I got this game back when it was brand new after following the development with great interest. I'd never heard of World of Darkness at the time. As such, most of the dialog about the politics of the vampire world went over my head with the first playthrough. I did a bit better on the 2nd. By the end of the 4th playthrough, I had finally memorized the groups.
It's a linear game. There are no sidequests. You can go wherever you want, but advancing the storyline requires you to just follow the quest log. There are shops to buy arms and armor. You get to upgrade skills as you go. There is a ready to go multiplayer mode for those who want to play their own custom tabletop feeling game, but I never got into it.
The setting of the game starts during the crusades and jumps forward to the new millennium. The storyline associated with the jump is amazing! It's fun to see the character try to adapt to the new situation as well. I've read several World of Darkness books since playing this game, and I must say, this one has the best plot and main character by far.
The folks saying "Bloodlines is better" have some merit. The graphics in Bloodlines is better. The quest variety is better. The plot and character development though, this one wins without contest.
Buy this game. Play it. Play it again years later and still enjoy it.