Marathon runs

[azraelck]

How many of y'all have spent all night and most of a day playing just a single game?

I spent 26 hours straight this weekend playing Might and Magic VII. Went from level 1 to 33, with a trip to the boneyard breaking it up into two sittings. Once before, I beat Dragon Wars in one sitting, though I don't remember how long I took.

[Korplem]

I remember staying up for three days playing Mech Warrior 3(?) with my dad... I don't know if I've ever topped that but I have had more than my fair share of all-nighters.

[wolfing]

The first time it happened to me was with Wizardry 1 back in 1996. Many other games have managed to capture me for hours, that I remember:
- Wizardry 7
- Everquest (several times)
- Heroes of Might & Magic 2 & 3
- Civilization 2
- City of Heroes

[dteowner]

Have some kids--that will put an end to those marathons in a real hurry. ;)

Best I've got is my X-Com1 experience. Brought the game home about 4:30pm, played until 6am, slept until 8:30am, played until ~8pm. I've had a few games take up more hours over a week's period than X-Com1 did, but that was my best true marathon.

[Prime Junta]

Two words. Allied. General.

Started playing Friday afternoon. The next I noticed it was Sunday night. Only breaks were to go to the toilet and the nearby sausage stand.

That remains the reason I'm very leery of strategy games, and won't go near MMORPG's, which, I hear, have even worse addiction potential.

I haven't had a genuine marathon session in, oh, 15 years or so, though. The worst I've managed is maybe 8 hours straight, and that rarely. I'm trying to keep my sessions to 3 hours tops; more than that screws with my head.

[xSamhainx]

quake II was my first real exposure to deathmatch, played that one for entire weekends, regularly. When WoW came out, i took a week of vacation and pretty played it solid, smoking dope & drinking pepsi and coffee for sustenance. I havent been the same since.

I'll play all day or night now and then, but nothing like that.

[JDR13]

Used to do it now and then as a teen.

The only game in my adult life that did that to me was Gothic. Also, Baldur's Gate 1&2 came real close at times.

[Arhu]

Never too long without sleep, to be honest, but still intense:

Diablo 1 for me with two friends on a LAN, during summer vacation. They had to drive 5 miles on a bicycle to get to our house. We played from lunch until 4-5 AM, then they went home and came back again the following day at 12:30. Rinse and repeat for a couple of days. We all had sub woofers too, no puny headsets. Weren't necessary anyway, because we were all in the same small room. Ah, those were the times.

Other memorable gaming sessions include Civilization (never tried any of the sequels) and yes, "UFO: Enemy Unknown" (aka X-COM 1). That one was traumatizing, but in a good way. ;) Come to think of it, lots of strategy games were memorable like that, for example History Line: 1914-1918 (aka Great War: 1914-1918). So absorbing. In way, I can understand PJ's carefulness regarding such games, but on the other hand: I love having the memory and if I could experience games like that once more, I'd do it all over again.

It's funny though, because I'm not into strategy games at all. Then again, the reason for that might be that it's all real-time nowadays, guess I did like turn-based strategy a lot more. Are there any good newish TBS games out there?

I haven't felt the need to play a game nonstop like that in recent years. King's Bounty came close (still a "perfect game" (tm) in my book).

[magerette]

I also find strategy games the ones that really really hook me. I've played into the wee hours many a night with almost all the ones I've ever liked--HoMM, MOO2, Disciples, KB, and even some of the city builders I like. I also have spent way too many long sessions with games like Diablo and Titan Quest and even Dungeon Seige 2, but by far the most all-nighters go to the strategy genre. LikePrime J, though, I've had to cut back a bit as I find playing late into the night pretty much screws me up for several days now that I'm old.

[GothicGothicness]

Kana little sister ( don't ask :P ) that one had me completely hooked.

[Korplem]

I agree with the trend about strategy games. I don't like RTS but TBS really chains me down. Civ2 and MOO2 and later Civ4 and Rome: TW stole many many hours of my life... and I loved every minute of it.

[Prime Junta]

Are there any good newish TBS games out there?

Civ IV: Beyond the Sword is pretty good. The whole pack can be had quite cheap.

[Arhu]

Thanks. I've actually gone ahead and armed myself with a list of TBS games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_turn-based_strategy_video_games) I found on Wikipedia, which I'm now using to check out videos on YouTube. One of the latest, Empire: Total War, seems to have gained some accolades, but from what I understand combat is in real-time (or optionally automatic) ... hmmm.

The list is incomplete, History Line 1914-18 and the Battle Isle games aren't mentioned, for example. Lots of 4X though. Are there any TBS games left that are not 4X? And did I mention that History Line helped me prepare for an exam about World War I back in school? Not only was it great fun, it was also educative!

