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The way this game works is kind of "win before the battle begins". Meaning, prepare before you venture out. I've been playing this game for a while, here's some tips you might find useful:

STARTING TIPS:
- Your level doesn't matter, you will probably spend most of your levels upgrading the talent tree. The real prize you're going for is Essences, which raise your stats permanently. There's a few them behind some fences around town. You don't have to spec into Muscle for those, just find/buy some Muscle Potions, drink two, and that's enough. Grab them at the start of the game for some extra power, they don't respawn.

- So, the real question is, how do you get your stats up so you can explore for essences? Well, here's a really helpful starter boost: drudge up 50 gold (loot the non-huge barrels in the house near the gate, run around and loot whatever you find on the ground, sell whatever isn't an essence). Use 25 gold at the slime to receive a boost (you want to use the slime every time you return to town), and then buy a fruit at the tree next to the Sewers. Together with the gym buff, you can start whatever dungeon you want at a much higher "level" than you would normally would be at. These buffs are only lost upon exiting a dungeon. Continued below...

- The slime will give you the buff you ask for, with access to a higher bonus as you do it more times. The fruit will buff your stats in proportion to the level of the fruit* and the stats you currently have LEVELS in (essences and other buffs aren't counted). What I do is that I choose one or two stats I want to focus on (pick any of them, but don't pick all of them at the start), and keep at least 1 point in it permanently, keeping everything else at 0. That way, when you eat a fruit, all of its buff goes towards your primary damage stat(s).
* The fruit is leveled up by removing nails from roots that show at certain levels in dungeons. I don't know where they all are, but I know one can be found in the Sewers (at the well in the back of town), and another can be found pretty early in the Lich's cave (to the left after leaving town).

ESSENCES?:
- Now, where do we find Essences? Early, you can find them occasionally in the Sewers and the Facade Dungeon (to the right after leaving town). Make sure to search barrels and grass as you pass by them, since they can drop empty essences. Those gray balls can be turned into an essence of your choice at the Apothecary in town, but that's really expensive. It's a little more time-consuming, but much much cheaper, to just enter either the Facade Dungeon or (later) the Ruins Dungeon and use the Fountains that show up in them. Each Fountain can convert an uncharged essence for you for free.

OTHER TIPS:
- Take Dodge from the start of the Leg tree immediately. Many of the attacks in the game, especially ranged attacks, can be dodged, but only if you have this skill. Not taking it means losing a lot of battles that you otherwise would have won by just using Dodge -> <any growth skill>.

- Drop the broken sword or put it in your off-hand (it grants an exp bonus if you upgrade it). Fix the blacksmith first (either by doing the Sewers or finding the key outside) so you can buy a weapon relevant to your chosen stat.

- Size, for some reason, grants way more points for the talent tree than any other stat. Size isn't my thing, but I still tend to splurge it straight to max before anything else because it lets you easily afford the buffs on its tree, the overall tree on the left, and the first-tier buffs on the other trees. Size also unlocks an ability that increases exp gained from crushing enemies outside of battle, which significantly cuts down on farming if you end up wanting to farm the talent trees.

- Get companions. Any companion. You can use the Tavern in town to hire mooks, unlock the giant rat companion from the Sewers, find Lesser Commander and steal his peon, etc, etc. The guy in the straw hat from the tavern is the fastest to get at the start. He doesn't seem very good because he's not, but here's how this works: the more you fight with a companion, the more they will let you modify them. It doesn't take very long. A legit strategy is to grab Mr. BlankWhite, fight until you can change his stats, reallocate him to Bust, give him a lightning staff, and watch him go ham.
Even better, companions tend to draw aggro, and are capable of fighting on even if you die, as long as they're still alive. They make (most of) the game much, MUCH easier.