A few item spoilers and some info requested.

[Gilgamel]

Hiya folks. Still playing through the game for the first time. As of now I've done all the Umpani quests up to stopping the reinforcements, and all the T'rang quests up to the finding the DS's ship. Currently my save game is right outside the Bayjin shallows. I've been reloading for 3-4 hours killing the buc ghosts trying to get a light sword. No such luck. So I have a question. Should I reload to before I enter the shallows, portal to Mt. Gigas, and take the water caves through Mt. Gigas to the Shallows? That way I can do the suicide run to check nessies chest for excalibur(where exactly is the chest and Nessie anyway, I've only been from Bayjin to the buc ship so far?) over and over and people have said it is a better sword. The only problem with that is my fighter does practically zero damage. We're talking 60 a round max. My lord does less than that. My Samurai does up to 200 a round with bloodlust, more if he gets a 6x or 8x. So I really need to get my Lord and Fighter new Weapons. So here are my questions:
#1 Is excalibur worth ditching my warrior's Light Shield to use? If not should I just give it to my lord and wait until I get another sword for my fighter?
#2 What's a good weapon for my samurai and where can I get it? If I got him a good 1h I could give the bloodlust to my warrior or lord.
#3 I killed the don at level 12-13 and got the astral dominae. I went to the mook after I got that quest and when I made the switch instead of putting the fake one on to replace it I put the astral dominae. I later went back and got it back(replaced it with the fake) but will this have any effect on my game now?
#4 Why are Geomancers the only monsters that can kill me? I swear they have my number. Lately I've been summoning a Major Elemental and running like a little girl. Seems like even through soul shield/elemental shield they hit with most of their spells.
#5 My current party set up is this:
Level 17 Fighter
Level 17 Mage
Level 16 Bishop
Level 17 Bard
Level 16 Lord
Level 16 Samurai
I have RFS-81 as my 7th. I was wondering what other RPC I should use.

Thanks for your help. I'm trying to finish the game as perfectly as possible the first time through. After I do that I'm going to make a fun party(Faerie Ninja for CoC, Mook Warrior, all that fun stuff) to make use of all the neat items I've found so far I can't use. All your help is appreciated.

Gilgamel

[armakh]

#1-I absolutely love Excalibur. Some people really don't. I have found that I do a lot more damage with Excalibur than any other combination (I gave up trying to get a lightsword), even though I have some standards like the ivory blade and diamond eyes and stuff. As far as the light shield, I don't even know the stats on it, but I know that even though I've never used a shield, I am in absolutely no fear of my fighter dying because of HP. With a bard, you can use the dulcimer of mending if it ever gets close. If you're frustrated with your fighter's damage output, then I would say by all means, use Excalibur, but don't get rid of the combination that you have. Try it for a while and see if you like it.

#2-Fang is a great samurai weapon-I like it a lot better than bloodlust. It seems to do about the same damage, givesy ou +10 strength, and has a 10% kill on it. Plus, you don't have to berserk with it, so you hit a lot more. It can be found in the temple with the sorceress queen and stuff in the SE wilderness.

#3-As long as you have all three by the time you get to ascension peak, you're ok.

#4-That's a stumper...do you have magic screen on? Try insanity, too...that worked well for me.

#5-As far as RPC's go, RFS is pretty good. I personally don't like any of the others. They take away xp for your regular chars, and I don't feel like they really pull their weight. Some people like Vi, and I've heard some people going with Madras from Trynton for his gadgie abilities. Personally, I'm going through my next game with no RPC's. All completely up to you.

[GodSlayer]

Hello

as Armakh says - Fang is a good 1-h weapon, and you should be able to survive the SE wilderness temple at your level, so go get it. There are also some really nice weapons in the mountain retro dungeon.

About your fighter doing damage - I would either shift to a 2-h weapons OR go dual wield (with diamond epee) + are you using his berserk attack mode. You might not hit so often, but if you have good weapoms skills, he does a lot more damage (that why your samurai is doing a lot of damage, because of bloodlust's innate berserk mode)

About the geomancers. Maybe you should think about getting some resistance for your chars. ring of pro magic from crock or even better cloak of many colors from bela. And have all non-combat spells running all the time (especially magic screen).

I don't remember what spells geomancers cast, but if it involves xxxxx clouds, then cast purify air with a slow character (one who is AFTER the opponents attack) this way you can completely avoid draining cloud, firestorm, and more dangerously death cloud. - this is a must in the battle against the SE wilderness temple, and the mountain house where diamond epee is, because of the death knights.

GodSlayer