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[clarky]

Slept on it. Still think it looks great.

Hopefully the maps are bigger than they look.

 

[near]

Slept on it. Still think it looks great.

Hopefully the maps are bigger than they look.

Are you sure? I think you should go back to sleep and think about it again when you wake up.

 

[Paasei]

A day after my birthday. Well, I'm having a great party of skipping this game.

 

[clarky]

Are you sure? I think you should go back to sleep and think about it again when you wake up.

Had a quick power nap. Still looks great.

 

[pasterpl]

As for the "fast-paced shooter" complaints:

This looks extremely slow for some reason, players standing in the open, no dynamic etc. Maybe it's me being used to COD speed.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

No offense to Men in Boxes but he's all over the place and bases too much of his opinion based on what he hears from others or what he wants to believe is true.

I think there has been a lot of negative response to Marathon (much of it I agree with) and Men in Boxes has taken that to heart and is disappointed that what he was championing (again with little to no information) as the next big live service game largely based on the promise of extraction shooters becoming mainstream doesn't seem so clear cut.

Yes, I usually just go with whatever the crowd says.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

This looks extremely slow for some reason, players standing in the open, no dynamic etc. Maybe it's me being used to COD speed.

I assume they're just not the best.

But since there are videos that make it seem slow, as well as videos that make it seem fast-paced, it's probably somewhere in the middle and it depends a lot on playstyles.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Nothing makes me happier than seeing your world crumble.

You need bigger dreams.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

You need bigger dreams.

So long as others are miserable I'm content with my own suffering.

 

[diffusionx]

Look its hard to predict GAAS success. Fortnite was ridiculed at launch, do you recall? Now I'm not saying its gonna be Fortnite, but I don't think its gonna be concord either. I'm sure it can find a spot in the Helldivers 2 range or Apex Legends.

It's hard to predict gaas success because it doesn't happen often. Helldivers 2 really was unique.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Thats because Tarkov is being made by a shit ass Russian developer who sits on their ass with an alpha for 10 years.

Give me a break.

With their shit ass spaghetti coded game

So how do you explain the game's popularity?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

It's hard to predict gaas success because it doesn't happen often. Helldivers 2 really was unique.

It's hard to predict, but I think we can mostly agree that it's not off to a great start and the reception has been mixed at best. That being said, I think there were people who were going to take the piss no matter what unless it was F2P and/or had a single player campaign.

We'll have to see where perception is after the alpha to get a sense of what's real and what isn't.

 

[coachmcguirk91]

I don't love the art direction, but I hope it means that the game is targeting 4K120 on base consoles and minspec PCs. I don't like the art direction for Fortnite, Roblox, CSGO, or Minecraft either... hasn't stopped any of them from being wildly popopular.

I'm a bit iffy on the art direction too, but pretty much all previews of the game universally praise it. I'll defer to them until I play it, but I do wonder if that type of cell-shaded art style lends itself well to different cosmetics? I could see monetization being a bit of a problem

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm a bit iffy on the art direction too, but pretty much all previews of the game universally praise it. I'll defer to them until I play it, but I do wonder if that type of cell-shaded art style lends itself well to different cosmetics? I could see monetization being a bit of a problem

Once the art direction clicks, its phenomenal. Its almost intentionally clashing, garish colors. Every color chosen is slightly off and an unusual tone and hue. Its like AOL x Geocites from 1991 meets pseudo cell shading with chunky retro polygon menu and blocky death animations from Lawnmower Man. Its the most compelling part of the game.

 

[Northeastmonk]

It doesn't remind me of those old classic Marathon games. It reminds me of Destiny and CoD with a skin from Far Cry Dragon's Blood. I can't tell if the aesthetic reminds me of Cyberpunk or that Rainbow Six game with aliens. lol I'm getting more Deja vu than anything else. It could be fun. I also don't think I'd be missing out if I skipped it. Bungie must be riding the high from Destiny's legacy. I feel like this is the result of Bungie running their course. You've got very little of what Bungie was, so you get copy pasta from a bunch of new hires.

