Player Two

First, we now know a lil more about Eshmel and the 4 lords... Looks like the story is divided in 2 parts where you fight the big bad post timeskip while the pre timeskip focus more in the lords personal goals. Its an interesting choice, but It does end affecting the story... Eshmel doesn't have a personal/emotional link to the lords (Eshmel can even totally ignore them), which can make both parts more disconected storywise. My bet is the story won't be as impactful as 3 houses, being more of a classic "defeat the big bad" story... But that doesn't mean I think the story gonna be bad, just simpler (and of course, thats just my first impression).

About the gameplay, the maps looks better so its nice they are fixing one of 3 houses biggest flaws. The new classes they showed look fun (hidding an elephant is just cool). But talking about the other elephant in the room: the free time! I know some people like It and other hate, and in this game they expanded the free time a looooot. I personally liked free time (and makes more sense in this game than in 3h, since its a tournament and you have to wait your turn), but I see how some people can think its overwhelming or a waste of time. They added a lot of stuff for gameplay, like dungeons (making a return after SoV) and different styles of battles... For me It looks fun but in the end It can be a big turnoff for some players.