Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) General Should I start over? Should quit?

Yesterday I finished Divine Divinity, an agreeably easy and very satisfying experience. Now I have just started Beyond Divinity, and I hesitate to continue. I am afraid BD is not going to be the cakewalk that DD was.

Thinking I would not have to worry about enhancing his strength because he can’t wear armor, I made my Death Knight a wizard. My hero is a warrior. In prison this duo hacked up two guards and a skeleton, but then they were in trouble. My hero was low in vitality and could not risk more melee. My Death Knight was plumb out of mana. I thought 175 mana was a good amount to start with (it would have been in DD), but it costs a whopping 47 mana to cast a single fire missile, doing only 9-20 damage.

They have not found any food, and they cannot sleep. My warrior can chug two minor health potions, but I think he should save them for battle. Even if he does chug them, that doesn’t help the Death Knight. What am I supposed to do? Watch TV or read a book while they replenish themselves?

Is this a harbinger of things to come? Will more scenes arise where I have to wait for my characters’ resources to slowly replenish because they don’t have any potions to spare or any food for sleep?

Because spells are so expensive, maybe I should start over with my Death Knight as a warrior. Is a wizard too tough to play at the beginning of the game? Should I play at the Very Easy level of difficulty?

Should I quit? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/down.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

a warrior-survivor combo would be easier on the first BD tour, i think as that's what most experienced BD gamers would advise. that way, u won't run out of ammo just in case your health almost give out. so bows & swords would be best for u. only when u are more comfortable with the game system & the difficulty, then u can try out the mage-warrior combo.

for my case, i started with the same combo as yours. may i know your point distribution & what level u are in? i'm sure it's still not too late though things will be quite tough for now as u are building up your characters.

is the replenishment rate of both health & mana so slow? last i recall it wasn't but then maybe because i played it in lower difficulty level.

one advice i can give u for now is to try hit-and-run tactics, which u can try hit an enemy at long range then u run then go to sneak mode to lose them. do that a few times & i think u will get the hang of this guerilla style. early part of gaming is often hard, as far as i know. maybe i am such a lousy gamer. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

hope that helps. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

At least for the beginning of the game, your mage will probably need to have some melee or archery skills. You are correct that the DK doesn't need as much strength, but the spells you start off with are a little mana intensive. More powerful and efficient spells (especially shaman magic) start to become available in act 2.
I started off with 2 warriors, with one using a bow occasionally (for tough fights). Towards the end of the first act, I switched one character to a full time archer (arrows became more plentiful, and there were much fewer skeletons, who are better dealt with using crushing damage).

There is food in the north west cell in the starting cell block. You can find a bedroll shortly after getting through the first level, which will allow you to sleep anywhere (there are several haystacks you can use before then).
I never had to wait around long for mana to regenerate, even with a relatively low intelligence (though I didn't use many spells). I slept less frequently as the game progressed, and stopped entirely in act 2. With a mage you may need to sleep more often (until potion availability improves), but as you level and boost your intelligence and survival, the mana regeneration rate will go up.
I did have to stop running frequently in the beginning to let my stamina regenerate, but that became much less frequent as the game progressed and my characters' constitution stats improved.

Your choice of character class at the start of the game only determines the initial available skills and spells. The choice of either custom or predefined stat distributions (for warrior, survivor and mage character types) will effect the very start of the game, but after a few levels it will not make much difference, since you will be able to adjust the stats however you wish.
That said, it may be easier to start over, since you are so close to the beginning.

Killing Fergus - strategy and beginning stat distribution

Kiya's BD demo screenshot walkthrough/spoiler covers the first level of the full game.

Beyond Divinity Strategy Guide - the math appendix contains a description of how secondary stats are derived from the primary stats, and gives some general advice on stat point distribution

Thank you both very much for your replies. Before I got them, I did start over, at Very Easy with two warriors, and I did get through those first few guards and skeletons very easily. But then I got stuck with Edmund, the ghost who refused to believe he was dead.

I had to refer to a gamefaqs walkthrough, and I was annoyed. I quit. I uninstalled the game. (No big deal; I had played only an hour or so.)

This morning, I've been thinking. If the worst I need do, to finish the game and avoid having wasted my money on it, is to refer to a walkthrough, maybe I should give it another try.

So I checked back here for answers to my post. They were very good answers, giving me just the encouragement I was initially looking for. I shall finish up the HOMMM IV scenario I started after I uninstalled BD; then I shall reinstall BD. (I deep-saved the 1.47 patch and the strategy guide, so I won't need to download them again.)

Thank you again for the replies. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

Most quests are more clear about what you need to find, where you need to go or who you need to talk to, so you probably will not get stuck like that again. Perhaps Edmond should have mentioned seeing a rat drag something away, through a hole in the east wall, that he had a nagging feeling was important. There are another couple cut scenes which do not get triggered unless you have the relevant quest, but you at least know roughly where you need to go for them.