Hey, so has anyone made it to the Tower of Ishal yet?  I am a rogue, and I didn't think ahead to bring 20+ potions, so I'm pretty sure I have to reload a *VERY* old save from when I can buy potions... which is before you leave town to do the initial grey warden stuff.
 
I just watched Dave's quicklook again that covers this area, he just barely won and he is a mage with heals.  Why the heck didn't they at least give the damn tower guard mage a heal??
 
Am I missing something or do I just suck?  I had 0 trouble with this game so far but this section is infurating (the part when  you first get into the tower, first floor).

eh.. normal > easy difficulty.
 
Oh well.

How did this get 70 views and no replies? Sorry, can't help you here, I haven't played the game.

You talking about the tower where you light the beacon right?  I was a rogue myself and I didn't have any issues.  What type of issues are you having though?

I haven't played it yet either, but I would hope that they'd give you a healer type by the time the game gets reallllzzz.

Are you playing the PC or console version? 

grrr .. still a couple more days until i can get hold of the game on steam in the uk ..

I got to the tower, and I've wiped 5 times in a row. I'm only on Normal mode. This is really hard. 
 
You can buy health potions? I haven't explored the camp area at all yet.

Yeah.  There is a npc where you can buy weapons, armor, and potions from.  He's to the right of the kennel.

Yeah it was pretty tough for me.  I had to fight the boss like 4 times before I finally beat him and every member of my party except the mage guy was dead.  I was playing on normal.

Yea I just set it on easy until the game gives me a proper party... which it finally did!  
 
Don't worry, no spoilers.

i haven't got this game yet but from the sounds of it I am not surprised this game is hard.
 
Baldur's Gate = hardest game I had ever played (I played it when I was a young teen, bit easier going back to it now but still. Brutal)

You're finding the game hard? Personally I am finding it to be relatively easy and am kind of regretting playing it on normal.... You just have to learn to think about encounters before you fight them. Don't just rush into rooms and expect to win fights. You need to use line of sight to avoid archers, time your abilities well, use your knockdown abilities all the time and rotate them for maximum effect. Use some form of strategy and you will find the game is a lot easier.

They sort of throw you into the deep end at that tower.  I didn't have any problems until the Boss, who does a grab move which basically kills whoever he grabs.  I haven't really figured out anyway to avoid/dodge his attacks yet.  I think he shows up before I have gotten even remotely comfortable with any of the subtleties of the game.

People really need to specify which version of the game they're playing. 

The hard factor is one of the many things I really love about this game. On another possibly more relevant note, I just got the game today and played for like 10 hours or so and still have yet to buy a single potion. (granted my main is a mage) But I wiped a couple times on the boss. Brace yourself though, the game gets harder.

The PC game is much, much harder than the console.  The QM in the camp is available after the ceremony to sell things.  For those who aren't there yet, explore the camp, like most Bioware games there is a lot there.  For example you can lie and get yourself a really good long sword.  And thats in addition to the items and codex entries lying around.

Im gonna be playing the 360 version tommorow on normal when it releases here in Europe 
 
Stupid fucking EU release dates

I'm not sure how well the boss can resist, but try keeping it stunned using a mix of Shield Pummel and Dirty Fighting. It's how I've been able to keep Huriks from overrunning my chracter who is also a rogue.

Set your gambits up right, or whatever this game calls them, and have your main playing support in a safe zone a few feet back, and the game gets pretty easy.

"You're finding the game hard? Personally I am finding it to be relatively easy and am kind of regretting playing it on normal.... You just have to learn to think about encounters before you fight them. Don't just rush into rooms and expect to win fights. You need to use line of sight to avoid archers, time your abilities well, use your knockdown abilities all the time and rotate them for maximum effect. Use some form of strategy and you will find the game is a lot easier. "

ive heard that its hard, and that ppl who havent played rpgs like this before should play on easy

The one thing that pissed me off about the first room in the tower was the trap. It's a bit awkward trying to get all characters to dodge that. As for taking out the enemies, try and get the mage up close to a group and use his fire spell to attack as many as you can. Get your dog to use his stun attack and alternate between the shield bash and pummel attacks with your character and that other dude (I'm terrible with character and spell/attack names, sorry!) to take them out. Keep pausing the game to make sure no character is being wasted, and keep the mage well out of danger, and use his electric/lightning attack from a distance when it's available.
 
