MNOG I, MNOG II, or VNOG

[derhenson]

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've recently been riding a big ol' nostalgia wave through the Bionicle Online Games of yore. All three have a special place in my heart, and they were all masterful games in their own ways. MNOG 1 was a beautiful ride through the culture and geography of Mata Nui and I think oriented a lot of people in this new universe (and my personal favorite of the three, by a pretty decent margin). MNOG II experimented with some more interesting gameplay elements and a larger world. While still atmospheric, I'm not sure it was quite able to to match the level set by MNOG I's evocative, mysterious, and rather dark atmosphere. VNOG was an entirely different beast, being a combat game, but still functioned as a great storytelling device. I personally loved that it was more RPG-based, and really enjoyed the new visual style.

What are your thoughts?

Edited January 12, 2015 by derhenson

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

MNOG I. While the other games are... functional, I guess, they aren't exactly riveting. MNOGI was the perfect mix between world building exploration and storytelling. It lacked gameplay (and the little mini-games it had were extremely easy) but it was fun to uncover a new location, meet a new character and watch a new well-animated cutscene.

 

MNOGII by comparison just feels unfinished. Sure it has actual gameplay, but that relies on grinding on mini-games to build up stats and massive amounts of backtracking (worse by the fact that the maps are so big and Hahli runs relatively slowly). There is not really a story and the cutscenes are sparse and unexciting. 

 

VNOG is a cool idea... but it suffers from a lot of the same problems MNOG II has, but at an even bigger scale. Plus the end of the game is super inconsistent and sloppy as heck. 

 

MNOG wins out by a long-run...

 

-NotS

Edited January 12, 2015 by Nidhiki of the Shadows

[derhenson]

MNOG I. While the other games are... functional, I guess, they aren't exactly riveting. MNOGI was the perfect mix between world building exploration and storytelling. It lacked gameplay (and the little mini-games it had were extremely easy) but it was fun to uncover a new location, meet a new character and watch a new well-animated cutscene.

 

MNOGII by comparison just feels unfinished. Sure it has actual gameplay, but that relies on grinding on mini-games to build up stats and massive amounts of backtracking (worse by the fact that the maps are so big and Hahli runs relatively slowly). There is not really a story and the cutscenes are sparse and unexciting. 

 

VNOG is a cool idea... but it suffers from a lot of the same problems MNOG II has, but at an even bigger scale. Plus the end of the game is super inconsistent and sloppy as heck. 

 

MNOG wins out by a long-run...

 

-NotS

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the first two items (although for some reason I still enjoy schlepping harakeke across the map only to find out I need to go back for more cowries). However, I found VNOG to be a vast improvement (although I've never actually finished it, so I can't make any comment on the ending) and enjoyed it immensely. I tried to be as impartial as I could in the original post, but if I was to vote I'd go for MNOG I. The "classic points" alone are enough to bring it ahead of the other two.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

Overall, I prefer MNOG1. MNOG2 would win were it not for the insanely hard Kohlii matches and glitchyness. VNOG started out fantastic in terms of gameplay but then hit a difficulty spike and I literally can't beat it without cheating, which is a shame because I love RPGs. I also don't like how it doesn't take advantage of the very action-packed story of 2006, and completely throws away the tests to get to the Chamber of Life, which would be perfect for a video game. Still, it's very fun for the first part of the game and, if you can keep up with the spike, still very fun.

[derhenson]

Overall, I prefer MNOG1. MNOG2 would win were it not for the insanely hard Kohlii matches and glitchyness. VNOG started out fantastic in terms of gameplay but then hit a difficulty spike and I literally can't beat it without cheating, which is a shame because I love RPGs. I also don't like how it doesn't take advantage of the very action-packed story of 2006, and completely throws away the tests to get to the Chamber of Life, which would be perfect for a video game. Still, it's very fun for the first part of the game and, if you can keep up with the spike, still very fun.

This pretty much sums up my feelings about VNOG, after playing it for the first time I'm forever.

 

MNOG2 Kohlii matches were pure torture...

