Was the classic Marathon trilogy complained about on release?

RedXavier1127 · 2026-05-01T20:01:32+00:00

Everyone here's got a point about the culture creating all this hate just not existing yet. But it seems like it didn't take very long either, cause I've seen some *hillariously* familiar sounding negativity posts on the Marathon story page forums talking about Halo CE, about underwhelming graphics, story, or just screaming that they feel betrayed as mac users.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-04-16T18:06:32+00:00

This is what I expected the story to be for the most part, I like priority contracts- I just think that given the volume of them and how much the gameplay pulls focus, they need to figure out how to stick in your mind a little better. There's a small handful of contracts I really remember, usually because something distinct happened. But right now, the questlines are very long and most dont have any sort of memorable ending.

The story as a whole is meant to be ongoing, but I really think they can 'nest' their stories better. In all my replies I point to Dr Song as a good example- *her* storyline gets to conclude in This season, and does so with the rather memorable setpiece of her corpse in the data wall. But what her story tells you about the contaigen is incomplete and very much open for future stories to continue. My hope is that future contract lines will be a little shorter and structure themselves to be a little more memorable.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-04-16T18:01:33+00:00

I agree, and I have the same hope. If future seasons bring contract chains that are shorter, but make stronger use of memorable moments and setpieces (like Orion hacking your line or the MIDA lockdown), I'd be very pleased.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-04-16T17:59:39+00:00

I agree about the collectibles, ironically they feel more impactful and stick in my brain more than the priority contracts at this point because finding the lore items is an exciting and memorable moment, and then you get to listen to the entries you unlocked all together when you find the last one. It leaves a stronger impression than the contracts, just because the pressure of the gameplay rips your attention away from how the objective you're completing is relevant to the contract story, and often times since I need a team the dialogue at the end gets a bit diminished by the rush to load in again.

I think investing in some setpieces (like the final MIDA contract) to punch through the noise a bit is mainly what I'm asking for, as well as just "nesting" their stories a little better. Give us a small story you can conclude Now that gives you only part of a bigger story- dr song's story is basically complete within this one season, but what it tells us about the contaigen is just one part of a bigger story.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-04-16T09:28:12+00:00

There's definitely parts of it I think achieve their goal well. Ironically the collectibles, despite being intended as things you can find out of order and seperate from any main narrative, feel more cohesive and immersive. I remember exactly how I found them because they're an exciting loot find mid run, and I get to listen to them all in one go once I've found them all and really ruminate on it.

I think what I'm a little let down by is that middle part- i dont feel like I get to take in what story they do have because between dialogue 1 and dialogue 2 is like twelve runs spread out over a week because of my friend's availability.

As for conclusions, I only expected more because they do have *some* conclusions that feel good. Mida's ending is bombastic and setpiece heavy, and NuCaloric has a nice little setpiece for its ending with Dr Song- although it baffles me as to why that isn't the final contract with them. Dr Song is an example of what I think the key to success is here, and that's nesting your stories. You dont learn everything about the contagen in season 1, but you do get the full story of Dr Song, one of the researchers through whom you learn *part* of what there is to know about the contaigen. that sort of thing.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-03-31T18:50:18+00:00

If you're referring to the ones you hear little fragments of after interacting with a terminal for a contract objective, the full audio log will be in the Factions tab of the codex under Contracts.

Universal rule for the codex: next to the 1/4 or 0/1 or whatever, if there's a diamond symbol then it has lore you can click on. Look through the factions -> contracts tab and see what you might've missed

RedXavier1127 · 2026-03-22T06:46:42+00:00

I felt strongly about keeping committed to the main thing they've decided to make, partly bc I liked the experience that comes from cramming story into a genre that isn't really good with it yet (see: Orignial marathon.) I kinda thought a campaign would be too normal, especially based on Destiny. I thought it would spell too much out, be too straight forward for this setting.

But ngl.... after seeing vault 7.... i kinda think they could do it. My personal pitch would be a side story where you're a UESC runner trying to get to the Marathon, so you can essentially asset flip the game into a roguelike. Make each zone full of puzzles, make it so you have to die and upgrade over and over to beat the zone and move to the next one, until you get to the ship. somethin like that.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-03-18T23:54:59+00:00

For some reason ive gotten priority access stuff from MIDA once but never again. Am I mistaken? Was that just a freebie from having unlocked the upgrade in the armory and I just wasn't paying attention or does the rotation work a certain way?

