21 replies to this topic

[Leg O'Brick]

Imagine you were sitting down with the creators of MNOGI & II (Templar Studios). What would you say to them? Would you thank them? Critique them? Beg them for a remake?

As many of you are aware, Templar Studios has said that they plan on, among other goodies, potentially re-making the MNOG soundtrack with high-quality audio and updated instruments. Recently, though, they seem to have all but disappeared. I had an idea that maybe we could get their attention by showing how strong our support is for a remake by telling them how profoundly their work had on our interest in BIONICLE and even digital arts in general. I, for one, know that MNOGI was easily the highlight of BIONICLE for me (followed closely by MoL), but beyond that, it's affected my tastes & interests in art, music, and gaming.

What about you? How did you feel about MNOG, with it's strange world and well-realized characters? What was your favorite moment? How did it affect you as a BIONICLE fan? As a person?

Edited by Leg O'Brick, Jan 11 2012 - 10:20 PM.

[GSR]

It certainly did a lot to get me hooked on Bionicle. I'd played Myst at a cousin's house, but never had it for myself, and MNOG was wonderfully (and surprisingly) similar to it. This might be nostalgia goggles talking, but I still hold it as a gold standard for tie-in media (that isn't big-budget, of course.)

[Toa of Nerds]

I remember waiting ages for it to load on my super slow internet. I don't believe I even finished it until recently when I downloaded it. But still, the the MNOG was what drew me to bionicle.com and by extension, the true story of Bionicle.

-don't touch my pocket protector

[Eeko]

I loved the original MNOG. The feeling of mystery was very ominous to my 7 year old self.
I still haven't beaten MNOGII, but when I played it when it came out, the feeling was still very much there.

[Heir of the Chronicler]

The Mata-Nui Online Game is the single thing that captured me within the clutches of Bionicle's mythos and kept me there ever since. It is a masterpiece of art, sound, and story; even now, over ten years later, I find it an incredibly fun play through and the soundtrack, composed by one Justin Luchter, immensely captivating.

I can't say enough good things about MNOG, or the effect it had on my Bionicle years.

- Heir

[Gatanui]

Even though I barely progressed when the game first come out, the MNOG and also the MNOG II are tied to so many fond memories that I am really grateful for it. Both are truly masterpieces, but MNOG II gets a bonus for also being outstanding from a technical standpoint, as opposed to the extremely simple MNOG- which doesn´t harm its charm the least, though. I guess as far as charm is concerned, MNOG still wins over MNOG II, for a great part thanks to the awesome animations that were missing in MNOG II. If it weren´t for MNOG, I may have never become such a dedicated fan. It´s a shame LEGO doesn´t make games like them anymore.

Unrelated to this, the animations from Templar were also great. The Vahki animations in particular are truly brilliant and one of the best pieces of online content that has EVER been made for LEGO. Though, granted, they are not as fond as the MNOG or even the MNOG II.

~Gata.

Edited by Gatanui, Jan 15 2012 - 10:11 AM.

[Tazakk]

I've been wondering about Templar's status lately as well, but I didn't want to contact them as I didn't want to come across as rude. Anyways...

Maybe it is the nostalgia talking, but to me Mata Nui Online Game is a masterpiece. Templar managed to create what I would consider a perfect game.

Although everything about the game contributes to its overall effect, the greatest part is, of course, the story. Templar took Mata Nui, already very unique after its creation by LEGO, and made it an incredible island filled with adventure and mystery. Each part of the story just inexplicably fits together in a seamless flow, from the moment you awaken on the Ta-Wahi shoreline to the battle with the Makuta, which is even more remarkable considering the ending we got wasn't even the original intended one. One of the best things about the story, in my opinion, was all of the underlying themes, tying in with ancient cultures around the world (it is for this reason Ko-Wahi is my favorite, with it's meditating and vision-having Ko-Koronans). The characters, as well, are all remarkable, each one with a vibrant and unique personality. The main reason I've come to dislike Bionicle beyond 2004 is because, to me, the character were all flat and uninteresting, following the same two or three sets of characteristics. I understand that there were tons of new characters flowing in each year, and it would be impossible to have them all be unique, but for whatever reason even the characters so well-defined by Templar were later watered down and became indistinct.

