Vampire: The Masquerade — Sins of the Sires

[h2][i]Oh no. I feel a quest coming on: [b]Protect the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mortal.[/b][/i][/h2] I'll keep the review length on par with the game length: It's a visual novel whose charming writing is cut at the knees by whiplash pacing. No music, scarce character artwork that evokes nothing telling about them. There are motifs from Greek mythos across the game, that much is clear. It's a shame we never get the chance to really chew on that, visit hardly any exotic historical places for more than a spell. And the game succeeds in maintaining the appropriate vibe of VTM. The writer is clearly experienced, I hope they get the chance to flex their full potential in a longer, better paced narrative. But for Sins of the Sires? No, I can't recommend this.

[h1]Most shallow game of the series[/h1] Buy this if it is on sale and you have a compulsion to have every VTM game in your library. Otherwise, don't buy it, so they make a more polished story next time. [u]Short explanation of why I'm so disappointed:[/u] I like to play and discover every possible route in such types of games to see what I could possibly achieve and learn more about the characters and what happens around me. For my first playthrough, I play the game normally and make a copy of my savegame at every new chapter. After I finished the game, I try other options that interested me during my normal playthrough. And let me tell you...I was DISAPPOINTED when I went back and tried other options. (spoiler: Your decisions don't change anything for the ending) [u]The long explanation:[/u] I was extremely unhappy with the ending I got and wanted to see what would wait for me if I had chosen differently at different points in time. I loaded my save from the beginning of my last chapter and chose different answers. Each and every answer got me a few line changes on the next page, but that was the full extent of the difference. I thought "Okay, it's the last chapter, I probably can't change much in that chapter alone". So I went back to my save to the beginning of the chapter before the last one and tried every different decision...and it changed nothing. So I went back a chapter before that -> same outcome I went back a chapter again -> same outcome I went back as far as the beginning of chapter 3 and quit at that point. [i]Why should I buy a "choose your own adventure" game when I could have just purchased a book and would not have been disappointed? There are fanfictions out there where you have more control over how the story progresses with chapter selections than this game.[/i] [b]Overall, I am very disappointed with this game/story and cannot recommend it.[/b] Buy Night Road, Out For Blood or Parliament of Knives, those give you something to have fun with!

One of the shortest and just...worst of any VTM games I've played. Very. Very. Meh.

This is actually exactly like a VTM story should be. Many paths, many characters, many goals and schemes etc. It is peak WoD storytelling. The character building at the start is so well done and more organic than most in these games. Theres nice artwork spread throughout the game...I could go on. But if you are scared of the game because someone asks you for your pronouns in the first few minutes, maybe roleplaying games are too much for your cerebral capacities, big boy.

I really didn't enjoy this game. The story just felt bad, with very little way to have any agency or create any feelings of inspiration or excitement at the intrigue. The game feels unfinished and the sexism from the Prince, while it may be character accurate, just adds more annoyance to an already trivial game playing as a non male character. I would recommend the characters be rewritten with more depth and the player given more agency to actually make it fun.

Think the other V:TM games aren't dark enough? This one might be for you, but definitely don't start here if you're new to Vampire: The Masquerade. Read this as the most cautious recommendation that it is possible to make and read other reviews too before making your mind up to spend your time here. (Would have given it a "Maybe" over a thumbs up if it was possible.) I really do think there's a type of Vampire player out there who finds the monstrousness of vampire society appealing, someone who can revel in stories about the inevitable onslaught of institutional power that V:tM mirrors. Sins of the Sire will give you just that, an emotionally detached player character being shepherded through the misery that is the backside of vampire society. There's a wealth of different genuinely interesting characters, and pretty much no one will give you enough of themselves to give you the opportunity to get attached. And the Athens that is portrayed is a really interesting and gritty setting that you just never get to stay in any one place long enough to care for. There's just darkness and there's so much of it. Here you'll find barely anything human to attach to as a reader. Barely any sense of agency to enjoy. Barely any exciting secrets to explore. Just a corpse shambling through a series of scenes happening at them, all while musing over them from a point of almost ironic detachment. And this I genuinely think is a strength that sets Sins of the Sire apart from all other CoG WoD books, a divisive flavour that there are people out there who genuinely enjoy -- the cultural output of the 00:s is proof of this. But it's also very much not for me. I have given up before reaching the end because I just can't find anything to [i]care[/i] about. It's been very interesting to read to widen my idea of what a World of Darkness story can be though, and I genuinely think there is an audience for Sins of the Sire out there, just not that I am part of that audience.

