Red pill or blue pill? (Matrix MMOG Site Up)

noel · Post by **noel** » November 18, 2003, 2:57 pm

Personally, I'm not interested in this game because I just can't see how it could possibly be made interesting, and I absolutely abhorred the 'Enter the Matrix' abortion, but here is linkage to the homepage for those that are interested.

http://thematrixonline.ubi.com/US/index.php

Enjoy.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » November 18, 2003, 3:13 pm

Sweet. God, goth, and kung-fu, MMOG style!

Post by **Xouqoa** » November 18, 2003, 3:37 pm

The funny thing is, WE ARE ALREADY IN THE MATRIX! So this game is really like, The Matrix Online, Online. Or something... yeah.

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » November 18, 2003, 6:43 pm

The Matrix is retarded. This game is gonna suck ass.

Pahreyia · Post by **Pahreyia** » November 18, 2003, 7:03 pm

"omg we liek made truse with teh machines but it wasnt really a truse cuz liek their r reble machines taht still h8 humans so liek we hax0r bak into teh matrix and fight tehm."

Yeah.. right.

I'll pass.

Salis · Post by **Salis** » November 21, 2003, 2:23 am

lol I cant wait to see the fanboi's on a Matrix forum, and I thought SWG was bad...

Zamtuk · Post by **Zamtuk** » November 21, 2003, 2:31 am

ill take the blue pill please

Shanter · Post by **Shanter** » November 21, 2003, 6:52 pm

I thought it was funny that they avoid to give a good/direct answer to every question on their FAQ. It's gonna be the win for sho!

Blue pill plz

noel · Post by **noel** » March 13, 2005, 5:14 pm

Matrix Online is available to all Fileplanet subscribers for a 4 day stress test beta.

This game is supposed to suck ass, but if (like me) you're a marketing whore, download it and check it out. I'm installing it now, so look for a highly critical review to be posted later in the day.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » March 13, 2005, 5:23 pm

isnt the nda still up?

Ok here is something I cant really talk about, so on a completely unrelated subject...

Im in the beta for this one game, and it completely blows ass.

noel · Post by **noel** » March 13, 2005, 5:57 pm

The problem I have is...

One of my best friends has a longtime girlfriend who works for a company that... Well I can't say the name, but lets just say their initials are WB. At any rate, she might also work in their online division, and she might be working on the marketing for a product that is about to come out.

I already told her that the word on the street is that the game totally sucks ass, but she said that they (WB Online Marketing) has heard good things, and good reviews...

Anyway, I promised her I'd check it out, so I'm going to.

I'm not really sure what the status of the NDA is at this time. I'll try to find out.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 13, 2005, 6:22 pm

I'll play only if I can be The One!

Winneo vs Fires of Matrix:

...and Trinity better not be a mangina!

Persephone is better than Trinity anyway!
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Fash · Post by **Fash** » March 13, 2005, 6:39 pm

fileplanet... man they piss me off... whores of the game business.

for an interested gamer, it's almost a requirement to grab a month of access from them to check new things out.

this game won't cause me to resubscribe though.

wtf do i still have active wow & eq2 subscriptions.... sigh..

noel · Post by **noel** » March 14, 2005, 11:05 am

I'd just like to say that M:O is really, really bad.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 14, 2005, 11:41 am

Some nice concepts (ie: changeable skill loadouts) and the combat looks interesting but I from what I have heard, the game is pretty bad.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » March 14, 2005, 1:33 pm

Some nice concepts (ie: changeable skill loadouts) and the combat looks interesting but I from what I have heard, the game is pretty bad.

I think you should give it a chance, then try and convince everyone who plays WoW why it dosen't suck so bad... or do you only do that with EQ2, which also happens to be a steaming pile?

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 14, 2005, 1:34 pm

You're only allowed to say bad things about EQ2 in the WoW forum.

10 yard penalty!

miir · Post by **miir** » March 14, 2005, 1:48 pm

Fairweather Pure wrote: I think you should give it a chance, then try and convince everyone who plays WoW why it dosen't suck so bad... or do you only do that with EQ2, which also happens to be a steaming pile?

I just like to rile up the WoW fanboys like yourself.

Ebumar · Post by **Ebumar** » March 14, 2005, 3:54 pm

Completely instanced - and will be able to be launched through AIM with whoever you are talking too. Thus making this game the ultimate in gamming whoreism.

