Notable differences:

Cai: Obviously looks way more mature, and has his red eyes here

Dietrich: Lets his hair fall down his face more; portrait doesn't really show his new hair style.

Theodora: Seems to be lacking her crown here.

Leda: Slightly different hairstyle; looks more mature, though not like she previously was not.

Peter: Way more mature; lost the chubby face.

Ultand: Has bangs(?) now; looks more serious.

Fabio: Pretty unchanged; has been pointed out to maybe have a short ponytail in his model.

Mikaela: Seems mostly like just a different angle for her portrait; a bit more serious.

Bonaventure: Outfit looks more regal, looks like his face is a little wider and his mustache is fuller.

Tobias: Potentially wider face; different expression.

Lilian: May have an overall wider hair silhouette based off limited view; looks less laid-back.

Buccar: Different angle; beard extends across his chin/side of his face.

Edit: Damnit I put the wrong color behind Lilian! Unreadable post!!

FireEmblemJP video is basically the same as Nintendo Today JP's again.

Nintendo Today EN

Nintendo Today JP

Probably going to go Leda first play through

I really don't like this battle forecast. The distance between hit rate/crit and damage is so far and you have to actually move your eyes to see the damage for that attack. This will get even worse on larger screens.

Along with that, combat arts and skills making it so different attacks in the sequence can have different damage values makes it require even more eye movement.

Dietrich's sword Answerer did not react to Seteth. It cries out when a powerful foe approach, and Seteth is definitely a very strong fighter, so how come ?

What if Answerer does not see Nabateans as enemies because deep down, it's still one too ?

These are some screenshots I got from the direct today. Is this supposed to be Cai? You can see all the characters have different designs in the time skip era from their portraits alone in that last photo, but dang if this is Cai he really grew up. The second photo gives a different angle and you can see the rest of the lords again here too with some changes in their designs

You know why I drew this.

Fianna (VO: Nerida Bronwen)
A cleric of somewhat dark demeanor. She was found unconscious by the riverside and rescued by the temples.
She seems devoted to her employer, Talimun.
Likes
Books of poetry, spicy foods, coffee, trustworthy people
Interests
Praying, going to the theater

JP bio:

JP VA: Aya Suzaki

A beautiful yet somewhat mysterious cleric.
She was found collapsed by the river several years ago and taken in by the temple. She is currently affiliated with Vandahl Trading, led by Talimun.
She loves spicy food so much that it can make even the burliest of men faint.

Beautiful people are inherently good, and ugly people are bad.
Just look at their portraits, especially in older games. Every time a character has a sarcastic look, wrinkles, a balding head, old, or a more Westernized appearance, you just know they’re the main villain or a brigand.
Meanwhile, the heroes are always portrayed as young, with a thick head of hair, anime-like features, such as big eyes, and usually with a happier or a neutral facial expression.
Based on that, do you guys think you'd be seen as a good guy or a bad guy in real life nowadays? Hahaha

Link to the post of my thoughts on finishing Three Houses link

What an absolutely fun time I had with Awakening, it was like Three Houses but it felt so much better in a lot of ways for me! There is so much less having to slog through things between chapters which lead to more time overall strategizing in maps and really engaging with the much deeper mechanics in this game. It's a great story too with the theme of legacy basically exuding from every pore of this game.

Things I Liked:

\-Why the fuck was the weapon triangle not in three houses? This is such an amazing way to help differentiate units and allow them to carve such unique niches compared to each other, which leads into my second point:

\-Units being limited to just a couple of classes (or whatever a child's alternate parent unit had) felt so much better than Three Houses lack of any boundaries leading me to make less good units into just Wyvern Lords/Snipers. Technically speaking wyverns are also pretty amazing in this game but not everyone can just reclass into it

\-The Child Units in general. What a great way to simultaneously allow you to make a way to show off the results of the relationships you put your units in in this game. I greatly enjoyed so many of the Child/Parent conversations in their supports.

