Ivought this game about 3 weeks ago and dived in blind. No idea what I was doing or where I was meant to start.
Found the key for the game guide and started using the search button.
After a couple of failed attempts, I started my third 'campaign' in default mode. Now 30 hours in and everything is starting to fall into place. An element of intuition, albeit limited has began to replace some of the guide searches and every success brings variable levels of satisfaction.
Satisfaction that is missing from many other games I've played where there's very little thought required to complete tasks and progress.
For me, the requirement to explore / invest time to research the many steps to achieve something as basic as a copper axe head is what makes this game so addictive and rewarding.
Dumbing down / hand holding could very well destroy much that makes it so enjoyable for a fair amount of people that pick it up.