Hi all, sorry as I'm sure this has been covered, but I picked up the game in search of some nostalgic RPG action and am finding it a bit hard to understand.

I have a Knight-Ranger-Cleric-Sorceror party.

Q1: Is that party viable? I don't care if its sub-optimal, just don't want something game-breaking.

Q2: Is there a guide (or can someone explain) how combat actually works?

I am ashamed to say that I've spent most of my time so far getting team wiped by dragonflies and rats. I've figured out that I can go into turn-based mode, and how to cast my Cleric's heal spell, so that helps a bit. But a lot of the time I can't understand which of my party is actually having their turn, or how to understand who the monsters will attack (is it just random?). My Sorceror has a firebolt supposedly queued up as the quick spell, but in combat it's never available, so she's useless. My Ranger has a crossbow and seems to use it when her portrait is yellow (ie. ranged?), but then I don't know what she's doing at red (melee)?

My knight seems to be doing what he should - ie. hitting quite hard - but I keep getting swarmed by dozens of dragonflies, or blocked in by dozens of rats, and it's all over pretty fast.

The thing that's really confusing me the most is the lack of clarity about which character's turn it is... surely I'm missing something obvious on this. But for example, I'll press attack, my knight will hit something, and then it shows my Ranger and Cleric with a red surround. I don't know which one is meant to be acting next, so if I hit attack, maybe the Ranger will atttack, maybe the Cleric... when actually if I knew it was the Cleric, I'd have cast Heal.

I assume this is a game worth sticking at - although I play more modern stuff these days, my favourite games were Ultima IV/V and Bard's Tale 2, so this should be right up my alley surely? Just struggling a bit to get into it!

Well, my first suggestion is going to be "Read The Manual". It is part of the extras that come with the game. Some of your questions here are really, really basic interface questions; I don't blame you for not knowing, but the manual should cover most of that. Your KRCS (Knight-Ranger-Cleric-Sorcerer) party is viable, but I suggest dumping the Ranger for a Thief because the Ranger does not bring anything unique to the party. He does some of what each of your other characters do, except not nearly as well as they do it. He swings an axe quite well, but he doesn't have the other combat abilities of the Knight. He can cast basic and expert Self magic like your Cleric. He can cast basic and expert Elemental magic like your Sorcerer. The Ranger has access to a wide range of skills, but he doesn't do any of them very well (except swing an axe).

I suggest the Thief because the Thief can also fight, but the Thief brings GM (Grand Master) Disarm Trap to the party, something none of your other party members can do. If you do take a Thief, then don't invest anything in the Stealing skill; Stealing is generally a worthless skill. The Thief doesn't have any appreciable magic ability, however. Probably. I suggest reading the manual first, then asking more specific questions about things that you didn't understand or that weren't explained. This question is simply too broad to cover effectively. -Be aware that you'll periodically be able to move a few steps while in turn based mode. Make use of this feature. You can run or walk forward, or you can walk backward. While you can strafe to the side, there really isn't any reason not to just turn to the side, move, then turn again to face whatever direction you want to face. If you want to backpedal faster, then turn around, run, and turn back to face the monsters when you are out of movement.

-Your characters will use whatever weapon(s) they are holding that is relevant to the attack they are trying to make. If you aren't holding any weapons, then your character will default to using their fists.

-Use the "A" key or click on a monster to attack. If the character has a ranged weapon equipped AND the target is out of melee range, then the character will fire their ranged weapon at the target. Otherwise, the character will make a melee swing at the target (and always miss if the target is out of range).

-Use the "S" key to cast whatever spell you have set as your quick spell. If you don't have a quick spell set, or if you don't have the mana for it, then the game will act as if you hit "A" instead.

-Open the spell book and click on a spell to have the active character cast it. If they don't have enough mana, or if the spell can't be cast in current conditions (ex. Starburst can only be cast outdoors), then the spell will not be cast.

-The active character has a highlight around their portrait. Experiment some by walking out to the shore, turning away from any townspeople, and hitting A. One character's portrait should lose the green "hourglass" coloring, and someone else should become highlighted. Take a look at the screenshot I've attached; I've drawn an arrow pointing at the guy with the highlight.

-The color of the hourglass around each member of your party is an indicator of the proximity of hostiles to your party. Green means that no hostiles are nearby. Yellow means hostiles are in range (and probably making some attempt to either attack you or get in range to attack you). Red means hostiles are in melee range of your party.

-The hourglass is lit (regardless of color) for each character that is ready to take action. Every time a character takes an action, they'll need to have some time to recover before taking another action. Some actions are inherently faster than others: swinging a sword needs more recovery time than swinging a dagger, and casting a resurrection spell on someone takes significantly longer to recover than a casting a "Cure Weakness" spell. If the hourglass is not present, then the character is recovering from their previous action.

-Certain monsters prefer to attack certain races of character (ex. goblins tend to target dwarf party members more than others), certain monsters prefer to attack certain classes of character (ex. ghosts tend to target clerics), and certain monsters prefer to attack certain genders of character (ex. titans tend to target females). Beyond that, I believe targeting is basically random. One tip: monsters generally just stand still until you move within their "activation" range. In other words, they'll just stand at their spawn point until you move close enough for the game to start moving them around. Keep the wizard eye spell active and watch your mini-map in the upper right corner; red dots are hostiles. If you move carefully, sometimes you can activate just a few of the monsters at a time, which will help you avoid being swarmed. Deal with them in smaller groups. Also, run away if the monsters start to overwhelm you; they are likely to give chase, but you can outrun most monsters in this game if you have the room to move around. Characters are generally queued in the order in which they recovered from their previous action. If everyone attacks, and your characters recover in order of Knight-Sorcerer-Ranger-Cleric, then that's the order that they'll highlight when the active character takes his turn. If you are NOT in turn-based mode, then you can also click on a character's portrait (if they are ready to take an action) to make them the active character (the tab key can also cycle between active characters).