In addition to the wonderful story, the art style, while simple, is extremely effective. The carefully detailed landscapes make me feel as if I'm actually there (the art of Mata Nui Online Game II was not as impressive to me, it seemed as if less effort was put into it). The music, as well, is incredible and does well at setting the mood.

Thinking about my favorite moment, I find that I simply can't choose one. There are just too many good ones- Tahu looking back at you through the smoke, the opening of the sundial, riding a Kahu, traveling to the Kini-Nui... the list just goes on and on.

Overall, there is simply no way I could ever thank the people at Templar Studios enough for creating this game. It is without a doubt the greatest part of Bionicle and, dare I say it, all of LEGO.

[Axilus Prime]

MNOG was great, the only improvement would be a character selection that includes Toa as well as Matoran.

[Eragon3443]

Imagine you were sitting down with the creators of MNOGI & II (Templar Studios). What would you say to them? Would you thank them? Critique them? Beg them for a remake?

As many of you are aware, Templar Studios has said that they plan on, among other goodies, potentially re-making the MNOG soundtrack with high-quality audio and updated instruments. Recently, though, they seem to have all but disappeared. I had an idea that maybe we could get their attention by showing how strong our support is for a remake by telling them how profoundly their work had on our interest in BIONICLE and even digital arts in general. I, for one, know that MNOGI was easily the highlight of BIONICLE for me (followed closely by MoL), but beyond that, it's affected my tastes & interests in art, music, and gaming.

What about you? How did you feel about MNOG, with it's strange world and well-realized characters? What was your favorite moment? How did it affect you as a BIONICLE fan? As a person?

The game was fun, but i had/have a hard time playing it. I can't get to the next level. i havn't put much time into it xD

[fishers64]

To be honest, this Game didn't really affect me very much. I played it in 2006, long after I became a fan.

To be honest, the thing that most affected me was when the Story Year Summaries came out on Bioniclestory.com and I found that the MNOG was more canon than the book for 2001.

Still, I have an appreciation for it. I blame the music.

As for MNOG 2, I absolutely hated it when I first played it. It was glitchy and annoying. However, that is the reason I found BZPower: Bionicle had ended, I was bored, and I was like " Well, let's see if I can finally finish the MNOG 2". Thus I found the walkthrough on BS01, which led me here. MNOG 2, glitches aside, was a better game than the first MNOG because it was more of a challenge, but it got repititive and fustrating.
And you had to wait for Hali to walk across the screen five times to get anywhere...ugh.

Oh well, I guess that is what I get for walking into a franchise late...

Edited by fishers64, Jan 14 2012 - 09:49 PM.

[Ghabulous Ghoti]

I wish I had played it before 2008. The story in the game seems like it would really have hooked me onto BIONICLE very quickly. A very creative game, although a little easy.

I played the second one a lot in 2003 and 2004, but it was so glitchy, and I spoke to Nokama as soon as she returned to Ga-Koro. This caused me to believe that you could not talk to Matoran in other villages, because I immediatly left Ga-Koro after speaking to her. After wandering around for the longest time, I eventually returned to Ga-Koro and entered Nixie's hut. The next time I played the game, I was stuck in a black room with an orange circle. Stupid game.

And what is this I heared about Templar possibly releasing a soundtrack?

[QuestionMark]

As many of you are aware, Templar Studios has said that they plan on, among other goodies, potentially re-making the MNOG soundtrack with high-quality audio and updated instruments.

What?! That would be so awesome! The music in that game is so beautiful and just captures the character of every moment perfectly. I think the best example would be the Telescope music, one of the most eerie sound samples I've ever heard (sort of reminds me of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, appropriately enough -- go listen to it!) and yet they made it for something so "small" and out of the player's way. The amount of detail they applied to the game is amazing.

