Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, I refreshed the whole install and removed everything from 1.0.8.3 when I saw 1.0.8.2 worked. However, out of memory, I know the permissions on the data files were right since I checked them. Weirdly, only the Message Areas couldn't get created, everything else appeared to be working. As for the build process, it was finishing with a success but I don't have the logs for the build anymore. Since it was pretty consistent, I'll try to redo the whole thing with...
Cannot create a new message area on 1.0.8.3 on fresh install