Dunal

For randomness and fun. Ever played other games with a similar feature? Not meant to be entirely serious. I suppose more health changes the dynamics a bit since enemy phase becomes a lot less important. Enemies are a lot more likely to overwhelm you. Taking out single enemies at a time requires more units and so generally the game is harder as a result. Maps such as CH6 dramatically change and killing the boss may only be barely possible. Of course your own units become tankier too, which may make specific units differ in use entirely. Each option might completely change the way you have to play, and thus can add a lot of replayability. Of course, the idea is that you can toggle on/off any that you want to. So extremely wacky playthroughs are entirely possible. Just for a bit of fun.

If anything, Ironman should be a separate option. As in, things like Casual/Ironman is still possible. Basically, you cannot reload at all and if Uther/Lord dies if's permanently gameover. Fixed growth mode would be pretty cool too. Heck, you could have an entire 'second wave' feature (unlockable when you beat the game) where you can have wacky rules in place than you can turn on and off upon starting a new game (Yay XCOM). Things such as: - Ironman - Fixed Growths - True Hit (Single RNG hit rates) - Critical Flurry (Critical rates twice as much, but only 2x bonus). - Zero growths - Healthy (All units +50% HP) - Reverse (Enemies attack first always on player phase, Eliza aside perhaps) - Fatigue (Units become weaker when deployed twice in a row or longer) - Speedy (All units have +2 move) - Glass Weapons (All weapons have -50% durability) - Lunatic (All enemies have random powerful skills, like FE13+) etc etc.... This would definitely be an awesome post-release feature. Assuming you intend to do those, of course.

Unfortunately -- given its popularity, I feel those mechanics are here to stay. They'll always be fan games, I suppose. Some on the horizon also looking excellent so I'm not too worried (Remakes in XNA inc...). (Sorry if off-topic!).

Yeah I also disagree with weapons having no weight, although lowering weight (by 1-2) across the board would have been fine. For instance, Peg Knights being able to use Steel Lances and double just kind of... removed the point of their restrictions (Low Mgt). Myrmidons? Hit rates could be an argument but not really if they're increasing back up to standard fare (FE7).

I can usually kill Horace by turn ~11 on hard. You just need to advance quickly with a small group. Kill James by turn 5. You can do this by placing someone like Eagler next to the fort (make sure he has no ranged wpn equipped). Then immediately kill him and his the enemies he comes with. Hassar or Toni can easily do so (Toni is usually promoted for me by this point) while Uther/Marcus can take care of the mounted force that comes from the top. Then I split my team into two groups. One usually consisting of Hassar (or Toni)/Uther/Eagler/Marcus/Made and one of the mages (they chip Horace down quite easily) and rush them to the top past the ballista. Everyone else remains near the border and takes care of the reinforcements that come from there. There isn't much resistance for sending a group up top. There are some mounted reinforcements that spawn from Horace's location, but that's about it. As for killing him, rescue dropping Magnus/Airy works quite easily. Or Toni/Hassar. Anyone who's strongest really. That said, my Uther tends to be very strong by this point (level 9-11) which is enough to reliably take on Horace and not be 1RKOed. So you can rescue drop him with healing. Assuming you can get to him around turn 10, you'll have 5/6 or so turns to kill him. One goal I might go for is promoting Magnus. Doing so is really effective at killing Horace, should all else fail. He needs only 8 kills to promote (so 1 per turn by turn 9 or so). Not too difficult.

He's okay. His promotion bonuses are really good (+4 MAG, +2 DEF for instance). And it's easy feeding him three levels. Elthunder is kinda unreliable I guess but Wind is good enough for finishing stuff off if need be. More so than training Cybil for instance. Also, Magnus' CON is really high, and his SPD growth is 40%. He will become very fast even with heavy tomes. Like I said before, the main thing I dislike is the 'focus' skill. A 4 move unit is going to need to keep moving in order to keep up with the rest of the army, so Focus just doesn't work. Transforming it into a defensive/melee centric skill would be far nicer. It's bad enough that they're gimped by 4 move in the first place. Another skill idea is one which makes them deal extra damage to other mage units. I dislike the fact that all mage units have high res (which makes magic WTA pointless too). It would give them an edge against 5 move magic users.

I figured that Magnus was in his forties or something.

