Ancient Highway. How much longer do I have left ??

[Suiko is good]

I completed all chapters but Thomas. Geddoe is my true rune champ.

am I about 5 hours left into the game w/o recruiting? also can I beat the game with 1 party or will they eventually split?

[eldrasidar]

depends how long you want to spend on the getting things, but you should be able to go through chapters 4 and 5 within 8 hours or less, if time is your only concern. During Chapter 5, you split up into 3 different parties run by each of the main characters twice: once at the start of the chapter, and again right before the final boss fight. So you'll need to level up 18 characters.