The Matrix Online. Who's plugging in?

Three years ago, I would've been on this like shit on a pig.

Now, it's just another shitty MMO.

I'm with you there, Helix.

I may try it out, but that's a strongly emphasized "may".

I've happily played Ultima Online since 97. Every other MMO has been a variation on the original swords and sorcery theme, with different graphics.....city of heroes was different but wasnt quite complete enough....no player villains. Star Wars Galaxies was just plain disapointing in its leveling and boredom issues. But this game looks like it just might be the ticket if they have a smooth gameplay system.

Dude, you'll be in for a disapointment. World of Warcraft was the game where they supposedly 'fixed' the MMO genre. If you want to know how bad mmos are, just try to picture the AICN talkbacks made into a game.

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany.

WoW's pretty much the best there's ever been in terms of MMOs, and I've played my share.

Matrix Online doesn't look very interesting. I heard a bunch of glowing reviews for it.... from people that were being paid. That's never a good sign.

Plus, you're going to end up with:

Bullet time kung fu and gunfight battles in the biggest city in MMO history. It's going to blow every other MMO away, but I cant afford to pay monthly for a game and I have a life to live in the real world, heh.

The universe is massive though, you can just hang out in dark clubs and chat away with regulars instead of fighting, or you can simply go around bullet timing everyones ass, anything goes, it really does look pretty damn amazing. Plus you get to continue the story of the Matrix, with regularly Wachowski scripted updates, cameos of characters like Morpheus, etc, with the theme of the first year: "What people do to keep a peace they've gained after a conflict, and what people do to mess it all up" (dont quote me on that, but thats the jist)

HOW?

If someone gave me a free copy of this, I still wouldn't play it out of spite.

I have ZERO interest in this game, and I don't expect it to be very popular at all.

yeah...im not overly excited about this....esp after the supreme disappointment that was Enter the Matrix.

womp wommmmmm....

Ten thousand people all simulatenously pretending to be the Chosen One and doing bullet time dives and getting stuck in the walls and randomly freezing and arguing whether Revolutions sucked or not? Where do I sign up?

I must admit I'm not looking forward to Shiney's next attempt at making a Matrix game, now called The Matrix: Path of Neo, where you get to play as Neo.

I shit you not.

I'd be interested to see how the world develops, but I honestly don't give a toss about MMO as a genre. I barely have time to do all the things I want to do in a day without getting sucked into such time wasting, social life killers. Not even WoW is appealing to me.



I think I'd rather look forward to see if Shiny fucks up yet again or if being free from the pressure of having to deliver it in time to coincide with the movie gets them to go back to the time when they made good games.

Hell, I imagine.

That was the funniest comic about a video game yet.

Easy....because it's great. Granted, I *hate* the changes they implemented on the Age of Shadows expansion, and because of that, I stopped playing the regular shards a couple of years ago, but through most of it's run, Ultima Online was gaming bliss.

A few weeks ago, I started playing on a free shard that's mostly based on the way it used to be, and before I knew it, the addiction came back full swing. Skill gain goes up FAST in this particular server (UOGamers - Hybrid), so there's less time wasted on macroing and more time to play the damn game.

No other game gets my pulse racing and nerves shot as when I steal some guy's prized power katana, and run for the hills while him and his buddies try to run me down. Since my disarm thief has no combat or magery skills, all he can do is steal and evade, while being chased by murderous mages and warriors. I've played plenty of games, with graphics that easily trounce UO's isometric 2-D interface, but not even Halo or Burnout 3 give me that same shot of adrenaline that I get from a session of UO thievery.

My hopes aren't so much low as they are muted. The ten million Neos problem notwithstanding, my feelings towards MMORPGs aren't the greatest. I'll watch and listen to how it all unfolds, then decide whether I want in on this or not....(than again, my PC is nowhere near gaming quality, and I like it that way, so that might be out of the question altogether)

I'd say more, but Halo 2 just got here.

