[Anyone feel like Kozaki is the perfect Fire Emblem character designer?]

Whatever else we think of Kozaki and/or the art designer, I doubt they're chasing that many fans away. The armour is goofy, but overall I find the sexualisation to be relatively subtle compared to many other video games. I think the decision to feature Camilla's swaying bust in the trailer cutscene does far more to make this an issue than costume design. (Exactly what effect even that has on fans of various genders and sexualities buying or not buying the game is an interesting question and not one I can answer easily.)

I would imagine that dragons would be even worse, actually, since basically every flap would move them up and they would fall in between. Pegasi canonically fly with magic and not wings, though, so I suppose it could be the smoothest thing in the world.

Well, dragon flight itself is pretty much magical in and of itself. The wverns/dragons we see characters riding in Fire Emblem are already almost certainly more massive than the largest flying creatures that have ever existed in real life. (As are pegasi, for the record, assuming their weight is similar to that of a pony.) It's unlikely that such a creature could possibly exist in a world with earth-like gravity and atmosphere, and if it did there isn't the slightest chance in hell they'd be able to carry an extra 150+ pounds of human and their gear. Magic is pretty much a required explanation.

Honestly, if mounted flight was going to have even a dollop of realism in its armour design, the folks flying them should be wearing the lighest equipment possible (though yes, probably including pants). They should also probably all be very light people: short, skinny, often young.

I'm fairly sympathetic to the argument that it makes sense for mages, myrmidons, etc., to show more skin than cavaliers and armour knights, but flyers should not be grouped in with the latter category.

[Are you going to spoil if for yourself?]

I can't remember the last time I successfully avoided spoiling myself on the list of PCs (which generally isn't too bad but can have unfortunate consequences like knowing that a certain Awakening PC is not in fact dead as the game suggests), so I suspect that'll happen again. I'll certainly try to avoid any major story spoilers though. May or may not succeed, as it's tricky when I have a craving for information about these games...

[Features you want to return/not return in FEif]

My single greatest hope is that they get rid of reinforcements that act first on the enemy turn. Getting shanked by an enemy you couldn't possibly know was going to spawn there is not fun. Preparing for an event which you could not forsee without a guide is not strategy. This goes double if they have weakness-hitting weapons or something, especially with how ridiculous those got in lategame of Awakening. Yes, I know I can play Normal Mode and avoid this, but I just find Normal Mode way too easy.

My hope of this changing is not too high because it's been three games in a row now that they've done this.

Others:

-I hope that supports, romance included do make their return. I hope that the options are more limited than "damn near every character of the opposite gender" as that made many romantic supports feel forced and repetitive. I could do without children, both because I find the eugenics mechanics to be stylistically bizarre and because you very much constrain the types of stories you can write if you insist on having a second generation.

-I'm fine with Pair Up coming back, but let's hope it's more balanced this time. The opportunity cost for pairing up was far too low considering the rewards, while the option to separate came at a turn cost, WTF. I did notice the hit/avo/crit/dodge bonuses seemed lower in the video, so that's a start.

-I'd love to see Shove and Rescue return. They were subtly solid tactical options to consider.

-I'd defenitely prefer more varied map objectives, such as defend/survive chapters.

-Branching promotions are great, keep 'em. I also quite like reclassing, but I won't shed tears if it's gone either.

-I really hope most of Awakening's new classes, particularly ones which gave PCs a use for both Strength and Magic, return. Dark Flier, Falconknight, Trickster, Dark Knight, etc.

[Team Hoshidan or Team Nohr?]

Most of what I've read makes me think I'll prefer Nohr, so I'll probably play as them first.

Mostly I just dig the idea of reforming a corrupt nation from within far more than the "you as good guy country must fight the bad guy country" which Fire Emblem has already trotted out far too many times anyway. That I prefer Nohr's character designs (minus the little sister character), black colour scheme, and the fact that it sounds like a more tightly-bound linear experience is just a bonus.

Obviously I intend to play all available routes, though. I'm much too big a fan of these games to consider not doing so, unless this game drops the ball in a way I can't even begin to anticipate.

[Anyone feel like Kozaki is the perfect Fire Emblem character designer?]

I do think that complaining about bare legs on saddles in a fantasy game is being a bit too picky? Maybe they have a non-chafing materials to make saddles out of, who knows. This goes double for the pegasus/wyvern riders, since I have to imagine the physics of riding a flying creature would be quite different than a ground-based one (it probably lacks the repeated up-and-down motion of being on horseback, at least).

Not that one can't prefer the fully-pantsed designs for other reasons (I tend to myself; I love those FE10 official arts that just got posted!) but honestly I don't think this should be a deal-breaker.

Also if it is indeed the art director who is responsible for all the armour then I must revise my opinion of Kozaki upwards.

[Anyone feel like Kozaki is the perfect Fire Emblem character designer?]

I have mixed feelings. He has a bunch of character designs I quite like (Chrom, Frederick, Basilio, Lucina, Tiki, Cherche... from this game, I quite like Max/Marx, Camilla (despite the questionable armour... see below!), and the blond Nohr mage from what I've seen), but I find many of the supporting characters to have quite generic designs, and I'm not a fan of the palette he tended towards in Awakening (including the relatively bland array of hair colour). And he has serious problems with armour design (if that is him as well?), from the bizarre neck armour on cavaliers to the rotund-looking armour knights to the sculpted breast-armour on many of the female characters.

[Gender-specific classes]

But to be serious, I don't mind gender exclusive classes but at the same time stuff like female fighters (or just even T1 axe users) would be pretty neat. To lock an entire gender out of a weapon choice can be a little bothersome.

This pretty much sums up how I feel. The class restrictions pretty much makes it all but impossible for a female axe-using infantry to exist (the best you can do is a prepromo Hero/War Cleric/etc.) and that feels pretty needless. I had a similar objection to a lack of mounted male mages, but Mage Knight (FE8) and Dark Knight (FE13) did address my concerns there at least... although not the staff part. And male pegasus knights is something I honestly never really thought about much (because wyverns fit such a similar niche mechanically) but I'm excited at the prospect of one anyway.

[Precisely how excited are you for this game?]

I'm excited enough that I made an account here for the first time in like half a decade to post about it.

A new FE is always exciting (and this is only the second truly new game since what, 2007?), and I'm really digging the Nohr/Hoshido setup.