Edited January 12, 2015 by derhenson

[Toa TAK]

MNOG, it's no contest. The adventure and world building was perfect. Meeting these characters and still traveling across this mysterious island was something that wasn't captured again, not even in VNOG.

 

MNOGII was a glitchy mess, and VNOG, while a fun RPG/adventure title, didn't hit the highs of MNOG.

 

TAK

[Sir Kohran]

The first MNOLG was what made many of us fall in love with Bionicle in the first place, by making it more than just a toyline with a story and some character bios. It created and defined a world in a rich and intriguing way that I don't think any other piece of media ever managed, even Templar's own. 

 

The second is arguably one of the biggest letdowns in the franchise. The story (to the extent that there even is one) moves slower than a snail, there's an almost total lack of atmosphere, plodding through every screen is tedious, the resource collection and charm exercises are boring, the Kohlii matches are too difficult, and there are too many Matoran characters without enough variation between them. It's a terrible shame that almost nothing about the game really works.

 

I haven't played the VNOG since the year of its release, and I can't remember anything very special about it.

[derhenson]

I seem to be in somewhat of a minority by not despising MNOG 2 and VNOG.

 

I think one of the reasons I'm not as harsh on MNOG 2 is that it was actually what hooked me on Bionicle. I was only 4 in 2001, so the second was the first I played. Therefore the sentimental value a lot of people have for the first, I have for the second.

[Aanchir]

My personal favorite was MNOG. Even if you could get from one side of the island to the other in fairly short order, the panoramic scenery helped its world feel colorful, immersive, and vast. It was our first insight into the diversity of the villages and regions of Mata Nui. It had lots of diverse and memorable characters and scenes. And it told a really engaging storyline that managed to convey a real sense of danger and urgency even without the grittiness that defined the tone for some later story years. All this without demanding a whole lot from the player in terms of skill or reflexes — it was fairly easy for even a child to jump in and get started.

 

MNOG II was great in terms of world-building, and did a lot to establish the culture of the different villages by showing the types of occupations their villagers had and the principles and skills that defined them. But in terms of gameplay, it was not only extremely glitchy but also extremely repetitive, requiring a lot of farming, crafting, and skill-grinding to advance. Besides that, the storyline was not as dynamic as that of Mata Nui Online Game

 

Voya Nui Online Game was the weakest in terms of story, from my experience, and the combat-oriented gameplay did not interest me. Its island felt almost TOO vast, in that it could be a bit of a slog to get from point A to point B, and there wasn't a lot of interesting scenery to make that trek feel engaging or memorable. The art style for the characters was kind of stylish (I liked the variety of Rahi designs) but not very expressive. I don't want to say it was a bad game, but there was hardly anything about it that made it enjoyable for me.

 

I am hoping the new Elves theme might have a new point-and-click adventure game like MNOG. It's been too long since LEGO offered an adventure game of that caliber.

[Xabla]

I'm surprised anyone voted for VNOG.

[Banana Gunz]

It's not even a competition. MNOG all day every day.

 

True, it's arguable that MNOG II was really good in presenting a setting and culture, but the original MNOG did that super well already without wasting your time. The worst sin a game can do is waste a players time. Grinding, slow movement, farming, repetitive combat sequences and stuff like that are sins in that they give the player the illusion that they're having fun and progressing, but ultimately you're accomplishing nothing. MNOG II is still really cool and deserves credit, but moves too slow and would only work if it were a fully fledged RPG. MNOG II was way too glitchy and boring to measure up to the original.

 

VNOG makes me sick. I played that one a lot, and it's absolutely ridiculous. As mentioned, over used combat sequences are excuses to add more content without actually programming good game play. Sometimes it's not that bad if most of the game is based around that function and helps drive the plot forward, but in VNOGs case it just feels like an obstacle to the player. You don't have fun, but instead are dragged through slow, difficult and fruitless fights that don't help to establish Voya-Nui as anything more than dangerous. The farming is frustrating and fuels the plot, which is simple and based on nothing more than working. When you sit down to play a game, you want to have fun. A challenge and a little drip of frustration doesn't make it a bad game, but when it's drenched in it, you're not actually having real fun anymore. You're doing work again, which is exactly what you sat down and started playing the game to escape.

