The first time I just didn't Get It(TM) and kept dying to uuuuh I think some scaly raptor doggos. But the damn good music and the monster designs lured me again and I gave it a try and among other things, I learned that the first time I tried I had been wandering into the Hard Mode section of the game, into which you can head at T=0 without warning. I guess that's why I kept dying. Oh well.
That defo taught me to READ THE TEXT of the NPC dialogues and the item and quest descriptions and such. And the game is much better with that.