So i'm about 35-40 hours in and its pretty good. I'm on the snowy island looking for some stones. Mostly been doing all the errends and bounty hunts that i can before progressing the story. If you're looking to grind theres a spot on ugly duck island where something called a toko spawns. Really weak, hands out about 2000 EXP per kill, really been a big help for me.
Havn't really been loosing any money from game overing since i save alot. Got around 40,000g or so. Items seem really expensive, especually wepons and armour, been holding off on purchasing any besides from a few here and there.