Bungie's Original Sci-Fi FPS, 30 years later

[@youdontneedtoseehisidentif4939]

A few pieces of advice from somebody who's beaten the trilogy multiple times: - the default controls are garbage -- they were... not great... in the 90s, and they're terrible now; change them. - you can't play _Marathon_ like _DOOM_ -- in general you should read at least the first and last terminals in a level, as they'll tell you what you need to do, where you need to go, and will often show you a map. - don't be afraid to return to terminals to re-read them. - don't be afraid to use the map -- amongst other things, it will show you where doors and lifts are (and where they aren't -- there were literally four safe spaces where you got crushed). - don't waste ammunition on the basic green and purple pfhor (the greens take only a single running punch) or orange s'pht (they can be stun-locked by pushing into them and constantly punching). - and the reason you don't want to waste ammunition is that certain levels either have infinitely re-spawning low-tier enemies or little-to-no ammunition to collect. - there are neutral humans and friendly robots /aliens in the game (you saw some of the friendly defence drones fighting the s'pht in that big room); in the first game there is no penalty for... encouraging them to get out of your way; in the sequels you can aggro them, which is a *bad* idea. - the s'pht aren't robots, they're cyborgs and (spoiler for an almost thirty year old game...) once you destroy their controller they'll fight on your side. - pay attention to the names of levels, as they will often give you a hint (cf., "Beware of *low-flying* defence drones"). - the level design has not stood the test of time -- you will find pits you can't escape from if you "grenade hop" into them. - the puzzles in the first game are uniformly terrible, almost all involving pressing switches at the right time; just go for "good enough" solutions (eg., that might involve leaping across platforms because you can't complete a bridge). - the sequels (and a lot of the fan made mods) are much better.

[@WeSellPlants]

Thank you for this! I have every intention of returning to Marathon in my own time, and almost certainly it's sequels for future videos so this is massively helpful for me! I definetely went into it with more of a DOOM mindset and paid the price as you said with that crushing zone.

[@youdontneedtoseehisidentif4939]

@@WeSellPlants No worries -- it's just nice as a fan (and, in the past, modder -- nowadays I mod its competition, _DOOM_ ;) of the series to see some coverage of the game :) One thing you didn't notice with your focus on the lighting was that the engine actually supports (limited) room-over-room..! It's not used in an "in-your-face" fashion (at least not in the single-player levels), but it's used as early as the first level (and in at least one place Bungie messed up and the interior of a room is larger than its exterior :P )

[@JpStryder]

Spoken like a true Vidmaster 07

[@sipkeevenhuis6742]

Props to you for coming as far as you got with the 1994 HUB and without the transparent map. Marathon is truly one of a kind and I hope you play further. Please do make it easier for yourself by turning on the modern HUD and transparent map if you find yourself running in circles over and over again. I like binding map to 'Q'. When punching, run up to enemies because momentum increases damage when punching. Do not, and I cannot emphasise this enough, do not play 'Colony ship for sale, cheap' without a guide, this map and one other in Infinity are the absolute worst maps in the series. Good luck with the rest of Marathon, and I'm looking forward as to how you play the series!

[@WeSellPlants]

Whilst I wasn't originally going to revisit this game specifically in a video, I think I have to now to do it the proper justice! The comments here have really opened my eyes to a lot of the tricks and general logic I should've been employing from the start, and yeah I think I'll be switching to the new HUD now haha

[@youdontneedtoseehisidentif4939]

> 'Colony ship for sale, cheap' [is] the absolute worst map in the series _"G4 Sunbathing" has entered the chat..._

[@andresbravo2003]

As all things should have been.