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I would say blue hair but I feel that it's been a while since we had blue haired protagonist (mainly due to the lack of blue hair in fates and SoV). And the three houses trailer was very lacking in that classic blue marth (TM) dye. I guess for my three houses avatar, I will make their hair blue.

It's not so much as good gameplay as it is good games design that really makes or breaks a game. A game can not function with just the gameplay alone. I mean how to you even define something so abstract? If we're taking games that focus on 'gameplay' and why they're good (say legend or zelda or mario), they teach rules of the game by letting players experiment with items and mechanics whilst providing sufficient visual cues and good presentation. They provide secret areas to encourage discovery, they avoid repetitiveness by throwing new mechanics but all of that would feel less fun and exciting (and even cause confusion) with poor presentation. I mean splatoon and overwatch would be a hell lot less enjoyable if the little touches like game aethetics, graphic design, animations and quirky dialouge. This stuff gives personality to things that just players to do thinks. A game makes usual chores fun. Like fe's srpg gameplay would be a lot less interesting with the narrative integration, the permdeath matters bc you're made to care for chess pieces (it feels a lot different from advance wars as a result). And as an rpg it plays better when players can immerse into the world (which shoddy world building can butcher). Everything ties into the games' design and presentation is one of them: smooth UI, puzzle solving elements, exploring players with a strong atmosphere/narrative significance. Ofc there's the underlying rules that dictate the game (such as the various variables you must think about in commanding your units in FE) but they'd a lot weaker if they didn't have the fluff on top to complement, make sense of the systems whilst giving players an incentive to not rage quit or even bother with something like resetting the game. Nintendo I'd say are very good at this, in terms of makes all the elements of presentation and Gameplay gel together well (Warioware is a hilarious experience because of its wackiness and bizzare ideas based around what are essentially very simple interactions and rules). And FE is special bc it manages to pull of a good characters' based narrative (for the msot part) well in a usually stoic genre which is quite rare amongst Nintendo games or games in general. FE isn't the most complicated strategy game but it works so well because it focuses on the core that makes it enjoyable whilst giving players a purpose to continue even when rng screws with them. An example of when game rules and presentation goes wrong and feels jarring I can think of is adventure games during the 2000s when they were trying to put action game elements into a genre known for giving players time to contemplate and take in the narrative. Ho boy that got ranty, I basically just wanted to say that a game is a sum of its parts and if any elements is out of place it would undermine the enjoyability. And how jarring a person finds the gameplay segements in a game like SoV isn't how complicated it is but rather if they enjoy the sudden switch away from what fire emblem is usually like. And judging from those that have played it looks to be gaiden/10 with a great UI.

Thanks for putting the link up haha. It was a fun comp, definitely want to do more pixel art from now on. :D

Yuka Tsujiyoko did the original gaiden compositions (she's sound supervisor for echoes as well) and those that worked on new Fe music staff (Takeru Kanazaki, Yasuhisa Baba) did the new compositions for SoV. Now if they were to revamp the work of Tsujiyoko's massive 114 track for a FE4 remake...let's just say it's something to look forward to haha.

On second thoughts ye Fates definitely does differentiate itself from Awakening. I do find the evolution of osts and styles overtime interesting.

One thing I felt with Awakening OST, is that whilst it fits with the nature of the game (being a rebrand of FE essentially) and has some standout tracks, it lacks the emphasis on having a memorable melody as its base (and by extension Fates sounded like Awakening in terms of style). SoV's soundtrack is essentially an reimagining of Gaiden with added bonus tracks so it has a lot of solid melodies to work from. But during the NES days all the ost kind of had to focus on memoriable melodies since there wasn't exactly much room for adding variety otherwise (the link takes you to a really good documentary series about Japan's video game music history where they interview some awesome composers). I still having the Radiant ark melody looping through my head gosh darn it Yuka Tsujiyoko, you're too good! Either way I think all the music staff are doing a great job with the recent work on SoV being a standout.

