Last week, many media outlets and YouTubers unloaded their previews of Three Houses for eager fans to sink their teeth into. At the time, I was away on a secret mission (trapped in a waterlogged sports building), so I wasn’t able to follow all the coverage. But now that I’m back, let’s get right to it!

There’s no better place to start than the very beginning. If you’re curious, Gamereactor shared the game’s opening movie. Within, there are a mixture of scenes we’ve seen and others that are new. Because there’s a lot to cover, I won’t go through every single scene–just two of the more notable ones.

Around the 0:15 mark, a few crests can be seen flying around. The first three ones are Seiros, Blaiddyd and Riegan (the crests of the three house leaders), then most of the other crests follow. Unless I missed something, a few crests are absent–most notably Gautier, but also Cichol. The final crest is the protagonist’s Crest of Flames.

Later, around the 0:42 mark, there’s a character we haven’t seen before–a bearded, slightly tanned male–riding alongside some soldiers. From his general appearance, especially his dark hair and yellow-ish clothes, some fans suspect that he’s a relative of Claude’s, perhaps his father even?

Moving on, GameXplain uploaded the first cutscene. Unlike recent titles that begin in media res, Three Houses seems to start with the war between Seiros and Nemesis a thousand or so years ago. More precisely, it occurs in the imperial year 91, on the Tailtean Plains, in what is now Faerghus territory.

The battle proceeds like you’d expect, then the game-changing moment occurs. A golden blade–the Sword of Creation–comes flying from the sky, burning the nearby soldiers. The blade was thrown by Nemesis, who comes to retrieve it. Around this time, weird glowing red spots appear throughout the battlefield.

Soon, Nemesis and Seiros come face to face in an epic clash, resulting in Seiros overpowering Nemesis. As she stands above him, she asks if he remembers the Red Canyon. Apparently that’s where Nemesis took everything she loved. Later, she hugs Nemesis’s blade, telling her mother that everything is over. Interestingly, the Red Canyon is the site of a paralogue involving Sothis.

Next, we have the first battle via GameSpot. This is when you and your father’s mercenary group are escorting the three house leaders, when they’re suddenly attacked by thieves led by Kostas. We later find out this attack was orchestrated by the Flame Emperor. Jeralt appears as a Level 3 NPC Paladin on this map. Once the map ends, Kostas presumably runs up to attack Edelgard.

Then this cutscene plays, with the protagonist properly meeting Sothis for the first time. Nintendo Enthusiast has placed the male and female versions side by side, so it’s easier to compare the two. From Sothis’s wording, it sounds like she’s already bonded to the protagonist in some manner. According to what we know, the protagonist often had dreams of Sothis even before this moment.

From here, we have a whole bunch of preview/impression videos, as well as more specific footage from later on in the game. Honestly, I couldn’t really think of a good way to order the rest of the videos, so I didn’t.

In no particular order…

In this video, Nintendo Life offered their thoughts on the game.

Around 1:56, we learn that Jeralt is nicknamed the “Blade Breaker”. We know from his profile that he’s considered one of the strongest knights in history. So it’s not too surprising that he has a nickname.

From 4:14, we can see the player choosing between the three houses. The game helpfully shows the portraits for all the students and includes a short blurb about the house. Manuela and Hanneman are standing to the sides, which could hint that they’ll be the teachers for the two houses you don’t choose (well, somebody has to teach them!).

At 5:10, the player wanders around the monastery on the 27th of the 4th month (the Great Tree Moon). Around 7:04, they speak to a monk who mentions they are two types of crests: major and minor. We already knew the official spelling of “minor crest”, but I believe this is the first time we’ve seen the official spelling of “major crest”.

For your information, “major” and “minor” crests appear to be an allusion to holy blood in Genealogy of the Holy War. In that game, holy blood was also divided into major and minor. That said, in the Japanese version of Genealogy they’re literally “strong” and “weak”. While in the Japanese version of Three Houses, they’re “big” and “small”.

At 8:11, you can see the weekend calendar for 22nd of the 6th month. Curiously, Global Activity is enabled–this compares choices with other players across the world. At the time of writing, this should only be press and people from the development team, etc. Perhaps unsurprisingly, “Explore” is the most popular option by far.

13:50, the player chooses to Auto-Instruct. This expends all 4 activity points and seems to choose 4 possibly random students. For each student, they gain experience points in one of the Skill Levels they have a strength in. So it doesn’t seem too bad of a choice, if you’re lazy or not in the mood.

We already knew this, but around 16:20, there’s confirmation that you cannot interact with dogs (and presumably other animals) in the monastery. Noooooo.

Starting from 17:50, there’s some brief gameplay from a sandy-coloured town or city. 19:00, Hilda masters the Noble class and learns the HP +5 ability. 21:09, they use Divine Pulse to bring back Lysithea. This seems to be the later map with the Death Knight, in the temple-like area with the Western Church soldiers, featured in the recent Famitsu article.

This video features Nintendo Enthusiast‘s impressions of the game.

