I finished EO1 around half a year ago and after a break I decided to pick up EO2. I think I played EO1 on Normal and started EO2 on Expert at some recommendations. Am I retarded or is this game more difficult by a fair shot? I'm level 7 right now so I'm still figuring out what might be good. Skill trees feel very expansive which can be a bit overwhelming.
My party right now consists of:
>Ronin/Dark Hunter frontline
>War Magus/Hexer/Gunner backline
>Ronin? Great damage. Went with the overhead tree for the fire slash.
>Dark Hunter? Borderline useless. I got the three bind skills + the poison one but DH feels very weird to use and I don't know what I'm doing.
>War Magus I invested some points into Cure and just grabbed the defensive buff.
>Hexer, str/speed down at 1, def down at 2. Also grabbed blind.
>Gunner, Fire/Ice/Volt/Riskshot.

In EO1 I was able to just get a Survivalist for most of my gathering needs but with how early into the game I am and how hard some enemies hit (three of these cunts almost wiped me) I feel like I'm strapped for skill points.
Are there any particular skills I should be paying attention to? I don't really want to full-on guidefag but would appreciate being told what to kind of avoid. War Magus War Edge tree seems kind of niche and redundant with a DH in the party, for example.