Random Insights: MNOG

[fishers64]

As requested by Ghabolous Ghoti, aka GG.

* * *

START

You are Takua, born adventurer and investigator, previously mindwiped from bringing the Toa to this island. Of course, since you have been mindwiped, you know nothing about this. Seeing as 98% of all beings playing the game know nothing about this either, it’s a perfect match.

 

You behold a beach with a giant, empty canister directly in front of you. To your left is a staircase going up to a staircase and a telescope. And, in front of you, near the canister, impossible to miss, is a Ga-Matoran waving frantically at you.

 

Any other Matoran would have rushed immediately to the blue Matoran’s help. But you are Takua, and that telescope and energy pylons look immediately more fascinating. You stumble up the steps, and watch a confusing vision of giant rocks falling from the sky and smaller rocks emerging and reassembling around those rocks. It’s pretty obvious that the white rock represents some good guy who was struck down, and the black jagged rock is bad…

* * *

I would argue that this animation here represents the events of 2001-03, with the last part a representation of the events of Mask of Light. The little black rocks surrounding Makuta seem to be symbolic of the Rahkshi, although that could be interpreted as types of Rahi. (And then the Toa defeating Makuta as they do at the end of this game.)

 

However, this animation sets up the expectation that the Toa Mata actually are supposed to defeat Makuta in the end. (They do in the game, but not in the rest of Bionicle, leaving this entirely self-contained.)

 

This one also foreshadows Journey’s End, too – Mata Nui comes down, Makuta is bigger, and Mata Nui falls over and shrinks. Prototype is smaller than Makuta’s big bot. And the Toa come to defeat his minions and stuff. The in-game parallel is the best, though, really.

 

The telescope pictures are meant to represent and foreshadow the events of the game, particularly each chapter from the opening menu. There’s the argument that these pictures represent the Bionicle story as a whole, but I think you would need to stretch it pretty badly to get that out of it. The ending does look like it, with a picture of a giant robot face, a shiny thing that looks like the golden armor, Makuta, and then Mata Nui. But there’s too much game specific stuff, like the Bohrok under the Mata Nui symbol (an early hint that the Bohrok actually served him), and the early pictures of Tahu and Gali Mata, which have no other story parallels.

 

* * *

From this point forward, the gameplay is rather ambiguous.  Ga-Koro or Ta–Koro first? I’ve played it both ways. People told me back in 2010 that it was Ta first, but the BS01 walkthrough says Ga first, like how I did it all those years ago.

 

In all of my years of playing MNOG, I have never seen the Tahu “looking away” animation anywhere than in the book of chronicles.  It’s probably a glitch with the version of MNOG that I burned to a disk way back in 2006. I’m sure BMP has a better version, but for some reason I can’t bear to part with this one. Nostalgia.

 

I nitpick these game mechanics…there’s really excuse for all of these turns around. Still 2001 though. Also yonder emergency pump, given the events of 2005 with the airships, is storyline realism, and it establishes female Ga-Matoran engineers. Yeah!

 

The picture’s in Nixie’s hut count as semi-forshadowing of the events of 2008-09. The top picture shows that Mata Nui is on a planet, the bottom one a doll-like guy on a planet-circle.

 

 

These fishermen guys look pretty cool. Nice catch, dudes. Wait...

 

Yeah. For some reason, the Kakama looks like a guy mask to me.

 

 

Someone is really determined to go fishing. I mean, a Tarakava monster is about to invade, and this gal is determined to catch a big one. Look at those eyes.

 

 

News travels fast on Mata Nui.

 

All of the Turaga’s huts have their respective Toa’s masks hung up in their huts. Nokama has Gali’s mask, for example; Onewa has Pohatu’s.

 

The Matoran at the front of the tunnel to Onu-Koro from Po-Wahi is Midiak, as confirmed by Greg.

 

Takua has visions? Only in MNOG…

 

If you look closely in the Ko-Koro cablecar animation, you can see a black McToran outline.

 

If you’re sharp-eyed, you’ll notice that the talents of the Matoran in the final battle match the “Principles” from MNOG II…except for Kapura.

