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The Matrix Online Was An MMORPG
48 Plays4 months ago
Hope and Ella discuss the often forgotten (and probably non-canonical) The Matrix Online, which officially ran from 2005 to 2009.
Videos referenced on the pod are....
Death of a Game: The Matrix Online
https://youtu.be/SQOD0RJuFrg?si=XXfHR_PIt_Of431p
The Matrix Online: The Ending
https://youtu.be/OfeGPilWZp0?si=GLL3kGCAm1Ifw9xc
The Matrix Online: Character Creation
https://youtu.be/UsfDIdJX6TY?si=o6HeQSobRRWQIGf3
The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience
https://youtu.be/WU0gvPcc3jQ?si=VWIi9YIETOmrZSt2
@MatrixQueerPod on IG/Twitter
Ella Cesari is
https://twitter.com/drawnwithoutref
https://instagram.com/drawnwithoutref
https://ellacesari.weebly.com
Hope Lichtner is
@HopeLichtner on IG/Tumblr/AO3. good luck!
The Matrix music, clips and dialogue are all copyright Warner Brothers and we own NONE of it.
contact us at [email protected]
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Transcript
The Mystery of Neo's Remains
00:00:01
Speaker
Why won't they give up his remains? They say they haven't recycled them. They belong in Zion, in a holy place.
Purpose and Morality in the Matrix
00:00:11
Speaker
He saved us. He saved them. He saved the Matrix. Sounds like you found your purpose. But is it right? Will I be successful? One doesn't necessarily go with the other, does it?
00:00:34
Speaker
I'd like to share a revelation without that.
00:00:44
Speaker
Let me tell you why you're here. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. Being the one is just like being in love. All I'm offering is the truth. Nothing. No one can tell
Trinity's Assertiveness and Catching Up
00:01:00
Speaker
you. You're in love. You just know it. Do it, do it. All is the moment. Hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability.
00:01:16
Speaker
My name Trinity and you better take your hands off of me. Welcome. Hi Ella. Hi Hope. ah It's been a little while hasn't it? How are you? I'm doing alright. All things considered. How has your pride been? Happy pride, everybody. ah Yes, happy pride. We missed May ah because my home life exploded. ah But we're settled in now and we should be good to go. And I'd like to extend a very special thank you to Ella for helping me assemble my couch.
00:01:52
Speaker
Uh, which I, which I am now sitting on. It's a great couch. Uh, and it is a great recording podcasts on. It is it's very comfortable. Uh, that's why today we are sponsored by our good friends at IKEA. Yes. IKEA. When you want it, when you want to feel like you get lost in the matrix, get lost in an IKEA. It's the same thing.
00:02:20
Speaker
ah Seriously, my dad got lost in the IKEA. It was amazing it was amazing watching this 71-year-old man try to find his way out of homewares.
Matrix Five Speculations
00:02:29
Speaker
That was great. ah I mean, I think if Neo had a blahage, things would have gone a little differently. I am sure if The Matrix took place in 2024, yes, Neo would have a blahage. Yeah. Like it would be the blahage resting on the top of his head instead of the rubber ducky and resurrection. like that yeah would fly So we actually have some weird news to get out of the way first, because we've missed like two months worth of Matrix updates.
00:02:58
Speaker
which historically yields no information whatsoever. Usually that doesn't usually that doesn't matter. most people miss Most people in fact miss years of Matrix updates and they they don't miss anything. Oh, we are going to get to that. I found a YouTube comment section that I'm just kind of going to go ham on. ah It's amazing. Oh, yeah. No, it's great. um But ah so we actually have some real news. So ah Trinity is a Jedi now. Real news. Real news. Real news. Real news, folks. Oh, Jesus Christ. I've so successfully wiped that voice in my brain. i
00:03:35
Speaker
Love the media now. I'm very pro-journalism now. Real news. Oh, God. We're recording this the night of the debate and I'm not watching the debate. I'm recording a podcast about The Matrix that shows you where my priorities are. That's more important. Yes, very much so, especially because now Trinity is a Jedi. When did that happen? and That's right. That rips. Although I've not seen a goddamn second of footage of the Acolyte. I think I've seen like a gif and that's about it. yeah um But apparently, Carrie Ann Moss is now a Jedi and apparently. Yeah, I mean, they changed they changed Kiyori Mundi's birthday, though, so I can't I can't watch it.
00:04:17
Speaker
They changed the cone head Jedi's birthday and that makes the whole thing unbelievable for me. I have watched Star Wars canon shift and mutate so many times over the course of just my life, not even including the original release movies, but it's just like I give up. I think those people need to have a sit down with the Luke and Leia shippers of the early eighties. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Which includes George Lucas, apparently. again And there's a drink. ah Hope got mad at George Lucas.
00:04:50
Speaker
um Well, that actually, I mean, I, okay, I know every episode, at basically we have, you know, one of us brings up Star Wars and we get mad about it. yeah I actually have a relevant Star Wars related point for this episode. We will get there. Terrific. Okay. Great. Okay. But, uh, other matrix news. I mean, do we want, is this. Is it concrete enough to be news that the the Matrix five maybe? I mean, I mean, it was announced and I'm not really holding my breath to see if anything actually follows through. yeah I mean, it's actually considering its Warner Brothers. Like what? what It's it's yeah, exactly. left that That they plan actually gets released these days. Yeah, yeah, exactly. ah Rest in peace, Wile E. Coyote. Yes.
00:05:40
Speaker
But more than that, like they announced the movie was happening, but they also announced that the Wachowskis had no creative involvement. I think they're on as like producers, but yeah executive producer. And I guess that which makes sense. They created the damn thing. So also creates an interesting situation, because I know Keanu Reeves has said he won't return unless they're involved. And I don't know if this is enough of involved to sort of count as as as i highly about it. I feel as if the story of Neo is over with and you and I had been talking about it originally when the news first dropped like a month and a half ago. um Yeah, that. ah If they don't follow the story of the original characters, if it's just an an original movie set in The Matrix. Yeah, that would be pretty cool. And you would also say as we're going to explore today, I mean, that's a very rich world, you know, very much so so much with other characters.
00:06:39
Speaker
Uh, very much so. Um, and now of course, my cat chooses to be affectionate baby girl. I'm going to need you to not bu the mic arm. I think what we settled on is like, and just do another animatrix. Yeah. Like you had said, make it animated. it And I'm like, yeah, I'm here for it. Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's I think that's the move. um But again, I I tend to take a lot of these sort of announcements with a grain of salt. Like if there's if the article is like, oh,
Wachowskis' Vision and Bound Release
00:07:05
Speaker
it's in the works, I'm like, all right, that that may or may not be. I mean, how ah yeah how many years now has Shrek five been in development, you know? Oh, Christ. Well, I was listening to All Star earlier, so you never know.
00:07:23
Speaker
Wow, you're really pre-gaming your 1999 culture here. You got to get back. Look, hey. All Star came from Mystery Men, which came out in August of 99. That's correct. And if we're being depressingly honest, ah Mystery Men was a bigger movie for me in the calendar year of 1999 than The Matrix was. Oh, wow. Because as previously established, I didn't see The Matrix in theaters. I saw Mystery Men in theaters. Of course. Yeah, of course.
