I have always preferred to find all recruits for a party in RPGs as quickly as possible so could someone give me a small guide or explanation with as few spoilers as possible (locations and names is okay, story revelations is not) as in what order and where to go to find them all. I read the manual so I know the names and what kind of class they're.

I'm currently in the Temple Plaza after doing some fetch quests in the Market, I've met Jekhar and I've been to the Urath Temple and talked to people there. I'm level 5 too.

I'm also curious as how the skill system work. Is specialization recommended or does it work to play a jack-of-all-trades? I never enjoy playing either to an extreme (equal or 1 skill) but I was thinking of specializing in magic, preferably support and curses-type kind of spells rather than dealing damage (I'll leave that to my party) if it's possible. I've put some points into swords so I could at least defeat some enemies in the beginning.

If you have Jekhar, you should already have Fleece. Then you only miss one more person. You will meet her in Iona, which is your next main quest location anyway, if i'm not mistaken. The fifth and final party slot is filled with Joseph's summons, so when you get to Iona your party will be complete.

As for skills, i found it ok to broaden out a bit, but not too much. Make up your mind what type of weapon you are going to use with a character early on and don't waste points raising both sword and blunt, for example.

I've only met Jekhar, not actually recruited him and I haven't been to Old City yet so I haven't even met Fleece. Will Jekhar join me when I've finished a main quest or what? I'll go to the Old City once I've spoken to all interesting people in Plaza Temple (I'm trying to find Yago) so I suppose I'll meet Fleece there.

Where do I find my first summoning ring? To avoid spoilers you could say location only and not the event or by whom if someone gives it to me.

Thanks for the help, I'll do that!

For skills recommendations, for Fleece put points into the sweep move which knockdowns your opponents. Max out backstab ASAP. During a fight, control Fleece and knockdown the enemy with the leg sweep,. Then run behind the enemy while its on the ground and use backstab. It deals crazy damage, the highest in the game for a single move I believe. Maxed out I did about 1.5k damage with backstab if i remember correctly. She was my primary damage dealer.

For Joseph, he sucks to be honest. Hes kind of a jack of all trades with the skills available to him. He can fight but not very well because he lacks Jekhar's critical strike. When I got Jekhar he became my Tank/Warrior. I also put sword points in Joseph early in the game since you have to fight out of some situations. As a magic user, i don't remember him to be particularly great. I used him as a support caster by the end of the game. I never bothered with summoning creatures, althoguh I believe that was his primary purpose in the game, since I read that they were weak and needed to be managed constantly.

Up until now (Tower of Eleh), Joseph was my primary healer, as Rosalind on her Caster/Healer setting is too trigger happy to be a good healer. Additionaly i had always summoned a creature in combat. First the Blackrock guy, then the Wraith and later the Red Minotaur, as they became available. They may not always be great damage dealers, but just having another party member to split up the enemies makes things much easier.