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Marathon - 3 maps and one enemy type?

S

SpokkX

Member
So let me get this straight.

Some facts first
  • Marathon is FPS PVP game with PVE elements (extraction shooter)
  • Marathon has been in development since about 2020
  • Bungie is an experienced studio (duh)
  • Bungies engine and experience is FPS games (Destiny)
  • Bungie engine already supports PVP and PVE (Destiny)
  • Bungie engine already has seasons and leveling (Destiny)
  • Bungie has bascially done a lot of this stuff before (Destiny)
= Bungie should be able to crank this out quickly

But after 6 years of development we get

... 3 maps
... 1 enemy type with some variations (robots with or without shields, some variants)
... basic menu with seasons and leveling
... an unique art style and soundtrack

Has this been a side-project by a skeleton crew or did it go totally of the rails?
It is not even early access... What happened?

Edit:

Having played several hours more I now realize the depth of the game. It looks shallow and the maps seem kind of like Halo maps - but they are most certainly not. The are very intricate and offer way more gameplay than a usual FPS map.

Also the progression system with the small "story missions" is actually really unique and not something I have seen before in a multiplayer game.

So my compaints were a bit premature - there is way more here than it seems at first
 
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SpokkX said:
. What happened?
Click to expand...
1x09 GIF by The Hills
 
3 maps at launch with high replay ability and lots of layers to each.

Enemies so far other than real players, are grunt bot, grenade launch bot, camo bot, shield bot, matriarch with clone tech, ticks, turrets.

Wild idea - should've tried the server slam because it was free so you could possibly get why it's so fun.

20 hours in so far, level 20, and having a blast.
 
Bungie are notoriously slow at basically everything. Historically, it's generally down to infighting, poor management, and hubris.
When they deliver Halo 1 or The Taken King, they get some slack because it's worth the wait - legitimately terrific stuff.
But when it's Destiny 1 or Marathon, people ask questions.

I'm sure we'll get the tell all article about how poorly handled Marathon was, leading to games worth of cut content that will be sold back to their players later.
 
dreamstation said:
Have you played the game?
Click to expand...
Obviously not

SpokkX said:
... 3 maps
Click to expand...
That's enough for now. There'll be more added throughout the seasons, and I assume they'll rotate some in and out.

SpokkX said:
... 1 enemy type with some variations (robots with or without shields, some variants)
Click to expand...
They're all bots, but there's enough variation in abilities, speed, attacks(cloak, shield, clone, etc)

But this is Marathon. There'll be aliens eventually.
 
Arsic said:
3 maps at launch with high replay ability and lots of layers to each.

Enemies so far other than real players, are grunt bot, grenade launch bot, camo bot, shield bot, matriarch with clone tech, ticks, turrets.

Wild idea - should've tried the server slam because it was free so you could possibly get why it's so fun.

20 hours in so far, level 20, and having a blast.
Click to expand...
Well i own the game and have played it - that is my view of what it contains

Not a bad game just very, very slim in content. Certainly not 6 years of content
 
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Hey now, don't judge a game until they launch the end game content. Wouldn't be fair with the devs who spent years on this game.
Otherwise this would be classified as hate and poor this game, received so much unfair hate.
 
What happened?
Click to expand...
Probably one of the most woke game companies in America, you tell me.
www.linkedin.com

At Bungie, all employees are encouraged to get involved. Our Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Associations (IDEAs) resource groups provide a platform for employees to share their voices, connect… | Bungie | 34 comments

At Bungie, all employees are encouraged to get involved. Our Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Associations (IDEAs) resource groups provide a platform for employees to share their voices, connect with allies, and build community. Learn more about a few of our IDEAs: Black@Bungie -...
www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
1695407150264
 
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SpokkX said:
Well i own the game and have played it - that is my view of what it contains

Not a bad game just very, very slim in content. Certainly not 6 years of content
Click to expand...
I'm doing lots of contracts, leveling skill trees, leveling factions, finding hidden events on maps, doing lots of PvP, and have barely scratched the surface.

I prefer quality over quantity.

I can assume the reason it's only uesc at the moment is the event building for map 4, the boss etc.

Marathon lore seems to be hinting Durandal sabotaged the Marathon ship, sent out signals to aliens who heard the beacon and humanity. Likely a LOT of cool shit and alien enemies will come as the game plays out.
 
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Arsic said:
I'm doing lots of contracts, leveling skill trees, leveling factions, finding hidden events on maps, doing lots of PvP, and have barely scratched the surface.

I prefer quality over quantity.

I can assume the reason it's only uesc at the moment is the event building for map 4, the boss etc.

Marathon lore seems tone hinting Durandal sabotaged the Marathon ship, sent out signals to aliens who heard the beacon and humanity. Likely a LOT of cool shit and alien enemies will come as the game plays out.
Click to expand...
Later (tm)

Remember Destiny 1 well. Same story
 
SpokkX said:
Later (tm)

Remember Destiny 1 well. Same story
Click to expand...
Yep. Difference is Destiny was a pve first game similar to a mmorpg lite. So not enough content is really bad because you do it all and have no reason to log in.