Around 0:18, there’s a Priest wielding Aura–a high level spell from earlier games. The next scene showcases a Demonic Beast that I don’t think we’ve seen before, simply called a “Demonic Beast”. I’m guessing it’s a generic variant, rather than the more epic-looking Black Beast, Giant Bird, etc. Afterwards, there’s Hubert with Mire B, a long-range spell in Awakening and Echoes.

Next, we see Jeralt, who seems to be stronger than during the first battle of the game. He now has 47 HP versus 35. However, judging from his name plate and HP bar, he still seems to be a NPC. Since he rejoined the Knights of Seiros–and can be found in the monastery–it’s not a stretch that he may accompany you during some battles. Later, around 2:35, the Demonic Beast is attacking nameless students.

1:30, you can catch a quick glimpse of Caspar using the Fading Blow combat art. This is the official name for Back Blow, which moves the user one space back after combat. You can see it better around 3:54.

Next, around 2:00, Alois triggers a critical hit on a foe. He doesn’t gain experience despite being a playable unit and not at max Level. However, he can gain support points with Byleth and Bernadetta. Maybe you’re just borrowing his help right now? But why didn’t they just make him a NPC? Anyway, this is from the port map seen in the Japanese Introduction video.

2:45, a Priest with a Levin Sword attacks Seteth. This appears to be the beach map from his paralogue (will be discussed later). Next, we see a few battles against Giant Wolves. In one of them, Bernadetta is close to being KO’d, but manages to win with a close-range counter-attack (presumably from the bow’s Close Counter ability). Around 3:25, Nosferatu has kept its name across all localised titles.

Nintendo Enthusiast also provided a quick tour of the monastery during the 5th month–the Harpstring season. They start in the protagonist’s room, but Sothis isn’t present like in the Treehouse footage. According to Famitsu, the protagonist sometimes hears a girl’s voice in his room, which suggests something really odd going on with Sothis. Maybe she’s slowly starting to materialise in the real world?

Around 0:37, the player walks near a facility we didn’t know about before–the Sauna. Hmmm… I’m guessing this could be similar to the hot spring in Fates. That said, I’m surprised no previewer has talked about it. Anyway, this is located near the north-west corner of the monastery. What’s really cool is that the camera pans out during the first time you visit a facility, like the dining hall.

Not to be left out, Kotaku posted a welcome video.

At 0:10, we discover Raphael’s birthday is on the 18th of the 5th month. 1:33, Lorenz’s strengths and weaknesses are visible. He’s good with Lance and Reason, but bad in Brawling. You might want to remember that for later.

2:09, the end of month mission for the 5th month is “Red Canyon Dominance”, which occurs at Zanado, the Red Canyon. This is apparently the students’ first mission–and it’s against bandits–which must mean… There’s also an auxiliary (optional) battle at the Brionac Plateau.

Around 2:28, there’s the weekend calendar for the 11th of the 5th month. Curiously, two of the bottom options are missing. Only Marketplace is available and not Certifications and Skip. That means you probably can’t class-change until a bit later (or skip ahead). On top of that, the top four options seem to be greyed out, aside from Explore. So there will be a bit of forced signposting early on.

2:46, the player tries to recruit Caspar. He desires Strength and Brawling. Yup, that’s totally in character.

Kotaku also shared some footage of one of the early maps, after you’ve decided on your house. This map was shown in the Nintendo Direct trailer. I’m guessing this is the end-of-month task for the 5th month, where you take out the bandits at the Red Canyon. In the Nintendo Direct trailer, this is also where you have your revenge against Kostas.

Around 1:36, Claude waits on a purple Lost Spirit. If you missed it, this is an online feature where map tiles that other players struggled on will manifest as Lost Spirits. Purple ones reward items, like the Rusted Gauntlet here. Meanwhile yellow ones give experience and restore weapon durability.

2:42, the player selects Lysithea. We see she has Miasma Delta and Swarm Z. Both seem to be dark magic spells and they also have very low number of uses. From what we know, spells regain uses after a battle, although I don’t think we know by how much. The recent Famitsu also showed Lysithea with Dark Spikes T, so she seems to excel in dark magic. For the record, Dark Mage and Dark Bishop are male-only classes, but dark magic isn’t necessarily gender-locked.

During the battle, Lysithea triggers the (major) Crest of Gloucester. Whoa, whoa, stop right there. We were told she has the Minor Crest of Charon. So does this mean she has two crests? Looking at her in-game profile, this is indeed the case. Which brings up a lot of questions. Like what’s her relationship with Lorenz, who bears the Minor Crest of Gloucester? Afterwards, she masters Noble and learns HP +5 like Hilda.

Around 4:16, after rescuing Marianne with Divine Pulse, the player moves her to attack. We can see she has Noferatu and it has 6 uses.

Meanwhile, here’s a hands-on preview from IGN.

Near the start, they choose Lorenz to attack an enemy. He has Fire, which we saw before. But I only just realised it has a measly 5 uses. Ouch. If you’re in a Mage class, at least you can get double the uses.

