I waited til I finished chap 1 to read this post, and I have to say that the beast fight wasnt really a big deal. Like most boss w/ tons of minions fights, you just bolt right up to the boss and hit him w/ the kitchen sink, he falls and all his minions poof. I just made sure I was sign'd up, ritual of magic'd, whetstone'd, swallow'd, etc. I was assuming the hideout was going to be harder than it was. I did do the Blizzard tho, it was annoying.
I purrsonally do not like the Blizzard effect, I'd rather just pause the game a lot.