I know it's called survivor or something instead, but to me it's the thief. Anyway, the only enemies I can kill at the start of the game are the rats and the basic skeletons. Anything more than that kills me in a few seconds. If I happen to have no potions when I go against them, I'm dead. The only active skill I have is the hide one - the other skills are passive things like identify and lockpick - so I'm limited to just hitting them and hoping for the best.

Any tips for this situation? 'Cause at the moment it feels like I'm playing Diablo 2 but I've started in Act 2 rather than Act 1.

No, it doesn't sound arrogant. Since this class has no usable skills or spells, it's not like I could do a whole lot different. It's not like struggling in a game like Bayonetta where it may just be the player's ability holding him back - at early levels in this game, you just click on an enemy and the fight takes care of itself. In this case, it's more about knowing where the best place to level up, as you say, because those big skeletons kick my ass.

A couple of things to be aware of, DD is compared to Diablo allot and that is sorta correct but not entirely. A barbarian could fight well but didn't use a bow or magic well, mages could use magic but couldn't fight well etc.

In DD, any character can become a powerful warrior, thief or mage. All skills are available to you regardless of the character class you start out with, one of the great things about DD. Early in the game you should be adding points to strength and dexterity, especially in the catacombs. I usually use one weapon and one magic with additional weapon and magic skills added as the game progresses. I like the sword early on, one with zero recuperation time. An axe does more damage but you land fewer blows. I usually start out with lightning since it is a ranged magic that works well on Orcs and skeletons. In short, it doesn't matter what class you start with . . . you can build them to be anything regardless of class. I usually start out with a warrior not because I want to be a fighter but because I like his special skill. It can be used while invisible to inflict damage without becoming visible (unless you accidently left click). The mage gets the best start advantage but any class can quickly equal the starting mage skill / ability level.

Also different is the game play, in Diablo you could wade into a group of bad guys, wipe them out, move to the next. In DD you need to slow your game play, use some tactics like luring one or two critters away from the pack, do them in, lure a couple more etc. As you become stronger and put points in the skills you like, you can be more aggressive but . . . you need to think before attacking . . . can I defeat this many Orcs??? . . . depending on the weapons, magic and level you can. The catacombs are basically a tutorial for the game. You don't need to kill every critter and you can come back. I suggest clearing it if you can just to gain experience and levels. I like the combo of sword and lightning but you will find the combo you like and use weapon / magic or magic/ weapon as your preferred combo. Try the magic that you think you will like, max out the one that works best for you.

Also in Diablo, you are grinding constantly looking for weapons and armor. You need to do the same but you will find great weapons and armor more often. The Singing Sword and Sword of Chaos are available mid-way thru the game and I use either for the rest of the game. Same with armor, carefully look at what you find as you can build a very defensive armor collection by mid-game. This allows you to pay more attention to the story and quests IMHO.

Take a look at the starting character skills (see attached image) and you will see there is not much difference with all characters being able to max out many different kinds of character builds with each weighted more to magic, fighting, thieving or any combo of the three.

Hope this helps . . . =)

I don't want to make my character too un-thiefy, though. I do like how anyone can learn anything, more or less, but I don't want my character to become a clothes horse for the best skills and lose any sort of identity. That said, I do seriously need some magic or skills because I never use any MP and my gameplay is limited to left clicking on enemies, at the moment.

I actually have been doing the "get some enemies away from the larger group" strategy, but unfortunately it's the single, powerful enemies that pose a problem so far. Hopefully investing in some combat skills will help me there. I was just trying to get the skills like lockpicking and identify down first - also alchemy - because I think that while this game is quite different from Diablo in many ways, I overestimated how similar to games like Baldur's Gate it was and so over-emphasised non-combat skills.

One very specific question; does the warrior's Sword Proficiency skill cover daggers? If not, are swords compatible with Assassin's Kiss?

Swords don't cover dagger capabilities, and only daggers can be used with Assassin's Kiss.

Just adding, for anyone else that may check this thread in the future with similar problems, I switched to bows and the game got a lot easier. Those enemies that I could barely scratch before suddenly became killable in one hit. Only a few levels later and I'm going around that ruined abbey place and getting around 3000 exp per enemy.

How can I use passive things ? in divine divinity ?? Im a female survivor

Passive skills work all the time without an need to "use" them. They will appear in you skill tree as you acquire them mostly on the left side. Holding your mouse pointer over them will cause a pop-up description with (passive) after the skill name.

For instance, the Enchant Weapon skill is passive. Having one level will allow you to add one charm to weapons/armor. Having two levels will allow you to add two charms etc etc. You don't need to do anything since it is passive but you do need to add points to the skill or acquire it before you can add charms.

Same with Augment Damage, once you have it you don't need to do anything as the augmented damage is added to your attack automatically without need for you to do anything. Adding points to that skill increases the augmented damage level just like any other skill.

Passive skills work the same for all characters regardless of character type or gender . . . =)

I find the game very difficult as a Survivor unless to make him a warrior and buff his stats that way! Whats the point of getting to level 3 on Assassins Kiss when the Orcs see you when sneaking? All you have in this game is being able to see further, there's nothing that increases your stealth other than something that you can only use when it's dark, and it still uses your stamina so you cannot use it for more than 20 yards!

If DD had decent stealth you could level up in as well as Assassins Kiss, then you could maybe be a Survivor. But the options you get really don't help when as you go through the game you have to fight Heavy Orcs in groups of 5-8, sometimes with an Elite Orc that I have seen kill 20 soldiers with only losing 1/3rd of his strength!

Early on it's easy to draw one Orc away, but as you go through the game (i'm trying to get to the Orc supply train to blow it up - I am about halfway from where the quest was given and have died 5 times! Elite Orcs are not affected by the meteorite spell that I went for, and other than going for sword spells and strength and becoming a warrior all I can do is run away from Elite Orcs, but at some point I can imagine this game is going to throw JUST Elite Orcs at me, and you just cannot level up enough or get decent weapons and armour! For example, I killed a Giant Orc, with help from a dozen soldiers. I had to use three health potions, and when he died he dropped NOTHING!

You get told you can go into an armoury and take what you want but when you go in everything is broken! As a Survivor I just cannot afford to put levels into my repair spell!

Overall then, the game wasn't thought throw from the survivors point of view. The special skill becomes useless by about level 10, because you get creatures that see you before you can hit them - negating the spell! Also, Orc's are always 'just' close enough that when you attack one all the others can hear and come to help! I defy any Survivor that has stayed a Survivor type character to defeat 5 heavy Orc's - or even one Elite Orc when you come across them for the first time!

I have put about 50 hours into this game, so am torn as to whether to try to carry on or just give up. I am not inclined to go through that huge beginning dungeon again as a warrior type character, the only type of character I think that can finish this game staying true to the character.