This is PvP first so there's always just the enjoyment of the gameplay loop, and getting cool gear.

There's also ranked mode that's going to release soon.
 
If theyd make it destiny lite, added some traditional pvp modes and just expanded it beyond "extraction", that'd get my attention a bit. Although I don't like the art style tbh, just to artsy fartsy overall but I'd still maybe give it a better look if it expanded from just being extraction
 
Bungie dressing up in the same top coat and releasing the Alpha during the E3 experience had me believing in Destiny. This is just weird. I was interested in Marathon over 20 years ago because reading about Halo also told me about the game I missed on PC. Not to put it down, but it feels like a very light weight game with no strong footing. As if you'd see this game on some Nexon launcher. What's even worse is id love it if it was solely PvE and then had its own PvP mode. It feels like this is the game where I don't pay any more attention to what they release. There's other grand ideas out there to choose from. Destiny was awesome after Halo.
 
Germuso said:
I missed the ps3 era when games had campaigns and online with many maps.

Now devs are lazy or noobs
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It feels like a lot of multiplayer games nowadays are only made of what would have been a game mode amongst others in the past.

Take something like a battle royale, if this had been a thing in the past, it would have been a game mode, next to deathmatch, capture the flag etc etc, but nowadays it's just one single game mode for your whole game.

Yes they try to add more depth since they focus on just that one specific mode etc, but still, It's a bit strange when compared to how it used to be.
 
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How many casuals will be shaken off after the first wipe? I thought for sure they'd have to take a less hardcore approach on that front, but what I'm hearing is there will be regular inventory wipes. Are they making that clear when you play it? I didn't get past the kernel level anticheat boss, so idk how many people it's going to catch off guard.
 
R6Rider said:
Talk about disingenuous.

Of course the usuals will eat this up.
Click to expand...
Yes, 3 maps is the standard for extraction shooters.

Larxia said:
It feels like a lot of multiplayer games nowadays are only made of what would have been a game mode amongst others in the past.

Take something like a battle royale, if this had been a thing in the past, it would have been a game mode, next to deathmatch, capture the flag etc etc, but nowadays it's just one single game mode for your whole game.

Yes they try to add more depth since they focus on just that one specific mode etc, but still, It's a bit strange when compared to how it used to be.
Click to expand...
Nobody played most of these modes. People usually sticked to team deathmatch.
 
simpatico said:
How many casuals will be shaken off after the first wipe? I thought for sure they'd have to take a less hardcore approach on that front, but what I'm hearing is there will be regular inventory wipes. Are they making that clear when you play it? I didn't get past the kernel level anticheat boss, so idk how many people it's going to catch off guard.
Click to expand...
They announced their plans next few seasons before launch. Clearly pointed out wipes every 3 months.
 
Isn't their engine and map editor notoriously shit?

Like takes forever to load and if there's any mistakes they have to start from scratch. Caused endless problems with destiny. Shame they never built something new going forward
 
LectureMaster said:
Probably one of the most woke game companies in America, you tell me.
www.linkedin.com

At Bungie, all employees are encouraged to get involved. Our Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Associations (IDEAs) resource groups provide a platform for employees to share their voices, connect… | Bungie | 34 comments

At Bungie, all employees are encouraged to get involved. Our Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Associations (IDEAs) resource groups provide a platform for employees to share their voices, connect with allies, and build community. Learn more about a few of our IDEAs: Black@Bungie -...
www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
1695407150264
Click to expand...

"Black@Bungie" I get the positive idea behind it, and if somehow all the people who joined this got something positive out of it, with no hate involved, that would be good, but imo its not sustainable long term for true equality by its nature because its logical conclusion is division and not integration.

The problem is that group is likely to be filled with the type to call any black person who *refuses* to join out of some principle an uncle tom (completely missing the point of the character in the original novel ofc, thanks shitty adaptations) or horrendous word like that.

The fact its called "IDEAs" is really putting the brain washing front and centre eh? "Lets put an idea in your head" a pretty overall shitty one in the end, no matter the initial good intentions of sharing of culture and community.

You wouldnt think of this naturally because its objectively a bad idea over a long enough timeline, when you're talking about a work place where the defining factor of the reason why you're congregating together each day is to use skills that are by and large exclusive of race, gender, etc.

Its also stupidly vague, "asians" and "blacks", so what if you're an Africa descended native of an asian country, can you go to the black group? Yes but you might feel left out culturally because black here really means "a black person who was born in America", or "African American".

If its just about the colour of skin or ethnic inherent appearance (not sure how else to write that) then at what point is a mixed race person no longer "black". If its just about culture then that visually super white guy who was raised from a baby by only black people in the Cut video is also black then?

Its so easy to take all that shit apart I troll the hell out of it whatever job I'm in if they keeo bothering me with it. As does my friend who is a mechanical engineer, shes female in an ultra male dominated field so she gets constant emails and social media bullshit begging her to write or say something about how hard it has been to be a woman in such a "boys club".

