Famitsu interview - FULL VERSION (with new screenshots!)

[Kaplan]

Since the butler class, and I'm assuming maid too, can reclass to strategist/valkyrie and they have the troubadour class skills can we assume butlers and maids have replaced war monks and war clerics?

Also 2 class trees instead of 3 and parallel reclassing instead of infinite levelling makes sense for a game with limited grinding opportunities. We must be able to reset levels some how since how else would be fill 6 skill slots?

I really hope we get an in depth view into class and skill mechanics soon It's interesting to see how much has been changed since Awakening.

[nhaer042]

What class is Oboro?

[Kaplan]

What class is Oboro?

Serenes class page says lancer.

[Missiletainn]

What class is Oboro?

Lance Fighter, apparently. Seems to be the Hoshidan's foot solider at a guess.

[NeonZ]

I would love this but I kinda of doubt it will happen I feel they will likely keep the class system similar to awakening

There's one extra skill slot, but there seems to be less base classes per character, and also the possibility of reclassing without reseting the level. I really think a third tier is looking likely now, otherwise why raise the number of skill slots if they're actually reducing the skill pool?

Butler and likely maids being pre-promoted classes also seem kind of odd, but could be explained by a third tier.

Edited May 25, 2015 by NeonZ

[NekoKnight]

The first trailer showed a playable Swordmaster and boss Paladin on the bridge map. I'd imagine they're only playable on that map for plot purpose and disappear until a later point.

This is my thought. Marx and Ryoma are being hyped up as late game bosses, so there is no way they would just have them be low level prepromotes, recruited (for good) as early as chapter 6. The same could be said for the other main characters who show up in those chapters. I predict Camila/Hinoka and Elise/Sakura will be recruited fairly early on but the brothers will be saved for later. Evidence: we've seen the sisters in other screenshots (besides chapter 6) but none for any of the brothers.

It could be they're made to carry us through the first 6 chapters but we suddenly lose them for quite a while after we make our choice. Get a few easy levels to get acclimated to our chosen side and level up some folks of our own choosing.

I can see this happening. Like the above, a number of powerful characters might stay out of your party for a length of the story before joining up again.

[Wayward Alchemist]

Marx and Ryoma are being hyped up as late game bosses

Marx's boss fight chapter in Hoshido has to be called "Mad Marx".

[Ryo]

This is my thought. Marx and Ryoma are being hyped up as late game bosses, so there is no way they would just have them be low level prepromotes, recruited (for good) as early as chapter 6. The same could be said for the other main characters who show up in those chapters. I predict Camila/Hinoka and Elise/Sakura will be recruited fairly early on but the brothers will be saved for later. Evidence: we've seen the sisters in other screenshots (besides chapter 6) but none for any of the brothers.

Yeah there's a scene (after the route split) where Orochi explicitly said that something's happening to the brothers at the border.

[VincentASM]

Nice early surprise XD

I'm too busy to check the full interview right now, but I was just thinking... I wonder how promotions/reclassing works in the grand scheme of things?

From Joker's reclassing screen, it looks like he has access to Cavalier -> Paladin/Great Knight and Rod Knight -> Butler/Strategist.

So do characters only have 2 base classes? Instead of 3. Would fit into the "choosing one of two sides" theme, I guess.

[NekoKnight]

Marx's boss fight chapter in Hoshido has to be called "Mad Marx".

Yes...YES! This man is saying what everyone is thinking!

JothTheConqueror for President 2016

[Kaplan]

If rod knights can promote to butlers/maids does that mean Elise, princess of Nohr, could become a maid?

Doesn't seem a class befitting royalty. I'm definitely making her a valkyrie.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Kaplan

[Fei Mao]

Also the interview appears to have confirmed that Attack Stance and Guard Stance will have 100% activation rate supposing that the required conditions are met. But take this with a grain of salt until a more experienced translator's doubled checked this.

You are correct that it will be 100% activation, the enemies can also utilize Guard Stance at 100% rate (I think) but they cannot use Attack Stance so no need to worry about the enemy doing double attacks.

Some other stuff if it helps: (Not 100% sure on some translations.)

- Main character and Aqua can utilize their dragon vein ability to change the map terrain. Examples given are: you can change desert into plains and can eliminate sea terrain thus making it into land. Terrain changes are based on the map, and according to the interview there are also no advantage or disadvantage when utilizing the ability because the developer wants you to have fun developing your strategy.

-There wll be enemy units that can utilize the ability also.

-Pegasus Knights are unisex, and the promotion is called Pegasus Warrior and their secondary weapon is bow.

[Ryo]

You are correct that it will be 100% activation, the enemies can also utilize Guard Stance at 100% rate (I think) but they cannot use Attack Stance so no need to worry about the enemy doing double attacks.

But there're multiple images showing that enemies can use Attack Stance. Or did they mean that they cannot use Attack Stance while using Guard Stance, because that makes more sense and is consistent with player units.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Ryo

[Paperblade]

Does anybody know why one of the skills is highlighted in the status screen?

Can't be sure, it's most likely a personal skill for the unit or something

[NekoKnight]

-Pegasus Knights are unisex, and the promotion is called Pegasus Warrior and their secondary weapon is bow.