The thing that bugs me about the whole MMO thing is the O part. I wish I could play these games on some level offline but I guess that began and ended with Phantasy Star Online. I played that game a bit and never online and it was strangley addictive. I've been curious about MMO games since but don't really want to pay a monthly fee.

My fiance's brother has WOW and I've seen him play it a few times and it really does look pretty amazing. The only thng is that I've seen him sit at that damn computer ALL DAY playing it when he's home alone with nothing to do (almost 12 hours one time alone). I rarely play games for a long stretch. I play a little here and a little there and I STILL get grief that I play too much from my fiance. If I get hooked on an MMO it will be the end of my life as I know it.

BUT, if I had to pick one, being the Matrix nerd I am, I'd probably choose to check this Matrix one out. It seems different enough from the rest of the pack (of course I say this not having actually played one) and the involvement of the Wachowski Bros. interests me as far as story progression goes. The concept alone almost feels designed for an MMO and if it's cohesive enough it seems to have potential.

But is there an audience for it? Even gamers interested in a good MMO might be turned off to the idea if the Matrix sequels turned them off to all things Matrix to begin with. My guess is that it needs to have an exceptional core design or it might go belly up.

I've been playing the free stress test Beta they started last week (and now, is being expanded into full open Beta.) The game has promise, I think. It feels more like the world of the Matrix after the first film, and not the third, except the agents aren't your automatic "enemy". The combat mode is interesting, and not everyone on it is trying to be Neo. You can align yourself with the machines, zion, or the "outcasts" like the Merovingian. The missions are quick and fun, and from a purel visual stadpoint, the game looks great. Will I buy it? I'm not sure, but now that I have a month of free play I can really see if it's worth it.

Yes.

To paraphrase Keanu, "Listen to this dude Slater, he knows what he's talking about."

If the gameplay is smooth, then it doesn't look too bad.

I'd give it a shot.

And I want to be 'TehOne'.

The videos I've seen for the game don't look very impressive, and the idea that you're pretty much clicking on buttons to fight rather than having it in your control seems, I dunno, unappealing. I like Monolith but the work for this game really doesn't seem to separate from the bajillion other PC MMOs out there. Really, when you think about it, the basis for all these games is leveling up by killing lots of things.

My first MMO was SW: Galaxies and I was burned badly. That was an extremely boring experience. I tend to stay away from all MMOs now. Though I have been tempted to try WOW.

Matrix however? um, no.

Fucking hilarious.

I'm not up for paying monthly, i'll stick with Xbox Live.

I don't think it's even reasonable to pay for a subscription service like XBox Live, so these monthly services are a no go with me.

I can't get into these games, I beta tested Everquest for the PS2 and it was one of the most boring games I've ever played. I started walking around and the distances were so great I spent I long time just going from one town to the other, like in real life. That's not fun.

I played in the stress test for about a day. Didn't continue because of the awful lag.....probably because it was a stress test.

There was definatley potential, though:

- The battle system seems more skill based than any other MMO I've tried. You have to pick the right move to counter your opponents move (strong, fast, defend, grapple, ranged). Though, obviously, you and your weapons stats still play a big part.

- The battle ANIMATIONS are just sweet as fuck. Right now this is the best thing the game has going for it. Every fight is like a fully choreographed Kung Fu battle, complete with "bullet time" slow mo when someone does a special attack. Theres different animations for every possible combination of moves. I had one guy pull an assault rifle on me at close range, and my character started dancing sideways, dodging the bullets as he tried to shoot my feet. Awsome, awsome stuff.

- Character customization is pretty good. It's not City of Heroes, but its much better than WoW. Contrary to what you might think, I saw absolutely ZERO Neo/The One wannabes when I played. Not to say that people didn't have some incredibly uncreative character names though...

- Cool little things abound. When you run into a car, your character automatically does a nifty side-flip over it.

- The story picks up right after Revolutions, which I really liked. The "peace" is very tenuous, nobodies really very happy with it. The Agents seem especially bitter.