 

Makuta’s eyes look hallow, like nothing is behind them. Nothing…

 

Tahu looks dismembered on his final attack – and Onua looks so…girly?

 

 

The Kestora watch the proceedings from the Red Star. 

[John Smith]

Neat post! I never really picked up on the pictures in Nixies' hut. Your point about Takua ignoring Maku at first is funny and spot-on!

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

I just replayed MNOG, and feel it's worth mentioning Kapura UP FRONT says "Mata Nui fell here from the sky, and makuta put him into a deep sleep." which, back then didn't say much. but now, it's just flat-out obvious.

[2Tie]

Holy cow, I was sure there were prolly a few hints tucked away in the game, didn't expect it to be so many though Think there's more? Or would it prolly just be overanalyzing at that point?

[Wrinkledlion X]

 

I would argue that this animation here represents the events of 2001-03, with the last part a representation of the events of Mask of Light. The little black rocks surrounding Makuta seem to be symbolic of the Rahkshi, although that could be interpreted as types of Rahi. (And then the Toa defeating Makuta as they do at the end of this game.)

 

Nah, no Rahkshi. That same story appeared in a lot of different 2001 media, andit was spelled out pretty explicitly that the small black stones were rahi: 

 

 

 

This one also foreshadows Journey’s End, too – Mata Nui comes down, Makuta is bigger, and Mata Nui falls over and shrinks. Prototype is smaller than Makuta’s big bot. And the Toa come to defeat his minions and stuff. The in-game parallel is the best, though, really. 

 

Mata Nui doesn't shrink, he sinks. And the Matoran gather around his face, which still protrudes on the surface...There are no 2010 predictions here, but you may recognize a pretty big hint about the nature of the island. 

[fishers64]

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

 

Holy cow, I was sure there were prolly a few hints tucked away in the game, didn't expect it to be so many though Think there's more? Or would it prolly just be overanalyzing at that point?

A lot of MNOG is a self-contained continuity, meaning that most of the hints in the game are resolved in the game itself. These are just the few that I could pull out.

 

Thanks, Wrinkedlion. Although I did say that the in-game parallel was the strongest, that makes it more clear. 

[John Smith]

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

Yeah, that's the walkthrough, but they've omitted the trivia section. A quick search of the Biomedia project also didn't turn up anything. But you're welcome anyway, haha.

[Sir Kohran]

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

No, Ta-Koro was released first, as indicated by the fact that the game files for the cutscenes have the only Ta-Koro one (Tahu meeting the Ta-Matoran in the forest) tagged as '2-1', whilst the subsequent Ga-Koro ones all begin with 3. Thus Ta-Koro is the second chapter and Ga-Koro the third.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Sir Kohran

[MrStoneEdge]

I just replayed MNOG, and feel it's worth mentioning Kapura UP FRONT says "Mata Nui fell here from the sky, and makuta put him into a deep sleep." which, back then didn't say much. but now, it's just flat-out obvious.

I figure he didn't actually know that they lived on Mata Nui's face? Someone please tell me if the inhabitants of the island knew that, since as far as I remember only a few inhabitants of the Matoran Universe actually knew that they lived inside a giant robot.

[John Smith]

 

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

No, Ta-Koro was released first, as indicated by the fact that the game files for the cutscenes have the only Ta-Koro one (Tahu meeting the Ta-Matoran in the forest) tagged as '2-1', whilst the subsequent Ga-Koro ones all begin with 3. Thus Ta-Koro is the second chapter and Ga-Koro the third.

 

 

Hm, I guess Ta-Koro was just blocked in the initial release, with only the beach. Thanks for clearing that up.

[Sir Kohran]

 

 

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

No, Ta-Koro was released first, as indicated by the fact that the game files for the cutscenes have the only Ta-Koro one (Tahu meeting the Ta-Matoran in the forest) tagged as '2-1', whilst the subsequent Ga-Koro ones all begin with 3. Thus Ta-Koro is the second chapter and Ga-Koro the third.