00:07:54
Speaker
um But I guess the third and final piece of news that I have to talk about anyway is that the Criterion Collection released Bound, the first movie by the Wachowskis. And more importantly than that, typically I'm against this sort of thing. ah Please see all of my bitching about Star Wars in the past. but The Criterion Collection goes above and beyond to adhere to the director's original vision. And it's literally it's got a sticker on the packaging director approved signed by the Wachowskis for h d and their names as well. You know, it technically that that would be a special edition. Yeah, exactly. So they literally updated their names in the credits. Yeah, they've they've updated their names to read just as the Wachowskis and ah Lana and Lily Wachowski, which is
00:08:43
Speaker
kind of incredible. Think about it. I mean, we're all as trans folks, we're we're all just kind of George Lucas saying our own our own lives, altering our our driver's licenses and so forth. You know, we're all kind of masters of our own ah ah myth, I guess. Yeah. But just real quick, I do want to read a little bit of the because I typed this out to you and sent it to you immediately um upon receiving the disk.
00:09:12
Speaker
the back of the box for Bound. Before they blew the world's mind with The Matrix, Lana and Lily Wachowski delivered a jolt of pure pulp pleasure with their hyper stylish debut, which puts a deliciously sapphic spin on a crackerjack caper premise. hi The amount of alliteration in the like, it's like they hired like a 1930s reporter to write on the crackerjack caper known as Bound. It's truly incredible. I have yet to see it and I am super excited to watch it for the first time. Oh, it's so good. I got a notification, a news notification from the Letterboxd app. Yes, I'm outing myself as that kind of weed. I have an account. I just don't do anything with it. It says a joyride through the bloody, sweaty, sexy impact of the Wachowskis bound. I'm like, yeah, those are probably the three adjectives I would most use to describe it.
00:10:08
Speaker
makes a lot of sense. i' I'm ready for it. And it's also got Joey pants in it. So it's like, Hey, I'm a little upset. He never really came back at any of their other projects. I would like to see him pop up in the speed razor. I think matrix five should just be about Joey pants. Just just a day in the cipher has a nice day. The Matrix Five. That would be interesting to explore that character after he gets what he wanted. Yeah, sort of like a dark twist of fate, like be careful what you wish for sort of thing that would be but like a what if like if he hadn't been killed, you know, like what if he had gotten reinserted?
Exploring The Matrix Online
00:10:54
Speaker
That's fair. Oh, God. Sorry. I'm getting sidetracked in my brain because I was doing some more thorough research and watching videos for today's subject. Yeah, for the podcast, which, by the way, I don't know how to establish unless you unless you read the the title of the podcast, which most people probably do when they click on a podcast. episode But today we're we're discussing discussing the massively multiplayer online role playing game, a.k.a. Memorial Memorial, I believe is the typical pronunciation of the matrix online.
00:11:33
Speaker
The matrix online. This is also interesting because this is our first, uh, discuss discussion of something that is now, uh, non canonical, uh, in terms of, uh, where we're eventually going to go when we finally do cover the matrix resurrections. Has it been explicitly retconned or is it more just that like, is it directly contradicted by anything? I believe resurrections directly contradicts most of the stuff that happens in this game. Yes. Most notably with the death of a very major character. Yeah. I mean, I I was trying to sort of compare, but I guess I'll have to actually rewatch resurrections, which obviously I will for the podcast.
00:12:16
Speaker
Yes, you're you're coming over here and we're putting up it on my wall. If for anybody that doesn't listen to my other podcast, a High on Cartoons, my new place, I've set up my projector. My entire wall is now my television set. And Ella, you were over and we had the original Star Wars up on it just real briefly. And it was just gorgeous watching anything on this thing. It's like 13 feet wide. It rules. when you talk about movies now you you sound like a ah dictator just like we're gonna put that up on the wall you're going up on the wall i i now my phone now knows to capitalize the wall yes so it's it's kind of fun yeah it's like i don't have a tv i have a wall yeah uh but yes big beautiful wall
00:13:05
Speaker
It's ah it it's I'm finally starting to put up my posters and artwork that I've been collecting for like the past 10 years. But that wall is remaining unadorned for very obvious reasons. Yes. So, ah yeah good but I guess also, oh yeah, the matrix. I mean, yeah, it's I was going to say it's unique in that it not only no longer officially canon, um no longer exists even. Well, I actually did a little bit of digging. Apparently it does still exist in terms of like fan ah created emulators. But you really can't do anything in terms of playing it because there's no other players. There's no agencies. Same video essay that I watched. Oh, boy, which one was that?
00:13:51
Speaker
ah Would that be death of a game matrix? on Yes, yes, I did watch that by nerd slayer studios, which we will link in the description of the that. We will, along with a couple of other videos that are fascinating. um But yes, that was that was very informative for a 17 minute long video. It was a nice little digestible. ah little piece of info there. This is also the first picture. This is also I'm pretty sure the first piece of Matrix content I did not directly play because I hate um MMOs. I avoid them at all costs. Yeah, I guess that was that was going to be my other question because obviously I was.
00:14:27
Speaker
I was certainly too young. You know, I was, uh, this ran from, I it's what is it 2005 to 2009? Yes. March 22nd, 2005 was its i exception. I thought asked my parents permission to go online. I mean, yeah being a witch I hope all of you out there asked your parents permission before going online to listen to this podcast. Yes, I do list this podcast as for adults only because I am physically incapable of stopping myself from swearing. um It's depressing. You shouldn't have to. Fuck them.
00:15:05
Speaker
ah But yes, The Matrix online developed by Monolith Productions. I did a little bit of ah looking into them ah related to our podcast and our subject matter. They also made Tron 2.0, which is kind of fascinating how they also ah made another video game about getting into a digital online world and fighting against evil programs. The cover of the game It looks like it has the game models of the characters on it rather than like live action, you know, and they look kind of rough. I mean, it's 2005 MMO graphics. They're doing the best they can. But ah no, I'm I'm not judging how they look. I'm judging the decision to not just put the picture of Morpheus from the films on the cover.
00:15:58
Speaker
especially considering Morpheus in this game is voiced by Laurence Fishburne. They actually got what if you're in the matrix in the actual like canon, is that what Morpheus looks like, like to Neo when they're in there in the. I like how you ever noticed how low Polly I am. Doesn't that seem weird to you? that That was Matrix 1.0, the Monster Mash edition, um yeah yeah which explains why the ghosts look like so shitty as they do. Yes, yes. It was all part of their plan, you see. which they thought of that They thought ahead.
