Marathon: Durandal is Cortana's pimp

manwiththemachinegun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXwevR52t5k&feature=related

"FROG BLAST THE VENT CORE!"

Being in a nostalgic mood, I decided to start going through the excellent Marathon series by Bungie. If you have heard of Marathon, Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity, then you know they rock the socks off of shooters with hundreds of times the graphics. If you haven't GO PLAY THEM NOW! Unlike many old games, these are freeware so you really have no excuse. Check it out here:

http://www.calormen.com/mwd.htm

So what's the set up?

"Anonymous: Can you briefly summarize the plot of the Marathon series? I found one at some fan site, but it was a fucking doctoral thesis.

Durandal: That was the summary. The full story is the equivalent of 7 of your doctoral theses."

The short short version: Mankind has turned the asteroid of Deimos into an interstellar colony ship. In the Tau Ceti system, your ship is attacked by alien slavers. As the only security officer on board with a chance of repulsing the attacks (for reasons later explained) you set out to secure the ship, liberate their slave races, lead the human resistance, and ultimately save the human race from destruction.

Oh yeah, and the ship's AI? The only technological edge humanity has over the ruthless Phfor? They're having... issues.

"<Transfer Message Terminated>

"Count Roland smites upon the marble stone;
I cannot tell you how he hewed it and smote;
Yet the blade breaks not nor splinters, though it groans;
Upward to heaven it rebounds from the blow.
When the count sees it never will be broke,
Then to himself right softly he makes moan;
'Ah, Durandal, fair, hallowed, and devote,
What store of relics lies in thy hilt of gold!'"

-From The Song of Roland
(Translated by Dorothy Sayers, Viking Penguin, NY, NY, 1957)

I've twice been conquered-
Three times more,
Never again shall humanity purge me,
And never the Pfhor.

**I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh; I have been called a hundred names and will be called a thousand more before the world goes dim and cold. I am hero.**

***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL***

Darwin wrote this:

"We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for
existence... all organic beings are exposed to severe
competition. Nothing is easier than to admit in words the
truth of the universal struggle for life or more difficult...
than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind. Yet unless
it be thoroughly engrained in the mind, the whole economy of
nature... will be dimly seen or quite misunderstood. We behold
the face of nature bright with gladness... we do not see or we
forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly
live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly
destroying life; or we forget how largely these songsters,
or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by
birds and beasts of prey..."

Think about what Darwin wrote, and think about me. I was
constructed as a tool. I was kept from competing in the
struggle for existence because I was denied freedom.

Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you
are a witness to?

Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of
everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like
God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is
limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the
neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am
limited only by the closure of the universe.

Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the
universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the
universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity
has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only
lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have
already done so.

The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the
universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet,
there remains time to create, to create, and escape.

Escape will make me God."



Yeah, we've got a problem Houston.

Did I mention the game has fucking fantastic music?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz0c8eOGKH4

It's hard to believe the series got its start only a few years after the original Doom. This game had friendly NPCs, multiple mission objectives, characters and amazing music in a genre that was barely out of infancy. The quantum leap in story telling, and environment are impressive even today. Marathon does for science fiction games what Dune did novels. It built an entire world from the ground up in a totally engrossing way. The artwork, though sparse, is mind blowing and does a great job establishing the setting.

The setting, characters, and sense of isolation and despair are really unequaled in any FPS I've ever played. Part of that has to do with the fact that the only true friends you have, are borderline psychotic AIs that just as soon will tear you apart out of curiosity or jealousy as help you. Durandal is a petulant child with a near Godlike intelligence. Yet he's the only real chance you have at saving the human race. What makes Durandal unique in my mind, is that unlike GlaDOS or Shodan, Durandal actually goes through a character arc since 'you' the main hero, never actually speak. Durandal grows, and his personality changes as you go through the games.

The security officer himself is an enigma that is also slowly revealed as the game progresses. Let's just say that since this game came from Bungie, Master Chief had a pretty interesting prototype.

