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bungie rebooting Marathon
- Thread starter maflynn
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Yes jump scares qualifies as for spooky for me.
I can only imagine you'd be screaming like a baby playing Five Nights At Freddy's then
If I pick just one to test for personal worhiness (of the game, not me) which would it be?Doom 3.
Sigh.
I think probably LGR and GManLives' YouTube videos on Doom 3 capture my feelings about this game the best. I like it. I like it a lot actually. It knows exactly what it is, exactly what it's trying to do, and it executes on it almost flawlessly. In much the same way as you could argue that Paul Verhoeven's original 1987 RoboCop was a perfect movie, you could argue that Doom 3 is a perfect game.
Almost.
The problem is that the game ruins its fright factor by being excessively tedious, predictable, and downright annoying. I got to the point where I could predict monster ambushes just by seeing a Security Armour lying there right in the open. Oh, I have to backtrack now? Of course they'll spawn in some Imps...
The worst of it though are the cheap enemies and even cheaper enemy placement. I've lost track of how many times the game's thrown a rear admiral (e.g. spawning enemies right behind you) at me. I feel the shotgun is the best weapon to use against Imps and Maggots since I want to conserve assault rifle/chain gun ammo and plasma rounds, but since the RNG on its spread is so wild I have no idea if it's actually going to hit anything, much less kill it. Plus the whole lights-going-out-before-introducing-a-scary-enemy thing feels so overused. Even Unreal in 1999 learned not to overuse that effect. And while I love the design of the new Lost Souls, they're among the most annoying enemies I've ever fought in an FPS.
And when enemies do hit me, the screen shake effect and my loss of aim is so severe that it makes what should be a tense enemy encounter just irritating.
And yet, I can't stop playing it. I've had a lot of fun with Doom 3, much more than another big budget AAA FPS in recent memory. I just love this game.
So here's my quick and dirty guide to the world of Marathon Total Conversion scenarios - these aren't just mods, they're essentially standalone games that hold up on their own, some almost to the point of being commercial-quality...
Marathon EVIL - A quasi-horror-ish game that was one of the first TCs for Marathon Infinity. The Devlins are a legendary enemy that lead to some tense moments and Doom 3-esque jump scares. Most notable for a plot involving the Pfhor Mystics, which I think had some Lovecraftian elements to it.
Marathon: Tempus Irae - A game more in the tone of Marathon Infinity with lots of exploration of architectually dense spaces. Its plot also has some Lovecraftian elements to it, with the terminal texts chronicling a certain historical figure's brush with madness.
Marathon RED - A game that goes balls-to-the-wall with its Lovecraftian action horror, with two all-new distinct enemy factions, and chief antagonists that extend the Marathon lore in very unexpected ways. This game goes hard. It's so hard in fact that famed Marathon player Dr. John Sumner found it impossible to vid. (i.e. complete under the rules of the Vidmaster's Challenge). This is probably the closest to Dead Space that I've seen in a Marathon TC. It's also notable for having a surprising mid-game twist that turns the entire game on its head.
Marathon Phoenix - This game also goes balls-to-the-wall, but this time with its combat. A radical overhaul of an earlier scenario called "The Grey Incident". Intended by its author to onboard Doom players to Marathon, it's has a tone styled after Marathon Infinity but with unrelenting moment-to-moment gameplay styled after Doom.
Marathon Rubicon - The closest we will likely ever get to a direct sequel to Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity, with an all-new arsenal, some new interesting enemies, and a non-linear storyline with two branches. Scott Lund and D. Scott Phoenix went to great lengths to craft a scenario that matched Bungie/Double Aught's original verve with M1 to Infinity, and whether or not they succeeded is a matter of some debate. The "Rubicon X" update added an entirely new third plot branch that has to be seen to be believed.
Marathon Eternal - A sprawling time-travelling epic that attempts to unify the disparate plot threads of Marathon 1 and 2, Marathon Infinity and Pathways into Darkness, even with some oblique Halo references thrown into the mix. It's an utterly massive scenario with some truly interesting set pieces.
Marathon Apotheosis X - A radical rebuild of a stalled scenario called "Gates of Fenris", this 2022 scenario takes full advantage of the features of Aleph One, the open-sourced version of the Marathon 2/Infinity Engine, with monster sprites utilizing additional frames of animation, for very fluid in-game motion. Features an awesome all-new roster of weapons and enemies. Notable for stressing more skill-based gameplay, with a player arsenal that de-emphasizes hitscan weaponry.