If this is what someone enjoys then I won't say it won't be worth it.

 

[Eesha]

me after watching the video

Artstyle is too over the place whit those Neon green/purple everywere

 

[vaibhavpisal]

As for the "fast-paced shooter" complaints:

Game looks mediocre dude.

What are you talking about ?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I can't get a good read on Men_in_Boxes and whether he's a deliberate troll that plans his trolls months in advance, or if he's being genuine. He seems to thrive on reactionary drama though. No doubt he'll be making a Marathon thread close to launch claiming it to have the biggest potential success the industry has ever seen in this space, doing a complete 180.

Have you considered that people are just genuinely different and have different preferences?

I've expounded on my enthusiasm for multiplayer once or twice (or 500 times) on NeoGAF before. Player choice and playstyle variety are at the top of my values list and are two aspects the Extraction Shooter can really leverage based on its fundamentals as a genre.

I watched the full Marathon show + Riloe, Jessie Kazam, and Dr. Lupos analysis videos afterwards.

I could not tell you what shells anyone was playing because the shell abilities look so generic / unimpactful. All the clips look like you just have to run around, slide, and DPS better than your opponents.

I could not tell you a single interesting objective in the game. It looks mostly like button presses, kill the AI, and king of the hill type countdown objectives. Stuff we've seen for 20+ years at this point.

I could not tell you a single time I saw a combat scenario and my brain lit up with "Oh, I would have approached that way differently".

That's generic AF.

I've played a years worth of The Finals so the fast paced, short ranged, high TTK gameplay looked extremely "been there, done that."

Instead of calling someone a troll for having a different perspective as you, perhaps consider that I'm simply a GAAS sommelier?

 

[Mattyp]

This looks extremely slow for some reason, players standing in the open, no dynamic etc. Maybe it's me being used to COD speed.

Nah that's some of the slowest FPS gameplay I've ever seen. TTK looks painful and gun had no weight behind it, this game isn't for anyone who plays or is a fan of CoD it seems like.

Nothing about that was intense at all compared to CoD.

 

[BbMajor7th]

Have you considered that people are just genuinely different and have different preferences?

I've expounded on my enthusiasm for multiplayer once or twice (or 500 times) on NeoGAF before. Player choice and playstyle variety are at the top of my values list and are two aspects the Extraction Shooter can really leverage based on its fundamentals as a genre.

I watched the full Marathon show + Riloe, Jessie Kazam, and Dr. Lupos analysis videos afterwards.

I could not tell you what shells anyone was playing because the shell abilities look so generic / unimpactful. All the clips look like you just have to run around, slide, and DPS better than your opponents.

I could not tell you a single interesting objective in the game. It looks mostly like button presses, kill the AI, and king of the hill type countdown objectives.

I could not tell you a single time I saw a combat scenario and my brain lit up with "Oh, I would have approached that way differently".

That's generic AF.

I've played a years worth of The Finals so the fast paced, short ranged, high TTK gameplay looked extremely "been there, done that."

Instead of calling someone a troll for having a different perspective as you, perhaps consider that I'm simply a GAAS sommelier?

Honestly, we don't agree on much but this kind of candour is super healthy and ought to be welcomed. Being criticised for not being an unrepentant zealot is weird.

 

[Warnen]

Depends on what they give me in destiny for buying it I might give it a try. I like the art style, but avoid pvp like the plague. The story seems interesting, I can hope there is enough pve stuff to do to over come my dislike of pvp.

If anyone can make me like pvp could be bungie…. Last time I enjoyed it was back in halo 2.

 

[Kerotan]

I'm not into extraction shooters so I won't buy this but that 8 minute cinematic was one of the greatest trailers I've ever seen. Masterpiece and I hope this game finds an audience.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

As for the "fast-paced shooter" complaints:

This is fast paced and intense?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Honestly, we don't agree on much but this kind of candour is super healthy and ought to be welcomed. Being criticised for not being an unrepentant zealot is weird.