00:16:39
Speaker
But like that's another bananas thing. So it's got like on IMDB, it's got listings. So the directors are literally listed as Lana and Lily Wachowski and Nathan Hendrickson. I am not familiar with as a director of anything. ah Looks like oh they also did Hogwarts legacy, son of a bitch. All right. Well, never mind. um But like Mary Alice plays the Oracle. Monica Baluchi plays Persephone. Colin Shao is back as Sephi- uh, uh, Serif. Sephiroth. Oh my god. What's wrong with me? No, no. That would be, uh, that would be Lance Bess.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yes, that's yeah Harry Lennox is back his lock. ah Harold Perino is back his link and hilariously enough. So Clayton Watson is back as the kid will get to kid later Lambert Wilson is back as the merovingian. But weirdly enough, like Jada Pinkett Smith wasn't going to come back as Niobe, so they got Gina Torres to play Niobe. The real-life wife was of... lawrence but Oh, really? Really? Yeah, the real-life wife of Laurence Fishburne, Gina Torres, who I primarily know from Firefly. She was presumably busy as Gloria, the hippo in Madagascar, of course. ah Yes, that's fair. I have not seen any of the Madagascar's.
00:17:59
Speaker
Except for I think I think the second movie they had on a loop at the Sam's Club I worked at back in the day. So no, no, that's the worst one. I, I don't know what to tell you. But everything you read about this game is insane. This is this is like typically before we record, like the week before we record, after we settle on a subject, I'm like, do I have enough to say to fill it out? yeah I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and then, you know, we get to talking and I'm just like, oh, I have more than enough to say for an hour. This might just be something that I'm too like zoomer adjacent to understand, but OK.
00:18:38
Speaker
It looks like you could, uh, physically buy CD-ROMs of the matrix online. Oh my God. Don't do that to me. I'm so, ah, Jesus Christ. But now I guess I'm, so is that just you are buying, I guess the physical assets of the game and yeah like, obviously you use your own internet connection to get to the servers or I'm not, so I'm just confused with the logistics of this. So back in the day, you used to be able to go to a place called a store, right? um And you would exchange money for typically goods or services. In this case, let's say goods. You would go like, say yeah you yeah, like you would have like your dogecoin or whatever. And yeah exactly right. Your your physical dogecoin in a hand.
00:19:27
Speaker
Oh, you would be. OK, physical, physical. And it was a paper substance called American dollars. ah ah Depending on the country you lived in. um But you would go to your best buy and exchange this money in exchange for a box containing go to this. A small utopia that they called a circuit city. Oh, God, I bought my first. That's what Jesus Caro zero one should have been called Circuit City.
00:19:58
Speaker
And it's got a big red plug boxy logo branding. Yeah. And they just broke it in the post apocalypse remains of a circuit city. Jesus Christ. You know what? I'm going to say this up front. If there are any listeners that we have that played this game, please like write or call or text in. I want to hear about it. Like I want to hear whatever you use. I want to hear about boots on the ground matrix online experience. Damn it. um Yeah, email us at matrix reclamations at Gmail or DM us at matrix queer pod on Instagram or Twitter. Yes.
00:20:35
Speaker
um But you would exchange money for a disk and then you would take the disk home and put the disk in your computer. And depending on how the game operated, you could then download the files from that disk or play them straight from the disk. But then you would have to log online and actually play the game that way, ah which but I guess I guess what confuses me is like, obviously, I've experienced, you know, CD-ROM games where they were not online games, but the online component
00:21:08
Speaker
Like, why is the game, why why not have the game itself online and or where the server is not capable of hosting all of that? And you had to have something on your end in order to. I'm pretty sure it's this is speaking now 20 years removed from because, again, I didn't really play any MMOs. I was a PC gamer through and through. So I would buy a disk, put the disk in the computer and then play the game with the disk in the computer. I never played an MMO because I saw my friend's lives disappear to World of Warcraft. um My ex-wife used to joke, yeah, I'm three years clean of World of Warcraft. ah but But then we never really. Leroy Jenkins, mister. You don't know how many times I heard how angry that video made her. It's amazing.
00:21:58
Speaker
um like truly, ah but then whenever we would go over to her parents' house, her dad still played a World of Warcraft. So she would just get sucked into an hours long conversation about the sword, the size of a tree he had. just So I'm not fully sure how it worked with MMOs specifically. I honestly, God thought you were winding me up about the difference between digital and physical media. And no, it's just that. Well, yeah, I in hindsight, yes, I should have been more wary about that. But I think I was just it's just a very technical question, I guess. It's not even that I'm not I don't even think it's that I'm I'm quote unquote too young to understand. I think I just don't know enough about technology of that kind to understand. I think in some cases it was sometimes it was just like a proof of purchase, like you had prove that you bought the game by having a disk physically in the computer.
00:22:54
Speaker
This is again 2005, the days before like steam and proper gamer handles and stuff like that. um Steam just kind of made everything ubiquitously online anyway. So the last time I played Halo was on Steam, which is insane, considering I played Halo at my senior prom um on like four Xboxes spread throughout the living room of my friend's house. Oh, I thought you were going to say that. that that was at prom that they had. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. We like did the obligatory. Yep. We're nerds at prom. Here we are. We had the dinner. We wore the suits. Let's go home and play Halo. um Yeah, it was a good time. It was a pretty good time. A bunch of Xboxes and like a little CRT set up at.
00:23:39
Speaker
That would be pretty bitchin, actually. Yeah. Yeah. ah So the matrix fucking online. What an insane thing to. Well, I mean, it's not even sure where to start. To me, reading about it and watching about it, but even just just thinking about it before doing the research, it's like.
Concepts and Comparisons: Matrix Games
00:24:00
Speaker
See, it's a no brainer. I mean, if you think about just the concept of the films being, you know, you get to explore this world ah within a computer, that you are, you know, you're you in the real world, but there's also this virtual you as a residual self image, you ah going on all these missions. I mean, it seems like the most obvious, you know, money making,
00:24:27
Speaker
way to bring the game or the the movies, sorry, to life as a as a video game even more so than Enter the Matrix or Path of Neo, the the console games, which I think arguably have better reception as games. But I think this one conceptually is just such a like obvious choice. um especially It makes perfect sense, yeah. When this kind of genre of game was really really picking up um now that the internet was pretty ubiquitous. um yeah Not only ubiquitous, but way faster. that More and more people were off their 28K modems yeah ah that had the sounds of death when you started. It's really interesting to think about the difference between when the Matrix 1 came out and you had people who
00:25:21
Speaker
you know, had to use their their dial up to download the Phantom Menace trailer. ah um Which I did, of course. go and head And then compare that to, you know, post 2003, where, you know, everyone I knew had like the family computer and and some sort of, you know, like non dial up internet. Very much so. I mean, also wireless Internet was becoming a thing as well at that point. Yeah. um So like it got exponentially faster in a relatively short period of time. And unfortunately, I think the way the the two sequels in 2003, when I think they're ah their reach over what's the fucking saying? They they they dreamed too big, unfortunately.
00:26:08
Speaker
Um, um mean i get and they were just ahead of their time. I think is the, I think that's certainly the conclusion. um Isn't that like the recurring theme with the Wachowskis like perpetually like eight years ahead of their time? I think like ah the Nerd Slayer Studios video I think comes to the general conclusion that, you know, this idea was just ahead of what the technology was capable of. um but Yeah, especially if you look at some of the fight gameplay. Yes, it's something that the Wachowskis themselves did, you know, give their direct blessing toward, which they did with pretty much everything matrix related.
