I played this a lot years ago and got stuck but didn't put in the effort to gut unstuck, now giving it another try. So far I'm working my way through 5 dwarf mine levels, have encountered a lava field with a powerful enemy I can't beat yet, journeyed to the west on a road through impenetrable forest to a town, but there is a swarm of bees there too powerful for me. A Witches tower seems promising for future exploration and I've made it up a few levels. This exploration with multiple prospects for progress and gradual filling in of the map (have to do the lawnmower thing occasionally, but it is worth it) is a strong attraction here.

Using the default starting party because I didn't want to invest in learning too much about it, didn't want to make a crippling mistake there.

Using the cd-rom version but it has annoying animations and repetitive voice overs that can't be skipped (?).

Not paying a whole lot of attention to optimizing weapons and armor because the interface and need to identify items is annoying, may do more there when forced to.

Combat is not very interesting (but it is satisfying), just clicking on the swords icon until the enemy is dead, maybe if forced to will learn how to do more there.