Exactly.

Apparently the GAAS guy with the Marathon avatar was planning this reaction from the outset because he loves being part of the crowd.

Videogames produces a lot of illogical takes.

 

[MMaRsu]

So how do you explain the game's popularity?

Because it does a lot of things right, Ive put over 1500 hours into it so I can tell you all about it lmao

 

[diffusionx]

It's hard to predict, but I think we can mostly agree that it's not off to a great start and the reception has been mixed at best. That being said, I think there were people who were going to take the piss no matter what unless it was F2P and/or had a single player campaign.

We'll have to see where perception is after the alpha to get a sense of what's real and what isn't.

I agree it's not off to a great start. The biggest issue is that even after the reveal I don't really know why it exists.

It's just annoying to hear people say stuff like "but muh apex" or "muh helldivers" - apex came out in 2019! These games fail far more often than they hit. Helldivers 2 was an exception but the same publisher had another live game that was the biggest flop in videogame history in the same year.

 

[Brakum]

Oh fuck off. This is nowhere near as bad as Concord. Marathon is simply a more Anime/Japanese take on Cyberpunk. Concord was just a bunch of 3rd rate artists making designs to fill a quota.

it's easily as bad but in a different way.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Game looks mediocre dude.

What are you talking about ?

Ok. Should be performing equal to Xbox' output then.

This is fast paced and intense?

Did I make either of those claims?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Did I make either of those claims?

You shared the clip of someone claiming that was intense

 

[Killjoy-NL]

You shared the clip of someone claiming that was intense

Yes, but I was posting it in response to people complaining it appears to be some fast-paced hero-shooter to them.

Whatever comment GamesRadar made is irrelevant.

 

[adamsapple]

Nothing makes me happier than seeing your world crumble.

stfu xbot

Spoiler

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Don't know if posted already, but here's ~15min of raw alpha gameplay footage.

 

[SJRB]

Screenshotted this from SkillUp's video.

Super low resolution vegetation, the terrain looks bland and extremely low-poly. It's blurry, the shadows are blocky and low-resolution, the haze makes everything feel muted and muddy.

Dreadful, truly.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I'm a bit iffy on the art direction too, but pretty much all previews of the game universally praise it. I'll defer to them until I play it, but I do wonder if that type of cell-shaded art style lends itself well to different cosmetics? I could see monetization being a bit of a problem

At the end of the day I know the game isn't for me. Nothing about it rings true to what I look for in games, but the same was true for games like FF7 Rebirth, but people loved it. I can divorce myself from my personal feelings about games. I wish Rebirth was turn based and I don't like the direction they took the story in Remake. I do wonder how many of the design decisions they're making are aiming towards a specific demographic or some of the Asian market, which they failed to reach with Destiny. The game gives me serious vibes of decisions being made and despite them being pretty receptive to feedback not listening on some core things that might sink them because they think it might play well in South Korea (3 man squads) or something or because they're trying to attract a really young audience (aesthetic and the lack of proximity chat).

Because it does a lot of things right, Ive put over 1500 hours into it so I can tell you all about it lmao

So before Helldivers 2 came out you were saying ti was going to be a hit?

I agree it's not off to a great start. The biggest issue is that even after the reveal I don't really know why it exists.

It's just annoying to hear people say stuff like "but muh apex" or "muh helldivers" - apex came out in 2019! These games fail far more often than they hit. Helldivers 2 was an exception but the same publisher had another live game that was the biggest flop in videogame history in the same year.

There is no AAA extraction shooter that is multiplatform. I think that's a pretty big reason to exist. Bungie thinks they've identified a new market and are trying to fill that market. They've done similar things pretty much their entire history and have found success doing so. Halo wasn't the first console FPS or even the first do use dual analog, but with the level of polish and the verticality it was still a pioneer. Destiny wasn't the first live service FPS either, but they pretty much pioneered the looter shooter live service genre.

