I´ve completed this game 3 times, each time with different characters, skills and in totally different time(I mean game time).I´ve come to some conclusions:
You have not to raise the skills of yor characters up to heaven, nor do you have to be best-equipped.Common sense and using some tactics posted above is enough.Now I´m trying to complete the game as fast as possible, making it You-have-one-week-to-dispose-of-the-Dark-Savant-or-all-is-lost.I think it´s funny to have all my characters above 10th lvl on day 5. It seems to me that you can become gods in less-than-two-weeks. Have anyone ever tried this? If so, with what results?

I dodn't try to play fast, but i rarely rest for stores to restock. My usual time is 21 to 27 days needed. So i doesn't sound difficult to make it in 14 days.

I think you need a bard, to speed up early resting. Usually 5 days or more are gone when i reach Arnika. That can probably nearly cut in half with a bard. Next, you need a few characters (at least 3) with the portal spell.

And last, don't play expert ironman, since you have to play quite careful this way. I want to be level 2 before fighting the noxious slimes or the king crab in e/i, and level 4 before fighting gregor, so i usually have to rest to let the monsters respawn.

You´re right, I chose the bard, too... The faerie´s fast mana recovery also helps, when you don´t wanna sleep. I think saving and reloading at shops is also helpful, ´cause there are so few mana potions or stones on the way...
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Day 7, already acquired Astral Dominae, Chaos Moliri [img]smile.gif[/img]
on the way to Bayjin......

Over at the VN Boards, a race competition was held a few months ago. Here are the relevant threads:

http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?...94&replies=164

http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?...446&replies=16

I believe the winner completed the game in less than 6 days.

You´re right, I chose the bard, too... The faerie´s fast mana recovery also helps, when you don´t wanna sleep. I think saving and reloading at shops is also helpful, ´cause there are so few mana potions or stones on the way...
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Day 7, already acquired Astral Dominae, Chaos Moliri [img]smile.gif[/img]
on the way to Bayjin......