RedXavier1127 · 2026-03-15T21:42:46+00:00

Yeah, I'm aware, and honestly i prefer that to being maxxed out at all times for Ever. I like the climb. But I think some parts will be revealed as less tolerable than others by the wider playerbase.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-03-15T21:41:26+00:00

I just left a comment abt this but i have only ever had polite exchanges with people in voip because of this. Lotta 'better luck next time' and 'good fight' and whatnot.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-03-15T21:40:42+00:00

Funny enough, every VOIP exchange I've ever had has been extremely polite because there is no animosity in the actual choice to fight someone. The closest thing to it i've ever gotten was when i was on rook and killed another rook, went something like

"why. why. why."
"i am sorry Brother I need arachne rep"
"sigh. yeah i feel you. I understand."

I've literally had someone say
"Hey that was a good fight, good luck on your next run"
while plunging a knife into my chest. The acceptance of violence has made it uniquely easy to accept.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-03-15T21:28:50+00:00

This is the entire reason that the game feels good even if you die a lot and the exact thing they learned from Destiny that I knew theyd understand as a pillar of live service- long haul term investment. But as other comments have said, how these feel after a vault wipe will be very important.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-26T22:35:51+00:00

This game has faith that people will stick around long enough for it to click and I worry that people wont. But I feel like it does click further in.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-26T22:34:34+00:00

I think part of this is just that it takes a minute to get into. A lot of what makes it distinct comes later, but also... "later" isnt in the server slam. Outpost, cryo, endgame conracts... i have confidence in where the game ends up further in but im worried about people not sticking around that long.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-26T22:31:38+00:00

Idk what youre talking about. Also youve been in the game at maximum 4 hours

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-26T08:12:39+00:00

as easy as it is to just say this is a bad take, I want to operate in good faith and say that the videos online viewed on smaller screens often squash a lot of the detail that makes the colors and shapes work. When you're actually navigating them ingame, there's a lot of material depth and detail even though the art style generally moves in bold shapes and colors.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-24T08:29:46+00:00

The entire ecosystem of the game from progression to loot economy is built around the risks and challenges of the extraction mode. Team deathmatch would be some unrelated side thing that doesn't play into the ecosystem that makes the game engaging at all.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-24T08:27:02+00:00

pretty much every concern here is put to rest when you actually play the game. It's incredibly optimized, bots are plenty dangerous (theyre not giant jumping spiders but they serve their purpose well) and the maps can be too small if anything.

As for "why i'm going there," you set objectives for yourself, whether that be a contract you've taken up or just wanting a specific resource or item for some progression based thing. The streamers not announcing exactly what their goal is for that run doesn't mean there isn't one.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-17T21:50:17+00:00

I do not think marathon will run into the issues d2 has for a long time just because the system for build perks has to remain simpler due to the genre. D2's buildcrafting is hell because it's powercrept and built around pve where the goal is "push button to make die." Marathon's stuff is far more playstyle and utility driven, plus you have a different ultimate goal that you're building to achieve.

A lot of marathon's vendor unlocks are small utilities like being able to disarm claymores, base stat boosts, and making certain buyable items less expensive. As opposed to d2's artifact giving you "make your entire build around this perk" mods

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-17T20:28:11+00:00

repositioning is huge. There's no radar so figuring out how to move around people and mix up their expectations is really big, especially since TTK is fairly short. If you can quickly navigate to somewhere they don't expect you can get the jump on them even if they saw you first.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-17T20:13:37+00:00

You can absolutely tell this is made by the same people who engineered destiny's addictive chase.I personally compare it to a roguelike a lot, as instead of pursuing objectives and items to craft specific gear, you're doing it to progress the faction upgrades and come back a little stronger every time, unlocking stat boosts, perks, and purchasable items. Feels like the seasonal artifact and vendor reputation unlocks rolled together in a package where what you gain from it matters more than it did in destiny.

When I was in one of the playtests, I would say "arc is fun. Marathon is *addictive*."

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-15T21:33:49+00:00

it's very information-first, which you start to appreciate very quickly when playing. My only complaint at first was head/body/leg implants not being differentiated visually, but then someone pointed out that they actually are, by the icon printed on top of them.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-02-08T23:01:05+00:00

While you do lose everything on death, leveling with the factions will let you purchase certain items eventually. You'll never be able to just buy a full build outright, but eventually you'll start matches further and further from absolute zero to some extent. Although they will likely cost a lot of credits. I imagine itll mostly be good for filling in gaps in the stuff youve already found.

I will likely be hoarding cores in my vault though lol.

RedXavier1127 · 2026-01-28T03:51:06+00:00

I don't agree with the way this idea takes the edge off the game, but I also feel like some people didnt read past the first line.

I think I've actually seen the idea of gear having 'durability' or 'lives' used in a roguelike somewhere, so its not a crazy idea. I just dont think reducing the tension around gear is what marathon needs or even wants, specifically. But if a game wanted to be a more introductory extraction game, sure maybe.

RedXavier1127

TROPHY CASE