1:19, there’s footage from Lonato’s rebellion against the Church of Serios, which he calls the “Central Church”. We know of the “Western Chuch” and they seem to be at odds with the Central Church. There may also be an Eastern Church, judging from the map. Anyway, Catherine is accompanying the group as a NPC here.

From 1:24, the weekend calendar for the 8th of the 6th month (Garland Moon) is visible. Here, “Explore” has won out with a 87% landslide, while nobody chose to “Rest”. I’m also surprised nobody picked “Battle”. By this point, the Certifications option has been added along the bottom. It also has a red exclamation mark, indicating it’s a new feature or maybe you can take new exams?

1:29, the player sifts through the Roster. This lets you review unit information. While choosing units, you can see their basic info: their gender, age, height and class. I’m assuming if you confirm, you can view even more detailed info.

Anyway, the male protagonist is 175 cm tall and has an unknown age. How dubious. Leonie is 19 years old and 168 cm tall. Meanwhile, Hilda is 18 years old and 154 cm tall. It’s worth bearing in mind that their ages automatically change when their birthdays pass.

1:31, the player instructs Claude. He’s good in Sword, Bow and Authority, but bad in Lance and Faith. Well, apparently he’s not much of a church-goer. Of note, he has a budding talent in Axe.

I think, from 1:37, they’re showing the Skip feature of the calendar. This lets you skip ahead to certain days, while also showing what events and actions you can take. On the 8th of the 6th month, you can use the Advice Box, Faculty Training and Gardening, plus more since you can scroll down further.

2:04, there’s the option to cook a meal together. This is separate from dining with other people. Here, you can choose a meal that provides a temporary stat boost for the whole month. Seems pretty useful! But it will cost you 1 activity point.

2:12, they check out the Battalion Guild, which is known as the Knights’ Guild in the Japanese version. You can briefly see the protagonist and Claude’s Battalions and Gambits. Next, we see Sothis in the protagonist’s room. I guess by this point, the protagonist’s bond with Sothis is strong enough that he can see her now (but maybe other people can’t).

From 2:27, they continue going through the Roster. Marianne is 17 years old and 163 cm tall. Lysithea is 15 years old (as her website profile mentioned) and 148 cm tall. Ignatz is 17 years old and 164 cm tall. Raphael is 18 years old and pretty huge at 190 cm. Lorenz is also 18 and note much shorter than him, at 188 cm. Oh, but they stop before going to Claude…

3:05, they’re back at the Battalion Guild, this time shopping around for Battalions. We can see some localised Battalions and Gambit names. Group Magic: Flame is simply “Group Flames”. Also, I somehow correctly guessed the “Blaze” Gambit. That’s the one where they shove a wagon with flaming barrels on an unsuspecting foe.

For a brief moment at 3:10, the player instructs Marianne. She’s strong in Faith, Riding and Flying, but poor in Brawling and Heavy Armour. We don’t see the skill levels near the top. 4:30, Catherine engages a foe while she’s a NPC. We can see her sword is officially known as “Thunderbrand”.

Additionally, IGN recorded footage of every class in the game so far. This includes all the known Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and even Master classes. The Master classes are confirmed to be Falcon Knight (female-only), Wyvern Lord, Mortal Savant, Great Knight, Bow Knight, Dark Knight, Holy Knight, War Master (male-only) and Gremory (female-only). There’s also a Dancer class–more on that later.

If you’re lazy to watch the video, you can find all the details in our Classes page.

Furthermore, the IGN wiki guide has detailed information for the protagonist and students, including their description, birthday, likes, dislikes, skill levels, abilities, crests and what not. While this is very useful information, because it cannot be verified, I will not be including it on our website.

Although most of the information seems reasonable, there may be a few mistakes. Of note, on Lorenz’s page, he’s listed as having a strength in Bow. But if you go back to Kotaku’s welcome video, he doesn’t have a strength in Bow while he’s being instructed. As such, I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Whew, there’s still a lot, lot more to cover. Here’s GameXplain‘s preview.

At 2:06, there’s the calendar for the 10th of the 8th month (Verdant-Rain Moon). You can tell what the most popular choice is: Explore at 98%. It’s interesting to see a few people picking Seminar. But literally nobody picked Battle or Rest. I can only assume Battle was not chosen to speed up the gameplay (so they can get their previews and reviews out in time). But they could have picked Rest to skip ahead.

3:04, they pick the option Battle on the following weekend. We’ve already seen the end-of-month mission before. This involves taking down the disowned son of Gautier who’s stolen a hero relic. Besides that, there are two auxiliary (optional) battles, including one that costs 0 activity points on Normal. Plus two quests, with one from Seteth.

6:56, Dorothea is selected. As we know, she has access to the Thunder spell. That said, it has the standard spell range of 1~2. Strange, I could have sworn it could reach up to 3 spaces. Hmm, there must be a reason why I thought that. Anyway, it has 4 uses, even less than Fire. Yikes.

From here, the footage largely comes to an end–and we’re mostly shown still images instead. If I had to guess, they’re probably restricted by Nintendo’s guidelines.

