My $.02 on the autosplit spells:
I'd go with Fire 1 being a single target spell that can't be spread and Fire 2 as the spread-only tier. With Fire 3, give the option.
(Reasons in brevis: 1=Too small to reach many, 2=Too big to control, and 3=both finesse and power in exchange for plenty of MP. For Fire, the culmination of the logic is Merton for sheer power and Flare for ultimate magical focus and control.)
Some general notions:
There is was at least one bit of advice in the Narshe School that sounds like the choice of spreading effects is the default, but that was fixed twixt 3.0 and 3.1.
If flawless victory is considered a significant part of strategy, it warrants some deeper consideration. (As a neat little Easter egg or proof-of-concept, it's fine.) Sure, it's harder to code, but basing the flag on whether or not any party member got hit, not on damage taken or on the execution of something targeting them, would be an improvement. (Actually, though, getting hit by something that heals you really doesn't sound like a flaw in execution of strategy, so, yeah, actually basing it on damage or negative status change sounds likely optimal.) Dodging attacks to get a flawless victory really just feels better...(ed. Some experimenting later,& I see that is essentially how it works. It's just Runic & effects like Cure that spoof it. What's feasibility of making specific commands or effects flip the twiddle bit? Cure seems like it should be a part of this well-balanced "Flawless Victory," as does Drawing every single magical attack. It's hard to argue that letting yourself get struck by an attack that has no possibility of harming you is a flaw. Immunity to damage is easier to defend than absorbed ones, though.)
Some fiddling with Noiseblaster could be interesting. A chance for enemies to run away if affected is cool. Increased chance to flee, possibly even being stunned, if hit before their first action could be neat.A reducing effect for each use in a single conflict seems fair. (Getting used to all the racket) The thing dealing some sonic damage from the hideous noise also works for me. One advantage of giving it a small damage is that could wake up sleepyheads.
Kirk is funny, but the quest is tedious.
Peace Ring should protect vs. Seizures, too, as it seems to have the whole "Calm" vibe.
BTW, so far Seizure is at least as common as Poison. Was playing that up that much intentional?
Hermes' Sandals were named Telaria.
Other notes:
I get significant graphic breakup when fighting certain formations. (As noted below, this is far reduced in 3.1 vs. 3.0. Still present for many formations, especially if there are multiple in a horizontal row.)
Seizures are hard to distinguish from stop until the damage pops up. The colors are not clearly distinct.
Opera house borked. I used a purported pb 3 patch. Dunno. One of the rages uses a comma and a single line still so maybe it isn't the latest that it claimed. (I DLed latest patch I could find (3.1) and, yep, different version. Yep, works fine in 3.1.)
Blizzard cast onto an enemy that then gains allies remains single targeted. I only noticed this fighting Dadaluma. (3.0) It doesn't always happen, so bug.
Auction House works better than in the original. Still not a huge fan, but it's actually an auction, now. I do miss the airship model a little.
Most extreme Steals so far:
Safest: Living Dead and TrialRider (Is that the spelling actually intended, btw?)
Most frustrating: Spectre (Box on train)
(also one of the most important)
Most tedious was also TrialRider. (For whatever reason, after stealing two things, which took quite several apiece, it stopped succeeding for 35-45 attempts. It did eventually work, so patience is key. So is not injuring that stupid thing.)
Guardian is certainly nasty. Those double taps mean it's literally impossible to beat him at the point I am at the game. This, it manages without being arbitrarily dubbed invincible: a dramatic improvement. Bravi.
PB3.1 Errors/bugs spotted (as I go.)
Bugbears:
I cannot find any way in which Bandanna is superior to Headband and several in which it's worse, yet it's preferred by optimize.
Less graphical squirreliness so far. That's nice. Still present. BioBlaster on Phantom Train, for example, would always have a few lines flake out. Certain potion animations mixed with multi-column formations often knock chunks apart. (Almost exclusive to the new formations.)
Shadow's TwoSwd status is flaky. So far, the only times I've seen the bug are when I'm trying out different weapons for a given hand. When it happens, it'll blur/refuse like it's supposed to if you try to equip impossible EQ and then anything that refreshes the display will turn all the weapons grey. Backing out to the root of the equipment menu usually resets it. (Once, it just refreshed the display to what it should be if he had no dual wielding capacity.) Backing out to the main menu and coming back has never failed to reset this.
Phantom Train: Engine Room - The event where you can read the note about the switches can be accessed on the bottom and second-to-bottom row of the screen, but doing so triggers a freeze.
A poisoned Ghost loses HP per step even though they absorb the element. I'm going to suggest this probably means neither appropriate immunities nor vulnerabilities are observed by step events, beyond step-event specific things like Float. Hunch says that it's not even elemental damage that Poison status triggers.
Delirious Soldier: "I wanna see Loooola..." Dude gives you a "Cat's Bell" which is actually a "Ring of Fire". Kinda seems like a joke I'm missing. Fridge Logic Smash: The letters from Lola are the only thing keeping him going, yet if you complete the quest, they stop... The party killed the guy!!
Preemptive attack on a single abolisher: Locke Steal, Sabin Aurabolt, Edgar Noiseblaster, Celes Runic; Abolisher used Beak on itself and then Aurabolt killed it. Single round victory with all laughs but not Flawless. No one was ever even targeted, so I can only imagine that Beak or Runic were at fault. Either way, a bug is around here somewhere.
Improper Vectors: When you get to the vector palace(?) entry, (farthest north screen pre-banquet; site of 1st possible encounter with Guardian) you are turned back by a guard shooting out from the left. This works fine, but if you immediately try again, he'll shoot out from the middle and end up walking through walls. After this, you get Guardian. Apparently they get mad because you sucker a guard into falling to his death.
Temporal Vectors Akimbo: Reentry to the Devil Labs is possible after the mine cart escape. (btw: like the improved Cid.) Not only does this trap you inside, which is forgivable, it gives you a message from Celes should you try to leave via the front door, which is clearly a bug.
Thamasa's Deception: Thamasa's Elder's house is purported to be a cave on the Veldt. That tricksie elder, misleading everybody.
I'm forgetting the oopsie on entering the Esper world, but there was another erroneous string label, IIRC.
Weirdness: (i.e. Don't know if this was meant to be or not, but I suspect not.)
Cyan stumbles out to face Grunts and an officer... was it intentional that the Grunt be a significantly more dangerous foe? (It is.)
"TrialRider" sounds like it might be a typo on "Trail Rider", though possibly not.
Intangir is vulnerable to imp (which seems reasonable) but can cast Holy, which seems off. Also, and this is clearly intentional, but REGEN!? Yoy.
Thamasa's Weapon, Armor, and Item shops say the line about foreigners and then let you shop at what I'm guessing are elevated prices, but the Relic shop does not. As no dialog differs, can't tell if this is intended.
Knight Armor is a fine helm, by stats and icon, but the name, description, and actual equipment slot is body armor. This makes it sort weirdly, suck noodle, and make no sense... but it isn't bugged, per se, so it's here rather than there.
Grammar/Spelling/Typography:
<lf>=linefeed
<ldq> and <rdq> = left and right double quotes
S.Figaro Escape: "Locke<lf><ldq>Can't be caught now, we've come to far.<rdq>" should be "Locke<lf><ldq>Can't be caught now; we've come too far.<rdq>" (comma splice and "to" instead of "too") (sidenote: Since "too far" is a more common phrase than "to far" you might consider a search and check of the phrase.)
Rage: SaladHoppr description = "Attack, Enrage" where the rest would be "Attack<lf>Enrage"
We have EVEN MORE themes now, but some old ones are gone...