All I do is die

[maiee]

After visiting the mages for the first time I can't find quests/caves that I can finish. We even have trouble with the wandering beasties.
Can't find better equipment and can't get enough gold to have kit improve the armor.
Someone please give me some advice on getting started in this game because so far all we do is die and that to me is not fun.

[Lemongrab]

Stop standing in the red circles.

[The Gentlebros]

Yep, make sure you roll out of enemy attacks, that's very important!
Also you can try casting the Freezepaw spell to slow down enemies so you have an easier time dodging their attacks.

Also, take note of the level of caves and quests too. If you are level 5, a level 10 dungeon might give you trouble. Likewise, a 2-skull quest is doable, but a 3-skull quest might pose a bit of a challenge! :)

Some enemies like the Rocky monsters are resistant to physical attacks, but magic attacks work great! You can tell what attacks are effective by the color of the numbers that pop out.

[Darkness]

Defense is the best tactic often. You usually can't kill enemies fast enough, so learn to avoid their attacks: ROLL OUT. Rolling is a key tactic to avoid damage, just make sure to stand out of the red circles when they start attacking.

If you want to check some gameplay to see how you should be playing (in regards to avoiding damage): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPfKh3FMk5s

Best thing you can do playing solo is to equip a wand on you, melee item on the other character for the AI to control, and keep rolling away and attacking. If you exploit the enemy elemental weaknesess it's easy mode.

[maiee]

Thank you very much for the advice! After posting I used key-binding to help make commands/movement easier and that helped. I've been playing computer games (not video games) since the 80's and have never played a game in which dodging is so essential to survival. I will have to practice dodging.
(There should have been the option to key-bind alternatives for the [ ] when looking at inventory too.)
I played Cat Quest 1 so I'm familiar with equating quests/caves with my level. I don't care for the skull measurement of difficulty. Because of the difficulty I had with controls in CQ1 my character had to generally be 10 levels or more higher than caves and quests to stand a chance of success.
I haven't finished CQ1 (just one last cave) because without key binding and on a full size keyboard I have difficulty killing that last squirrel. (I haven't done Cathulhu or the Mew games either)

Thank you again for the advice! I hope to obtain purrfect dodging skills in the near furture!

[Vulpis]

Originally posted by maiee:

Thank you very much for the advice! After posting I used key-binding to help make commands/movement easier and that helped. I've been playing computer games (not video games) since the 80's and have never played a game in which dodging is so essential to survival. I will have to practice dodging.
(There should have been the option to key-bind alternatives for the [ ] when looking at inventory too.)
I played Cat Quest 1 so I'm familiar with equating quests/caves with my level. I don't care for the skull measurement of difficulty. Because of the difficulty I had with controls in CQ1 my character had to generally be 10 levels or more higher than caves and quests to stand a chance of success.
I haven't finished CQ1 (just one last cave) because without key binding and on a full size keyboard I have difficulty killing that last squirrel. (I haven't done Cathulhu or the Mew games either)

Thank you again for the advice! I hope to obtain purrfect dodging skills in the near furture!

I'm replying kinda late here, but the same advice on dodging holds true for CQ1 as well as CQ2. Enemies have pretty visible 'tells' for attacking. Solid circles for melee, ornate circles for fire attacks, and 2 or 4 arrows for the other spell effects. They start out a dull red, then turn bright red as the attack/spell goes off. Sometimes it can be hard to see when there are multiple enemies moving around and/or multiple attacks at once. Also, some critters are fairly quick (almost always melee attacks with smaller ranges) so you need decent reaction speed to get out of the way in the right direction in time.
Also..personally I'm both a long-time PC gamer *and* a console gamer, so I end up liking using a gamepad for games that aren't First/Third-Person Shooter style (such as the top-down action RPG like the CQ games) so perhaps investing in one might work for you (personally, I reccomend the Logitech F310...it functions like a X360 controller for newer games, has DInput mode for older ones, and has a layout more like the Sony line of controllers with the Analog sticks side-by-side rather than scewed like the Xbox style).

[Marcus]

For the side quests note....its different from CQ1, and honestly Im in half of main quests and barely did any side quests at all.... in CQ2 side quests are given by NPC rather than boards and if you zoom out you dont get it pin pointed nicely like in CQ1...so you just have to look over map(zoom in) on NPC which have bubble with ? or !(cant remmeber now lol xD)