8 incher board works well at the beginning...you'll see if it's too big or small or just perfect. Wheels and how hard they will be depends on what you wanna do. If you wanna skate ramps and pools i would tell you to pick soft wheels but otherwise i would pick harder ones.
Everyone has their own opinions about "what is best complete". It's all about what you wanna do with your board.

All i'm gonna say is that i recommend you to put money to your complete. You're just gonna lose your interest if the complete is bad.

Edit: Noticed that parts list...I don't really like thunder trucks. They didn't work for me. But then again...if they didn't work for me, they may work for someone else...