well not played but i guess really wanted to sit down and play for hours on end to beat it.

Im about 4.5hrs in and I have been leveling up my char from 4-7 because I tried to go into the castle and do that but I found that I was low level and was lacking gear to finish that section. So since I was smart and saved that on a second copy I wanted to know, what level should I be before going forth onto the castle and fighting through the caves etc.

Or is there anything I should make sure to do/get before I continue on.

That sounds like a goo level to me. I didn't level til just about two hours ago when I went from 8 to 9, and that was just one level and working with small scale (just the small wolf and hyena type) battles. It took a while, but now I'm starting to go to more areas with all this, so leveling seems like it will happen quicker.

Anyway, I'm new to this game too, though I beat FF7, I've play through quite a bit of 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 too. I would say the smart thing to do, unless you're against it, is to find a guide that works for you at www.gamefaqs.com.

This is the one I've been using, and it has worked well so far, letting me know of just about everything I get to, along with secrets, what chests to avoid to get the Zodiac Spear, and a few other things.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/459841/45867

Good luck.:D

yah went in at lvl 10 and finished that now I have 4 party members and Im working on more level ups before I start the next few hunts.

Think I want to be about lvl 15 before I go to the next major event.

You might want to look over the recently posted thread regarding whether or not acquiring the official strategy guide is worth your time.

yah might be...but im poor right now :p all I know is pimp out chars with Licences and heal gambits first, then level, level level.