Also, you talk a lot about racial artifacts. I somehow managed without them: more useful items were eventually found anyway. Moreover, those artifacts are given, if I'm not mistaken, for winning the same-day Acromage championship. I completed that quest quite late and had no particular need for the artifacts.
A completely different matter is the side you will ultimately fight for. It seems to me that playing for Light is easier. The quests for obtaining the characters' third rank are simpler there.
I prefer playing with balanced parties — two fighter heroes, two caster heroes. I ignore many secondary skills, such as Merchant or perception (I don't know how best to translate it into Russian).