About Civ IV, I might give it a shot. Wasn't too interested in the series since, like, forever, but who knows. Have to hold out on it though, as it would interfere with my playing The Witcher.

[dteowner]

Then again, the reason for that might be that it's all real-time nowadays, guess I did like turn-based strategy a lot more. Are there any good newish TBS games out there?

I haven't felt the need to play a game nonstop like that in recent years. King's Bounty came close (still a "perfect game" (tm) in my book).You've already played the best one in recent times that I know of, KB. UFO:ET was a very faithful and enjoyable remake of X-Com (and much better than the After* series), but that goes back a couple years. Space Rangers 2 was solid as well, but again a couple years old. On the horizon, Stardock is doing Elemental, which has been mentioned in the same sentence as Master of Magic.

Iz pretty sparse, me thinks.

[Rithrandil]

Haven't done it in a while, but when I do it usually involves some sort of strategy game. Civ games usually do it to me. I spent way too many nights not sleeping so I could get "one more turn" in.

[Pladio]

Aaaah crazy people...

:D Just kidding.

Compared to some of you I'm a novice, but I've had my share of semi-marathon runs.
Games that went in the following way were: The Settlers III, Diablo II, Shogun: TW, Medieval TW, Rome TW, Civ series - the first one, Counter Strike, and a few others.

Got the game, played it from the afternoon till early in the morning, went to school, came home, played till early in the morning, went to school, took a nap, played till early in the morning... etc.

Games like CS and Civ were with friends.

Latest games like that would be CivIV and Battle for Wesnoth.
Battle for Wesnoth is mostly because I've been home alone for the past week and all I had to do is eat and go to the gym after work so except for that it's been Battle for Wesnoth.

CivIV is more playing with friends, LAN games. I don't think we ever ever finished a single game, but we played from 8PM to 7AM a few times...
Probably should play on quick next time...

[azraelck]

I've made some long runs in TBS games as well. I beat the original KB with all 4 characters back to back in a day, though it was a short game once you knew the tricks. Even shorter if you got lucky on the locations.

But the TBS that has killed more hours for me is Steel Panthers: World at War. It's easily the most in depth tactical wargame I've ever played. I can spend a couple hours just fine tuning my core force composition. Another couple of hours just deploying for a single battle. My personal best battle, I lost only a single truck, and had two artillery pieces (mortars) abandoned, but no men lost.

I can only make a run if I plan on it, now. I'm currently planning on one in January, around my birthday. I wanna see how far I can go there.

[txa1265]

Civ IV: Beyond the Sword is pretty good. The whole pack can be had quite cheap.

Yeah - I just got Civ IV complete and it is really grat pack for a good price.

Have some kids--that will put an end to those marathons in a real hurry. ;)

So true - I might need less sleep than before, but the ability to dump more than 4-6 hours into a game in a stretch just doesn't happen.

Last time I did a real sustained run was when I was staying in a hotel next to Children's Hospital in Boston where my older son had kidney surgery ~5 years ago and I couldn't sleep and my wife would check in every couple of hours. I did most of Thief 3 that night (it had just come out).

[Prime Junta]

Thanks. I've actually gone ahead and armed myself with a list of TBS games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_turn-based_strategy_video_games) I found on Wikipedia, which I'm now using to check out videos on YouTube. One of the latest, Empire: Total War, seems to have gained some accolades, but from what I understand combat is in real-time (or optionally automatic) ... hmmm.

I haven't played Empire (yet; have played Rome and Medieval II, though). Based on that, I would not recommend it as a TBS game. Total War's strength is in the real-time battles -- at their best, they're genuinely epic, and there's an enormous amount of variety in them. As close to infinite replayability as any game I've come across, there. However, the campaign AI sucks, and playing it only on the TBS map would be sort of like buying a Ferrari and only driving it in first gear.

[skavenhorde]

Marathon runs? Hmmmm sober or not so sober? ;)

A decade ago I went a whole week playing Fallout 1. Stayed up for 3 days playing. I crashed on the fourth. Then I slept a day, gorged out on food and started up again for another 3. That was close to the last time I ever did that because I gave up that crap a long time ago.

Now once a month I take a full weekend. That is about the extent of my marathon runs.

In any event, I don't really need to do marathon runs. I probably get in about 4 - 6 hours a day.

[JonNik]

Ah, glad to see I am not alone in my little "RTS problem" perhaps we could start
an equivalent of the AA around here. Let me start: My name is JonNik and my "worst"
marathon was 7 hours straight of Warcraft 3 (Unprecedented for me, not topped these
last 12 years)...

....

Well Ok that doesn't count for much... but I did loose a night's sleep...

