Tango Appassionata

I had the chance to play Dark Cloud yesterday, but I didn't have a PS2 Memory Card. Firstly because it's rather expensive and I don't have the money to own one. So, Jonathan was nice enough to lend me his spare and the game itself (which was yesterday, but game me the memory card today). The second time I played, I seemed to do worse than the first try the day before. I died repeatedly throughout the first couple of levels for various reasons like mainly, I wasn't paying any damn attention to the health meter and just slashed my brains out. No one knows what you lose after you die, or even any at all...?