I stopped playing this game after mapping the 6th floor; the game was already getting ridiculous at that point.

What's your party, by the way? Also, what level is your party?

3 fighters on the front line with a bishop, cleric, and ninja in the rear.

I had a thief instead of a ninja but used an item to change its class at one point. Not a regular class change so it can still use innocent equipment if needed. The fighters/cleric are just about level 300. Bishop in 220s and Ninja mid 170s. I didn't do much research about parties in the game and went with what was a typical Wizardry party for me. Normally I would have maybe changed classes for the fighters but I wanted to try to get as far as I could without any further class changes.

Some of the floors were easy to map out fully, with bigger rooms, less one way walls, and less fixed encounters but another had a bunch of one way walls and lots more fixed encounters so they took longer to explore completely. I have found some better equipment but still haven't found enough better equipment to feel more safe. I do wish my entire party could have the -62 AC that my ninja has currently.

Fighters have Golden Axes & Freeze Swords which seem to be the best weapons damage wise I've found that they can use. Ninja is dual wielding a Demon's Full-Moon Ring & Gravity Ring so he does pretty good in combat. I wish I could get him to behead at a higher rate, but he does it enough that it still is alright. Fighters and cleric are all above -15 AC with the bishop bringing up the rear with only -3.

I think the ability of monsters to behead in this game is crazy though. From very early on in the game it seemed kind of excessive at times but I've also been able to behead some would be tough bosses so I guess it kind of makes up for it.

I appreciate them for putting the elevator on 15 not that far from the stairs to 16 though. Makes exiting and returning to go further up less of a pain in the butt. I could use dove bells to avoid the fixed encounters but I want to be able to level up more while exploring.

Here are my observations about certain classes at that point in the game:

If you aren't seatisfied with your Ninja's behead rate, find a monster with a high Behead chance, have a summoner Contract it, and then use Spirit Pact on it. Many of the monsters with high behead chances become Ninjas, and the Ninja's behead chance stacks with the one the monster gets. (Note that changing class causes you to lose this behead chance.)

Brawlers get the same AC that Ninjas of the same level get, and the 8th floor I believe has enemies dropping Dark Claws as an uncommon drop. Using a Devilish is recommended (either via Spirit Pact or by using that specific spot in the final main game dungeon) so that you can equip cursed items without being cursed. (I have mentioned the idea of a Fairy Brawler in other topics, but that's more of an early game setup; remember that Star Rod?) I haven't tried using one seriously, but if you want that -62 AC on a front line character, try making one and leveling her up until her AC gets that low.

I like my Spirit Pact Nue. That particular monster becomes a Samurai, who has a chance of counter attacking (Swallow Return) when attacked. Furthermore, it naturally has the ability to inflict multiple status ailments when attacking and break the opponent's weapon. If an Archer Polete decides to attack my Samurai, there is a good chance she will lose her weapon and my Samurai will survive. The God Slayer (Ibag 6th floor uncommon) makes a great off-hand weapon here.

Priests are actually decent attackers, even without Physical Attack Power Up. With an Aas Shifter for most enemies and a Comet Hammer (made to do extra damage to Gods via Alchemy) for attacking God type enemies, she can actually do decent physical damage, while being a better healer than my Bishop (who is still good enough as a healer).

As for my Bishop, making her a Fairy helps her act sooner in the round, and having Magic Essence (which only affects Mage spells, by the way) is also quite helpful.

By the way, to level up a new character, the best way to do that is to kill a bunch of Lesser/Greater/Chaos demons in one fight, put the last one to sleep (it won't wake back up), have everybody else run away, and kill the last one with your new character. (An Aura Punch that has been modified to do double damage to demons will allow anyone to do 200, or 300 with the help of a certain Alchemist spell, damage to such demons regardless of class or level.)

Also, don't forget that Honey Restorer works in Ibag Tower, and you should be gaining enough levels to easily relearn it after casting it.

Actually made it up to the 20th floor now. I get the Cres tablet after moving around some and then something happens where the tablets glow and it looks like something is going to happen because the screen turns white and music plays but that is it...nothing else :(

And I know Honey Restorer works in the tower. You think I'm actually trying to walk out of there? lol

Hopefully I can find a way around whatever problem this is though.

Ankerous

You need to put the game into full screen mode before you get that Cres tablet. Once you have it, you can go back to windowed mode.