Just bought this, what do I need to know before playing?

Just bought this, what do I need to know before playing?

Rule nr 1 you don't buy it, devs bancrupted year after release and all money go to activision.
Nr2 if steam you need to download community patch, GOG version have it installed and can be pirated easly.
3 don't play as nosferatu or malkavian for your first time. Rest is up to you.

Nothing, go have fun with it, king.

don't be afraid of playing malkavian or nosferatu in your first playthrough, even if some people or even this infographic say otherwise

Don’t open it.
Seriously.
This is not some reverse psychology.
Or this.
Just don’t do it, bro.

nah, you should open it

I like Obfuscate and stelth kills. Once and only Nosferatu

Nosferatu is the most fun if you like challenge, if you want more "realistic" go for the more humanoid forms.

Just play the game otherwise you will spoil yourself and will never get that feeling back.
I did nos my friend went with malk other playthroughs don't come close to the first time. He has done 5 more runs has Malk for instance because he said other clans just suck.

You wanna play malk or nosferatu? go for it, dont listen to fucking retards telling you to wait for a second run
t. played nosferatu first run

Make sure you have the Unofficial Patch. GOG comes with it, Steam doesn’t.
You probably don’t want to be a Malkavian or Nosferatu the first time. Not saying they’re completely off-limits like most people will, but be aware they alter the game considerably.
Don’t neglect combat entirely when building your character or you’ll be screwed when the devs’ budget runs out and the whole game turns into a bunch of bossfights.
Don’t open it.

Nothing. Other than near the end, the game is basically unfinished and the last couple of missions are just complete fightfests, unlike the rest of the game which generally lets you avoid combat by sneaking or talking your way out of shit.

Like the other anon said, playing malk or nos is perfectly fine. Malk doesn't spoil anything, and it isn't confusing either if you have a working brain and actually read what your character is saying. I'd even recommend it because Malk is very well written.

Don't open it.

You got scammed!

Don't waste points on Firearms

Nah, firearms are great and synergize quite well if you use a character with auspex

If everyone tells you not to open it, you probably shouldn't open it.
You do you, though.

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Don't ask, just play OP. But in all honesty, consider getting some good ranged weapons

use unarmed, melee and firearms

It's shit, you fell for an old Anon Babble meme. Enjoy a broken janky mess. No refunds!!!

open it lmao do it

Do not stick your dick into crazies.

VTMB is a shit game to play, and it is still regardless, somehow, still one of the best games ever made. Deal with it.

An op build can easily counter the jankyness. You end up just one-shooting everyone. The fun part of this game is the roleplaying and the atmosphere

Pay attention to the loading screens...

Game loads so fast, I can't even read them.

buying VTMB

nice of you to donate straight into Gaben's wallet

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3 don't play as nosferatu or malkavian for your first time. Rest is up to you.

Multiple anons who have chosen Malkavian, or more likely got it from the questionnaire, for their first run have attested that they enjoyed the game greatly and wouldn't want it any other way. Nosferatu does limit the player somewhat and can result in completely new players having a worse experience if they don't know any of the tabletop stuff whatsoever but it isn't a hard rule either.
I know you're probably baiting but doing such a disservice to new players is a shitty attitude, man.

The sewers filtered me from not finishing the game

wow a whole two 2k20+4 dimma dollars

You can buy it on GOG and it comes with the patch preinstalled.

ha ha what's the problem too poor to given gaben money for no reason?

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buy it on GOG

lmao

what is it called when you project so hard you actively make fun of yourself with bullshit pulled out of thin air

w-w-what's it c-c-c-called w-w-w-when you w-w-w-w-w-when you

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Man im really happy for you or sorry about that

m-m-m-m-man i-i-i-i-im r-r-r-r-r-r-really h-h-h-h-h-h-h-appy

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imagine getting this mad because you told everyone you cant afford a 20 year old game lmao

The Hollywood sewers are a 3+ hours long gauntlet of pure hell on earth. Patches allow you to bypass them and you should unironically use that option, unless you're willing to experience The True VTMB Hell (I like them, but in a "testing my build" kind of way).

Guns are useless without points in gun skill (obvious but people don't get it).

The last fourth of the game is heavily fight focused.