 

 

Hm, I guess Ta-Koro was just blocked in the initial release, with only the beach. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

 

The game's first chapter was just the beach, with Ta-Koro inaccessible due to a lava flow. In the second chapter the lava cooled and the first village became accessible. Then the third chapter began with Maku appearing on the beach with her boat that provided a way to Ga-Koro.

 

Trust me, I was there.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

 

These fishermen guys look pretty cool. Nice catch, dudes. Wait...

 

Yeah. For some reason, the Kakama looks like a guy mask to me.

 

 

Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one who thought that.

[JrMasterModelBuilder]

The picture’s in Nixie’s hut count as semi-forshadowing of the events of 2008-09. The top picture shows that Mata Nui is on a planet, the bottom one a doll-like guy on a planet-circle.

 

 

Hmm, does that make the center planet Aqua Magna, and the orbiting planets the Red Star and Aqua Magna's moon?

 

 

 

I would argue that this animation here represents the events of 2001-03, with the last part a representation of the events of Mask of Light. The little black rocks surrounding Makuta seem to be symbolic of the Rahkshi, although that could be interpreted as types of Rahi. (And then the Toa defeating Makuta as they do at the end of this game.)

 

Nah, no Rahkshi. That same story appeared in a lot of different 2001 media, andit was spelled out pretty explicitly that the small black stones were rahi:

 

 

I thought they were supposed to be the Shadow Toa. That video does seem to suggest otherwise though.

Edited September 28, 2014 by JrMasterModelBuilder

[Irrie]

 

The picture’s in Nixie’s hut count as semi-forshadowing of the events of 2008-09. The top picture shows that Mata Nui is on a planet, the bottom one a doll-like guy on a planet-circle.

 

 

Hmm, does that make the center planet Aqua Magna, and the orbiting planets the Red Star and Aqua Magna's moon?

I always assumed that they believed Aqua Magna was the center and Bota and Bara Magna were moons, kind of like the old theory that the Earth was the center of the solar system. 

[John Smith]

 

 

 

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

No, Ta-Koro was released first, as indicated by the fact that the game files for the cutscenes have the only Ta-Koro one (Tahu meeting the Ta-Matoran in the forest) tagged as '2-1', whilst the subsequent Ga-Koro ones all begin with 3. Thus Ta-Koro is the second chapter and Ga-Koro the third.

 

 

Hm, I guess Ta-Koro was just blocked in the initial release, with only the beach. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

 

The game's first chapter was just the beach, with Ta-Koro inaccessible due to a lava flow. In the second chapter the lava cooled and the first village became accessible. Then the third chapter began with Maku appearing on the beach with her boat that provided a way to Ga-Koro.

 

Trust me, I was there.

 

 

Yeah, that's what I meant. I'll trust you.

[Sir Kohran]

 

 

I thought they were supposed to be the Shadow Toa.

 

In that case there'd surely be six, not four.

[JrMasterModelBuilder]

 

I thought they were supposed to be the Shadow Toa.

 

In that case there'd surely be six, not four.

 

 

Wow, I could have swore there were 6. Never mind then, they must be Rahi rather than something of a specific number. There are 6 in the video you linked, but only 4 in the MNOG animation.

Edited September 28, 2014 by JrMasterModelBuilder

[Wrinkledlion X]

 

I just replayed MNOG, and feel it's worth mentioning Kapura UP FRONT says "Mata Nui fell here from the sky, and makuta put him into a deep sleep." which, back then didn't say much. but now, it's just flat-out obvious.

I figure he didn't actually know that they lived on Mata Nui's face? Someone please tell me if the inhabitants of the island knew that, since as far as I remember only a few inhabitants of the Matoran Universe actually knew that they lived inside a giant robot.

 

 

They didn't know.

 

Though I have wondered why the Turaga's legends seem to hint at the nature of Mata Nui, given that they aren't supposed to be aware of it. Perhaps the story about Mata Nui "descending from the heavens" was a garbled version of some ancient legend, from a time when it was known that Mata Nui would descend from the heavens onto different planets. Whenua, as an archivist, might have been familiar with the old Amaja Circle style of storytelling, but didn't actually understand all the nuances of what the storytelling tropes meant. 

