The Gamer's Quarter

[Cycle]

Rero, I totally played all of those games!

I played the (very generous) demo of Montezeum's Return eons ago (on a PCPP coverdisk) but pretty much every review slammed it. I guess they had some valid points; the save system sucked and combat was pretty stupid (your legs and fists looked like logs), but damn if it wasn't a fun game. Totally gives me Jumping Flash vibes. In fact, the game is pretty much Jumping Flash crossed with Tomb Raider. I had fun with it!

Robinson's Requiem isn't worth checking out since Deus does pretty much everything better. It's still hilariously broken, but it's somewhat playable. I have a thing for survival games (this includes rougelikes) so I dug it, but it's so hilariously unforgiving that it's impossible to take the game seriously.
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[Pink Teddy Bear]

I would still play TF2, but none of my friends really play it any more.
=(

[Slonie]

Report from the thanksgiving holiday:

Call of Duty 4 is evil. The lure of the ever-increasing numbers is no joke; I intentionally never tried WOW due to its ability to destroy lives, but little did I know a plain-old FPS would get me the same way...
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-Slonie

[helicopterp]

I just got it. So yes. Even though I'll get my ass kicked.


(Edit: That's an answer to the team fortress 2 question.)
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

[Cycle]

dracko and i are hi-jacking this thread to talk about infinity, right dracko?

Ok, so basically, I think each Marathon game starts in a different reality. In Marathon 1, Durandal skips the universe after abandoning you on the ship, in Marathon 2 it's in a reality where he instead took you with him, and at the end of the game he fails to find what he's looking for, destined to continue searching in vein till the eventual end of time, always having a grip on the players soul. Marathon Infinity starts in a new reality where he failed to contact the S'pht'Kr and Tycho is still alive, and the Pfhor are about to do something royally stupid.

However, I think the reality of the original game is re-visisted in Infinity, where (as a result of being left behind in marathon) you are captured by the Pfhor forces that sacked the Tau Ceti colony shortly after Durandal ran off. If it doesn't seem obvious enough at first, Durandal even addresses you as "old friend" when you join forces with him later in the game. This is why you end up working with Tycho for most of the game.

This theory of mine hasn't been popular with other fans of the game, apparently they feel a little betrayed by the fact? I don't know, but it seems to make them angry when I suggest it! Yet they can never provide evidence that says otherwise.

Anyway, basically you're finding a safe passage through time, taking bits and pieces from each reality you need in order to create a new one that escapes the chaos that envelopes all the others, until there is finally only two left that are merged into one. I think the final ELECTRIC SHEEP level symobolises this, where you are finally able to go through that door that was locked all this time (hello killer 7), and you must climb two staircases (two paths) in order to reach the final one path which leads directly to the exit.

And in one of the greatest (and sadly few) moments of irony in videogames, we find what Durandal was looking for all this time, while he recieves something perhaps greater; peace of mind.

[dessgeega]

[Cycle]

The best thing about Tycho is that he really doesn't think he's insane (or trying to convince himself that he's not).

Durandal, on the other hand, is very aware and proud of it.
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[Dracko]

There is no Marathon series Wikiquote page.

Oh yeah, I got an updated version of Aleph and now the "cutscenes" work fine.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

I would change this, but I vowed never to contributed anything to wikipedia ever again.
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[Winged Assassins (1984)]

[Dracko]

Why not?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

Because fuck wikipedia, that's why >:O

Besides, we have the story page.
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[Dracko]

Did Wikipedia make you cry?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

SHUT UP

JUST

SHUT UP
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[Dracko]

Yes, but how do you really feel?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Winged Assassins (1984)]

Did someone who contributes to Wikipedia beat you up and steal your lunch money, Cycle?
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[Cycle]

dracko why aren't you discussing the marathon story with me
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[Dracko]

Because I want to know why you hate Wikipedia.

I don't see how the player becoming Destiny is liberating, though. I never thought that was the point. If anything, such an acknowledgement on Durandal's part, who does seem to get a few ideas about the player's perpetual jumps in realities later in the third game, could indicate that in the end, you were a tool to something far, far bigger than his whims, and in the end, he was just as subservient to its purposes as you were. You just caught sight of it before he did.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

Perhaps it was the Jjaro pulling you through? Ultimately, you end up with the same power they have; to traverse space and time (they even had technolgy that could warp entire planets through star systems) and it was their techonlogy the player is supposedly built from, and the station the game begins on (and which starts sending you through time) is of Jjaro creation. They dissapeared from the universe long ago, and one can assume that the player joined them.

It's been confirmed that, ultimately, by the end of the game the player has become a god.
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[Dracko]

How so? All I did was contain Dread W'rkncacnter using alien tech and then Durandal started waxing poetics again.

Then again, I'm sure I've missed out on so many plot points. I'm going through the series again, and the implications behind the player's creation have gone unnoticed.