I don't think Pent would be a trainee since the 'Pupil' class is already taken by Magnus. I remember seeing Louise art somewhere though which may or may not confirm Pent himself. Heck, Louise herself I'm not even sure on either. But I should think there's another archer to complete the 'two archer rule' nonetheless. And as far as I know, I haven't seen mention of the 'token mage', either. Yeah, I assumed the first two would fall under that. Or at least the second (The first was uncertain since the preparation screen seems perfectly functional from the looks of TM3). The third I definitely wasn't sure on though since the text in-game may or may not have been a placeholder.

A few comments on the preparation screen: 1) On CH6, is it intended that we can't use the Angelic Robe before starting the map? I think we should have the option to. 2) Currently you cannot take a sneak peak at vendors/armories (like in the GBA titles). Is this intended? 3) The save option currently creates a map save, but I think it would be a better idea if saving overwrites the save from the map screen. This means all your preparation can be intact permanently, rather than being overwritten by another map save. But like other FEs, the pre-preparation cut-scenes and dialogue are kept in-tact when you restart, just that your changes are kept. Just thought I'd comment on it.

It happens on the player phase too, yeah. I *think* it may reset itself after a combat sequence, but I'm not sure on that either. Slightly related, is combat music perhaps going to become like FE10 (where the music resumes on each sequence rather than restarting)? I really liked that feature -- it works really well for longer tracks. Especially for boss themes that have a build up. Also, about Magnus' description: "A wily ex-criminal who discovered his magical talent late in life" Page (class) description: "After much study, this youth gained power over elements" I assume Magnus is the only Page in the game, so I just thought that was a bit odd.

Oh yeah, of course -- my mistake (this isn't FE10). Still, I do feel that new weapon ranks in T2 should be at least D (except staffs, since they offer an entirely new niche that other weapons can't replace). Steels can't even be used until C. You may be able to justify limits to B rank at that stage since it won't take as much effort to get there. Although I don't necessarily think it's needed -- A rank for every limit would be fine. It's not like a Hero/Sage is going to be able to max out more than one secondary weapon in reality. And even if they did, it's not like it makes them broken. Especially for magic since WTA doesn't mean too much for it (I'm unaware if that's got changed though). The best benefit is in regards to availability of certain weapons, but those need to be shared among your army anyway. It could interesting though if weapon ranks increased based off the level of the enemy you're attacking or something (such as X total enemy level = +X% of base w.exp received -- so attacking a level 20/10 enemy is +30% weapon EXP). That could help level low ranks later in the game, at least a little. This only affects like 2 or 3 player units (Harken being one of them) so I doubt it matters too much, I guess. Possible E ranks for other T2 classes aside, of course.

My guess is there's a female Zweihander (Not sure if mentioned)? As for Heroes/Sages -- I'm worried that starting E rank on everything won't really make it that credible. But I'm guessing it's just a novelty/fun skill at best. Limits on ranks are fine I presume, but chances are if you're using a unit so much as to level a weapon rank from scratch -- a limit isn't that necessary. If you've actually taken the time to spam bronze bows on Harken for w/e reason, maxing at B might be a bit of a downer. I think it's quite cool/interesting that those classes can have every type (it isn't really a power factor -- just a fun idea). I hope it doesn't have many limitations though (aside from maybe staffs on Sages). And omg how many different varying convo's (based on who's died) are there!? I guess it's the only way to make it so non-main characters can actually talk in the main story -- it must take a lot of work, but it really is awesome. Wish IS did this more. Also I wonder if Isadora has a different convo with Marcus if she promotes before him. Anyone found this out yet? EDIT: Just thought I'd mention, if someone dies, the map theme will remain to be 'Within Sadness' until the end of the player/enemy phase. It's a bit strange. I'm guessing it should be ending after the character death quote (then resuming the prior music).

