For those who haven't played before, the black spheres are encounters and they wander the map.

I disagree, it looks very nice, and you chose appropriate monster graphics(Black Spheres), they seem to fit with the environment, not stand out, you know?

Auria is one of my favorite characters in these rpg games as well, she has a well made character sprite. I would try to even out the good and bad by adding some bad things I see in it but I don't :/. Just my opinion.