Cotto · Post by **Cotto** » March 14, 2005, 6:19 pm

I played it, thought it was buggy and laggy as shit. Left.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 14, 2005, 6:24 pm

Ebumar wrote:Completely instanced - and will be able to be launched through AIM with whoever you are talking too. Thus making this game the ultimate in gamming whoreism.

You sure it was instanced or was server synch so fucked up that you only thought you were in your own instance?

Ebumar · Post by **Ebumar** » March 14, 2005, 8:44 pm

Think it was a little of both - Miir.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 26, 2005, 9:38 am

So has anyone actually played it?
What did/do you like/dislike about it?

Got a copy of it and curious if I should even bother installing it.

noel · Post by **noel** » April 26, 2005, 11:48 am

Miir, I think it sucks. I played it for approximately four hours when I was in the stress test beta. I will be the first to say that four hours is not enough time to form a full opinion of a video game. At no point during that four hour period did I see anything even remotely interesting that compelled me to play further.

All of that said, if there's anyone that can find the good in this game, I'm sure it will be you.

Waran · Post by **Waran** » April 26, 2005, 12:23 pm

Definately in the same boat as Noel.

The game tries to profit on the fading popularity of a dying genre in the Matrix films. I would have been totally interested in this if they had created some sort of "wow factor" about the game, similar to when you saw the first movie and were blown away by the special effects. I wanted to be impressed in the same way, they failed miserably.

It's just totally totally lame, as it was in Beta. Bugs and lag by the truckloads. Video glitches and so on. Ooh I'm jacked into the Matrix, I'm cool!

Can't sway you any more away from this game.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 26, 2005, 2:41 pm

So really... nobody has actually really played the game?

How was the combat?
How are the skill trees?
Is there crafting and tradeskills?
What about 'classes'? Do they have traditional casters, fighters and healers?

noel · Post by **noel** » April 26, 2005, 2:45 pm

I think I was pretty clear about why I don't have that information.

That said, if you're truly interested, I think there are a few people at corpnews.com, penny-arcade.com or f13.net who ARE playing it, or at least played it quite a bit. Would probably be worth it for you to check out.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 26, 2005, 2:48 pm

Guess I'll give it a whirl when I get some time this week.

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » April 26, 2005, 4:38 pm

Neol

How was the Martial Arts system?

Difference between Kung Fu, Karate and Aikido in the game? Any distinction?

miir · Post by **miir** » April 26, 2005, 4:42 pm

If he only played for a few hours he would have no way to know how the different combat styles look.

Waran · Post by **Waran** » April 26, 2005, 5:18 pm

miir wrote:So really... nobody has actually really played the game?

How was the combat?
How are the skill trees?
Is there crafting and tradeskills?
What about 'classes'? Do they have traditional casters, fighters and healers?

I haven't seen anyone here that has posted and is actively playing this game, so you might be asking on deaf ears.

My only, and I mean only ever experience with this game was from the second to last final beta on. From my experiences during that time, there was nothing about the combat, skill trees, crafting/tradeskills, classes that I cared about increasing or finding out about. I leveled only a few times, then started screwing around trying to find an agent to kill me. I had no desire to increase my characters stats like I did in games like WoW and EQ.

About the only information you can find to answer your questions is the fanboy forums on the Matrix Online website.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » April 26, 2005, 10:32 pm

I dont remember how they worked exactly but I can give you the basics. Keep in mind I havent played this in forever so I will probably be off in some details.
You have your usual stats (they have some different names for str and agi etc. but i cant remember). When you create a character you have different classes, as far as I see the only thing classes do is determine starting stats (one class gives you +2 and -1) and so on.

The class tree is pretty huge as far as Ive seen. You got hackers (casters) coders (hybrids) and soldiers (melee types). Each one breaks down into I think 3 of each. The progression is fast at first as far as Ive seen. I was well into the first tier of soldier by lvl6 and was working on martial arts. It might slow down later.

Ability progression is kinda odd. You can either write abilities with the proper components (write = think tradeskills), you can find abilties as drops, buy some, or get abilties as quest rewards. To activate abilties on your character you need to meet the pre-reqs and have enough info (cash) to place the abilty. Most abilities can be leveled up with more info.