Same. Like I said, it's because of the amount of cavs (claymore / Zwei) -- and enemies are generally quite squishy (but high in number). This is a direct contrast to prologue (no effective / tankier enemies). Combat rank needs to be heavily adjusted for each individual map it seems. It's far too based on map design ATM. Too leniant on some maps and too harsh on others, and mechanically it's easy to understand why. I get what you're saying for EXP/Turn, but really -- lower EXP (in return for rush clears) is technically a long term penalty for later chapters (which will lead to suckier tactics/combat ranks later on). If some players want to fast clear certain chapters, they shouldn't be punished for it -- because they're already sacrificing future oppotunites to do so. Therefore, basing EXP rank on the amount of turns (to a degree) seems quite natural to me. To what degree can be debated though. Again, just my thoughts. And yes, Isadora is pretty good now after the weapon Mgt change. Her low STR / high SPD just favors it more. I think all units are reasonably good/balanced. Except the whole 4 MOV magi thing. They need a more practical skill, as I've mentioned (Focus is contradictory to low movement). Stat-wise though, Magnus/Airy are fine otherwise. For fun (don't judge me), Let's actually compare them at the end of CH6 (disclaimer, I can't remember promo gains completely -- so it might be a bit off). All stats are rounded to the nearest value. Hassar LVL: -/6 HP: 32 STR: 8 SKL: 9 SPD: 11 LUK: 6 DEF: 6 RES: 3 Toni LVL: 10/1 HP: 29 STR: 8 SKL: 13 SPD: 13 LUK: 5 DEF: 6 RES: 4 They're pretty much on par with everything. Few points of health for Hassar, 4 SKL and 2 SPD for Toni. That 2 speed is actually quite significant at this point based on enemy speed (Toni can double a lot Hassar can't). However, Hassar has Swift and +1 Move. And of course, Hassar is already good/great from the start, and mostly out-performs her in CH5 & CH6. Toni's class and additional SKL can translate to an extra +13 crit though. That's quite a lot. With Short Bow it's +18 crit, but both can use it so w/e. That said, Hassar's growths are flat out better (not sure entirely why -- I guess Longbowman just ends up being that good a class). Their STR/SPD (main importance for archers) will always be similar however. Hassar doesn't equal her speed at T1 ever, she'll always remain a point ahead. STR will pretty much remain similar, with Hassar being a point ahead by the time T1 comes to a close. Now for Marcus/Cybil. Marcus LVL: 10/5 HP: 36 STR: 9 SKL: 11 SPD: 10 LUK: 7 DEF: 10 RES: 4 Cybil LVL: 10/1 HP: 31 STR: 8 SKL: 10 SPD: 12 LUK: 6 DEF: 6 RES: 12 Stats are fairly even. 4 DEF VS. 8 RES. 1 STR/5 HP VS. 2 SPD. Aside from that, not much different. Except Marcus will promote earlier and generally be a lot more useful in CH5 & 6. Cybil gains a substantial power spike from promoting (flight!). Realistically that won't happen until the latter half of CH6. In the long run though, Marcus will be better at being in the front line, holding off physical units (as a cav/pally would do). Cybil has better offensive stats + flight. Heck, Marcus is great, and is one of the best units from the demo so far. I think what carries him though is his promo speed gain (+2, which guarantees 8 SPD). But in terms of growth, he will start to fall behind a ways into T1 I expect. Basically, no unit is strictly better (except Eagler) even in this early demo stage. They've done a very good job balancing it seems, at least so far. As for Harken, yeah he's the worst trainee, but his promo gains are sooo good (taking into account Focus, he gains +5 STR...). His power spike is quite substantial.

Thinking about it, I don't think the EXP rank should be more harsh on the overall rank, that would punish people who are capable of low-turning certain maps. If anything, a good solution would be to base the EXP rank off the total turns that are played. As in, if you 5-turn a map, then the par amount of EXP = X*5 (X being the average/expected amount of EXP each turn). Then, the EXP rating would be based off how higher/lower you deviate from that value (average per turn). Therefore if you were to rush a map with mostly eagler, your EXP ranking would be low. But if done with only trainees, you would get a high rank, despite only beating it in a few turns, because the average per turn is high. However, I'm really not sure how it currently works at all. For I know it could already be doing something like this. If it does, then sure, make it more harsh. Combat is an odd one. I do feel that less emphasis should be put on it, and more on tactics/time. Turncount isn't the end all, be all -- but it's a better display of skill than the former. Combat is weird because it's far too encouraged by things like weapon effectiveness (Claymore > mounted) so some chapters are skewed more by it than others. CH6 is very easy to S rank for this reason (There are so many cavs that Uther can one-shot).

No, what I mean is that each rank is equally contributing on the overall rank. I assume the default values for each ranking is 100. And your performance affects those values. In any case, each sub-rank contributes 33% of the overall, while it should be more like 37/37/26% (Combat/Time/EXP) IMO. Then combat could be tweaked to be less harsh and turncount to be more harsh. Not sure if I'm explaining well enough still, but hopefully you know where I'm coming from. Basically, EXP is too lenient, but also could be less important, if that makes sense. Combat should be less harsh. It's the most prominent ranking at the moment, which doesn't really work for some maps (prologue). Turncount or time should be more harsh or important (1 turn could be 10-20+ points for instance, depending on map). Not sure if others agree though. But there could be some improvements from what I can see.

