Any tips for a new player?

[Der Klown]

I'm new to this game and the only rpg i've ever played a lot was new vegas. Anything important to know before playing?

[Reeno]

The unofficial patch (which you should have installed, so if you dont, do it now) includes a walkthrough that goes into detail about this in its intro section before the actual walkthrough. Important skills, useless skills, playstyle differences between clans, you get the idea. Read that and you're set.

[Touch of Oblivion]

In terms of game mechanics and character creation, there's a few. First, don't play Malkavian or Nosferatu Clans as your first try. Nosferatu is the closest thing VtMB has to "hard mode" and Malkavians are all insane so their dialogue options are completely different, somewhat confusing, and can also contain some story spoilers at points.

Second, when picking combat stats, pick one of the following: firearms with a little brawl(for combat feeding), melee and a little brawl(same reason), or just pure brawl with maybe a little bit of firearms. Other Skills that will be important are Persuasion and Seduction(only 2-3 points over the course of the whole game for Seduction) OR Intimidation and Seduction. You'll also need some decent sneaking ability unless you're playing a Clan with the Obfuscate Discipline. Lockpicking and Hacking are a MUST HAVE pair of skills. You will use them a lot inthe game and it sucks not having any points in them.

There's more, but like the other poster said, read the UP stuff.

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Both posts do a great job of telling you what you need to do. Good stuff guys.

[eristic troubadour]

Don't pick Malkavian your first time, it's a second or third playthrough class, otherwise any of the other classes are find for a first time playthrough. Focus on brawling, one part in particular makes you really dry ammunition-wise and if you don't have any melee-brawler points, it'll take much, much longer.

Don't worry about failing skill checks, there's generally 2 or 3 solutions to any given quest and the game doesn't really punish you for failing them to begin with. Help the girl in the hospital ASAP if you want a good source of blood/money mid-late game.

You're a vampire, so don't feel bad about killing humans if it absolutely comes down to it, some areas in the game don't punish you at all for it because it's required to meet certain objectives. Also don't be afraid to read some of the posters/textures/notes left around. This game, while it takes itself super seriously, has a really, really good sense of humor. Demon Seed soda and Hooker magazine, the little details have a lot of humor that can be missed if you don't take the time to read them.

The game isn't as open or extensive as new vegas but you can pretty much make any build outside of firearm-exclusive and be fine for most of the game. Also don't neglect your powers. Depending on your race, you get 3-4 vampire abilities that have varying effects, and it's almost always worth it to put a few points in them, bloodbuff especially for first time/melee oriented players. And, THE most important advice you'll get for this game-

Don't open it.

[Oneeyed]

Yeah, don't listen to all the cowards and pu$$y players. Be a man and open it.

[Ray tracing is faster]

Hands up, chin down.

[☢ GoldFish (SVK) ☢]

I don't really get why people recommend not to play as Malkavian for the first playthrough. I played as a Malkavian in my first playthrough and loved every second of it, mainly because dialogues were hilarious.
I don't know if I'd have the same great first impression if my class was something else.
But meh, to each his own.

[ethicus]

like others have said its the spolier bits that can hamper it if you can get the gist that is which it can be easy or only if you have played it thru at least once

[Touch of Oblivion]

Originally posted by Goldfish:

I don't really get why people recommend not to play as Malkavian for the first playthrough. I played as a Malkavian in my first playthrough and loved every second of it, mainly because dialogues were hilarious.
I don't know if I'd have the same great first impression if my class was something else.
But meh, to each his own.

Some people have found the Malkavian dialogue confusing and/or hard to understand and if it's their first playthrough, they're not going to have any idea what the usual lines might be. Also as I mentioned, clever people may catch the spoilers hidden in some of the Malk dialogue and it could ruin the story for them. I did Malk as my first play but I also knew a lot about the VtM universe prior to that so didn't find it hard to decipher.

[NekoiNemo]

Originally posted by Der Klown:

I'm new to this game and the only rpg i've ever played a lot was new vegas. Anything important to know before playing?

Invest heavily in at least one dialog discipline. If you want to have a fun time - play female with high seduction - at least you'll NEVER run out of blood.