You can only hold so many abilties on your character, so you need to drop old ones to use the new ones. However the old ones stay unlocked if you ever want them (thats right, with enough time you could probably be any class. Who knows, the one?).

Combat is pretty boring, its almost turn based. When you meet up with an enemy you get into combat mode. You chose an attack and so does the opponent (some of the "casted" stuff can be done along with fighting and not tak up the turn). A roll is done to see who's attack goes thru. You can do hand to hand fighting, or with guns. I dont remember how fights with multiple enemies go.

Theres a lot of clothing in the game as expected, but it took a while for me to find clothing with stats on it.

Zones are small, and ever more annoying to find enemies (could of been just because of beta). Many, many, many quests are completely instanced. You go into a building (you can go into a SHITLOAD of buildings) and get to an elevator, and thats basically the entrance to the instance.

Theres probably more to the game but I wont go into it. The game sucks basically, but they are trying to do a lot of events I hear.

Drinsic Darkwood · Post by **Drinsic Darkwood** » April 26, 2005, 11:56 pm

I found this thread on the Matrix Online pretty interesting. Sounds like they've got some fairly stupid amateurs working on the game.

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/showthre ... adid=14349

Waran · Post by **Waran** » April 27, 2005, 12:29 am

Did some reading on the MXO forums:

I find it hilarious that you have to call them to cancel your subscription.

For a game that is so forward thinking, this is really laughable

Drinsic Darkwood · Post by **Drinsic Darkwood** » April 27, 2005, 12:52 am

Not sure about the details, might've been hinted on the thread I linked (it's fairly old), but don't they force you to go through a questionnaire about why you're quitting before they'll cancel the subscription? All the while trying to convince you not to, I'm sure.

noel · Post by **noel** » April 27, 2005, 2:33 am

EQ2 did that.

It asks you to fill out a survey when you cancel. The survey's logic is identical to one of those, 'Which LotR Characters are you things'. When you're done, and you've identified things that are behind your leaving, they counter each reason with a description of why you're wrong about a given feature or gameplay element.

Drinsic Darkwood · Post by **Drinsic Darkwood** » April 27, 2005, 2:48 am

Ah, desperation at its finest. Or annoyance, in any case.

noel · Post by **noel** » April 27, 2005, 3:04 am

I'm all for a customer service survey that assists a company in improving their product, but the annoying aspect of the EQ2 survey was that they wouldn't confirm my subscription cancellation until I completed the survey. Additionally, early in the survey there's a question about whether or not you're leaving for another MMOG. I stated that I was not. Then, the last question in the survey is, which MMOG are you leaving EQ2 for? with choices of DAoC, AO, WoW, L2 or FFXI. I'm like umm, I'm not. It wouldn't let me complete the survey (and confirm my cancellation) until I chose one. So, I chose WoW, even though I doubt I'll ever play it again.

Drinsic Darkwood · Post by **Drinsic Darkwood** » April 27, 2005, 3:17 am

Surveys are fine, but as far as cancelling your account goes... I think the only thing that should be *required* is logging in and pressing a "cancel subscription" button.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » April 27, 2005, 9:31 am

you mean like *gasp* WoW does?

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » April 27, 2005, 11:02 am

I have cancelled my WoW account twice for various reasons and I never had to fill anything out other than one question. When I did not decide to reserve my beta characters for the Matrix, I had to fill out about 20 pages worth of stuff. No, I would not say it is like WoW.

As to combat in the Matrix, if you like playing Rock/Paper/Scissors...then Matrix Online combat is for you!

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » April 27, 2005, 11:16 am

oh no, i was saying its one button cancelation, like wow

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » April 27, 2005, 12:38 pm

Ah ok. One thing I didn't like about the WoW cancellation is how limited the reasons they allow you to pick were. I just picked a random one and entered comments as to why I really cancelled.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » April 27, 2005, 10:30 pm

woah i just realized i forgot that they ask you some crap

miir · Post by **miir** » April 29, 2005, 11:52 am

So after dabbling with it a bit this week, I can't really give a final opinion on it.

I like the 'world'. The city actually feels like a city. They did a much better job than COH in creating a real, gritty, urban enviroment.
I caught the tail end of a live event which was pretty interesting.. it was ongoing for almost a week and there was some real interaction with 'live' NPC/characters.