Speaking of Magnus, how does everyone think of him as a unit? My impressions (based off the trial maps as well) is that it's still hard to justify 4 move on him. Stats aside, 'Focus' I feel -- isn't particularly useful on mage units. It makes them sometimes more durable than 5 move magi, but at what point would you genuinely use them to tank hits (and keep them stationary while doing so?). +2 magic is also very negligible on a burst mage who doesn't double either (so making them barely move to proc it is rarely worthwhile). It would make sense if Shaman/Sorc/Diviner gained a new skill or a tweaked version of Focus. --- 'Combat Caster' = When fighting at melee range, this unit gains +2 Mag/Skl/Def. --- Seems more appropriate to me. Focus, with how it currently works, doesn't make sense on a 4 MOV unit since not only are they immobile (and thus, cannot get in the fray all that efficiently) they won't really get an opportunity to actually proc focus effectively (chances are they need a bunch of turns to move a good amount to begin with, let alone holding still afterwards). 'Combat Caster' works a lot better IMO since they can move the full distance and still do their job effectively. His stats are also rather average -- but his growths seem pretty good. Can't comment too much about that yet. His Skl bugs me a bit, but if you were to add a bonus to 'Focus'/'Combat Caster' it would benefit him quite nicely. Focus works fine on Mercs/Fighters for the most part. 5 move is enough to get them into a good position and hold the line. Airy seems good. Her bases are really great. Her growths are apparently mediocre but that shouldn't matter too much with the amount of levels she can have. However, like Magnus, 'Focus' likely doesn't offer much. Anyone agree/disagree? These are just my thoughts. I absolutely agree with this. Combat rating is indeed too harsh, while Turncount aren't strict enough. EXP should have a lower contribution IMO. While it it seems to be 100/100/100 baseline at the moment, it should be more like 110/110/90 (the latter being EXP). This doesn't mean it should be easier/harder to S rank and whatnot, it just might need a tweak. It's quite apparent when prologue is very hard to S rank while CH6 is relatively easy. Mostly because of the way the combat rating works. EDIT: Also, would it be a good idea if S ranks can only be received in hard mode? Or, instead of S rank in hard, it becomes SS rank instead (like FE6). This just separates the importance or difficulty of ranks on each mode. Although they're probably going to be separated in the end regardless.

I'll let you know if it happens again -- and where/when it happens. All I remember was that it would be before combat starts, but not specifically. However if I "Load Suspend" the combat (that crashed) would continue as normal without crashing. It looks to me that it's probably on my end, but I'll take note of it if it happens again. EDIT: By the way, Edeleisse dropped the Light Brand for me when she was killed holding the steel sword. Is this intended? I wouldn't assume so considering the boss drop next chapter. I would think the steel sword should be the only possible drop, no?

I got that impression. Technically it's a dialogue flaw, but not everyone's dialect is perfect. BTW forgot to mention -- I've had a couple of crashes so far (fairly infrequent it seems) with this version. Has anyone else experienced the same? Again, it's not too often and resuming is always fine (as in, it isn't a mechanical/code error). Might just be me though. EDIT: Also I should mention that I really like that scenes can completely change based on who's alive/dead. Toni's scene in CH6 for instance (Cybil instead becomes a part of the scene if she is dead I believe?). You've obviously put a lot of thought into things like that.

