I use my joystick actually. Seems to work really well. I like the tip about bringing the sword back after clashing with an opponent weapon or shield, ill have to give that a try.
Right now I am about to beat the game on champion. Gotta kill that magic man on top of mountain!

I forgot what difficulty I beat the game in. I think it was Champion. But if you really want to test your mettle, see if you can finish Tournament. It's sick.

Thanks for the suggestion! Tournament is pretty tough. Going thru it on Lord. Im at the part where you fight two mantises and a skeleton now. I think the toughest fight was the one with the two orcs with swords in the blade pit so far.

Ive changed my mind, the fight with the two mantises and the skeleton in the pit of love is the hardest fight so far. It is impossible for me to beat.

Hello, I just purchased this game and replayed it (after so many years ago put off by the vsim and forgot all about it). I am still practicing in the arena and still learning and I find all the tips here too difficult for me to practice (really). Definitely need some time to work on it in the arena...
What I find somewhat easier for me is that when I use mouse vsim, I would combine the swing of the attack with the strafe move. I find it easiest for newbie like me to control the sword movement. So if an orc approaches me brandishing that rusty axe over its head, I will run to his left side (my right side) and stop just within the sword range. I will then swing hard to the left while at the same time sidestepping to the left (key Q), usually hitting the chest, and immediately follow with the right sidestep while swinging hard to the right, usually also hits. If I am lucky I can get two consecutive very clean blows while the orc is busy leaping in the air to burrow his axe to me head. Three or four times like this, and the orc will fall, the fastest way I know. I don't know how effective is this with multiple enemies though.

Man I've been looking for this game for the last couple of years but could not remember it's name for the life of me. I finally stumbled across the name, all I remembered was "Sword" in the title. I'm so glad I found this, I've been playing non stop the last two days. I showed it to my roommate all excited but since it's so old and the graphics are dated he was turned off by it immediately. That sucks because if he only experienced it back in the day I'd finally have someone to fight with -- I mean there are co-op levels!!!!

I play on a laptop that has an embedded num pad so I just use the mouse VSIM. Actually when I first played it I only used the mouse anyway. I never knew there were alternate control schemes till I got this just the other day. The mouse is definitely the way to go, you just have to stomach the amazingly long learning curve it requires. I'm getting better at it fast too. I still flail around like a mad man but I finally have an idea of my attack approach. I do have two favorite swings I can do on will now, favorite because they're the only ones I can fully control.

I have a nasty top right to bottom left diagnol slice and the reverse going up. Both work really well. The backhand slice is good even if the enemies are next to you or slightly behind. The forward swing is great while jumping forward, or even just being in front. I wish I could do horizontal swipes at any level but it's too hard. Every swing of mine has some vertical motion in it no matter how hard I concentrate on it.

I never mess with the move editor since I'm using the mouse VSIM. I'm under the impression the special moves saved work with the keyboard only. Can I use both the mouse VSIM with a few hot keys for special moves still? If so then I'd create some ninja moves.

Either way this games kicks ass regardless of graphics. I love the dark music too, seems Diablo-like. Awesome, awesome, awesome game. I'm doing the quest and the tournament back and forth. I just beat the three skeletons on the "plus sign" board that's elevated. The challenge before that was the hardest I've had yet ever, the three mantises on the board with the swinging blades. That took like 30 tries, no joke!

Ok after more practice I find I can block/parry half way decent. Also small quick movements with the mouse on full sensitivity seems to work best comparatively. Note that your weapon is active at all times (same goes for the enemies'). Recently I holstered my sword to climb a ledge while being chased (you run slightly faster that way also) and while my arms were raised (I mistimed the climb badly) the enemy swung at my back and my holstered sword blocked it!

I'm stuck at the one quest Breaking Through the Barracks (or something like that) because it saved on me while I was really hurt. Now I must defeat three Orcs with low health.

I'm also stuck in the tournament fighting the giant blue troll guy, Orc with sword, and a skeleton maybe? On the plus sign level that's elevated. The problem is the huge troll smacks you so far per hit, it's impossible to stay on the level!

We need more players on this, preferably mouse VSIM's!!

Ok so can anybody tell me what this is about?:
I cleared the Altar Room part in the quest, where you kill the sword Orc and the Shaman Orc who shoots fireballs at you. I searched the body of the Shaman and it turned me into him! On the screen it said "Found Shaman Mask" and Enric was no longer there; I controlled the Shaman Orc even while his body laid there dead! I had no sword anymore either and every time I jumped I made the Orc noise but from time to time Enric's voice would play when searching other things, etc...So I freed the ugly goblin guy and proceeded. Unfortunately I stopped in the next room containing the Ogre and the Sword Orc. As expected they didn't attack and bought the "disguise". Instead of moving on like I should have, I repeatedly bumped the Sword Orc into the little campfire killing him. I tried to do the same to the Ogre but I bumped into his idle weapon a few times which killed me. Loading the saved game "Cleared Altar Room" or something like that I could never get that Shaman Mask off the dead Shaman Orc again....ever!! WTF?! There's so many enemies up ahead without save points....I want that Shaman Mask again!

Oh and the tournament is tough as hell, stuck on the same level - Sword Orc, Enric, and Ogre on elevated "plus sign" map.

So what is the best way to beat an Ogre? Sometimes they go down real quick other times they bat you a mile and a half down the rooms and hallways. The hardest part about this game is keeping it consistent. Even in the tournament, sometimes it's absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to win a match and the more you try the quicker you die. After a few hours I'll come back to it and BAM, first try ownage! I still think the mouse VSIM is best but man is it hard to learn. I'm flailing around less and concentrating my attacks more but it still seems like I'm so far from getting used to it. Anyone here actually master the mouse VSIM?

I think I'm the last one playing this game :(

Disregard that Orc Stronghold post.....boy am I an idiot. I'm much further now, still not as good as I want to be. Still stuck on that impossible Tournament level, and the coop arena challenge would be awesome with a live teammate. The horrible AI teammate figures out how to make the first jump about 1 out of 25 games so i'm fighting it alone the whole time.

Need more mouse tips and/or explanation....

Definitely a unique and difficult combat system, yet at the same time it's very rewarding.

What I recommend to help learn how to fight is to go to arena mode and fight some Kobolds. I also absolutely do NOT recommend the default camera mode. As soon as that game starts, you're going to want to switch the camera mode to free and then above. (Or, in other words, press F and then R). Also, turn that mouse sensitivity up. You'll need it.

Make sure you have a nice flat surface to move your mouse around on, and make sure you have plenty of room.

Tips I have from observation:
Don't move the mouse directly up and then down and expect a hit, ever. If you want to do a downward slash, go from corner to corner.
For vertical slashing, you can get a pretty fast and powerful slash if you rotate at the same time you swing - this using the same principle of leaping and then cutting. More speed = more power. Once you get the hang of it, it's very useful for cutting those kobolds down to size.
On that note, do a lot of leaping and lunging. It seriously helps.
And feel free to abuse that extend key. You won't get far without it. Map it to an unused mouse button.

Don't focus on trying to chop off any heads until you improve your aim. In the mean time, aim for the arms and render your foes defenseless.