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Vampires Dawn II

by TheMcD

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Original Thread: Parenting Problems Through Permanent Puberty: Let's Play Vampires Dawn II!

 

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!

Table of Contents


Update I - The Framing Device So Nice, They Used It Twice
Update II - Blood-Sucking Lightning Rods
Update III - Life-Changing Tragedy In 5...
Update IV - The Return Of Bopping Around
Update V - I Just Realized How Many Towns There Are In This Game And I'm Scared Now
Update VI - Vampires: Naturally Willing To Help
Update VII - Oddly Specific Magic Spells
Update VIII - Stranger Danger
Update IX - A Miserable Massive Pile Of Secrets
Update X - Vampires: Actually Kind Of Evil
Update XI - And Now For Something Completely Different
Update XII - Crawling Dungeons, Just Like Riding A Bicycle
Update XIII - Getting Our Rocks On
- - - Behind The Fangs: Part 0 - Non-Essential Party Members
Update XIV - A Rare Moment Of Introspection
Update XV - Iron Chef
Update XVI - The Protagonist Shuffle
Update XVII - The Hour Of Power In The Tower
Update XVIII - Puttin' The Band Back Together
- - - Behind The Fangs: Part I - RPG Maker Basics: The Database, Part I
Update XIX - Lots Of Towers In These Games, Really
Update XX - Reading Rainbow
- - - Behind The Fangs Part II: - RPG Maker Basics: The Database, Part II
Update XXI - I Think This Game Is Kind Of Starting Now, Maybe
Update XXII - The Best Sidequest Ever
- - - Behind The Fangs Part III: - RPG Maker Basics: The Database, Part III
Update XXIII - The Clan Of Incompetent Warriors
Update XXIV - The Same Thing We Do Every Night, Valnar
- - - Behind The Fangs Part IV: - Random Encounters On The World Map
- - - Behind The Fangs Part V: - RPG Maker Basics: The Database, Part IV
Update XXV - Gonna Learn Me Some Vampire Things
Update XXVI - I'm On A Boat
- - - Behind The Fangs: Part VI - RPG Maker Basics: The Maps
Update XXVII - Very Slow Progress
Update XXVIII - Power Of Money
Update XXIX - To The Victor, The Not So Great Spoils
Update XXX - Insert Training Montage Music Here
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part VII - RPG Maker Basics: Resources
Update XXXI - Recruitment Drive
Update XXXII - The Soul Dilemma
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part VIII - RPG Maker Basics: The Events, Part I
Update XXXIII - Do You Believe In Magic?
Update XXXIV - Medical Knowledge Made Easy
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part IX - RPG Maker Basics: The Events, Part II
Update XXXV - The Clan Of Really, Really Incompetent Warriors
Update XXXVI - City Of The Intellectual Pricks
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part X - RPG Maker Basics: The Events, Part III
Update XXXVII - Frozen Place, Frozen Pace
Update XXXVIII - Doomed To Forever Explore Castles And Towns
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part XI - RPG Maker Basics: Battle Calculations
Update XXXIX - Ruling The World Ain't Easy
Update XL - Updates, Now In Extra Large
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part XII - RPG Maker Basics: The Events, Part IV
Update XLI - No Turning Back Now
Update XLII - Actual Main Quest Progress Sighted
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part XIII - RPG Maker Basics: The Events, Part V
Update XLIII - Valnar's Eternal Quest To Get Laid
Update XLIV - Go Loot A Corpse
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part XIV - Blood Sucking
Update XLV - Sudden Spurt Of Progress
Update XLVI - The Grind Begins
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part XV - Party Following And Blinking
Update XLVII - A Very Bad Idea
Update XLVIII - Plot Dump Extraordinaire
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part XVI - Conversation Menu
Update XLIX - A Christmas Miracle
Update L - We're Basically At Double The Updates The First Game Had, Fucking Hell
Update LI - Second Sudden Spurt Of Progress
Update LII - Odds And Ends
Update LIII - VD: Vampirial Diseases
Update LIV - Angst 'em Up
Update LV - Hellfire And Brimstone
Update LVI - This Is About Four Hours Of Footage
Update LVII - The Great Clusterfuck Recap Show
Update LVIII - Here, This Will Explain Everything
Update LIX - So Close To The End
Update LX - Ending I: Good / Hard
Update LX-2 - Ending I: Good / Hard, Part II
Update LXI - Ending II: Good / Normal
Update LXII - Ending III: Good / Easy
Update LXIII - Ending IV: Evil / Easy
Update LXIV - Ending V: Evil / Normal
Update LXV - Ending VI: Evil / Hard
- - - Behind The Fangs, Part XVII - Castle Battles
Extra - The Vampires Dawn 3 Prototype
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