I've now progressed to the point where you try to save Simeon. Again, I lost in the first playthrough because guests characters don't play defensively, they wander into a fight and get picked off.

Which is fine for say the battle with Charlemane, since it makes no difference if he gets picked off in the battle. I was able to win handily by simply moving to a corner of the grid and slaying foes as they wandered toward my party.

Just recruited Noah, Champo, Nakul, Mitsuba and Reinhold. So I'm off gain skill points in Obel Ruins. There's one random encounter in level 1 where three skeletons respawn continuously so I can easily get tons of skill points.