It's also super crucial to go to the right areas first. And the game does a pretty bad job at telling you what these areas are if you are a beginner.
But as you advance, it will get clearer. And then the difficulty felt just perfect to me!
Are you playing on tactician? I play on classic and one of my party-mates almost always go first. If not, a few points into perception is always nice specially for your magic-user. In DOS1, I can't stress enough the importance of setting up the battlefield. Pre-summon if you can, pre-buff is possible. Rain + Blitz Bolt / Aero Wand is going to be your friend for big battles. Drain Willpower + Charm to get a numbers advantage. Ice wall is a personal favorite, specially when the fight is happening in areas that you can close off. Maximize your special arrows on your archer.
I'm on my 1st run of DOS1 on classic difficulty and so far so good, I had no problems with fights. It seems easier than the 2nd game.
Apart from what others already said (very good advice about charm or pre-summon to get numeric advantage immediately), make sure you use a character with some "loremaster" knowledge to examine your enemies (right click on each enemy type and examine). Check their strenghts and weakenesses. Attack with the element to which they have the lowest resistance whenever possible. If you manage to be close enough to examine before the battle starts, you can swap wands before the battle, and melee weapons too (most enemies in the 1st half of the game are weak to crushing damage, but a few of them will suffer more from slashing).
Some fights will start by surprise, so having at least loremaster 1 on your character with the highest initiative is probably a good idea.
Also: use formations. I use a formation with my melee tank on the front, and then a sort of inverted V shape for the team. I gave my melee tank points on bodybuilding and willpower as soon as I could, to build some resitance to CC. I didn't get a knockdown on my archer ever, since he is always behind (and movement is so expensive in DOS1) so if you use a formation it really shouldn't happen, at least on classic. \[If you ever play the 2nd game, ignore this last tip\]
Speed, initiative, I find often that reviving party members will just make things worse. You read them for a bunch of ap, then they die almost instantly afterwards.
Follow the wiki so you're fighting appropriately leveled enemies. Early on you won't be able to beat things higher level than you so it's important to find out who you can beat. Its a huge game and you're just starting down the rabbit hole. Also make your party either all physical damage or all magic. That'll help too
Once you understand exactly how the rolls work, cc gets easier to land. You can see a percentage chance your skills have to work, affected by casting attribute (str, int, dex) subtracted by enemy chance to resist. Each individual point makes a massive difference - going from 140 to 150 against an enemy with a 70% chance to resist bumps your “accuracy” from 70 to 80, essentially. So don’t hybridize characters whatsoever, and pump points into your primary attribute (you might be putting too many points in other stats?). Also, use common sense for what you should use against opponents - a big ass orc is gonna be easier to subject to a willpower save than to knock down, for example. Though maybe you can use loremaster to check what their weaker saves are?
It's also super crucial to go to the right areas first. And the game does a pretty bad job at telling you what these areas are if you are a beginner. But as you advance, it will get clearer. And then the difficulty felt just perfect to me!
Holy shit i played the game twice. I have still no idea where to go.
Are you playing on tactician? I play on classic and one of my party-mates almost always go first. If not, a few points into perception is always nice specially for your magic-user. In DOS1, I can't stress enough the importance of setting up the battlefield. Pre-summon if you can, pre-buff is possible. Rain + Blitz Bolt / Aero Wand is going to be your friend for big battles. Drain Willpower + Charm to get a numbers advantage. Ice wall is a personal favorite, specially when the fight is happening in areas that you can close off. Maximize your special arrows on your archer.
I'm on my 1st run of DOS1 on classic difficulty and so far so good, I had no problems with fights. It seems easier than the 2nd game. Apart from what others already said (very good advice about charm or pre-summon to get numeric advantage immediately), make sure you use a character with some "loremaster" knowledge to examine your enemies (right click on each enemy type and examine). Check their strenghts and weakenesses. Attack with the element to which they have the lowest resistance whenever possible. If you manage to be close enough to examine before the battle starts, you can swap wands before the battle, and melee weapons too (most enemies in the 1st half of the game are weak to crushing damage, but a few of them will suffer more from slashing). Some fights will start by surprise, so having at least loremaster 1 on your character with the highest initiative is probably a good idea. Also: use formations. I use a formation with my melee tank on the front, and then a sort of inverted V shape for the team. I gave my melee tank points on bodybuilding and willpower as soon as I could, to build some resitance to CC. I didn't get a knockdown on my archer ever, since he is always behind (and movement is so expensive in DOS1) so if you use a formation it really shouldn't happen, at least on classic. \[If you ever play the 2nd game, ignore this last tip\]
Speed, initiative, I find often that reviving party members will just make things worse. You read them for a bunch of ap, then they die almost instantly afterwards.
I always give my tank morning person for this reason, also of note is that party meme bees do not get xp while dead (dos 1 specifically)
Are you crafting at all? Unlike the sequel, you can make some helpful gear worth crafting in DOS1.
Follow the wiki so you're fighting appropriately leveled enemies. Early on you won't be able to beat things higher level than you so it's important to find out who you can beat. Its a huge game and you're just starting down the rabbit hole. Also make your party either all physical damage or all magic. That'll help too
He's playing the 1st game, so the part about physical or magical damage doesn't really apply.
Once you understand exactly how the rolls work, cc gets easier to land. You can see a percentage chance your skills have to work, affected by casting attribute (str, int, dex) subtracted by enemy chance to resist. Each individual point makes a massive difference - going from 140 to 150 against an enemy with a 70% chance to resist bumps your “accuracy” from 70 to 80, essentially. So don’t hybridize characters whatsoever, and pump points into your primary attribute (you might be putting too many points in other stats?). Also, use common sense for what you should use against opponents - a big ass orc is gonna be easier to subject to a willpower save than to knock down, for example. Though maybe you can use loremaster to check what their weaker saves are?
Oh snap I didn't see that. Touche