Hello Castlemaster, welcome to the forums!
There are combat issues that Larian has taken note of and are working on an upgrade to the whole system. This is a huge undertaking that will take a few months.
The story gets different as you move on. Your in the beginning which seems like ordinary business of undead mobs attacking a town. It changes quite a bit later on past Cyseal.
I too had not realized that you needed to purchase skill books to learn abilities. This gave me a terrible first impression in beta. It does need to be worked on and should be part of the tutorial area.
The merchant system is based off Divine Divinity, where you are bartering and buying. It takes time to get used to. Though it saves you from selling stuff first, then buying stuff. I'll be honest, I had a hard time figuring this out back when Divine Divinity first came out and pleaded with them to ditch the system. After a while I got the hang of it and wish other games would adopt.
Combat does have spikes, some is intentional and some are bugs. Again, there is a combat rework in progress.
Henchmen are obsolete, gotta find the story driven companion characters. Especially Jahan, use him for crafting and blacksmithing.
As for quest and map "guides" this game is designed for you to explore and challenge the player to find out where to go. It is based off how classic games were made. If you have trouble, the PLEASE ask for help on the forums and someone will help you out. I myself have had to do this.
Larian is planning to continue development and enhancements on the game, so keep checking by. But please, if you need any help, ask us and someone can help you continue the adventure.
