Played Onigiri along with some friends about a year ago and because of reasons needed to quit but after awhile we would like to play it again. However we never really got to far something probably around mid 20s but I logged in today and noticed an energy bar. I searched it on google and only came up with something called Aramitama.

How important is energy in the leveling up process? How often would we find ourselves waiting on energy?

Welcome back.

As you mentioned, energy isn't used for the story line except until Susano's Aramitama quest. And that's only after reaching Echigo, at which point you will need Susanoo to be level 15 to proceed. Even then, not much energy is used so there's really no waiting. 1 energy is restored every 5~6 minutes.

The main thing people used energy for is quests from Chifuri when she materialises in Onigashima. Plenty of dungeons that give weapons, materials, gold, etc can be accessed but they all need energy to enter. You need to accept her quest in temporal rift first and see her in Onigashima. That should be available early on after finishing "To Kishiden" quest.

Which point in the story are you guys at now? There have also been plenty of other changes over the year, including ease of leveling. Have fun~

We will be starting from scratch since we can't remember anything about our characters.

But thanks for info.

Alright good luck. Just FYI, you can list your party in the Party Recruitment list by ticking "Register in Party Recruitment list' box during formation. Older players do create new characters sometimes for Demonic Resonance, etc: http://onigiri.wikia.com/wiki/Multi_Character_Bonus