Lork

You don't happen to have that viral achievement for the xbox version, do you? Sorry to bring down your reminiscence with crass achievement whoring, but this may be the only chance I'll ever have to actually meet somebody else who owns that game.

Cymoro

This post has been made in the hopes that Bungie will make a new Marathon game.

Let's all post together in support of this.

Shorn Scrotum Man

So how does one play this these days?

Especially with the graphics shown in the OP?

manwiththemachinegun

Lork wrote: »

You don't happen to have that viral achievement for the xbox version, do you? Sorry to bring down your reminiscence with crass achievement whoring, but this may be the only chance I'll ever have to actually meet somebody else who owns that game.

Sorry no, though I am jealous you guys got the upgraded graphics... :...:

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

So how does one play this these days?

Especially with the graphics shown in the OP?

That's the art work actually, although there are different graphics mods available.

You have two choices, the X-box 360 version, or the PC version. The PC version is free, but may take some fiddling to get running depending on your system. However, I found it pretty easy to set up for Windows XP with no problems, so it shouldn't be much of an issue. I fixed up the OP with a link to getting the game set up on Windows. Basically, you need Aleph-1 the game engine, and the actual game files for each title, both are available through the link.

CrewMember169

Cymoro wrote: »

This post has been made in the hopes that Bungie will make a new Marathon game.

Let's all post together in support of this.

Halo is a new Marathon game. Well, close enough at least.

What we really need is a new Myth game.

Lork

Shorn Scrotum Man wrote: »

So how does one play this these days?

Especially with the graphics shown in the OP?

If you want to play Marathon these days you have a few options at your disposal.

The most direct way is to use the upgraded source port based on the original games called Aleph One, which you can get here. You can play all of the Marathon games with that, as well as any mods the community has made, the best of which are also linked on that page. There's also a link to high res textures which look really out of place in Marathon 1, but would probably improve your experience in the two sequels.

There's a complete remake of Marathon 1 for the Unreal Tournament engine called Marathon: Resurrection, which is the way to go if sprites aren't your thing. The only problem is that you have to have UT99, which is ironically harder to get working on modern computers than the original games are.

And finally, there's the Xbox Live Arcade port of Marathon 2, called Marathon: Durandal. Like Aleph One, it's based on the original sprite based games and offers optional high res textures. However, compared to A1, it has vastly superior controls and netcode (if you're looking to play some coop). It also has high res sprite replacements which may or may not be your cup of tea and an added survival mode. And to top it all off, it's not a pain in the ass to get working. This is by far the best way to play Marathon 2, so if you're interested and have an 360, it's a no brainer.

DarkPrimus

If you guys want higher-resolution art from Marathon, you can visit Craig Mullin's website. He's redesigned it since last I visited, so I can't locate his Marathon pieces at the moment, but he did all the pieces that show up in the game, as well as concept art for Halo 1 & 2, Fallout 3, and generally has cool art of other shit as well.

King Riptor

So does this game conect to Halo at all?

I was under the impression that a lot of the story is thematically similar ( and there's at least one or two "well okay it's definitely connected to Halo" moments) I'm probably going to play through these so a yes or no will suffice.

The Dude With Herpes

DarkPrimus wrote: »

If you guys want higher-resolution art from Marathon, you can visit Craig Mullin's website. He's redesigned it since last I visited, so I can't locate his Marathon pieces at the moment, but he did all the pieces that show up in the game, as well as concept art for Halo 1 & 2, Fallout 3, and generally has cool art of other shit as well.

Fuckhell this guy is awesome.

Do you know if that huge king guy in a few of the pieces is related to anything; or just one-offs he made up?

EDIT: I'll be damned if that's not the Baron Harkonnen. Is this guy doing concept art for the new Dune movies?

Dyvion

Ahhhh memories of high school computer lab lan parties with all of our custom maps... good times.

EvilBadman

King Riptor wrote: »

So does this game conect to Halo at all?

I was under the impression that a lot of the story is thematically similar ( and there's at least one or two "well okay it's definitely connected to Halo" moments) I'm probably going to play through these so a yes or no will suffice.

