RF4 help?

[PrincessAi]

Specifically with Leon Karnak/Forest of Beginnings.

I only got RF4 a few days ago and since I have been on a break from college, I've just been playing it instead of doing anything else. But I'm very.. nervous about fighting so I like to over level myself before I go into dungeons. I have also been playing on Easy since I am a weenie in fighting. In any case, I have gotten to the point of the plot where you have to head to the Forest of Beginnings to save Leon.

And I'm not entering it yet since I know once you're in there you can't go back until you rescue Leon.

Basically, I'm mainly asking for any advice on this.

What level should I be? I'm currently lvl 56/57 on the easy difficulty but it is getting harder to level myself up (waiting to find dungeon seeds to see if that will help grind up level-wise, so if anyone can tell me more specifics on getting those...)
Should I worry about RP? If so, what sort of food can restore a lot of RP?
Should I level up a monster and take one with me?
Same with weapons, I know I should probably upgrade weapons before I go in. I use gloves/dual-blades and I'm not a big magic-user.

I think that's all.. I would look around the forums for this but I don't have a lot of time to sift through so many pages and my attention wanders quickly.

[Ophelia11]

I was level 80-90 I think and went through quite well on the easy level. what I did to level up was going to the lava ruins (or whatever they are called) and when you enter just go straight up to the last room. I don't mean the last room in the dungeon, but if you enter just go up like three rooms and there are those bulls and a monster portal and I just kept grinding there (I leveled up like 5 levels per day that way). I did level up a few monsters as well but ultimately didn't bring them to leon karnak

[KagamiSound]

What level should I be? I'm currently lvl 56/57 on the easy difficulty but it is getting harder to level myself up (waiting to find dungeon seeds to see if that will help grind up level-wise, so if anyone can tell me more specifics on getting those...)
Should I worry about RP? If so, what sort of food can restore a lot of RP?
Should I level up a monster and take one with me?
Same with weapons, I know I should probably upgrade weapons before I go in. I use gloves/dual-blades and I'm not a big magic-user.

I think anything from lv 65+ is fine for the forest of beginnings.
You get dungeon seeds from the Demon's den:

Spoiler:

After you defeat Leon Karnak, you'll unlock a spring area(similar to Autumn road). One of the areas will be blocked by some mushrooms. From around the 1-5 of each season the path won't be blocked. when you get to the cave, there will be a few floors with two holes. Despite what the signs say, always go down the left holes. When you defeat the boss, you will get one dungeon seed. Every time you defeat him, you will get a dungeon seed.

For food, if you go to Porcoline's restaurant you can get some cheap dishes with high RP gain.

[Queen Sars]

I love using gloves as well! What is your current gear set up and what is your cooking level? It's been a long time since I went to save Leon, but I remember it not being very difficult. Do you have a healing spell? The only reason I ever brought food was to eat it for healing spells. Other than that I don't remember using Skills too often.

If it means anything, in terms of weapons, I would only use weapons I won through festivals or found in dungeons at that point in the story, so your weapon is probably good. In my playthrough, my problem was always armor.