Big write up there. Much appreciated. The starting weapons are extremely easy to find. From the start of the game you can have a weapon within half a minute. Did you enter the stronghold itself? There is a big wooden Gate. It's much better to use a gamepad but if you can get used to the controls (I can't) then that's good. You will have to try Kings Field itself or the other fan games. They are hard to find but they are all free. There is about 10 fan games I think! I recently finished Mystic Prelude a short puzzle type game. There is a sword of moonlight discord dedicated to Kings Field. The games should all be there. Oakenshade plays slightly differently. Instead of recycling Kings Field methods I tried to go a bit outside the box and redesign the thought process and strategies behind the combat. If you are intrigued keep looking around there are 9 maps and the world is fairly well interconnected.