evil_jaga_genius

Hey all, it's been a while since I've visited BZP.  Last week I picked up copies of 2K Drive for myself and my brother, and so far it's been a great time.  It very much feels like a successor to Lego Racers 2, which we played a lot as kids.  The car builder in particular is just about everything I could want from one, my only complaint is I'd love to build my own custom chassis.  I cannibalized the starting 4x4 off-roader, using its chassis and some of its parts to recreate the old Maverick Sprinter from Drome Racers; I'd like to recreate the other Drome Racers cars but I haven't found any other good chassis to start with yet.

I only have a few complaints.  I'd love to be able to create my own minifig, the ones in the store don't really click with me, so I've just been sticking to the default faceless dude in the racing helmet.  Even the ability to recolor the minifigs you do get would go a long way.

Which brings me to the store - I don't like microtransactions and premium currency, wish they didn't add them here.  I'm planning on spending the currency I do earn in the campaign on brick packs, I wish you could see what was in the packs before you buy them!  I also discovered you can earn brick packs as prizes in the campaign.  Maybe I won't need to go into the store to get a complete palette of bricks to work with?  I hope not.  I hope it doesn't get worse as the game goes on either, not sure what all the "drive pass" is supposed to get you yet.

Though the drive pass and talk of seasons in the game does make me hopeful they'll expand it.  New (or old) open worlds would be nice - I'd love to visit Mars, the arctic, and Dino Island again.  Lego seems to be having fun putting out little Bionicle tributes in brick form lately, maybe racing with Matoran or racing on Mata Nui could happen?  Probably not but I can dream.

Has anybody else picked up the game?  What are your thoughts?  I'm not sure what all this thread should be used for.  Tips on the game, coordinating multiplayer sessions, sharing builds?  Feel free to discuss below.

Interesting... I should try fiddling with stud.io and its custom parts at some point, you make them work quite well.  While I do like this take on the Kaukau Nuva, I do admit I miss some bits from the original Mistika Kaukau too... maybe you could use the connection points where the wings go in to mount a scope over the left eye?  It might be a nice nod to the original while keeping the design of the custom mask.

Also man I like the sniper rifle.  Beefy-lookin' sucker, too.

I find Nintendo's newfound partnership with Lego (between this and the Super Mario stuff) rather odd.  Lego is a toy company, one that specializes in (at their heart) building blocks and construction kits.  They take great efforts to encourage creativity with their toys, building, combining, making new things.  So they're very permissive with fan creations, whether that's stop motion animations with Lego bricks, fan games, patching their old software, continuing old themes... because the point has always been to encourage creativity.  Nintendo, on the other hand... well, they've earned their reputation for serving their fans cease-and-desist letters.  Encouraging creativity is not something they're usually interested in, especially when Nintendo's own franchises are involved.

I wonder where a partnership between such two different companies is going to go.

It's a bit of a mixed bag for me.  On one hand, I think it's pretty cool that if you're a fan of superheroes, or LOTR, or other IPs, you can get your favorite characters as Lego sets and put them in whatever wacky settings you build with the rest of your sets.  That's something awesome that younger me couldn't have imagined happening!  Kids these days... but I find it hard to begrudge them something like that.

On the other hand, I do miss original themes with slightly more serious storylines like Bionicle, and particularly Exo-Force.  While Exo-Force never got nearly as dark or deep as Bionicle did, it was pretty clear it was supposed to be more than a seller of plastic bricks.  Sellers of plastic bricks don't get experimental mech designs and manga-style web comics.  That's the sort of thing I'd like now that I'm older, cool builds with some nice storytelling for all ages, beyond getting you to buy more sets.  I am a sucker for cool robots... but then again, I suppose I'm not the target audience.

I wonder if that's why people like Ninjago so much.  Storytelling, cool builds, and the occasional giant robot thrown in for good measure.

@Lenny, I find it interesting you mention the MCU.  I've heard quite a few people say the MCU is this generation's equivalent to Star Wars, and of course everyone knows how important Star Wars was to a previous generation of kids and geeks and storytellers.  Before that, I'm sure, there was Tolkien and Lewis and Jules Verne, other science fiction and fantasy authors.  But I guess I fall in that weird middle ground where Star Wars doesn't click with me (I blame the prequels) and I'm too old to appreciate the MCU.  But I did have Bionicle.  I don't think I could ask for a better epic to grow up with.  A world split into three planets, a Great Spirit and the giant robot body to heal it, cast out by his jealous brother to walk among the survivors and remember his purpose... there's so much there!  For buildable action figures!  This was my epic, my great saga of good vs. evil.

