I read over much of the forum and it's been very helpful, but had a couple of general questions. PC action-rpgs I played are the whole Diablo series and Dungeon Siege, trying DD for fun. Not looking for detailed walkthroughs, cheats, specific advice but more things that will help me not wait until halfway through before I say "Man, I wish I woulda...." So:
1) Anything you'd say if you were going to start again, i.e., Don't miss this room, Don't kill this guy, Make sure you do this/go there early and
2) Any general skills in particular that are good to load up on regardless of how I'm going to play and other skills that are a big waste...
Thanks!
(BTW I plan to play as Survivor character....)
email locks me into the name above, but usually forum nickname is
Kahuna.....

I've played through as a Warrior and as a Survivor. If I were to start another game I would probably play as a Warrior for no other reason than his special skill was more useful for me. You can use it while invisible. There were some bosses that were difficult to kill by direct attack so . . . I found the invisible attack very helpful since you stay invisible,cause damage and the bad guy can't see you (can't blind you).
Edit: You have to use the special skill with Shadow potions . . . the skill does not make you invisible. If you left click, even once, while invisible . . . you will become visible . . . but not with the right click Warrior's special skill . . . =)
It doesn't matter what character you play . . all skills are available to you. You can build any skill combo you want. You can use a bow, sword, axe, magic etc equally well if you increase the necessary skills. I preferred the sword (faster attack, shorter recovery time) and Lightening (ranged weapon, harms most critters) but there are many great weapon / skill combos you can use. Everybody has their favorite. . . =) . . . (also liked Freeze and Poison Weapon)
Unlike Diablo, you should not charge into bands of critters but lure one or two at a time . . . until you get stronger. Take your time, enjoy the story, music and game play. The first dungeon is what most ppl dislike the most. To me, it is a tutorial where you learn how to play the game. You don't have to kill every critter but it helps to clear as much of the dungeon as possible (you can come back later) since you need to level up as much as possible before venturing out into the countryside. Lightning helped me greatly on my second play through. I didn't use a lot of magic on my first play through since I expected it to work poorly for a Warrior. . . I found out about half way thru that it worked equally well for all characters . . =)
My only warning is in the sewers of Verdistis ( **SPOILERS** See # 6 ) where you can be changed into a frog with no way to change back . . . starting a new game is the only solution I know of.
Enjoy the game, it's great ! . . . =)
Edit: Another thing I liked, in comparison to Diablo, was that it was not as loot driven. There is plenty of loot to be had but . . . you find great stuff fairly often instead of rarely. I used the same sword for the last half of both my games and found powerful armor (with magic and charms) that I had to replace only a couple of times. It got me move involved with the story and game play which was refreshing.

In terms of general skills, I'd choose the identify and picklock skills up to level 2 so that you can do the first dungeon without a game restart. If you save/reload a lot you can get a magic book IIRC from the mage's house. Another simple easy leveling tip is to find and kill both zombies, but I highly recommend a good range attack with the bow being the best option. Beyond that, you can pick any class or weapon and successfully complete the game. In terms of the infamous first dungeon, I believe that the difficulty of some enemies and the fact that you have to run a lot turned people off. I suspect the expectations were to have a simple hack and slash without much thought to tactics.

Thanks guys..the general help is right what I was looking for, and the
specifics (don't get turned into a frog and do ident/lockpick right away
were also exactly the specific kind of recs that can make a difference). Now
to get started....I like the thought that anyone can use most any weapon
or magic, just varies in effectiveness. Never made sense to me how
a level 75 char in some games can't use certain weapons, even in an
inefficient manner....what, you can figure out how to do some obscure
quest, but you can't figure out how to use a dagger?

Glad we could help . . . =)
BTW, the weapons / magic don't vary in effectiveness . . . all have the same result / effect regardless of character type or character sex. Level 5 Lightning will have the same effect on an enemy for a warrior as it does for a mage. A female survivor can use an axe just as well as a male warrior . . . (if her axe skills are at the same level as his axe skills).
I liked that as well since it always bothered me that my barbarian Diablo character could barely use a bow . . . or couldn't cast a decent spell. I believe you're gonna like it since it makes the game-play more enjoyable . . . =)

I don't like having to restart, hence my advice on the skills to get you thru the first dungeon. After that, it's really up to you on how to develop your skills. Be aware that there are places where you can obtain a specific skill boost without having to put points into the skill. Stuff probably knows of the places for skill increases better than I do, but for now I think the more important thing is to just enjoy the experience and worry about skills after your first meeting with Zandalor.

