So as everyone else who backed it, I got this game now and do not really know what to do with it. I just backed because I thought it would be cool if it exists. So how do I approach this? I know nothing about the lore or how to play this game. I think I want to be a guy that hacks stuff, but I guess I need some combat stats as well? I think it would be cool if I am not a human, but eff magic. Advice?

Pick something you want to do and only do that then. I feel there isn't enough benefit to do lots of things, beside that would also require you to buy more equipment, which is valuable money you could spend on higher gear instead of 3 pieces of lower quality or on some cybernetic upgrades.

Just be good at one thing, and hire help for the other things that you lack.

And the roleplay/advancement requires no social skills, and with combat skills focus takes priority over flexibility. Especially cause you can just make a team to be flexible.
But having a guy that shoots, might go in melee and can hack, although cool as an idea, but that will leave you severely lacking in one field.

My opinion ofcourse. I max out body for health and then the resulting offensive skills i will use.
I for one always hire a Decker to do the hacking for me so i don't have to and i focus on melee combat with my guy. But you can do what i do, Just hire muscle to round out your hacker, but as i said i would dump most of it into being a hacker then. Although i haven't played with a main character as a decker you pretty much still get and need to go in teh matrix.

I'm about 3 hours in and the game seems to only punish people that try to be jack of all trades or not focus on one or two things as every time a skill specific choice comes up I'm never high enough level to pick it. From what I have played so far you will really want the security origin as that seems to be about the only one that comes up, and you will want hacking skills. Those two are the only useful ones I ever seem to see in dialogue trees. That and a high strength to intimidate.

All the etiquette choices come up. I picked Security but a LOT of the time ran into Shadowrunning.

Remember, the higher your charisma, the more etiquette skills you can choose.

Try out a few of the classes & keep them straight to that but you can later on mix magic & tech on your character. One good thing about the magic system is that there is a healing ability (bear totem in shaman & think normal mage has one too) which is nice. Cyberspace decker class is cool too. Will say for those trying to make their character is that unlike the Nintendo 64 Shadowrun game, you get a free gun early on and all have their own quirks to them (I've been enjoying the SMG & rifle but can see benefits of the shotgun & pistol) just have to sink a few points in there as well as charisma.

edit-finally hit the point in the story where the decker gets to run through the net (with a mage) and the game gives you control over another decker to work on the story stuff. So naturally as a character without a datalink you might miss other spots where you could jack in but it probably won't be anything crucial you can't get another way I bet.

Another pair of tips:

• always look at the optional skills of things like summons or other party members
• also you can click on the character portraits in the upper right during combat & as long as it's your turn you can pick which ones to use instead of trying to go in whatever order they're in

Focus on one thing, as others said: The way the game is build there is no benefit in picking several trades.

I've found decking to be of limited use. It barely comes up in combat, and the sections in the matrix aren't that difficult. I roleplayed my first character as mostly decker/some ranged combat and it made the game slightly more difficult in combat sections. Still doable, however.

Magic is incredibly powerful, if you wish to use it. It's pretty much just two stats to dump into, and it gives you a great normal weapon in combat along with a lot of good options. That's not to mention the side benefit of a high magic defense.

Otherwise, ranged combat is quite good, and should probably be taken as a backup unless you choose magic or melee. Quickness gives you more access to dodge, which is good for all classes, and ranged weapons are always useful.

Are there multiple initiative passes in this game? Don't own it yet, just curious.

Some say enduring trials builds character.

Oh wait like in the game? I don't know I just wanted to make this joke.

I went with a decker/shotgun specialist and by the end of the game I had an 8 (of a 9 maximum) in both of those skills, and still had plenty of points in charisma, biotech and dodge. The game gives you enough skill points that you can branch out a little and skills are organized in a way that should help you to make good choices.

My Dad always told me that persevere-

Damn it.

As a Street Samurai 'm going Charisma first (I like to think my character has a lot of Charisma, and that's why everybody wants to run with her), body (for survivability) and then a mix of shotgun and melee weapons. So far i've run into no problems!

Yeah focus is best. I'd probably pick one role/weapon type (or magic) along with putting points into body for HP. Though having some charisma can be of use for conjuring, largely because it offers haste buffs that can give you up to +2 AP a turn. 2 extra actions in a turn based game is a pretty powerful effect. Also taking I believe it is 3 points in summoning unlocks a totem choice which let's you pick from a selection of AOE buffs and an AOE heal which only have a 1 turn cooldown.

Aside from charisma, conjuring for haste and a totem power though i'd just focus all points into a single approach to combat, e.g. rifles, magic, melee, etc. And steer clear of decking, there just aren't enough moments in the game to warrent investing, and the game always gives an NPC to do it in your stead anyway.

Any Adept specific advice? I rolled Troll Adept because I liked the unarmed combat aspect, and the Troll got a bonus to 2 of the 3 key stats for an adept (Str, Body, leaving out a bonus in Willpower). It seems like the class is kind of designed around spread out attribute points though, so I'm hoping that I don't get in trouble from a lack of focus. So far I've mostly gone for the Chi casting abilities and increasing my Unarmed skills. Any particular advice out there?

I did rigger first time around but I dont like my character being kind of a weak bitch even if the S class drones clean things up. Second time I went with a mix. I didn't focus at all. I wanted to be a beast with a shotgun but also counterattack, but I also wanted a good haste spell and the ability to summon some kind of cthulhu monster from the eather when I need a distraction. So I did all of that. But the main thing is being able to beast out your shotgun basically makes the game a cakewalk. With a lot of quickness your aim is high and with the shotgun blast radius you can be knocking off 16 HP off like 3 people at once, its better than a grenade. That and preemptively casting haste to get an extra AP, then ending with counterattack. You don't even need a team. Elf of course, for both times.

Playing a human street samurai, I've put most of my karma into quickness, pistols and dodge. Add a couple of new legs to the mix boosting my quickness over its maximum, and the result is that I hit nearly anything I point my gun at, while also dodging a fair number of attacks. On the minus side I miss out on decking, rigging and spell slinging with my own character, but on the plus side I've got a character which feels quite powerful in its own right.