About to fight Garuda and enter Raithwall's Tomb.

Pros:
  • I think my favorite thing about the class system is that I really get to test out the various magic and skills in the game I probably wouldn't bother with. I actually have each character set up with various gambit options that take advantage of any ability they may have. This leaves Basch and Vaan currently stuck as status effect healers since most of their skills are buried behind a wall of Accessory and Equipment Licenses I'm likely not going to grind through for awhile, but it's been interesting seeing which time magic works on enemies and how useful certain skills like Horology can be.
  • There are some seriously good accessories lying around the Yensa Sandsea.I don't remember getting the Double License Points/XP accessories this early.
  • While the treasure chest system is not my preferred method, I appreciate the fact the chests seem to drop the good item the first time around.
  • I still like the Urhtan Eater Quest, was interesting to get a Mark Hunt mid-dungeon and the lore with the Urhtan is pretty interesting.
  • Now that I have Cura, Penelo is much more useful.
  • Oh hey, the game lets you save before the Garuda fight now, how quaint.


Cons:
  • As I feared, early access to the Elemental Weak/Vulnerable Gambits makes offensive mages game breakers. Seriously, if it wasn't for the Salamander Elemental wandering around the map, Fran would be destroying almost everything before my party got a chance to reach it.
  • I don't even feel like I've been seriously trying to grind here but I feel way overpowered for this part of the game. I remember the Sandsea kind of being a "Grind Stage" where it was purposely made long to force you to gain a few levels before the game knocks the difficulty up a bit but I am destroying things left and right here. I'm starting to look forward to the Lv. 1 Only Game you can unlock cause it may finally give this game back it's teeth.
  • Oi, I started unlocking the second tier Quickenings and it just dawns on me that I'll eventually get access to a second board. Why this is an issue is because these skills sometimes block access to useful skills, so I should be waiting for the second board to appear to get a better assessment of which board I should unlock the skill on in case it's blocking access to something useful.