My advice? Play a wizard.
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/divine_divinity_series/sorcery__ultimate_power

Great advice here.
Also, don't be discouraged in the first dungeon - it is really hard (especially if you're coming from a Diablo point-of-view), but it's totally worth it.

Thanks for all the advice, bad news tho, as I started the game
and started to move around the room I noticed: no sound, and
two, game/laptop froze up. Of note, I have a macbook pro and
run windows xp on bootcamp, never any problems (I even
installed and play FFXI on the XP side x 2 years and that's notably
quirky).
Tried to restart on the Mac side and get chime/blank screen, two hours
of messing around and reading on the internet help forums and think
it had nothing to do with DD, just a fluke and I have one of the
bad Nvidia graphics cards
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377
So, I'm off to my local Apple store and hope it's covered in the
replacement agreement (my MBP is ~ 2.5 yrs old)
So, when this gets all fixed, I'll give it a try again and let you all
know, thanks....

I'm impressed with your trouble shooting skills. +1 for finding that . . . =)

Back from the Apple Store, Nvidia meldown confirmed, but the
rest is ok and is covered, so.....back in 7-10 days...hasta!

Just a few generic things that I may have learned on this forum or from playing:
- you don't need more than a single point of Repair. Just means you repair things a bit more often but the weapon never gets permanently worn down to an unusable state.
- if you plan to use Alchemy, it takes two points in the skill to make even the most basic stuff. There are a few skills like this, where the first skill point you invest doesn't actually let you use that skill. I think Deadly Gift is another one of those...
- Repair stuff before you sell it. You get more moola for a 6/10 item than for a 2/10 item. Not such a big deal later in the game but it'll help a bit when first starting out.
- A point or two of Elven Sight is nice since it widens your "radar" to beyond the screen and can keep you from stumbling into trouble. However, there are plenty of sight and hearing buffs on weapons and armor so don't waste too many points on this skill. IIRC, it's better than Ranger Sight.
- Reflect Missiles is a bit of a waste since your own weapons do much more damage than the mobs own reflected shots reflected back on them.
- Restoration. Heal thyself. Put at least one point here.
- You'll eventually need pickpocket for a particular quest. So far as I know, one level will do the trick.
- The traders in Rivertown seem to have the most cash at any given time so that's where I sell all my stuff. I dragged an empty barrel to a position right next to the portal, giving me a spot to store stuff near where I sell stuff. Occasionally they have some good stuff to buy but not very often. You can usually judge usefulness of weapons or armor by the price though there are a some exceptions.
- If you find an item that seems, well, a bit unusual, save the thing. There are all sorts of weird little bits and pieces that you'll find useful later on in the game for this or that minor quest. Basically, if it looks like a one-of-a-kind item that isn't a weapon or armor, then there's a good chance it's quest-related eventually. There are a couple items that are thrown in for fluff, however, like the Dark Elf Amulet. Anyway,this is where the storage barrel comes into play: if you're not sure if it's a quest item then put it in the barrel for a rainy day. I've solved four or five quests so far just by pack-ratting stuff like this. If your barrel gets too full then drag over a second one.
- Don't waste lockpicks. Making a second attempt at a lock only eats up another pick. Some games let you keep trying until get a lucky skill roll behind the scenes, but it seems like DD has hard limits on skill level versus lock level. I might be wrong but I've never been able to open a lock simply by wasting more picks - I always had to reach a higher level of lockpick skill to open a stubborn lock.
- Likewise, in dungeons you'll see a bunch of locked doors. Only rarely will you need to pick one. Instead, search for a lever on the wall; in most cases the lever is nearby.
- Watch the weight of your weapons and armor. It sucks to lose your ability to run because you're weighted down too much. Early in the game hit-and-run is important so you gotta avoid encumbrance in likely combat areas.
- When running in the wilds, I like to keep the ALT key pressed. You'll occasionally stumble on some hidden loot or key laying around that wouldn't find otherwise.

Thanks for the advice and tips! Can hardly wait to get
started once I get my laptop back!