-Do not invest learning points into Strength, Mana etc. , only into Attributes!

-Skills that are wasted learning points: Sneak and Acrobatics (use the Rings which provide this skill instead), Pickpocket (just beat the NPC down and loot him, there are basically only a few unnecessary invincible or unlootable NPCs that cannot be looted this way)

-Try to avoid killing Wolves, Stingrats, Rotworms and Boars until you learned the Gut Animals skill and got the proper tools. The first Wolf in the game is almost unavoidable although, at least with Sara as companion.

-The game provides you with more than enough gold to get through it successfully without having to sell a single item. I honestly never sold anything. Maybe you're lucky and in your Version the Rhobart Glitch still works where you can beat him down and resell the weed endlessly.

-Beating down NPCs and looting them has no consequences. But getting caught stealing or murdering does. I’d recommend beating down an NPC as soon as you meet her/him (as long as you can handle the alarmed guards of course) for the nice XP boost.

-If you loot a dead body completely except 1 item (1 Gold remaining is best) the body won’t disappear. This body then can be used to Teleport there via console (Gyrger, Dorgan, Romanov etc).

-Quicksave and then Quickload will cause Monsters to move slightly to a different spot. Use this feature if necessary.

-Never Quicksave during combat!

-Sea vultures, stingrats and boars will make an alarming noise 3 times before they approach you. However if you are too close, they will attack immediately. Wolves and Ghouls will always attack immediately, once you drew their attention.

-Jumping while running lets you move quicker forward, good for escaping.

-If you search something, equip a Telekinesis Spell. You can run while holding it and find all that you need without using it.

Start new game.
Turn right, run all the way to the end of the beach, pick up the gold coins and grab the Hunting Knife from the drowned Person.
Climb up the cliff and kill the hungry Sea Vulture.
Run into the bushes to the right behind the Rock to find some hidden gold coins.
Go back the way you came and wake up Sara.
Collect all coins from the beach and the ocean.
Kill the Sea vulture that’s having dinner right now.
Grab the Apple from the body.
Take the path next to you from the beach, kill the sea vulture up the hill and follow the path to your left a few steps, behind the tree, run left into the bushes, grab the Small Shield in the hidden area.
Turn around, go back to the path, left, follow the path and lead Sara through the Cave.
Kill the Gnomes.
Loot the chests.
Exit the Cave, try to avoid our outrun the Wolf but if not possible, kill it.
Collect the coins on your way to the house and run past the stingrat.
Once the Quest “Sara is safe” is finished, go into the house and give Sara some meat.
Exit the house, to your right, southeast, loot the Chest on the left cliff ledge (with the campfire, not the one with the wolf).


Chapter 1
Leave Sara at the House and run up the hill. Kill the Sea Vultures. Once you’ve reached the torch in front of the small ruin, take the right path uphill which leads to a pile of gold and another shield and some more coins at the end. Run back and straight up to Jan/Neil (why do they have different Names in different languages???) and get the Sword from inside the House. If you exit the House and run southwest (where the boar is) there’s a pile of gold hidden in the bushes behind the rock. Talk to Jan/Neil, tell him to show you the way to harbor City and follow him to Tristan’s farm. Go into Tristan’s house from the back entrance, grab “tell joke” Scroll next to the Bookstand. Loot everything in the house and grab the Seaman’s Clothing from the Chest. You will get caught by Tristan. Let Tristan beat you down, then use the scroll on him.
Go back to Jan/Neill and follow him to the Thief Camp. Just follow him, don’t take any plants on the path to avoid attracting Animals. Stop when you reach the Cemetery. Lure the 2 Skeletons from the Graves to Neil and defeat them together. You need to take the last hit to get the XP as you don’t get XP when NPCS who are not officially in your party kill enemies. Loot the Cemetery. Then follow Jan/Neil again. Once he walks away, take out your sword and knock him down from behind with quick hits. If you time them right, he won’t have time to turn around. Take his gold. But watch out, if a Wolf is too close, he will approach Jan/Neil’s body…Follow the path to the Bandit Camp, avoid the Stingrats and talk to Doug. By now, you should have ~277 gold coins. Buy Wing Shears from Doug (100Gold). Do not go hunting the dangerous Worm with Doug until you have spare gold to afford the Jaw Chisel! Run into the Camp and talk to Sam. Learn Gut Animals from Sam (100Gold). Now you can kill Moths and Wolfs. Talk to Ricardo, kill the Moths, loot the 2 Chests and dig out the treasure, get the reward from Ricardo and talk to Craig to start Arena Quests to get more gold. Run into Lorenzo’s Shack, grab the beer quick and give it to Domingo. Challenge Ricardo and Domingo in the Arena and get Ricardos Crossbow and Domingos Shield. If you beat Craig in the Arena, don’t take his Golden Sword Piece. Instead, talk to him, so he pays you your reward, then beat him down again and take the sword piece, so you get both without consequences. Talk to Brogar, talk to Rachel, talk to Sam. Make sure you have the Option to bet on beating Brogar in the Arena before you end the Arena quest!
Loot every Chest possible in the Camp to have enough Bolts (50+) for the Crossbow.
Either continue from here and fulfill all quests in the Camp until you get the OK to see Don Esteban to have enough XP and Gold now, or do it all later and continue with Part 2.

