GABYSOFT

This may be a nuance that will reveal itself later when I get deeper into the game, but I'll ask anyways. It's not clear to my why I'd want to make a Priest if I have a Sage and/or Samurai and/or Paladin. Or why have a Ninja or even a Hirebrand if Samurais can do the job? It seems like you could play just fine using just a couple of classes. Or am I missing something? Do all the extra classes just add color and texture to the game, or are they strategically important?

Looking at Snafaru's Item List (thanks for that, Snaf!!), I noticed that there are very few (less than 10?) items that are specific to a single class. I also saw you mention 70+(?) more items coming up. Are there any plans to use item restrictions to specialize the classes more? Or base item use on specific stats? IMO it adds more intrigue to the game when the player has to make those sorts of choices. They might have to take a "lesser" class character in order to use a superior weapon.

Also, I saw in the beta notes that Fireball, Lightning and Ice Storm(?) will now be ally friendly. (Cloud Kill was not mentioned. Has that one been adjusted as well?) I was thinking (as I kept frying my party) that a nice "fix" would be to just to damage to the characters in front of the caster. That would be logical since if they're between the caster and the target, they'd get hit, but anybody behind the caster would be out of the way and therefore safe. It would add a bit more to the "action" aspect of the game, since in order to use the spell the player has to shuffle the party members around to make sure the vulnerable characters are safe. I'm actually quite enjoying the timer feature as compared to the original turn-based version. The cerebral aspects (strategy, planning, preparedness) are still there, but now with the added element of speed and skill.