Feeling overwhelmed - specific questions on best way to start

[revjwh]

Okay, I feel overwhelmed with the options (but am loving the game) ... I currently have 3 saves and am wondering which to pursue - I want to explore as much of the game as possible and do as many quests as possible before closing off any particular "branches" (I'm a dad - so another play through will be a while in coming so I want to make the most of this one).

I have one save where I went immediately from the shore to the rear of the town and am now at the last quest to become part of the Order. Does this close off a ton? This is my most "advanced" save - but I'm willing to start over if necessary.

I have another save where I went to the front of the town and got sent to the monastery and have currently completed the staff training but nothing else - are you able to leave the monastery and then explore before the town? That might be worthwhile since I now have some strength/experience.

My earliest save is at the road to the camp (led there by the Don's man - but cannot remember name) but I haven't been to the bandit camp yet.

I basically want to see as much as possible and complete as many quests as possible before truncating any part of the game due to major decisions. Help!

I also have a few questions:

Where do you learn lockpicking?
Where do you learn sneaking?
Can I learn Fire magic early on or ???

I read a lot of the tips posts - but it is a lot of information to process as a newbie.

I would like to play a swordsman/fire mage if possible - as I saw in someone's post that they felt it best to play a 1-h weapon/shield combo over the staff?

I'd appreciate help. Thank you.

J

[Gorath]

Did you play Gothic and Gothic 2? Risen follows the classic Gothic formula.

Without spoiling anything:
- keep your options open for as long as possible
- choosing one side usually closes certain quest lines for the other sides
- do the newbie quests for all camps before you commit

[Maylander]

If you want to be a "Battle Mage" with fire and melee, here's a general recipe:
- Do all the quests for the bandits, untill you meet the Don and get a quest to go to Harbor Town. At this point you've unlocked all the trainers of the bandit camp, so you can train swords, strength, etc there even after you join the Monastery (the only place where you learn magic).
- Go to Harbor Town. Side with the Inquisition. Get a letter of recommendation from the Commander there.
- Go to the Monastery, tell them you want to join up.

Now you get a choice between Mage and Warrior of the Inquisition. Both have access to the fire magic you want, but Mages have access to Seals (somewhat useful, but you can use scrolls to replace Seals), and the Warriors get slightly better armor at one point in the game.

That particular decision should be up to you based on preference. You can now still train swords in the bandit camp, and learn fire magic in the Monastery.

Good luck!

Edit: Sneaking and lockpicking is available several places. You'll come across some teachers here and there. Don't worry about it.

[Uriziel]

And I think it should be noted that you need to be saving often....very often. I assume you have been saving and just mention 3 of the saves, but someone might see this and think you only have three saves total :O I quicksave before talking to anyone or before any battle, and do regular saves every 15 minutes or so. And you should make a "ready to join" save.....a save where you have done all you can before making the choice of what camp to join. Then when you replay the game you can use this save and skip all the low-level tedious stuff.