Found a bug or an exploit? when you start a new game and wonder up through the cave and not do the quest to level up, after you get to the tree, you get the hunter but you also get the guard joining you, he will not show up on the UI but will show up in battle. though wondering back to the village and doing the level up quest and recruit him, he will join you anyways so the bug is fixed.
the other bug but also sort of an exploit is if you do the quest with the hunter and go to the ship with the guard, you will get the guard to talk to you but if you pick later you sometimes stay on the dock, if you go to the left it wont activate this again so talking to the ship owner will allow you to bring the guard with you meaning you can have three with you at the mainland, it makes it a little easier, still hard as hell though lol
Finally, you can also get stuck on the island if you port to it without an extra port stone, without the ship there and no port stone, you get soft locked there XD