Learn Lockpicking Lvl 1 from Phil (100Gold).
Leave the Camp with around 500+ Gold.

Part 2
Go back to Tristan’s Farm and fulfill all tasks here. Collect the crop, kill the wolves, loot the chests. Behind the Farm is an Ogre root and a Hero’s Crown next to the boars (just grab and run). (*a ; *1) See Part 4 for exact description of location. Lure all Enemies (except Stingrats) to Tellur when he shows you the way to Harbor City. He is invincible and you get XP for all the Monsters he kills, although the Ghouls from the Lake Cave take ages to kill so I would skip them for now.
When Tellur leaves you, you are close to Marvin’s shack. So turn around, follow the path on the right and run past the Stingrats. Before the talon moths is an Ogre Root (*b). Avoid the moths and run through the lake to the crossing with the torch.
Get Smith’s Hammer from the crossing with the torch close to Marvins Shack. Also an Apple here.


Go to Marvins Shack and loot everything here. Get the Sword blank from the chest. Get the 3 Hero’s Crowns (*2), (*3) and (*4)
Go back, where Tellur showed you the direction down to Harbor City Main Entrance, take the Hero’s Crown (*5) with you on your way, kill the sea vultures next to the dead body, loot the chest and run past the three Stingrats to the ledge. Try to avoid their attention, they will follow you over the ledge. Jump through the bushes onto the rocks and then climb up the cliff and jump over the wall into the city. Needs some tries so quicksave.
Go up to Carlos’ residence and dig out the Chest right of the entrance to get the Stealth Ring and put it on.
Talk to Hernandez, talk to Toni, talk to Hernandez again. Go inside and upstairs. Talk to Olf. Learn Prospecting (100Gold).
Talk to Walter, then to Alvaro, send the Smith’s servants home and give Walter a break.
Learn Smithing Lvl 3 from Walter (850 Gold). If you do not have enough gold yet, continue.
Do Weasel Quest. Beat up Cutter and grab his Shield. Learn Alchemy Lvl 1 from Garth/Gary.
Get Telekinesis Scroll from Jacks Lighthouse while you follow Garth/Gary.
Get Jaw Tongs from the Chest in Coles house (before you talk to him). Now you can kill boars.
Buy Sting breaker from Flavio. (100 Gold) Now you can kill stingrats.
You have Lockpicking and Sneaking, so you can loot the entire Warehouses, which is an additional 200 Gold. If you still do not have enough gold, beat up Estebans’ men, the smith servants, the guards, all the farmers and loot their houses.
Get Either the Acrobatic Ring from Nico (300 Gold) or Cid’s girlfriend Kayleigh/Cathy. You can either beat her up and loot her (she will be away from Cid in the evening) or talk to Rodriguez, then Nelson and then Kayleigh/Cathy again. Trade the ring for a pearl necklace.
Optional: Buy Officer’s Coat from Costa (200Gold). It’s a slightly better Armor but you can buy Worker’s clothing from Hawkins instead as well.
Essentials are finished here. Go ahead and do whatever you wanna do here, loot Chests, do tasks etc. or leave the City now, but do not finish any of the 7 fraction quests, just “prepare” them. Btw: You don’t need Telekinesis to get Olf’s golden bowl, you can climb up there and just grab it, if you stand right and have the correct angle.

Part 3
Jump back over the wall to the rocks and onto the ground (with the Acrobatic Ring) and run away from the Order Recruits back to Thief’s Camp.

Mine the gold deposit at the left of the wooden footbridge when you enter the camp, close to Doug.

Side Note: If you quicksave before and quickload two times after mining, you will always get a gem at the third time! You can manipulate the outcome as well. If you want a specific gem just keep mining.

Quicksave.Mine.Quickload.Mine.Quickload.Mine.Quicksave.

Gold deposit: First Ruby (3), then Emerald (6)
Iron Deposit: First Amber (3), then Sapphire (6)
Obsidian Deposit: First Diamond (3), then Anti-Magic (6)

Get the Amber piece from the Chest behind Dorgan.

Mine the ores in the cave where Dorgan’s body is/was. Make sure you get a small piece of Amber from the Iron deposit.

Mine the Gold deposit down in that cave (not the one with the Ghoul).
Get Goldsmith Tongs from Oscar’s Chest.