I've gotten around to the point where I'm fine with Bionicle's cancellation.  There's been nothing like it since, and I doubt there ever will be, even if a new series arrives under the same name.  I think the only proper way to celebrate and remember it is to take its stories as inspiration and make something new.

We're back!  And I promptly forgot how to log in during the absence.  Welp.

The new design is looking slick, though!  Hope it's easier for you guys on the technical end too.

I have nothing to add to the conspiracy theories at the moment.  Still, looking at "3IO" as my tired self, the word "Trio" comes to mind.  Not sure if that was intentional or not.  I don't think things in Bionicle often came in threes, combinations of six and two were more common.  Well, you have the original Kaita, I guess, and the Three Virtues.  And I suppose the legendary masks too in both Gen1 and Gen2 (Life + Time + Creation, Creation + Control + MoUP).  STILL, I think Bionicle focused on six and two more than three.

Anyways.  Thoughts?

Out of curiosity, would a Rahkshi character be considered if they used their staff and Rahkshi powers to fly around instead of an aircraft?

Map of Mata Nui:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7863sQWxf-xaU04V1dVdlRsLVU

My save file might still be there, feel free to delete it.

On D.Va's mech, something on the scale of Sentry or Uplink from Exo-Force seems like a good scale to start from.

I love how simple and... restrained this is.  Peaceful.  Calm.  The polished granite and the white walls are perfect for the setting.

Thank you.

No, because Bionicle is an action figure line with an attached story - not a tv show with attached merchandise. And action figures are on the decline across the board. Doubly so for the buildable ones Lego offers. If constraction figures cant sell even when they're in the shape of Darth Vader and Boba Fett, they're not going to sell period. That's just the way the cookie has crumbled.

 

As devastating as it will undoubtedly be for a lot of us, I think we are going to have to accept that Bionicle - and constraction as a whole - is finished. I wouldn't be surprised if Lego gives CCBS one final shot a few years down the line, if only to justify all the money they spent developing the system - but I don't expect it to be successful, anymore than G2 was.

I'm curious if Bionicle could return, just not as its usual constraction self.  Instead of those, have sets like the playsets from the Hordika, Voya Nui, and Mahri years.  Some things might suffer because of that - I don't think an island with six different zones would work in a playset-based line, it wouldn't be coherent enough.  With wrecked Metru Nui, Voya Nui, and Mahri Nui, there wasn't much variation across the geography of the island, so I think that worked in their favor.  It also might be harder to have distinct masks on a smaller minifigure scale, and minifigures will never be as posable or sturdy as constraction builds.  But I do wonder if it could work as a continuation of the series.

Hm.  In that case, I don't think I have anything you're looking for... sorry.  Good luck though.

I believe I have Mata Zuto 1 on my PC, along with the sequel if you're interested.  I haven't played through the zip files I downloaded a while back, so I'm not sure if I have anything by LeKal or Twin Matrix.  If you gave me some names to look for I could go through the zips again.

Anyway, I'll try and get MZ1 on Google Drive sometime soon.

EDIT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14zpEJjCUOC2kWNSReUDOGs8g3OotWwd7/view?usp=sharing

Here ya go.

1- Iron Condor looks epic, but I feel it needs the cockpit from the original set.

Thanks!  The Condor's my perpetual favorite, he's been through the most revisions too.

I'm not quite sure about the cockpit from the original set... I didn't think the original had that much of a cockpit to begin with.  Unless you mean the blasters and such that came out of the original's torso?

2- Blade Titan has quite a lot black, which kinda dulls down its aesthetic. I also think the Trans-Neon Yellow doesn't really go too well with the Dark Red.

You're right, it doesn't quite look the same.  I'll have to see if I have enough white pieces to turn it back... I used a lot of my white on the Guardian.  But I think you're right, it would look better with the original white.  I don't think I could bring myself to get rid of the neon though.

3- Sky Guardian is my favorite of the bunch. Having said that I do think it could have turned out better with the addition of some more detail to the arms and a whole lot more "pizzazz" to the back (think more thrusters, concealed weaponry, heck even a deployable drone similar to the ones in the Jungle line).

I like that idea!  Rhotuka spinners would be perfect for a quad-copter drone, I think I'll try it out to give the Guardian a "spotter" buddy.  And I could probably stick more boosters on with the studs under the wings.  Or rockets, or I have two extra sniper-rifle barrels I could use somewhere.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try it out!

Corresponding blog post

More mechs?  More mechs.

Up on the revamp table are the Iron Condor, the Blade Titan, and the Sky Guardian.  I just got done typing a big blog post on these three, so I'll keep it short here.  The Condor has its signature rocket launcher back with a pair of shotguns mounted to it.  The Titan is now in black and trans-green with a sweet looking chaingun (if I say so myself), and the Guardian is sleeker and more solid than before.  Take a look and check out the blog post if you want the full descriptions.

