Any way to level up faster?

[LaCriaturaDelMar]

So, I didn't know getting to lvl 17 of the dungeon would activate the brigands attack and I'm ocmpletely underleveled for it. I've checked some videos and other player seem to be at level 30+ however I'm barely at 15 as enemies give very little experience compared to how hard they are to kill.
Am I missing some faster way to level up or is it just a matter of farming for hours?

[GrinningStudios]

You can run the dungeon many times to gain more XP just don't pass the next level of the dugeon. I recommend doing 0 - 4 a few times while doing town quests, until you just can't find any more town quests to do. Then do 5-7 a few times and quests in town, then pass 8 for more quests... etc. You don't always have to get another dungeon level. You can go back many times and stop at the same or lower level if you have a crystal.

You probably already know this, and forgive my repeating it if so, but it is the way the game was designed. You shouldn't be progressing so much in the dungeon without doing more quests in the town. Unless you are running it many times without advancing and still not getting any levels? That would be a bug. The grind of the dungeon is to get gears, xp, JP, and gold for the quests in the town. The dungeon level is the qualifier for higher ranking quests.

Pretty much every RPG had a grind. (unless you cheat or exploit.)

[AlterEgo45]

I did exactly the same thing. I saw that the level of respect you got and unlocks depended on how deep you dove. And so I did runs where I'd just run away from anything tough and looked for the nearest stairs. When the bandits showed up, the main bandit group wiped out my entire team before I even got an attack off.

The problem with the brigands is that there are scripted events for them all over town and they're hard to avoid. It also shuts down some town activities. And you're in the same boat I was, where you're so far away from being the right level that it would take a long time to grind it up. Meantime your town experience will suck.

If you want my advice just go up against the brigands, get your teeth kicked in, watch the humiliating cutscenes, and continue the game. It'll be alright.

And no, other than going at your maximum safe depth and taking on all comers there is no quick way to level.

[LaCriaturaDelMar]

Thanks for the comments, I finally decided to farm until I was strong enough to take them on (and bringing Fiona so that she disables one of them before the fight).
I understand that grinding is a part of every RPG, it's just that it feels completely unbalanced. If I'm strong enough to fight enemies at lvl 17 of the dungeon, I shouldn't have had this much of a problem with the event that appears at that point. The game seems to be designed with the dungeon at its core, but actually advancing through it is very detrimental, you need to spend entire weeks going through quests in town before trying to advance in what should be the main point of the game.

[Rizyx]

the mobs on the floors themselves are canon fodder for you to grind, the boss and scripted fights are where the game puts you to the test, at level 30 i could go all the way to floor 24 no sweat but id have a pretty hard time defeating the scripted fights without some well thought out strategy and team composition.

generally speaking your level should be the floor youre in plus 50% so in your case at floor 17, level 25 should be pretty safe, can probably make do with 20ish with a good comp, i myself was level 33 at floor 16 but i play very safe and do everything i can before moving on so i was having a pretty easy time.

if youre not sure, check if you can safely go from floor 1 to the floor of your choice in one go without dying, if you can them youre more than ready for whatever event will come next