i am new to the game.. just finished the monestary.

party memembers are around 6-7 level high..
fighter, rogue, ranger, mage, priest, monk

i explored teh monestary fully got all the stuff, yet when i got to the Road to
anrneka, the Hagardi Hiwaymen or Rounabouts just simply tears me up.

my figher with broadsword and str 90 dex 65 can doing dammgage only from 10-20. and the others can usually only do under 10 damage.
sleep (1) don't work that well.

so naturally there is no way to beat bands of 15 bandits, are mine doing anyting wrong here? is this the way this game is supposed to be... it's pretty impossible as it seems to me. please offer me any advice.. about character development, combat tactics, how to improvve melle damage.. and so on or anythting.

A.R. is famous for mismatches. Some tactical considerations:
Back your party up into a tight corner where only one enemy at a time can hit you.
Approach red dots on your radar carefully; sometimes you can separate the mobs so only one group at a time engages (back up before combat, get them to follow you)
Everyone should have a couple of Heal and Stamina potions in personal inventory.
Enter the zone at L5, taking any saved levels after leaving the Monastery.
Use bombs, stix, etc. until your casters get more effective.

Otter's advice is pretty fabulous. Unfortunately, the best of the tips is not to advance to level 6 until you get to Arnika. [img]smile.gif[/img]

One other tip that I would add is that you can often outrun opponents, either before the fight or during it. Just get to the southwest zone line any way you can, and the game will pick up immediately.

why dont you want to advance to level 6???

It's just that the monsters level up as you do; so if you're at a higher level you will get more monsters and they will be stronger.

but with that logic... you don't want to level up because monsters level up..
then....... err. why level up at all in the entire game.?

is this only at this point of the game?

It's just that the road sometimes can be extremely difficult, especially for parties with low skills.

[ 09-15-2002, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: el_kalkylus ]

Your ability to meet challenges is determined by more than your level. To be specific, in Arnika you can gain two RPCs, access four vendors who have some low-level spells and high-level weapons for sale, and fight with wandering monsters taking your side.

Well, there are other places where you would enjoy spending time there at level x but not at level x+1, but other than this one time you have options of other places to go.

Not that I really remember (which is why I am asking LOL) but didn't someone discover a difference between day and night encounters regarding levels of difficulty too? (like traveling at night is harder, early mornings are easiest?)

It all matters how long you stay at a place. The first encounters are always kill-able, but the respawns can be quite tough, at least on the road to arnika for the first time.

[ 09-15-2002, 09:48 PM: Message edited by: el_kalkylus ]