tipperthescales

For a moment I mistakenly thought I could add a poll to this topic; whoops... I do wonder what the 2300 EDT update will be, if anything of note. Not expecting an update at 0500 EDT if the trailer will be at 1000 EDT like last week. I guess I'll ask everyone about their favoured Personal Skills in the Character Trailers topic once the next video is up. ~~~ Given that I expect the last major info dump to happen at the 3-4 week mark (sort of coinciding with erstwhile-E3 slot), I'm expecting the next few weeks to have trailers as well. Don't really think there's all that much to stall on anymore (unless we start analysing the different coloured pots on the maps...)

Well, this is a rather underwhelming close to the Lions' personals. We don't see the impact effect of freezing air in the trailer since either Ingrid cancels her aerial C1 dive into a slash, or that attack at ground level doesn't launch strongly enough. As people have already noticed, as she starts the dive there's the ice effect, so maybe that requires an early hit on an airborne juggled opponent to trigger freeze. As for practical applications...? If they're making peg knights less momentum based, one would think their rapid positional changes would go against being able to lock enemies in place / go for a concentrated crowd clear, but there's really insufficient video footage to say...

For what it’s worth, I think that a game mostly outside the monastery would probably not use the Beginner classes (the leaders probably just a have the Noble class that’s then assigned their preferred weapon class). Honestly they’d probably still go for an incremental class change like OG FEW, but that might mean certain Master classes require training in multiple class trees (e.g. Cav/Paladin + Armor/Fortress Knight for Great Knight etc.), though obviously that’s make it rough for character who don’t do well in some of these requisite classes. Dancer I’m honestly not too sure on.

Does Mercenary have the same stance in game as Swordmaster? My poor memory tells me they don't. One would think by past FE convention that Myrmidon -> Swordmaster and Mercenary -> Hero, but of course 3H has them as Myrm (Beginner) -> Merc (Intermediate) -> SM or Hero (both Advanced). Unless they're pushing for Mortal Savant as the promoted SM, and Hero as the promoted Merc... Not sure how Savant would particularly deviate from SM in terms of core moveset unless there's magic enhanced range of attacks on certain moves, I guess...

A pretty straightforward, yet still quite potent personal skill here. Given the cav mobility + already solid range on the lance moveset, buffing its damage output and range (I think this is indicated by the lance effects turning vermilion as opposed to the orange it starts out with) will only serve to make him an excellent all around unit (and if weapons can have that sort of buff-per-100 kills effect, this will make Sylvain snowball hard). Dashing mashed-C1 meta? /s I suspect that the powered up state is time dependent, since after C5 the lance still has a vermilion glow; and it might be my eyes, but the orange at the beginning of Sylvain's section looks a touch more intense than just after his dash forward musou...?

Two big things here: - it's quite probable that the wind imbued magic orbs (green and have the wind blade visual effect) Annette casts before her not-musou not-Excalibur (three converging tornadoes) charge attack are as a result of her self buff. - I think the music notes are the visual cue for the buff being in effect. I don't think it appears in her musous (assuming the Bolt Axe is a musou - second for Mage or otherwise - and also the particles near her during the musou not-Excalibur [tall cinematic tornado] appear a bit too spherical), but they seem to be able to persist through her charge attacks (see her not-Bolganone). Quite a cute reference to her large pool of rally skills - I guess I should just call this the Rally buff then, lol She also has a crest of Dominic appear in her casting circles, which is an added touch compared with base 3H. Speculation: - I'm not sure if her allies would also have music notes on them if they are in her personal Rally zone or not. I'd at least expect some sort of HUD indicator to identify what buff is in effect however... - would the Rally buff be on timer, or deactivated on taking damage / using musou / some other arbitrary condition? The music notes seem to disappear as her not-Excalibur charge attack finishes. - If she's able to use her Rally personal outside of Mage, it begs the question: are C1s character and class dependent (e.g. you can't get Felix to have flash step on Brawler), or would they be just character dependent (in which case it very well could be input with ZR or a similar Unique Action input)? - critical... rate? The choice of wording (at least in English translation, but DeepL and Google both call クリティカル率 "critical rate") does feel like it's suggesting the WPG may not quite return in the way we're used to (if at all)...

The old stalling images from Feb/Mar are honestly now consolidated with the profiles / skill and class descriptions, so I'd be shocked if we didn't get Friday trailers. And if we're anticipating a demo, 2 weeks is cutting it a bit thin.

