To be honest, none of these effects really seem to indicate a transition, or would seem to indicate that you're about to get into an encounter. It's mainly the fact that only a single color is affected. If the colors could somehow rotate, or there could be a flashing effect, that would appear a lot better.

On the other hand, I did think the 5th effect was pretty good. An inversion catches the player's attention, and seems more closely indicative that you're about to enter into combat.

WOW! I love that one. Maybe you could use it as boss fight transition.

My thoughts, too. This one would be good for bosses.

Pokemon spiral wipe to black FTW.

lol, I knew someone was going to suggest the PokéMon transitions at some point.

I already suggested a slash-wipe, but the routine would be just a bit too complex.

I also remember how in FFII you didn't always increase in lv every battle. It seemed pretty random. It could get pretty frustrating. TO be fair I didn't like this system a lot because I always ended up with magic doing like 100 damage because they took too long to master and regular attacks did 2000

In FF2, enemies had a rank associated with them. Depending on this rank, you could only raise your proficiencies to a certain level by fighting this particular enemy. For instance, you can't reach max proficiency levels by only fighting monsters that appear in the first few areas of the game. You eventually have to start fighting stronger monsters to continue increasing your levels.

Spells were just broken. I mean, statistically. Even if you raised them to max level, they would still only inflict a few hundred points of damage. Protective, buffing and healing spells were okay. The only real use for attack spells was to damage enemies with absurdly high defense, or to target their elemental weakness. The experience requirements for increasing spell levels was also broken. An average player would only be able to raise a single spell level to 10 or so by the end of the game, considering that they neglected everything else. If you tried to focus on different spells evenly, you might only have level 4 or so in each.

Don't feel bad if your party sucks in FF2. That's likely because the game statistics are just broken in general.

Are you able to attack your own party members to gain proficiency in Escheron? Or are you unable to attack them at all?

No. Like FF2, enemies have ranks, and how your stats are increased depends on those ranks. Even if you could attack your characters, it would not influence your stat growth. Stat growth is tied directly to which items you have equipped, and which enemies you fight. FF2 had a system where stats increased as they were used. i.e., you had to sustain damage in order to increase your vitality.

As Iambian mentioned, you need a certain proficiency level to use it. Every character has proficiency levels for each type of equipment -- swords, staves, axes, bows, shields and armor. Each level ranges from 0 to 8. To equip the helmet, you would need level-4 proficiency in armor. (which, colloquially, we just call "level-2 armor") The idea is that such items are too heavy or unwieldy without proper training. i.e., you can't go and pick up some huge sword and use it without having prior experience with swords in general. Some characters begin the game with sufficient levels to equip these items, though.

Naturally, you also get better with the items you use; so you'll receive ocassional bonuses to attack and defense power, or be able to hit multiple times with a single attack.

It probably wouldn't be too difficult to restrict it to PM, IRC and e-mail. It doesn't necessarily have to be a centralized discussion.

On the subject of GPs, I hope you don't have to pay to save your game, right? I don't remember if this was brought up before, but this is something I hated from Final Fantasy 1 on the old NES. It wouldn't let me save without sleeping at the inn.

Oh, no. Saving is either done on the world maps, or at designated save-points found in dungeons. I didn't want to make that aspect too complicated, considering the platform. A TI-RPG is likely to be played off and on, instead of long intervals at a time. I figured the player needed the freedom to quit and resume at any given time. (but not necessarily enough to merit saving anywhere, in any dungeon) Dungeons are relatively short for this reason. You won't have to explore for hours and then get caught in a situation where you have to turn your calculator off and lose all your data. If worse comes to worst and you can't find a save-point around, you always have the option of "egressing" out of the dungeon and saving on the world map.

Do the charges 'recharge' while playing? (maybe slowly, so that you still have to pay attention to your mana pool, but you occasionally gain a point)

No. You have to pray (donate GP) at mana shrines to recover mana. The rate is 100 GP per spell-charge. They're located all over the world. Most every village will have one, and there's a point later on where it becomes much more convenient. You can also find and purchase "Mana Dew," which will restore as many as 4 spell-charges. (these can even be used in battle)