I really like the skill tree flexibility.
Tried messing around with a buch of different skillsets from Rifles to Martial Arts to Viroligist to Patcher.
Was on a team that needed a healer so instead of waiting around, looking for someone our level, I just swapped out my sniper skills and loaded up my patcher skills.

Free Fire combat is pretty standard MMOG fare. Basically turn/skill based with special attacks etc.
Interlock (melee) combat is pretty sweet. The animations are great. At first glance it seems like it's "rock paper scissors" but it's much more complex than that. You combat rolls are based on your combat tactics ability which can be augmented by buffs, clothes etc. Certain attacks have bonuses depending on which skill set you are using... for example, the grapple attack was my strongest attack with my Akido loadout, while a Karate loadout would be most effective using power attacks. The same goes for different attack stances using firearms.
Also, special attacks can cause 'states' (disarmed, dazed, etc) which can create openings for you to use more powerful special attacks and to decrease the combat tactics (ie offense/defense) of your opponent.

I think Interlock is also the biggest reason why people can so easily dismiss the game as being shitty. Every other MMOG from EQ1/2 to AO to DAoC to WoW to COH share the same combat mechanics... In breaking from that standard, MxO seems a lot less 'newbie' friendly to mmog vets and for the most part, people don't have the patience to learn a new system.
That's one of the main reasons games like EQ2 and WoW are so successful... it's basically every other MMOG with only a few deviations from the standards. You don't have to put any thought in how to do things.

I was completely overwhelmed with MxO when I first logged in... almost to the point where I could have easily just written it off as a shitty game.

The mission and XP system are unremarkable. Some of the critical/storyline missions are pretty cool. I like the voiceovers.

One thing that really impressed me was the community ingame.
People are really helpful and friendly...

Kwonryu DragonFist wrote:Neol

How was the Martial Arts system?

Difference between Kung Fu, Karate and Aikido in the game? Any distinction?

Kung Fu is speed.
Karate is power.
Akido is defense.

All have distinctive moves as you get further down the skill trees.
I tried akido for a bit and it didn't seem very efficient at taking out enemies but the grapples and throws were quite effective in avoiding/blocking incoming attacks.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » April 29, 2005, 2:46 pm

miir, you're so predictable, I want to stab you in the face with a wooden spoon.

Another VV coming your way, Mortimer!

miir · Post by **miir** » April 29, 2005, 4:01 pm

Predictable in that I think that someone should actually play a game before they can offer an opinion on it?

I think the only person in this thread who has actually played Matrix Online (besides myself) is Sionistic.

Personally, I'm not enamored with it but it has some good qualities and more than it's fair share of faults, but it really wasn't half as bad as I was expecting it to be. One thing I like best about it is that it tries to be different/unconventional. MMOGs are funny in that if they have any semblance of a learning curve, a lot of MMOG vets will be instantly turned off.

I've never been a big fan of 'the Matrix' (I enjoyed the movies but that's about it) and had no interest in either of the games. If I hadn't been given a copy of MxO, I would never ever considered purchasing it.

noel · Post by **noel** » April 29, 2005, 4:36 pm

From reading your post, what you seem to be saying is:

"After actually playing the game, I've uncovered some noteworthy and original gameplay features, but the game itself is still bland and relatively uninteresting."

The thing I find funny about that, is that those of us you're criticizing for not liking the game were able to come to that conclusion in <4 hours, but you want to set yourself up as somehow superior because it took you playing it to figure that out.

Waran · Post by **Waran** » April 29, 2005, 4:46 pm

miir wrote:Predictable in that I think that someone should actually play a game before they can offer an opinion on it?

I think the only person in this thread who has actually played Matrix Online (besides myself) is Sionistic.

So I guess the time I spent in Beta logging in/patching needlessly for hours/trying to figure out missions, and later figuring out that they sucked doesn't = playing to you.

I'm glad I didn't waste any more time playing this piece of shit MMO, like you have.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 29, 2005, 4:47 pm

That would be incorrect, Neol.

What I was saying is that you are an idiot who bases your opinions on games by what other idiots on sites like corpnews and penny-arcade tell you about them from their second hand reviews from other gaming sites.

Seriously dude, if you haven't even played a game, why waste your time in offering up your opinion?

I doubt you even played it for more than 5 minutes.
You probably loaded it up and got your ass killed in the tutorial...
idiot.