egobarrier

I can't speak for any others, but in my case it's a matter of storytelling. Sure, it's possible Kamui was an infant/toddler when it went down. But what good would that do for the story? The whole point of Nohr vs Hoshido is being caught between 2 families at war. If Kamui was never even old enough to have memories of his Hoshido siblings it shouldn't be up for debate; no matter how those first 6 chapters go I have trouble believing they could realistically convince Kamui that a few people s/he shares DNA with are more important than the family s/he's been raised with since infancy. It goes the other way too; Ryouma and maybe Hinoka could possibly remember Kamui, but why should Takumi or Sakura care? Whereas if Kamui was in the 5-8 range things are just more interesting. Memories of training with Marx are countered with memories of learning from Ryouma, Elise and Sakura both looked up to Big Brother/Sister Kamui, etc. It's better narratively if Kamui has actual memories of Hoshido (even if they're suppressed until actual being reunited or something), and being kidnapped as a toddler doesn't accomodate that. It certainly could have happened that way, but it's wasted potential if it did.

I meant "serve in battle." Since you seemingly only have 1 of Joker or Felicia to start with I see no reason for another maid to be an early party member

Well these are royals we're talking about. They probably all have more than 2 servants, not to mention general servants that serve everyone. But even if she serves Kamui specifically I assume it won't be until later in the game. The idea would be each royal starting with a pair, Gunther and Felicia/Joker in Kamui's case.

Well, technically the whole army is under Kamui after they join, so counting everyone that doesn't have a liege of their own seems a little silly. And even Cyrus feels like he's joining out of friendship rather than being a servant. I'd say Gunther and Felicia/Joker fit the 2-servant paradigm just fine. I wonder if Aqua has any retainers or if she was just treated as a political prisoner.

Am I the only one that will wait until chapter 6 to decide?

I kind of want to pair Felicia and Joker just to see if they relish the thought of serving Kamui together for the rest of their days, maybe even getting a paired ending mentioning that their descendents served House Whatever for generations. Hopefully whoever you don't bring with you joins up later, at least in one path.

Ideally clans would be one element that plays into your choices. Like, maybe at some point during the Hoshido campaign Nohr will be attacking both the Fire and Wind clans and you have to choose which one to assist, which affects recruitable characters (Rinka vs Tsukuyomi) and the next few chapter maps (kind of like Ilia vs Sacae in FE6). And I'm sure at least one clan will go rogue so you have some Hoshidan units to fight.

That's not comparison, that's contrast (which is technically a type of comparison so I probably should have been explicit in what I meant). As in I think he would use "yori" if Takumi praised Kamui and "yorimo" if he didn't.

Hmm...Using "yorimo" over "yori" is an odd choice if they're going for comparison, and "yokatta yokatta" I generally see for relief or assurance (I'd expect something more like "suge-!" for exclamatory praise). I guess it's possible though.

Is Hinata saying "You seem like a good person despite what Lord Takumi was saying. That's a relief."? Come on Takumi, distrust is one thing, but there's no reason for slander.

Oboro's VA is mostly female characters, if it helps. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nozomi_Sasaki_%28voice_actress%29

Vincent, the write-up says Felicia can change to a "Great" Hero rather than "Brave." Might want to fix that.

Looking at the ones we have bios for, I guess Joker amuses me the most among the non-royals. I hope his Avatar-only mindset is played for laughs ("Your food? I've already given it to Master Kamui......I don't know, go scavenge the forest for mushrooms or something. Not my problem."). I already know I'm going to love or hate blondie, no in-between. For royalty, Aqua interests me the most given her plot relevance and general situation, and in turn the ways they could go with her. But at the same time she seems a little too perfect right now, and if she's going to be a plot-central character she really needs a dynamic personality of her own (doesn't help that right now I don't care for her sprite). Hopefully she has one; I like her so far, I'd like to keep it that way,

Visual aid: http://i.imgur.com/80bznP4.png

I'm looking forward to all of it of course. Story, gameplay, characters, getting to actually use my Japanese at length for the first time since Awakening, you name it. If I had to pick just one...probably the supports. I imagine I'll miss the finer points of the story, but I expect the supports to be translated on the forums while I sit here wanting to help but lack the self-confidence to contribute.

I'm not hard to please. I have definite preferences regarding many aspects of the series, but I'm generally accepting even when things don't go the way I'd like. I don't consider any of my worst fears (like a return to FE10's soulless Support system) realistic, so I'm sure to enjoy this game no matter how many flaws it has. My only real concern is that it won't sell well and jeopardize the series at large, and even then, Awakening sold well enough that FE15 should be assured regardless.

