Wow, thanks for all the offers of help. Will be trying the suggestions today in addition to starting a new game...because my characters are about to run out of food and "maybe" that is slowing them down.
Not really positive about this, but it seems to me that some games have built in parameters that if there are a certain number of failures in completing a task in the game that additional time is added to allow the player to experience success. Am I wrong about that?
I have played some Steam games where I was stuck in a spot and my kids (in their 20's and 30's) happened to be visiting and they were unable to complete the task also so I think developers sometimes go overboard with only teenage beta testers and make these games too difficult for the average person; along with the fact that many games today are ported from game consoles and are also impossible to control with keyboard and mouse.
It only takes a few $50 games which a person is unable to complete to make them turn to other activities - the gaming industry is shooting itself in the foot.
Us oldsters are now the people with the money and leisure time now too.
The ability to choose a difficulty level should satisfy those teenage gaming whizzes, but the "easy" level should really be EASY.
Portal and Portal 2 are examples of games with extensive beta testing with all levels of players. I have been able to play through both of those 4 or 5 times each.