- The overall presentation is very good, from the menus (which look like the sort of green-DOS Matrix interface) to the training on through. Especially neat is when you log in, for about 10 seconds you see the whole world in code, before it fades in fully. All the sound effects and things like that are present and accounted for as well.

- Clothes have armor values. YAY! Finally a game that doesn't force me to dress in mis-matched bulky armor, or switch between "fun" and "battle" clothing sets (Anarchy Online). I can look however I want and still have adequate defense!

I didn't play too much, so I don't know anything about crafting (except that it exists) or what any of the cooler powers are like. The combat is sort of confusing, I never got the hang of it. What I saw of the world wasn't terribly interesting either. The rest of the problems can probably be attributed to the early build (laggy, buggy, sometimes crappy graphics).

This'll be another one I buy, play for 4-6 months, then dump without looking back. It'll be a cool few months, though.

- Fate

No offense, but you just reiterated my point. Unless you can get enjoyment from being a prick to other players or the sheer tedium of skill gaining, almost all mmos have NOTHING to offer.

For some reason, I read this and the first thing that popped into my head was:

"My feet are soaked, but my cuffs are bone dry! Everything's coming up Milhouse!"

On the contrary, MMOs are one of the few places where you can find true co-op video gaming today.

I beg to differ on that one (especially since I just spent most of the night playing Halo 2). the only thing MMORPGs offer that other co-op games don't is the RPG aspect. And having had a few friends who were engulfed by the Everquest monster, most of that involves a bunch of people standing in front of a giant monster, doing the same spell/attack animation ad nauseum till the thing falls dead. Matrix Online seems to at least want to try and make that more interesting, plus the storyline offers a lot more incentive, but overall, it's still a boring as hell way to cooperate with your friends.

I'm hopelessly addicted to WoW, also. What I have seen of The Matrix, just doesn't appeal to me that much. I've never been a fan of sci-fi RPGs/MMOs anyway. It may be good, but I'm not holding my breath on it; and I'm definitely not giving up WoW for it.

oddly enough, i might be willing to check that out if they found a way to tweak the score of problems in Enter the Matrix. one of the things that pissed me off was that you had to play as Ghost or Naiobi....being a main character might change that a bit.

Whats the point in playing as Neo? Just press one button and everyone dies, its pointless. ETM was cool with the level designs anyway, there were alot of locations from the first film in that game anyway, like running atop rooftops ala Trinity and such.

The thing that makes Matrix Online appealing to me is the landscape, I'm not an expert on these online games, but I dont know of any MMO that are set in a vast and modern looking city like this; its kind of like GTA, except more green, with bullet time (bullet time in a MMO!!!) and kung fu. The thought of going around in clans beating up exiles and noobs (naturally) and controlling entire neighbourhoods like gangsters is very cool.

But alas, I have a life, maybe I'll buy it when I retire in old age.

City of Heroes had a pretty vast and modern looking city.

Alleyways and rooftops get old real quick.

You're right, I definitely saw people team up to PK n00bs.

I don't get joy out of skill gaining, which is why I appreciate games/shards that keep it to a minimum.

I also think it's stupid for you to think that I'm being a prick to other players. Are you against PVP in general? How the hell is me stealing from another UO player different from sniping an enemy in Halo 2, knocking you off the track in Burnout 3, or hitting a 50 yard FG in NFL 2k5?

I guess the point I was making was too broad, sorry. Some people are just regular pricks, and others won't let you play without labeling you as one.

I tried playing as a thief, but I just couldn't take the human drama aspect. I remember one of the last times I played; I took some gold (not very much) from some guy's pack, and he chased me around until he realized that he wasn't going to be able to get his stuff back, at which time he started begging me to give it back to him. I didn't. He was truly pathetic and it made me feel really bad.

I'm not againt pvp, but you have to know that it, and most other aspects about UO that were supposed to make the game fun just doesn't work with those people. I just let them go on and play whatever little game they want to.