Meanwhile the extent of the sexism shes faced is one old guy at a conference who didnt want her to give a speech in place of her male department head who couldnt make it that day... and even though his words framed it as gender discrimination it was clearly also more that she was new at these things and theyd come expecting to hear and question a much (much) more experienced speaker on the subject so that wasnt even near the fundamental basis for his discriminating against her. Jesus wept.
 
SpokkX said:
So let me get this straight.

Some facts first
  • Marathon is FPS PVP game with PVE elements (extraction shooter)
  • Marathon has been in development since about 2020
  • Bungie is an experienced studio (duh)
  • Bungies engine and experience is FPS games (Destiny)
  • Bungie engine already supports PVP and PVE (Destiny)
  • Bungie engine already has seasons and leveling (Destiny)
  • Bungie has bascially done a lot of this stuff before (Destiny)
= Bungie should be able to crank this out quickly

But after 6 years of development we get

... 3 maps
... 1 enemy type with some variations (robots with or without shields, some variants)
... basic menu with seasons and leveling
... an unique art style and soundtrack

Has this been a side-project by a skeleton crew or did it go totally of the rails?
It is not even early access... What happened?
Click to expand...
Yes and no reviews for 11 days because Sony gently asked every major publication to not review the game quickly or else
 
Donald mac Ronald said:
Isn't their engine and map editor notoriously shit?

Like takes forever to load and if there's any mistakes they have to start from scratch. Caused endless problems with destiny. Shame they never built something new going forward
Click to expand...
Yes it is, they're literally hamstrung by their graphics engine and seemingly it's probably only still being used to reduce costs.
 
Germuso said:
I missed the ps3 era when games had campaigns and online with many maps.

Now devs are lazy or noobs
Click to expand...
Or they swim in money like Bungie and Sony doesn't give a fuck anymore.

What did they release after being bought by Sony? Destiny 2 Support and Marathon for over $3.7 Billion?? You must be a complete retard to think this is acceptable.
 
I say this all the time. Chess will never last as a board game with only one map. Chess needs a snow map (blue and white) amd a lava map (red and black). The Chess Studio is way too slow on updates.

how-to-set-up-a-chess-board-orientation.webp
 
Kuranghi said:
The problem is that group is likely to be filled with the type to call any black person who *refuses* to join out of some principle an uncle tom (completely missing the point of the character in the original novel ofc, thanks shitty adaptations) or horrendous word like that.
Click to expand...
As a black person who has worked at multiple tech companies with ERGs, I can tell you this is a very weird, uninformed assumption to make. Participation has always been optional (some places/some times I've been too busy to even acknowledge the groups, and in others I've actively helped organize events, and get people resources, etc).

No one is harassed, derided, or ridiculed for not participating.

As for what happens in those groups - since it doesn't seem like you've ever been a part of one, but I may be wrong - they organize events (during black history month, hispanic heritage month, pride month, women's history month, etc). Typically everyone in the organization is invited to those events - even if you're not a member of the group or the groups demographic. They also organize other events, volunteer/donation drives throughout the year. Help other groups, and help employees navigate issues in the workplace they may not be ready to talk to their leaders/HR about yet.

If you're ever genuinely curious, reach out to any group in your work, make a good faith request to understand them, and I'm certain they'll be more than happy to talk to you about what they get up to.
 
Negotiator101 said:
Yes it is, they're literally hamstrung by their graphics engine and seemingly it's probably only still being used to reduce costs.
Click to expand...
Same engine, but it's not exactly the same, so to speak. They - like everyone else with a proprietary engine - have made improvements over the years. It's not perfect (no engine is), but it hasn't remained untouched. If you're curious, dig through some of their TWABs where they have people from their engineering team talk through changes. I'm kidding, don't do that lol.

If they wanted to reduce cost, they'd probably switch to UE5. Assuming things go well with The Witcher 4, I wouldn't be surprised if they did.
 
Loomy said:
Same engine, but it's not exactly the same, so to speak. They - like everyone else with a proprietary engine - have made improvements over the years. It's not perfect (no engine is), but it hasn't remained untouched. If you're curious, dig through some of their TWABs where they have people from their engineering team talk through changes. I'm kidding, don't do that lol.

If they wanted to reduce cost, they'd probably switch to UE5. Assuming things go well with The Witcher 4, I wouldn't be surprised if they did.
Click to expand...
I didn't think it wasn't improved but the lack of content in Marathon speaks volumes I think. That would be cheaper than using your own engine? Surely not?
 
4th map with new enemy types is imminent (you can literally see the compilers in the terminal videos). It's pretty obvious that enemy types (aliens) will be expanded, it's being hinted to constantly as part of the live service.
 
I just can't believe so many people are playing and buying after this company blatantly STOLE artwork from someone thinking they were sly enough to get away with it. I don't care if they settled, were forgiven or whatever. The damage is/was done.

For such a historically important, and dare I say legendary developer, that is some lowest of the lowest shit possible and it's baffling to me that such a hardcore place of real, true enthusiasts and outsiders (who probably didn't even follow what happened anyway) still decided to support them and give them money for it.
 
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