Messages

Dialogue examples:

In the reading hall, when trying to pick up the hardcover book - "Better not.  Whoever left it there weeks ago might come back at any moment." - This is a bit contrived.  I'm quite happy for D'arc to decide not to pick up the book, but perhaps for a less spurious reason.  I was just told that "everything readable" in the reading room is protected by Bort's spell, so if this book isn't, why wouldn't D'arc the teenager want to sneak a look at it?

In the training hall - "Sphere of Knowledge" - This made me cringe a little.  But at least it's not a sorting hat.

Varner re the conductor - "It will channel your Element's Gifts" - Perhaps this will make sense when the game's lore is revealed, but for me it didn't really do anything to explain what the conductor was or how it worked.  It makes it sound like the conductor will work some kind of magic of its own.  And does my element (fire) have the gifts, or do I have the gifts?  The description of the conductor says it can "channel non-aggressive magic and shape it into raw martial power".  Not sure what that means either.

Varner re the gem - "It can be made to increase your magic..." - This sounded awkward to me.  Does it make sense for someone's "magic" to "increase"?  Is this an in-character reference to the 'magic' attribute in my character sheet?  Is magic a generic term referring to (eg) my ability to cast spells?  Varner goes on to say that I need to "activate the power stored within it".  Does it increase my magical ability in some way, or does it have some kind of power of its own, or both?  It felt like Varner didn't have a great understanding of these things.

Varner's instructions - "... the Clear Gem I have asked you to find can be Activated using the combined forces of our Elements" - Cringe.  This made me think of Captain Planet.

The comments above are nit-picking, but nit-picking is how a good game becomes a great game.  I enjoyed the demo and look forward to playing the full game.

The comment about the book was obviously a joke and the joke being he has no real reason not to pick it up.
The gem amplifies the user's magic power(able to cast more spells in a shorter space of time).
I think the "lore" behind the conductor was explained in an update. Something about mages aren't trained/able to use spells for aggressive reasons and the conductor bypasses this. I'm not too sure about this so wait for the devs themselves to comment.