Buttons That Might Help
Press the Start button tyo skip battle animations, such as lengthy special moves. This does not skip animations for spells, unfortunately, and must be times correctly. If you wait too long the animation just plays regardless.
During battle, when selecting your actions, press the "X" button to see your entire party's stats. Handy if you're trying to remember if you need to heal this turn or not, or what status effects are still active, etc.
Leveling with those Loopers
Once you've obtained the Purple Moon Crystal, and your ship is able to fly above/below the clouds, you can finalls access the best area for grinding levels (and one of the best for gold!). On your map, in the top-left (North-West), you should see a triangle formed by various barriers. Inside this triangle, you should exclusively encounter looper-type enemies, who are worth a healthy portion of Exp, Gold, and Magic Exp, as well as some decent items. It is reccomended to have Vyse equipped with the Black Map, and utilize his Sword Rain ability. Loopers have a high chance to dodge, so using this move bypasses their ability to do so, and also takes out the whole group in one fell swoop!