I play World of Warcraft with a group of my real-life friends. We all have different character classes, and due to WoW's class structure, we all play a different role in the group. It's fun, and one of the few games we play where there isn't a winner and a bunch of losers. This way, we all talk(type) to each other while playing together, and it is rarely boring. My point wasnt that MMORPGs were better than other co-op games, just that they are co-op games (for the most part). Co-op games (or co-op options in games) are disappearing, replaced with fighting games or first person shooters, where there is one winner, or one team of winners, and the rest are losers. I think the last co-op game we played was Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven. I mean, when you get down to it, FPSs like Halo and Unreal aren't really co-op, unless all the humans are on a team against bots or remote humans. And in that case, they aren't really that different from your assessment of MMORPGs (a bunch of people doing the same spell/attack animation ad nauseum till the thing falls dead).

Sure, there are assholes, but you can 'meet' some really cool people. And you gotta agree, at least this way hardcore gamers are somewhat interacting with people.

Okay, well now you're being reasonable.


In the early days of UO, that kind of thing must've happened a lot, but ever since they introduced Trammel, the non-PVP crowd that felt victimized by that sort of gameplay got to "opt-out" of thievery. I started playing right after UO:Rennaisance, so anyone that was in Felucca was there willingly, and thus, opted in to the idea that they might get stolen from. Same goes for the new free shard that I'm in, that doesn't have Trammel, but everyone's aware of the distinction.

I agree that stealing gold or regs from newbies is a waste of time. Just because I don't consider thievery itself to be "griefing" doesn't mean I justify doing it to new players, which is why my favorite target is high-end weapons. While I use or sell whatever it is I steal, the fun is in the chase, not the loot. If I can choose between stealing from a lone guy on foot, or a guy with 4 clanmates on mounts, I'll go after the second choice every time.

Hell, I've even dabbled in RP, when I joined a guild that taxed the local citizens travelling through the moongates in the name of Lord Brittish. Citizens were subject to backpack inspections (thanks to Snooping), and were taxed 10% of the value of their belongings. A few people actually played along and paid their dues, but the ones that didn't had to deal with their gold or weapons getting "repossessed".

Anyways, I'm sure by now I'm preaching to the choir here, but I just hate how MMO players from other games automatically assume that stealing from other players = evil griefplay.

Hey, WoW is supposed to make all that pretty feasible, so I'll have to hand it to you.

Well, I'm just glad that it seems things have changed for the better, and someone is actually getting some genuine gametime out of UO. Like you said, back when I was playing, everyone was still crying about people actually doing 50% of what the game was supposed to in the first place.

...Hell, now that they've got the 'wimp shard', tax 'em them kill 'em. Then tattoo 'em.

Trammel (non-pvp lands) is indeed the necessary evil in Ultima. I spend the great majority of my time in Felucca (pvp lands). I like fighting and don't mind having to die occasionally. The problem is that there isn't often any point in fighting in Felucca beyond wanting to fight. Eh it isn't a perfect game but its been better and lasted longer than most. It still hs 165,000 active suscribers according to the most recent numbers.

The problem, though, is that you're going through all three movies, and after seeing what happens in all three, what would really be the point? I guess they could implement some sort of choice-based system that changes the events but other than that, playing as Neo would be rather fruitless.

Plus, Shiny doesn't strike me as being attentive to their gaming design as they are to their ideas. ETM is something a bad game I love to play. The fighting system is fun to play around with but there's a whole bunch of weird bugs that ended up in the final version. Granted, that could've been because they rushed it out the door a little early to meet Reloaded's release date. Then again, Messiah is another Shiny game that didn't strike me as being polished either.

Eh, I don't know. The fervor for anything based on The Matrix doesn't seem like it picked up after Revolutions.

Saw the preview on disk 10 of the Ultimate Matrix Collection. The game looks crap. Nothing impressed me with the visuals, and it seemed to be "let me beat someone up... WOW! That was fun. Now let me beat someone else up."

It looked like an MMO version of Tekken.