AstraSage

And that's not counting the tiny chance Maiko's Mirage could be a Thief instead of a Dancer (even though her first name would heavily hint to the latter via the homophone shenanigans the game is well known for)... That said, while I do agree one should not expect the Carnage Form to resemble the Source Mirage, the fact Barry's actually took the Collar + Chain Leash of his goofy dog guise and made it look a lot like how Awakening Fighters wore something similar makes me think he has a good chance to be bound to a Vaike Mirage. Overall, I'm excited for the promise of new story elements.

And that's because we don't know if anyone bilingual enough has dared to spoil the Japanese Community with the previews of this side of the pond. And last time I checked, most of the 5ch-ers were expecting Raphael to be an option because they have a hard time thinking his design is not made to appeal the Gay Community... Anyways, I don't think we'd see Japan's Reaction until the game is released...

If I can put my my two cents, I think there's less Meta Player-Avatar interaction involved and more of the fact it's hinted Sothis' Main Domain is Omniscience: I mean, the in-universe explanation for Divine Pulse is that Byleth has watered down version of Sothis' power and said power allows seeing all present, past and future outcomes in a short span of time. Couple it with Sothis' sole voice clip in the latest E3 Trailer infers that she's quite familiar with the idea of someone witnessing two wildly different timelines, and I won't be surprised if the flashing images are just her Slumbering Self's Subconscious trying to look at all possible Time Periods of Fodlán's Timeline from Prehistory to a Modern(or even Sci-fi)-looking Age and Beyond...

Hopefully there's some care in the Support Convos, but to be personally honest I see Gilbert as an option and the knowledge kinda gives me a reaction of constantly wondering how they're gonna make his support differ from Alois who shares the same niche (and the latter is unfortunately also on a bit of thin ice as a non-platonic option because one big trait of his shown in some preview screenshots is that he's a proud married man with a kid, and his wife is now doomed to be fridged in order to enable him as a romantic pairing for both Byleths) and not give me a feeling similar (using a game mechanic as a metaphor) to how Awakening made me wish Libra could reclass as a Fighter instead of a Mage because the latter class tree didn't offer anything special after both Priest and Dark Mage overlapped both of of its promotions. Add the fact everyone kinda got queerbaited by Claude in the latest batch of Japanese Ads for the game (Seriously, how could anyone see a clip of Claude seemingly asking Byleth for a Dance at [what I call] the Big Prom Ball Scene while being framed with the same First Person PoV both Awakening and Fates intentionally used to keep the Avatar as gender-neutral as possible in close interactions and not entertain the possibility of him being as bisexual as Edelgard?) and that a previous screenshot disproved all the Blue Lions Guys (which, with the exception of Ashe who's as slender as Linhardt, were a nice middle ground between slender and burly frames) as candidates, folks have some reason to be disappointed.

On one hand, the Non-Linhardt options shown so far are characters that wouldn't be out of place in a old-school Bara comic, but on the other they do feel like they both cater the same niche so I understand why folks are feeling disappointed by the lack of variety in the MLM options if that's the confirmed total...

From the way Thani phrased in her comments, it felt like she was actually close to someone in the localization team (or maybe even a play tester) willing to risk breaking NDA to gush/drop-hints 'bout what they had seen in a early build...

Not to mention most of the Latin American Key Culture Beats (that are not shared by the Iberic Nations or Pre-Hispanic Cultures, which the latter would bring a completely different feel for the Medieval context) are way too modern for the usual Fire Emblem timeframe. That said, I'll find it fitting if what little we see of Almyra resembled a Middle Eastern or Saharan Culture because it'd go well with the fact I seem to get a Mediterranean Feel out of how the Leicester Alliance has been presented so far: I wouldn't be surprised the Alliance interacted with Almyra in the same way the Venetian Republic + the League of Italian Duchies dealt with the Ottoman Empire or the way things went in the Iberic Peninsula before the Reconquista... Anyways, I have to apologize for the late reaction but I'm currently having trouble taking the goofy smile off my face after learning Petra (who has been shown so far as a very Myrmidon-looking Noble and as a Model for the Sword & Bow favoring Thief Class) is now hinted to come from Brigid...

If we use the latest Famitsu article as a reference, we can flip a Character's Weak/Neutral Skills into Strengths through constant practice & motivation from Byleth's praising/scolding if the skills in question have a three star gauge next to them.

