Alright, new update, new changes, new balance and new units, and things I need to say out;
The first thing I am thankful for is fixes to certain broken things that the previous patch was annoying me for, but there's still unfixed stuff like stone element choice at start still giving +2 armor, lover trait not being discounted if it gets selected for a randomized preference and bunch of others, in addition to new bugs like the gallery for centaur lady being bugged. There's more bugs that I skimmed over, but it needs to be fixed.
Now on changes, which I need to discuss; the new focuses are fairly interesting, since having to select focus before was quite annoying, and now you can select either a focus that is closest to pre-patch, or alternatively, an maximum focus that prevents you doing the other, but makes up for it with extra points for starters/main character, as well being really powerful at doing so. But the breeding focus only gives an extra roll on maximum focus unlike before, though fusion focus is less punishing as a result besides not getting traits reliably.
The favored trait, which prevents the king from giving you a game over now has doubled cost, which makes defeating the king a high priority, which isn't difficult for most experienced games, but it only really makes its usage most useful during challenge ranks 10+, where it becomes a necessity due to how strong the king becomes and the fact you can only juggle the quests so much before it becomes untenable. I haven't got the new traits from achievements yet, but will talk about them later.
The changes to skill trees for creator/shapeshifter is quite a welcome change, which helps with their specializations, though the creator is still a frail character that heavily relies on units while mostly having slime related skills instead of general support ones(or more importantly, not being potion reliant)to keep up at late game. Having free adaptations per character makes them more efficient than they are already, but considering adaptation potions are only available to the shapeshifter, well...
Ascended is still nerfed(but still useful especially for non-shapeshifter due to them not scaling with percentage bonuses)as I expected, but I still think at challenge rank 20+ you should get the previous variant, as well an even stronger one at 30+, but of course, not without introducing new challenges on those to make it interesting.
The unique character fusion keeping their status finally makes them usable beyond early-mid game, since they often suffer from the fact you need rebirth trait that only works once per game just to make them useful for late-game, but after that, the only ones that need it are NPCs.
And on marriage system - it locks you down to a single NPC, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but due to fact you miss out on certain interactions like the special world that is opened by a librarian if not in the party yet, this makes something that is supposed to be done as early as possible for maximum benefit untenable, not really making them useful without rebirth trait that already maxes their level alongside redistributing their genes. Yes, extra skills are fairly powerful, doubled stamina allows for more efficient usage of them, but when you have stuff that encourages using other characters first, well, it makes it more of mid-late game thing, and the brothel lady is still most useful character for it considering the stamina bonus. The other character's skills maybe could contest such view, but I still think it is the most useful NPC out of them all, but you have to learn others traits or you will end up being locked out due to how it works, so...Can't exactly be 100% happy when you have to do specific stuff first before doing it.
But hey, I think the new special endings will make my endavor worth it, but I hope there's more fixes and changes to refine the gameplay and variety.