Yeah, you'll need to have
several health potions left over from levels 1 and 2.
And your ATK could/should be slightly higher, too, methinks.
Here are my stats right before entering 1 South on level 3:
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×
HP: 1973
ATK: 107
DEF: 83
GR: 474
Keys: 2/2/0/1
Short Sword
Bronze Shield
Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can be of much help to you, as I doubt there is anything glaring that you're missing. Having said that, you could probably optimize level 2 quite a bit better than you had, I suppose.
And, although I realize this is vague and possibly quite obvious, in level 1 you might want to...
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×wait a little while—until you're well into level 2—before clearing out the cache o' gems in 2N3W.
You can always PM me if you'd like. Granted I'm no TFMurphy, but I managed somehow to conquer the hold, and I assume that that's all you really want to accomplish. I'll go on record to say that this hold is far and away the most difficult RPG hold that I've played through to date (which includes any portion of Tendry's Tale).
The Stew Boy wrote:
Also, is it me, or does The Gauntlet not offer much in the way of choices?
Nope, it's not you. One obvious hint here is to...
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×make sure that you don't bring too much HP into this level; bring just enough to get you through, otherwise it'll go to waste.
[Last edited by Lamkin at 01-26-2010 04:05 AM]