After yesterday’s relatively well-received Famitsu leak, comes the actual magazine itself (in digital form, at least). Like last time, the leaks revealed most of the important details, so be sure to check the previous news post if you missed that.

Thankfully, all of the information in the leaks turned out to be true–nothing too surprising considering the sites that leak information are probably very cautious not to ruin their credibility.

However there was one “tiny” error, which I quickly corrected, but many other sites–English or Japanese–weren’t as quick to fix. I’m, of course, referring to Gunter’s amusing “Great Butler” class, which was a typo of the more logical “Great Knight”.

So R.I.P. Great Butler. (For now, at least.)

For the new information, let’s first continue from one of the hot topics from yesterday: Maids, Butlers and the new weapon type “Hidden Weapon”, which can be equipped by both classes, as well as Hoshido’s Ninjas.

As reported, Hidden Weapons sit alongside Lances in the revamped weapon triangle and are good against Swords and Magic, but weak against Axes and Bows. Their particular niche is the ability to temporarily decrease enemy stats. We now know they are 1~2 range weapons as well.

In some screenshots, Felicia–of the Maid class–can be spotted finishing off enemies with an “Iron Hidden-Weapon” (I’m tempted to “localise” this as “Iron Knife” so it’s easier to read) or healing with staves. Likewise, Butlers can equip Hidden Weapons and Staves too.

Interestingly, from Felicia’s Level, stats and skills, it seems likely that Maid (and Butler, its male equivalent) is a promoted class. So perhaps the answer to “what will Maid or Butler promote to” is simply a boring “they don’t promote”. Once again, R.I.P. Great Butler.

Ninjas meanwhile are locked to Hidden Weapons, although they have better attacking abilities than Maids and Butlers, most likely. The Ninjas we see–Suzukaze and a Fuuma Soldier(?)–are equipped with Iron and Steel Shurikens, the Hoshidan version of Hidden Weapons.

Of interest, Suzukaze’s Iron Shuriken boosts his Speed by 2, while reducing his enemy’s Magic by 2, Defence by 3 and Resistance by 3 until the next turn. The enemy’s Steel Shuriken also seems to boost Speed by some unknown amount.

Perhaps what differentiates Hoshido’s Shurikens between Nohr’s plain Hidden Weapons is their Speed boost and presumably lower Might (or other stat). This would parallel Hoshido’s Naginatas having less Might than Nohr’s Lances, but providing a Defence and Resistance boost.

Next, let’s talk about the characters, beginning with the six characters introduced yesterday. To save space, you can find their profiles in the dedicated Characters page; look for Suzukaze, Saizou and Kagerou under Hoshido and Felicia, Joker and Gunter under Nohr.

Besides those six, there were some characters we didn’t know about before or couldn’t get a good glimpse of.

First we have a female Dark Mage called Nyx, who was actually mentioned at the end of yesterday’s leak. The only other details we know about her is that she can equip Fire and Fimbulvetr tomes and can at least promote to a Sorcerer.

Moving away from Famitsu for a bit, the latest issues of Dengeki and Nintendo Dream also come out on the 21st. Sadly, Nintendo Dream apparently doesn’t have any new information, but Dengeki has a few images we haven’t seen in Famitsu so far.

On the left image, we see Nyx as a Sorcerer and, on the right, an unnamed Brave Hero (read: “Hero”). Other than the Hero’s ridiculous(ly amazing) expression, classes apparently have a base stat for Luck, which they’ve lacked in previous games.

(Not exactly important, but the spell-casting effect no longer conjures Tellius’s ancient text, like it did in Awakening, instead summoning something closer to runes or European symbols.)

Also in Dengeki, we finally get a proper look at Linca (or Rinka), the female Oni who appears frequently in screenshots and video.

On the right, we have the Avatar’s Hoshidan little sister, Sakura, in her default Priestess class. Speaking of Sakura, a screenshot of her inventory has her holding a “Spring Festival” healing baton.

That’s pretty much everything, but there are two more small(?) observations.

One, the Avatar seemingly doesn’t have access to his/her dragon-transforming ability all of the time. In the batch of screenshots showing the Avatar’s inventory, he is still in the Dark Prince class, but his Dragonstone rank is missing for some reason.

Two, you must have noticed by now how Hoshido has eastern-themed versions of all of the present weapon types: Katana (Sword), Naginata (Lance), Mace (Axe) and Baton (Staff).

So far we don’t know exactly what the Hoshidan version of magic tomes are (probably related to talismans), but we do know they have Yumi (asymmetrical bows) instead of Bows.

Well, that’s it from me. For more findings and all the latest gossip, be sure to check our forums!