[Zeb]

 

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

Yeah, that's the walkthrough, but they've omitted the trivia section. A quick search of the Biomedia project also didn't turn up anything. But you're welcome anyway, haha.

 

I went on wayback machine and downloaded the 2006 downloadable version of the game from the old website. It came with the trivia!

 

Notes

• To quit the game while playing in “Full Screen” mode, use the <Ctrl>-<Q> key combination.
• You can play the game in “Full Screen” mode but at the original resolution by selecting “Full Screen”, right-clicking your mouse (or the equivalent) to obtain the Flash menu, and then selecting “100%” instead of “Show All”.
• Under certain conditions, the audio may drop out. The background sounds and music are an important part of the game’s ambience, so don’t play without them. Restarting the game usually returns the audio.
• You won’t see the “Prophecy” animation unless you visit the Mata Nui and Makuta stones next to the telescope or view it on “The Book of Chronicles”. Similarly, you won’t see the “Tahu.01” animation anywhere except “The Book of Chronicles”.
• The Lightstone was originally found in Turaga Nokama’s hut. It is now automatically placed into your backpack at the start of the game.
• Toa Gali and all of the residents of Ga-Koro are female. All of the other Toa and residents of Mata Nui are male. Some of the creatures on the island, such as Puku the Ussal Crab, may be female.
• Kapura does some interesting things if you watch him pace in the charred forest long enough.
• The market in Onu-Koro is one of the few places where you will see Matoran from more than one village gathered together.
• The elevator in the Great Mine can sometimes get confused as to whether it is supposed to be going up or down. You might have to ride it twice to get where you want to go.
• The Gold Mask underneath the sundial was part of a BIONICLE® contest run in 2001. The word floating above it is “RAHI”. Contestants were to find words, written in the Matoran script, online or in print, under gold masks such as this one, decode them, write down the words on an official entry form, and then mail the form in for a chance at a 14-karat solid gold mask.
• There is a rock in Le-Wahi, off to the right as you head from Le-Koro to the tunnel entrance, with Matoran script upon it that reads: “Wake one and you wake them all.”
• By playing the flute song to call the Kahu, you can go directly to any of the villages, with the exception of Ko-Koro whenever it is snowing too hard (which is any time before your first visit). Navigation is by way of a map of the island of Mata Nui. Just point and click where you want to go.
• There is a rock carving out in the blizzard inscribed with the text: “Beware the Swarm”. You have to brush away some of the snow to read all of the text.
• The walls of the Sanctum include packaging information from a LEGO® set and a quote from Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy trilogy: “What do you get if you multiply six by nine?”
• There is graffiti on the tunnel on the way from Ko-Koro back to Ta-Koro. The graffiti identifies the “elements” associated with each village: Fire, Water, Ice, Rock, Earth, and Air.
• Taipu is such a hard worker you can still hear his pickaxe even after he has joined your Company. Hafu is a hard worker too, as he can be heard and will appear to be working on the waysigns even after he has joined.
• Makuta’s speech was particularly significant coming after the events of September 11, 2001. Templar Studios, who created the game for The LEGO Group, is located in lower Manhattan. Many of the employees were at the studio or on their way there when the tragedy, visible from their rooftop, occurred.
• Vakama’s speech at the end of the game references Takua finding Vakama’s mask and Firestaff. Takua is also the main character in the first BIONICLE game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, released in October of 2001. It is during that game that Takua finds Vakama’s mask and Firestaff and performs tasks for all of the Turaga. That game ends precisely where the Mata Nui Online game begins.

