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This topic has moved here: Poll [72 votes]: Which is Better? Halo or Marathon?
  • Poll [72 votes]: Which is Better? Halo or Marathon?
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Subject: Halo vs Marathon
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DMUKYA
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Poll: Which is Better? Halo or Marathon?  [closed]
Halo:  43%
(31 Votes)
What's Halo?:  1%
(1 Votes)
Marathon:  19%
(14 Votes)
Durandal and Infinity were both Better:  10%
(7 Votes)
They're Equal:  8%
(6 Votes)
Marathon, but Halo 2 will beat it:  4%
(3 Votes)
What's Marathon?:  8%
(6 Votes)
Neither! GNOP! is the best!:  6%
(4 Votes)
Total Votes: 72

I was just wondering what most thought. I haven't finished playing Marathon, but I personally put it just a bit higher than Halo. I also haven't played Durandal or Infinity, but I hear that they're the better ones in the trilogy. What do you think?

And discuss some reasons too.

[Edited on 10/19/2004 3:45:07 AM]

  • 10.19.2004 3:44 AM PDT
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Halo was simply not enough to grab my attention, where as Marathon was like instant addiction. Where as everything in Halo was straight forward, everything in Marathon had intrigue, historical undercurrents, and just sheer conspiracy overload.

And don't anybody tell me it's outdated or the graphics suck... if you're so shallow as to not play a gmae for that reason, you don't deserve any respect from me.

I could go on for ages, but I won't... and I know the Recon and everyone will come on saying you can't compare the 2, and all the Halo fans who've never even tried Marathon will bag it...

Tristan ;-)

  • 10.19.2004 4:06 AM PDT
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Posted by: Gaara of Sand
and all the Halo fans who've never even tried Marathon will bag it...


That's a big problem though. Most Bungie fans now have only ever played Halo. Mind you, I became a Bungie fan by playing Halo, then I went back and searched long and hard to find older games. Few people do that, they see Marathon as being obsolete and worthless. I still like Marathon's in-depth plotlines more than Halo's so far. I guess I'll have to wait 20 days to see what Halo 2's plotline is.

  • 10.19.2004 4:17 AM PDT
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Oh... wait til you hit Durandal and Infinity... that's where the story takes on a whole new feel... especially Infinity... it's always fun to struggle to comprehend whats going on, whislt also trying to voercome the enemy... It's almost as though you're there in the SO's place.

Tristan ;-)

  • 10.19.2004 4:28 AM PDT
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Halo is easily one of my fav. games ever, but it was Marathon that got me hooked on Bungie...so, I could never really say that one is 'better' than the other.

I will say that both Halo and Marathon are far better than nearly all other games, put together. Except Myth and Pathways, of course ;)

  • 10.19.2004 7:05 AM PDT
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No kidding, I really like both of them, but nothing will ever replace marathon. So they tend to equal out for me.

  • 10.19.2004 7:05 AM PDT

-S

Frankly, it depends.

Better how?

  • 10.19.2004 8:56 AM PDT
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If you were there in 94 and played Marathon when it came out you will always love it, and chances are nothing will truly beat the nostalgic feeling you get when you think of Marathon. Those were the first great computer games I played, and they had the combination of a compelling story, good single play, and you could kick the crap out of your friends. The only other game at the time that came close to Marathon was Quake I believe, and the single play and story sucked there.

Halo of course now outpaces marathon as far as graphics and what you can do in and with a game engine. But Nostalgic feelings aside (well, maybe not entirely aside), I do have reasons for liking the Marathon series more at this point. I liked multiplay more in Marathon. Each of the weapons had good uses, and the flame thrower and missile launchers were fun as hell. If I could have picked one map out of Marathon to put in Halo 2 it would have been Thunderdome or Return to Thunderdome. 5D space was also a good one.

Invincibility and cloaking were good too, and killing an invincible person with the zeus pistol was hilarous, especially their corpse.

I liked one player in marathon more as well. The puzzles that would be thrown into the mix helped make it more than just a shooter. The story progression was good as well and kept you thinking. It felt like there were more layers to the story, everything felt like it had a history that you learned about as the game progressed, like the interaction between Durandal and Tycho (and Leela in Marathon 1), your need to save the ship and the colony, the S'pht, the Pfhor, the wars on Mars because of the CRIST failures and the political maneuvering of placing the 10 cyborgs on the UESC Marathon. Of course a lot more depth was added in Marathon 2 with information about the Jjaro and the ancient S'pht AI. Halo 2 might blow the story of the Haloverse wide open, but I still feel Marathon 1 had more depth vs. Halo 1.