9:15, there’s a screenshot from what I’m guessing is Hubert and Caspar’s support conversation. Then at 10:16, there’s a similar screenshot, but this time for Caspar and Bernadetta. Later, around 21:35, there’s one for Dorothea and Petra, where Petra is dissing Dorothea’s cooking. Oof.

12:35, Sylvain can be recruited. By this stage, I think it’s looking like you can recruit any student from another house, so long as they’re not a leader or their most trusted ally. Although for the Golden Deer, we can deduce that the character you can’t recruit is probably Hilda, which doesn’t make sense since she doesn’t seem attached to Claude. But maybe she has a hidden motive?

13:33, the requirements for Leonie to join your house can be seen. We already saw it in Famitsu, but she wants Strength and Lance.

Around 16:24, there’s a help message about Adjutants (what I previously called “Assistants”). When the protagonist reaches Professor Level C (by teaching and mingling with students), they can assign 1 Adjutant to a character (or more if they have a higher Professor Level. Adjutants act as support units for this game’s version of the Pair Up system.

If you’re itching to see more of the monastery, GameXplain also posted their own tour.

As usual, it starts in the protagonist’s room. Currently it’s the 9th month–the Horseshoe Moon. From the mini-map, Sothis appears to be present.

Around 0:29, they bring up the monastery map. By this point, most of the monastery has opened up, with the exception of the third floor. Huh, I wonder what’s there? Places like the Knights’ Hall towards the eastern side and the 2nd floor of the Dormitories are available for you to wander around.

Next, they go over to the Training Grounds (what I called the Drill Grounds), located towards the north-western corner. This is where you can go to enter tournaments.

1:00, the player runs away from the Sauna once again. They say there’s not really a lot around here, despite the Sauna entrance clearly being visible. Huh, is there an embargo on the Sauna or something? Mighty suspicious if you ask me…

1:47, they actually show off the fishing mini-game. Interestingly, you don’t need to spend activity points here, as the player has 0 anyway. Most likely you’ll be limited by the bait you possess (although the player has plenty to choose from here).

4:30, you don’t need to actually go to each separate saint statue to make your offerings. There’s also a “Saint Statue Artisan” who lets you pray to any of the four statues on the spot. Should be handy if you’ve forgotten which statue is located where or you’re just lazy. He’s located near the top-right corner of the Cathedral.

GameXplain also showed off the Black Beast map. This is most likely the end-of-month assignment for the 8th month, dubbed “The Gautier Inheritance”.

The footage starts with the Black Beast starting its rampage. Here, Gilbert is a NPC unit assisting you. Before, the Black Beast was equipped with the “Crest Stone of Gautier”, but now it’s written “Crest Stone (Gautier)”. This might be because there are other crest stones with longer names, or for consistency with the Dark Stones used by other Demonic Beasts.

1:39, Ferdinand is about to attack. We’ve seen training weapons in other footage, but I don’t think we saw their number of uses. The Training Axe+ has 65 uses, which looks pretty useful. I imagine the weapon itself is really bad, but it could be useful for weakening foes, maybe?

2:09, Hubert’s inventory is visible. He has Miasma Delta (10 uses), Mire B (8 uses) and Banshee Theta (5 uses). He’s a Monk, so he should have the default amount of Miasma Delta uses. But we know from Lysithea’s spell list that it has 5 uses by default. Now, there is a Dark Mage ability that doubles the amount of Miasma Delta uses, but Hubert shouldn’t have it right now. Plus no such ability appears in the combat forecast. How odd…

You might have noticed Hubert does a heck of a lot of damage to the Black Beast. I was thinking this might be related to one of the Black Beast’s abilities, specifically the one with a spell book and a red “no” sign in front of it. But I think this means that magical attacks are weakened. The real reason is probably because he’s targeting a square without a barrier underneath.

Actually, at 2:34, the Black Beast has gained a third ability. Looking back, the Black Beast only had the spell book ability after it lost its first HP stock. Meanwhile this new ability appeared after its second (and last) HP stock was gone. So it seems Demonic Beasts may gain new abilities after you deplete each of their HP bars. That way, the way you fight them will gradually change.

3:40, despite their best efforts, the player fails to KO the Black Beast within their turn. Which means, on the enemy turn, the Black Beast triggers its AOE attack. We’ve seen this before in the Japanese footage. I called it “Splitting Thorns”, but its official name is the more appropriate-sounding “Thorn of Ruin”. Hey, I got one word right! It seems to trigger the Crest of Gautier to inflict damage.

For those wondering, GameXplain tried scanning some amiibo at the amiibo Gazebo. According to the help messages, scanning an amiibo will grant items (better items and unique rewards if you use a Fire Emblem amiibo) across all save files. So no “cheating” by copying and deleting save files, I guess.

Anyway, they try scanning a few amiibo. Items start appearing in the area near the gazebo and new music tracks are unlocked for auxiliary battles. The items themselves are stuff you can use in the monastery, like ingredients, seeds and tea leaves. So nothing terribly exciting. That leaves the music as the best things to look forward to.