00:26:46
Speaker
i Think ever at least until this hypothetical matrix five. I think everything has in some way been creatively handled or Deputized, you know by yeah, like everything has passed through the filter of the Wachowskis. Yeah up until this point anyway There's a quote that nerd Slayer Studios brought up in that video from a 2005 IGN interview with the Wachowskis where they said Our expectations are high, perhaps unreasonably so, but only because we're as anxious for a really good MMO as every other gamer. Obviously, the most important thing we're looking for is it to be fun, to be a game that we'd be interested in playing. Right now, the idea of MMOs, a multitude of gamers jacked into the same computer-generated dream world, is more interesting than the games themselves. We are hoping that The Matrix Online changes that. um I mean, the game only only lasted four years, so...
00:27:40
Speaker
You know, hearinging out on whether that achieve that, but I think they are exactly on the ball in that like this genre suits their story perfectly. I mean, it really, it really is perfect. Absolutely. Yeah. They've created. and We haven't talked about Path of Neo on this podcast yet, but that they are. We will be soon. Yeah, they're doing that thing that they do in that game as well, where they just sort of level with you and they're like, we want to make something that we think is cool, you know? ah Which is why Agent Smith is now a Kaiju. Is that your cat in the background? That is my cat in the background. Baby girl.
00:28:22
Speaker
Why do you got to do this when mommy's recording? You were silent all evening. What the hell? She really loves go puff bags, so she's just playing on that.
00:28:37
Speaker
My game is all the way down. How the hell can you still hear that? That's amazing. As her ways. Yeah, I should probably get carpeting in this apartment. I'm sure it's great for audio. um But yeah, I think it's the kind of thing where, you know, i if I had brought this up in my my video game culture class that I took in college, we would have all gone nuts for it because we talked all about, um you know, sort of the ludo narrative and like how the gameplay, suiting the form and suiting the storytelling of ah a game that it has that
00:29:14
Speaker
It's not like any other medium that exists because it has that element of interactivity and and player input. And the matrix is just literally textually about that sort of interactivity with the computer world. Oh, very much so. It's built right into the framework of the medium itself. Yeah. um And they definitely went above and beyond. ah From from what I understand, ah developers actually went in the game as NPCs and were just interacting straight up with players. That's incredible. The idea that especially that they were deputized to play, you know, existing canon, important story characters, including, you know, like Morpheus, Serif, Niobe, etc., which I assume meant like,
00:30:02
Speaker
You know, I, they had, I suppose like cut scenes that were pre-written in voice, but then I assumed they could log on and type, you know, to chat with players, uh, in real time, like sort of real time, uh, which is so cool. um They is because like what would be the point of The Matrix if you didn't get to like try and have a chat with the Oracle or or fucking Morpheus or somebody apparently Smith is in the game not voiced by Hugo Weaving I might add. But um ah but yeah and i you know I would never I would never say this that something's more important than Smith but in this case we do get a girl agent in this game.
00:30:43
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's the this is the future. The Democrats want more girl cops. We get a girl agent. Her name is Agent Pace. And assigned as sort of a like liaison, I believe, between the the the humans and the machines. Yes. So she is deliberately designed and speaks with more emotion in her voice. She is not that kind of stereotypical stoic agent. And apparently she's also Italian. So that's that's great. Oh, wait, how is she Italian? Please elaborate.
00:31:22
Speaker
Uh, she just... I mean, hey, if the Merovingian can choose to be French, Agent Pace can choose to be Italian. That's... fair. He said I could be anything, so I became Italian. Oh, my gosh, you're right. OK, this is it's been a little while since I looked up the goddamn Wikipedia for her. ah She was programmed to utilize Italian in order to further humanize her. Incredible. Yeah, but it's telling people they they chose poorly. Jesus Christ. It's OK. I'm that. Yeah, that my friend is a spicy meatball. But like look up her character model because she's basically just like
00:32:00
Speaker
ah Considering how many polygons they had to use in 2005, she has a fairly butch haircut, agent sunglasses, ah most of her buttons undone through her cleavage. Like, put on a tie, agent. guy Come on. You won't last 30 seconds playing this game, Mr. Anderson. Ah, Jesus Christ. ah um the The commercial, one of the commercials also
00:32:31
Speaker
and big bold letters says Jack in. So sure maybe at all encouraging that kind of behavior. Ah, gross Aruni. No, thank you, Matrix Online. um Um, yeah, I guess, I mean, going along with sort of what they were planning for the game, uh, as opposed to the actual like execution of the idea. I think this is where my, my sort of Star Wars, uh, soapbox is going to come in. Cause the whole time. doing all this this research and looking into it, I was really, really reminded of the recently shuttered a galactic star cruiser Star Wars hotel experience that Disney did at their floor. Oh, God. Wow. Yeah, you're right. but Of course, I mean, we'll also link this in the description, but
00:33:24
Speaker
You know, famously, ah the YouTuber Jenny Nicholson recently did a massive like six hour video all about how ah that the the many, many ways in which this was not a well executed idea and her personal experience with it. I highly recommend you check that out. It really. is Oh, my gosh. I'm going to have to watch that. Yes, absolutely. Oh, my God. it' so You have to watch it on the wall. On the wall. So yeah, but but it's, um and and the quote that really sparked this thinking was the, it's actually the headline quote on the Matrix Wiki for the Matrix Online from one of the producers of the game that says, we now give the story of the Matrix to fans. Where does it go? What happens now? It's up to them. Since the the Matrix Online, I don't know if we established, but it it takes place after Matrix Revolutions and it explores sort of the the fallout of the
00:34:17
Speaker
truce between the humans and the machines, and it essentially centers around ah different factions of humans within the matrix that emerge. There are some who are, I guess, I believe their their name is E Plurius Neo. Yeah, let me pull it up. So you've got the three main ah factions, which are Zion, the machines and the Merovingian. Oh, and then my bad, that's E Pluribus. Epluribus neo, yes. Which is a Latin pun on out of the many one. um God damn it. But it just means out of the many neo, which, uh, stupid, but go on. Well, it's also led by the kid.
00:35:04
Speaker
And of course, of course, Jesus Christ. But yeah, they are the essentially, you know, they're the Zion loyal, they they want people to wake up, they want people to leave the matrix, that sort of thing. Right. And that now being allowed by the architect, at least in some limited supply.
00:35:23
Speaker
ah And then you've got the cypherites who are machine aligned. um And they ah want to be reinserted into the matrix. You know, in the grand scheme of things, who was hurt? Who in the ma who in the matrix are like inside? Like how notable was what Cypher did? I mean, yes, he did. He did kill, you know, almost the entire crew of a ship. I'm sure that was a little notorious over the year. But I mean, yeah not just particularly impressive at any of it. He kind of went out like a punk. um Yeah. Yeah, I guess people will make martyrs of anybody, you know.