Back in 2001, Bionicle.com was an exciting way to get into this new story. I have to say that even aside from MNOG, the site overall was put together to cater to that atmosphere. It was cool to know the personality of the Toa through their bios, but the only way to see the story progress was through MNOG. Playing it for the first time was a brand new experience for me, as I'd never played a game like that before and barely even went on the Internet. You can imagine what kind of effect being able to explore a world so vast and "real" had on me.

Since I was playing on a pretty old desktop, the game ran really slowly and it took forever to load the video of Gali fighting the Tarakava, but it was soo cool watching it (in a way, I think the slow loading added to the fun) and getting to talk to all of these different characters that I'd read about. The thing is, for the longest time (this was before the save function was introduced), I kept having to replay the first bit because the game kept crashing whenever I tried to enter Huki's hut. But I didn't even mind, I'd play it every night just to see how far I could get before I'd have to get off the computer.

Then once the game started saving itself I was free to roam the whole island. The thing about this game is that it put me in a really adventurous mood -- I wished there was somewhere I could just EXPLORE like on Mata Nui. I guess a taste for wandering around the neighborhood is something the game effected in me. There was even an element of loneliness to the game. With how open and big everything was, I remember wondering if the person I was playing as was missing his home, even though it was never suggested to me directly. You don't get that kind of emotional vibe from just anything, it takes a work of art.

A few impressions I remember having: Po-Koro always kind of unsettled me with the market chatter and the Rahi noises, and that looming threat of the "Madness", which since I never figured out how to solve the puzzle never went away. Po-Wahi was a perfect example of how just having a lot of open space added to the mood. Simple moments like the underwater section in Ga-Koro (with the soothing music) typified the experience. I loved holding out the Lightstone in the underground Onu-Koro sections, even though I couldn't see anything by using it. I thought that the discovery of Le-Wahi was a beautiful moment, enhanced as always by the music and background sounds, and I loved playing the Le-Koro part with the dramatic air battle and the plunging into the clouds.

I never got to Ko-Koro, unfortunately, and never completed the game at the time, but then they released the videos on the site and I got to experience it that way, which gave to me the battle with Makuta (with that awesome rock track) and the conversation on the beach (with that uplifting closing music) as my favorite moments. And finally finishing the game I think two years ago, after it resurfaced (which was so exciting!), was a rewarding experience that brought back all those great memories.

So basically the depth, subtlety, emotion and mystery of the whole game left a big impression me, and it's something I've tried to capture for a long time in my stories and even in life, as well as look for from other sources. The negative side of that, though, is that the Bionicle story never really lived up to that standard; the things that Templar added to it (MNOG II was also a great achievement, considering what little they had to work with, even with the outrageous bugginess of the whole thing) always had something more than everything else Bionicle was doing. So that left me disappointed. But it's really nice to know that the game is held so highly among other people, and that Templar knew that enough to even consider doing anything with it ten long years after it was made.

So if I was sitting down with the developers, I wouldn't even know what to say, except thank them for making something so beautiful and evocative. I'm willing to bet that even when I'm done with Bionicle, I'll still enjoy revisiting this game.

~QMark

[Gatanui]

Great post, QMark. I literally agree with everything you said, except I didn´t even make it to Le Koro or the Gali/Tarakava animation like you did.

~Gata.

Edited by Gatanui, Jan 15 2012 - 10:09 AM.

[Nuparu1995]

The MNOGs were definitely one of my favorite aspects of Bionicle. A great storyline game, with great characters and interactivity. Of course the cover of "Ride of the Valkyries" was one of the best parts.

[Master Inika]

I only first played the game years after its release, as I never got the download to work (I finally got it on BioMedia Project). Still, it was very nostalgic, as I was familiar with Templar's other BIONICLE animations and music. The game was absolutely amazing, with an addicting plot and fair amount of playability. The music throughout the game was reminiscent of my younger life, when things were simple, and the references to the 2002 storyline were also very nice.

[GaliGee]

You can't imagine.

