Played FE demo for 4 hours just to get a feel.
It seems some people feel magic isn't strong enough, others feel the combo of high Initiative + pillar of fire/fireball etc are killers.
Personally I feel, the variety of spells is still lacking.
There is counterspell yes. But there isn't a global version of this?
We need more global spells. More "meta-magic" type spells that interact with each other (see MoM for ideas).
The spells books are still not distinct enough. Give us more summons than just Elementals.
Spell damage should not be just based on shards. Levels and intelligence should play a part (even without a trait)
I really miss researching spells in MOM, so you agonized over whether to research web or cracks call, now you just get them all once you level up and upgrade to Fire archmage. You can research spellbooks (e.g book of winds) on the magic tree but it feels different somehow. I wonder if a mod could add in a tree that just gained spells and randomised somehow.
Basically there isn't a sufficient focus towards the Magic portion of the game. In MOM, you managed Mana/SKill/Research(spell), then research was on learning spells.
In FE, you dont manage any of this. Magic is just one of 3 research trees (though I appreciate the attempt to force interesting choices). There isn't much to do to manage your magic beyond building shrines on shards the equalvant of nodes in MOM.
Too much is tied to your champions gaining the right traits and then the spells are unlocked. The sovereigns are just an afterthought basically they just imbue the champion and they gain the spells. But after that what spells they gain is up to them not the channeler.
The sovereigns should be more important. Like some suggested cap the amount of mana champions can expand per combat. Sovereigns can expand more or even unlimited. Maybe dependent on whether there are in your area of influence.
Sovereigns can maybe exchange experience points to increase mana generation, spell research. ...