Can I create new party members partway through the game? (Possible spoilers)

Hi!

First of all, I want to say that this FF site is the finest I've ever seen -- I'm in awe of the amount of detail you have on every game!

Please accept my apologies if this has been answered before...

I was wondering if it's possible to delete some of my current party members and create new, level 1 characters. I recently defeated Astos the Dark Elf, and I'm working on the Earth Cave.

I decided to take the recommended party:

Fighter
Thief
Black Belt
Red Mage

I (rather stupidly) thought that the Red Mage could learn all the black spells and all the white spells. Unfortunately, it seems that the Red Mage is unable to learn all of the spells from either school.

As someone who always plays a mage in RPGs (Baldur's Gate, etc.), I love learning every spell. More than that, I'm worried that the game may just be too challenging without every spell.

Rather than start all over again, I would much rather edit my current party. Is this possible? I'd rather just create 4 new level 1 characters and level up in the early areas -- without having to do all the quests again.

Thanks in advance for any assistance! I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
Tasaio of the Minwanabi

You can't create a new party, but the game won't be too challenging without every spell.

You can complete the game with any combination of classes, and Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, and Red Mage isn't a bad team by any means. You shouldn't have any problems.

This is actually a game where spells aren't that much more effective than physical attacks. You'll see what I mean once your Black Belt upgrades and becomes super powerful.

The most useful thing about magic spells is that, beyond the "Level 2" spells, all spells target all enemies. Even the most powerful BB with Haste will still take five rounds to defeat five Goblins. In theory a BM could do it in one.