  • 10.19.2004 10:15 AM PDT
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Ditto

  • 10.19.2004 10:30 AM PDT
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It's really hard to compare the two.
The sheer fun factor I think goes to Halo. (although I've never played
MP in Marathon, so you can throw my opinion out the window if you
like)
Best story of all time, in any game, EVER goes to Marathon. The
way it was told, the mystery, and the writing was all top notch.
No game I have ever played comes close to Marathon's story, and
the game is fun as hell for coming out in 1994. d00m gameplay (if
you can call it that) is crap in comparison to Marathon gameplay.
I still have fun plaing Marathon 10 years after it came out. Another
thing no other FPS, or game for that matter, has accomplished.

I find Halo more fun, but as an overall game, Marathon takes the
prize.

  • 10.19.2004 12:39 PM PDT
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The multiplayer element in Marathon is this simple: It Rocks!
With different team color setups you can choose, many different options, solid gameplay, and best of all; it automatically made a replay video of all the action so you could show off your carnage moments to your friends.
B-)

  • 10.19.2004 12:52 PM PDT
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DMUKYA
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Can you still play Marathon online with M1A1? I have no clue how if you can...

  • 10.19.2004 1:10 PM PDT
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Yep - you need to know the hosters IP address though (there is no lobby).

Like some of the other posters, I have a fondness for marathon - It was the first colour game I had ever played, and the first FPS. I took to making physics models and maps pretty quickly as well.

However, I do enjoy halo, almost as much as I do the marathon series, but marathon will always be my favourite.

  • 10.19.2004 1:51 PM PDT
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Marathon's sheer greatness could squish Halo's greatness underfoot. I'm not saying Halo is bad, but I'm saying Marathon is just that good.

  • 10.19.2004 4:18 PM PDT
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So true..

  • 10.20.2004 7:10 AM PDT
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The United States of America-- STILL more rights than North Korea!
--New official U.S. motto.

Cronin's Law----The New Flood Drinking Game

of course marathon2 could crush marathon and halo at the same time under one finger.

  • 10.20.2004 7:55 AM PDT
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The Marathon series as a whole, is vastly better than Halo. M2 and M:I are easily the best games in that series, but Marathon is still pretty great. Halo, while a fun game, has not managed to catch my attention for it's story yet. And yes, I've read the books, but it still just doesn't feel as deep as Marathon. Maybe this will change as the series goes on (it took three games for the Marathon series to have such a deep story, so I will give Halo a chance), and i certainly hope it can. But at this point, no game has matched the story of the Marathon series.

  • 10.20.2004 10:01 AM PDT
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Actually, I always felt Marathon 1 and 2 pretty much fleshed out the whole story. Marathon infinity's single player story was written by someone else I think, and it was crazy. The whole time travel thing and it happening at the same time as Marathon 2 and all. Plus, if you read the last screen of Marathon 2 it had the feeling of finality; so while I enjoyed infinity and the release of the editing tools that came with it, Infinity definitely isn't my favorite of the series.

Edit:
Actually, I checked and I think Greg Kirckpatrick did do the story for it. Heh, need to play it again maybe. It has been a very long time... Maybe my 13 year old mind when I played it first had problems with it :P

[Edited on 10/20/2004 11:22:43 AM]

  • 10.20.2004 11:17 AM PDT
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I don't know, personally I though the final few levels of Infinity to be the most amazing in the series. It was simply amazing and incredibly dark, you really felt like this was your last chance and the weight of the universe was bearing down on you. Aye Mak Sicur was probably the most gorgeous and atmospheric level I've seen.

  • 10.20.2004 11:24 AM PDT
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I get travel sick when playing Marathon 2 so I can't play so much... *sniff*


Myth is fun though.

  • 10.20.2004 11:27 AM PDT
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DMUKYA
Proud member of Eagle 117's theory group, The Watchers
Another great theorist group is Avignon
Interested in the mysteries within all of Bungie's games? Check out Theory of Unification
For the Biblical allegorist in you, there's מִכְמַן
Enjoy reading or writing sci-fi or fantasy? Come to New Horizons

Maybe Marathon and Halo WILL tie into each other in the end. Then this poll will become moot. I'll also be wishing that I finished playing Durandal and Infinity before playing Halo 2.

PS. Have you guys noticed that people actually did vote for GNOP? I put that in as a joke...

[Edited on 10/20/2004 5:13:07 PM]

  • 10.20.2004 5:12 PM PDT

Ach! Was ist los?

Agreed!

--Sgt. Smith will always think Marathon had a better storyline and cooler weapons.

  • 10.20.2004 5:14 PM PDT
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Posted by: Ender
PS. Have you guys noticed that people actually did vote for GNOP? I put that in as a joke...


Someone will always vote for the comedy option :)
(wasn't me btw...)

  • 10.20.2004 9:35 PM PDT
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Comedy!? Gnop rawx!

6n0p 4 73h w1n!

  • 10.20.2004 10:19 PM PDT

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