History

• The Mata Nui Online Game was, in many ways, unlike anything that had come before it. Launched in December of 2000, the game unfolded in “episodes” that were revealed over the course of the following year at much-anticipated, semi-regular intervals. This was accomplished through devices that kept the player from reaching locked areas: having lava too hot to cross, closing the marina, a snow-storm in Ko-Koro, etc.
• The telescope “predicted” when the next episode would become available. You would read the date at the bottom of the panel and then wait for the date on the telescope to match it. When it did, the stars in the telescope would resemble those on the panel.
• When the game was played in this manner, the story was fairly linear. I have tried to recreate that linear story here in this narrative walkthrough. But for players who discovered the game after several of the episodes had already been published, and also for those who play it now, the game was and is much more open to multiple paths at the beginning.
• The characters known as “Matoran” were originally called “Tohunga”. This word, like many of the terms used in BIONICLE in 2001, was taken from the Maori language. Many Maori objected to this practice, and especially the use of the word tohunga (a spiritual adviser and healer). The LEGO Group decided not to use Maori words in future releases and renamed the inhabitants of Mata Nui as “Matoran”. Jala, Maku, and Puku were also eventually renamed Jaller, Macku, and Pewku, respectively.

Huh. I wonder if it is possible to get earlier versions of the game with the old limitations like the lava flow... do those exist anywhere?

[2Tie]

Huh. I wonder if it is possible to get earlier versions of the game with the old limitations like the lava flow... do those exist anywhere?

 

I'm interested in this as well, it'd be nice to document all changes between the versions, obvious and not.

[fishers64]

Alrighty, I'm going to go with what Kohran said about Ga-Koro vs. Ta. The mixup can be rightfully attributed to me playing the game in 2006 for the first time, as previously stated. 

 

 

 

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

Yeah, that's the walkthrough, but they've omitted the trivia section. A quick search of the Biomedia project also didn't turn up anything. But you're welcome anyway, haha.

 

I went on wayback machine and downloaded the 2006 downloadable version of the game from the old website. It came with the trivia!

 

I downloaded my copy in 2006, burned it to disk, and then copied it to this machine. Looking through those files and that game, there is no trivia that you mentioned and no PDF files to speak of. Was it a separate download?

 

 

I just replayed MNOG, and feel it's worth mentioning Kapura UP FRONT says "Mata Nui fell here from the sky, and makuta put him into a deep sleep." which, back then didn't say much. but now, it's just flat-out obvious.

I figure he didn't actually know that they lived on Mata Nui's face? Someone please tell me if the inhabitants of the island knew that, since as far as I remember only a few inhabitants of the Matoran Universe actually knew that they lived inside a giant robot.

 

They didn't. The thing about Mata Nui descending from the heavens is just something that the Turaga made up, but it does count as out-of-story foreshadowing in my book. 

 

It's a rare in-story example of the "Truth Stacking Principle" (as I call it) that you can't tell a story without pointing to the truth in some way, due to the evidence around you pointing to it like a laser arrow. Any story that follows a logical progression of thought will have truth seeping into it like a virus, since logic points to truth.

 

In this case, the evidence the Turaga had pointed to Mata Nui crashing, which they permutated into "descending from the heavens". This was true in the end, because that evidence pointed to that truth. (He really did descend from the heavens.) 

[Zeb]

Alrighty, I'm going to go with what Kohran said about Ga-Koro vs. Ta. The mixup can be rightfully attributed to me playing the game in 2006 for the first time, as previously stated. 

 

 

 

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

Yeah, that's the walkthrough, but they've omitted the trivia section. A quick search of the Biomedia project also didn't turn up anything. But you're welcome anyway, haha.

 

I went on wayback machine and downloaded the 2006 downloadable version of the game from the old website. It came with the trivia!

 

I downloaded my copy in 2006, burned it to disk, and then copied it to this machine. Looking through those files and that game, there is no trivia that you mentioned and no PDF files to speak of. Was it a separate download?

Found the place on web.archive:

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20060701160328/http://www.lego.com/eng/bionicle/games/matanuiOnline1.aspx

 

So the walkthrough was a separate download from the game.

[Wrinkledlion X]

Makuta’s speech was particularly significant coming after the events of September 11, 2001. Templar Studios, who created the game for The LEGO Group, is located in lower Manhattan. Many of the employees were at the studio or on their way there when the tragedy, visible from their rooftop, occurred.