[Maylander]

I do it from time to time when something really gets me hooked. The worst was probably the launch of WoW: The Burning Crusade, where I took a week off from work to get to level 70 as soon as possible. Ended up being server first 70 Paladin, though a Rogue was server first 70 overall. I played in "intervals", where I slept a few hours (set the alarm clock to ring 2-4 hours after going to bed), then played 12+ hours. Rince and repeat untill 70.

I have never done anything similar before or after, and I don't intend to either. It's exhausting, and a health risk.

[DArtagnan]

The longest session without sleep was way back in the day, playing Drakkhen with my brother and a mutual friend of ours.

We started on a friday, and we played without pause - except bathroom and to get the occasional cup of coffee - until sunday late at night. No sleep and no food (except sugar in the coffee).

Around 50-60 hours straight.

I had a WEIRD day at school the following monday, and when I got home - my brother was still playing and I crashed and slept for ~16 hours :)

[xSamhainx]

In total Warhammer fervor right now since i'm reading Wh40k books, so I reinstalled Dawn of War and all expansions, and also broke Mark of Chaos out of the plastic for the first time. I have Friday and Monday off coming up.

I think a proper marathon is in order!

[skavenhorde]

If you try it and like the game you should grab the expansion to Mark of Chaos. It adds a third campaign with orcs/goblins and dark elves.

[xSamhainx]

Ive heard the game is quite buggy. One bad omen right off the bat is that the game tries to install every time I put the play disk in, and I have to quit the install then click on the icon to play. That's amateur fly-by-night QA fail crap right there, I'm hoping not indicative of the rest of the experience

Havent played yet, spent yesterday evening just getting everything installed and updated. Took MOK to the latest patch, still getting that install attempt tho

[dteowner]

Galactrix tries to do the same thing (install every time). I wonder if that's some failure in the DRM, rather than within the game itself. It seems strange for different games from different companies to have the same disease.

[JDR13]

Ah, glad to see I am not alone in my little "RTS problem" perhaps we could start
an equivalent of the AA around here. Let me start: My name is JonNik and my "worst"
marathon was 7 hours straight of Warcraft 3 (Unprecedented for me, not topped these
last 12 years)..


Meh...that's nothing :). I had many sessions of Warcraft 2 that were longer than that.... and don't even get me started about Starcraft.

[skavenhorde]

Ive heard the game is quite buggy. One bad omen right off the bat is that the game tries to install every time I put the play disk in, and I have to quit the install then click on the icon to play. That's amateur fly-by-night QA fail crap right there, I'm hoping not indicative of the rest of the experience

Havent played yet, spent yesterday evening just getting everything installed and updated. Took MOK to the latest patch, still getting that install attempt tho


That happened to me as well, but the game was perfect. Not one crash or even buggy behavior. Definatly a "marathon run" kind of game.

Although two things were annoying. Long loading times and no kind of tatical pause. They have a pause button, but it just pauses the whole game. You can't que up any orders for your troops.

Even with that said, I passed the game twice. Normally I only have the patience to pass a great game once. Twice is almost impossible for me.:smug:

[JonNik]

Meh...that's nothing :). I had many sessions of Warcraft 2 that were longer than that.... and don't even get me started about Starcraft.

Heh, I am undergoing my Starcraft ailment right now (I missed it back in the day
curiously, or perhaps it was pure survival instinct). But a 3-4 hour session in weekends
is the most I'll go these days.

Hmm makes me wonder what, this game, would have done to me back in my serious
gaming days :uneasy:

[azraelck]

Heh, didn't expect to start a firestorm of memories. :P

I've never been a huge RTS fan. I beat WC2 long ago, lost the disk though. Lost WC1 as well. I do love Medieval: Total War. My laptop is less than fond of it, which is why I only rarely play it, but I still love it. Bought it for $2 at a flea market.

I really need a better laptop. While I love this thing, it's not got a decent graphics chip, and only 2gb of Ram. So a lot of games just run sluggish. Then again, Team Fortress 2 runs fine, though Steam complained about my chip at first. Maybe I just need to double my RAM.

[JDR13]

I'm not a huge RTS fan either, but I've always enjoyed Blizzard's games, and I'm eagerly awaiting Starcraft 2.

Wasn't a big fan of WC3 though, I just didn't get the same feeling from it that I got from the first two WC games.

[azraelck]

Indeed. It seems that the third games rarely hold the same level of excitement as prior ones do.

I can't think of very many #3's in any series that I like. Might and Magic III, of course. Technically, if you count Wizardry 6-8 as a seperate series, then Wiz8. Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and I hold a fondness for Mega Man 3 for being the first game I ever beat. But I don't consider it the best of the series, or even as good as 2, 7, 9, or even 4.

So 3 games is it.

[dteowner]

You forgot HoMM3, which was the best of the 5 editions.