Buy Goldsmith Hammer from Oscar (30 Gold).

Craft Sharp Sword.

Craft Strength Amulet.

Go up the hill where Clay is guarding Rhobarts Swamp.

Go left up the hill and get rid of wolves and rats.

Run right into the Volcano Cave and then to the left where the Obsidian deposit is next to the dead body. You might need a few tries to run away successfully from the War Crickets. Although you are invincible while mining you need to be lucky to escape them. Don’t forget the small diamond!
Run back into the camp.

Once you’ve done all quests (except the “raid the temple and kill all people there” quest from Fincher, more on that later), beaten up everyone and looted every chest and body possible, leave the Bandit Camp.

Learn Alchemy Lvl 3 from Cormac (550Gold).

Go back to where Tellur showed you the path to the Monastery/Volcano keep.
Go to Stan, then up the hill left from the small ruin he guards and kill the Moths.
Go into the Temple above Tildas Farm occupied by Severin and get rid of the War Cricket.
Use Shield, walk close to it, wait until it attacked, then use 3 quick attacks and block again. Repeat. This method works for all enemies except Ghouls, Ash Beasts and Ogres. Use quick step back to avoid their attacks. Watch your timing. If you know the pattern, you can see if it will attack only once or a second or third time in a row.
Don’t let the Scorpions notice you. They are too Strong for you now.
Use Telekinesis on the Lever. Quicksave.
Lure around the Corner and shoot the Lizard Warrior from the distance with the Crossbow. He won’t approach you. If he does, you did something wrong. It takes approx. 55 Shots. If you don’t see him or if the second Lizard attacks you, use Quickload, enemies will change positions after reloading.


Side note: Enemies will not trigger traps…if you manage somehow to get the lizard warrior getting squished with a second telekinesis scroll and perfect timing, he will simply fall through the floor and the sword is gone…
Run and grab the sword, the other Lizard Warrior will follow you.
Lure him to the outside. You are faster when jumping while running.
Most enemies will return to their original spot when you got away too far, but he will just stand outside once you’re out of sight.
Sneak around him, get back inside and get the Lizard Sword and Obsidian from the deposit.
Now you have enough Obsidian for a sword.
Go outside, left, jump past the gnomes and up the hill. Follow the stone path upwards to the plateau with the lake beneath the Volcano Fortress. In the corner with sea vultures and the tent is another Ogre root (*c).You can sleep on the bed to heal. Also two Gold Deposits in this area.
Run all the way up to the Volcano Keep where Bryan/Paul is, there’s another Hero’s Crown at the end near the ledge.(*6)

Part 4
Make your way to the West Coast to get the Strength Potion Recipe. The path to the West Coast is at the big crossing close to Jan/Neil. You can either run or fight your way down it. Take the Ogre Root with you (*d). Once you reached the spot with the Water Barrel and the gold deposit, fight the Skeletons and go left downstairs into the ruin. You can sleep to heal on the bed. Go further downstairs and lure the skeletons back to the stairs, it’s easier to fight them here. The Ghoul is too strong. Just wait until he is in the back of the room, quickly grab the recipe and run all the way back to Harbor City. If the Ghoul is following you, jump off the cliff into the water.

Go to Walter and show him the sword.
Give him Obsidian ore to receive an Obsidian Blank and Craft the Sword.
You need 45 Strength to use it.
Craft 1 Strength Ring (you should have gotten a small piece of Amber from an Iron Deposit by now). Or craft 2 Rings with small Ruby that gives +20 HP and +3 STR.
Go to Leonardo, brew 3 Strength Potions. Only 3 (for now).
That makes a total of 45 (46) Strength.
Congratulations. You can now wield an Obsidian Sword.



Last things to do are (if you haven't already):

-get Worker’s Clothing from Hawkins (500Gold),

-the leather Helmet: Start at the Torch Crossing near Marvins Shack. Following the path to east coast, where the gnome hut is, past the Black Wolf and behind the bridge, there is a Chest next to the Skeletons at the ruin where you will find the leather Helmet. It’s the only headgear available until Chapter 2.

-Patroscons Shield (in the Cave to East Coast)

Now you have the best possible Equipment available in Chapter 1.
Save the game now, this will be your Starting gamesave for the future, whenever you want to replay the game from scratch with a different fraction. You may now go to Harbor City and finish the 7 fractions quests and invest learning points into your chosen combat skills.



The fastest Hero’s Crowns to get are
-behind Tristan’s Farmhouse to the left, next to the boars (*1),
-three close to Marvin’s shack:
(*2)Exit Marvin’s Shack and run North East. The crown is next to some boars.
(*3)Exit Marvin’s Shack to the right and run to the torch. From there, run South down the path a bit and turn left at the big tree. The crown is directly at the tree, next to some Talon Moths.
(*4)From the Crossing with the torch, run North East, direction “East Coast” (Signpost). The crown is next to some talon moths.
-one is close to the wall in a corner on the right while running down to the harbor city main entrance, next to some stingrats, just before the cart with the dead body (*5)
-close to the entrance of the volcano keep (*6)
-one is in the forest behind the bridge at Rhobarts shack, just straight through the Gnome camp, guarded by 3 Black Wolves, there is also a gold deposit hidden behind the trees.