00:36:03
Speaker
I guess. Yeah, it's just kind of like, it's like if you took Boba Fett, but like only as he appears in the original trilogy and people were like, I'm a Fettite, you know, but then again, people were. So what am I, who, you know, what am I talking about? He had his fan base, even when he did go out like a punk, so. What am I talking about? I really did. The coolest Boba Fett has ever been has been The Empire Strikes Back and MC Chris's Fett's Vet. And that's about the coolest Boba Fett's ever been. I don't personally think he's been cool in really any other format, honestly. Yeah. We can get into that later. I do like the fact that their ship is called the Blue Dreamer, which I like. Yeah, that's cute. And every day they eat a big steak.
00:36:49
Speaker
Ah, steak and eggs every day, kids. Steak and eggs every day. And they're all actors.
00:36:57
Speaker
Oh, God. And there are also- I'd also like to point out that the, uh, the, uh, the people or the cipherites are led by a person called Cryptos and his second in command, Vale. And I'm like, ah, these are all excellent villain names. Good. Good job. Good Matrix names. Good villain names. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the thing is like the fact that you can align yourself with this ostensibly more villainous group, I think is really cool that you get to genuinely choose like what side you want to be on. But there's also a third faction of humans that are
00:37:31
Speaker
loyal to the Merovingian, but I guess loyal is kind of a stretch because they're sort of the rogue class in that they will do whatever benefits them in the moment, but that they also stick up for the exiles, who are the programs, who are against the machines, who who want to live their own lives, ah like like Sati's parents, and Sati herself, I suppose, and the Oracle and so on. ah it's We do love an exile in this house. We do, we do. And that, to bring it back around to my my Star Wars comparison. the goal Oh, yes, please. The Galactic Star Cruiser's conceit was that you were on an actual cruise ship. It would be a two day, you know, stay in this in this hotel, very Westworld. Very like there's no actual windows. It's all like space screens. And you're allegedly on this cruise ship, even though it's just a already building.
00:38:26
Speaker
Already I'm tapping out. I hate that. Well, I mean, you don't you actually don't have to worry about it because it was $6,000. So your're um don't you that was never the question. Jesus. um But yeah, you would you would be there. And then the idea was the big buzzword, I guess, was immersion. You know, they wanted you to be immersed in, quote, your Star Wars story, which is a lot like that quote I gave earlier from The Matrix online producer of like, you know, that's true is your story. You get to, although.
00:38:58
Speaker
Arguably for I think that that sentiment suits the matrix more where there's a big theme of like choice and stuff More more so than Star Wars where a lot of this stuff is like, oh it was the will of the force, you know i said um But there was this hypothetical concept for the galactic star cruiser that was fittingly enough, inspired by video games and sort of quest-based video games, kind of like The Matrix Online in a weird recursive sort of way, where you would choose your your alignment. You could be, so obviously since this is Disney, it's a set during the sequel trilogy. I believe the same time period as the theme park, Galaxy's Edge, where it's set between the Last Jedi and that other one.
00:39:44
Speaker
where you can either it's pronounced duel of the fates. That's right. That's right. Raise a robot. um You can be either on the side of the resistance or the first order, but there's also a smuggler rogue class um and you have missions that will ah Take you down different itineraries depending on ah how you do and there are Characters, you know established characters to the the lore of the ship that are around like the captain and there's also like a First-order officer and there's like a smuggler and there's these sort of Jedi ish figures these monk like figures there's also, you know the the musical artist on the ship and and theoretically
00:40:34
Speaker
The Jizzwhalers? They had Jizzwhalers on the ship? No, unfortunately, yeah, it's a family cruise. There's no Jizzwhalers on the ship. Oh, man. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah, look, they can't they can't pay their cleaning crew that much. They... yeah Please continue. If Jizz filled the dining room every night, I think it would... no I don't know if anyone would enjoy that. um for yourself ah they yeah so theoretically again all of this is purely theoretical because as you can probably tell ah by by the way in which I talk about it none of this actually works the way they they intended it to right um or at least the way they planned it to
00:41:20
Speaker
uh you could interact with these real life actors warping as their characters and it would and it would influence your story path moving forward that there were these pre sort of planned story events that would happen like oh the ship is being attacked by storm troopers or something and how you act in that story moment would determine your your your path moving forward over the course of the two-day experience.
Factions and Story Arcs in The Matrix Online
00:41:46
Speaker
And that sort of, again, the Matrix Online brings that to mind in the way that the members of the dev team were playing, you know, Morpheus and and Serif and the like in real time that you could actually engage with them.
00:42:04
Speaker
um But of course in Jenny Nicholson's experience and many other guest experiences, none of it actually had any bearing on their story. that they it It felt like everything was sort of on rails. they couldn't um you know Jenny in the video cites specific instances where she was trying to get herself aligned with the first order just because she felt like that would be the hardest one to get on the track of because Disney probably doesn't want to encourage their guests to be fascist, but she wanted to test how flexible the story paths were. And so she was constantly you know trying to interact with the First Order officer character. um And it got to the point where some of the characters would start to recognize guests if they periodically you know interacted ah repeatedly. But she never really got recognized. And and when she kept trying to like say like, oh, I think I saw a resistance you know spy over here. And yeah she she would be met with like,
00:42:59
Speaker
that's just what a resistance spy would say and like stuff like that i'm just like so i'm trying i'm literally on your side like oh my god the sublime the kind of idea that uh would be really cool to to achieve in a real life sort of augmented reality setting but i think for reasons of You know, it's it's not only difficult, but also Disney was just really fucking cheap about it. um shock Yeah. Yeah. Shock and all that they, that that it, that it just, it just did not work. But the, the theory of everything and the the game theory of it and the, the.
00:43:40
Speaker
you you know, player slash real life person experience of it really, really feels like you can draw a parallel. Um, and I'm, I'm glad I, thank you for giving me that soapbox in which to, to state those, those similar vibes, because my God, I'm thrilled you, ah you got a chance. Yeah, that's amazing. I think they, and they failed for different, but similar reasons, I guess, in that. You know, overreach, overreach. Yeah. Like the technology isn't there, but also, you know, just, just corporations going to corporation, you know, because the, the, the company for matrix online, uh, was bought out by Sony, right? Yes. And, and Sony, landed you know, like a business and, and it, uh, over the years, I think just wasn't returning the, the profit that they wanted.
00:44:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah One of the comments I read said that in the end, there were barely more than like 300 people ah across three servers total, which is yeah not sustainable. I watched footage of one of the, I'm sorry, how many servers was it? Uh, well, it started off, I want to say is nine servers and then it was condensed into three. Yes. And that, yeah. And you know what? That is actually, I mean, that emphasizes your point, right? That there weren't enough people to justify running nine servers. Yeah, exactly. But you can see, look on Matrix Online, I guess we can link this one too. There's video of the last moments of the Matrix Online. Oh my God, you watched that too, yes. And it's like 15 characters, like 15 people huddled around in the city and then they all disappear one by one. Well, they don't just disappear, it's truly horrifying how they go because they are like pixelated, um not pixelated, but like their polygon bodies get like,
00:45:31
Speaker
They implode into yeah balls of like people. It like one of the yeah one of the comments was like, not like this, not like this. If you've ever seen the ah the the YouTube series, Car Boys, a video series set on breaking the game, a beam in G dot drive. A lot of times, Griffin McElroy did with no one else. with no one else correct they've got the perfect word for it when when the game goes fucky like that it's called god trash so it's this terrifying video of all of these people all at once grabbing their heads screaming writhing in pain and then being condensed into these
00:46:14
Speaker
balls of god trash with sometimes just human heads sticking out of like um it's it. It's as if like a a thousand voices were to suddenly cry out. and then and Except in this case, it's like it's i as if 12 or so voices suddenly cried out and then were silenced. This is as if a baker's dozens or so voices cried out in terror. Yeah, yeah that's a great Alec Guinness. It's all I am doing like an impression of an impression when I say lizzy yeah your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough. Like when I do. Yeah, when I do Harrison Ford, it's me doing Mark Hamill doing Harris. I don't sound like that at all. It ain't that kind of movie.
