More grinding, although I finally figured out how to make a (small) amount of money from sailing. Changed my party to include a farmer and a prince. The farmer has a skill that can give extra XP, which is nice, since the amount of experience seems fairly paltry, and the prince, who has skills that can heal the whole party passively. Those additions, while taking away some of my damage capability, have really helped my overall ability to stay alive in the dungeon. Now that I actually have some positive cash flow, I may actually be ready to make some progress in the game. 
 
I didn't play the first two Etrian Odyssey games, so I came in fairly unprepared. It does, though, kind of remind me of Demon's Souls, at least in spirit. I floundered on that one for a while before I figured out how to play it and then really started to get into it.