I have a ranger as my main character. Red prince as Knight, Fane as summoner and the outlaw guy as a crossbow guy. Just defeated the bishop and left the first island traveling on a ship.
Prince wears a gear that has 1 summon, so I stole a summon spell for him as well.
I don't know about act 2 but so far, I don't find it too hard to play except for few big boss battles could be a bit challenging. After I positioned my teams strategically well, ie range characters and summoner at high grounds, before I initial the fight with an attack, i managed to kill most battles without much problems, especially after i got some good gears for the team, i don't die again.
so far it's quite enjoyable except for few quest bugs that I cannot close even when they are completed.
I read about the nerfed mage before i started the game and I avoided it, though.