Replaying it while Alicia gets all prepped and ready for her grand entrance, and the whole thing leading up to the fight with Mara and Cheronog (sp?), actually that whole area is just...wow. You really have a way with the wording and a feeling of "MC is in way over his head, but he's sticking with it for good or ill" and makes the fight all the more important, in addition to "Shield is really the best option" I feel hobs deserve it!
On doing early areas, I was level 31 and all the fights in where you greet Maya were like 2 exp. So as you gain levels the early areas aren't worth it as much because you get so much less experience, but I was hoping Maya and Ina had some kind of interaction for the headpat! (BOO they didn't). Curious to see how Celica and Ina will interact, as well as Celica and Siofra (the latter, probably very badly)