D:OS Main Characters: Did I Choose Poorly?

I picked up the Enhanced Edition of this game a few weeks back and I am really enjoying it (though I find that the camera angle could be considerably better).

My first two characters are a Ranger and Scarlet as a mage in the schools of Water and Air. Her schools of magic are powerful and have contributed a lot. The thing is I just found out that a joinable NPC has the same schools in magic.

In addition, I am also seeing that fire/earth would really come in handy but at this point I have too many hours into the game to start all over again.

Any advice? Did I choose poorly?

You didn't choose poorly. There are more NPC and more henchmen you can recruits as you advance in the game, you don't have to use that specific guy for all of it if you fell like the duplication is useless.

I personally didn't think duplicate school of magic was useless in pre-EE version, I had 3 elementals mages in my party, lol.

Thanks much for the quick reply. It is much appreciated. Now I just need to concentrate on wise character building. Btw, this game has a good deal of detail that I don't find in many RPGs. Though there are hints and clues along the way it certainly doesn't hold you hand.

Yeah, Div:OS is a great, great RPG that doesn't necessarily hold your hand in every way. I liked the crafting system that rewarded experimentation. My dad and I finished it at the 140 hour mark and were still wanting more.

I also had my main play a water/air mage. It worked out fine because I also wanted a dedicated crafter, so I just used Jahan to level those skills instead of his magic, leaving him parked at the end of time and only adding him to the party when I wanted to use my crafting stuff. Poor old permanently-overencumbered Jahan, but he is kind of a jerk anyway.

Having all four elements at your disposal is nice, but I had no problem having my main take earth as a third backup skill and my second character as a spellsword with a minor in fire.

Well it has been working out very well so far. Since AOE spells plus ranged attacks work so well I find Madora is all I need for those up close and personal encounters.

I had my two main characters be mages and mastered all 5 schools of magic. While there is definately some advantage to it its by no means necessary. Rogue skills duplicate many of the useful support spells. I can only remember one fight where having earth was a super advantage. Fire is basically damage dealing, and if you have a ranger you can get fire arrows, to burn what needs to be burned in the game. Personally the one school I wouldn't go without is water and you've got that.

Play a non magic party isn't easy. But when I tried (with 4 characters created instead of companions) I could have target too much diversity this including the weakness of DOS system poor for mixes because of attributes constraints. So objectively I had 2 weaker characters based on mixes. And the goal was 4 Rogues was perhaps a bit too ambitious, so that plus not have respect fully the challenge by having Shadowblade made me give up my attempt.