The release date has been pushed up a month. Like many I'd most like some Supports info, both as a support junkie and just so everyone can stop asking if they can romance Camilla/Marx/whoever (Personally I'd prefer no S supports amongst the royals beyond KamuiXAqua, but whatever the answer the sooner it's given the better). Specifically: Are A-supports unlimited? Are S-supports returning? Are supports (generally) identical for both paths for multi-route party members? How many supports are we looking at, both for Kamui and for the rest of the cast? How far do Kamui's sibling supports extend (Aqua's too for that matter)? How do the levels affect the paired stances? Sadly, I think they'll sit on that for another week in favor of gameplay, so I'd settle for class and skills info. What new classes are there? What do they promote to/from? What does each class wield? What is a Revenant Knight? Which classes are Nohrian and which are Hoshidan? Are there special weapon restrictions (e.g. only Archers wield Longbows, or only Nohr/Hoshido classes wield Swords/Katanas)? Is branched promotion returning? If so, do any Hoshido and Nohr classes share a promoted class? Is Maid/Butler promoted or special? Is Class Changing back, and how does it work? Is the class skill system the same as Awakening? What are some of the new skills? Are the larger skill slots personal skills, and if so are they generally unique skills (ie. Dragon's Vein) or just otherwise unavailable to the character's class set (ie Sol on a unit that can't be a (Brave) Hero)? Can any skills be added and/or removed with scrolls? No matter what the focus is I'd expect some more character profiles. Can't say I'd be displeased with anyone, but if I had to pick, Oboro to clear up his/her gender, the Queen so I can stop calling her "the Queen," and the cavalier so I can see if she really has cotton candy hair.

Oh god I hope not. Reflet-->Robin was fine since it was changing a made-up western name to a legitimate one that actual westerners could get behind, but Kamui having a Hoshidan (Japanese) name is relevant to the plot. Changing it to Kelsey (or any other Western name) would feel like one of those "What if 4kids dubbed ___?" jokes.

Hoshido: Hoshido is victorious, Garon and Marx at mimimum are unavoidably dead, possibly more. Player choices determine which if any Nohrian royals are still alive; if no one, Kamui assumes the throne and swears to lead Nohr to peaceful prosperity as the only thing he can do to make up for cutting down his family with his own hands. Otherwise he works tirelessly as a liason between the countries for the same reason. Bonus points if the Queen turned agressive somewhere and could be put down. Nohr: Garon is dead. Marx takes the throne. Hoshido was ravaged while you had your little civil war; Ryouma and the Queen are dead. Depending on player actions Hinoka may be likewise; if not, there is hope for peace, and Kamui works tirelessly to make it happen; if so, Takumi is next in line and the outlook isn't promising. 3rd Option: After a series of unfortunate events that leads to both armies battered but somehow doesn't kill anyone recruitable (because hey, "contrivances") everyone fights resurrected dragons that in hindsight never should have been worshipped in the first place. In the end Kamui and Aqua kill/banish everything, the royal families lose their draconic privileges, the floating islands cease floating and everyone has to come together to find a new way of life in a changed world. Except Kamui, who for no adequately explained reason goes off on a journey and is never seen again. All of the above: Real character endings for everyone, no insert-name-here BS like Robin's spouse in Awakening.

Isn't it just better/different stats/skills? http://fecipher.jp/img/cipher_img07.jpg

Hmm, that depends on how much utility Thieves have in this game. With stealing gone in Awakening they were just glorified lockpicks, and if it's the same here all we'd really need is one Nohrian Thief that will follow you in either route; since enemy Thieves are often unassociated with the group you are fighting their country wouldn't matter. On that note, we haven't seen any Nohr bow-users except Thief, right? I assumed they were filling the bow infantry niche on the Nohr side since Hoshido got the Archers (whereas Hoshido really wouldn't need a sword Thief since they have Myrmidons). In any event if Hoshido got an Assassin-ish class that wasn't actually the game's Assassin class then we still wouldn't have Shinobi class-up to Assassin, so I suppose it's moot.

I share the belief that Maid/Butler does not promote. Demon Fighter for Shinobi sounds plausible, but I don't think it would get tomes. 3 weapons, one of them magic was fine for a DLC class, but feels too OP for a standard unit unless it comes with some drawback. As for Shinobi-->Assassin, the problem is that it would leave Thieves high and dry. I haven't seen it mentioned too much, but by all appearances the game has taken pains to split all classes between Nohr and Hoshido. It's why we're seeing so many name changes like "Pegasus Warrior" and "Brave Hero" even though the classes themselves appear unchanged; in previous games whether a class name was English or Japanese didn't matter, but for this game Nohr classes are in English and Hoshido classes Japanese, and they've renamed classes that have been around since FE1 just to accomodate that. With that in mind I can't see Thief and Shinobi sharing a promotion, and between Thief losing Assassin or Shinobi promoting to something else I find the latter more likely.

Considering Aqua says "...だった" complete with ellipsis, I'd say she was emphasizing she was the princess of Nohr. Otherwise nice work, thanks.

Well, he's literally saying "group which contains my elder brother" because that's how Japanese does things. So long as Marx is present Kamui's gender is irrelevant.

Is he really saying "your" there? The impression I got was more "Honestly brothers, strength is more than just swordsmanship." As in he may be more praising himself than them. But I am pretty rusty, so please correct me if I'm missing something. Definitely curious about who Takumi is referring to, specifically if it's Aqua.