COGconnected uploaded a video featuring a mock battle between the Golden Deer and Black Eagles (and also the Blue Lions, but I don’t think they scroll far enough). This battle occurs in the same battlefield seen in the King of Beasts footage. Presumably the mock battle is a story battle, while the King of Beasts being a skirmish in the same location.

Of note, you can see the options menu around the 1:45 mark. At the top is the difficulty selector. This likely lets you drop from Hard mode to Normal mode midway during a game. But going up a difficulty isn’t possible. Here’s where you can set the music for auxiliary/quest battles as well (useful if you’ve scanned a lot of FE amiibo). You can also change the standard battle music, but I’m not sure when this applies.

They don’t go down to check, but there’s an option to disable Online as well. I can’t be 100% sure, but this likely refers to the passive online features like Exchange Students, Global Activity and Lost Spirits. I’m sure there are people who don’t want to use Lost Spirits because they might be too useful!

2:18, just a few minor observations. Marianne’s Training Sword has 50 uses. Magic is also grouped separately, but you can equip magic for attacking and counter-attacking purposes. That’s good information to know for those who often rely on mages.

Around 2:51, you can see Manuela along the top. Is she the teacher for the Black Eagles? There might be more evidence soon.

Game Informer showcased some of their gameplay.

The video starts in the Audience Chamber on the 23rd of the 4th month. Which is near the start of the game, right before the player chooses what house to join. The player must accept Rhea’s quest, which also triggers the help message related to quests. Essential quests are indicated by a red exclamation mark.

2:04, they check out some of the Black Eagle students. Hubert’s Personal Ability, known here as a “Defining Ability”, is Officer Duty. He’s also the heir of Marquis Vestra, which I translated as Marquess Bestla. But I was pretty close. Bs are interchangeable with Vs in Japanese (but not the other way round). All of his skill levels were known, except Flying, which he’s poor at.

Ferdinand, there’s nothing really new. It’s nice to know I correctly guessed his ability as Confidence. They then skip ahead to Caspar. His ability is Born Fighter, which is apt (I called it “Quarreler”). It’s a pity they didn’t check the other students, especially Edelgard. I need to know for sure that she’s good in Heavy Armour…

3:42, they chat to Dimitri and check out some of his students. Felix’s ability is Lone Wolf (I called it “Solitary Wolf”, but I actually did think of changing it to “Lone Wolf”). Sylvain’s ability is Philanderer (I had it as “Ladies’ Man”). So nothing out of the ordinary.

4:38, we finally come to the Golden Deer. I’ll skip over all the skill levels, since there will be another video for all the Golden Deer students later. Anyway, Raphael’s ability is Goody Basket (versus “Scavenge”). Hilda’s is Advocate (versus “Plead”). That’s all. But there is a pretty funny description for Hilda!

The middle portion of the video, starting from 5:11, seems to be the first mock battle. This time, they’re leading the Black Eagles. We get a little more context. Jeralt is overseeing the battles and whoever wins against the other two houses is declared the winner.

At 5:57, Manuela can be seen in the same position as the mock battle from COGconnected’s video. Except this time she’s near the Golden Deer students. Then at 5:58, Hanneman appears to be leading the Blue Lions. We can therefore conclude that they’re indeed the teachers for the other two houses.

10:10, there’s some weekend footage from the 10th of the 8th month. Nothing too special here. Then, from 11:39, they check out the menu. Along the top of the bookmark, you can see it’s Chapter 5. That means Chapter 1 must be during the 4th month. Which makes a lot of sense, since that’s the earliest we’ve seen the player in the academy. The prologue is probably the escort mission.

Of note, they go to the support menu, which is divided into two categories. The first is your chosen house, while I’m guessing the second is for other students or faculty staff. We also see a bit of Sylvain’s support options. He can reach S with the female protagonist, but only A or lower for the rest. Anyway, we get to see his support conversation with Bernadetta.

Finally, they do a quick bit of exploring. By this point, there isn’t much of the monastery that we haven’t seen. From 14:28, they speak to Flayn and we can glimpse the lost item and gift menus.

We’re still not done! Here’s a preview from Nintendo World Report TV.

Near the beginning, from 0:10, there’s a shot of Bernadetta using the Random Shot Gambit versus a Giant Bird. After the battle, we can see that this Gambit comes from her Empire Warriors.

0:35, there looks to be a battle in a damaged village. Tomas, the monastery librarian is an unarmed NPC here. It looks like he’s been taken hostage and you need to save him. The enemies are Mysterious Soldiers. Jeralt and his knights are also around to help. By this point, Flayn has been recruited.

0:57, Edelgard finds a Rusted Gauntlet from a Lost Spirit tile. Her inventory is full, so we get to see the player go through her inventory to discard an item. The Devil Axe is back and she’s also equipped with a Goddess Ring.

1:12, there’s the calendar for the 26th of the 12th month (Ethereal Moon). It’s not a weekend, so the normal options are absent. Instead, it seems to be the day of the end-of-month assignment, although there are technically a few more days until the month actually ends. Of note, there are at least 3 birthdays and 3 events marked with a star sign (one example is the Founding of Faerghus).