When someone tells you it's a stealth mission, then it's a stealth mission (you'll recognize it when they do). But "stealth" in that mission means not attacking the enemies, you can just byline and tanks with enough blood bags.

Open it you little faggot.

i-i-i-i-i-i-imagine g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-getting t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-this m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-mad

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sewers

it's literally 5-10 minutes at most.
What the fuck is wrong with you people?

embarrassing

They made a 100% social character despite Jack telling the PC that combat is inevitable and you should prepare for it, then Nines doing the same (and even offering some relevant tutoring if you're polite), and I think I'm forgetting at least 2 more. Mercurio and Beckett, probably. And you even run into unavoidable fights throughout early game too.

e-e-e-e-e-e-e-m-m-m-m-m-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-

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w-w-w-w-w-wh-h-h-h-h-h-h-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-at-t-t-t-t-t-t- a-a-a-a-a-a-a-r-r-r-r-r-e-e-e-e-e-e-e y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-o-o-o-o-o-u-u-u-u-u, f-f-f-f-f-f-f-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-v-v-v-v-v-v-v-e-e-e-e-e-?-?-?-?-?-?-?

Anon why are you even responding to him? You know he will just post reaction image and copy your post in retard speech.

had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

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I've got an hour to kill
you got anything new thats not copying yourself or what I said though? or you gonna loop back?

had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

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your parents could go to jail for delinquency you know, though being on this site at such a young age I doubt they couldn't give less of a fuck

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had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

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:)

had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

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Get the unofficial patch

if only you gave your schoolwork this much attention

had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

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wow four times now, are we gonna go for a fifth?

he boughted

had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

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Ignore posts like
and just focus on having a blast

You genuinely should play Malkavian first. People say that you should do it on a second run, but they are wrong. If you already know how the story goes, the Malkavians insanity doesn't come over as well as it should. Malkavian run first. You only get to play it for the first time once. Play it for the first time right.

just bought this

Why?

Get the unofficial patch
Don't play Malk or Nos
You will have to fight eventually so put combat skill points
Complete the tutorial

Let's make it six!

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had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

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For maximum immersion play Malkavian. Neither you nor your character will have any fucking clue whats going on.

had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

kcabemoc tneced a fo kniht t'ndluoc uoy esuaceb em ypoc ot dah

Malk bro please just stop

Aww sweet a tranny melty!

well you cant just stop on an odd number

had to copy me because you couldn't think of a decent comeback

How do you have so many of these? AAAHHHHH

I opened it... :(

Endgame is fucking shit, so make sure to not neglect your combat skills. You gonna need them in the last part

Brujah is for melee+celerity
Gangrel is for unarmed+protean+fortitude, protean claws are kinda wonky though
Nosferatu is for obfuscate+melee, ok to play on the first playthough, you don't really have to lurk around in the sewers like the game implies, just give pedestrians a wide berth
Toreador is for guns+celerity
Tremere is for Tharmaturgy blood magic
Ventrue are for fortitute+domination, you can build them ranged or melee
Malkavian are obuscate+dementation, basically caster stealth, wouldn't play them on a first playthrough just because their dialogue is different and there's a lot of 4th wall breaking and intentional spoilers

even the sabaat weren't stupid enough to do that anon

if you bought it on Steam install Unofficial Patch Plus (yes, add all restored content stuff)

do not go Malkavian or Nosferatu on your first playthrough

That is it... I went Tremere on my first run and it was awesome.

there's a lot of 4th wall breaking and intentional spoilers

New players won't understand either of that.

If you asked what people picked then asked if that was their best playthorugh it is always a yes.

I did venture has a 2nd it was fun bit easy to get blood but didn't feel amazing has my first nos run.

Yeah... but then it will all feel like nonsense to them. Not sure it is a good pick for a first playthrough because of that.

Also people make out a lot about mandatory combat towards the end of the game, which is true, but people never mention there's a lot of semi-mandatory (if you want full XP+rewards) STEALTH in the early and mid game. Obfuscate is the most useful discipline for this because you just turn invisible, but most clans have an early game skill for temporarily disabling patrolling guards (nightwisp ravens for animalism, dominate and dementation have something like that too) but notable brujah and toreador have no skills like that so you're on your own sneaking around

than it's just schizo babble instead

Never played Nos... but if what people say is right and you just need to stay a bit farther away from NPCs to not trigger the masquerade then I think it could work ok.