Just want to say I'm not comparing this game to concord at all and don't think this will perform as badly. Apologies everyone if it came that way.

I think this will play well. It's bungie. I think it will find an audience but for me I just can't invest in this.

I played apex religiously as my go to battle royal and I'd rather just load that up again and play.

I'm not an extraction shooter player though.

Hopefully for bungie, they can find a playerbase. I don't quite think tarkov players will drop a game they've invested in to play this. I'm sure some will try it for while, maybe?

Anyway. Who knows.

I like bungie. I was interested but full price and all the other gaas shit. I'm out.

Trust me. There is 0 percent chance that I buy this game. I'm only interested in it academically, but I'm also not buying GTA6 but I'm just as interested. These are key games in the industry's history.

My advice to Bungie is to take the feedback from the community in the alpha to heart and not be rigid around some decisions. Introduce solos and duos, probably even have a battle royale mode. I know they wouldn't but announcing that they'll incorporate a single player campaign would probably get a lot more people to jump in and play, but it would be at least a couple years out, so what's the point.

I don't think they need to pull Tarkov players. Destiny is bigger on console than on PC, there's a huge market on console that could end up playing this game because there's really not much out there on console for this. I think the initially poor reception even from people who aren't acting in good faith might curtail interest from console players though. Ultimately we'll see. I think they'll need at least two alphas. The upcoming one and one that incorporates a ton of feedback.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Screenshotted this from SkillUp's video.

Super low resolution vegetation, the terrain looks bland and extremely low-poly. It's blurry, the shadows are blocky and low-resolution, the haze makes everything feel muted and muddy.

Dreadful, truly.

I saw someone else say it looks like a VR game and have to admit I agree

 

[Agent_4Seven]

I think they've explained the wipes pretty well. Maybe you need to watch more videos about it. At the end of each season your inventory is wiped. You get to hold on to permanent upgrades.

That's good then, for those who cares.

Marathon is a much bigger game than Helldivers 2...

Are you serious whit this?

Exactly how is it bigger with just 3 medium sized maps? HD2 has multiple planets you can travel too, various and very different enemy factions and tactics, you can even reduce their presence in sectors etc., you can travel to other planets with different biomes, use Mech and stuff. Hell, even launch version of Destiny 2 was a lot bigger with a lot of stuff you can do, even it it wasn't an extraction FPS. Marathon in comparison is just a small fly which is trying to get out of the small toilet room.

You think HD2 is unique, but tell me more about AAA extraction shooters that are available on PC and console... I'll wait.

As if it changes anything

They worked on the game for 5 years and managed to make just 3 maps and 6 operators, that's AAA for ya. HD devs did far more at launch even if at that point it wasn't perfect, there's also no inventory wipes there and it's an extraction TPS. By calling HD2 unique, I meant the game just combines a lot of things and mash them all together to create a unique whole no other game before managed to do in this genre.

Marathon's artstyle is definitely unique, way too simple in terms of details and presentation, but nevertheless, there's no other game on the market that looks like it, the gameplay though and the genre is nothing new and it doesn't matter whether it's AAA or not, there's plenty of MP games on the market with great art styles and production values from a lot smaller studios, whether they're good or not is a different question.

Bungie is really good at FPS mechanics and gameplay, so it's almost impossible for a small studio to beat them here, but it doesn't mean that they can't make great games which will rival Marathon and they'll do that at some point without the help of Sony and 5 years of dev cycle.

I don't think it'll have the same monetization as Destiny 2 with the game costing 40 dollars.

Get ready for the oposite.

It sounds like you're gripe isn't really about Marathon but about Destiny. I don't care either way, but you should probably be upfront about that.

Haven't I made it crystal clear that have huge gripes not only with Destiny but also with Bungie as a company? How can I not be after everything they've done and why should't it influence my oppinion towards them and their games? Why should I be more positive and more optimistic about Marathon, if the game is made by Bungie and by a lot of the same people?