I don't think you know where I'm coming from. Clearing the map is fine, so long as: 1) You don't miss more than once (twice is often death). This is especially true on player phase when a missed killing blow would let in two more attacks from an enemy. 2) An enemy doesn't crit you (soldiers). 3) You forgo using Harken/Isadora at all past the early turns (they simply take too much damage -- and there isn't enough healing items to go around). You can potshot kills with them, but not much else. Strategically it's a very simple map. You can chokepoint and kill off the enemies slowly or rush the chapter with some lucky crits (the map is 3-5 turn-able). The former is assuming you don't miss any attacks -- because you can take too much unnecessary damage to rout the map. The chapter isn't hard, it's just.... off-putting? There isn't much depth to it, but RNG is quite dominant and if you miss a couple attacks, that can completely ruin things. Chapter 5 & 6, as well as the trial maps, are much harder in terms of strategic/objectives (CH2 is the easiest map, both in terms of rushing and/or distributing EXP, whichever you want to go for). However, in terms of player input and RNG, it's the most limited, and in order to gain EXP -- you basically have to tank a bunch of turns, or lose EXP and completely rush the boss. My point is, is that I've never once had to restart CH2/5/6 etc... Prologue on the other hand can be lost without your control. Therefore the design could be better. Besides, S ranking is difficult since you need a modest amount of experience, while clearing efficiently too. That also relies on crits. So no, I don't suck at FE. FE12 H3 was a blast for me (not that it was perfectly designed -- for instance a lot of MU options were almost not feasible at all, and unit balance etc...). I'm just pointing out that the Prologue doesn't need to be the way it is. CH2/5/6 are all well designed. In fact, I would welcome it if they were harder! But only because the player options / map design would work for it. Prologue doesn't. An extra vulnerary or two means that enemy crits or player misses wouldn't be sometimes an auto lose, and that Isadora/Harken can be involved more. That's it. I don't want to dwell on it too much because it's a fantastic game otherwise, but if I find a small flaw with the map design, does it really hurt to mention it? It's really quite a minor point at the end of it. Every few attempts you'll be lucky enough to completely breeze through it (although usually I'd end up with A rank). But then there are those times where the lack of resources / Soldier crits can completely screw you over if RNG is not on your side (to the point where it's a problem on this map over the others). Crits and RNG are on other maps too of course, but they have enough strategical depth that you can still S rank and clear fine even with mishaps. And those are well designed maps for being so (in terms of resources/units/enemies etc...).

Hard!Prologue is also quite brutal -- that's a detail hard to miss. =L About that: Since enemies deal more damage now (but you have more health ofc) I think it would be a good idea if you added a couple more vulneraries (at least one more). Three vulneraries were fine before since Uther/Marcus took a lot less total damage, and you could burn a leftover one for Isadora/Harken so they could fight too. Now it's really easy to run out of them and so the exact same problem has occurred again. Marcus/Uther aren't quite as durable as they were before. Two of the soldiers (reinforcements) being replaced by fighters does help things though. Still, the amount of damage you take is quite a bit higher overall. The chapter itself (on hard) seems to be very hard to S rank too. Not that there's anything wrong with that -- but I found CH2 quite simple to S-rank in contrast, for instance. Just making sure Prologue doesn't turn out to be the hardest of maps (well, it's not strategically hard -- CH6 wins on that so far, but moreso it continues to be too punishing based on hits/misses and resource allocation, which the other maps do not really suffer with). :) I'd personally be in favor in adding another vulnerary and then retain bronze lances for the soldiers. Their stats are already higher in hard but they don't need any crit to be tough. You could up their base strength by 1 to compensate. Generally speaking I don't think the prologue should be all that difficult on any mode -- just harder to S-rank on hard. The other maps can be as challenging as they want to be (because they offer far more depth and unit diversity -- weapon variety, healing, backup power (Eagler) etc... Moreso on CH5 or 6 than CH2, but you get the point). CH6 is pretty great/fun by the way. I'll play it some more until I'll give any further feedback. Haven't changed my opinions on CH2/CH5 either -- both good maps. The weapon MGT/HP change is nice and CH2 benefits from that quite nicely (the squires actually dealing modest damage as a result -- same for myrms in general too). Also, Isadora greatly appreciates from the weapon Mgt change (or any unit with low STR I'd imagine) -- Especially since she starts to double fairly early. Quite the difference.

I'd guess Vaida was late-thirties in FE7, so ~20 seems about right. Isadora/Harken I see as early-thirties in FE7. So 13-15. I don't believe you really need to stretch it. And even if you do, it's not going to be that far off. Also, question: Why is everyone's base HP higher now (about +5 it looks like)? Is it because of normal mode? I always thought base HP was already quite high compared to other titles. I'm guessing it might just be a way of making the base difficulty easier without having to make enemies weaker (which can be difficult to do with weird DEF/SPD cases -- thus making units like Eagler invincible). EDIT: I stand corrected; her stats are legit -- I guess she's not too amazing with being weighed down so much, but I'm still very surprised her starting level is lower than Magnus.