 

MNOG reigns above all because of the personal and interesting discussions with the matoran that help fuel the plot, establish feel and ideas without feeling like work. The scenes are all beautiful and work super well. It's kind of like the old Sierra games but more straight forward and interesting. True, the game play consists of mini games and isn't always perfect, but MNOG seems more like an exploration game. You're following on a fixed path, true, but you're not being led through it with quest markers and trash like that. The player feels accomplished and that they're actually accomplishing things when they discover something new. You're told what to do a bunch of times, but generally you feel like an explorer making your way around the island and doing things that make you the hero. You feel like you're making progress, and not just the game. With cartoony and loveable characters and fun atmosphere, MNOG is an exploration game that knows what it is and doesn't really try to be more than that most of the time, which allows clear, meaningful fun for the player. It's not perfect, but it trumps the other two competitors and is the clear winner.

[Latrodectus]

MNOG II is too ambitious for its own good. The game is obsessed with detailed worldbuilding, and unfortunately a lot of the details are just plain uninteresting. Simply getting out of Ga-Koro requires completing numerous fetch quests, reading through pages of dialogue, and farming trading materials. It's realistic for Hahli to go through all of that effort, but it's not fun to play. And despite the massively increased depth of MNOG II, the actual stakes feel lower. There aren't any Rahi attacks or Toa heroics to spice things up. 

 

Then you get to Kohli. Kohli sucks.

 

And then the game glitches. The game glitches so much. 

Edited January 13, 2015 by Latrodectus

[MrSciFiGuy]

MNOG was great, but I did like MNOG II. Something about harvesting resources on the island made me love it so much! 

[derhenson]

I wish there was some ways to combine MNOG I and II. I feel like, in a lot of ways, where one succeeded the other failed. The story and streamlined nature of the former, but the more in-depth world building and gameplay (but not the mindless slogging from wahi to wahi and painful farming system). Also, I have to say the navigation of MNOG I disoriented me to no end with the whole turning around mechanic. I loved that it was first-person, but I wish there was a way to do that that wasn't do confusing and, sometimes, difficult to navigate (in Ga-Koro you have to walk out of the dive hut, walk into the village center, turn around, walk back to the dive hut, then go left to get to the pump station).

[Munty]

I think I've played the VNOG once, MNOG2 at least twice and the MNOG1 more times than I can even count. In fact just reading this topic and seeing how one-sided the woting is (predictably) makes me want to boot it up again. And I may just do that. This is how much I prefer MNOG1 to the other games

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I wish there was some ways to combine MNOG I and II. I feel like, in a lot of ways, where one succeeded the other failed. The story and streamlined nature of the former, but the more in-depth world building and gameplay (but not the mindless slogging from wahi to wahi and painful farming system). Also, I have to say the navigation of MNOG I disoriented me to no end with the whole turning around mechanic. I loved that it was first-person, but I wish there was a way to do that that wasn't do confusing and, sometimes, difficult to navigate (in Ga-Koro you have to walk out of the dive hut, walk into the village center, turn around, walk back to the dive hut, then go left to get to the pump station).

I echo the feeling that navigation in MNOG1 was pretty counter-intuitive at times. I would've liked the stages to be full rotate-able, rather than having to click to turn around. That would've fixed some navigation issues in Ga-Koro and Po-Wahi.

[Ford]

I love VNOG, but I think was too long for the target audience: children younger than 13. I also have a reaction video to VNOG here.

[Taka Nuvia]

MNOGII wins just by a small margin - mostly because I found some places/scenes in MNOG bit creepy, but on the other hand spent hours in MNOGII just harvesting and running back and forth. I loved that place. :3 (no I never got very far. It didn't matter, though.)

[Axilus Prime]

MNOG I by a long shot. There was little combat, but the story was tight and fun to go through. The little puzzles and stuff were also fun.

 

MNOG II was a grind and its story wasn't interesting at all.

 

VNOG was also a grind. It started out interesting but I couldn't stick with it, even though I sort of wanted to see it through. The combat system just wasn't...fun. The story was a nonsense-ified version of the real story, too. I love the idea of a Bionicle game with a large focus on combat, but the combat system should be well developed and offer loads of unpredictable possibilities, based on skill more than anything else.

