Greetings from the blood suckers of the world. I'm about ready to start the game and I have one question (so far). What is the significance of the History? Do I need to pick one? I'm going to take Barb's advice and play as a Gangrel first and I think I may go with the Pagan Priestess - good idea? Bad idea? Doesn't make a lick of difference in how the game plays out?

Oh and I downloaded and installed the unofficial patch 6.2 - again - should I have done that (don't want to get into the game and then find out I screwed it up by using the patch)

Gangrel is a good first character because of the strength and cool disciplines. The only thing choosing a certain character such as the Pagan Priestess does is award the character points a certain way before you start. Grab her and GO! The history is interesting only if you want to read it.

The last time I played I installed the unofficial patch too. It made a few minor changes in the game, but nothing significant. I've also played both with no patch and the official patch with no issues.

I think you're really going to like this game!

My first play was as a Malkavian, we did fine except that I was playing on a slug of a computer so had to go God mode. Second time I was a Toredor but got sooo stuck in the museum that I just could not sneak and I was killing everyone. I left it as that then ran into all my mega computer issues and of course lost everything. Maybe I should start again, I think I patched the game. The console is good to have set up, just in case, but it does tend to freeze the game a lot.

I have no idea what the "pagan priestess" is. Did I miss something here?

I never patched the game & I've had no problems, except when I tried to leave the Dane as a Nosferatu.

I never completed the museum without killing everybody in there, Judy. It doesn't seem to make a difference if you do. It's more fun, too! Why not give it another try?

Syd, you'll want to add experience points to animalism as soon as you can. The first discipline you'll earn is burrowing beetle. Then spectral wolf (very cool). Then you'll get bloodsuckers communion, my favorite in the game.

You'll learn a lot about kindred society as you go along. You already know a lot from Redemption. I think the whole thing is so interesting.

I made it out of training - still a bit confused on the keyboard commands - went to talk to Jack and hit him with my pipe instead - he was unamused Forgot how to toggle from first person to third person so will have to find a manual and check that out. Did have trouble climbing down for some reason - I made the motions but didn't move - finally got myself down but have no clue how really.

I am now looking for some drugs to help poor Mercurio (he's in sad shape) and then off to the beach.

Not sure if you missed anything or not Barb - I just hit the History button during steup and there were about 6 Titles so I read through them and picked one I liked - figured I was supposed to

Toggle 1st and 3rd person by prssing Z. I still don't know where "history" is. Is it when you start a new game or what? I just always click on clan & gender.

You can find drugs in the Medical Center, usually on the 2nd floor.

Has anyone tried this on Vista yet? I would like it on my laptop, I am sure I can hook up my gamepad on this. Syd is will save you lots of stress if you use a gamepad, Drac and I do, we have Cyber Snipa and like it a lot.

Edit here: It doesn't seem to be available anywhere except their online store and they want twice what I paid for it maybe eBay? I bought mine from GoGamer, I think Drac did also, but maybe there are similiar ones out there.

My gamepad is permanently attached to my left hand! It has made my gaming life so much easier...

I saw a few of them at Amazon.

Hawka I'm playing it on Vista right now - no problems at all. Played Redemption on Vista also.

Barb the History comes up when you're picking your character. It's the last thing you do before your character is finished.

I'll have to look into a gamepad - I've never used one - for some reason they seem complicated - it could be because I'm old too

I'm old enough to retire in 24 days and start drawing SS next fall, syd! What the gamepad did for me was put everything at my fingertips with a nice to rest my wrist. The WASD keys are nice and big too.

And in general, all the commands can be seen by looking through the options from the ESC-screen.

The character histories were part of what the game developers were planning on including but ran out of time to get them finished. The unofficial patches (by Wesp) have these included. They are interesting to read and some can have a real effect on your game, though most won't make a big difference. There are different history choices depending on your character's sex and clan, although some are shared.

Added later --
I started playing this game again the end of this weekend. This time I'm a Brujah, which so far hasn't seemed much different, but I haven't made it downtown yet to their base, although that'll happen tonight.

I wanted to warn that I ended up having to reinstall the game after using Wesp's latest unofficial patch (version 6.2) because the "grab object" action wasn't being made available. What I'm talking about is picking up boxes to move them around or cans/bottles to toss to make noise. The hand icon never appears and pressing E (action) had no effect. His previous version (6.1) works fine for me, which is what I'm using right now.

Happy Saturday fellow vamps. I have a small technical problem that I hope one of you experts will be able to help me with. I am at the Ocean House Hotel getting the begeebees scared out of me (I haven't actually jumped like that since Blackstone Chronicles) Anywho, I am in the room where I have to bash the planking on the floor in order to get to the room below. How the heck do I do that? I have been able to bash walls okay, move items okay but bashing the floor has me

So far I'm having a grand time with the game. Finished quite a few side quests and just ambled back to the main one. Haven't upgraded myself yet - haven't decided where to assign all the experience points I have so I've just been swinging my lead pipe about and watching the bodies fly

croaker that's really strange that you can't use the hand icon - I have the 6.2 patch installed and am having no problems whatsoever. I can chuck things all over the place - weird

Isn't the Ocean House just a blast?! Very creepy! To break through the floor, put your cursor on the boards & you'll get an icon to break through. Then hit the action button.

The single scariest part of any game I've played! I had to quit playing one night when I finally got to the basement. I still had to go out to the barn to feed the barn cats and I was just too creeped out to continue!

That part was tricky for me too. But Barb is right. When you hover your mouse in the right place on the boards, you will get the sledge-hammer cursor to break through.

I had no issues with the hand icon with this patch either...

Drac, that's funny about the barn! I can certainly imagine how creepy it would be!

I think the abandoned hospital is the creepiest part of the game. I've had a lot of tests, mainly on my back, lately & one night I dreamed I was a patient in that hospital! Pisha was one of my nurses! What a nightmare!