Getting started with BOD isn't easy for two reasons: (1) the tutorial is quite limited, and (2) the manual doesn't do much to help. You've installed the game, skimmed the manual and played through the tutorial. Now you're in the game world and facing your first enemy, likely getting your ass kicked and kicked hard. What went wrong? The answer is that nothing went wrong. The tutorial taught you how to move and execute the most basic attacks, but it did so without a "live" opponent fighting back, and that changes everything.
One of the things I love most about BOD is that it rewards intelligence. Unlike so many games that basically punish the player until he does things exactly the "right way" as the designers intended, BOD generally lets the player develop his own style and rewards analysis. For example, facing a lone, large goblin armed only with a club is very different from facing a traitor knight with a shield. In the former case, you should worry primarily about your attacks being interrupted as the goblins are pretty quick in their strikes, whereas in the latter case you should be more concerned about your attacks being blocked by the knight's shield. BOD leaves the player quite a bit of freedom in deciding precisely what kind of fighting style to develop within the bounds of each character, and developing that style is a large part of the fun. Whatever style you develop, you'll do so utilizing the following in-game concepts.
The current defense rating and attack power are shown in the user-interface on the left and right sides of the screen respectively. The defense rating is increased by any armor that the character is wearing/carrying and is typically reduced by whatever weapon the character is wielding. While it isn't entirely clear how the defense rating figures into combat, it presumably has something to do with determining whether the enemy's blows hit home, how much damage they do or perhaps both.
The attack power is somewhat more straightforward, giving the player a rough idea of how much damage can potentially be inflicted by the weapon currently equipped. This factor is modified, however, by a host of circumstances. Slashing weapons (e.g., swords) do far less damage against skeletons than do bashing weapons (e.g., maces), ice weapons do far more damage against fiery enemies than they would otherwise, etc. Attack power is therefore not the only factor to consider in deciding which weapon to wield, though it is obviously an important one.
Mr. Sulu always had to "lock phasers on target" before the Enterprise fired, and while it isn't necessary to use the lock feature in combat, it is nevertheless very useful. When locked on to a specific enemy, that enemy stays centered within the player's view, making it far easier to keep tabs on him and what he's doing. It also allows the player to circle-strafe relative to the enemy's position via the left/right movement keys, which normally rotate rather than move the player.
There are at least two disadvantages, however, to locking on to the enemy. First, it restricts the player's view. When locked on, the enemy will stay at the center of the player's view, or perhaps to drive the point home I should say that the player's view will remain centered on the enemy! In other words, when fighting more than one opponent, it is an easy thing to lose track of any other enemies in the vicinity when locked onto a single target.
A second disadvantage is movement. Because all motion is relative to the enemy when locked on, the player cannot make a dash for safety without first releasing the lock. Given how often the enemies in BOD can back one into a corner, it is worth the effort to learn to engage and disengage the lock very quickly. It's practically a necessity when playing as Sargon for reasons that ought to be clear from my discussion of the various characters. Suffice it to say that the lock feature is as dangerous as it is useful in the hands of a novice. As you become more experienced, however, it will likely be more of a bonus than a detriment.
Dodging is a skill that every character enjoys. While the degree to which each character can dodge is different (e.g., Sargon can make short jumps while Zoe can tuck and tumble out of range of virtually any melee attack), the four different ways in which the characters can dodge are the same. By pressing one of the four movement keys simultaneously with the jump button, the character will dodge in the desired direction. It is definitely worth investigating the degree to which the character can dodge to avoid incoming attacks as the game's collision detection seems pretty advanced. Dodging forward when the enemy is swinging downward, for example, will result in getting cracked about the pate with potentially disastrous results! Learn to dodge well, and it will save your life, or at least your character's.
BOD is a tactically deep game because of the large variety of attacks of which the various characters and weapons are capable. I have divided the attacks into the following categories for ease of understanding.
Basic attacks are those that may be performed at any level with any weapon. These are covered by the tutorial, though not in any depth. These are the bread and butter of the game, particularly when fighting in close quarters or against opponents not particularly susceptible to combos. Learn them. Know them. Use them.
Character-specific abilities or special abilities provide attacks which a character may perform in virtue of his training and history. They are limited to being used with the weapons with which the character is proficient, and are further limited by character experience. That is, the player must reach a certain level to use such abilities. This may seem a bit silly in light of the given explanation for these abilities as coming from the character's background and experience, but hey, it's just a game! At any rate, these attacks will leave a yellow weapon trail when executed and have the potential to do more damage than the basic attacks. Character-specific abilities are also more difficult to pull off than the basic attacks. These can be considered "minor combos" for sake of discussion.
Weapon-specific combos are those attacks which a character may perform with a specific weapon once he's reached the requisite level. They are easily the most devastating attacks in the game just as they are easily the most difficult attacks to master and simplest attacks for an enemy to disrupt. Despite their disadvantages, however, mastering weapon-specific combos is a large part of the enjoyment of BOD. There are few gaming moments more satisfying that seeing that blood-red trail following your character's weapon as he chops off various portions of some formerly tough bad guy's anatomy. These can be considerd "major combos" for sake of discussion.
The choice of which attacks to use will reflect the style of the player, as well as his present mood to a great degree. Are you the kind of player that waits patiently for an opening, then delivers the killing blow with a flourish? If so, then you'll probably concentrate on mastering the weapon-specific combos and the character-specific abilities as these do the most damage and are surely the most visually impressive. But what if you're the kind of player who enjoys long, drawn-out battles with lots and lots of weapons play? In this case, you'll probably not spend too much time trying to execute the combos. Instead, you'll probably want to spend your time mastering the most basic attacks and perhaps some of the character-specific abilities (you might also want to be sure and try playing Nagflar the Dwarf). Note well: as the enemies get tougher and tougher, this style of play will be harder and harder to maintain, but I could see how it would be very satisfying.
