I never had to grind and I abused the hell out of stealth/sword attacks to avoid most fights. Dunno what the issue you guys had there was. You probably could've accomplished the same thing grinding did by improving your tactics/gear setup.
I was getting demolished before I could act. As long as I could survive a single turn, I can manage heals, but I think I was pretty underlevelled or something >_>
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KrahenProphet and Kana are on opposite ends of the Awesome Spectrum.