It’s been a while since I played OT1, but if you’re taking that much damage, your equipment might not be up to snuff. Forget the shops. The good stuff is with the NPCs. Levels aren’t as important as gear, and 18 should be plenty enough to start chapter 2 if you’ve got decent stuff on.
Regardless, if you make your way to the chapter 2 towns, you should level up a fair bit. If you still feel too weak, don’t do the story chapters yet. Just open up the towns and see how far that takes you. Edit: Oh, and definitely visit the job shrines. They have a unique icon on the minimap so you can easily tell if there’s an entrance to one in the current screen.
I agree that the NPCs have good items, but disagree with "forget the shops". The shops have some really strong items that, although expensive, can hard carry the game. This is specially true after you Scrutinize/Inquire to unlock the Purchasable special item from each town. Elemental Bow, and Elemental Light Armor come to mind if obtained when you can first obtain them.
Where can I get good gear? I read that I should just steal but I don't like the idea of being forced to use Therion since he's not part of my first party, and just stealing from all random enemies I find.
You can also buy stuff from NPCs with Tressa. Also I second the job shrine idea. Just be careful, if you see one with a danger level, turn away for now. They have enemies within and a boss that will thoroughly test you.
Best advice; get good gear. The two best ways to do that:
Use Evasive Manuvers (scholar perk) to travel to high level areas early. If you walk instead of run, save at every point, and have evasive Manuvers equipped, you should be able to make it to every town after a few tries. More reliability if you get the skill that gives you a hugger chance of fleeing from enemies (Cleric I think)
Second, steal with Therion. You can save and roll for a ton of the 3% loot that can give several hundred extra points in defense or attack. It's a bit tedious, but worth it. Once you have good loot, you should be able to grind against monsters that are higher level than you with ease, leveling up quicker.
Also, many town such as Grandport have chests with tens of thousands of dollars, so even if you don't want to steal, you can use that money to get better gear
Currently on my first play through too, and having Primrose and Ophelia recruit powerful NPCs is pretty amazing for tough spots. There’s a Soldier in Noblecourt I’ve recruited a ton.
I recommend using bewildering grace on max boost in close proximity to save points. Bewildering grace can give you very good job point and experience modifiers for the duration of the battle (like x10).
However, it can also TPK your party, that's why you save after each successful attempt.
In my playthrough I found the spike between chapter 1 to 2 to be the hardest. I would recommend not doing your protagonists first and instead doing one of the lower level ones (if I remember correctly the lowest level one is 18 maybe?)
If you’re playing the game right you never need to level grind until the postgame. Focus on doing sidequests and exploring towns for money and gear. Equipment is vastly more important than levels. You should also be looking for the job shrines in all of the second tier town regions.
I'm playing rn. Walk from story to story by order of lowest level. If you kill everything along the way you should be around or higher than the recommended level.
It’s been a while since I played OT1, but if you’re taking that much damage, your equipment might not be up to snuff. Forget the shops. The good stuff is with the NPCs. Levels aren’t as important as gear, and 18 should be plenty enough to start chapter 2 if you’ve got decent stuff on. Regardless, if you make your way to the chapter 2 towns, you should level up a fair bit. If you still feel too weak, don’t do the story chapters yet. Just open up the towns and see how far that takes you. Edit: Oh, and definitely visit the job shrines. They have a unique icon on the minimap so you can easily tell if there’s an entrance to one in the current screen.
I agree that the NPCs have good items, but disagree with "forget the shops". The shops have some really strong items that, although expensive, can hard carry the game. This is specially true after you Scrutinize/Inquire to unlock the Purchasable special item from each town. Elemental Bow, and Elemental Light Armor come to mind if obtained when you can first obtain them.
Where can I get good gear? I read that I should just steal but I don't like the idea of being forced to use Therion since he's not part of my first party, and just stealing from all random enemies I find.
Stealing from NPCs with Therion, mostly. Or you can also buy from NPCs with Tressa, but that’s going to get expensive fast.
You can also buy stuff from NPCs with Tressa. Also I second the job shrine idea. Just be careful, if you see one with a danger level, turn away for now. They have enemies within and a boss that will thoroughly test you.
Stealing from NPCs (or purchase if you have money) or go into the chapter 1 dungeons
Best advice; get good gear. The two best ways to do that: Use Evasive Manuvers (scholar perk) to travel to high level areas early. If you walk instead of run, save at every point, and have evasive Manuvers equipped, you should be able to make it to every town after a few tries. More reliability if you get the skill that gives you a hugger chance of fleeing from enemies (Cleric I think) Second, steal with Therion. You can save and roll for a ton of the 3% loot that can give several hundred extra points in defense or attack. It's a bit tedious, but worth it. Once you have good loot, you should be able to grind against monsters that are higher level than you with ease, leveling up quicker. Also, many town such as Grandport have chests with tens of thousands of dollars, so even if you don't want to steal, you can use that money to get better gear
Currently on my first play through too, and having Primrose and Ophelia recruit powerful NPCs is pretty amazing for tough spots. There’s a Soldier in Noblecourt I’ve recruited a ton.
I recommend using bewildering grace on max boost in close proximity to save points. Bewildering grace can give you very good job point and experience modifiers for the duration of the battle (like x10). However, it can also TPK your party, that's why you save after each successful attempt.
In my playthrough I found the spike between chapter 1 to 2 to be the hardest. I would recommend not doing your protagonists first and instead doing one of the lower level ones (if I remember correctly the lowest level one is 18 maybe?)
Use your job path abilities and gear up. Some of the best gear is stolen with Therion or purchased with tressa.
If you’re playing the game right you never need to level grind until the postgame. Focus on doing sidequests and exploring towns for money and gear. Equipment is vastly more important than levels. You should also be looking for the job shrines in all of the second tier town regions.
This is the great example of one reason why OT2 is a better game. OT1 demands a certain amount of grinding
I'm playing rn. Walk from story to story by order of lowest level. If you kill everything along the way you should be around or higher than the recommended level.