Grinding

[Meuh]

At the moment I can only pick 4 characters over 8 (will that change later?) and hence I need to catch up on level with those left over otherwise they get smashed on combat. Hence I often find myself doing a lot of grinding. Is there a way to avoid that?

[Sakhari]

If you're going to grind at all, don't bother with it until you're closer to the endgame. Between accessories and advanced-job passive abilities, you'll have access to a 100% bonus to experience and JP earnings and the ability to finish fights in the most dangerous area in one action on the first turn. Unless you're enjoying it, committing yourself to grinding earlier than that is just an unnecessary waste of time.

Instead, focus on exploring the map and getting subjobs and better equipment. I can give you a few specific examples of things to look for if you like but ultimately, just grabbing treasure chests and purchasing/stealing what NPC's have on them in the mid/late-game towns (which you can pretty easily get to as soon as you have a Scholar with 130 JP to unlock the first passive) will get you through the majority of the 8 storylines without too much trouble.

As for keeping characters up to speed, I just cycle one or two out after each storyline so they can gain levels while the veterans wipe the floor with the content of the next story. Once you have all of the top-tier equipment and exp/jp boosts, getting your stragglers up to a respectable 60+ isn't very difficult or time-consuming.

[Furry Wrecking Crew]

Originally posted by Meuh:

At the moment I can only pick 4 characters over 8 (will that change later?) and hence I need to catch up on level with those left over otherwise they get smashed on combat. Hence I often find myself doing a lot of grinding. Is there a way to avoid that?

I don't know what you're doing, but grinding is completely unnecessary. I struggled with being OVER-LEVELLED because I did some optional caves. You probably have to utilize strategy more in battles, there are a lot of skills and ways to attack weaknesses.

[Sveroboi]

Grinding can be a thing near the end IMO. Chapters 1-3 you don't need to grind, even if you have your characters at the same level.

One thing that is a bit different to many other RPGs is that leveling stats matters less IMO than jobs and good equipment.

I relied on 3 main characters (Olberich, Primrose, Ophilia) that I leveled very high and switched the others. Unfortunately, I do have to grind a bit near the end, since currently my best charachter is at 72 and my worst at 39 (I have done the chapters but not everything else yet).

Job management is a key thing and you should get the job shrines early on if you enter an area. Then is the question if you max out the primary job first or do switch a bit. The latter thing can be good, but some of the final job skills are good and needed very often (I think Olberichs, Primoses and Ophilias final job skills are best).

I didn't do much sidequests at first but in hindsight it would have been better to fully explore the areas and also switch the 8 characters, meaning to make a swipe with Therions "steal" ability in a new city and buying special equipment with Tressas ability. This gives you plenty of items which are kind of expensive in the first battles.

[Furry Wrecking Crew]

OK, so I may have to grind when I get to Chapter 4? No big deal. I keep all my chars about the same, usually make my party with the lowest level chars at the time. I'm obsessive about getting those checkmarks, so I always Steal and Inquire, and make notes when I need to come back. I just wish they would checkmark off if you won a Challenge/Provoke.

[Cyiel]

You have a good amount of optional dungeons to level up your sublevel characters if necessary.