I enjoy reading the well written reviews (I'd say it was getting into games journalism and buying ONM magazines that helped improve my English writing skills, so I guess there's that bias :P) since it's an articulation of parts of a game that stood out for the critic. I dislike the numbering system though since it just means different things for different people. People take and add points based on personal bias towards certain features etc. I'd rather just read about it and make my own mind up from the information I gathered (which is what good reviews should do, inform and let people know why certain features may appeal to them or not, it should not make blanket assumptions that all players would agree with the reviewers' sentiment or come up with silly reasons to take points off blah blah). I remember thinking the long turns in code name steam can actually impair my experience but then the update came and I snapped up the game. One of the best purchases I've ever made. Everything I learnt about SoV is my cup of tea so regardless of whether or not it's scoring 9s and 10s isn't going to matter to me in the slightest. But I imagine for some it would.

I was more referring to any fully written Japanese reviews (not necessarily Famitsu's). I often find Famitsu's too short in all honesty. And ratings are dependent on the reviewers as well (and I find numbers too arbitrary to form a grounded impression of a game). But I would in general like to know the game's recepetion amongst critics and players on Japanese release, since I want to share the excitement/be aware of certain issues with the game as well. If they never get translated, maybe I should just carry on learning Japanese :P. Eagerly awaiting for the English reviews as well bc if it gets code name steam-like scores I'd worry a lot about the game's sales (as much as I love CNS).

Can't wait for the written reviews. More than anything if people enjoy it due to the efforts that developers put into the details of this reimagining, then IS has got a winner of their hands :D. But I'm really intrigued how critics found the unconventional FE mechanics and narrative/characterisations of game that was bare-bones in the original but fleshed out in SoV. I must persevere and not play the game till my final exams ends and hope to avoid spoilers as much as possible (rip already spoilt myself on some things lol).

The Ogre battle series for nuanced political plots and characters with SRPG gameplay. I've heard good things about Jeanne d'arc as well on psp (seems to share FE ethos on easy to learn TRPG gameplay and interesting characters). I personally adore Valkyrie Profile as well, it has the collect a large cast of character with interesting backstory thing going on and really fun/unique gameplay (but it's not a grid based srpg, more of a action/turn based rpg hybrid it's quite difficult to explain since it's so odd haha).

Maybe it's in base convos? Apparently, the short supports are not representative of just how much dialogue is in the game (as said by those who have seen the early playthroughs).

Different personalities, I suppose. Faye's always just been that obsessive girl who never talked to Alm, yet Clair's meant to be a sociable person in this iteration of her. Apparently, there are tons of dialogue outside supports so here's hoping that Faye gets at least some character development beyond her supports (Pls IS I want to see her and Silque's developing friendship after that A support, don't leave it hanging). And woo that the writer handled Leon's character well from the little we've seen so far :).

And I actually found Delthea's original ending a nice surprise, since usually media games or not assume marriage = default happiness therefore must occur. Ah well her new ending is kinda sweet too esp the reminiscing with Luthier part.

I think the main worry is that Faye's whole character just becomes 'She likes Alm' where her entire personality and dialogue revolves around her crush bubble. But then again we haven't seen ever line Faye speaks yet so I'm still hoping that we get more from this new character. I mean even Catria has quite a bit more to her character than just crush on Marth (she has a personality descriptor for one, which Faye lacks in her intro on the official site). Like her base convos in fe12 made me like the character due to her admirations for her sisters whilst being so harsh on herself for being the middle kid without anything special (which she learns otherwise ofc). Is just that we know very little of Faye beside this one trope of hers right now, hence the negativity. I still think is too early to say though since apparently there's a lot more dialogue outside supports for most characters. And unrequited love can be a great part of a character arc, if it's not the sole arc.

Here you go, Rinea's character art: (I went to get this on the wiki and pretty sure I accidentally saw some spoiler images so I wouldn't advise going on the page welp)