[azraelck]

Actually, I much preferred HOMM2 over 3. In fact, I put 3 behind the original as well, and the PS2 version, only beating out 4, 5, and the myriad chronicles versions.

I never understood exactly why I do though. But I just do not like it as much as HOMM2.

[DArtagnan]

Actually, I much preferred HOMM2 over 3. In fact, I put 3 behind the original as well, and the PS2 version, only beating out 4, 5, and the myriad chronicles versions.

I never understood exactly why I do though. But I just do not like it as much as HOMM2.

I felt the same way, actually.

I think, for me, it was because I'd played HoMM2 to death when HoMM3 was released, so I was tired of the series - and I didn't like the more serious tone. I really enjoyed the innocent charm the first two HoMM games had, and the pre-rendered 3D art they went with for HoMM3 lost a lot of that in the process.

When I look at the games today, I think HoMM3 is superior in most ways - but HoMM2 has that special place in my heart :)

[JDR13]

I bought the HoMM Compendium a while back, as well as HoMM 3&4 Complete. Someday I should actually get around to playing them.....

[azraelck]

JDR - You should. They are really good games. HOMM2, as said, is my favorite, but up to 3 is good for some long fun.

I agree about the art. That was the worst thing the 3 had vs 1 and 2. Early 3D just kinda sucked. I generally don't care about the level of graphics in a game, but I have more trouble playing many early 3D games than I do some CGA games!

Then again, I might change my view of 3 if I replayed it. When I bought it, I was burned out on a lot of very bad games, and had about quit the hobby entirely. I only got back into it because my brother owed me money, and payed me in a Dreamcast.

[JDR13]

I only got back into it because my brother owed me money, and payed me in a Dreamcast.


Ahh the good old Sega Dreamcast, that system had one of the shortest life cycles ever for a console. I bought one just so I could play Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and it was worth every penny imo.

If I ever get around to playing HoMM, should I even bother playing the first one?

[dteowner]

When I bought HoMM2, the original was included. I installed it for a while, but never felt much motivation to play it. I actually played thru both stories on HoMM2, while I mostly played scenerios in HoMM3. I'd probably skip 1 and go with 2 then 3 (even though I think 3 is better, you'll enjoy 2 far more if you don't "know about" some of the improvements in 3 when you play it).

[azraelck]

I would, just to see where the series came from. It's not like they take a whole lot of hard drive space (especially these days). No-CD cracks should be easy to come by too.

2 is certainly the one to start with though.

I got Code Veronica with my Dreamcast, along with a few other games. I only ended up with about 8 before they stopped making the things. Most of which I rebought for my Gamecube and/or PS2 later. I didn't get far before I switched to the GC version, and then RE4 killed my interest in playing it for a while. I finally went back and beat 2 again, but have yet to go back into CV.

[Relayer]

I did it with Baldur's Gate II. Unfortunately, that game was sooooooo long that by the time I was done I wanted nothing to do with PC RPGs for a while, lol. Loved every minute of it though. :)

Also remember playing Morrowind for HOURS, just completely absorbed in the game world. Wizardry 8 hooked me as well, what a great game.

But doing that sort of marathon gaming less frequently - kids, work and other hobbies don't allow for it much anymore but the last time I did it was with a console game and it wasn't even an RPG: I played Resident Evil IV non-stop for a few days until I finished it, what a well designed game - last time I did that with a non-RPG game was with Super Metroid back in 1995!!!

[Relayer]

Oh and of course there were always those 10 hour sessions of Dark Age Of Camelot. Defending a Castle for 4 or 5 hours with a huge zerg outside and only a few of us inside... so much fun.

[Relayer]

Ahh the good old Sega Dreamcast, that system had one of the shortest life cycles ever for a console. I bought one just so I could play Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and it was worth every penny imo.

LOL, I did the same thing and I agree, what a great game.

Of course I got a few more games out of the system: Skies Of Arcadia was actually an awesome RPG marred only by the all-too frequent random battles. The Record Of Lodoss War game was an excellent single player Diablo clone. Ummm, I'm pretty sure there were a couple more games, lol.

[azraelck]

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 were not bad games by any means, if those are your thing. Never played Skies of Arcadia unfortunately.

[JDR13]

LOL, I did the same thing and I agree, what a great game.

Of course I got a few more games out of the system: Skies Of Arcadia was actually an awesome RPG marred only by the all-too frequent random battles. The Record Of Lodoss War game was an excellent single player Diablo clone. Ummm, I'm pretty sure there were a couple more games, lol.


I have the Skies of Arcadia Gamecube port, but I've never played very far into it. According to Wikipedia, the random encounter rate was lowered for the Gamecube version. It's one of many RPGs I own for the Gamecube/Wii and PS2 that I've never had time to play.