So just got this game last night on steam after seeing so many people mention it in the game award thread. Not had a chance to play it yet but any tips for a new player to the series?
If you've never played it before. Start on Classic.
Would highly recommend not using a custom character. There are six characters in the game all with their own stories. You will encounter all of them, but at one point (leaving first island) you will be reduced to four (including you). They all have fairly large story lines, so using a custom character will make you miss out on 3 of them instead of 2.
Explore everywhere. There are things and sidequest everywhere. Some quests will also only activate if you talk to NPCs with a specific character.
Teleportation is great. You'll get gloves that gives the skill early on. Do not sell them. You can teleport chests and such that seem out of range for you to reach to you, as well as teleporting characters to blocked off paths.
Save often (quicksave will be stored as quicksave 1 - 4. When you're at the 4th, the next quicksave will overwrite quicksave 1)
At summoning level 10, your pet will change and increase substantially in power. The pet will change depending on the surface you summon it on. Summoning them on blood is great.
Experiment with skills and combinations.
Be prepared for a very cluttered inventory. All characters start with a bag, recommend putting that on the hotbar and putting consumables that the characters use in that. IE: Different arrows in bag for your bow user if you plan on having one of those.
Make sure everyone has health pots / res scrolls.
Undead are hurt by health pots, healed with poison. That includes poison spells / AE bombs heal them, but also AE heals hurt them.
Undead have unlimited lockpicks by using their finger. I have Fane as my rogue.
When you encounter the characters on the island, they will ask you what class you want them to be. They have their preferred one, but you can pick anything. Nothing negative happens from picking from something completely different than their default. Make the party you want.
Game is very big. 60++ hours. Probably closer to 100 to do most things.
You can respec most things at will later on in the game (20 ish hours in)