00:46:56
Speaker
Well, hey, my Orson Welles is just my version of ah Maurice LaMarche's The Brain. It's like what? Yeah, but that's I mean, that's a fantastic. but Well, it's but Orson Welles is already a cartoon character to begin with. So yes. Yes. ah But yeah, I think. Yeah, I think the the shutdown in some ways, you know, kind of inevitable. um Really? Inevitable? God damn it. The sound of inevitability, even. but Yeah. This is the sound of inevitability. Yeah. yeah you The God trash. Yeah. It does make me think of monster factory, which makes me wonder what the, uh, character customization was like for matrix online.
00:47:43
Speaker
I would kill to know. I'm sure there's videos of it that we just haven't seen. i assume I can only assume that it wasn't nearly vast enough because I think it's the kind of thing where because they this studio that worked on the game, which is something I didn't write down. Wait. Oh, sorry. I'm looking up a video because I found a video. Monolith. Monolith, yes. The engine that they used they they use, their their engine that they had used for other games, but they had not done it on an online game before, I believe is how it went. um Correct me if I'm wrong, though.
00:48:21
Speaker
um I'm pretty sure I found a video of character creation and it's. ah It's it's it's as rough as you would think it is for 2005. But it's the kind of thing that I think needed to almost be its own mini game in itself. Because again, this is something that the Matrix itself sets, puts the ball right on the tee for you. And all you got to do is knock it off with with ah with enough force. And you got it out of the park. It's a little self-image that you can make yourself look however you want to look in the Matrix.
00:48:58
Speaker
um And it's a missed opportunity, but also very understandable, you know, cause I mean, we hear so many fucking horror stories about crunch these days with, with video games and I'm glad that they were able to use the resources that they had and didn't put you know too much pressure on themselves to reinvent the wheel about it. um
00:49:21
Speaker
Cause they can't help that it was 2005. That's not their fault. I understand. Yeah. It's a wow, man. but I'm going to definitely have to link this video because it takes you through the entire beginning of the game and you're putting to the. Construct. It's incredible. That's that's cool, though. I like that it's in the concert. I think that it's they really did get the details right, I think, in the ways that they were able. It's really a shame that the gameplay itself kinda sucked from what I understand. God almighty. Those good boys would have fun with that, yeah. although i don't know yeah i imagine it i don't think you can actually like stretch the faces in the ways that ah They have hacked video games before, I'm sure they would find a way. oh okay all right well that
00:50:16
Speaker
And that makes me feel better. Now imagine them doing that to their own residual self-images in the Matrix. Imagine the McElroy is plugged in, and imagine Final Pam in the Matrix. How did you expect a barbecue go, Agent Smiths? It doesn't seem. I will take a hammer and fix the Matrix. yeah That's the movie. Christ alive. got you Hey, yeah. Matrix five. The final pan. Sold in the room. Come on. Yeah. um I also love the idea that apparently they would just have in game raves with like regular DJs. I love this so much.
00:50:59
Speaker
I know, right? Was the game rated M? yeah The game was rated T for teen. I think they could have gone fully into the the BDSM party element ah that you have to have. I mean, and yeah. Uh, I love looking at the gameplay footage of people like basically cosplaying Neo. It's like, and then there's of course the player that's shirtless. Cause there's always, all that I would call that kind of boring, but I also, you know, it is part of, again, it's part of the story. I mean, there's literally like a Neo cult in a way. Yeah. Yeah. It makes sense. It makes sense that people would, would do that.
00:51:38
Speaker
it's ah It's speaking as somebody who has a Neo coat from 2003 in their closet right now. ah Yes. I would be guilty of doing so. Yeah. God. This friggin game, just goddamn incredible. They had entire story arcs planned out and would do these massive events across all of the servers. which is again, a very similar concept to the Galactic Star Cruiser because everyone on the quote unquote ship, you know, hotel would have their own itinerary, which according to Jenny Nicholson was way too packed. They did not get enough sleep. But there were these scripted story events that everyone would be privy to regardless of your individualized path. Huh, okay. God in heaven. Again, in theory. In in theory.
00:52:34
Speaker
Yeah, I imagine it'd be easier to. Yeah, I imagine it'd be easier to execute this in a gaining online space as opposed to in in the meat space. Yeah. most Yeah, most certainly. Most certainly. But yeah, so they they start off with the race to find the one where the three organizations are racing to gather Neos RSI fragments. Yes. And. i And see, I think this is part of why I thought that it hadn't been necessarily decanonized because there's the idea that, oh, you know, neither Neo nor Trinity's body have been recovered, but they also, we know it was confirmed that the machines didn't recycle them. They haven't been turned into goo for the babies. Right. um So they're somewhere physically. We just don't know where and and as in the game, they never find out.
00:53:28
Speaker
That's fair. That's fair. um Can't canonical question mark. I think it's the kind of thing where I don't know if there are necessarily enough direct contradictions that you can't head cannon it into your your world view of the matrix, even if there are official word of goddess things that have that have gotten gotten it decanonized. That's fair, that's fair. I mean, ah as somebody that reads a shitload of fan fiction anymore, fuck canon, who cares? and Yeah. Yeah. Up yours, Miguel O'Hara.
00:54:06
Speaker
I also like to point out that the concept of canon was created by Catholics and fuck the Pope. So, yeah. The Pope was so mad when they changed Kiati Mundi's birthday.
00:54:22
Speaker
I mean, kind of he kind of looks like Yachty Moondi with the hat. I mean, you the hey, he could be hiding a key of the Monday. He could be in acrid. I wanted want to see the pope take his hat off and his head is shaped exactly like the hat.
00:54:42
Speaker
mor of that just is his head mortifying absolutely mortifying um god then they had red-eyed agents like agents were getting corrupted somehow and i was just agents on a really early flight home
00:54:59
Speaker
And I love this. they They had a arc called Nightfall where Oh my God. Yeah. right Yes. You read about this too. Yes. Stupid, stupid vampire and werewolves. Oh God. The Matrix had its own Twilight before Twilight. There was a Twilight. They also mentioned that they have, uh, players are armed with holy water, silver bullet and wooden stake kill codes. i said shit Pit kitten.