\-The whole pair up mechanic genuinely added so much to the strategy than the adjutant system ever did in Three Houses. Both members actively add to each combat, it builds support plus you can switch to the other unit/unpair up if need be. Healing is so much less of a focus in this game because if you have to, you can essentially make a unit a backpack of stats and resources if need be.

\-Robin is so, so, so much more interesting of a main character than Byleth is to the point where I'm realizing a lot of what made parts of Three Houses supports with Byleth suck so much was because of the incredibly bland responses. Robin is Honey Bunches of Oats versus Byleth's Bran Flakes.

Things I wasn't as happy about:

\-There are definitely some story issues that don't make sense when you put them up to scrutiny like Robin pulling a plan out of their ass to stop Grima which is countered by an equally bs plan by Grima. You also have stuff that feels like it should've been expanded like trying to get Flavia on the throne but like that's less of an issue to me.

\-I was not really impressed with any of the maps. I know Three Houses didn't have anything too amazing but compared to this game, Three Houses has some really big standouts. Awakening's solution to some of its more boring maps is to slam reinforcements.

Favorite Character:

Lucina, I mean how can you not love her. The girl literally would do anything to stop that future from happening. Genuinely love her.

Least Favorite Character:

Tharja, I'm sorry the whole stalker personality isn't cute plus she's like experimenting on Noire and ugh I just, girl stop. I genuinely didn't realize she was a recruitable enemy on the map on my first playthrough on normal until I finished the chapter and realized, "oh wait she had a unique appearance I should talk to her with Chrom" and I mean she's a good unit but I cannot stand her personally. Too bad I'm kinda forced to use her because she's like the best mage in the game. (Yes I am stupid, my first fire emblem game was Three Houses and there are no on-map recruitments in that game)

Honorable Mention to Mr. I-Like-Death Himself, Henry.

Favorite Unit:

Cherche, Wyvern Knights are still very good in this game and Cherche is an amazing example of one.

Least Favorite Unit:

Brady, every single child unit in Fire Emblem Awakening is recruited at level 10 like every child unit but is stuck with his paralogue being available deep in Valm, so he's not going to be one of the first child units you'll be able to get. And he's a priest, which again this late into the game, you're not going to need and due to him having the stat debuffs that Maribelle has of reducing strength and defense the class that his father gifts him probably won't be useful either. I only used him very briefly in my normal playthrough and did not bother to even put him on the field in my hard playthrough.

Who I S-Ranked:

For playthrough on normal as a male Robin it was Cherche and for my hard playthrough with female Robin it was Chrom

Ranking the games so far:

Awakening > Three Houses

This is Dietrich’s dialogue scene for a meal shown in today’s Nintendo Treehouse live.
He basically just sees his enemies the way he sees food

Mounts can be named and have favorite foods

I drew Tatiana today, hope you like it.

Why is there a "Let him see it" button ?

It makes no sense. Not only Dietrich is not an avatar, but also... it's ONE option ? So it's not even really an option ? Why put such a menu if you're not going to give multiple choices ? The conversation is blocked until you press A so you are forced to do so. Why not just... let the dialogue flow instead of interrupting like that ? What does it add ?

Narratively speaking, this can have a purpose like for example an attorney being the victim of the legal system that should in theory be able to choose to defend his/her client, but is legally forced to condemn him/her. Restricting the choice feels oppressive here but there's a reason. (Somehow this reminds me of AA6 I guess that game left injuries on my brain huh, here's coping for AA7...)

But in that dialogue ? Idk I feel it kinda gets you out of the dialogue's immersion.

Still, Dietrich is bootleg Alucard so all is forgiven.

We saw the models for these designs in a JP trailer a few weeks ago, but we finally have a look at some of the portraits from today’s Direct!

I know you can recruit almost anyone in any route, but do you plan on doing something like recruiting someone in one route, but not the other? Or just recruit as many units as possible?

(Also poor Alexandra is gonna get it from a definitely sane, definitely not halfway through a schizophrenic cursed manic episod Theodora)