If your going to level up your players, have someone under 10% hp and chain Dustia...you get great loot and good exp per kill. The trick is zone in with the player under 10% hp, pheonix down instant kill, zone out before you see the exp and lp, but don't forget the loot. You won't lose Dustia he'll be there when you zone back in unless you were too slow to zone out and the exp and lp appeared on the screen.
Also don't forget to put your game config on the slowest battle speed, that way you have time to pheonix down him and he won't get his Dark spell off in time.
I levelled Vaan right after the sunstones this way. But be carefull because if you pick the loot and you get hp, you'll have to kick your butt. You might kick your butt to death so its a good idea to keep a wolf nearby so that he can kick your butt. If you do this at the start of your game, you can get Balthier/Fran/Basch/Ashe/Penelo all at a very high level. Takes roughly less then 2 hours to get to level 30 if you use Vaan alone. Pheonix downs are buyables after you make the sunstones and get rid of Penelo at Dalan. All this before you enter Garamsythe and the Palace.
If you think Dustia is hard to zone in and out before the exp and lp appears on screen, get used to it. Use Dustia for practice because once you get the hang of it, Helvinek and his grand armour will be a breeze for you. I got 6 grand armours this way.
Just a note: For Dustia, you don't need anything. You can be totally naked. Slowest game config and a pheonix down will get you to level 30+. I got Vaan to level 50 and then went off to get my party so that Balthier/Fran were level 51 and Basch/Ashe/Penelo were level 52........since I didn't level up after that.
This post was edited by PorthiosKanan on Aug 24 2007 02:26pm