I'm after that satisfying feeling every time I beat a tough fight, so I just crank difficulty to highest/2nd highest in any game I start playing. And no, I don't assume that's "hardcore" so I can sleep at night. It's just, I've played *a lot* of RPG's, so I know how things go. Game *will* eventually become easy. Always. I always end up having too many stuff piling up in my inventory, taking up space, without me touching them ever, simply because I never have to bother to. Unless you are pushed hard, you might not try to think critically and will not take *full* advantage of every single item you have in your possession. Not to mention the popular trend of dumbing down video games nowadays... Baldur's Gate II, with about a dozen of mods that revise and improve combat/AI, is the only exception I know of.
When I got to Braccus Rex and his "goons", my team were level 9 and I expected a seriously tough fight so I just went all out, throwing everything I was having at them xD Turned out it was not too bad. I was surprised that the goons were much weaker than when I fought them the first time. The first time I fought the fire-twin-guy-something was seriously brutal. And I agree that, enemies focus too much on summoned monsters. A summoned elemental will just tank enemies who use the same element for ever, and they *rarely* switch target. A burning skeleton wielding a fire sword dealing *only* fire damage? In Baldur's Gate at least enemies always have pure physical damage accompanying whatever elemental damage they have.
I am a major hoarder when it comes to items in cRPG play. I save everything, only use something if a fight seems impossible. In the old games (Gold Box, Wizardry, etc...), I would often be forced to use them steadily and so I was always getting low or running out on something useful (hence the hoarding behavior).
Thing about this game is that I rarely find myself using my stock even on hard. I have over 50 healing pots, 50-100 scrolls and arrows, etc... and my normal spells and abilities always are sufficient enough to handle the fights. I occasional use a healing pot, but other than that, not much else.