Marathon Squadron - If Phoenix attempted to put Doom in Marathon, Squadron attempts to put CoD/MoH in Marathon, with a human antagonist government fighting the UESC for control of the homeworld of the defeated Pfhor. Features a roster of brutal weapons that are almost all hitscan, with the exception of the pistol, shotgun and rocket launcher. (Oh don't worry, your almost all-human enemies have hitscan weapons too
Marathon Trojan - A port of a popular total conversion released for the original Marathon. A game with a somewhat darker tone that I think was inspired by Aliens.
Marathon Istoria - An all new short 10-level total conversion released in 2023 which massively changes Marathon's gameplay, introducing player classes, passive/active abilities, dialogue (even with dead people, á la Pathways into Darkness) and other RPG elements.
Ok tough guy, never played, nor heard of it.
Btw, I’ve never screamed like a baby at least playing a game. 😛 Scary is my label for a certain type of tense atmosphere, of which Doom3 qualifies. I tend to immerse myself into such atmospheres, versus purposely staying detached in “this is just a game” mode, a good game actually drags you in. And as @rampancy commented, it was irritating that your use of a flashlight was restricted. That said the boss end game fight was not scary, just tedious, with a set of predictable reactions you needed to exploit to beat it.The first game I got a sore shoulder in from being tense was an Aliens vs Predator game at least I was armed there. And recently I started and refused to continue playing Alien Isolation, because I don’t like the dreams I anticipated getting. The interesting part about that game, is that I can betterhandle scary as long as I am armed, but the idea of being pursued, on the run, constantly hiding, was a bridge too far for anything I’d describe as fun.
Ok tough guy, never played, nor heard of it.
The first game I got a sore shoulder in from being tense was an Aliens vs Predator game at least I was armed there. And recently I started and refused to continue playing Alien Isolation, because I don’t like the dreams I anticipated getting. The interesting part about that game, is that I can betterhandle scary as long as I am armed, but the idea of being pursued, on the run, constantly hiding, was a bridge too far for anything I’d describe as fun.
Sigh...I'm sorry to have to say this...but you're baby. Baby man lmao
Trust me, you haven't experienced true fear. If you wanted true fear, PT would've been it. Too bad there's no way to download it anymore. The closest we have of PT nowadays is a fan made recreation in Half Life Alyx.
As I’ve said before, I prefer the pristine solo world of Fallout 4 versus the theme park setting in Falloout 76 which is polluted by tourists. I recently played some coop Farcry 5 and this was enjoyable, because the world is not swarming with game playing outsiders so the essence of the story remains pure. It is your actions that are making the difference.
And a recent stab at Destiny 2 reinforced my dislike of MMO type games. This is something that has developed recently in my outlook after playing years of WoW and other MMOs without any such complaints. As a player is such a game you have to just not think about how many players are doing the exact same thing as you are as you stand around waiting for an instance to reset. 🤔
Lol, Dude, I’m glad you are so brave when you play a video game.
There is no such thing as real fear in a game, the description is about constructed immersive role playing fear that you allow yourself to have for the sake of being entertained and being immersed. As if I have to remind you, real fear can only be achieved if there is real threat, if there is a real chance of being shot, eaten, or being ripped to pieces. I used to say Call of Duty was scary tense, but the only way it could really be was if someone was standing behind you with a gun to your head and pulled the trigger depending on what happens in the game.
Apotheosis X is my first pick, as it plays and looks very much like a modern sci-fi shooter (at least, as can be expected out of the Aleph One engine). There are some truly very inventive map and engine tricks used here that wouldn't be normally seen in a traditional Marathon game. As I've said before, worthy of note is that almost all of the weapons are projectile-based as opposed to hitscan (with the exception of the ESR Banshee, which is like all niche FPS weapons, very situational). Plus both the player's arsenal and the enemies hit very hard, which makes combat a lot more dependent on player skill.
After that I'd recommend Marathon Phoenix, as it's essentially just good old fashioned DOOM-style wall-to-wall fighting across the entire scenario (one of its criticisms is that it's too combat heavy for a Marathon scenario). The plot also allows for some interesting variety in the enemy composition too. Its graphics are less refined and polished than Apotheosis X (it was released in 2010), but if you're willing to look past its 90s-era aesthetic, it's a great game to play.
I was watching a clip of the WAN show (Luke and Linus) who were dumping on the gaming industry and specifically Blizzard/Overwatch 2 for cancelling the PVE part of the game that they originally promised. They were saying that most of the successful games lately were solo games. I have no idea of they're successful, but what I do remember is EA failing over and over with their star wars games because they were all multi-player, live service games with loot boxes. Then they released Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and they were shocked at it being a big hit.
Back to Fallout, FO76 certainly gives a different vibe. Prior to the Wastelanders DLC, it felt empty, incomplete. I felt it lacked any emotion as all of the quests were from terminals and robots. As I've said once human NPCs were added, its night and day but it certainly doesn't feel very "fallouty" as prior fallout games. With that said, it carved out a niche of dedicated players (including me) and its fun. This so far has been my one and only live service game.
