About the 4 player party thing:
not only do you get to level up more quickly, but you have less likelyhood of someone getting jumpped and dying in a stupid way. (mages and thiefs get smacked around like that) It can be real agrivating having to grab all your party member's loot and going back to town to Raise Dead every few battles. Fighter/Mages, now there's a mage you can't push around! (give him a bow and make him a range attacker; or a long sword and stone skin to make an invincible meele man)
One might Argue that with fewer characters the bad guys will swarm you more. Umm, i suppose they will. but they'll be swarming your two or three front men while the spell caster is ignored. And there are tricks like enchanting or healing a fighter during battle.
Of course, with less characters it means less inventory slots. That's not a problem in the Luremaster portion cuz of that bag of holding. but everywhere else, you gotta use gem bags, potion boxes, scroll cases and lug everything else in an open slot. Luckily, there are some good places to stash items in the game. Whenever you see an empty chest (especially near the entrance to a dungeon!) you might want to consider dropping less valuable items there for later (or valuable ones you know you'll be back for?).
umm, yeah.. sooo.. 4 player parties rock!
