Whew that was a lot...but so much good info in there. Really, thank you! For my first playthrough I decided to go with tough + saber and I'm slowly making progress now. I did hear magic would be great on a NG+ playthrough so I'm def gonna try that. And yes...the lamp is super helpful still! I do sometimes have a little trouble with money/food though so your tips will come in really useful I'm sure.
later on like when you have around 36-44 combat you can also use the halberd which will do more damage to most things faster than the saber since its a more positively scaling weapon and enemies with less armour will just fold when hit with a sweet spot hit(end of the halberds range) or with the halberd or a heavy attack