Should I be dual-wielding in this situation? (DS)

Luckily for me, I found 2 Ice Staffs, and 2 Fire Staffs, as I always run around in zoomed mode. However, because of this, my White Mage and Black Mage seem to be the ones dealing all the damage, using their weapons to cast free spells, and the Warrior and Red Mage seem to be there just to avoid getting killed. My equipment for the Warrior and Red Mage are as follows:

Warrior:
Salamand Sword
Ice Shield
Ice Helm
Flame Mail (I bet you thought I'd have the ICE Mail!)
Mythril Gloves

Red Mage:

Tyrfing
Ice Shield
Ice Helm
Flame Mail
Mythril Bracers

With the warrior, I can replace the Ice Shield with a Spark Dagger, which will raise his attack power to 53 (from 30), but lower the defense to 34 (from 40)

With the red mage, I can replace the Ice Shield with the Wight Slayer, which will raise his attack to 43 (from 28), but lower his defense to 33 (from 39)

I am also able to retrieve more Tyrfings very easily, since I'm on the Dwarf's Island, and can buy them with my massive amounts of money.

So... should I drop a small amount of defense for the offense, or just keep the defense?

Dual Wielding for the win. Shields can be useful for certain things, like with Viking with 2 shields in the backrow using Provoke, but for your fighters that need to dish out great damage, Dual Wield. Weapon + SHield can be good if you want more challenge in the game.

A short answer to your question:

Go with two weapons and screw shields. Only use shields for specific fights that require them, like if you're fighting an enemy who likes to poison you, maybe use a shield that prevents poison. Other than that, it's all about the two weapons. I'm not sure if Warriors can use the Tyrfing, but if so, give your Warrior that sword rather than the Spark Dagger. I believe you can pick up a Salamander Sword at the Weapon Shop in the Village of the Ancients, which is found west of Tokkul, across that huge desert.

Now, a recommendation seperate from your question.

Get a different weapon for your warrior besides a dagger. Get him another sword if you can (Salamander Sword from Ancient Village) But then, turn your Red Mage into a Thief and get him up a few skill levels before proceeding. Give your Thief the Spark Dagger and another dagger. If you find a second Spark Dagger, that would do quite well. You should have found two Spark Daggers by now, one in the Tower of Owen and one in the Viking's Cave.

The reason I say this is because the Thief is really awesome and useful for prettymuch the whole game. He can use "Flee" which helps to run from battles if you're in trouble. He can "Steal", which is self-explanatory. Usually stealing yields run-of-the-mill potions and such, but there are a few treasures waiting to be stolen in the game, and only a high skill level Thief will be able to get them. Give the Thief two weapons and he'll quickly become able to hold his own against sword fighters. Plus, the Thief seems to gain skill levels much faster than other classes. And because of his high agility, you can almost always count on the Thief going first in each round, which is great for healing and general strategizing. Also, in the game you'll occasionally come across a locked door and you have to use a Key to unlock it. If you have a Thief as the front guy in your party, you don't need keys because the Thief can pick the lock.

Currently, I have all the job classes available, but I still have a Thief because he is so strong and so useful. He does about twice as much damage per turn than my regular sword guy. Plus, I can stock up on attack items like Arctic Wind, Bomb Arm and so forth because there are many enemies from which you steal those things. You can also come across Phoenix Downs, Elixirs and many other items that come in very handy, but only if your Thief is of a higher skill level. There is a boss who has a really, really good weapon. If you have an unskilled Thief steal from him, you'll get an Elixir. If you have a skilled Thief do it, you'll get a ridiculously powerful weapon.

Red Mages quickly become impractical as you get other classes. They can cast magic, but it tends to be weaker than if done by a White or Black Mage, and they also have less MP. Their physical attack is pretty good, but I'm convinced that a fully decked out Thief could do better. The Red Mage is almost like a Freelancer class of its own, due to its diversity of discipline. The only problem is that when you have a character who can do a little of everything, they tend to not be exceptional at anything.

Thank you for the advice! I already got my Warrior a new sword, and I've been keeping the Dagger. I changed my Red Mage into a Knight, but I think I'll go ahead and turn him into a thief now. :D

what how do you cats free spells with those im confused i have those to but i cant cast free spells

Go to items, then go to the top of the item list and press up. It will show you your weapons. Choose the one you want to use to cast a spell, and it will cast the spell for you.

Edit: I have one more question... Should I switch my Warrior to a Knight?

Items need not be equipped to cast spells, in fact I prefer not to equip them.

My current flawless strategy is a knight, thief, white mage, and black mage. The thief, white mage, and black mage are all low health, which means the knight will cover them. My knight has two hero shield equipped and defends every round. Critical hits do 1 damage to him. Every character is in the back row. Thief has two boomerangs and the white and black mage use fire/ice/light rod every round. This will not work against magic casting enemies, but for now where there has only been physical attacks, it works wonders... my party is virtually invincible.

Knights are more defense oriented, warriors more offensive. Personally I prefer knight because later he can equip ragnarok/excalibur, two of the strongest weapons, and starting to level up the class earlier, is better. Plus my strategy as posted.

THE JACKEL

I have yet to encounter a situation ingame where dual wielding is NOT appropriate. My mages dual wield staves!