Nah, not everything. I'm sure there are still some of the posts up in the archives of anons describing how it went for them. Those who take the questionnaire and don't get Malks will play as something else. Those who got them and read what they are and decided it's not for them (seen a few of those over the years too) won't suffer from that either.

Obfuscate is busted at rank 5 also with all the rats I ended up bypassing alot of stuff
Rank 2 obfuscate trivializes that part of them

My only shock moment was playing Venture and wonder why there was a cab driver I thought my game was bugged.

One of the better levels in the game.

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Open it.

1. It requires something called The Unofficial Patch. The GOG version comes with this preinstalled, so you won't have to install anything extra. If you got it off Steam then you need to install it yourself. I would recommend trying to find an older version of the patch. Like 9.9 would be ideal.

2. Ignore anyone who tells you not to pick Malkavian or Nosferatu. Pick whichever you want.

3. Unless you want to do a pure combat build, pick one combat type (Unarmed, Melee, or Ranged) and stick with it. If you try to spread XP between multiple combat types then you won't have much left for other skills.

4. If you are getting killed over and over in combat then put a point in Combat Defense. This should be obvious, but some people are too retarded to figure this out on their own.

5. Do the tutorial (it comes up during the intro, not at the startup screen). Not only will this give you a free lockpick and gun, it explains some lore, which I'd argue is more important.

Two cents from min / maxing brainlet:
- there are levels where you can roam freely and then there are certain levels which are "expeditions" meaning you visit them once and never go back. Before going to such places make sure you prepped yourself.
- I picked tremere, a "magician" class, but being clueless with spells and how do they work I went into weapons / utility skills.
- I am not sure, but the social skills are more or less hit and miss. There are not that many speech checks after all and they don't feel that crucial.

There are plenty of persuade and seduction options. A significant number of domination and dementation too. Intimidate is the only one that is not worth putting points into unless you're craving some novelty.

When you get to Chinatown do NOT be afraid to turn on God mode or use console command to give yourself max stats. The combat takes a Malkavian sized shit and no, you aren't missing any "core experience" playing the intended way. The devs ran out of time and couldn't balance properly. Believe me, this is for your enjoyment.

To those who don't know, you don't buy the game because not a single cent is going to the original developers.

Another min-maxing autist here:
If you're playing as male- put XP to raise your persuasion, if female- into seduction. You gain actual upper hand in dialogues that way.
Put XP into intelligence if you want to make use of books.
Don't waste money on ammo and guns until you're in Hollywood. Until Hollywood you can do fine with just melee weapon or unarmed + bloodbuff. Most guns can be acquired for free throughout entire game.
If you're playing as Ventrue or Gangrel, level your Fortitude and combat defense, then you'll be extremely tanky get next to no damage.
If you're playing as Tremere, Malkavian, or Toreador, level your Auspex, it will help you a lot in hacking and with guns.
Why god mode? Chinatown isn't that hard. Giovanni mansion is worse.

Only casuals can't handle the combat with minimal investment into combat and defensive skills. Even the old bait two posts above yours is patently retarded because maxing out Dementation lets you slaughter everything except bosses with impunity. Even though it doesn't just guaranteed insta-kill vozhd and szhlachta like Vision of Death on mortals in UP, it still deals 18-20% HP total damage even to them at least 20% of the time. With area of effect. Otherwise placing berserk or hysteria on them, and berserk on primary target just kills them once it expires anyway. And it also has AoE.

b-but it costs 4 BP!

So what? You're supposed to also have a few blood packs which should be more than enough to survive the sewers. And afterwards you'll buy the maximum possible of each kind unless you're clinically retarded. And UP even gives you the Odious Chalice on top of that.

Finally, Malks can feed on rats so there is no blood shortage in the sewers like for Ventrue.

It's a flawed masterpiece, keep that in mind. Lots of things don't work properly, but I really enjoyed having sex with Jeanette and the aesthetics.

this.

Also Plus patch sucks ass. Default gog patch is kinda ok, but it's not nearly as good as the original. Just keep that in mind. Sadly there is no other way to play the game.