Iron Condor:

Action Shot

Front

Left Side

Back
Wings Open

Right Side

Blade Titan:

Front

Left Side

Back

Right Side

Sky Guardian:

Sword Raised

Sword Swing

Sniper Rifle

Front

Left Side

Back

Right Side

Once again, comments and the like are appreciated!

-Jaga

Corresponding blog post
 
For some reason, I was in the mood for mechs, and a mix of Drome Racers and Exo-Force came out.  Here's the Maverick Sprinter and H.O.T. Arrow rebuilt as mechs.
Sprinter: Front, Side, Back
Arrow: Front, Side, Back

Comments and the like are appreciated!

-Jaga

Why couldn't anyone figure out that it was clearly Ahkmou who ate all the pies (because, let's be real, who else could bring themselves to do such a thing)?

Are you kidding me?  That heist has "Hafu Original" written all over it.

(getting back on topic...)

I'd like to see the Kaita show up as actual characters in the story, not just the Mana-smashing super moves they were in G1.  I'd like to see them with actual personalities - part of the team, not just some sort of Kaita Ex Machina the Toa can summon.  Maybe they're some sort of ancient spirits of wisdom and valor that can only take physical form when the Toa fuse into a Kaita.  If this was a world without Turaga, the Kaita could serve as the Toa's teachers and guides.

And all the other things I've said in the other G3 resurrection topics applies too.

MNOG: The Bohrok Swarms!  (Dang that was good)

I played that, stalked around for a while, then decided to create an account to post my own bad fanfic MNOG clone, Adventure Posts.  I also kinda abandoned the BioMedia Project in the process.  (Sorry about that...)

And I've stuck around ever since, not doing much but enjoying my stay all the same.

Is there any way for you to patch that RTP check out of the game, or is the only solution to have some sort of RTP installed - even if it never uses the files?

"RunTime Package not found.  Install RTPe.exe"

(this is on both the patched and original versions, BTW)

EDIT: How to fix this bug:

Go to http://2drpg.com/2000.php

Scroll down and download "RTP 1.32"

Extract the .zip file, run the installer contained inside

Go into BionicleSealOfSuccess

Right click RPG_RT.exe, go to Properties -> Compatibility

Check the "run in compatibility mode" box, set compatibility to "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)"

...and you should be good.

EDIT 2: This is probably bad advice; go install the RTP from Terrev's link in the following post.

Sometimes, you need to be Nothing, just to keep yourself from being destroyed.

Sometimes you need to throw off the shackles of Nothing because you just need to live.

"Sleep spares him pain!  Awake, he suffers!"  (particularly apt when you have 8:00 AM classes)

It is possible to be both an engineer and a poet, it's being both at once that's hard.

Don't eat all the pies.

If you practice, you can move quickly, and if you move slowly, you can go far.

"When wisdom and valor fail, all that remains is faith - and it can overcome all."

 

I played the Game Boy Advance version a lot as a kid. I don't do much handheld gaming these days, but I definitely remember it being one of the funner GBA titles in my collection. It focuses less on adapting the story in an accurate way and more on the fun elements of other LEGO games by Traveller's Tales (puzzle solving, level design, etc). I've heard good things about the DS version but never played it myself.

 

I did try the PC version at one point but I didn't get very far. Reading this thread is kinda making me want to give it another try! I just wish I could get it on Steam.

Oh man, I forgot the GBA version even though I played the heck out of it as a kid. I could never find one of the glyphs, but it was actually not bad. Sadly, it seems to be broken on emulators.

Really?  I think I've done a nearly complete playthrough via emulator before.  Granted I didn't go back and try and find all the secret codes, but I'm pretty sure it's playable.

Maybe I should give it another shot.  The controls were simple enough and the concept was fun, but I remember enemies constantly piling in on me and it devolving into bullet [heck] pretty quick.  Also, forever curse Visorak that dart out of the way of your shots.  Never could take those guys down easily.

For those having problems with certain levels, having them render all white (like Pohatu's and Kopaka's levels): try starting Onua's level first, hit Escape, Quit, and then start the level in question from the main menu.  Pohatu's level doesn't render correctly for me unless I start Onua's, go back, and then start Pohatu's.

 

This is really sweet. It's totally broken but still appreciable! And on that note the game is also absolute garbage but it's the Alpha build so that's not unexpected. Literally everything is unfinished   .

 

There are a bunch of people in the Beaverhouse Discord working on carving some of the bugs out and making the game work a little better. They've released a couple patches already!

 

Patches would certainly be appreciated.  Do you have any links?