Moving on, there’s a lot of random footage, including a support conversation between Dorothea and Ferdinand. 2:24, we learn that Alois is/was married and has a daughter. This could be pretty awkward…

3:39, there’s the help message for weapon durability. We knew that weapons break but don’t disappear when they reach 0 uses. But we didn’t know about the disadvantages of a broken weapon. Not only do they have reduced Might and Hit rate, enemies are more likely to trigger follow-up attacks. So just like broken weapons in Genealogy…

4:03, Linhardt is wielding Cutting Gale against a Giant Bird. We previously saw Annette with this spell. 4:44, unless I’m mistaken, that’s the demonic beast previously known as the “King of Beasts”. Here, it’s merely called a “Wild Demonic Beast”. It has the same appearance and same weapon (Cracked Crest Stone), so I am pretty sure it’s the same thing. There are at least two here, so maybe it’s been downgraded from its “king” status?

5:20, Flayn is attacked by a Rampaging Villager. This appears to be the map with Tomas and the attacked village. Have the villagers gone berserk for some reason? I don’t like the sound of this…

5:26, we have the calendar for the 1st month (Guardian Moon) of the 2nd year. At the start of the month, I think according to your Professor Level, you get funds from the church–in this case, 5000 G. 5:30, the player explores during the 12th month. One of the objectives is to pick a student for a dance competition. Wait, do they mean the one from the cutscenes?

6:05, even by the 12th month, the 3rd floor still isn’t accessible. Will we find out soon? 6:27, Dorothea is apparently practicing for the dance competition. Hmm, did the player choose her as the candidate? 7:38, the player hovers over the Master classes. We can confirm that they’re unlocked from Level 30.

7:38, we see Dorothea Arnault’s detailed profile. She’s 19 years old and 170 cm tall. Although that’s probably not her age when you first enter the monastery. Levin Swords have 25 uses. It seems there’s only space for 3 combat arts as well. Her third is Hexblade, which probably deals magical damage. But there’s one more space at the bottom, where it says “Class”. Not quite sure what that’s for.

Wait, you can sometimes learn combat arts by unlocking a budding talent. Plus some weapons, like the Sword of the Creator, have exclusive combat arts. Where do those go? Hmm… Also, the innate ability for each character actually is called their “Personal Ability”. “Defining” was just flavour text it seems. Another thing, the Abilities learned by improving skill levels doesn’t have an explicit category on this page.

The player then flicks to the next page. She has Thunder (8 uses, up from 4) and Thoron (4 uses) learned. Hang on a second, is there a way to double spell uses without an ability. Perhaps you can “master” spells somehow? Also, there’s space for 10 spells that you can learn, plus space for 3 class-specific spells.

The page after shows the first half of her available class certifications. She has a second unique class, next to Commoner. This is most likely Dancer. My theory is that you can gain the Dancer certification by choosing a student to enter the dance competition during the 12th month. We did see Dorothea practicing dancing, so it’s possible she was entered by the player.

Then we have the second half of their certifications. Looking at the Master classes, this tells us that Falcon Knight (obviously) and Gremory are only available for females. While War Master is only for males (makes sense since it’s derived from the Gauntlet class line). Sadly, we don’t see the last page, “Notes”. But there might be a chance to see that later.

8:25, there’s an incomplete list of the music in the game. Rather boringly, the main theme for the game is just called the main theme. Although it seems its alternate name may be “The Edge of Dawn”. I’m curious if it’s the same deal in the Japanese version. Since the main theme single is being released under the name “Lady of Hresvelg”. But maybe that’s just the name for promotional reasons.

Moments later, Rhea is speaking to the protagonist, Hanneman and Manuela. She’s talking about leading the students, which is further evidence that the three of them are the teachers of each house. 8:38, Edelgard masters the Brigand class, learning the Death Blow ability.

EdragonXX gave us a sneak peak at a paralogue involving Seteth and Flayn, called “An Ocean View”.

They started this paralogue during Chapter 9. Which means it’s during the 12th month. For this map, you’ll be escorting the pair to Rhodos Coast. Apparently, there are artifacts there in risk of being stolen by the Western Church. Seteth also calls it a sacred ground and a cemetery… Anyway, this is the seaside map that you may have seen.

2:49, Seteth is playable, but he doesn’t gain experience like Alois in the port map. Again, I’m curious why they didn’t make him a NPC, but I guess it’s more convenient to control him yourself. Unlike Gilbert in the Black Beast map, who’s liable to get himself injured… Also, despite being 5 spaces away from the protagonist, the pair can gain support points. What the?!

2:58, Ferdinand attempts to cross the sand on horseback, but his movement is abyssal. Mayhap it’s time to dismount? Actually, Petra–despite being on foot–moves the same distance. Meanwhile, Flayn–being a caster–is completely unhindered, which is a good thing as her 4 movement is on the low side under normal circumstances. 3:20, Shamir is playable by this point.

4:00, Flayn has the maximum number of characters helping her. She also has Caspar as a defensive Adjutant. Looking at her foe’s abilities, she’s apparently facing an Assassin. Wow, the Western Church isn’t afraid of getting their hands dirty. After the battle, she gains support points with Seteth. But not the protagonist; I think she has a B support with him and can’t go higher for now.

