When I started over the last time, I had some trouble in the very beginning (at the bar). After that, I did the daily quests in the mansion office, collected every Dark Seed I knew of, and generally tried to level up as much as possible while also rounding out my party. When I did Looking for a Cure, I had quite a bit of trouble because I brought Larelle with me and she's squishy as fuck. But I stocked up on potions and saved all the scrolls I could get my hands on. It was hard as hell but I managed. If you're having that much trouble, though, you could start over on easy mode. Practically every danger zone you enter will have a blue chest with a Potion of Excellence in it, which boosts all a character's stats by quite a bit. Plus the Time Turner will let you move days ahead, allowing you to take more daily quests.