It's only and objectively fair way of thinkin' for a lot of people who can't access content they bought for stupid af reasons and new players even can't experience any of it. I know on what I base my opinion and the same goes for a lot of other people and what makes you think it won't happen again and based on what exactly? Anyway, literally no one should trust them with anything they do after what they did and there's no chance for a benefit of the doubt as well.

They fucked up big time and didn't do shit about fixing anything, they just did the thing as said FU to everyone and killed all trust and good faith people had in them. It's not only about Destiny, but also about this game too. I know them too well based on what I experienced in Destiny 2 and there's no indication that they won't do that again in Marathon. If I didn't base all this criticism, scepticism and negativity on something that wasn't even a thing, then that's fair, but it's not the case here at all.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Screenshotted this from SkillUp's video.

Super low resolution vegetation, the terrain looks bland and extremely low-poly. It's blurry, the shadows are blocky and low-resolution, the haze makes everything feel muted and muddy.

Dreadful, truly.

I don't love the art direction, but maybe try looking up Bungie's 4K video... it doesn't look nearly as bad.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

I don't love the art direction, but maybe try looking up Bungie's 4K video... it doesn't look nearly as bad.

The more I see, the more it looks like they tried to keep a pixel-art aesthetic.

 

[SJRB]

I don't love the art direction, but maybe try looking up Bungie's 4K video... it doesn't look nearly as bad.

I don't know what to tell you - It's literally 1440p direct feed footage of his own gameplay.

"Ignore the videos where the game looks bad and look at videos where the game looks good" is a weird thing to say.

 

[Salz01]

This doesn't look as good as it should. People will play it, but it all look sort of meh….

 

[Mibu no ookami]

That's good then, for those who cares.

Are you serious whit this?

Exactly how is it bigger with just 3 medium sized maps? HD2 has multiple planets you can travel too, various and very different enemy factions and tactics, you can even reduce their presence in sectors etc., you can travel to other planets with different biomes, use Mech and stuff. Hell, even launch version of Destiny 2 was a lot bigger with a lot of stuff you can do, even it it wasn't an extraction FPS. Marathon in comparison is just a small fly which is trying to get out of the small toilet room.

Helldivers 2 is all procedurally generated not canned maps. You're focused on quantity over quality here. First there will at least be 4 maps, with Bungie really excited about the 3rd and 4th maps. Second there are weather changes and I wouldn't be surprised if there is day/night cycles. Combined with the different objectives and playstyles and runners, that's far more variance than you're willing to admit here.

As if it changes anything

They worked on the game for 5 years and managed to make just 3 maps and 6 operators, that's AAA for ya. HD devs did far more at launch even if at that point it wasn't perfect, there's also no inventory wipes there and it's an extraction TPS. By calling HD2 unique, I meant the game just combines a lot of things and mash them all together to create a unique whole no other game before managed to do in this genre.

Marathon's artstyle is definitely unique, way too simple in terms of details and presentation, but nevertheless, there's no other game on the market that looks like it, the gameplay though and the genre is nothing new and it doesn't matter whether it's AAA or not, there's plenty of MP games on the market with great art styles and production values from a lot smaller studios, whether they're good or not is a different question.

Bungie is really good at FPS mechanics and gameplay, so it's almost impossible for a small studio to beat them here, but it doesn't mean that they can't make great games which will rival Marathon and they'll do that at some point without the help of Sony and 5 years of dev cycle.

See above.

Also HD is PvE, wipes wouldn't make sense, but one thing that HD struggled with was balancing weapons and there were constant complaints about weapons being nerfed.

Two different types of games, two different approaches to trying to find balance.

I would not be surprised if Marathon finds its audience.

Get ready for the oposite.

