Some of the villans mainly awaking are some of the monsters you fight in this game. The weapon triangle from the FE series is going to play apart of the gameplay. Some of the FE protags are summoned kinda like personas.
I know this is not what some people wanted or expected but the gameplay looks very fun from the e3 demonstration that was shown a few months ago. I like how well you do during fights the audience your performing for will give you buffs and stuff. Kinda reminds me of paper mario