00:55:26
Speaker
That's absolutely bonkers. I do also like that they point out on The Matrix Wiki that different factions tend to win the each story arc on different servers. And a lot of stuff was a lot of stuff, even within the canon of The Matrix online itself, several story elements had to be dropped entirely after the merging of servers. Yeah. Yeah. Dicted one another, which is I think kind of I think speaks to how You know, Sony started running it more like a business and I think the passion for the game, like I'm sure it didn't go away from the developer side, but it was definitely more easily overshadowed by the fact that the game just needed to turn a profit or unfortunately.
00:56:09
Speaker
unfortunately Yeah. what What just what a bananas undertaking ah to to try for in 2005 of all times, especially especially because this was, I mean, two years after the year of the matrix 2003. Right. when When people are still kind of mad at the matrix and making fun of it. ah So yeah. And the the the video we keep citing the the about the matrix online, which we've linked in the description, they Have a have a kind of bone to pick with revolutions, but seem to think that reloaded is fine because they don't mention reloaded at all. I'm like, yeah, like kind of got got their, you know, their share of criticism. But, you know, revolution is probably more so. I mean, but we've talked about this before. ah Reloaded at least spends most of its time in the matrix. Revolution spends that half hour chunk in just
00:57:10
Speaker
brownish gray territory. And I'm like, i like our revolutions episode is probably one of my favorites. You all should listen to it if you haven't. i'm I'm thrilled. um I do appreciate on our ah statistics, ah the episode title, ah The Matrix Reloaded is a very horny movie, is our most listened to episode. So I think we need to start. Yeah, exactly. So we need to start making hornier episodes. So The Matrix Online, did I mention the raves? The Matrix Online is a massive throbbing on multiplayer online game.
00:57:46
Speaker
slower. Jesus Christ. um i'm I'm losing myself in just the jargon on this Wikipedia page. Oh my God. Yeah. And what's interesting is after the shutdown, one of the, I believe one of the developers posted like all the chapters that they had intended on doing. Yes. And get to, um, nothing, none of it seemed to, again, none of it seemed to directly like necessarily contradict or or have anything really majorly to do with you know, Neo or Trinity or or anyone like that. So maybe they were planning on like a follow-up series of chapters or something. But what's also allowed to me is that this was the last Matrix thing for like a decade and change, right?
00:58:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's not the last thing we're going to discuss before we get to everything else ah in terms of like resurrections and stuff like that. But like, I mean, this and I mean, the path of Neo was a single player game that came out in 2005. So this ended in 2009. This was the last matrix for maybe be the comics 12 years. Were the comics in between this? No, the comics mostly came out in the ah in between the the first and the second two movies, um which which are which I have all collected in a great big hardback edition, which is always help myself so we can we can do an episode on it.
00:59:11
Speaker
It's gorgeous and I adore it. ah So ah it's it's God. Yeah, this was the last matrix people saw for over 10 years. Yeah, the last inkling of the story. I mean, I guess speaking of that, do we want to talk about probably the the thing that the matrix online is most remembered for and arguably the most major story event that happens?
Controversies and Critiques
00:59:36
Speaker
Oh, yes, let's talk about it. death Of Morpheus.
00:59:42
Speaker
In the context of the game, he is trying to essentially commit acts of terrorism and i mean violate the truce between the humans and the machines in order to recover Neo's body. um Now, see, right here, this is where we get into like, I think this directly contradicts the lore of resurrections, which is why I don't think this is canonical anymore, because in resurrections, they talk about how Morpheus believed fully in the truce and did not want to do anything to upset that truce to the point of inaction and not realizing that shit was falling apart, even with said truce.
01:00:21
Speaker
Yeah, I guess I'd have to analyze that dialogue more closely. I think it... You mean you didn't watch the movie seven times in seven days? like I always interpreted it as like, oh, he he believed in Neo to a fault and got killed in the process, which in terms of broad strokes, you know, I think either of those interpretations where either, you know, Morpheus sees the truce as Neo's last act and because he believes in Neo more than anything, he believes in the truce more than anything. So he might become maybe too passive or in this in the game's interpretation, he wants to know what they've done with Neo because, again, he believes in Neo more than anything, he cares about Neo more than anything, but as sort of a god figure more so than a person, perhaps, and that's sort of his fatal flaw, ah literally, in this case, because it's his drive to do that that gets him killed, because he's planting the these like code bombs around, right? Which I think the intention is that
01:01:17
Speaker
Yes, there is a video of the cutscene of the death of Morpheus, which is kind of cool and also ridiculous at the same time. Yeah, we're going to have a lot of videos linked in the description. um Yeah, these bombs the bombs are supposed to set off and and show the code of anyone who's around it. And then the people who are still in the matrix will it'll it'll essentially trigger like mass wake ups, right? Yes. um And it's truly bananas because Morpheus is planning these bombs. They start to go off. And yeah, they just expose the running matrix code ah over the building of which they're exploding. um and And then Morpheus is chased out into an alley by an assassin wearing a mask. And I don't know if you've never guessed what his name is.
01:02:08
Speaker
It's via. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Real creative. um But he he just I don't know if it's the character design or the limitations of the technology and the animation, but he literally just slithers out of a small window grate. Yeah. In the side of a warehouse. And it's the goofiest looking thing right before Morpheus is just shot a couple of times in the chest. Yeah. I'm a little upset Morpheus doesn't condense into a little ball of God trash. um
01:02:40
Speaker
But then, yeah, the assassin just unloads an entire clip into Morpheus and there he goes. Yeah, yeah. I mean, how do you feel about that? You know what? Well, harkening back to Star Wars, I think it's ah a cheap way for such a major, awesome character ah played by a major, awesome actor of gravitas, who coincidentally happens to be bald, black and coated with purple. ah Mace Windu's death in episode three. I was wondering because there's a lot of cheap ass deaths in Star Wars. I was wondering.
01:03:20
Speaker
Look, if you're going to kill Sam Jackson, especially Sam Jackson with a lightsaber, he does not go out like that. I cannot accept that as real that's nonsense. He shouldn't have thought that was miscast from day one. I mean, I mean, that yeah, man wanted to be a Jedi. I don't blame him.
01:03:44
Speaker
but he's like it's like Yoda's like bitch ass second in command like he's not he's annoying But OK, I will say it would have changed the entire game for me if they had just given Attack of the Clones an R rating and change just one thing. And that would be for Sam Jackson to say, this party's over, motherfuckers. If he had just said that gold star movie of the year. Yeah. Yeah. It's ah yeah. Just release the Sam Jack cut. Damn it. Yeah, that's that's no, that's true. That's true.
01:04:17
Speaker
Oh God, but yeah, this game killed Morpheus. I mean, you you disagree with that as a character choice then for Morpheus? Very much so, yeah. I mean, I get what they're doing. ah They need like a major character death, especially because a later in an arc later on down the line was the return of Morpheus? quote Question pleasure my mark? Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure they had other like stuff to go through, like that they were going to get to after all the stuff that they had already written had the game ah continued. But um I mean, in some cases, I think it might have just been like we can't afford to keep paying ah Lawrence Fishburne to come in and do voiceovers for cut scenes. Maybe, but I mean, I don't know. I think it I mean, clearly it.
