More people means stronger enemies, stronger enemies means better loot, so yes... Having a full party of four will give you the best chance at good loot.

Go to character selection on the main menu and make sure it's gone.
My game crashed just earlier and I thought my chacter was gone, but he was still there. 

His mask is weird as hell, maybe like a fly or something? Basically you talk to him and he wants you to knock her out and bring her body to the cellar so he can run away with her.

It's honestly a lot more fun than killing her.

Ever play Assassin's Creed? It's exactly like that menu.
You just highlight your choice and press which direction you want to set the shortcut to. 

I was wondering the same thing. As for me, I'd say the problem is the loading screens; they're so long. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it much yet (midterms :[), but so far that's the only complaint I have.

snap-dragon

My loading screens take a matter of seconds.

No seriously, the game's difficulty seems to be set on your experience with the game.
I have mine on normal and I die constantly.
It really is a unique game, making it's easiest setting for the beginner for the game, not necessarily somebody who is a beginner at gaming or just plain sucks at them.

Don't blame Bethesda for Sony's shoddy console. 

From lore to the majority opinion and abilities the best battlemage is a Breton.
The 25% resistance to magic is a wonderful boost and makes them the only race able to be boosted to almost full immunity to magic attacks.
From a gameplay perspective, however, you can use any race.
ES games do not penalize you for choosing any specific race, which in my opinion is a bad thing because I wish my character served more of an impact over anyother. 

Actually it's better if you play the game that way...
Most of the questlines are so short that spacing them out between other quest (s/lines)  makes your gameplay experience much better.