I'm actually kinda wondering if Ignatz goes Thief / Assassin (though this depends if they give this or Wyvern to Petra), given that Claude kinda fills the 'default' archer slot for the house? I think Ashe's design in the context of him training as a squire makes the plate mail bulkiness a bit more logical (definitely not very sleek for him as an archer though, lol), and not really too fussed about his leather overleggings (too long and they'll be a trip hazard, not that Felix got the memo with his Rodrigue cape, lol).

For the record, Poe leans towards 3H Faith in many of her Cipher cards (but also has GBA Troubadour / Valkyrie, and 3H Noble and Gremory), which might make her overlap her niche with Constance and Hapi a bit. Of the four later Cipher OCs, Valjean would offer the most potential variety for Wolves (as an armoured class); Alice has a magic (faith / light) / mounted preference and thus also overlaps a bit, and Niamh is mixed physical sword / lance / magic so could provide some house variety. I don't have a solid read on the Wolves as of now, but I would be extremely surprised if they missed out on appearing (DLC or otherwise).

Just as I was about to lament the double post as well, haha~ Good observation with Healing, though Mysterious Mercenary's trailer with Monica having a Heal command despite carrying Wind God's Genesis, for general healing at least, to me means one of: 1) the Healing spells are tied to Combat Arts; 2) Magic using classes have stocks of healing; 3) Healing is determined by the number of vulnerary stocks (but this probably still falls under equipment...) === The trailer seems to pose this wind field as either a C1 or a character unique command skill (though I don't think it makes sense as a combat art to be honest). I think the main deal breaker here is if the field has persistent effects (i.e. enemies who enter the field after it's set also get launched up and juggled). === I did actually have some scattered thoughts about the claims some people make about movesets being too similar to FEW; in the case of Archer: - I think the spinning bow swing attack is either N3 or N4 (compared with FEW's spinning 5 shot N4), and it's actually preceded by a different N2 or N3 - a standing 5 shot attack as opposed to a standing 3 shot attack (FEW N2) or crouching 4 shot attack (FEW N3). - The following N4 or N5 anchors Ashe to the ground and he fires true in a forward fan, compared with the upward shots in DEW's N6. I do wonder why Ashe has a reasonably grounded set of bow attacks if his personal promotes air juggling though... The shots that open and close Ashe's section do feel like part of the same musou (except for maybe the aerial final shot??).

In a blink and you'll miss it moment, the Japanese Twitter had to delete and re-post Mercie's second tweet due to forgetting to attach the images. I'm not sure if the ally healing here is a Priest or Mercedes specific skill, but in either case it does bring to mind Mipha and her ally healing ability. Whether it's restricted to musous or if charge attacks can also grant this healing... Addit - some replies to the Japanese tweet also call to attention Zelda (presumable Bow of Light), which would be a reasonable comment from a visual perspective, but we do need to take into account that what we've seen so far doesn't quite resemble a binding / locking down playstyle nor luminescent mode. I wonder if the light ring that sometimes appears around Mercie indicates a move that can cast AOE healing zones, though both instances we see it relate to a Cx move (what could be C5, and C6; with the C5, R3 seems to be the trigger for the rings to appear as the first pose doesn't feel very R1 like at all).

Made a slight title update and added a poll. I'm probably going to reserve this topic for the other update videos as well when they come out in the coming weeks (updating the polls accordingly). On the note of maps: their structure at first glance does appear to be that of the first FEW (with the outposts and fort arrangements), but I would prefer some maps to be a bit organic with their topography. It's been a while but I do feel like some sections in the Dark Castle in FEW had some readability issues in game itself when I compare it to how the map layout was meant to be. I do have additional thoughts on a few things seen in the trailer, but I may divide my analysis between Character Bios and here depending on if the observations are character related or not.

From Trailer 2 we know Garreg Mach and Riegan seem to be major battlegrounds, plus we also have Derdriu and Fort Merceus, plus Garreg Mach outskirts inferred. I'd imagine Myrddin is also a likely battleground for its tactical value; and this only covers the eastern part of the country. I'm not super worried at the moment and assuming all major battle missions have unique maps, then the count is probably sizeably decent...

