Oh man, the review thread on Era is gonna be bad enough, but I can't even imagine how bad it'll get if this game gets a higher MC score than 3H lol. Which I don't think is impossible btw. I mean, Awakening's story is pretty simple and heavily criticized, yet it's still the highest rated FE to this day, and the only one with the coveted 90+ MC score. Granted, things were different back then, and it was the very first FE to make a big splash, so it's not a 1:1 comparison.
Let's not forget that 3H was also (rightfully) criticized in reviews for its graphics and performance, neither of which are issues in Engage. So we've got gameplay, graphics and animations (presentation and production values in general, really) performance, polish, exploration segments, base activities, and pacing that all seem to be huge improvements over 3H. From what we've heard of the music, it also seems like a huge improvement over 3H imo, although that obviously won't factor into review scores. Even if the story and character writing is worse, that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, just worse than 3H.
But yeah, anyway, I'm definitely not looking forward to post-release discourse lol. On the bright side though, the negativity will hopefully be drowned out a bit by the casual audience and potential newcomers talking about the game once it comes out.
btw: I completely agree that FE making drastic changes with each new entry (especially in the modern, post-Awakening era) is great and what keeps the series fresh and exciting! I enjoy all styles of FE! I love the look of this game, but I'm also really looking forward to the rumored FE4 remake, which will surely be a lot darker, serious, and grounded in terms of tone and artstyle.