[Dimension Lord]

MNOG was the best of the three, MNOG2 was unfortunately glitchy and had issues with saves.  I lost interest fairly quickly in VNOG.  I even played MNOG a few months ago and still found it enjoyable even 10+ years later.

[Danska: Shadow Master]

MNOG for me. Have so many good memories of that! Getting stuck in Ga Koro, reaching Le Wahi for the first time, the flying, Lewa vs Onua, the infected Kohlii balls, the epic battle between the Toa, Manas and Makuta...SO GOOD!

 

I didn't get on with MNOG ii at all. So much collecting random resources, I never even left Ga Koro. Got so bored.

 

I really enjoyed VNOG. All the collecting power ups, actually playing as the Toa, running round fighting stuff, it was good! But no MNOG.

[Makuta Miras]

MNOG. MNOG II took me an entire week of almost solid playing- and even then I didn't finish it, which isn't a good thing. Admittedly though, since broadband speeds are better now than when MNOG was first released, I've found that the Nui-Rama minigame is almost impossible- the Nui-Rama just move too fast for me to hit them.

[Gatanui]

MNOG. MNOG II took me an entire week of almost solid playing- and even then I didn't finish it, which isn't a good thing. Admittedly though, since broadband speeds are better now than when MNOG was first released, I've found that the Nui-Rama minigame is almost impossible- the Nui-Rama just move too fast for me to hit them.

The speed in which the game plays is entirely unrelated to the speed of your internet connection, it only depends on the frame rate your processor is capable of running the game in.

 

I voted MNOG because I consider it brilliant and almost a piece of art but I'm also a big fan of MNOG II. Its major shortcoming is the lack of story (and the strange ending) and that some of the villages don't feel as immersive as in MNOG but I really loved the crystal temples. I never found Kolhii that annoying - if anything, it's the wastelands.

 

VNOG is fine but never compelling enough for me to play it a second time. I may do it one day, though.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I'd love to play VNOG without cheating but I don't wanna grind at those Ussal forever.

[Adventurer]

MNOG wins instantly based on some of the most incredible nostalgia I will probably ever experience. More objectively - in terms of what I want to see more of - VNOG, but with more cutscenes and conversations like MNOG (shouldn't be as hard to do nowadays). MNOGII really loses out as I couldn't run it very well on release and bugs prevented me from playing it properly which tarnished my memory of it. I agree in that MNOGII felt quite ambitious but didn't quite hit the mark.

[Lenny7092]

I like VNOG because it is more challenging than the other games, which makes it more fun. I love the action in there, even if the story is non-canon or so.

[Prowl Nightwolf]

I think I am going to have to go with the General consensus and vote MNOG I. Though since I never got to play the other two I am willing to admit that my opinion may be bias on that notion.

[Toa Turing]

I voted for MNOG2. It holds more nostalgia value for me since I played it before MNOG1 and it was what got me into Bionicle. It was repetitive, but the world building and sandbox feel make up for that, at least to some degree.

[Archon~]

MNOG

Can't argue with the classics.

Edited February 17, 2015 by Archon~

[Hewkii8730]

Mnog 1 is a classic and there's nothing you can say otherwise the experience is so immersive exploring all the koro's and meeting all the amazing tohuga/Matoran,toa,turaga the rahi and mukuta.learning the law and the language and best of all following the adventures of the chronicler takua I have played all the games and the others are good but mnog 1 is in a league of its own.

[ToaDraco]

I feel like this will be 99% MNOG. I must say, MNOG gets my vote, 2 was boring to me and vnog I really liked but it wasn't great atmosphere-wise. MNOG had really great personality and storytelling. 

[believe victims]

MNOG was the best, unquestionably. MNOG 2 was just plain unfinishable for me; I once got trapped in a screen with nothing but a red circle on the ground. VNOG was such a pain to traverse, and so dull and repetitive in its fetch quests for Garan.

[Prowl Nightwolf]

I think it is safe bet that they got it right in one with MNOG I, and while the other games only work of the prior's success.