For information on the available character-specific abilities, weapon-specific combos and so forth, consult the journal. In particular, pay attention to the abilities page and the weapons page of the journal for the crucial control sequences necessary to unlock the combo moves. As with all things, practice makes perfect!
Whereas the purpose of the last section is to acquaint the player with the different kind of attacks, this section is designed to offer some specific advice on using them. As time permits, I may offer specific tactics for each kind of enemy in the game. For now, this section includes only some tips on making the best use of each kind of attack. Unless otherwise noted, the following discussion is given with an eye toward playing Sargon.
As indicated previously, the basic attacks represent the bread and butter of combat. Sargon's basic attacks involve a forward swing, an attack to the left, an attack to the right and a low swing. These are activated by pressing the attack button while pressing one of the movement keys. So let's use a specific case as an example throughout the discussion. Let's say Sargon is fighting an orc carrying a shield in his left hand and a club in his right. Which sorts of attacks will likely work best?
At the beginning of any combat, I suggest "dancing" around a bit with the enemy to get a feel for his style. Be ready to defend as needed by raising a shield, dodging and strafing with the help of the combat lock. In the case at hand, the orc will likely press the attack pretty ferociously with a sequence of steps forward and downward blows. If Sargon tries a straight frontal attack, his blade is likely to get blocked, which usually ends in him getting hit. Similarly, an attack to Sargon's right will likely bounce harmlessly off the orc's shield, leaving Sargon open to a strike.
The safest use of the basic attacks in such a case involves dodging out of harm's way and striking low or to Sargon's left to avoid the orc's shield. Of course, such a strategy is never going to break said shield, and it will likely take a while to kill the orc with the minimal damage that the basic attacks do (depending upon a number of factors). Still, it's worth practicing the art of selecting which of the basic attacks work best, then dodging and sparring about to deliver them while taking no or minimal damage. Believe me, there are some adversaries in the game against which it's nearly impossible to use combos effectively, and against them, the basic attacks rule.
As indicated previously, the character-specific abilities (CSAs), or what might be called ability combos, do more damage than basic attacks but are trickier to use and easier for the enemy to block. The hardest part of using these and the weapon-specific combos is getting a feel for exactly how the character will move in relation to the enemy along with how that enemy is likely to respond. Once armed with this knowledge, putting CSAs to use is largely a matter of developing just the right timing to make it all work.
So what kind of CSAs could be most useful for Sargon fighting an orc as described in the previous example? Well, the Speed Kill ability, invoked by pressing the attack and move right keys twice with just the right timing, is going to be of only limited usefulness at first. Why? Again, because this is an attack to Sargon's right. As such, it will likely be blocked by the orc's shield, assuming of course that the attack doesn't get blocked before the ability combo can be triggered. But what if Sargon sidesteps to the right as the enemy is preparing to swing? In such a case, the Speed Kill attack can actually be pretty powerful; i.e., Sargon can get a couple of devastating swings into the backside of his foe. Or what if the player has already done considerable damage to the orc's shield? In this case, the Speed Kill attack just might shatter it altogether. That's somewhat risky, of course, but if it works, it will likely stun the enemy for a moment and perhaps provide an opportunity for a quick kill.
I hope it is obvious that knowing precisely what each attack does is crucial to making it work. Consider as a second example Sargon's Hawk Attack. This attack is quite an elegant little bit of swordplay, involving a fair amount of twirling about on Sargon's part. Naturally, this makes it very easy to interrupt, which makes this ability combo potentially risky. But when executed properly, it can be devastating. Returning again to our orcish sword fodder, if Sargon can put just the right distance between him and the orc before executing the attack, he can time it just right so that the final stroke will impact directly upon the orc's shield. With lower-level creatures, at least in my experience, this almost always results in the orc's shield being smashed. And with the orc's shield down, a much wider range of tactical possibilities opens up for Sargon.
Sargon's Low Slash is also quite useful for any enemy carrying a small shield as he can frequently use it to get in and cut them beneath their shield. The Ripper can be pretty devastating once the enemy's shield is down. Similarly, the North Cross and especially the South Cross can kill in a very big hurry if executed correctly. I cannot stress it enough: practice all of the ability combos that are available.
The weapon-specific combos (WSCs) are, hands down, the trickiest and most powerful attacks in the game. They take a little work to master but oh my goodness are they satisfying! To take a specific example, I really loved using the Elf Sword as Sargon. I got pretty good with that weapon's combo, The Dream. I learned to time it so that I had a good feel for exactly when and where the various strokes were going to fall. If I found myself in close quarters, I could frequently side step an enemy attack and execute the combo. As long as I timed things so that the first swing of the combo hit home, my enemy was typically unable to respond and would get cut to shreds by all three strokes. If I had distance on my side, however, then I would time it so that only the final stroke would strike across the enemy just as he stepped forward to get into position.
I wish I could give more specific advice for the WSCs, but I really cannot. The key to making them work lies in memorizing the pattern of motions each combo involves, then applying this pattern to a given situation. If the combo involves a slashing stroke from right to left, for example, then this combo is not going to be of much help when the enemy is carrying a really tough shield. That is, the combo would quite likely get blocked, leaving the player open to attack. But if the combo involves a straightforward stabbing motion, such as the Thumblestab combo with the Dagesse sword, then the enemy's shield is largely irrelevant. When using the Dagesse, for example, Sargon could generally tuck and roll and come up under any shield, usually nailing his opponent right in the lower abdomen or the groin (ouch!).
I just can't stress it enough: practice EVERY attack as soon as it becomes available!