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 ) 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 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...

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 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.