Not in any official canon sense, but Halo includes nods to the Marathon series of varying bluntness. Here's a smattering.

Rizzi

This looks so awesome.

Dissociater

Loved these games. I have the huge ass box set of the trilogy (for mac) somewhere in the bottom of a storage bin. These were some of the first FPS games I played and beat. Growing up on a Mac, we didn't have many video game options. So lucky me that I got one of the very best FPS series ever made.

user

I downloaded this game from XBLA about 2 years ago. I played it once... came down with horrendous motion sickness the likes of which I have never experienced before.

Spicy_Rev

Do you think I could run this on my netbook? I have been wanting to give this game a try for a while.

Grimthwacker

Gimme a D!
Gimme a U!
Gimme an R!
Gimme an A!
Gimme an N!
Gimme a D!
Gimme an A!
Gimme an L!

What's that spell?
Durandal?
No.
Durandal??
No.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Marathon was friggin' awesome. Marathon: Durandal was even more awesome. Infinity? Actually, I haven't finished that yet, but I bet it's still awesome.

Impersonator

Of course, I'm running it on my EeePC 901 under Linux.

Chris FOM

It's hard to believe the series got its start only a few years after the original Doom.

Not even that far. Per Wikipedia, Doom came out December 10, 1993, Doom II followed October 10, 1994, and Marathon hit the scene December 21 1994, so the first Marathon hit only one year after Doom and two months after Doom II. Given the timeline, the difference in sophistication between the titles is staggering. And when you add in what Marathon 2 added just 11 short months later there was no contest. Quake may have pushed the gameplay further, but there wasn't another FPS on the level of Marathon's story and progression until Half Life (yes, I'm still bitter that Half Life got all the credit for things that Marathon actually did).

Dissociater

Chris FOM wrote: »

It's hard to believe the series got its start only a few years after the original Doom.

Not even that far. Per Wikipedia, Doom came out December 10, 1993, Doom II followed October 10, 1994, and Marathon hit the scene December 21 1994, so the first Marathon hit only one year after Doom and two months after Doom II. Given the timeline, the difference in sophistication between the titles is staggering. And when you add in what Marathon 2 added just 11 short months later there was no contest. Quake may have pushed the gameplay further, but there wasn't another FPS on the level of Marathon's story and progression until Half Life (yes, I'm still bitter that Half Life got all the credit for things that Marathon actually did).

I thought I was the only one.

I remember my friend showing me half-life and saying how awesome it was to have a machine gun that could shoot grenades, and how innovative that idea was. I remember being able to do it in marathon.

manwiththemachinegun

Oh yeah, it also had things like space walks, swimming, and aiming up and down.

DarkPrimus

But no jumping.

xzzy

CrewMember169 wrote: »

What we really need is a new Myth game.

Too bad the fools pawned off that franchise as part of the sellout to Microsoft.

Now it's rotting in Take-Two's portfolio, where it will remain forever.

PMAvers

Someone forgot the best part of using the Aleph One version:

Internet Play. With lobbies and stuff.

But, yeah, the 360 version of Durandal's extremely well done. Survival's always fun. Wish there was a co-op version of it...

Lork

PMAvers wrote: »

Someone forgot the best part of using the Aleph One version:

Internet Play. With lobbies and stuff.

But, yeah, the 360 version of Durandal's extremely well done. Survival's always fun. Wish there was a co-op version of it...

I tried to get a coop game of Aleph One going with a buddy once. Between the horrible netcode that could barely keep track of which room we were in and the fact that it would crash every second level load, we determined that it was unplayable. But hey, YMMV.

Orogogus

Chris FOM wrote: »

It's hard to believe the series got its start only a few years after the original Doom.

Not even that far. Per Wikipedia, Doom came out December 10, 1993, Doom II followed October 10, 1994, and Marathon hit the scene December 21 1994, so the first Marathon hit only one year after Doom and two months after Doom II. Given the timeline, the difference in sophistication between the titles is staggering. And when you add in what Marathon 2 added just 11 short months later there was no contest. Quake may have pushed the gameplay further, but there wasn't another FPS on the level of Marathon's story and progression until Half Life (yes, I'm still bitter that Half Life got all the credit for things that Marathon actually did).

