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This topic has moved here: Subject: The essence of marathon's story.
  • Subject: The essence of marathon's story.
Subject: The essence of marathon's story.

"That's about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.

Now try how and why."

Disclaimer:This is is not an appeal for Bungie to make another Marathon game, nor is it a rant designed to dissuade people from wanting one (not to say that I haven't written one before).


I'm generally averse to the idea of a Marathon:Remake or continuation, but there is one aspect of it that has intrigued me. Specifically, at what point the story of Marathon loses it's essence.

Is it the presentation? Does Marathon need information scattered about, or would it work with a directed story? A mix perhaps?

Marathon has a fairly straightforward plot, but has an incredibly complex and ambiguous story. Is the ambiguity necessary to retain the feeling of the original?

The games only have a handful of actual characters, and only Durandal an Tycho are really full fledged with development and depth. Would it harm the game to add more characters and characterization? Or is Marathon strictly an examination of Durandal?

A fairly large conspiracy is present in the background of Marathon's story, but it is never really explored. It is possible for this to add depth and (ironically) clarity to the story, but it would also involve changing a number of plot points. Is marathon's plot set in stone, or can it be changed while still retaining its essence?

These aren't necessarily the questions that need to be answered, but it would be rather interesting to see what possible directions that people could see marathon's story taking.

  • 02.26.2012 3:26 AM PDT

Posted by: ElementalRunner

Posted by: Commander Stroll
Still using a pump-action shotgun over 500 years in the future I see.

omg not realistic stop game production plz

I only have Marathon 1, and I don't know if I'm adressing your point directly, but I'm enjoying the story of the game simply because I don't know much about it. It leaves a lot more up to imagination; I think that's why I enjoyed the Halo universe more a couple years back, when less was known and theories were more common.

...I may have missed your point completely, so sorry if I did.

  • 02.26.2012 4:23 AM PDT

Many gave their lives so that we could live on. I intend to honor them by remembering them. Remember Cyborg. Remember John. Remember Noble.

I believe that Marathon's story is partially formed by it's presentation. It is evident that story that is told through terminals is different than the one told through cutscenes, I think this difference is substantial. Also, the it gives the writer a form of freedom - you saw it yourself, there was a number of texts, some very different from others. He could play with the reader using numbers and left out information.

Also I like the mysterious feeling to Marathon, some things left unexplained. This is also why I liked the terminals in Halo. Giving it "clarity" and more details - like it was done in Cryptum - actually killed the story.

So, yes I think that the terminals and bit of mystery are important to the story for it to retain it's feeling. It may not be as substantial as the story itself, but it is important for the whole feel.

It is kind of like Christmas without the Christmas tree :)

  • 02.26.2012 8:51 AM PDT


Posted by: homocidalham
...at what point the story of Marathon loses it's essence.

Is it the presentation? Does Marathon need information scattered about, or would it work with a directed story? A mix perhaps?
That isn't a veiled Dr. Strangelove reference, is it? I'm not quite sure what you mean by Marathon losing its essence. I don't think that the Marathon trilogy ever "loses its essence" during the narrative. I'm assuming that by "losing its essence" you mean that as we move further away from 1993 the gap between Marathon's style of storytelling and the styles used in current games grows ever wider. If that is the case I agree, though I don't think it suggests any problems or flaws in Marathon.

Marathon has a fairly straightforward plot, but has an incredibly complex and ambiguous story. Is the ambiguity necessary to retain the feeling of the original?Marathon is complex, though I don't think it is overly ambiguous. Marathon has the reputation of being very ambiguous because the details of the story are not laid bare in a bullet list. Piecing the details together requires effort. Very few people are willing to put in the effort required to explore Marathon's complexity, and therefore it gets labeled as overly ambiguous.

That said, I think the mystery, unexpected plot twists, story pacing, and well written terminals are absolutely vital in creating and preserving the dark, claustrophobic uncertainty which permeates Marathon 1 and sets the tone for the entire series.

The games only have a handful of actual characters, and only Durandal an Tycho are really full fledged with development and depth. Would it harm the game to add more characters and characterization? Or is Marathon strictly an examination of Durandal?I much prefer a small cast of deeply explored characters over a large pool of shallow characters. Marathon does only have a few characters, but they are all unique and memorable. By contrast games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 have scores of characters, very few of which (if any) are even slightly remarkable or worth consideration. I do not think Marathon needs any additional characters.

Much of Marathon is an exploration of Durandal, but Durandal alone is not the sum of all the parts. In many ways, Marathon Infinity is more an exploration of the Security Officer than anything else. Tycho, Leela, the Pfhor, the S'pht, Bernhard Strauss; all these characters and groups are explored to differing extents throughout the trilogy.

A fairly large conspiracy is present in the background of Marathon's story, but it is never really explored. It is possible for this to add depth and (ironically) clarity to the story, but it would also involve changing a number of plot points. Is marathon's plot set in stone, or can it be changed while still retaining its essence?Personally I think Marathon's plot is complete as it is. I don't want to see any of the the plot points changed. That said, there are obviously plenty of events in the Marathon universe which are not explored or explained in the trilogy. I'm always interested in delving into these events through third party scenarios like Eternal and Rubicon.

I've never been one for creating new scenarios, writing fan fiction, or otherwise expanding a game series in different directions. I prefer interpolation to understand the connections between evens within canon rather than extrapolating new stories in the established universe.

  • 02.26.2012 11:32 AM PDT