Yes this game is ridiculous hard in the beginning. Here are some tips:
1) Forget Sothe. Do not kill anything with him untill everyone else is near lvl 18-19. Killing an enemy that is below lvl 18 for him is a waste of exp. He gets more exp from stealing from enemies and opening chests (I got him to level 2 in chapter 3 just doing that). The best thing you can do in the initial missions is to use him to lure the enemies. Move them unequip you weapons so that he doesn`t rape the enemy units in the counter attack. In the later chapters he is not so good anymore.
2) Focus on levelling Eddie and Nolah. They are pretty weak at the start (especially eddie) but their growth is great and you will need them in later chapters. Also watch out for when the female dragon rider with red hair joins you (trying to avoid spoilers). She is one of the best characters in the whole game statwise.
3) You can level your other crappy units by doing something else than killing. I like to abuse the Micaiah-Laura healing trick. Just use sacrifice with Micaiah on a unit and then heal her with Laura. If you have 5 units with even one health point missing, that is 50 xp for Micaiah and Laura.
4) Save that battle xp for the later parts of the game, you will need it.
5) If you are really cheap, battle save before levelling up and keep reloading until you get at least +5 stat ups.
Satan said:
"You are for ever angry, all you care about is intelligence, but I repeat again that I would give away all this superstellar life, all the ranks and honours, simply to be transformed into the soul of a merchant's wife weighing eighteen stone and set candles at God's shrine."