Hungry for more? In that case, here’s another glimpse from EdragonXX.

This video is from the 12th month and begins in the Cathedral. The player attends choir practice with Dorothea and Flayn. The list of characters has all the usual suspects–all the students from the Three Houses, plus a mix of other monastery occupants. Rodrigue is missing though, as is Tomas. Right now, it’s the Choir Festival and you can earn more support points and skill level experience than usual.

1:09, they speak to a girl from Remire Village. Oh no, did they fail to complete a quest in time? Actually, I think it’s more likely they didn’t fulfill a secondary objective during the previous end-of-month assignment. After all, the one for the 11th month was the “Remire Calamity”. Or worse, there was an unavoidable tragedy…

1:27, they share a meal with Dorothea and Flayn as part of the “Bonding Bites” special event. Similar to the Choir Festival, you all gain more support points than usual, while the two you invited gain more Motivation, for instructing purposes.

After that is a spot of fishing, then some good ol’ instructing. 2:59, they briefly hover over Shamir’s skill levels. I think there was something similar in another video, but Shamir can still gain experience even at A rank, suggesting there’s an A+ rank. Of course, I’m curious if there’s a S rank (and above).

Also, this was visible in the dining menu, but Hanneman and Manuela have been recruited. This isn’t too surprising, but I do wonder how it works logistically. Are they still going to be teaching their own houses? Yeah, probably. 3:22, I’m starting to lose track of what we know, but Petra definitely has a strength in Flying (although I guess it could be a Budding Talent still).

3:52, Hanneman posits a question for the protagonist. This is similar to the Advice Box, where you can pick from three choices, but you’re not timed. Choosing a good answer boosts the character’s Motivation.

4:28, the protagonist’s Professor Level increases to B. As a result, the player earns another activity point for instructing and exploring. Plus the number of Adjutants is increased (to 2, maybe?). They previously had 5 points for instructing, so it should go up to 6. Meanwhile, beforehand, they had 6 points for exploring. But it’s hard to tell if the footage is in chronological order.

4:52, By reaching C+ in Brawling, Caspar learns Bombard and Brawling Prowess Lv 3. Meanwhile, Shamir learns Bow Prowess Lv 5 from reaching A+ in Bow. Flipping heck, Shamir can still gain experience after this, so S ranks are basically confirmed.

On top of that, EdragonXX shared some music samples from the game, including the game’s main theme and “The Crest of Flames”. The latter is basically a melancholy version of the Fire Emblem theme. Well, “Crest of Flames” is a synonym for “Fire Emblem”, so…

Enjoy a relaxed preview from Pixelkabinett [AT].

This one starts from the 9th month, the Horseshoe Moon. 0:18, they bring up the calendar for that month, via the menu. This appears to function exactly the same as the skip menu, where you can check events or skip ahead to certain dates.

1:32, Edelgard implies that Flayn is missing. Uh oh. Thankfully, we know that she’s present during the 12th month, so you’ll probably find her. This is part of a quest from your house leader. Which awards a measly Steel Axe. That said, it appears to be an essential quest, so you probably can’t skip it.

4:19, they go through the Roster. Currently, Edelgard is 18 years old and 158 cm tall. Her right-hand man, Hubert is 20 years old and 188 cm tall. Ferdinand, her self-proclaimed rival, is 18 and 175 cm. Linhardt is 16 and 177 cm, Caspar is 17 and 159 cm, Bernadetta is 17 and 150 cm, Dorothea is 18 and 170 cm and Petra is 16 and 161 cm. You may remember Dorothea was 19 by the 12th month, so her birthday must be close.

5:06, they speak to Shamir. Apparently, they haven’t successfully recruited anybody yet. But they try to recruit Shamir anyway. It seems she demands that the protagonist is a certain Level. 6:46, a monk suspects Dedue, since he’s from Duscur. For some reason, the people of Duscur aren’t held in high esteem.

6:57, we get a better look at the Lost Items list. Although the hints are usually pretty obvious, you can keep offering items even if you choose the wrong one. Anyway, Hubert is missing his Noxious Handkerchief, but reading the description, is it really a good idea to give it back to him…?

9:19, during loading screens, there’s another cool piece of online statistics, showing the most successful class examinations for this month. 9:59, this is the familiar town map, but there’s a “King of Beasts” fighting as an Other unit. Does it only has this name when it’s important to the battle?

10:02, they select the King of Beasts and the mystery is sort of revealed. It’s called a “King of Beasts”, but its class type is “Wild Demonic Beast”. As I suspected, it’s both a monster and a dragon. Also, towards the right side, there’s information for its barriers and abilities. Some abilities unlock when the beast’s HP stock drops to a certain level.

10:35, the player moves Linhardt to attack. He has Fire (10 uses), Wind (12 uses) and Nosferatu (12 uses). Unless I’m mistaken all of these have twice the number of uses. Yet, Linhardt is a Priest and should only have double the number of Heal uses. There’s definitely something odd going on. Not that I’m complaining, because being limited to 6 uses of Wind and Nosferatu is going to be tough to get used to.