I dunno, I wouldn't be surprised if Knight-worshipping Faerghus does the medieval equivalent of Athlete Scholarships and have a few more commoners besides Double-D in the Blue Lions' ranks thanks to their Promising Martial Prowess... That said, I must've stumbled into some shipping goggles before reading her backstory summary but I can't shake off the feeling fan creators got provided with enough fodder to start writing Dorothea with a Sempai/Onee-san style crush on Manuela... Half-joking aside, I'll feel seriously robbed if both Dorothea and Manuela don't have at least a platonic mentor-apprentice support in the case the latter is recruitable.

Keep in mind there's no way to distinguish both the Iberic and Italian spellings from just transliterating the Katakana, and even as a Native Spanish-speaker I don't understand why go out of the way to berate someone for deciding to write the name of someone explicitly stated to be a Former Opera Singer with the Italian Spelling's double Ls... That said, I was surprised for her having a lighter voice than I initially expected her to have, but again with Divas and most Prima Donnas being Soprano it makes sense.

I mean, if I use the Katakana spelling as a reference, Raphael seem to be pronounced as Ra-Fah-El like it's done in Latin-based languages...

I'll probably wait until we have a clearer idea of each House's Class Roster outside of the Leaders to make a more definite answer, but I seem to have a soft spot towards the homely attitude of the few students shown for the Golden Deer House (Leonie and Raphael).

Yeah, I have to agree. So far, by the looks of the latest trailer, the majority of the playable units shown seem to be literally Trainees with access to what the Game labels as Professor Levels which groups all the Weapon Ranks (Sword, Lance, Axe, Bow, Melee Weapons and both Reason [aka. Dark+Anima] & Faith [Light+Healing] Magic) and "Proefficiencies" (Authority, (Horse) Riding, Heavy Armor, Flying) they need to hone to meet a minimum rank if they want to be promoted to a more Specialized Class via an Intermediate Seal and an Exam. So far the Classes that were confirmed while showcasing Edelgard getting her Minor in Brigand were Mercenary (Sword Focus), Thief (seems to be specializing in Hand-to-Hand Combat this Game), Knight (Lance + Heavy Armor), Cavalier (Riding and I assume also Lance), Brigand (C or higher in Axe Wielding), Archer (Bow), Mage (Reason) and Priest (Faith); And I wouldn't be surprised if the option after the dotted line below Priest was gonna be a Flying Class like Pegasus Knight or something. Other than that, all the students (or at least the first ones the Avatar has to tutor) also seem to have a headstart D rank on a weapon skill (examples being Dorothea and her D in Reason or Lindhart and his D in Faith) which you can either take advantage or ignore depending on your stance on Flexible Reclassing.

Alright , I think I can see a problem: When I think of magenta, I think in how warmer it looks in the CMYK model, which underplays its purple undertones... That said, now I notice with your example image that Edel's Portrait hints at Magenta without using the exact hue: Soft Red Cape, Lavender Eyes, Purple Ribbons...

To be fair, Edelgard does wear something between a very deep hue of Magenta or a very soft Wine Red... That said, I'm very okay with the next entry taking a more subdued approach to the designs. I still have yet to see how the artist renders a rugged character, though...

I'm also seeing a lot of prominence of Flower motifs among the background lore to think it's coincidental... I'm seriously considering the possibility that the Flower Crest is gonna be heavily linked to the Fire Emblem in a Ignis way...

Well, the Crest does look like a Blossom, hence why I'm wavering between Edelgard being the Flower or Wind representative (and it doesn't help cultural evidence points to Wind being a better fit for a Wildcard element like the Avatar)... It still doesn't discount the possibility of the Flower Crest doubling as the Fire Emblem and the Fresbelgr/Hresvelgr's Coat of Arm referring the Wind Bird even if they don't hold the matching Crest.

The Japanese title certainly reminds me of 風花月鳥 (Fuuka Gecchou), which is a famous poetic shorthand for "All the Beautiful Things in Nature" with "Birds" taking "Snow"'s place ... That said, now that you point it, I can see the motif of Moon and Snow on Regan and Bladdad respectively, but Fresbelgr/Hresvelgr can go for either for either Wind or Flower; And to be honest, I'm kinda leaning for Hresvelgr being Wind for Mythological reasons and because that leaves Flower as the House-independent Motif and the most likely to be McGuffin'd because 花 being written as "ka" makes it a homophone to 火 (Fire) and thus making the Flower Crest FE16's most likely instance of the Fire Emblem... (which would not surprise me considering IS loves to draw parallels between Blooms and Flames each time they've rendered Ignis)

And I'll be disappointed if there are no pirate archers in the Brigit Archipelago.