Played through again. Tried to be reasonably efficient (~30-35 total turns give or take). Trying to imagine what the tactic's rank will require optimally, while avoiding cheese/RNG. Seems about right. Gives me a good impression of how each character fits to stand at the moment. I already made an impression list (Here) but I think I have a better grasp now. I actually think Isadora stands to be a better unit than Harken pre-promotion at this stage. She can now solo all the fighters on the prologue fairly quickly on the south route (and if she gains a point of speed when leveling; the nearby merc as well), while the others go north past the village. Harken doesn't really do a whole lot. While Isa can 2RKO the fighters and situationally mercs, Harken can only chip and finish people off. On CH2, neither are that helpful, although Isa can 2RKO the Squires and contribute that way. So yeah, Harken is the worst unit pre-promo. His promo gains are crazy good though (including Focus, which I assume is great on CH5 -- He gains +5 STR with it (?)). Genuinely the hardest to promote. But I never sank that many kills into him -- After discovering a use for Isadora in the prologue, I naturally sank more into her + Marcus as a result. Speaking of Marcus -- probably better than Uther, Claymore aside (which does give Uther the edge) he's durable, reliable and his promo bonuses are great and fast gotten (so it's worth rushing it). He can single handedly clear the left side of the map in CH2 while Eagler/Uther rush up to the boss. Toni/Cybil are hard to rate because with any ounce of efficiency they won't promote in CH5. Heck, I felt generous to Isadora and she barely promoted before I finished. Harken would be much the same way. Cybil doesn't get mauled by Myrms anymore so that's good. Feeding kills to either is fairly straightforward. Hassar is great. Or 'Swift' is great. W/e. So in a fairly efficient run here's where my team ended up approximately: Eagler 1 Uther 7 Marcus 10/3 Madelyn 8 Hassar 6 Isadora 10/1 Toni 8 Harken 7 Cybil 7 They are also listed in order of how I would 'Tier' them currently. While it does look like I favoured Isa over Harken -- I just found her snowballing into usefulness more than he did. Her level-ups were average I feel, but the prologue just favored her more than him, so she grew off that. The prologue is very mean to Harken. Too many soldiers and 3RKOs the fighters. I wouldn't make any changes to any unit. Maybe Eagler's defense could be lowered by a point or two, but that's about it. Even FE6 Marcus only had 9 defense, and he's a god. So yeah actually, I'd say lower Eagler's DEF by 2 points and up his DEF growth by 10-15%. So he'll gain the defense back in the long-run, but is actually kill-able early. The horseslayers aren't that difficult to work around as it stands (he can take a blow from one but then gets near-tinked by everything else -- so you can just shrug it off and heal).

Because in reality growths are only as useful/important as the enemy growth, or whether lategame has any weight over earlier parts of the game (or are noteworthy in general). Interestingly, aside from some exceptions (FE12?), enemies can't even keep up with low growth units so long as their bases are sufficient (Like Dieck). That, or because stat advantages are either: A) Come so late on a 'growth' unit that by the time they surpass a 'base' unit, the general usefulness over the whole playthrough is at favor to the 'base' unit... by far. B) Nobody cares that the 'growth' unit will likely have +2 stats over the 'base' unit in the long-term when they won't differ in usage at all because of that, or barely. I mean look at Pent and Nino. Pent at endgame is a perfectly functionable unit. Nino can be a slightly better version of him at that point. But the bottom line is: Who cares? I mean think about it, aside from being able to look at the stat screen at be at awe of the shiny numbers, what exactly does it achieve? Granted, FE lategames are very likely too easy for it to matter, and that's part of the problem. Overkill-ness is often frowned upon and it's easy to achieve, but not necessary at all. A unit with 74028 MT can kill X unit. A unit with 30 MT can also kill X unit. In the end, does it matter?

If Harken has a 50% SPD growth then he will average 7.5 at 10/1. At 10/4 he would average 9 SPD. So that seems about right. It could be lower than 50% for all I know but it doesn't seem unlikely either way. His low base of 4 just means a high growth won't do much at the start.

That means that Marcus has a >=40% DEF growth? Figures. If anything that's quite a scary prospect, actually. He's Lowen but with STR/SKL. Holy. Probably 30% SPD then. But he's guarenteed 8 base at Tier 1 so... Not that it matters early (while Harken can be screwed with 4 SPD no matter his growth.. heh). But then it wouldn't be FE without Marcus being awesome.