by Curulan » January 9th, 2008, 1:36 pm
You generally don't need more than four or five Fighter guilds, to be honest. After that point, the benefit to them starts to level off very quickly, as you want to become powerful enough to kill monsters on the first hit and Berserk is only usable after the first round The benefit of +1 Attack and +1 weapon level per rank will quickly be overrun by weapon stats and character level.
Ideally, you will have most of skills in Trader, Ieatsu, and maybe a handful of Sage. The importance of Sage is debatable, as it essentially wastes a turn and improving your stats (or even running) will eventually be more effective in negating the effect of monsters' special skills. Trader is the most useful of the guilds for higher levels, as each rank gives you +1 Defense and and Backstab is a first-round skill. Ieatsu is also a first-round skill with the same power as a Berserk.
I personally recommend a few Mage guilds, up to a maximum of 10. Mesmerize can be useful when training wits, and Mage guilds you use gems as items. However, any more than that are a waste as you likely will not use more than 10 Mesmerizes per day, especially if you're trying to get Fame. Furthermore, the only stat bonus given from Mage guilds is +1 Skill, and that is vastly overshadowed by your weapons.