I abandoned this game a while back due to losing in a fight against a goblin warrior that was supposed to be possessed of a spirit of a demon or something. I was torn on whether to help the girl destroy the goblins and what not. I got to a point where I couldn't advance further into the game. Can anyone give any advice as to what to do to make it through the game with these decisions?

I usually like to make a fighter with high constitution and go with one handed weapons or unarmed. Are there any other skills I should master in in this game that will help with advancing/making the game much easier or bearable. I was thinking maybe I could master in unarmed, lock picking to get into places, and maybe speech. The problem is I don't know if lion heart is a good game with regards to that aspect of speech.

Can anyone that has beaten the game give some advice as to who to join?

Hey GoodOldJack,

perhaps Ican help you a little. That sounds like you are talking about the Goblin Khan, who indeed is possessed by the Daeva Tawrich. If so:
If you leave the Goblin Village area using the south west exit, you will find an area called "Bounty Hunter Camp". There, you will find a group of four feralkin warriors. Their commander, Raylark, owns a two-handed weapon called The Everlasting. You can buy this weapon from him (10000 gold) or kill him for it (careful, he and his group are very strong). This weapon makes fighting all goblins much easier and might healp you in defeating the Khan. This however sounds more like you are talking about the goblin soldier Grumdjum and the River Dryad, which you meet a little earlier in game. Are you still at that point of the game or have you already decided to help the dryad and then proceeded to the goblin village to face the Khan?

But in any case: Fighting the goblins is not necessary for advancing further in the main quest. The Goblins are just part of many interesting side quests, but the main quest that leads you away from Barcelona will only continue/start if you have joined one of the major factions in Barcelona (Knights Templar, Inquisition, Wielders). Sounds OK, though it does not really make sense to skill both one handed and unarmed. Eventually you will have to decide for one of these, thus it is better to skill only one of them. I should however note that the final areas of the game are very difficult for all melee characters.
The first two thirds of the game are full of situations where you can use your talking skill, thus skilling it is certainly sensible. If your skill is high enough, you can even use it on some of the final areas. However, most of the third part of the game is unfortunately pure hack and slay, so you can't only focus on talking.
Another note: All thief skills don't need to be skilled as high as the other skills. While fighting and magic skills you focus on should be raised to 250 or higher if possible, 150-180 is enough by far for all thief skills (except sneak maybe, didn't test that yet) Choose your main faction by preference. The effects on gameplay are minimal.
Additionally, you can always join the Knights Of Saladin and either the Thieves or the Beggars in the Sewers. Here, the Beggars' quests are more lucrative. But you should choose these by preference as well.

Hope I could help you! ;)

Is this game more imbalanced than Inquisitor where I get 1shotted by regular mobs or is it possible to beat the game with correct builds and tactics? I really want to like this game but Im not sure what Im getting into.
I pmed you.

Personally i loved this game! i'm no great gamer but i never had any problem getting through all of it.

It has been a while since i played this game so it is difficult to remember, but the way you set up your initial character is vitally important, you need to know which attributes to skimp and which to increase. and at the start of the game, it is helpful to know some of the easy gains to help you get started.

You will also need some very good lure and kill skills

Naturally the easiest gain will be the test that you can do with the dudes camped outside the main city.... but i cannot remember if they are there right at the start or have to be triggered by something?? Anyway, save the game before doing the test and choose not to fight but answer the questions. If you get the questions wrong, just reload the game and try again. This will give you wisdom which will increase the number of experience points you will get to spend at each level up. I think you get a trinket of some kind too.

I'm a fool... I'm so sorry, but I actually read this only now. I answered you, though it's very, very late now