Up is down, and down is up. Troopers and Hunters are our friends! Cats and dogs, living together... mass hysteria! Blackstar and Narcogen muddle their way through a level rife with secrets en route to two switches.

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

Remixes of the Marathon soundtrack by Craig Hardgrove at http://themarathonmusic.com

We use irons' Co-Op script:

Things are not as they seem! Or as they seemed, it seems. Instead of victorious and triumphant, Durandal is scared out of his considerable wits. Instead of defeated, dead, or both, Tycho is alive. Instead of propping our feet up by the fire and enjoying a hot cocoa, the Security Officer is once again trying to find out where he is and why. Behind it all lurks the chaotic evil of the W'rk... the W'rk... somethingorother.

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Here are combat-centric highlights of our Let's Play of Marathon 2, edited and compressed down to about 16 minutes and set to selections from W. A. Mozart's Requiem mass, as performed by the Bezdin Ensemble.

Introitus - Requiem Aeterna
Sequenz - Dies Irae
Sequenz - Confutatis Maledictis
Kyrie Eleison
Sequenz - Rex Tremendae Majestatis
Communio - Lux Aeterna

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/bezdin-mozart/

Tracks used under Creative Commons by-nc-sa license.

This is it, the last level of Marathon 2: Durandal! Blackstar and Narcogen will try to use chea... I mean, the special nature of network cooperative play to both view the secret credit terminal and complete the level, which is normally almost impossible in solo play at normal difficulty or above. After a short break, we'll be back with Marathon Infinity-- until then enjoy the Minecraft: Build the Marathon series at OSXCoopGames.net!

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In the penultimate level of Marathon 2, Blackstar and Narcogen are beseiged by Hunters and Cyborgs of the Mother of All variety, and the Sph't'Kr are about as harmful as the are helpful.

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

Remixes of the Marathon soundtrack by Craig Hardgrove at http://themarathonmusic.com

We use irons' Co-Op script:

If God protects fools and drunks, it's time to start drinking, since it seems rampant AIs in Pfhor attack ships are taking out all the fools. Blackstar and Narcogen have some watery fun in the fun house of explosive BoBs, broken doors and angry S'pht defenders that is Fatum Iustum Stultorum.

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

A level for a cyborg who deserved a requiem mass, but never got one. Also, plenty of troopers, compilers, pink slime, hidden weapons, secret terminals, and more classified advertisement-- just what any modern FPS needs!

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

Remixes of the Marathon soundtrack by Craig Hardgrove at http://themarathonmusic.com

We use irons' Co-Op script:

The long dormant S'pht AI tells us that what needs to be done is clear. In a pig's eye! Unless what he means is shoot stuff and push buttons, because we would have done that without being told. Add to that some truly epic tele-bogarting of the shield recharge by Narcogen and some revenge from Blackstar and you have the latest episode of Let's Play Marathon 2, level 24.

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

A pit of exploding BoBs. Hunters teleporting into your back pocket. A computer terminal submerged in lava, containing only three classified advertisements. What's not to like?

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

Remixes of the Marathon soundtrack by Craig Hardgrove at http://themarathonmusic.com

We use irons' Co-Op script:

UPDATE: Whoops! This was supposed to be for Friday, and I skipped Episode 83 by mistake, which also threw off the "levels remaining" count. So episode 83 will go out on Friday and when both are posted I'll correct the dates on the episodes so the playlists are in the proper order.

Blake wants us to find more personality cores for Thoth, the S'pht AI, and turn them on. I hope he's worth it. This level has some particularly interesting underwater (overwater?) architecture.

Seven levels left including this one!

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What, no airfield? What a gyp!

After having "saved" all of Blake's BoBs from their assimilation, Blackstar and Narcogen turn their attention back to Thoth. However, it appears he's not the only AI waiting in the wings to make a triumphant return...

Only seven levels left!

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

Jason Jo... I mean, Robert Blake wants us to sidetrack from our mission of reactivating the dormant S'pht AI in order to take care of some assimilated BoBs that are harassing his men. We're warned that "their minds don't work like ours" but I think he's failed to take into account how our minds work.

We're not supposed to ever leave a BoB alive, but we do. Just one. We couldn't find him to kill him.

We're also now using the 1024x1024 textures originally created for the XBLA version of the game:

As we're handed off from the deactivated Durandal to the mysterious Robert Blake, we switch from switching off an AI to trying to switch one on.

Apologies for the video quality here; for a few episodes now we've been trying out the MP4 export feature of the latest Aleph One beta; while it works well, quality varies quite a bit, seemingly dependent on how dark a level is and what textures it uses. Next episode we go back to regular screen capture.

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Captured by Tycho's Pfhor after the deactivation by Durandal and stripped of all weapons save fists, Blackstar and Narcogen await rescue by human troops supposedly sent by the mysterious Robert Blake.

Naturally, life on the inside gets to them and it's shank or be shanked. Naturally.

This podcast uses:

Aleph One, free and open source versions of Marathon for Windows, Mac and Linux at http://source.bungie.org

This is it. We're performing a mercy killing on Durandal. The ones who aren't getting any mercy are Blackstar and Narcogen, because the Pfhor don't have any.

It seems only fitting that Durandal, tasked with opening and closing doors for a living should set us the task of disabling his logic cores-- by setting up a series of interlocking doors.