Help!

[dyania]

I recently bought the game from eb games/trymedia - so I didn't get a booklet or anything to help me along.

I have found out some commands on my own - but I can't for the life of me figure out how to get downtown? A few walkthroughs said either the sewers or to call a cab? I've pretty much done most of what I can do right now in Santa Monica as far as I can tell (guys in the diner kill me too fast, as does the guy in foxyboxer) so I'm completely lost because the sewers just don't go there, and I certainly haven't seen any cab stands or moving cars about the streets of Santa Monica.

Is there an online manual? I don't want cheats etc... just I'm at a bit of a standstill in the game. Or have I missed something obvious?

Game is fun though - despite all the graphic errors and the fact it crashes my whole system once a day. :P

[dyania]

Also - none of the patches seem to work for me - all of them say I need the CD - although I bought the game legitimately through eb games download site Any help out there?

[Lukeatus]

If you're new to the game, you should have completed the tutorial... Right after the starting sequence, you meet Jack, and if you tell him that you're willing to accept his help, you should have gone through a tutorial mission. Not only you learn much about the game and keys and such (it really helps in the long run) but you get 2 XP out of it as well.
Anyway,
Once you get to Santa Monica, you can't go downtown yet. You need to complete certain missions first (the ones related to the prince and all) to be able to access downtown by cab or by the sewers if you're a Nosferatu.
There are many side quests that you should complete as well to get additional XP, money and items however.
However, completing the Camarilla mission can take sometime as you'll need the help of several kindred, and to gain their favor, you must do something for them. But don't get discouraged!
It's like that - you can only access a certain hub (in this case, downtown), after you completed certain missions. Once you get downtown, don't worry, you can come back to Santa Monica when you wish, but you will be only be able to access other hubs (Like Hollywood) after once again, completing certain missions.
About the patches, do as you will, but since you're a first time gamer, for beginners I'd recommend only installing the 1.2 official patch, as it fixes certain bugs but it doesn't alter the game. You have to download it (there's a link above) and install it. You won't see a difference but it'll work.

[G-Sus]

the tutorial helped alot for me because i too didnt get a booklet or anything, tho i got my game by "other" means. i really just figured things out along tha way