At the start of the game, you will be asked to choose your class. It is *highly* recommended that you choose a spellcasting class, as spellcasters are *far* better than non-spellcasters.

(One mistake in the manual: Healers use only blunt weapons and can't use bows.)

To clear the first dungeon, you need to work your way to the east side of the map. Don't bother exploring, as there will be plenty of places to explore later.

If you find a magical item in the first dungeon, try using it. Such items have limited charges, but if you get lucky, it might be enough to make the dungeon a lot easier. (Shield and Force Wall are especially nice because they give you temporary hit points that don't expire (but don't stack, either).) Once you get out into the world, you can have the items identified and recharged (to recharge the item, have it repaired).

Before going through the portal, check the time and, if it's night time or close to it, rest until daytime. The game is not nice to players who are in an unfamiliar town at night. There are monsters, the game won't let you rest outside (a stupid rule), your town map is unmarked, and there are no people to ask where the taverns are.

Once in town during the daytime, figure out (or ask someone in town) where the tavern is so you can rest. Also, get locations for the shops and Wizard's Guild.

Note that the magical items sold in any town are always the same for that town.

Edit: Added note about recharging items.

What Spellcaster classes would say are best? I have never played this game as a spellcaster thought I have beaten it twice.Once with a Redguard Ranger and the Second most recent time with a Breton Knight (Quite a powerhorse).

In my opinion and from what I have heard others say the best classes in this game are

Combat Classes

Ranger:Decreased Travel Time,Bonus to Damage based on their level combine this with a Redguard's racial abilities and you've got a killing machine

Knight:Immunity to Paralysis,Automatically repairs Weapons and Armor

Barbarian:Immunity to Poison and Highest amount hit points

Warrior:Nothing really special but they do level up fast and don't have many weaknesses

Mage Classes

Battlemage:Nuff Said

Healer:I have heard good things about them

Sorcerer:They can absorb spells they get 3x their intelligence in magicka,They can use any weapon,they can equip chain mail armor but they have the lowest hit die,they level up the slowest and the magicka doesn't regenerate.

Spellsword:Low Mana Cap,Slow to progress and they require a large stat spread

I have heard next to nothing good or otherwise about the thief classes,but then again this isn't really a game built around stealth others would know more in that regards.

I have only played a few classes, so I'll comment on the ones I have.
(Note that modifiers to spell cost only apply to custom spells created in the Spellmaker.)

Battlemage: Half cost for Destruction, double cost for Restoration. (Note that Fortify is Restoration, though even a Battlemage can make cheap spells by making them decay 10 times as fast once they wear off. Shield is neither, so it works well as an alternative to healing.)

Healer: Half cost for Restoration, double cost for Destruction. Can only use blunt weapons, so don't choose a race that favors bows, as despite what the manual says, they can't use them. Maces and Flails, I believe, are nice weapons for this class. Don't forget that Fortify is Restoration, so feel free to boost your stats. (The manual included with the gog.com version of the game appears to have fixed the mistake.)

Sorcerer: My favorite class, personally, Chance of absorbing spells is affected by Willpower, so you will want it to be high. Intellect, of course, is good for getting more spell points. Potions of power will restore 25 spell points each, and are a good choice for sorcerers. (Buy them in the Wizard's Guild.) It is a good idea to play the main quest until you get access to the first dungeon in the northern region (which I think is Skyrim). Near the entrance of that dungeon there are wolves that keep casting cold spells at you. With Shield or Cold Protection, you can minimize/block the damage, and with high Willpower (or Absorb Magic effect), you can absorb most of them to recover your spell points. (Note that your natural absorption will fail when at full spell points.) Then cast a super Shield, absorb some more, and then go back to what you were doing.

Edit: Note about mistake fixed in the gog.com manual.

A few more tips:

1. For classes with low HP, Shield spells (I think they're listed under Create) are quite useful, as they act like healing spells, except that they aren't limited by max HP and they don't stack. The standard Shield and Force Wall spells are decent, especially if you find a Force Wall spell in the starter dungeon. (65 temporary HP is a lot when your barbarian doesn't even have 60.) Custom Shield spells are even better; once your level is high enough, you can shield 99 HP per level. (If you are over level 10, this means over 1,000 hit points.) The spells have no finite duration, so you can cast the spell in town (or, for a sorcerer, the dungeon with the frost wolves) and then travel all the way across the map.

2. Bows become really good at high speed IIRC.

3. Create a spell that does damage to an area at range and another that gives you 100% spell absorption. Cast the 100% spell absorption spell, and until it wears off, you will absorb all spells. Then cast the area at range spell at a nearby wall and you will get your spell points back while still damaging anything nearby. (This trick also works in Daggerfall, and if you're a Sorcerer (or chose Absorb Spells at custom class creation), it seems to work reliably without another source of spell absorption for some reason.)

4. In Arena, sufficienty weak spells can have a cost of zero. At level 6, you can create a spell to restore stamina for free, and at level 11, health. The spell is free even for sorcerers. Healers can cast these spells for free at even lower levels. A few other effects are useful in weak versions, such as Levitate.

5. There is no limit (that I have seen) on the number of potions of any given type you can carry. If you are a sorcerer, feel free to buy hundreds of Potions of Restore Power to restore your spell points if needed. Non-casters can buy potions to make up for their inability to cast spells.

Thank you for the advice. So far, I've sunk about 20 hours into this game and am in love with it! I've never had much fun playing as spellcasters, (the one exception being the first Dungeon Seige game) so I usually play as warrior classes. I picked a Barbarian for this game and have yet to cast a single spell, (currently on level 15 and have found two pieces of the Staff of Chaos). I am loving it and am lost in the massive world saving king's daughters, capturing villians, looking for lost artifacts, and generally helping people out for gold and experience. What do you all think? Is it too dated after playing Skyrim or are you digging it?

Too dated? There is a huge thread discussing this question ("... aged well ...") - perhaps you find reading the posts interesting.

I guess I'll ask here instead of creating a new thread...

I played Arena somewhat months ago, and now decided to continue. I have four simple FedEx quests in my journal, but for the life of me I don't recall if I finished them, and which ones. (Probably I finished at least most of them because in the latest save game I've already ventured forth from the town where I got them.)

Does the Arena journal mark the completed quests somehow, or do they just appear in your journal and stay there forever, regardless if you finished them or not? Do you have to keep your own log on some piece of paper on which quests you have already finished and which not?