Its funny, but once Bungie was spun off out of Activision, everyone hailed that response and felt that they could go back to making great games, but that didn't happen. Lots of complaints from Destiny 2, that could no longer be blamed on Activision.
I'm not sure if Sony's ownership will improve the odds on seeing a great rollout of Marathon, and I do think its a missed opportunity to not cater to the games most fervent fans.
For profits we’d have to see the spread sheets, creating a solo game and selling X number of copies, vs building a game that is both purchased and requires servers, but produces added subscription income. Then there’s be some success correlation based on number of total copies sold.
For myself and MMOs at least the RPG kind, as by my recent statements, the bloom is off the rose for me. I don’t like strangers polluting my world, unless coop that I invited.
This is why a game with small servers can work for me, like ARK Survival Evolved or Conan Exiles. That said, I can still have fun in a PVP game, like World of Warships based on 15 minute competitions against real people and working on a team, that is when I’m not bitching about War Gaming’s game balancing choices they make! 🤔
Apotheosis X v1.1 file
This is the first update to Apotheosis X, and mainly addresses bugs, errors, game balance and sound mix.
@rampancy I’m looking on my iPad at this link, do you know what platforms it runs on? If the info is there I missed it, i’ll take a look with my MacBookPro.
"Apotheosis X is a total conversion for Marathon Infinity running on the Aleph One engine." - So I'd assume that it runs on anything that Aleph One runs on.
Ok, at some point I knew this but forgot the details. Thanks!
Aleph One is the open source continuation of Bungie™'s Marathon® 2 game engine. Available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, Aleph One supports Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity natively. Many third party scenarios and net maps are also available. Aleph One is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Ok, at some point I knew this but forgot the details. Thanks!
Aleph One is the open source continuation of Bungie™'s Marathon® 2 game engine. Available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, Aleph One supports Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity natively. Many third party scenarios and net maps are also available. Aleph One is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Yeah, Aleph One supports OS X, Windows and Linux. To play Apotheosis X, all you have to do is download the game (consisting of just the data files), expand the .zip file, download Aleph One, open the .dmg, and drop the Aleph One.app into the Apotheosis X folder.
Affirm Your Last! Happily playing on a Trash Can and its amazing with the occassional homage throwback to Classic Bungie Marathon Goodness!
I've installed both AlephOne and Apotheosis X and have it running. This is really Marathon and as primitive graphically as the original so far, but I just started it. I suppose this is as far as the Aleph One Engine can go.
Is there supposed to be an interface for things like saving (or is it checkpoint save) or any changes to settings? I have found M = map, but no inventory. Space fires my gun, no jumping? I guess there was no jumping, just grenade hopping? Crouch?
If I hit escape, I get one option, Do You Want To Quit? 🤫
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Huntn if you dig into preferences from the main splash landing page you can set options and key mapping. saving is by finding save terminals.I've installed both AlephOne and Apotheosis X and have it running. This is really Marathon and as primitive graphically as the original so far, but I just started it. I suppose this is as far as the Aleph One Engine can go.![Screen Shot 2023-06-02 at 5.05.24 PM.png]( "Screen Shot 2023-06-02 at 5.05.24 PM.png")
Is there supposed to be an interface for things like saving (or is it checkpoint save) or any changes to settings? I have found M = map, but no inventory. If I hit escape, I get one option, Do You Want To Quit? 🤫
Thanks, I should have checked that! More comments on the way.
Whats the trick to surviving "Final Credits"? At some point I just loose all shields and Die, also it seems if you leave the one save terminal by either of the two exits you enter in a different part of the level?
Oh! Errrr Secret Rock Door leading to Teleporting to higher elevation......
Oh! Errrr Secret Rock Door leading to Teleporting to higher elevation......
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I played though the early part of Apotheosis X and although nostalgic, I’m sad to say it too dated for my tastes. So a reboot of Marathon, I’d immediately be thinking Halo which the series overall was excellent, yet I wonder how they will distinguish it from Halo which I’ve always considered to be the defacto Marathon sequel. Possibly go back to the original story and environmental touches. 🤔
So a reboot of Marathon, I’d immediately be thinking Halo which the series overall was excellent, yet I wonder how they will distinguish it from Halo which I’ve always considered to be the defacto Marathon sequel. Possibly go back to the original story and environmental touches. 🤔
It gets better as you progress further The Maps start getting crazy big and the graphics and colors keep it all interesting.I played though the early part of Apotheosis X and although nostalgic, I’m sad to say it too dated for my tastes.