West of Loathing

• If you want a relatively easy start, pick a Cow Puncher with Susie as your companion. Their methods of getting stronger go well with each other.

• The game has no real penalties for losing a fight, other than losing whatever items you spent in it and possibly losing your buffs from food and drinks if you lose too many times in one day. So be chill and just enjoy the writing.

• Pencil and paper handy. I cannot stress this enough. If something seems odd about an item or are - tuff on the walls, unopenable areas, chests you can't lockpick, Write. It. Down.

• HP and AP refill after every battle. Blow it out with skills.

• Just like in Kingdom of Loathing, your BUFFED stat is what matters for dialogue that checks it, not your base. Food/booze/spleen buffs or changing equipment can bump you over a check.

• The lockpicking book is probably the best one to start with, since it'll let you get a lot more goodies right off the bat.

• The game's auto-levelling system can be rather wonky with how it distributes EXP at times, since it tries to keep everything levelled out. I'll usually mix up turning it on (for convenience) and off (for when I want to focus on levelling one or two things in particular).

• Go easy on using needles and buy every one you can get. They're super cheap and you'll always have chests to lockpick.

• Melee attacks can hit any enemy. Guns can only hit whatever's in the leftmost section of a row. I know, it seems backwards to me too.

• There's several spots in the game that are pretty obviously infinite-enemy spots where you can grind for EXP and drops without having to wander around. Again, note them down since they're a good source of item drops.

• Unless an item has "Just sell it" in the description, *someone* can use it.

• When you begin the
  El Vibrato
  sidequest, the guy giving it to you will recommend you go to a certain mine first. Do that, because it has one of the most important grinding spots for that whole sidequest.

• Buffs and debuffs are good. I know, right? USe them a lot, they stack.

• Be sure to write to your family. They miss you.