[New to the series and struggling to understand the stats.]

Thank you both!

That really gives me some things to think about as I am going into battles. I've done a little bit of grinding on a couple of maps (playing on normal for my first time) as I noticed that certain characters were a few levels below the others. 

The one other thing I am wondering, is, is it possible to be underleveled to the point where you'll struggle to continue the game? Ie you get to a mandatory story fight and can't win, but without being able to go earlier in the calendar you can't fix it? 

 

[New to the series and struggling to understand the stats.]

This is my first entry into the series and I am struggling a bit to work out some of the mechanics. The stats and how I should be interpreting them.

As my characters fight I am seeing numbers going up and I sort of understand strength means my physical attacks are going to be stronger etc. But in the last fight I had some enemies in armour and a few of my characters weren't doing any damage to them.

There are a few stats in before I attack that show how much damage I am doing, but I can't seem to see where it tells my why a particular unit isn't being effective. Or if the feedback is there I just don't know how to interpret it. I know there used to be a weapon triangle to determine who should be used against who. But in this instalment it feels like I am just guessing.  Perhaps I have missed a tip screen?

Also the benefits of ranking up  social ranks with characters also doesn't seem that clear. If I have a rank C with two characters and they're adjacent on the battlefield, what effect is that having?

Is there a guide somewhere that answers these questions, perhaps giving me a non spoilery primer on what enemy types are going to cause certain units trouble because of X reason? Or something that can help guide me a little on how I should be training my units in a particular direction?

Thanks in advance.