When our younger kid was 5, her grandmother took her to the toy store, probably thinking she'd pick out a doll. Instead, she selected a Gahlok. After I helped her build it (and marveled at its clever engineering), I typed in the web address, and we found the MNOLG. Since she couldn't read, she asked me to help her play. We were hooked.

Happy memories of playing with LEGO bricks flooded back, this time with an intriguing storyline and simple yet cool music and graphics to go along. My daughter actually learned to read from playing this game, months before she set foot in a school. I lurked on BZPower for a litte while to see if it was safe for her, and soon we were both posting comments, stories, pictures, MOCs, etc. Our other daughter joined in as well. And I rediscovered my long-dormant love of creative writing, thanks to the smart, funny, encouraging members of this site. Now I've written a full-length original novel, inspired by the stories that were inspired by LEGO and BZPower. (There's a link to my website in my signature, if you're curious.) I'm planning to publish it soon as an e-book, and if there's enough interest, set up print-on-demand so people can order paper copies.

And it all started with the Mata Nui Online Game. Thanks, LEGO and Templar!

Edited by GaliGee, Jan 21 2012 - 12:51 PM.

[Heir of the Chronicler]

/cues applause for GaliGee

- Heir

[Makuta Matata]

I would tell them that MNOG and MNOG2 were sooo nostalgic for me, but a glitch prevented mt from finishing MNOG2.

[Aanchir: Rachira of Time]

I can't say MNOG affected me all that much personally, at least not more than BIONICLE in general did in 2001. It helped get me "hooked" on BIONICLE, for certain, but so did the various other BIONICLE media like the comics and main website.

But in retrospect, MNOG and MNOGII were definitely amazing games-- I'd go so far as to say they were the best LEGO online games I've ever played in terms of intellectually-stimulating gameplay, stunning visuals, and captivating story. For the rest of BIONICLE's lifespan, TLG never quite managed to match the experience of playing either of these games.

It's obvious that MNOGII had its flaws in the form of countless bugs that kept me from ever enjoying the experience all the way through. MNOG was also a bit tedious with its periodic updates, and was best experienced when the downloadable version was later added to LEGO.com. But still, I look at the Hero Factory games today, and while they slightly expand on the main story, their gameplay is too repetitive for me to play any of them all the way through at the time being. There is no dense world-building. Only the most recent game has visuals that can compare to the MNOG in terms of how enjoyable they are for me, and like the MNOGII it has its share of bugs that keep the experience from being fully satisfying.

And the music! MNOG and MNOGII had amazing music that often fully embodied what BIONICLE music was like in 2001. The Cryoshell tunes from 2007-2009 were enjoyable, but I definitely can't say I find them as suited to the franchise as the music in MNOG, whether it be the ambient music in the various areas or the thrilling music in the cutscenes. Nathan Furst's music in the movies was fun but in retrospect it is generic adventure-movie music with nothing really tying it to BIONICLE, whereas the MNOG, Bohrok episodes, and other works by Templar had music that truly merged "the mystical and the mechanical".

Ninjago has managed to surpass this music IMO with the score of its TV series, which is very thrilling and like the MNOG's music takes full advantage of the juxtaposition of electronic sound with traditional instruments. The music obviously suits Ninjago better than BIONICLE with its more East Asian influences, but it's still just as enjoyable to hear music with thoughtful composition to make it fit the theme, moreso than BIONICLE could ever match in its latter years.

So overall MNOG wasn't anything exceptional to me when it was originally released, but with BIONICLE mostly over it stands out to me as perhaps the best online experience in the entire theme.

[Damaracx 7.0]

It affected me greatly I must say it is one of the best BIONICLE games ever made in fact it makes a lot of video games look cheesy.

[Nuparu77]

I remember playing it back when they were still releasing chapters. Game was addicting! 

Me and my friends would get together and try and guess what would happen next, or ask for help getting past a certain puzzle.

There is only one other tie-in media game that even came close to this in my book... and that was a certain game that came in Chex cereal boxes...

[Black Six]

Revival.
Thread closed.