IMO 'soku still was a big step back from IaMP other than being more accessible; yes, the accessibility of play was nice (IaMP could be pretty tough to learn, I won't beat around that bush), but I really didn't like having to draw my MAIN SKILLS from a random deck of cards and not even be able to start with them, weather was a thing (typhoon...), and I recall complaints about stuff like wrongblock being implemented in a dumb fashion where it's almost better for the person blocking, along with other things. But my main gripe was definitely the card deck- customization was cool, but I'd much rather have it HM-style (for all it's flaws, that part wasn't bad) where I'm just choosing what it is and that's that.
But, well, 'soku was still playable long-term. HM was a mess and ULiL, well... ULiL was -better- but it still wasn't exactly a great game. It was at least refined enough to be more reliably enjoyable but the system was still not exactly terribly great. It was a good improvement, but the starting point was so bad. :T
Unfortunately we can pretty much confirm they're keeping all the sprites they made since they're keeping current cast and adding onto it, which means the characters need to be flying again. It's possible they just keep it thematically mid-air but remove the "below-ground" lane entirely, I suppose. More likely we'll be hoping they find a way to make the system more fun, once again. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised! Regardless of what happens I'll be giving it the good 'ol try and learning a couple characters, and I'll see how it goes.
Tasofro's not bad at making fighters, but the problem is just their great desire to make a doofy flying fighter. They said in an interview they satisfied that itch with making ULiL from HM feedback, so, we'll see.