Once you get to the demon at the top there is a somewhat cheap tactic you can employ. Get him to focus on your mage by using your fire attack at the start, set the three other characters to attack him and keep running away from the demon with your mage. As long as the demon is still focused on you, you can run him around in circles for a bit while your allies keep dealing damage to him.

The only area in the tower that I found difficult was the very first room, with the flaming barricade and the trap.  My solution to this problem was to manually keep the tower guards from charging forward so that a bare minimum of enemies could target them, and then I focus-fired the archers from right to left.  Even so, it's practically impossible to get past that last boss without a few healing potions, though when he picks you up it seems pretty much impossible to survive.  Lost one member to that both times I played it (because the first time I crashed in the middle of talking to flemeth)

I'm playing as a city elf dual wielding warrior and I'm having no trouble so far. I just completed the tower and I'm having a blast. Love the old school combat system! 

I actually find this game really easy.

BTW I was playing on PC.  What I eventually did was set it to easy and cruised through that tower section.  The difficulty difference between easy and normal is baffling and can be summed up in this sentence...
 
When I was playing on normal the 10~ potions I had wouldn't get me past the first room in many tries.  When I played it on easy I never used another potion all the way through to the top of the tower and past the boss, and no one died ever.
 
This is a fun game, but has wonky balance.  And I'm not exactly new to these games, I played the crap out of Neverwinter.  I'll go back to normal now that i have a mage in my party that I can customize somewhat.

The combat in this game is handled in a similar way to an MMO. Have 'tank' character lead - open doors and attack first - so that he can soak up the majority of the damage. Then have your DPS attack the tanks target while he holds aggro, make sure you position your dps behind the target so that they can both cause more damage and be protected from any frontal cone attacks aimed at your tank. Also, ALWAYS make use of your crowd control abilities (spells and abilities that cause stun, paralysis, etc) to lower the number of enemies you have to fight at any given moment.

I like to try and pull off a team of mages whenever I can. Just make sure someone's set to constantly debuff the enemy and try not to get hit.

" The combat in this game is handled in a similar way to an MMO. Have 'tank' character lead - open doors and attack first - so that he can soak up the majority of the damage. Then have your DPS attack the tanks target while he holds aggro, make sure you position your dps behind the target so that they can both cause more damage and be protected from any frontal cone attacks aimed at your tank. Also, ALWAYS make use of your crowd control abilities to lower the number of enemies you have to fight at any given moment. "

I guess the devs also think the game's too hard.  
 
From the patch release notes:

•  Slightly increased attack, defense, and damage scores for all party members at Normal difficulty

I'm not finding it overly difficult.  Charging head first into rooms will usually get you killed.  I've managed to get through quite a few rooms in the tower with a bit of strategy and micromanaging the mobs with fireblast, dirty fighting, and shield bash.

Wait until you get the random encounter with like 20 wolves while your surrounded by leg traps.  Wolves in packs are dangerous.

" People really need to specify which version of the game they're playing.  "

I'll have to agree that on normal I'm pretty much cruising through the 360 version. Now, I have died a couple of times but that was simply due to me not paying enough attention to party members health. When I start my second play through I'm definitely kicking up the difficulty.

" BTW I was playing on PC.  What I eventually did was set it to easy and cruised through that tower section.  The difficulty difference between easy and normal is baffling and can be summed up in this sentence...  When I was playing on normal the 10~ potions I had wouldn't get me past the first room in many tries.  When I played it on easy I never used another potion all the way through to the top of the tower and past the boss, and no one died ever. This is a fun game, but has wonky balance.  And I'm not exactly new to these games, I played the crap out of Neverwinter.  I'll go back to normal now that i have a mage in my party that I can customize somewhat. "

Man i keep getting my ass kicked in red cliff castle . That shit was hard.