 

Wow, that's really interesting. I always thought Makuta's speech was oddly heavy, considering its context in a children's point-and-click game.

 

 

 

The characters known as “Matoran” were originally called “Tohunga”. This word, like many of the terms used in BIONICLE in 2001, was taken from the Maori language. Many Maori objected to this practice, and especially the use of the word tohunga (a spiritual adviser and healer). The LEGO Group decided not to use Maori words in future releases and renamed the inhabitants of Mata Nui as “Matoran”. Jala, Maku, and Puku were also eventually renamed Jaller, Macku, and Pewku, respectively.

 

I just remembered--if you show Nuju's letter to Nokama, and then ask "Who am I?" she'll tell you that "Papu and Rangi have great plans for you." Normally she just says "someone has great plans for you," so it would seem that these names are remnants of an earlier version. I wonder if they were initially planning to attach Polynesian names to the Great Beings.

[John Smith]

 

Alrighty, I'm going to go with what Kohran said about Ga-Koro vs. Ta. The mixup can be rightfully attributed to me playing the game in 2006 for the first time, as previously stated. 

 

 

 

 

FYI: The reason you haven't seen the Tahu animation in-game is because it was removed for the offline release. Originally, Ta-Koro was not released until after Ga-Koro, and the path from the beach was blocked by a lava flow. If you clicked on it, the animation played. I believe I read this in the PDF walkthrough that used to be downloadable with the game; there was a trivia section at the end. I don't know if that's still floating around somewhere.

Does this look familiar: http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Mata_Nui_Online_Game_Walkthrough

 

That's what I suspected, but it is good to have confirmation and all of that.

 

Yeah, that's the walkthrough, but they've omitted the trivia section. A quick search of the Biomedia project also didn't turn up anything. But you're welcome anyway, haha.

 

I went on wayback machine and downloaded the 2006 downloadable version of the game from the old website. It came with the trivia!

 

I downloaded my copy in 2006, burned it to disk, and then copied it to this machine. Looking through those files and that game, there is no trivia that you mentioned and no PDF files to speak of. Was it a separate download?

Found the place on web.archive:

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20060701160328/http://www.lego.com/eng/bionicle/games/matanuiOnline1.aspx

 

So the walkthrough was a separate download from the game.

 

 

Yup, the original version of that page is where I got it way back (see what I did there?) when. I'm kinda surprised the download works on the archived version; good job finding it!

[Tuuli]

Kapura represented his principle very well, especially when he says "I stand with you, Chronicler. No matter what." When they were being attacked by rahi and he showed his courage was true.

[Tattorack]

This is an interesting topic.

I guess I'll be lurking here too.

[Akavakaku]

I don't know if Greg confirmed this, but you know the special power each Av-Matoran has, that requires a Toa or Makuta's help to activate? I think Takua's power was to set up a mental link with a Toa and see through their eyes for a short time, and that it was activated by Gali in the final scene.

[Sir Kohran]

I don't know if Greg confirmed this, but you know the special power each Av-Matoran has, that requires a Toa or Makuta's help to activate? I think Takua's power was to set up a mental link with a Toa and see through their eyes for a short time, and that it was activated by Gali in the final scene.

 

How would Gali know about it?

[Tattorack]

 

I don't know if Greg confirmed this, but you know the special power each Av-Matoran has, that requires a Toa or Makuta's help to activate? I think Takua's power was to set up a mental link with a Toa and see through their eyes for a short time, and that it was activated by Gali in the final scene.

 

How would Gali know about it?

 

 

Meditation?

Though I doubt that.

Its said all species have the capability for limited mental powers.

All agents from the Order of Mata Nui are trained to shield their minds that way.

Could be that wise Gali found the secret.

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

I'd assume we all know about the classic rock at the Po-Wahi port that reads 

"My friend went to Po-Koro and all I got was this lousy rock."

 

Also, Nuju doesn't actually speak a word during the whole game. He just waves his arms around and Matoro speaks.

 

Even if Takua does not receive the Po-Koro chisel, he still uses it to escape at the end of the game.