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QUEST TIPS
The last thing I want to do here is to spoil the plot for you, which is why I haven’t done a walkthrough. The story itself is pretty convoluted, and the chances are that you’ll be in the dark until the end of the fifth chapter. Don’t worry too much about taking your time over sub-quests, because there is very little that is time-specific. As a rough guide, if you take on 75% of the available sub-quests (you won’t find them all) you can expect to take roughly 110 game days to complete the game.
You’re unlikely to become completely stuck, as there is usually more than one way to negotiate any given problem. Likely difficulties are not being able to find a person or a place, or not being able to defeat a certain opponent. In the former case, it is a matter of exploring all available avenues. Get into the habit of making notes when talking to important people, or people who set quests, as your journal doesn’t record everything and sometimes misses important details. If you do get truly stuck, though, write in to Q&A and we’ll see what we can do. The game was supposed to ship with a comprehensive map; as you may have noticed, it doesn’t. On our cover disc this month you will find two maps which are printed on these pages in small form; on the disc they are much larger and you will be able to read place names.
If you are continually unable to defeat a plot-specific opponent, the chances are you need to change your strategy. Try beefing up your fighters with spells and potions, or equipping some magical projectiles. Try incapacitating the target with Charm, Confusion, Slow, or Entangle. You may need to be sneaky, and try the scouting techniques described above with offensive spells such as Fireball and Monster Summoning to soften them up. Alternatively, you may be trying to run before you can walk, and you should go off and earn some more experience first.
The game has an experience cap, which means you can’t earn more than 89,000 experience points. In practice, this means you won’t advance beyond Level 7 in most classes (Level 8 for Thieves), so don’t go mad trying to make your characters into superhuman machines. If you take on all the sub-quests you can find, and scour the maps for enemies and creatures, you should just about reach the experience cap, though you could probably complete the game with Level 6 characters. Weapons, spells and items will win the game for you; along with your skill, of course. Beard.