How difficult is this game supposed to be?

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I just started the game but I seem to be having some trouble already. I went to Homlet and was told about the Moathouse, so I went there to clear out the bandits (although I didn't get a quest for this??). But once I got below with the zombies and slimes, it just got very hard.

The random encounters are also difficult, and then I went to the Meadows up north and the encounters there are also hard.

My party is now level 2, but am I maybe not supposed to be in these areas yet? Should I just be walking around Homlet getting quests? I feel a little lost because I don't have some main quest to pursue in the beginning, and I feel no need to walk around a village I only arrived at just to deliver a message.

Thanks.

 

You can rack up xp by doing various non-comabt quests around town. You will level up doing this at least once. You can try the Delko Grove 1st, the spiders have nice XP to give. The moathouse is rather easy and you will level up as you go thru it. You probably just need a little more time figuring out the game mechanics while in combat. Plus, having Cleave and Combat reflexes on at least one of your warriors at creation is a must in my opinion. It sure does make the moathouse easier. Your cleric can turn the Zombies, making that battle much easier. The slimes are easily killed. I usually kill both with my rogue while the rest of my team tackles the Zombies. DON'T use blunt weapons vs the Zombies. Slashing weapons work best.

The meadows is foull of skeletal undead. Jsut equip blunt weapons on your characters, should be a breeze. But I would scout the area 1st, there is a surprise there for you if you don't.

 

Doing most of the FedEx quests in Hommlet will get your party to level 2, but after that it's trial by blood. As Blades said, get used to the game mechanics: positioning, using different attacks, using the turn-based combat for your advantage etc. will work wonders in this game.

Moathouse is relatively easy, but just charging to combat isn't the best way to go. Often you'll be outnumbered, so fight in cramped spaces, near doors and so on. Sleep is one of the better spells in early going.

There's also a very big and hairy surprise near those zombies, but there's also a very cheesy way to kill it .

One easy way to rack up some xp is to act as a verminator in the moat house and kill those spawning (non-hostile) rats over and over again.

 

Learn to control the battlefields with Entangle, Web, and Grease. Have all your spellcasters memorize a summoning spell, even 1 HD monsters can turn the battle in your favor. Since you can pick where the summons start, place some between you and the enemy, the enemy will target them first, allowing you to soften them up with missile weapons and spells, and every hit your summons take is one less that you do. Don't forget to drop a summons next to the enemy spellcasters or archers, they will have there hands full with them and not you. Also if they try to fire off a spell or arrow, its an Attack of Opportunity (AoO) for the summons. Early in the game your summons are weak and can be killed with one hit, so try to use things that are harder to hit, go with the tiny viper (better AC due to size) vs the attack dog.

Another great spell is charm person (bards best spell). Find the toughest fighter in the room and charm him to your side. The spell lasts a long time, so you might be able to take this guy with you for the rest of the day too.

After you finish the Fedex quest in town, do a little grinding on the roads. Travel back and forth between town, the moathouse, meadow, and grove. I like to travel from the meadow to the moathouse(longer trip) and get some random encounters. It will help if you have someone with the wilderness skill so you can pick and choice your fights (or just reload if the fight is too hard). Another benefit is the extra cash you pick up and the extra equipment you can get (sell what you don't need). Later on you will probably skip most of these random fights, but they are a real boom early on.

Spend your cash on the best armors available for your frontliners, and make sure everyone has a missile weapon, especially your spellcasters. Don't waste your spells on easy kills.

 

Nice suggestions. I'm currently rerolling some characters and I plan to start over soon (since I didn't really even get far to begin with).

 

Yeah, for me, I did the following:

1. Grind Deklo Grove (Kill Spiders Quest) until you reach Level 2; BEFORE starting on the Hommlet 'social' quests. The extra skill point at Level 2 for the rest of Hommlet might prove useful.

2. After 'wiping' Hommlet, kill the Merchants before heading out to Emridy Meadows (for the Terjon/rainbow Rock quests). They're okay to kill, and give you about 5,000 XP and lots of equipment, enough to ding 3. Alternatively, you could go to the Meadows at Level 2 and ding with Rainbow Rock, THEN head back to kill the Merchants. (It's okay, they're Chaotic Evil, if that's what you're wondering.

3. Either way, make sure to kill the Hill Giant (who's incidentally also CE) at the Meadows. The bear is optional, 'cos it doesn't seem to 'aggro' unless you accidentally catch him in a 'burst'. I had a Druid in my party, so I did not feel it right to do so. Furthermore, talking to the bear was actually quite hilarious.

This will almost ensure you ding 4 by the time you even step into the Moathouse. It would be well worth your while to be L4 by then.

Edit: Additionally, refrain from taking NPCs; they'll slow down your XP gain. You could also make a smaller party, but that's probably even more difficult than giving up Optional Hirelings.

 

You can get some quests in the town if you feel like being an errand boy for a while. Dekko Grove is a good first encounter. You should save before you go there. Some bad rolls can kill you. With the moathouse, you need to first move slowly so you only have one frog attack you at a time. By the time you defeat the bandits guarding the moathouse, you should reach level 2 around there.

The undead in the next level can be handled if you have a cleric. I took Improved Turning for my cleric. I find that the extra level boost is great at low levels.

Good luck.

 

I'm in the Moathouse right now too and it's not that it's hard you just need to know how to choose your enemies and get ready for tedium. For instance I'll clear fifty percent of a floor then have to trapse all the way back to town to refresh and sell my load, then rinse repeat again until I progress further.

As for picking your enemies. I payed off the dog monsters to leave instead of fighitng them. I only fought the initial few to get through to the ones that would actually talk and reason with me.

Same for the human army in the Moathouse. I fought the few in the hallway but saved before the inevitable ass kicking in the room with the rest of that army.

I'm hoping that I don't have to deal with that army right now because my party is only level two or three.

This is somewhat similar to Arcanum where you're going to come upon a lot of stuff that you'll come back to way later in the game when your skills and attributes have approved. If I come by a chest I'll use my character with the best lock picking abilities and tools once or twice. If he doesn't work, I'll use a magician with the open/close spell and if that doesn't work I just consider the chest as something to come back to way later.