So i have been playing Two Worlds for ...what, 7 hours now. And i just can't figure out how to make combat work in a satisfactory way.

You see, currently combat appears to be purely about attrition for, in that i whittle away at the health of my half dozen enemies (never less than that) by slinging fireballs at them for about 90 dmg each, running away for a bit and then repeating the process. And i highly suspect that each of these dudes has about 2k HP minimum. "Tedious" is a word i would use to describe this process.

What im trying to ask is: Is this disparity intended? Many enemies can kill me in one shot with no indication why or how and i on the other hand can barely do any damage at all, even to regular animals.

Am i missing something? I merge items and stack spells, but combat somehow always comes down to whether or not i have sufficient amounts of potions with me because my damage output is pathetic. Did i somehow pick a Orb of Suck up somewhere and overlooked it in my inventory?

Also: Why is everything in this world hostile towards me? I took on a group of about 8 bandits (6 dudes + 2 archers), to which a pack of wolves joined (+5), followed by two bears. They all went straight for me. And then the bandit leader oneshotted me.

I am not amused by the trappings of this game so far. :<
(I also don't know what's going on with the mainstory yet. It seems oddly... unengaging.)

Where have you been traveling? I was also running into tough enemies, but then later found much easier ones in other areas, and I realized that I'd probably slogged through some tougher guys when I could have had an easier time elsewhere. Have you been to Tharbakin? I highly recommend going there early as there are something like a dozen merchants who actually stock pretty good equipment.

In my game I went east first because of the quest to check on that other village, near the glacier. It's probably a better idea to go to Tharbakin before you try that. Unlike Oblivion, the enemies in this game are not necessarily scaled to your level and sometimes you'll run into some that are just too tough for you at the moment, and you need to come back later.

Another thing I can recommend is learning to use the backwards jump (default Q key) in combat. You can actually avoid quite a bit of damage if you get in a hit or two and then jump back out of your enemies' range. With a little practice you can see their attacks coming and dodge out of the way. This confused me at first because I kept trying to RUN backwards away from the enemies, but this would just make my character turn his back on the enemies and take a lot of hits. Instead, stay facing forwards but use the backwards jump to avoid attacks. This doesn't help against archers though, and I see you've met some of the really tough ones. Remember that you can pay some of those bandits to let you pass... taking them on is meant to be a challenge.

I also used the healing spell A LOT and raised my Air Magic skill a bit so it is more effective. There's another Air Magic spell I found that temporarily raises stats, which is a good thing to cast before fights. I think saving your magic points for healing is a better idea than shooting off fireballs, unless you've raised your fire magic skill to a decent level. After you explore a little you'll find some trainers who will teach you some useful skills, like balance, which will help you avoid getting knocked down. Definitely shell out for these!

Finally, consider enchanting your weapons for extra damage, especially if you find yourself using the same weapon for a while. You'll be finding gems to add elemental damage to your weapons all over the place, so you may as well use them! Just remember that you can only enchant a given weapon with one type of elemental damage.

I've found that things have gotten quite a bit easier now that I'm a little farther along, and I have a pretty badass weapon and armor. So if you can stick with it through the beginning you may find that the difficulty eases up.

I hope some of that helps!

EDIT: It's not always true that everything is hostile... I managed to get some bandits to fight a bear for me. You may have just gotten unlucky that time.

Peculiar... you see, i'm trying to do this purely as a mage, meaning no physical fighting. Just blasting stuff. So far this seems to be near impossible, as i can knock enemies back by fireballing them, but as i said, the damage that thing does compared to their health is pathetic.

I am aware of the backwards jump, but that does not alleviate my problem. It just helps me get a jumpstart for running away.

Tharbakin... the city southwards? Yeah, i've been there. I'm currently lvl 18 and i'd like to think that i have somewhat decent gear, but... nope. I'm still a weakling compared to everything else. And that's wrong. :|

(And i just can't tell what region is "apropriate" for me. There are no indicators whatsoever apart from getting oneshotted.)

Ah. Well that is different then. I think that playing as a mage is a lot harder than as a fighter or fighter/mage combo. I haven't tried it myself, but check out this other thread which discusses your exact problem:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/two_worlds/anyone_got_any_tips_for_playing_as_a_mage

Specifically look for wpegg's later post after finishing the game as a mage.

