I only made level 155 in Part 1 and never make any levels much more than that in there, I had, however, over 4,000,000 in gold that I "lost" when the party converted to part 2. It's easy to make money in Part 1, much easier than in Part 2. For example, killing off those 400+ cyclops netted more than 1,000,000 Gold.

You can make up to level 511 in part 2 if you hve the patience and figure out the "key" to do so!