I'm about 50 hours in, and at times the sheer size and depth of this game is rather daunting. I still feel like a noob at this game, and I probably am. That said, I am enjoying my time. Had a fair few chuckles at the dialogue, voice acting is great. All the team members bring something to the table.

Combat is .. how to put it. You have to think ahead and min/max a lot. I wouldn't suggest doing everything what the wiki says, but atleast look at the statusses that you can receive and devise a counter for everything. Have rain ready for lots of fire, vaporize for clouds, clearmind/enrage for terrified, first aid for knock down, etc. I'm playing it on the middle difficulty, and I know i'm probably missing a whole bunch of tricks, but I'm getting by without having to savescum fights. It definitely rewards players combining spells, using the elements, using the environment. As other said, spreading your team out before a fight helps a lot with initial start. Having a high hydrosophist mage that can restore magic shields, put people in cryo if they take too much damage and throw around heals has really helped me survive even the fights where i got caught offguard. Some aerothurge to boot helps aswell, so you can teleport dangerous enemies away, swap out that archer high-up with your own ranged, etc.

Also, the solutions to problems and riddles in quests are usually fairly straight forward if you think on them, and you know you have to have a good mix of stats on your characters to not miss anything. Bring a shovel, have someone with high wit to spot all the hidden objects, have sebille with high thievery to rob everyone blind and break the economy :D

There is so many layers to this game, i'm amazed they finished it in a lifetime. There is some jankyness and I imagine some quests can break at times. But it being as relatively painless at it has been for me is a feat in itself, given the size of it. It is a proper RPG though. It's for those with lots of patience and willingness to learn the mechanics.

I'm about 50 hours in, and at times the sheer size and depth of this game is rather daunting. I still feel like a noob at this game, and I probably am. That said, I am enjoying my time. Had a fair few chuckles at the dialogue, voice acting is great. All the team members bring something to the table. Combat is .. how to put it. You have to think ahead and min/max a lot. I wouldn't suggest doing everything what the wiki says, but atleast look at the statusses that you can receive and devise a counter for everything. Have rain ready for lots of fire, vaporize for clouds, clearmind/enrage for terrified, first aid for knock down, etc. I'm playing it on the middle difficulty, and I know i'm probably missing a whole bunch of tricks, but I'm getting by without having to savescum fights. It definitely rewards players combining spells, using the elements, using the environment. As other said, spreading your team out before a fight helps a lot with initial start. Having a high hydrosophist mage that can restore magic shields, put people in cryo if they take too much damage and throw around heals has really helped me survive even the fights where i got caught offguard. Some aerothurge to boot helps aswell, so you can teleport dangerous enemies away, swap out that archer high-up with your own ranged, etc. Also, the solutions to problems and riddles in quests are usually fairly straight forward if you think on them, and you know you have to have a good mix of stats on your characters to not miss anything. Bring a shovel, have someone with high wit to spot all the hidden objects, have sebille with high thievery to rob everyone blind and break the economy :D There is so many layers to this game, i'm amazed they finished it in a lifetime. There is some jankyness and I imagine some quests can break at times. But it being as relatively painless at it has been for me is a feat in itself, given the size of it. It is a proper RPG though. It's for those with lots of patience and willingness to learn the mechanics.