It is entirely possible for very fast characters taking actions with short recovery times to get multiple turns before slower characters recover from an action. Many people would say the game is worth sticking with it. Having completed it multiple times, I'm one of those people. :)

Again, I strongly advise you to read the manual first for basic information on interacting with the game. Feel free to ask more questions if things aren't clear.

Edit: Added some clarifications.

Thanks very much - really appreciate you taking the time given this stuff is also covered in manual; which I admit not even looking for prior to posting, sorry!

I recommend dumping the Ranger also, but I think you should consider Archer or Paladin as well as Thief. GM Disarm is not necessary--my first playthrough was Knight-Archer-Cleric-Sorcerer. Chests will blow up, but it doesn't ruin the game. Archer can GM Perception to reduce damage from traps and spot secret doors, and can cast some elemental magic as well.

Regardless of party, you should also get Bow skill for everyone right away, and ensure they have some form of a Bow (crossbow, longbow, etc). This lets you kill off several dragonflies from a distance.

I also recommend Merchant skill for everyone (at level 1...then train it up for 1 person, probably your Cleric). It will pay for itself before long in reduction of training costs alone.

GM Disarm isn't necessary, but it is very nice to have. The only other viable option for disarming the traps is taking a Monk and going Evil.

The Archer's GM Perception only dodges trap damage dealt to your Archer, not to the rest of the party (especially your healer and that squishy sorcerer). On the flip side, the Thief brings Master Perception, and so can make a viable replacement for spotting secret doors. Completely agree. Again, I completely agree. Have everyone buy the skill, but only one character should put points into it. For K-x-C-S, the Cleric should be the Merchant since they can get to GM. Once you've got GM merchant, gold becomes a non-issue, and doubly so once your sorcerer can start casting Enchant Item.

Disarm from across the room or behind the door with Telekinesis

You can only do that once your Sorc or Druid or Master Archer/Sniper reaches Master Earth, or you accumulate a whole bunch of scrolls. And don't forget at GM Fire Magic, you can apply a permanent "of Infernos" to any weapon, even those too low in quality to use Enchant Item on.

There are some things on that starting island with the fireflies that can really make your life easier. Up behind the cave with the waterfall coming out of it in the center of the map, there's a pedestal with a glowing sphere on top. Clicking it gives your party the "Day of the Gods" buff that lasts until you rest, and does what it says on the tin, raising your stats from those of first level characters to stats of "gods".

Just north of the docks, in the central square of the town where all the shops are, there's a well that gives you a big bonus to fire resistance for 24 hours. It helps in resisting the fireflies' breath attacks. (It's part of the game's charming sense of humor that fireflies actually breathe fire.)

There's another glowing sphere outside the dragon's cave on the edge of the island that gives you even more fire resistance when you click on it. It's meant to help you survive one or two hits from the dragon (which you are NOT supposed to try to fight) while you run around trying to quickly gather up the items you need in its cave. Luckily, the dragon will be busy attacking rats instead of you, so if you hurry before it kills them all, you can get in and out without getting hit.

There's a third glowing sphere up by the magic shops that gives Haste, but it only lasts a short time and causes fatigue, so I don't like to use it.

The Might and Magic games assume you will click on and explore just about every object in the game world. It rewards thorough exploration with bonuses, but it also sometimes punishes exploration with instant horrible death, so players are expected to save and reload a lot. That's just how games were made back then, and the ways they tried to kill you were part of their charm and sense of humor.

And I just learned a new trick for making even more money! Come to think of it, GM Dark should allow for making those weapons vampiric, though you'd have to go Evil to use it. The two items you really need from there, the contestant's shield and a Longbow, are both right at the entrance. You can go into turn based mode before entering the case, then click to enter the cave, then check where the items and possibly grab them without leaving turn based mode (or else leave turn based mode, grab them quickly, then get out).

It is rather simple (if a little time consuming) to kill the dragon, and not unreasonable to do it without taking damage. I do it as part of clearing the island with each new game.

It does allow for it. GM Dark makes the Vampiric Weapon enchantment permanent. What I do not remember - I have to check every game - is whether GM Fire Aura or GM Vampiric Weapon gives more money. Both work on items of any quality.

That may be true, but the game is quite playable without GM Disarm, and all chests can still be opened (up to Telekinesis they may explode but still can be opened)...and even with a Thief, early game chests will explode on you (barring luck with items, or taking around a NPC who boosts Disarm early). Disarm is valuable, but just saying if the OP does not want a Thief, going without GM Disarm is viable and quite playable. Thief is a good choice, but not the only good choice even for a newbie. My first complete playthrough used KACS and I had no issues. Sure chests exploded, but I still could do every quest and had fun with it.

I should also add, getting Perception 1 for everyone is also a good idea though if you do not have someone who can M/GM Disarm Traps (Evil Monk/Thief).

I agree with you there. I tend to recommend the thief over others, for a newbie at least, because the thief brings something unique to most parties. Trap damage can be harsh, and it is nice not to have to stop and heal after each chest, or to have to remember to move back use and cast a spell to open the chest(s).

Experienced players know what they are doing, so they can take whatever amuses them.