I went into this one with incredibly low expectations and was still so disappointed. Not even my super autistic hyper-fixation on VTM could convince me this was good. The first chapter starts off pretty decent, but anything after that is terribly written. Doesn't feel like it takes place in the universe or has much to do with VTM. Very flat characters and story that I could not care about at all. It's also super short, I can't believe it's price for two hours of content. Don't bother with this one, just play Night Road and Parliament of Knives instead.

个人还是挺喜欢SotS的，虽然作者boss战把大纲甩我脸上加上某些支线天花乱坠的bug，但它写的好的地方文笔是真的好啊…… 当时打完后劲太大一口气刷了好几个结局，浅贴一个最喜欢的结局片段的渣翻： [spoiler] “有时你会遇到想要和你共事的年轻吸血鬼，因为他们认为你带来了改变，而他们也一样，想要改变这个世界。他们告诉你他们的信念：无辜的人不应当受苦，孩子们应当生活在安全的地方，他们只会伤害那些罪有应得的人。他们重复着废屋墙上的文字：‘爱是走私，爱是无序，爱是能够腐蚀铁条的酸。’于是你思索，这句话曾经对你来说是否并非空洞的回响，就像现在对他们这样？不过你仍在继续工作。因为这才是重点，不是吗？去做这些事，即使文字只是空洞。坚持下去，即使你曾失败——即使不断失败。” “人们依然是自私的，残忍的，或者只是天真的，出于各种错误的原因被卷入其中，但是有时候，有时候你会遇到一个人，他让你想起这一切开始之前的自己，在这个世界还没开始按照你的方式来对待你之前的自己。” “年轻人告诉你他们听说过你当年的事迹：你参与过的战斗，你成就过的预言——‘当年那些天’他们是这么说的，还没适应夜晚的口癖。‘我们都是预言者。’你对那些孩子说，预言总是会实现的，‘如果它们还没实现，你就知道故事还没有结束。’” [/spoiler] 这个结局打完真的，很感慨，毕竟SotS的MC给我的感觉就是挣扎，不管怎么选似乎都不甘心，只有这个结局让我感觉[spoiler] 她是真的与自己和解了 [/spoiler] [spoiler] （谁懂啊我原本是冲着RO去的，但对我的冲击都不如这个结局看见MC的释然和成长。而其他结局，怎么说，更像是与现实妥协） [/spoiler] 具体流程是[spoiler] 我走的Markos的RO，最后选不杀Gor+杀Kapriel+和Gor并肩战斗+不原谅Markos（这里有bug，本来Kapriel那里暗示过他已经死了…）+去squat [/spoiler]应该有别的方法也能达到？不过我觉得这里搭配雅典再无亲王食用很香，因为Markos会对你说：[spoiler] Let's hope we do better than the people who came before us. [/spoiler] 关于Markos有两个结局我觉得都还行：[spoiler] 一个是从头到尾都偏向他，另一个是选把Gor的头给谁时不要给Sophia，最后阻止Selena失败，Markos会来找你，可以选和他一起离开雅典重新开始。 [/spoiler]这怎么就不算he了呢（。）另外，答应我走他的RO时氏族[spoiler] 一定要选Tremere [/spoiler]个人感觉比较对味hhh

Playing through all the World of Darkness interactive fiction novels, and whilst Sins of the Sires isn't the best—the writing and characters are still extremely enjoyable. I think some of the criticism on here is a bit harsh, the only con really is the novel isn't longer. It's probably the shortest World of Darkness interactive novel, at 300,000 words, but it still has plenty of replayability, interesting themes (huge focus on humanity) and likeable characters. At full price, it might not be worth it if you aren't a hardcore fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, but on sale it's definitely worth it. The setting is also really unique (Greece) and the Ancient history of Vampires around the world is an interesting read.

very anti climactic on multiple ending, not sure there is a good one