[gorgonzola]

I just downloaded Aleph One. I've never played Marathon before, but the intracacies of the story really blew me a way. I figured I'd give it a go. Some odd things, though:

It says that you need the Marathon Infinity demo to play Aleph One. So I downloaded that (they linked to it), and I booted Aleph One and it gave me the Marathon Infinity screen. Game works fine, as far as I can tell. Now I'm a little unclear -- is Aleph One just an updated Marathon Infinity? Is it a new game? Where are the cinematics? Why does the first level not say "Arrival" like the "Marathon's Story" page says it should?

Answers would be helpful. BTW, for some very cool Marathon stuff, check out:

marathon.bungie.org & source.bungie.org

Some of that stuff is just cool.

------------------
the oddball newsletter
------------------
it's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything

[Sting]

Sounds like a mod, short for modification.

Most the the mods for Marathon were a collection of maps, that may or may not have added to the story. The author has the option of adding any cinematics (here, just the chapter screens). The game engine is still Marathon.

[racer ex]

Marathon is a game in 3 parts; Marathon, Marathon 2: Durandal, and Marathon Infinity. You can buy all three from Bungie for a song. One of the all-time classics. Great fun, interesting storyline, very dark and scary in parts.

When you began in Infinity you started in part 3 of the story. There are loads of add-on scenarios, my favorite being Marathon EVIL. They might require the full version to work, not sure about that.

Aleph One isn't a scenario, it's a conversion that allows you to play Marathon Infinity (and variants based on the Infinity engine) through OpenGL, so it looks prettier. When it works, it's great.

[gorgonzola]

I think I'll order Marathon.

Is it easy to get into? Is it really hard? I figure I'll just go for the Mac Action Sack since it contains the entire trilogy. Marathon by itself is $15, and the Action Sack with the full trilogy is $20.

On the other hand, they mention the Marathon Trilogy Boxed Set, which contains additional information and maps, etc, to go along with the game. Yet this isn't at the Bungie Store, even though it says "Now Available."

Any information about this? I'll scout around Bungie to try to find out if it's around anywhere...

(Aleph One does indeed run, but it seems like no substitute -- it has no cinematics, and starting in Part 3 seems stupid. The greatness of Marathon lies in its story, so...)

------------------
the oddball newsletter
------------------
it's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything

[Archangel]

Marathon is a great great great FPS in my opinion. I will definitely be buying it again (my copy of M2 got lost. . .). Yeah, Aleph One is just a graphics upgrade. Marathon never had any cinematics either. Just splash screens of artwork, and most of those were pretty cool. For $20, you are getting a great deal. I can't wait until Marathon:Resurrection comes out for UT. Well, when it's finished at least. That will be sweet.

------------------
"Elvis has left the building!"

[gorgonzola]

OK.

Any info about the Marathon Trilogy Boxed Set? Bungie hasn't written back yet.

------------------
the oddball newsletter
------------------
it's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything

[Yuri1419]

I played M1 all the way through, twice. I haven't gotten so caught up in a game since then. It could get downright erie at times. I played a lot of M2, tho I never did finish it.

If you're into framerates, z-buffers and timedemos, this isn't that type of game. It's more about the feel than the graphics, which predate true 3D games like Quake and Unreal.

Heck, I just might go dive into it again.... It would sound pretty good on this TAM...

[nonjo]

Oh, man, I just finished Infinity again (how many times? who knows?), and that game is great. The whole series holds up. I had no trouble on an iMac 400 MHz DV SE running Aleph One...the OpenGL Graphics make the textures look great.

Anyone interested should definately check out the Marathon:Rubicon project <http://www.marathonrubicon.com>

[Elvin]

I suggest that you head over to www.ebay.com and search the auctions for Marathon. Usually the single versions (Marathon 1 through Infinity..and the Marathon 2 PC version) go for under $10 and the box set usually goes for a lot higher since you are getting a lot more.

[tie]

Marathon is great!!

Anyway, though, if you are using Aleph One (which I would advise, even though it has some annoying stability problems), be sure to get the texture enhancement pack. It makes everything look that much better (except the water, which looks really, really bad but maybe they'll fix that). You should also look at the M1 for Aleph One project, which has started to convert M1 game files to infinity format so you can play the original.

I would definitely start with M1 because it is such a classic and you'll have an easier time getting into the story and the gameplay. The game is certainly easier with mouselook than it was in the days playing with just keyboard. Ah well.

If you like Aleph One please ask them to try to get it working on OS X. There was a version for DP4 but nothing ever worked on the public beta.