So I did a 99-chain of Mirror Knights and got enough cash (like 500k) to trick out my party's equip and magic. Currently Ashe is my top character at LV50 (Penelo at 47 and Vaan at 46). I managed to complete the Pharos dungeon by the skin of my teeth three levels lower. (Well, the bosses weren't too bad, but getting mobbed was awful.)

A lot of you people have said that magic is fairly useless but I've found a cornerstone of my strategy to not get totally wiped is by exploiting elemental weaknesses with (black) magic. Graviga has been quite helpful. And what about Hastega, Protectga... those are pretty sweet magicks, and I use Arise and Curaga/ja all the time. Oiling Famfrit was huge to beating that boss battle, and spamming Aeroga helped me rock the Hashmal fight. What gives?

And it is true, I don't want to attempt sidebosses on this playthrough (although I'm excited to take them on my second time through). I'll be better prepared that time around... maybe.

So level 55, you say? Where's a good (fast) place to level? I have Embroidered Tippets.