Interestingly, the Japanese site orders the Lions as Dimitri / Dedue / Felix / Mercedes / Ashe / Annette / Sylvain / Ingrid (which is also their website code number when you Inspect Element, and also the order displayed on the Japanese FE3H page). This is almost the trailer order (Felix is pushed to midpoint as a stinger for the trailer), but it varies quite differently from 3H's internal order (Dimitri / Dedue / Felix / Ashe / Sylvain / Mercedes / Annette / Ingrid). I'm honestly expecting Mercedes next, but they could easily throw a curveball with one of the remaining Faerghus Four or even Ashe. === Of real interest however is when we get to the Deer - internally that order is Claude / Lorenz / Raphael / Ignatz / Lysithea / Marianne / Hilda / Leonie, but the Japanese 3H site order is Claude / Lorenz / Hilda / Raphael / Lysithea / Ignatz / Marianne / Leonie... I'd hazard a guess and say that Lorenz and Hilda, Raphael and Lysithea, and Ignatz and Marianne swap positions to have an MFMFMFMF pattern, but patterns are made to be broken, so...

Welp, I guess we are expecting the next video on Friday again given the timing of today's posts. I think we can see Felix's flash step just after his launching Fraldarius boosted slash, where after R2 he shifts left / leaves an afterimage and gains the aura, then does R1->R2. (Not like there's ever a reason not to dodge / dash when you're moving from battlefield to battlefield, lol)

Viewing Trailer 2's scene with Dimitri's facial reaction would make a lot of sense here; Felix willing to offer his support despite everything that presumably still festers beneath the surface between these two would surely give Dimitri some sort of pause. ~~~ Oh, basically confirmed if the image pairing posted on Reddit is anything to go by:

They actually added some portraits for Shez / Shez / Arval as well. Looking at Sylvain's set, I can't help but feel there's a trace of Miklan coming through - which is the sort of irony I love with these designs (someone else pointed out the Felix imitating Rodrigue, and Dimitri obviously mirrors Lambert).

I feel like they may have led with Faerghus due to (1) the historical Dimitri favouritism in Japan - don't know how much that applies nowadays; (2) they're the most 'traditional' FE class group weapon choice wise. Also just noticed the pin on Annette's cap is a stylised Dominic crest, that's cute

The Deer are here for the week. Twitter YouTube ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Adrestian Empire Twitter YouTube ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Holy Kingdom of Faerghus Twitter YouTube ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Special Profile Images Empire Kingdom Alliance Faction Intros

...does no-one find it odd that Shez is single hand wielding in the 2nd and 3rd screens there (and particularly, their relic wing sword is missing)? Thank goodness his neon purple hair's been toned down for now Also, taking a look at the enemy fodder, the armour doesn't quite match up with Adrestia, and it's also too golden to be Church. Is this a new faction or just organised bandits...?

Oh right, Dimitri: === On the theme of the current tweets, I went back and quickly looked at the Famitsu scans and ran the Personal skills of Hubert / Dedue / Hilda through DeepL/Google: Hubert Dedue Hilda

To be honest, I think because the Twitter has subverted what I expected of the stalling images (of the retainers) appearing here with these recent [Unit x Class] posts, that we may be in for something either new, or some other type of stalling come Friday. It'd be a bit odd if we didn't get Dimitri x Great Lord / Dedue x Armour Knight today, then Claude x Wyvern Master / Hilda x Brigand tomorrow (going by JPN times); but that's not saying anything about classes beyond that unless we see Shez mess around in them afterwards (or a character / class showcase video).

Surprised by both the continued two-posts-per-day and some actual newish information for once: A: Edelgard B. Hubert

The equippable magic functions as active skills but I'm sure tome movesets will still be their own thing; which makes me wonder does that mean classes that don't usually allow magic use have the same restriction? If so we may have just soft confirmed Fluegel as a magic using class... Also KT continues to be coy about what the mechanics of durability actually are... I wonder how this line was written in Japanese. On a separate note (since I think the situation won't really play out in this game except for Byleth), who in the 3H cast (within 3H itself, not W3H as we know) would qualify as Lu Bu expies? I'd feel like the closest are Death Knight and Feral Dimitri, and those possibly at a Lu Bu power level but not necessarily thematically: Byleth / maybe Emperor Edelgard / Seiros / ?Nemesis ...?

Honestly, the fact that the tweet actually introduces information that wouldn't be easy to immediately gleam (refer to the embedded tweet translation) is potentially a positive sign for things coming up. (Others elsewhere have speculated that this may be a point against WPG, which I think is too early to call...) I expect the next tweet to talk about Adjutant Partner Specials, in any case.