Been playing this quite a bit over the holiday, it's a very flawed game but alot of fun regardless. My only question is, is the loot in this game set in stone, or is there a certain amount of randomness to it?? Reading a walkthrough they talk about items I didn't even see drop, and I have had things dropped that they don't mention.

Yes and no.
There are places where only certain items are going to be (not sure how far in you are don't want to spoil it, but one item is my favorite weapon in the vanilla game), but you can save scum in front of chests generally. Chests in different dungeons have a variety of items they can drop, so if you're hunting for maximum efficiency just save in front of one and OCD the night away until you get a good idea of what it is you can get. And Merry Christmas.

Thanks, I only ask because I was lacking in any sort of identify scrolls. But now that I have Serena she will learn it soon enough. This game has surprised me quite a bit. I was expecting something wholly inferior to it's counterpart. It's not a stone-cold classic, but it has won me over, and is both longer and (more shockingly) deeper than I thought it would be. Portions of it are incredibly simple, and it doesn't really take off til you get out the mines. But then again, how interesting were the first two maps in Baldur's Gate?? This game is very underrated.

White Wolf's "World of Darkness" is probably one of the more intriguing lore settings there are, imo. If you played the live action or table top games or even just read some of the books (even the books for the live action or table top game), there'd be a few things that stand out. Some enjoy the game for what it is and don't try to compare it to those things. It is a pretty fun game in that sense. Back when the game came out, there was online multiplayer that you could connect to, and even with dial up and living in the boonies it was amazing fun to get in with some role players and waste away the night. Today there is Tunngle (I want to say Hamachi also) but I haven't connected to that to try it out yet. Perhaps some part of me just wants to dwell on the memories of a different time hehe.

I don't want to spoil any part of the game for you though, so I'll just resist that urge. If you manage to beat the game without mods and want a more fine tuned experience, try looking into Javokis's mod, Age of Redemption, you can head over to http://e-mods.net/modules/mods/about_aor.php and look around.

The only problem I have with the game is that the party combat system is pretty poor. That doesn't make it unique among CRPGs. What I've ended up doing is just setting the coterie options to only cast quick slot spells, making sure I am the only one carrying the vitae potions, setting the stance to offensive on boss battles (where it seems to be all about throwing out as many buffs as possible and hoping for the best) and making use of the solo pull tactic followed by shift-attacking so the group doesn't get scattered.

As for the setting and lore, I find it quite appealing. This game in particular feels to me like a mixture of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Interview with the Vampire". The Nosferatu tunnels took some trial and error, and getting Serena into the party to access identify and having access to Walk the Abyss seems life changing lol. Like most of these games, the difficulty is steep at the beginning, and gets easier from there for the most part.

You might want to try the AOR mod (I think, 2012 is still the latest) - it makes your friends fight logically, for one thing and one can set things within the mod to pretty much work as you want. For me, I set the respond rate so that it has little affect, etc.

My only issue with that is if it will ruin my saved game files. I'm imaging it might mess things up, or I'd download it post haste.

I just got AOR 2014 v4.4. There is a little talk about AOR 2015 on the forums there also. :D

@Jjstraka: I would still recommend giving it a play through without modding it before getting AOR, but I will say, it is a great mod. For unmodded combat, I usually devolve into using "Awe" from presence on a single target where I can, then feeding on them until they die.. leaving the rest of the coterie behind by clicking those little green dots on their health bars to turn them "off". Normally, the draining of another vampire's blood followed by their soul is considered Diablerie and is gravely looked down on by most Vampire Society. The system of generation determination was much different in the pen and paper or live action game. Normally Vampires would be a certain number of steps removed from Caine. This number of steps would be your Generation. The first Generation is Caine. The second Generation were his direct descendants but no one knows just what happened to them, then you come to the Third Generation or the Antediluvians (those who stood against the flood). And they were the founders of the original vampire clans. Anyways, to diablerize a vampire of a generation lower than you, will lower your generation by one or sometimes two if there is a huge gap inbetween your generations. So lets say you were a 13th generation vampire, and you somehow managed to diablerize an 8th generation vampire, you could become either a 12th or 11th generation vampire. On top of this you get a portion or in some cases all the memories of the vampire you diablerized which typically manifested itself as a number of experience points to use for yourself. On top of this, vampires with some skill in Auspex could discern "diablerie veins" in your aura, and choose to extort you if they were douche bombs.