The fastest Ogre roots to get are
-Behind Tristans Farm (*a)
-At the lake at Marvins Shack (*b)
-Go to Stan and follow the stone path upwards to the small plateau with the lake beneath the Volcano Fortress, in the corner with the tent and the bed, also 2 gold deposits in this area (*c)
-On your way down to the west coast, past the sea vultures, take the right path where the moths are (*d)
-In the forest behind Rhobarts shack, at the end of the path through the Gnome Camp, at the ledge of the cliff close to some boars.


If you have Chosen to go the Bandit path, your way now is to the Cave behind the Waterfall at the West Coast. Put on acrobatics Ring. You will face 8 Ghouls and an Ash beast (better run quick!). Finish the first 4 Ghouls (you can sleep to heal in the secret Area behind the bushes next to the Waterfall) and then run past the Ash beast into the cave and climb up. Guarded by 4 other Ghouls is the Berserker Sword next to a pillar sticked into the ground. Grab it and run down, then the left path, not the right. Jump down into the water. The Ash beast and the Ghouls won’t follow you. Train Sword to Lvl 9 at Fincher and you have an 80 Damage one Handed Sword in Chapter one!!! Basically no enemy in the game is a problem anymore, including Ash Beasts and Ogres. You need at least 9 Strength Potions to use it, so get more Ogre Roots and Hero’s Crowns.

The Standard Obsidian Sword will be the Weapon a Mage uses throughout the entire game…
As a Mage, you will turn 3(or 4) Hero’s Crowns into Strength Potions and 17(or 16) into Mana Potions (the recipe is in Eldric’s Hut) as there are only 170 Berries in the game. (150 easy to get, 160 tough, 170 almost impossible, you need luck with the Giant Thunder Tortoise, it randomly gives 2 Berries). So for all fractions crafting a minimum of 3 Strength Potions is convenient.
You will get an Additional one from Ignatius and from Don Esteban, so that’s 3 free additional Strength Potions with the one from Leonardos Chest.
Note that it is not possible to have more than 99 Wisdom at the end of Chapter 1 and not more than 149 Wisdom at the end of Chapter 2, which means playing as a Mage will leave you behind when it comes to opening chests as you need 150 Wisdom…
Nevertheless I highly recommend playing as a Battle Mage (Sword or Axe Lvl 7 with at least 65 STR, Magic Bullet Lvl10, Frost Lvl 7 with priority on Magic Bullet) to get the most out of the Storyline and having the best Attack Options. Although you get Stronger Axes than Swords in Chapter 2 (from Oscar), I prefer going by Sword, as the best Swords are all available for free in the game. You need much less Gold playing as a Mage/Order Warrior as the Armor is for free while you pay a total of 10000 Gold to Esteban for all Armor available as a Bandit.

Part 4: Alternative
After you crafted the Obsidian Sword and don’t want to make your way to the West Coast now here’s an alternative to use the sword already:
1 You can invest 100 Gold to buy an “Open Locks” scroll from Cormac in the Thief’s Camp to get the Strength Potion from Leonardos Chest,
2 or use Lockpicking Lvl2,
If you have already decided to go the Bandit path, learn lockpicking Lvl2 now. If you have decided to do the Mage/Order path, buy the scroll, as it is not recommended to learn lockpicking Lvl 2 when going the Mage’s path, as you will need all learning points to master all 3 crystal magic (see explanation below).
If not done yet, craft 2 Strength rings, that’s total of 35 Strength now. If you have the Potion from Leonardos Chest that’s 40.
To get 45, eat a combination of Apples you collected (10 give +1 STR, you should have found 21 by now) and 3 Ogre Roots.

Calculation:
Character Lvl 30 provides 290 learning points.
40 go into crafting Skills.
5 for lockpicking lvl 1.
25 are needed to master Magic.
That leaves 220 points, evenly distributed into Crystal magic lets you have Magic Bullet, Fireball and Frost at Lvl 8, with the Sapphire Amulet from Chapter 4 then boosted to 10.
So you have left 10 Training Points, 20 when you should reach lvl 31.
You can either choose to level a Battle skill to 3, or don’t wait until you get the sapphire amulet and boost one crystal magic to 10 or choose lockpicking Lvl 2 and invest the rest into Mana.


If you don’t want to do this all by yourself, I can provide you my savegame. It’s a clean one with no unnecessary actions, only the mentioned above.