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| Vampire: The Masquerade | | By Eric Lopez | | June 20, 2000 | |  There are plenty of pen and paper RPGs available in a wide variety of settings, but for some reason, the majority of these worlds were never adapted for computer gaming. Take a moment to consider computer RPGs and you'll probably recall dozens of titles based on the AD&D license. With a few rare exceptions, nearly all computer RPGs take place in a world of swords and sorcery. Over the past two years, an edgy startup by the name of Nihilistic Software has quietly been working on Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption, an RPG set in the romantic and dangerous world of vampire society. It's an ambitious project, but one that ultimately has a bittersweet taste.
Vampire is adapted from the successful pen and paper role playing game of the same name. Produced by White Wolf, this game has spawned dozens of supplements and has attracted a huge following. The world of Vampire is imaginative and complex. According to legend, when Caine murdered his brother Abel he was cursed by God to forevermore drink the blood of others to survive. He spawned three vampires, who in turn spawned the 13 vampires now known as the Antediluvians. It is from these vampires that the 13 different clans were spawned, each with their unique strengths and weaknesses. From there, vampires are ranked according to their age and societal status. All vampires participate in the Masquerade, a set of rules enforced to hide their appearances and machinations from the eyes of mortals.
 You take on the role of Christof Romuald, a crusader during the Dark Ages. During a crucial battle, you are wounded and brought to a nearby covenant in Prague for healing. You are quickly recruited to clear out a vampiric menace in the mines, bringing your deeds to the attention of the Brujah, a local vampire clan. Before long you're embraced (made into a vampire) by the Brujah to assist with their plans, and to prevent your assimilation into an enemy clan. The plot of the game unfolds over an 800-year period through four cities - Prague, Vienna, London and New York. You'll find yourself embroiled in the plots of nearly all of the clans at one point or another. In the meantime, you're trying to track down your lost love, all the while forced to reconcile your faith with your lost humanity.
 It's a great story, and an ideal one for an RPG. Unfortunately, even though the box clearly calls Vampire a role-playing game, this is simply untrue. Vampire, though beautifully written and presented, is strictly an action-adventure game with role-playing trappings. The story is painfully linear. Each "quest" consists of achieving an objective or finding an item. You'll enter the lair of one of the clans, slaughter them to the last man, then fight a boss at the end of the last level. Lather, rinse and repeat and you've got the mechanics for the entire game down. The story is told in-between quests in the form of cutscenes, and occasionally you're given a choice of responses to a question. Your answers have an effect on your humanity rating, which is the sole statistic that determines which of the three possible endings you'll see. You'll acquire NPCs on your journey, but their arrivals and departures are strictly scripted; you have no say in the matter.
All vampires have the ability to use disciplines, a form of inherent spell-casting ability that uses blood instead of mana. Different clans specialize in different disciplines, but your coterie (party) characters can learn additional disciplines during the game. The discipline effects are very well done, but due to the hack and slash aspect of this game, many of them are completely useless. Fights are lightning fast and over in seconds, and you'll find yourself relying on the same five or six disciplines throughout the game.
There are no experience levels in Vampire. Instead, each member of your coterie accumulates experience points which can be spent whenever you're at your haven, or during the conclusion of key plot points. Points can be spent improving statistics or disciplines, or on the purchase of new disciplines.
 The save game feature has been the source of countless Usenet posts, and I would be remiss if I didn't address it here. Simply put, you cannot save anywhere at anytime. You can only save at your haven when you want to save at a specific point in your game. Otherwise, you need to rely on the single autosave slot, which is used whenever you enter a new area. Nihilistic's position was that this method would create in-game tension. It does, but for the wrong reasons. It doesn't prevent players from the "creep and save" mentality; it just makes it more inconvenient for them to do so. However, in Nihilistic's defense, you can purchase Walk the Abyss scrolls, which transports you to your haven like Diablo's Town Portal spell, and careful use of your experience points will allow you to learn the Walk the Abyss discipline. But it's a bit pointless to invent a brand new save system with nearly the same functionality as a traditional save system; it would have been simpler to just let us save anywhere.
Graphics:  Without a doubt, this is one of the best looking games ever to receive such a low final rating. The 3rd person view is smooth and effective, and gameplay movement is similar to Darkstone. But unlike Darkstone, the detail is amazing. The usage of lighting is especially effective in dungeon levels. On my P2 400, I only experienced slowdowns when more than eight creatures were casting disciplines simultaneously. The game is amazingly smooth. Cutscenes rely on polygonal models, similar to Ultima:Ascension. But unlike Ascension, the models are realistic and crisp. I would have given Vampire 4 1/2 stars in this category if it weren't for the bizarre clipping errors. It's not uncommon to find your characters embedded in the walls, or missing a head due to their position under a stairwell.
Sound: Again, the game shines well here. The music is dark and moody throughout the game, but varied and well done. The voice actors sound professional and convincing, adding a lot of atmosphere to the story.
Interface:  The quick interface works well when controlling one character in a non-combat situation, but during a fast-paced battle with a full coterie, it's a recipe for frustration. There's no feature to pause the battle, so you end up frantically clicking on coterie members when they're not behaving properly. Pathfinding issues are the usual culprits for battle failure. Unlike many other RPGs (but like other action games), you have no idea of an opponent's hit points. This is especially infuriating when fighting end-level bosses, most of whom are ridiculously overpowered. You'll need to replay end-level battles several times to find a strategy that works, and the current save system only serves to add to the frustration.
AI: The AI is awful. Just awful. Enemies won't notice you until you enter their strike zone, and most of the time they're clearly within sight. You can lure your enemies out one at a time, slaughter them, then repeat. If you do end up overwhelmed by enemies, it's because you were struggling with the interface and hit the wrong key. Coterie pathfinding is especially problematic. It's not uncommon for one or more members of your team to be trapped within a wall, or flailing helplessly between two enemies.
Multiplayer:  Vampire allows you to play multiplayer games through WON.net or a LAN connection. With a 56K modem, I was able to play several games on WON with no excessive lag. The game ships with two modules and story building tools. The host of the game, or storyteller, has complete control over the environment, including NPCs and monsters. Potentially, this feature has the capability to capture the feel of pen and paper games, with a real gamemaster calling the shots on the fly. Unfortunately, the interface and AI problems are just as apparent here and are compounded over a modem line.
Replayability: The single player story is strictly a one-time affair. Multiplayer games, on the other hand, could truly be this game's saving point once the interface and AI problems have been addressed.
Conclusion:  Vampire: Redemption suffers from a split personality. On the one hand, the graphics and sound are absolutely stunning, and the mature story is professionally written and acted, making the game a fun experience. On the other hand, Vampire is hindered by severe bugs and design problems, which make the game a chore to play at times. This is a shame, because even though this is a hack and slash game, the story is compelling enough to make you want to see the ending. As difficult as this is to say, in its current state, I cannot recommend this game for purchase. Nihilistic is working on a patch for Vampire, which should address the bugs, pathfinding, and even the save issue. Once the patch is released, the game is definitely worth a look. This is a good first effort, and hopefully a sign of great things to come from Nihilistic. I only wish their debut release was a little more polished. |
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