Edit: - see above.

Hm... so the solution here is "get better spells and then continue running away"? :|

You don't necessarily have to run away - the mage in this clip is pretty mobile, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwhGVWS8C2E

You could also consider getting a summoned creature as a meat shield.

Can't watch that clip, because Sony. >_>

Also, no summoned creatures, those just blow. Which leaves me with "get better spells", which is... not all that helpful. In fact, i can't remember a time where the fireball actually was worth a damn, even against the first 20 creatures you meet in the game.

Combat is no fun so far. And that's terrible.

Not running away, running around. You are correct that fireball is near useless, and it doesn't get any more useful no matter how many cards you stack up. Quite simply the missile spells do not pay off for the amount of mana they cost. What you need to do is to herd your enemies into a group. This is easily done with melee opponents just by running around them in a circle. Then you need to sustain an area effect spell like field of fire. With some enemies simply being caught in the spell will actually immobilise them by repeatedly taking damage (this is how you can beat the huge insect things in the jungle in the south, and thus get the ingredients to loads of permenant vitality increase potions).

It is possible, if you get your timing right, to cast field of fire such that the spell is permenantly active, but your mana regenerates just fast enough for you to be able to recast it (I'm not sure how much mana you need for this state to be reached, I only worked this tactic out later on in the game).

You are right, summoned creatures are near useless.

Necromancy is worth learning, the poison cloud spell gives you a useful alternative to field of fire, and the death hands spell lets you take missile units out of the equation while you're dealing with the melee units.

Hm, so different spells and running... that doesn't really satisfy my "blow shit up and laugh" sense. ._.

Are there any other spells that hit multiple enemies apart from stationary "yo stand in here for a while" effects? Like chain lightning or explosive fireballs? anything that lets me deal with the dozens of enemies in a direct manner? Throwing bombs mayhaps? (Can they be thrown?)

Man, the only time i've fought against a single enemy so far was against that guard commander from the brotherhood at that inn... he oneshotted me. Then i stunlocked him with fireballs and chipped away at his health until he keeled over. Fourth-most tedious fight i've ever had. :|


I guess in addition to that i'm also wondering about the design choices made with combat in this game.

Well, I've been playing a melee fighter and so far it's been pretty fun. The combat is a bit simple, but once I got used to using the backwards jump for dodging, it feels a little more skillful than just clicking really fast on enemies. A lot of the fun of the game is in finding loot, in a similar way to Diablo, and the item stacking adds a new layer to that.

The general consensus seems to be that playing a pure mage is a lot harder and not necessarily that fun. I don't think you can throw bombs, but maybe setting traps will actually help you out? I haven't really used traps at all, they might not be very useful.

I'm sorry that you're not enjoying the game, I think the suggestion that you re-play as a fighter is probably the best. Mages are hard in this game (though I've heard that the other roles are rediculously easy).

Just out of curiousity - can you suggest a game where you play as a mage, and don't run away? Diablo maybe, but if you're sending down destruction on all that come near you, the game's not really any challenge.

I actually had a hard time early on as a fighter, but I'm also playing on the highest difficulty setting. Now that I've gotten a bit more powerful, things are easier but still not a cakewalk.

B-but, my fire and brimstone and lightning and ice and... :(

Hm, games where i don't... WoW springs to mind, curiously enough. I think the difference lies in protective spells, to shield yourself and area damage spells which which you can then blast those fools. Oblivion was also pretty good in that regard (albeit with modding). Setting up a campfire and then running around it feels a bit too indirect.

Playing Mass Effect as a Biotic was also oodles off fun. In NWN1 and 2 i even made a exception from my "yo, monks!" preference and went with a Sorcerer for massive chain lightning.

Playing just a figher feels kinda... mundane. (but it appears that i can do tons more damage with that spear i have, just swinging wildly for ~500 dmg a piece on everyone around me.) A pity. :/

Well, you could do a fighter/mage hybrid. Use some area damage and paralysis spells before wading in with a weapon. I've heard that playing an archer can be fun too but I haven't tried it myself.

I have also heard that in Two Worlds II magic has been greatly improved. Apparently there's a crazy system that lets you combine different magical elements into a rather ridiculous number of possible spells. Could be pretty fun.