11:43, something small. When the yellow phase starts, it’s listed as (another) “enemy phase”. In the Japanese version, it was “other phase”, I believe, a reference to Genealogy. I think they probably changed it so you definitely know it’s an enemy!

Near the end, they start to challenge the King of Beasts. 13:46, Hubert moves to attack. He has a bunch of spells we’ve seen before, but also Death… let me look this up… Gamma. If you haven’t noticed, all the dark spells seem to have a capital Greek letter at the end. Also, this particular spell is from Gaiden/Echoes.

If you’re not afraid of some Spanish, here’s a video from Eurogamerspain. Now, my knowledge of Spanish is non-existent, so I probably won’t go too in-depth.

3:07, unless there’s a name change in the Spanish version, Leonie and Raphael’s surnames are confirmed to be Pinelli and Kirsten. So we guessed right. 3:35, they try to recruit Marianne. She asks for Magic and Riding. 3:58, we see Dorothea’s recruiting requirements. It took me a while to figure it out, but she’s asking for Charm and Authority.

4:43, there’s the calendar for the 5th month. Curiously, on the 18th, you cannot choose any of the four top options except for “Battle”. Is this part of a tutorial? To be fair, if the game starts on the 4th month, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bit of hand-holding in the next few months.

6:04, we skip ahead to the 9th month. This time, only “Explore” can be chosen during the 7th day, it seems. Okay, I don’t think this is related to a tutorial, since it’s pretty far into the game. Maybe there’s a story-related reason that you have to explore the monastery?

6:46, here’s Dimitri’s detailed profile. Ah, he has a budding talent in Riding and not an innate strength. Hmm, does that imply his canon final class is going to be foot-based…? In the Treehouse Live footage, they made him a Cavalier. But his post-timeskip version was in a foot-based class in one of the Japanese YouTube adverts.

9:18, this is the Black Beast map, but where the Black Beast should be is a rough-looking male, who I’m pretty sure is Sylvain’s older brother. I don’t think there’s any place for a Black Beast is hiding, so it’s looking increasingly likely that he’ll somehow change into the Black Beast. We’re told that he stole a hero relic and he doesn’t have the crest of Gautier to properly wield it, so maybe we’ll see the disastrous side effects?

Similarly, here’s a Spanish video from NintenDúo.

3:46, Sylvain’s birthday is on the 5th of the 6th month. 4:41, the player scrolls just far enough to see that Edelgard has a strength in Heavy Armour. I can sleep happy now. Later, at 10:20, we see she’s neutral in Riding and Flying. 6:58, Linhardt reaches B Faith and learns Restore. 10:22, Bernadetta is weak in Heavy Armour, neutral in Flying and has a budding talent in Riding.

10:37, it’s the calendar for the 7th month. The end-of-month assignment seems to be at the Sacred Mausoleum in the Monastery. This is related to the plot to attack Rhea during the Ceremony of Rebirth, mentioned in the Japanese introduction video. Your task is to investigate the enemy’s true objective, with the assumption that the planned attack is simply a distraction.

11:09, they start an auxiliary battle in “imperial territory”. This is a map we’ve seen earlier before, such as in Nintendo Life’s video. Huh, if that’s imperial architecture, it’s pretty interesting. Like recent games, if you’re lazy and/or confident, there are auto-battle options. Those will probably come in useful when grinding on low level auxiliary maps.

14:27, this is the assignment for the 5th month, “Magdred Surprise Attack”. You’re on your way to Gaspard Castle to stop Lonato’s rebellion when you’re ambushed along the way. On this map, there appears to be Fog of War (which reduces your vision). 14:44, they fight a Gaspard Commander, who’s wearing a plague doctor mask. He should be an enemy Dark Mage.

Afterwards is the Black Beast map yet again. Near the start, you can see Sylvain’s older brother again. If you pause at just the right time around 15:04, you can see he’s holding a hero relic lance. However, it’s pretty hard to do this on YouTube, so here’s a screenshot for you!

Another Spanish video, this time from from Vandel.net.

3:05, the player attempts to recruit Annette. She wants Magic and Faith. 3:57, when choosing a custom focus for Caspar, we can see he’s neutral in Heavy Armour.

5:29, it’s the cozy town map. This time, Marianne is present, although the player is leading the Black Eagles. She can be recruited, but here it seems she’s a green NPC unit. Is this a paralogue then?

6:21, here’s another shot of Lonato on the map. This looks to be the same foggy map as in the Magdred assignment. But much further west. Hmm, it looks like Lonato couldn’t wait and decided to take the fight to you!

Here’s a French video from ggvanrom checking out the profiles of the Golden Deer students. Here, you can see all of their strengths and weaknesses at a glance, although their budding talents aren’t shown. To save time, I’ve compiled all the information in our Skill Levels page.

…I think that’s mostly everything. If you think I missed an important video or a really cool detail, please let me know! Even now, I think there are still people uploading videos, so it’s pretty difficult to keep up with everything.