It might be a good idea to abuse the ship game for emergency exits and Fang/Curtain items.
It's been a very long time since I've played this game (someone jacked my copy) but I believe the ship game is one of the only ways to get exit items.
Also, I considered this for some quick and easy levels at the beginning of the game;
Get a few Red Fangs, and head up to the Peninsula of power (it's still in the GBA version) and manipulate a pre-emptive strike against 9 Winter Wolves. Use a couple fangs, wolves die.
(402 exp x 9)/4 = 904 exp for everyone per fight. Or you could somehow kill off the mages and have all the exp go to the monk, and that should make him a pretty good powerhouse.
This is all really just guesswork, I don't really have the game anymore so I can't investigate any of it, I'm not even sure if the exp gained from Winter Wolves is worth the trip up to the peninsula.