>stuff using shaders are used for the first time
pool your fireballs! it will most likely resolve this
>Does the screen wide flicker happen when turning on the automap by any chance?
yes, but that's something else. the light flicker does seem like a "light source" object messing up. i couldn't catch it or manually replicate it, though
for the AI - you can always invoke movement when they become visible (meaning the player is in their action radius).
>Did you notice the character button next to the potions turn red on level up, or is it not obvious enough?
i did not. this is something incredibly hard to get right - i didn't even find a solution for TOK - nobody notices when you levelup or get new combat arts. truly vile.
related to this - i forgot to mention that it's very strange that your EXP bar is top left, instead of being near the rest of your UI.