If you are leaving Dagger Wound Island without an expert in either fire or air, then you are leaving too soon.
I usually have a Dark Elf as my chosen character in the game. I use him alone for a while to get his experience points up. Then, add the Cleric and together try to finish off the invading pirates. They do eventually stop respawning. By that time, you can probably go to the trainer and get enough skill points to advance to expert in Air or Flame. I go for Air as it gives you good "Sparks" and Wizard Eye for the first part of the game. On the way out, pick up Simon.

Thanks for the replies and help, guys!

- I have bows on 4 of my 5 dudes
- I do switch to turn based every time I get a bunch of baddies in my face
- I don't have an Expert in anything, not one char, not one skill yet. I will go back and flag what trainers I can.
- I have added map markers for all the future recruitables in Alvar.
- Main char is Dark Elf, wasted a starting skill point on Leather, read that they can GM in chain and got that later on.
- Rest of the party is the Necro you get in the starting tavern, the starting cleric, the knight from the snake dungeon and the minotaur in town

?? I got a single skill point in all elemental schools for the dark elf main. Should I pick just one? Two to level up?
?? Should I use expert wizard eye or the Traveller's Boon combo from the dark elf racial skills?

Thanks again!

Travel Boon is a gimmick as far as I am concerned for Dark Elves
Their early skill "Glamour" can save you money but money isn't scarce in the game.
Later skills of Blind and Dark Fire can be really good.
But Food isn't scarce in the game. And I always trusted Wizard Eye more if cast separately.
Don't spend too many points on the Fifth Slot. You have to pick up others during the game and so one is often sent back to the bull pen. Four Party Members Plus may be a better way to think about it.

-Get that 5th bow ASAP. Buy one, even a cheap one, in a store if you haven't found an extra yet. The extra firepower is worth the expense.

-Switch to turn based mode as soon as melee enemies "activate" (start moving toward you). You'll get more shots off that way.

-I believe all trainers are automatically marked on the map once you ask them about training. Take a look at the map of the area to confirm.

-Note that when you buy a skill, you are spending gold, not skill points. Feel free to buy all the skills a character is able to learn (that's what I do), especially once gold is no longer an issue. You only spend skill points in the "Skills" tab of the character screen.

-On the skill screen, you can right click (and hold) on a skill to see a description, what the skill gains from extra levels of mastery, and how much mastery of that skill a character can get. If the mastery level is in white text, then the character can achieve that mastery level. Yellow text means the character needs to be promoted first, while red text means that character will never attain that level of mastery.

-I'd cast Wizard Eye separate, unless you don't have Expert Air but you do have Expert Dark Elf. Torch Light will probably also be more effective if cast separately. Feather Fall doesn't gain anything from skill points and mastery levels except an extended duration. You should be fine casting both (all) spells at the same time; I think the game keeps the better version of the buff active.

-It is up to you how you level your skills.

Spend some time now to think about what you want your final party to look like (which classes do you want to bring along with your Dark Elf?), and plot out who is going to get which levels of mastery in which skills. I strongly recommend taking a Cleric and a Necromancer; some of their Grand Master magics can't be replicated by anything else. Every other class brings certain benefits, but none of them are as critical in making your life as a player easier.

Eventually, I push the Dark Elf to their top level of mastery in all available magics, though I wouldn't spend more skill points on the Elemental magics than the minimum needed to reach those levels of mastery (skill rank 7 for Master elemental, iirc). You might choose to spend those skill points elsewhere, letting your necromancer take care of all elemental casting, and this is fine too. The Dark Elf skill is a good sink for skill points once you've finished raising every other skill to whatever level you care to raise them; Darkfire is a good damage spell for end game.

If you are going to raise your Dark Elf's magic skills, then early on I'd suggest splitting the workload with the Necromancer while both characters are weak and have few skill points to spend. Have the Dark Elf focus on one or two magics (like Fire and Earth) while the Necromancer focuses on the other two (say Air and Water). As the characters start getting levels and have more skill points to spend, they can start overlapping more.

I'm pretty sure there are only two quests in the game which require you to take along a certain character. You can drop one of your preferred characters long enough to complete the quest, then dump the required character and rehire your former party member as soon as the quest is done.

I'd say go ahead and plan for a 5 man party, especially for your first trip through the game. You have more lee way if things go wrong, and you can see more of the character classes in action.

I didn't realize there was a minotaur to pick up in the starting town. I always get the Necro & Vampire (from the Inn), then Cleric & Knight as soon as I get to them.

Because those four are available right away, and a Dark Elf (Cauri) later on, while I like DE as my main character, I've started preferring the Troll, which is basically a tank. Dragon is not available to start, and Minotaur just does not have very much to offer beyond GM Perception (the DE gets Master) and Axe (who cares?).

The first Minotaur is in Ravenshore. You start in Dagger Wound, and the first boat ride takes you to Ravenshore. I've never tried a Minotaur, so I'm not sure how he works out in practice. ZFR would know.

Trolls are outstanding fighters, but that's all they do for the party. They are amazing fighters, though. My troll run involved "Paralysis for everyone!" for my enemies.

Ah, my mistake. I thought you were talking about Dagger Wound Is.

I've used a Minotaur. Good axe fighters, but that's about it ... basically, if one is going to have a Minotaur, one may as well go for the Troll.

That's a lot, though ... if you throw in Blazen (Knight) and/or Cauri (Dark Elf) later, you have an outstanding fighting group. I round out the party with a Necromancer and Cleric. Sometimes I like to have a Vampire around for Levitation at certain points, so I might not want both Blazen and Cauri all the time.

Sounds kind of like a Ranger from MM7. Great axe and....that's about it.

I'll probably still try one at some point, just to see how it works out.

I've never used a knight, beyond when I replaced Simon (the first knight) with a dragon. They bring plenty of combat ability, but the rest of the party is able to kill monsters just fine. They do get GM Repair Item, but Town Portal and Lloyd's Beacon take care of that without me spending a party slot on them.

Maybe one day I'll take a Knight and see how he works out.

I thought I would like VI the least because of the realistic character art and it being the first of the three. Its my favorite though, you have the most freedom when buidling your characters and the world is huge. Its greatest strength and biggest flaw is how big it is. So much care was given to the areas, the towns and the dungeons, it all felt very good.
Anyhow, now I love those cheesy digitized pictures on all the portraits lol.

if you have time for mm6 you probably have time for both 7 and 8 so i'd go with 7+8

I cycle through them. I'll play a game of VI, then VII, then VIII, then take a break and play CivIII for a while, then back to the cycle. I think I took a break after my last game of VI, so VII's up next when I get tired of CivIII.