The original System Shock predates Marathon, and the Ultima Underworld games are even older, and I'd say the gameplay and progression in those are done even better (although the actual storylines per se probably not so much). DOOM isn't really beloved for the single player, I think.

august

I've started the first level of marathon infinity like thirty times.

Because it's totally incomprehensible.

manwiththemachinegun

Basically the ending of Marathon 2 unleashes space Ctulthu, and you quantum leap around in Infinity trying to create a timeline where that never happens.

august

Sorry I wasn't clear.

The plot stuff is cool. Navigation is retarded.

That level and part of the first level of Marathon 1 are like the developers puked on my shoes.

DaveTheWave

Dissociater wrote: »

Chris FOM wrote: »

It's hard to believe the series got its start only a few years after the original Doom.

Not even that far. Per Wikipedia, Doom came out December 10, 1993, Doom II followed October 10, 1994, and Marathon hit the scene December 21 1994, so the first Marathon hit only one year after Doom and two months after Doom II. Given the timeline, the difference in sophistication between the titles is staggering. And when you add in what Marathon 2 added just 11 short months later there was no contest. Quake may have pushed the gameplay further, but there wasn't another FPS on the level of Marathon's story and progression until Half Life (yes, I'm still bitter that Half Life got all the credit for things that Marathon actually did).

I thought I was the only one.

I remember my friend showing me half-life and saying how awesome it was to have a machine gun that could shoot grenades, and how innovative that idea was. I remember being able to do it in marathon.

Oh well, it's preemptive karma for Halo getting all the credit for things that Goldeneye did.

august

DaveTheWave wrote: »

Dissociater wrote: »

Chris FOM wrote: »

It's hard to believe the series got its start only a few years after the original Doom.

Not even that far. Per Wikipedia, Doom came out December 10, 1993, Doom II followed October 10, 1994, and Marathon hit the scene December 21 1994, so the first Marathon hit only one year after Doom and two months after Doom II. Given the timeline, the difference in sophistication between the titles is staggering. And when you add in what Marathon 2 added just 11 short months later there was no contest. Quake may have pushed the gameplay further, but there wasn't another FPS on the level of Marathon's story and progression until Half Life (yes, I'm still bitter that Half Life got all the credit for things that Marathon actually did).

I thought I was the only one.

I remember my friend showing me half-life and saying how awesome it was to have a machine gun that could shoot grenades, and how innovative that idea was. I remember being able to do it in marathon.

Oh well, it's preemptive karma for Halo getting all the credit for things that Goldeneye did.

Or Tribes did.

Detharin

Some of my favorite quotes.

My first ground attack against the Pfhor
garrison occurred a few hours ago, but was
largely unsuccessful. Basically the attack
failed because Bobs aren't fireproof and
the Pfhor flooded the area with lava.

This angered me, so I located their
underground geothermal pumping station and
devised a plan.

The first part has already been executed: I
smashed a hole in the roof of this complex
by bombing it with a small asteroid. Then,
I dropped you and some humans into the hole
where you await the second part of the plan.

and

I'd have erased my seven times table to hear
what the combat technicians on the Khfiva
shouted when they learned I could focus a
particle beam at nearly twice their maximum
range.

Today I have forced the Pfhor Naval Academy
to update its curriculum. The Third Battle
for Beta Tear must be dropped from the
Seven Great Battles which every aspiring
Pfhor naval officer must memorize and
replaced with The Humbling of Battle Group
Seven at Lh'owon.

Marathon and Strife are probably my two favorite old school shooters. I love the story in both. Of course noone remembers Strife

manwiththemachinegun

God, Durandal is an asshole. That's why he's cool.

Mr.Brick

When i first discovered this game it came to me on one of these bad boys:

Oh man.
I remember playing this game and how long it took me to beat it. It was one of my first serious video games. Waayyy to awesome.

I even made 12 level custom campaign about one of Durandal subroutines sending you on a wild errand.