. Don't worry, though, I'm going to make up for it.

Alright, so tell us more about this game.

Well, it's a relatively standard JRPG - as you might have guessed from it being made with RPG Maker - but it does have a few tricks up its sleeve that are quite interesting, most notably a strange sort of strategy game you get to play throughout the game, which is definitely something I hadn't seen from similar games. However, overall, there isn't much to be said about this game that doesn't apply to the predecessor, just in bigger, better and shinier form.

What do I need to know before going into this one?

First of all, my LP of the first game is required reading. This is a direct sequel, so this is not really negotiable. The game does have a very quick recap at the start, but it doesn't exactly compare to actually seeing the entire game. Second of all... actually, I can't think of much else. Maybe read Unterwegs in Düsterburg too? It's another German RPG Maker game, and while it isn't directly related, if you liked Vampires Dawn, you'll like Düsterburg, and I'll probably refer to Düsterburg occasionally as well. Otherwise, since this is not actually a translation LP, this is probably going to be just a completely bog-standard SSLP of a JRPG.

So really, let's just cut to the chase and get this show on the road!

The Let's Play Archive

Vampires Dawn II

by TheMcD

Introduction

Table of Contents