Haven't I made it crystal clear that have huge gripes not only with Destiny but also with Bungie as a company? How can I not be after everything they've done and why should't it influence my oppinion towards them and their games? Why should I be more positive and more optimistic about Marathon, if the game is made by Bungie and by a lot of the same people?

It's only and objectively fair way of thinkin' for a lot of people who can't access content they bought for stupid af reasons and new players even can't experience any of it. I know on what I base my opinion and the same goes for a lot of other people and what makes you think it won't happen again and based on what exactly? Anyway, literally no one should trust them with anything they do after what they did and there's no chance for a benefit of the doubt as well.

They fucked up big time and didn't do shit about fixing anything, they just did the thing as said FU to everyone and killed all trust and good faith people had in them. It's not only about Destiny, but also about this game too. I know them too well based on what I experienced in Destiny 2 and there's no indication that they won't do that again in Marathon. If I didn't base all this criticism, scepticism and negativity on something that wasn't even a thing, then that's fair, but it's not the case here at all.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

The more I see, the more it looks like they tried to keep a pixel-art aesthetic.

Yeah, I liked that in limited doses in Astro Bot, I don't like it across a whole game.

 

[MayauMiao]

Screenshotted this from SkillUp's video.

Super low resolution vegetation, the terrain looks bland and extremely low-poly. It's blurry, the shadows are blocky and low-resolution, the haze makes everything feel muted and muddy.

Dreadful, truly.

Muted colors is just leave the graphic look underwhelming, even the grass looks like something that came out from last gen.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I don't know what to tell you - It's literally 1440p direct feed footage of his own gameplay.

"Ignore the videos where the game looks bad and look at videos where the game looks good" is a weird thing to say.

Not his gameplay...

 

[Neofire]

I'll give it a chance, hopefully they will have a beta.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Outside of really really good visuals (clean looks, stylish) looks pretty mediocre

 

[Fermbiz]

I like the colors and the aesthetics, i just wish it was an SP game. It looks like it could have a trippy crazy story

 

[MMaRsu]

So before Helldivers 2 came out you were saying ti was going to be a hit?

I didnt have much thoughts about Helldivers 2 prerelease. It did very well, but it also went viral.

And playing with friends vs computer enemies is enticing to a lot of people, and a real extraction shooter isnt.

Its a real timesink with a great reward if the game does it well. Tarkov is a great game marred by horrible developers

 

[cormack12]

While I won't link to it, I imagine most players experience will eventually boil down to the same as the guy from Polygon. And it seems this guy Yanes was rotated into all the other squads to help each of them dominate a few games.

The squads were premade, and I was placed in a group with another American journalist and one from a different country who struggled to communicate with us. And thus began our morning of getting destroyed. Whenever we ran into other players, it didn't go well for us, in what admittedly felt like a true "random matchmaking" experience.

Suddenly, we were joined by Kevin Yanes. All anyone would say about Yanes was that he was good at Marathon. That's an understatement, I soon learned. Yanes changed the game for me and our third squadmate, not because he could carry us while we were learning — although that was certainly part of it, I won't lie — but because he could teach us things that would have taken hours of playing on our own to discover.

"OK, we got a Complex spawn," he said, denoting where on the map we were. "There are two other squads that can spawn here and here, so we need to be careful unless we want to go after them right away." It was overwhelming — and intoxicating. What started as a team that absolutely did not want to get into scrapes became a squad that was actively hunting players down. Suddenly, mysterious gas-filled rooms that once seemed impossible to open, we now knew how to vent.

Still, I did worry that Marathon wouldn't be fun without someone like Yanes as a squadmate. That the joy was in extracting with great shit every time, not in the game itself.

 

[Truth Be Told]

I'm not into extraction shooters so I won't buy this but that 8 minute cinematic was one of the greatest trailers I've ever seen. Masterpiece and I hope this game finds an audience.

The realisator, Alberto Mielgo, is known for the critically acclaimed films "Jibaro" and "The Witness" from the Netflix series "Love, Death & Robots".