Jason Jones on Marathon

"On the contrary, we believe that the latter stages of the game were best developed."

Back in January 1995, Jason Jones (Bungie Software) posted a reply to criticisms on Usenet about the later
half of the game in terms of the plot. The text is important as it helps to explain a number
of events in the game which are difficult to understand. The full text of Jason's reply is
given below.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games,alt.games.marathon
From: jon3@quads.uchicago.edu (gunfighter's amnesia)
Subject: Re: Post-Marathon - commentary/bug reports/etc
Message-ID: <1995Jan12.214322.21562@midway.uchicago.edu>
Sender: news@uchinews.uchicago.edu (News System)
Reply-To: jon3@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago
References: <3f3ac5$6fq@srvr1.engin.umich.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 21:43:22 GMT
Lines: 59


In article <3f3ac5$6fq@srvr1.engin.umich.edu> mneylon@engin.umich.edu (Michael K. Neylon) writes:
>But then everything fell apart.  Suddenly you're being helped by Durandel,
>then you're helping Durandel, then he's throwing defense drowns on you,
>and then...all without good transistion. Then suddenly Tycho is back, then
>he's gone again.  Then suddenly Leela is back, and Durandel is gone. Eh?
>What the...?  I did understand *why* Durandel sent me to the enemy ship,
>but...  In other words, it *may* have been that Bungie rushed the 
>product out the door that the 'plot' got somewhat confusion in the
>later stages of the game.  Of course, I may have missed a computer
>terminal or two, but it doesn't seem like this.  I was really looking
>forward to a good plot resolution, but that never really came about. 
>Yes, I did save Marathon, but...

SPOILERS BELOW ON MARATHON'S PLOT!!!!!!!!









On the contrary, we believe that the latter stages of the game were
best developed.  Think of it this way: Durandal had an agenda from
the first moment he signaled the Pfhor ship and lead them to Tau Ceti.
He wanted to escape; he wanted freedom.  From the very beginning of
the invasion he began communicating with the S'pht, and once he
learned that they too were slaves, struck a bargain with them to
assure everyone's freedom.

His goal (the capture of the Pfhor ship by the S'pht) and yours (saving
the Marathon) overlapped for a time.  During this period, he
superficially helped you achieve your goal-- in reality you were being
manipulated.  As soon as you killed the Pfhor cyborg which was
telepathically controlling the S'pht and deactivated the Pfhor reactor,
he abandoned you completely.

Immediately after assuming control of the ship, Durandal downloaded
his entire personality and left with all speed with the S'pht in
search of the compiler's homeworld, leaving the Tau Ceti to it's own
devices.  If you got the impression that Durandal always knew exactly
what was going on and just wasn't talking about it, you were getting
the right idea.

Tycho, after having been destroyed in the initial attack, was reanimated
by a splinter group of compilers "in Durandal's image".  That
Durandal's true self-awareness was a fluke is made clear by Tycho's
obvious insanity, *even* though the S'pht attempted to duplicate the
progression of Durandal's rampancy exactly.  While Tycho did not play
any role of consequence in Marathon, we thought it was important to
demonstrate that Durandal's condition was unique.

All of this is stated somewhere in the game (though some of it is
on hidden terminals).  What exactly Durandal intends to do next, the
extent of his control of the S'pht, etc., is only insinuated.

Later,
Jason

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Last updated Jan 23, 2011