I did get along quite well at the beginning.
I've been reloading countless times though. Whenever a fight began bad I hit F12 and replayed it until I got away with as little damage as possible. Sometimes I've been playing a single fight like 20 times. But that way I got along without needing a whole lot of restoratives. Which of course would be different in Pure Nightmare as I would only restore 5HP after each battle.
As for going to the right location at the right time - I guess I know that game by heart now, lol. I know very well what order for me would be best.
And I have to confess, I left all the Dreamlords be. And I kept all my Magical Hourglasses until the end and then just snuck past the last encounters to reach Terry.