Theartrythm help

Okay so I would like to unlock all of the characters, especially Vivi and Yuna, but I'm not super great at the game.

So far I have 15860ish rythmia. I have completed all of the series and I'm going back over them (I'm up to IX). I averaged about a B the first time and this time I'm getting As and Ss. I did all of the songs I have in challenge mode and redid them until I got an A or better.

I have attempted the Chaos Shrine and completed 2 songs but I'm really bad at it. I couldn't beat the boss's and I could barely stay alive. I'm even worse at the Expert songs in Challenge mode. I heard you could get the shards by beating the boss's in the Dark Shrine, but like I said I kinda suck. My Dark Shards are level 4, 4, 7 and 8 I think? And if I understood correctly the higher the number the more difficult the level. I don't know how to get lower levelled shards.

Any suggestions? For the main series I use the character from that Final Fantasy game, plus the next 3 from the next 3 games. For the challenges and stuff I have been using Squall, Zidane, Vaan, and Terra and they are at levels 19-22. Any suggestions on completing the Dark Shard levels or on anything to speed up the amount of rythmia I'm getting? On the series mode I seem to get 500 or above, which isn't too bad, but I apparently need a lot of points.

The easiest way to get low level chaos shrine challenges is to use a low level party to beat them. The Chaos Shrine stuff is based on the average of your party level so try to use low level groups. The shards re given a bit random but be warned that certain shards do not appear unless the chaos shrine events are a certain level, so for instance getting Kain or Sephiroth is nearly impossible unless you challenging Lv. 60+ Chaos Songs.

You are using a pretty good group set-up just make sure Zidane or Vaan is leading the team since they have the highest speeds and most likely will get you to the tier 3 boss battle. Squall and Terra should be built for combat only. For the most part you need one character for the Map section (Bartz is my personal favorite) and then the rest of your party should be offense. You should stick to using Potions or Offensive items like Shurikens if you are having difficulty reaching the boss battles or surviving that section of the maps.