ffcc notes

Crystal Chronicles has no levels. No, seriously. Instead, your stats can be improved by either equipping better stuff or by collecting "artifacts". Here's the kicker: you can only claim one artifact per dungeon. As you go through, you'll collect a number of them, and typically you'll find that defeating the boss of the dungeon awards one or two extra. But you can only choose one of the lot to keep on a permanent basis. To get any of the others from that dungeon, you have to stroll through the dungeon again, collect them again, and defeat the boss again. This takes leveling boredom to entirely new heights, especially in single player mode where you do not have anything in the way of options or variety for strategy.

The first dungeon, River Belle Path, is actually a very good one for doing some "level grinding." There are plenty of items to collect, including food (restore HP) and items you can sell for gil. The boss is also relatively easy to kill, compared to the next few. Since difficulty in each dungeon ramps up as you progress and as years go by as you collect myrrh, it will definitely pay off to spend as much time as you can stomach collecting every possible artifact and amassing enough materials and gil to have better equipment forged.