Just thought I'd post a separate entry about my summer gaming 'marathons'. I'm just curious how many others do a similar thing, which is essentially taking a series and going through it from start to finish over the course of the summer? I've given them some rather cheesy and awful titles playing on the whole 'athon' gag, and here's a list of ones I've done in the past:

THE SCARE-ATHON (2004)

This was my first gaming marathon, which Istarted back in the summer of 2004, and tackled the fantastic Resident Evil series of games. I spaced them out so that it finished just in time for the release of Resident Evil 4 in March 2005, and it all worked out pretty well. You're probably thinking completing such short games over an 8 month period is stretching it a little, but I was really exhaustive in my completions, unlocking all the game modes, hidden weapons etc (which usually requires numerous play-throughs of the main game) and so on and so forth. Anyway, the order of completion was:

- Resident Evil Zero (Gamecube)

- Resident Evil (Gamecube) (I do own the PSone version of the game but decided to opt for the superior gamecube remake for the sake of the 'Scare-athon' - I mean, who wouldn't!?)

- Resident Evil: Outbreak, File 1 (played it here because File 2 wasn't out yet, and Nikolai's activities in the final mission suggest it took place before Resi 3)

- First half of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

- Resident Evil 2 (Playstation 2)

- Last half of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

- Resident Evil: Code Veronica X

I didn't play any of the survivor games or Dead Aim (partly because I'm not a particular fan) and also because they don't really work with the overall story I was trying to follow.

You'll notice of course that I played the series out in progression of the storyline, and not the order of release. I tend to do this with all of my marathons, just lets you get a better feel for the series as a whole that way (though it can be a bit jarring, for example going from the resi remake to even outbreak).

THE EXPLORE-ATHON (2005)

The Explore-athon I started back in 2005 and was tackling the Tomb Raider series of games. Now there's a number of Tomb Raider titles or variants that I don't own (special extended PC versions for example), so it was quite a focused and streamline approach to the core games in the series. This time round the size of the games meant it was easier to stretch it over through to the release of 'Tomb Raider: Legend' which was released in 2006, although because that game seemed to be a re-invention of the storyline from the beginning, it wasn't overly jarring having play out as the last title in the marathon.

Here's the order I played them through. You'll notice I played the training level of The Last Revelation first, which was, I admit, a quite sedate introduction to the marathon, and then made the jump to Tomb Raider 1 quite jarring lol! Play through the training level then go back to the original, you'll see what I mean. Not huge differences, but quite significant!

- Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation training level (PSone)

- Tomb Raider (PSone)

- Tomb Raider 2 (PSone)

- Tomb Raider 3 (PSone)

- Tomb Raider Chronicles (PSone) - I know that Chronicles features the Irish levels in particular which go right back to when Lara was younger, but I wanted to play through 1, 2 and 3 rather progressively, and, with the exception of the level when Lara is a teenager, the other adventures could have feasibly all happened after TR3. Plus the fact that I wanted to play the last level to perfectly set up the frosty relationship between Lara and Von Croy in TLR...

- Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (PSone)

- Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (PS2)

- Tomb Raider: Legend (Xbox)

THE DISTURB-ATHON (2006)

Tackling the Silent Hill series was a bit more difficult to decide, as, despite there being only 4 games, nonetheless only 2 of them have linked storylines, the other 2 are completely seperate entities. So I decided on the following order:

- Silent Hill (PSone)

- Silent Hill 3 (PS2) - Because this is a sequel to the original

- Silent Hill 2 (PS2)

- Silent Hill 4 (PS2)

The last 2 I played in that order just because it seemed logical! :)

THE QUEST-ATHON (2004+)

In 2004, I decided to recomplete Final Fantasy 7 (just because I love the game so much). Then in 2005 Idecided to follow suit and complete Final Fantasy 8, then last year Final Fantasy 9. I tentatively dubbed this the 'Quest-athon', but then when I bought a DS last year and then bought 'Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls', which contains the 2 original Final Fantasy 1 and 2 games, I decided I would go right back to the start and do the complete Final Fantasy series one by one. Obviously the series don't share a singular storyline, so I decided to play them through in numerical order!

- Final Fantasy (GBA: Dawn of Souls)

- Final Fantasy 2 (GBA: Dawn of Souls)

And that's only as far as I've gotten! I'll hopefully be getting Final Fantasy 3 on the DS within the next week or so, then the quest-athon can continue! News that they are remaking Final Fantasy 4 for the DS means I'm really going to get everything I can out of Final Fantasy 3 to hopefully extend it through to the release of FF4 on DS. If there's still time left, I'll just have to be patient. Anyway, although I haven't completed these games, this is my plan for completion:

- Final Fantasy 3 (DS) - see above

- Final Fantasy 4 (DS) - see above

- Final Fantasy 5 (GBA or PSone) - don't own yet, will look at which is the better option, probably go for the GBA version

- Final Fantasy 6 (GBA or PSone) - seems like one of the titles where the inclusion of the FMV's would really benefit it, so I might opt for the PSone version

- Final Fantasy 7 (PSone) - own this, so no problem. I doubt that the potential 'FF7 remake' will even have been announced by the time I get here, unfortunately. Depends on how much play I get out of the previous 4 games though lol!

- Final Fantasy 8 (PSone) - again, own so no problem.

- Final Fantasy 9 (PSone) - ditto

- Final Fantasy X (PS2) - ownage

- Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2) - Only direct sequel in the series (except revenant wings), so of course has to be played following on from it.

- Final Fantasy XII (PS2) - I own this as well so another completion won't be a problem.

- Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS) - Should have had a European release by this time!

You'll notice I've missed out Final Fantasy 11, for obvious reasons. It's not a game that can really be completed, per se, it's an online MMORPG so no one that'll really fit into my marathon. I *might* buy it and have a few weeks play around in Van'diel (or whatever it is called) just so I can say I experienced it throughout my marathon.

By the time I've gone through all of these, hopefully Final Fantasy XIII and versus XIII will be released, so they'll follow suit, in that order respectively!

I don't own a PSP so games like Crisis Core will be ommitted from the marathon unfortunately. Still pondering whether to include Final Fantasy Tactics in the marathon. I don't own it, but I've heard lots of good things about it, and it's getting a DS sequel, so the temptation is there!

Anyway, that's a little look into my mad marathons I've undertaken so far, but of course have plenty of plans to go on more! Metal Gear Solid's 'stealth-athon' is looking rather juicy, particularly when I include the likes of subsistance and substance, and would lead right up to Metal Gear Solid 4 later this year/early 2008.

If you read through all that, I applaud you lol! :)

Till next time,

Au Revoir!

~Ellythrion~