Also IS THE ENDING OF HALO 3 THE START OF MARATHON???
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

[Dracko]

Oh hey, I wouldn't mind reading some of those interviews, if you have them at hand. Any man that calls his cats Hastur and Grendel can't be bad in my book.

I constantly keep feeling like I miss terminals and the Story page agrees.

HEY MAN MAYBE HALO 4 WILL BE A WACKED OUT REMAKE OF THE MARATHON SERIES
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

I've been planning on making a collection of all the interviews and messages Kirkpatrick posted around, he had some brilliant ideas, especially when it came to the art of videogames.

I also have a zip file full of stuff regarding Duality (the follow-up game) that I was going to post later.

It's easy to miss terminals! Did you visit any of the failed endings, by the by? The fact that you can reach these seems to me that the player has more control over his travels than initially thought.

HALO TAKES PLACE IN A DIFFERENT UNIVERSE, THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY CONTRADICTIONS CHRIST ALMIGHTY
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[Dracko]

I actually didn't. Which surprised even me because I expected to backtrack at least once during my first playthrough.

Does that mean that the series is unfinished, then? Also, should I play Blood Tides of Lh'owon? I don't even know if it's freely available, actually.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Cycle]

No the series is finished, Duality was a brand new game unrelated to Marathon.

Blood Tides of Lh'owon is Marathon Infinty. It's the official name of the games scenerio.
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[Dracko]

Ah, I see.

You mention that the player is allowed to survive even beyond the end of reality, something Durandal aspired to. Though he achieves some measure of peace, are we to understand this is not a privilege he enjoys? Because that puts quite a spin on those final words.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[dessgeega]

[Dracko]

Or she has its backing, in any case. It's the designing principle.
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[dessgeega]

well the script is written, but the player makes sure it's played out to its end. hence, destiny.
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[Cycle]

[dessgeega]

[Cycle]

yeah there is a difference between saying "i'm not down with that theory" and THIS IS WRONG YOU'RE AN IDIOT, dess
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[dessgeega]

it isn't a "theory" like marathon's plot is some kind of science we're doing research into. i'm giving my interpretation of my experience of the game, not presenting a thesis!

you big geek!
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[Cycle]

you say potatoe, i say whatever the other way is, geez!
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[Lackey]

Whoa now, what is this Duality business?

Also I'm playing Hexen 2. For me this game is probably the highpoint of Id's designed-in-the-margins-of-a-highschool-notebook-adolescent-high-fantasy aesthetic. I love the black wizards with their cow skull masks and the fact that you throw the devil horns to cast magic missile.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[Cycle]

I remember playing Hexen 2 and having a good time, but all the reviews I read gave it a bit of a whipping. Can't remember why...
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[Cycle]

hey dess thanks, you just helped me put together a perfect conclusion. glad that's out the way!
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[Winged Assassins (1984)]

[aderack]

We've talked about Half-Life being really sort of the actual successor to Doom's design ethos. Well, uh. In both its design and its attitude, Portal reminds the hell out of me of Doom. Except sophisticated in that way that books and movies and albums get when they only really exist to amuse the person writing them and that person just happens to have very high standards for self-amusement. I don't know what it is about Valve that can make it seem like videogames have actually been progressing for he last fifteen years, but they manage it.
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[Harveyjames]

Hey Eric-Jon, we're all doing IRONIC SHOUTING like Daphaknee does, WHY AREN'T YOU DOING IT

[parkbench]

an ARGUMENT on THE GAMER'S QUARTER

NO

WHERE WILL I GO FOR PEACE AND QUIET

[Harveyjames]

HOW ABOUT ERIC-JON'S DR. WHO THREAD

[Lackey]

[Pink Teddy Bear]

Don't worry Lackey, I make the mistake often. Hexen is my favorite game of that generation too, so my friends always have a field day when I say something like, "The best Id game is Hexen, by far!"

[Lackey]

This game has pretty tight art direction and pretty odd level design. Like the more fantastical areas have a real sense of place (the wizard's study in the first area) but like King's Court is supposed to be a town but it's mostly just huge spaces encircled by walls with randomly one shop in the middle. So I'd say they were good at making individual places, like a butcher's shop, but not thinking of a way to tie them together.

The object interactivity is pretty good for a game of its time. Also I like punching everything as a Paladin. Punch, punch, punch! Walls collapse beneath my gauntlets! Awesome! They should have taken that even further.
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| Little bird fighting against a bat sect game |

[Dracko]

Where's the avatar from, Lackey?
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"This is the most fun I've ever had without being drenched in the blood of my enemies!"

[Slonie]

I would like to figure out a way to get Space Hulk into this discussion. Lackey's avatar kind of reminds me of it, anyhow. The PC version that is. The 3DO version is a whole nother can of (awesome) worms.

And I will get back to the rest of the story about Shadow Ops soon, I promise. It's much more interesting than the game itself...
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-Slonie

[Lackey]

[dark steve]

There's more than one Space Hulk game?

Which one was on the saturn?
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[Slonie]