Thankfully, I can. The most important thing to know now is that the Three Main Nations the game is getting its name for are Adrastea, Leicester and Fergus, with the first one being implied as the one Edelgard comes from.

So far, my ballot consists of: Hector L'arachel Tibarn Niime Maribelle Canas [Open Slot, for I'm undecided]

I might probably try a summoning session despite the Bait Banner Vibes I'm receiving, but I'll be avoiding Red like the plague because I already got all its Featured Heroes. Any hero from the other colors would be welcome, but honestly I'm more interested on what the New Year Banner might bring.

I'm so glad I waited after doing some pulls to pick my free Brave (Ike), because I managed to get B. Roy (+ATK/-HP, 4th in a Full 5 pulls), B. Lucina (+SPD/-HP, 3rd in 4 Pulls) and FREAKING B. Lyn (+ATK/-HP, Single Pull through Colorless Hell) in just three summoning sessions. I'm never gonna get this lucky in a long time. EDIT: And also a -ATK/+RES Boey before Lucina because the RNGodess loved to mess around.

From all the tries I have to do in both Lunatic and Infernal: South Legion spawns at the end of the enemy phase after you defeated the Blue Mage Cavalier in the East Corridor North Legion does the same, but with the Red Mage's death as his trigger If you defeat the East Legion, a Blue Mage will spawn in the South of the Map If you defeat the West Legion, you will have to deal with Blue Cavalier appearing North. The Red Cavalier and the Other Blue Mage Cavalier are Timed additions to Infernal.

Holy Sweetness, I basically learned to Speed-Chess with the Infernal. Winning Team consisted of 5* Camus (Gradivus, Swap, Draconic Aura, QR2, Goad Cav., Spur Def1 Seal), 4* Xander (Silver, Blazing Light, Armor. Blow2, Axebreaker2, Spur Cav.), 4* Cecilia (Raven, Glacies, Esc. Route 3) and 4 * Clarine (Rehab., Hone Cav. that was only useful fighting non-Legion units) The Starting Attack Position was to park a Honed Cecilia in the NE fort tile in the middle of the map to bait the Archer and the B. Tome MageKnight, park Camus in the SW fort tile to bait the Red Mage and provide the Goad Bonus to Cecilia, park Clarine one Tile south of Camus to make the Legions only focus on breaking the Walls at the South row of the fort tiles park Xander in SE fort tile because thanks to the Legion on the other side of the wall it ironically is the only spot he can provide Cecilia of the Spur bonus needed to survive the Archer without being worrying of the Blue Mage. The turn ended with the Archer and the the Red Mage dead while the Blue Mage survived and the North Legion spawned. Second Turn consisted of only moving Camus (a tile south of Xander) and Clarine (Away from the West Legion's attack but not next to the other Cavalry units because the North Legion's Panic Ploy): Cecilia is safe in her spot after finishing the Blue Mage and Xander is in the Spot to clash with both East and West Legions (which thanks to Camus' Spur Def and the fort tile, he can tank it with 0 Dmg.) . The South Legion spawned while the North one broke the wall tile closest to Cecilia. Then after Xander used his Special to slay the East Legion (Because Reprisal being Ready means he should not be alive for the next Enemy Phase), all the other units focused in running away from the Legions' attacks: with Camus (still providing the Spur Bonus to Xander) and Cecilia gunning for the East Corridor while Clarine goes for the one safe spot in the West Corridor. All the Legions should only attack Xander for no Damage and the West Legion being the Turn's casualty. The Blue Mage and the Red Cavalier spawned south. This was the turn where Escape Route shone: Cecilia was until now in a critical state with the damage she had to tank from the Archer in the first turn and the West Legion's Savage Blow on the second, so could she could warp one tile North Tile of Clarine to be healed and to Bait the Blue Mage without worrying about the Red Cavalier. Camus should bait the Red Cavalier without attracting the Mage or the Legions while Xander gets into the East Corridor to finish both remaining Legions. The Blue Mage survived the end of the turn while a Blue Cavalier and Blue MageKnight spawned north. After that, all I had to do was to slay the injured Mage, regroup and heal everyone at the South, then going back to the Center to finish the battle by sending Camus to joust with the Cavalier while Cecilia and Xander took care of the Tome user.