[quote name='Zaku77']Your first two paragraphs actually sold me on
not getting into the series. Things like that just aren't friendly to the player and aren't fun. That sounds like the equivalent of Far Cry 2 where you could barely run 10 feet before succumbing to malaria, and your guns were constantly breaking. I have enough TRPGs to play, and these shall not be added to the list. Cheers! lol[/QUOTE]
Well in this version you can apparently turn permadeath off, but I don't think it'll bother you much to leave it on if you're any good at TRPG's. There are plenty of characters to recruit in the fire emblem series, you can afford to lose a few of them, but at the same time you might have an attachment to certain characters and don't want to see them perish on the battlefield.
As for gear, there are armories where you buy more. You'll never be caught without a weapon, but you won't be able to spam on weaker troops with the best weapons, unless you want to get your ass handed to you by the stronger troops. There are actually weapons that work specifically against certain kinds of troops. There's armor-busting weapons to use against knights, anti-cavalry weapons to use against calvary, etc..
It's definitely not "unfriendly" to the player, the limitations actually expand the tactical options. They make you think about what you're doing. If you lose a character in another TRPG because you foolishly moved your character into a position where the enemy can gangbang him, sure you'd be slightly upset but if you won the battle you'd just heal him and send him out again. Not so in fire emblem. You have to make sure your tactics are up to snuff. Same with gear. You have to decide who will use what weapons, and when to use those weapons.
Despite what your initial impressions of the game might have been based on my comments, I suggest you try playing a fire emblem game for yourself before judging it. It's worth owning if you're a fan of TRPG's.
Here's some short video of the gameplay in this game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbZ9woy06y8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMb1O9xzO_I
IMO, it looks like it'll be one of the best entries in one of the best TRPG series.