Just started playing after purchasing when it was on sale. Chose the assassin background, I'm at the very beginning, with the guard of the merchant I just killed failing to be persuaded, and the combat tutorial I'm getting there just isn't at all helpful. It's talking about (and showing images) of colored tiles on the ground showing where I can move to, etc, and none of that is showing up. Nothing is tellimg me how to attack. Or switch weapons, or anything. I realize the game is supposed to be hard, but this feels like the Red Queen's game. Obviously either I'm missing something, or the tutorials are well out of date, but there's no way for me to know what it is.

I did try the recommended tutorial in the beginning, but I couldn't figure out how to start a fight their either. The tutorial was no help.

There should be an option to change how well the tiles show up - I think it's "opacity" or something along those lines.

Basically, click on the tiles to move, and when you're in range, click on the enemy to attack. You can right-click on your weapon to change its attack (fast, medium, slow, etc.) - each attack will show you how many APs it costs, damage it does etc.

You can switch between weapons in your hand and those in your belt - there should be two smaller icons for what's in your belt (which probably defaults to nothing in most cases). You can also click on the inventory button, which allows you to switch to any weapon in your inventory (but this usually costs AP).

The only other really important thing is that block is used if you have a shield and your block skill is higher than your dodge skill, otherwise dodge will be used. These are used automatically when you're attacked.

You might want to check out some combat guides, either here or in other places, such as the Iron Tower Studios forum (http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/).

IIRC, you start combat in the tutorial just by walking through the gate and into the arena.

Most of the time combat starts automatically depending on your actions and conversation choices. It's been a few months since I played, but you might also be able to start combat by using the middle button on the bar at the bottom of the screen. I don't remember which letter is the keyboard equivalent.

You should definitely be seeing the colored squares on the ground when it's your turn. They're bright green, blue, yellow, and red. I remember I turned down the opacity so they weren't so bright.

Check this guide: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=531086530

And this one: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/eyestabbers-in-depth-guide-to-dr-aod-mechanics.111868/

And this tutorial video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOhnrzuN8ds

I've just got the hang of how combat works in this game.

One thing I don't see mentioned here is how if you right click on whichever weapon you've selected, you are given a variety of attack options to choose from. Imo, using these options is crucial.

In addition, alchemy is very useful as it allows you to create flasks of fire and bombs, poison etc., quite early on. You can gather resources for potions around the place, so it's worth scouting out areas you go to for ingredients.

The only other comment I would make is that so far I've found fights to be a combination of luck, strategy and tactical attacks.

Yes, that's an excellent tip for beginners.

If you decide you like the combat you might like Dungeon Rats too.

Oh I am completely hooked. lol

Nice. It's a great game.

Dungeon Rats is probably for you.

This is what I hate about lack of a physical manual these days, especially with a game like this. I take pages and pages of notes before I'm even out of the tutorial, with the intent of cutting down on the "WTF do I do now?" moments. Don't know if that's your thing or not, but it helps. I started over again last night, after hours with Balrum, but by then I was drunk enough that I retired as soon as I got to the combat section of the tutorial.

Well, I happen to be a geek who likes taking notes. :-) Mainly on "objective" things: stats, skills, mechanics, etc.

Despite focusing on sword and block, I couldn't even keep the merchant alive at the very start. So yeah, it'll definitely be an interesting experience.

Once you learn the combat mechanics well enough, a lot of battles you thought were really hard at first won't seem that difficult anymore.

As someone who has been learning this game over the last few days, you're entirely right. It took me a long time and a lot of reading to figure out how the combat works. It's harder than usual, but largely so beacuse unlike other RPGs this game actually requires you to think about how you're building your character.

However, I will say that the first city is a problem with how it's designed for combat characters. The combat is so hard out of the gate that if you don't know which quests to take in what order, you're almost never going to be able to move forward without a lot of grief. Once you get some more points invested and get gear that can actually get you through the heavily tilted fights (the game forces you to do a lot of fights early where you're outnumbers 3-4-5+ to 1), you'll do fine but coming to grip with the mechanics in that environment is not particularly satisfying. I did it, but it's weird how characters just expect you to deal with those odds as if it were normal.

Beyond that though, this might be my favorite CRPG besides some of the stuff that Obsidian has done (Alpha Protocol, New Vegas, KotoR2).