Break All The Pots
Breaking pots, opening dressers, searching through bags and exploring out of the way areas often rewards you with Small Medals. These medals may seem unimportant, but when you get to Princess Minnie's Island castle you can redeem them for high value items, such as armor or weapons.
Try Alchemy
The alchemy pot gives you a chance to try to create new, better items by combining items. The alchemy system rarely punishes the player for experimenting. The items you place in the pot still will be there if your spell didn't work. Combine your armor and weapons with items, like sage, to see if anything works. You can always take your items back from the pot.
Character Building
When building your characters traits, focus on specific traits, such as strength or a specific type of weapon. For example, build a hero by focusing all of your abilities on swords, boomerangs and courage. This gives your character the ability to use multiple weapons, but leaves him weak at magic. Maxing out all traits is impossible, so focus on your character's strengths.