Choice of the Vampire: The Fall of Memphis

Well the whole community pretty much says the same thing on the forum of Choice of Games : the first one was a great title and we all expected the sequel but well ? It's really disappointing. I mean, REALLY. The idea is great and vampire culture is closely related to politics so the focus of this sequel only seems natural but all the flaws of the first title are at their worst here. Some useless skills, some typings mistakes, a bunch of achievements no one knows how to unlock, some bugs or badly scripted scene that takes the wrong background as reference for your previous choices and all these flaws that were already present in the first title + the story is linear whereas the first title was great at making different routes possible, your choices does'nt matter in the least either it all goes to the same conclusion and even the writings changes only in small details that are awkardly narrated. What saves the title is that the story and the characters are still interesting... somehow. Even that is a little spoiled. It's the first time I see a sequel to a novel (even a CYOA) so catastrophic, books are usually more reliable than graphic video games or movies. Add to this that the lenght is only average while the price is high and you get a mediocre kinetic novel that goes for ages about historical facts (without them being especially relevent because that would have been a plus ; it was in the first game) and that completely spoils a good first title that had (and still has) very interesting thematic, storyline, storytelling and characters. Such a shame. I'm heart-broken at pushing the "not recommended" button. (for those who played the first title : it's ironic because I feel just like Samantha Withers when she says "I'm destroyed !" upon discovering her crush doesn't reciprocate the feelings and was making a fool of her)

[h1]✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* A supernatural historical novel *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧[/h1] Playing as a decades-old vampire, you have tried your luck staking a claim in the troubled city of Memphis. The culture of American vampires, the Society, finally gets a more direct role in this game, which is a continuation of "Choice of the Vampire." You may send your email address to the server to make a save game in CotV, and access it by entering your email in CotV: Fall of Memphis. However, there is an option to start from scratch. The UI is very bare-bones, and sometimes frustrating to navigate through the system menu in trying to read character descriptions. Please note, this is not the end of the story, and a fourth game is meant to be released. However, it is unclear if there will ever be a follow-up. I do hope there will be. [h1]✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　PROS　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧[/h1] ❧ The writing feels very period and appropriate, and uses some beautiful language, and often introduced me (to my delight) to social customs and lovely turns of archaic slang. Sometimes it could get a little bit confusing, such as when describing the Society, ❧ Interesting way of showing the uneasy balance between ethnic and religious minorities in Memphis in the 1870s and in the time of Civil War Reconstruction. ❧ Indeed, I found the historical background very intriguing, and nicely tied into the context of how vampires manipulate mortal society and how mortal society impacts vampires, in turn. I appreciated the information and it never felt like too much (although it did sometimes feel like a tangent just for the sake of learning something interesting). There were so many specific details on battles, plagues, and economic complexities that I became curious to know just which aspects of the games are historical truth, and in what ways our involvement may have changed the course of it. ❧ There were definitely some amusing moments in the game. ❧ The vampires of Memphis - Dido and Apollo - were among the most interesting to me in the series. ❧ My save-games carried over fine (though I do wish I had figured out how to edit or organize them). ❧ I was definitely compelled to play again to get different outcomes with the side stories, which were the most fascinating part of the game. [h1]✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* CONS *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧[/h1] ❧ There are times that the stats have been interpreted inconsistently in the story, for example being described as having an "aversion to modernity" when my adaptation to anachronism percentage was 52:48, and I consistently showed support of technological progress. (Being carried over from CotV, I had once had a 60% majority in adaptation - and I'm still not sure what changed it so dramatically.) At other times, characters that were noted as not being in attendance of certain events were then listed in the very next screen. ❧ The stats system is also very finicky - you needed just the right combinations to unlock certain options, which would require knowing a build from the very beginning. It is also impossible to save at any given point and go back - while this does lock in your choices, it also makes it frustrating to have to click through everything just to want to see a slight variation or to meddle with stats to unlock them. ❧ One of the biggest narrative motivators could be consistently pushed back with no real consequences, and the outcome seemed to make little difference if I pursued it early or late. Some of the choices you made in CotV also didn't seem to matter. ❧ We do get some cameos from characters met in CotV, though the encounters ultimately felt short and unsatisfying. [h1]✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* CONCLUSIONS *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧[/h1] It is short, a little clunky, and feels a lot like I was spinning my wheels in the story - even the characters themselves were frustrated. There is a lot of reaching for the lofty ambitions of what the PC could achieve, and little follow-through that I was able to find. However, it did differ from CotV in that I did finally feel like I had begun to establish a reputation among the Society. It's worth picking up if you played the first, and won't set you back much, especially if you wait for a sale. I would not have recommended this game if the price were higher: it's not a really polished game, and that's still being generous about the periodic typos in the text as well. Still, I felt it was worthwhile to see the continuation of my story, and it still ultimately feels replayable (if ultimately smaller than anticipated).

You're trying to elect a senator for your political faction, need to persuade other characters to vote for your candidate. While you're doing this you'll be hunting down a rogue vampire, Wilson. Also you'll need to prevent the city of Memphis from collapsing. Pros: -One skill point increase at beginning. -You can change your prey type at the beginning. -Lots of characters you can talk to, but you can't talk to to everyone in one playthrough. -Quick, but tells a complete story. -Looking forward to part 3. Cons: -Some options are locked out, but I'm not sure why. -Stats barely change. -Quick historical vignettes, but they don't really affect the story. -Character summaries are incomplete, make sure you take notes. -For a vampire game there isn't a single option to hunt prey. Overall: -If you've played the first game, I do recommend playing this. I enjoyed it, but you may be disappointed by how limited your activies are compared to the first game.

Well...it's hard to write a review here . It's a well written game ,no doubt . What's annoying throughout the story is that i doubt anyone proof-read it . There's a lot of spelling ("apppeal" or "n"s instead or "r"s) or sometimes grammar mistakes . In part 1 as well but not this bad ! And for only beeing parts they're both really expensive ! This here is still just a part and you'll have to buy part 3 ! Sometimes there's options that make no sense like someone asks you a question and one option is trying to avoid the subject and hope he won't ask the question HE JUST ASKED YOU ! Or a guy tells you how many vampires there are in this town and on the SAME page a bit lower you ask him if he knows how many vamires there are in this town and of course he gives you the same answer again ! Just looks stupid ! That's all really bad for the experience and it's a shame . Apart from that i'd say one update ,fix that stuff and it could be a great game when it's finished . It's fun ,lots of history etc but both parts ESPECIALLY this one need updates . I gave it a thumbs up at first but changed it . A lot of effort was put into it and if you ignore those errors it's a great game . Only question is if you CAN irgnore them , If not don't buy this game now because you'll be frustrated after a while . At least i kinda am though i STILL kinda like it . But in conclusion it's still too much money for two parts of a kind of game that usually cost less as full games and with no end even released yet . Not worth the money , not complete ,lots of mistakes so...well do what you must kids , i've warned ya !

Another great story that I give a 8/10.

love this game!