There is so much that didn't seem to make it to VtM:R like the concept of blood hunts, (which sometimes allow the hunters to diablerize the hunted as an added incentive, though that varies from storyteller to storyteller and Prince to Prince). But there is a lot to Vampire the Masquerade that would be hard to put in a game without a lot of thinking about it. Things like the Status system, or being a primogen of your clan, Influences over things like the Media, Underworld style things like the Mafia and arms trades, Police, and things like Resources. Elysium is a concept I don't think is well grasped by either of the VtM games, but Bloodlines acknowledged it a little better. The different paths of Enlightenment are somewhat more prevalent in Redemption, Humanity being the typical default for vampires of the Camarilla clan who in general wish to retain some semblance of connection to humanity. As one commits atrocious acts, he can lose his humanity until ultimately he falls into Wassail or hopeless eternal frenzy and must be put down by other vampires before he exposes his vampiric nature to the rest of the world and destroys the "masquerade" vampires live by alerting the billions of humans in the world to the presence of vampires and causes them to rise up and make war against them. Which, again if you have an "influence' system in place, your vampires can pull strings in the media and change stories around which can keep those stories from breaking, or have ghouled police officers do your bidding by destroying evidence.. etc. There is just a level of complexity involved I do not think could be properly put into a game without lots of thought. The other paths of enlightenment include things like the Path of Caine which endorse Diablerie and intense study to achieve personal closeness and understanding of Caine.. There are paths specific to certain clans like the Tzimicze and the Path of Metamorphosis, which is pretty much about completely abandoning your humanity altogether.. even that seems like a much too simple way to describe the Tzimicze.

I don't want to just keep going and on, but yeah, Redemption is a great game by itself.. I have some things against the um.. later parts of the game which I won't spoil, but the table top game and live action game, hosted by a dedicated story teller who truly admires the depth of the systems in the game can lead to a lot of entertainment, and great stories. I played alot of Dungeons and Dragons in my day as well, and I will say I really liked the overall experience in Vampire the Masquerade more, not just because of being a Vampire but because the World of Darkness systems in general were just more based on producing a high quality role playing experience. And in true nerd form, I preferred to LARP. Well, let me shush it. I hope you can take a dive into the World of Darkness sometime with friends and a good Storyteller. And if you want to dork out sometime and just read about some of the things I talked about try flipping around here: http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Loot is random, yes, but not TOTALLY, like for example in a game like Diablo... In this game, there is a system to it...

1) Certain creatures and chests, have a certain variety/range of items they can drop.

2) Other ones, mobs in particular, drop always the same thing, like the grandmaster of the Teutonic Knights, the Exquisite Battle Axe, or Azhra the Unliving, the Exquisite Dagger.

3) The chest in upper floor of Vyzherad Castle, has a chance to drop some of the BEST endgame items, like enchanted heavy armors (unholy platemail included) and enchanted heavy helms (insulated).

4) Other loot pieces are tied to location, so they are always at the same place, like the Ainkurn Sword, Femur of an elder Tzimisce, etc.

5) And finally, there is hidden loot, as well as hidden rooms/passageways, which can be revealed by Eyes of the beast and Heightened Senses, like the Monocle in Nosferatu Sewers.

Best trick is to save/load before dealing with storekeepers like blacksmith/alchemist, because they renew their stock and item types. Same trick is also applied well for special chests that are known/expected to drop good gear, like the ones deep in tremere strongholds. Knowing this, you can become this game's lootmaster!