Edited May 25, 2015 by NekoKnight

[Bovinian]

My question is, if this is true and level determines what skill you get in a class. Does this mean if you parallel seal too late into another class do you miss that skill?

Also 2 class trees instead of 3 and parallel reclassing instead of infinite levelling makes sense for a game with limited grinding opportunities. We must be able to reset levels some how since how else would be fill 6 skill slots?

Not sure how plausible this is, but maybe IS will implement something like Heart Scales in Pokemon that lets you pick up a missed skill from a class you parallel changed into.

Either that, or skill scrolls?

EDIT: Joker's first skill looks a lot like a recolored version of Bane/Lethality o_o

Edited May 25, 2015 by Bovinian

[VincentASM]

If rod knights can promote to butlers/maids does that mean Elise, princess of Nohr, could become a maid?

Doesn't seem a class befitting royalty. I'm definitely making her a valkyrie.

Possible.

Strategist really looks like a Rod Knight promotion; it uses magic and staves, complimenting the staves.

Also, it's funny how it's got a very similar description to the Tactician/Grandmaster class, with its ability to "command battlefields" and "turn the tides of battle" (just fancy speak).

[Fei Mao]

But there're multiple images showing that enemies can use Attack Stance.

Then I must've translated it incorrectly, so I apologize for that. If anyone else wants to try translating it heres the quote.

[攻陣と防陣は、条件を満たせば100％発動します。敵も同様です。攻陣を使えば火力は上がりますが、敵の集中攻撃を受けてしまうとなすすべもありません。敵に集中攻撃を受けそうなターンは防陣を使って耐えるなど、臨機応変に攻陣と防陣を使い分けていただきたいですね.]

[Inquisitor Lavellan]

-Pegasus Knights are unisex, and the promotion is called Pegasus Warrior and their secondary weapon is bow.

So Takumi and now possibly Hinoka(she is a Pegasus Warrior right?) start as bow-users and Sakura seemingly promotes in to one if her TCG art is her promotion. That means 3/4 of the siblings on one side use bows.

And then on the Nohr side we have Leon using magic right off the bat and Elise most likely promoting to a magic-using class based off the TCG art, which makes me think Camilla will use magic just for symmetry.

[VincentASM]

Then I must've translated it incorrectly, so I apologize for that. If anyone else wants to try translating it heres the quote.

[攻陣と防陣は、条件を満たせば100％発動します。敵も同様です。攻陣を使えば火力は上がりますが、敵の集中攻撃を受けてしまうとなすすべもありません。敵に集中攻撃を受けそうなターンは防陣を使って耐えるなど、臨機応変に攻陣と防陣を使い分けていただきたいですね.]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's saying along the lines of "Attack Stance is great for boosting your offence, but it's no good if you get overwhelmed by enemies. So there might be times when you'd rather use Guard Stance to withstand the enemies' attacks; and other situations where you'd need to quickly change your tactics to use a particular stance (Attack or Guard)."

EDIT

Haha, you can still lose in Phoenix Mode, if it wasn't obvious. If chapters have complex victory conditions, like get to X in Y turns, you can still get a Game Over if you fail the conditions.

Edited May 25, 2015 by VincentASM

[Jagged Jagen]

The Pegasus Warrior Info is Interesting, but I wonder if later promotions are gender locked or not (Revenant for Female, Falcon for Male) and secondary weapons, bows. Wow! Also, you CAN lose on Phoenix mode... good.

However, this new reclass info confuses me. It's effectively the amalgamation of the SD and Awakening systems with 2 class tress as opposed to 3. right? Like in SD, you don't lose your level. This is good and bad for a game with limited EXP. It's good that you can't reset levels and grind, but I'm curious what's stopping someone from reclassing into a class with higher growth rates, then classing back to base.

[Wayward Alchemist]

The Pegasus Warrior Info is Interesting, but I wonder if later promotions are gender locked or not (Revenant for Female, Falcon for Male) and secondary weapons, bows. Wow! Also, you CAN lose on Phoenix mode... good.

However, this new reclass info confuses me. It's effectively the amalgamation of the SD and Awakening systems with 2 class tress as opposed to 3. right? Like in SD, you don't lose your level. This is good and bad for a game with limited EXP. It's good that you can't reset levels and grind, but I'm curious what's stopping someone from reclassing into a class with higher growth rates, then classing back to base.

I think that Camilla's base class is Wyvern Knight or similar; she is riding a dragon and wields Axes and possibly Tomes, promotion wouldn't make you drop a weapon rank and have to build up two new ones.

[VincentASM]

Apparently Javelins and similar ranged weapons cannot double attack. Presumably this only affects swords, axes and lances, not naturally ranged weapons (like tomes or hidden weapons).

[Jagged Jagen]

Apparently Javelins and similar ranged weapons cannot double attack. Presumably this only affects swords, axes and lances, not naturally ranged weapons (like tomes or hidden weapons).

Makes sense. Where do Levin Swords/Light Brands Lie? They're both magic and sword (at least the light brand is)

Edited May 25, 2015 by DeoGame

[CathGorm]

Since the game is going for symmetry (probably), it would make sense that Camilla would be a promoted unit just like Honika. Does this confirm that Revenant Knights are just promoted Wyvern Knights?