01:05:06
Speaker
made an impact because I think it's again, it is how most people remember this game. It's what I most strongly associate with. Yeah. And it's what I always knew about the game even before I did a deeper dive into it. Yes, Sam. It's ah it's I mean, it's reduced down to that. And I agree with the concept that a story that takes place post revolutions has to either give Morpheus something interesting to do, which he hasn't had since arguably the first movie, or I guess reloaded, or just kill him, or kill him in an instant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As soon as he gives that final speech and reloaded, he kind of runs out of shit to do. spirits of our Two of our main trio are dead at this point. Yeah. You might as well finish off and focus on someone else, in this case, obviously the player, you know, you out there at home.
01:06:01
Speaker
um But yeah, I think it was the right idea and maybe just a a wonky execution, but so is everything else with this game, so I can't really single that out. I mean, so is everything else with the Matrix sequels, to be fair. So like, Sure, sure. Yeah. That that era of the Matrix. so I and have the same issues when you get down. Yeah. I mean, we we like to get into it a little bit. We, yeah Bex and I recently rewatched ah the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. OK. And and.
01:06:35
Speaker
Dead Man's Chest also ends suddenly on the face of a character reveal who really has not been in the movie up to that point, and it's just as jarring. Yeah, but hey, at least you know who that is, right? Yeah, I mean, it's... And at least they're right, right up. It's Jeffrey Rush. it's jeffrey rush as a pirate which is always a high note for anything something they what they do with him is similar to what they do with uh darth maul in solo where they have them do something they have them like do something that is emblematic of their character whether that's show the double bladed lightsaber or eat an apple
01:07:12
Speaker
where you're like, because he talks about apples a lot in the first movie, where you're like. He does. can In case you see the face and you're like, who is that? Then they do the thing with their prop and you're like, oh, that guy. And then for Darth Maul, they play like, duh, duh, duh, duh. Yeah. And then in The Matrix, it's an upside down face of a guy you saw an hour and a half ago ah who you don't recognize. It just. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:43
Speaker
Oh, God, do we have anything else? I mean, like we could get deeper into the storyline, but there's obviously so fucking much storyline. Yeah, I mean, it's a lot and I think nonsense anyway. I think we've talked about the most interesting parts with the. Oh, well, one another interesting thing is that so part of it is, I guess, the fetch quests, which another critique of the game, not only oh yeah just them being poor, but also the quest themselves were apparently very ah repetitive. which is sorry i'm gonna say that again because i hiccuped uh another criticism of the games not only the combat being poor but the quests themselves being very repetitive which is another parallel i can draw out to the galactic star cruiser because a lot of the quests on there were apparently very boring and mostly just but pressing buttons in an app uh yeah yeah it's uh
01:08:34
Speaker
that That's from what I understand, a very common thing with MMOs. um You've got to go here and collect 10 wolf pelts. OK. Yeah. Now go over here and collect 20 ice wolf pelts. Werewolves in this case. you Yeah. And then for this, there was a plot point where um
01:08:59
Speaker
bits of Neo's residual self-image were being used to create these super agents, I believe called Neo agents, but like spelled with a three instead of an E. ah The other interesting bit, I think, from the this lore that I wanted to point out, not only with the new character-introduced Agent Pace, but also the general, uh who is in exile who was essentially the program of the head sentinel that attacked in Reloaded slash revolutions that dug down into Zion who when the truce order came through did not want to follow through with the truce order and so uh found his way into the matrix uh as an exile and i think that's really interesting the idea that like
01:09:42
Speaker
that there are programs operating, you know, the squids and all the other the machines and so forth that you can can see them as, you know, humanoid in the matrix. If if they moved into the matrix from their their robot bodies, you know, I mean, that's always been one of my favorite things just about the matrix. Just ah we've gotten into this before, especially with Ramakundra, my best friend. um He's just a little guy. Just a little guy. He's just a little guy. He loves his wife. He loves his daughter. What else do you want? But just that there are people on both sides of this war, and by both sides, I mean humans and the machines. There's people that just want to do their jobs on that side. Yeah, and the idea that every function that a computer has is a program, and that is a person. That can manifest as a person.
01:10:41
Speaker
So, you know, say you open a CD-ROM and you have like the download wizard. That's an actual wizard. Yeah. That's a legit wizard dog. Like I want to see like programs, like, like a guy dressed in a a cartoon, like blue and white wizard robe. I was just like, where are you? I am the licensing wizard. The Adobe licensing wizard.
01:11:08
Speaker
Or like, hey, you know, I'm I'm the I don't know, the task manager, you press control, delete. That's me. I would actually I would actually love to see a task manager. I think task manager would be like a big hulking like goon type who would just is this program bothering you, ma'am? Like you just knock them out to end the program if they're not responding. Oh, I like that. Hey, great buddy, buddy, you got it. Not responding, eh? All right. Just knocks them down. We heard you was using up too much of the CPUs around here. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, God. God, there's so much. There's so much space to for larping inside the matrix. I love that. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Which again is why this was such a perfect idea. And honestly, I think
01:12:04
Speaker
I don't know, what do you think? if they could If they redid this now? If they redid this now and it was a ah reasonable monthly subscription fee, yes, I would 100% do this. Nah, it would be free to play, but everything would be paywalled. I don't think it would be a a subscription thing. It would do the multiverses thing. which Speaking of which, that's actually a bit of news that we didn't cover earlier. um But I think it's okay, because it's in line with the online games topic. So I don't know if we have to move it back. but
01:12:38
Speaker
Um, so the Warner Brothers smash bros clone multiverses, uh, by all accounts, by all accounts is not doing well. Um, but you know, fuck our glorious parent company, Warner brothers. Um, Obviously the ah the people who work on the game, I'm sure they put a lot of effort and and heart and passion into it. They deserve our respect and appreciation, but yeah, it's it's the money man. We say fuck too. Yeah. Yeah. They've added a agent Smith as one of the characters in this fighting game. Surprising. I kind of would have expected Neo at first, but I think it was part of a sort of package or rather it was in the same announcement as the Joker and Jason Voorhees.
01:13:19
Speaker
Oh, so it's like a villain. So yeah, I think that's sort of they wanted to add more villains in there because they don't really have a ton right now. I mean, they do have the Iron Giant who famously loves fighting and killing. God, yes. That's my favorite part about the movie. Ready Player One. when Yes, he loved being a gun. God, that's the whole point of that movie, right? and He loves being a gun. That doesn't piss me off every time I think about it. You can now have Agent Smith beat the crap out of Steven Universe, if that's true. As long as you have exorbitant amounts of money to get through all the paywalls. Obviously, of course. Yeah. I would only be interested. I think, isn't Avatar Aang and Korra in that game? Or is that something else you're thinking of? Oh, no. You're thinking of that's different ownership. That would be Nicole's car brawl. It seems to be a better received game.
01:14:17
Speaker
But I believe it also has a different, you know, method of character unlocking. It's not the same yeah sort of thing. I'm trying to remember the last time I played a video game properly. And I think the last time I like had true fun playing a video game was like Skyrim. Oh, my God. Right. Which is like, hey, like I get in there and I mod it till it breaks. So I've got like Skyrim. Damn it. But like. That is essentially, if you've ever played one of the Bethesda games like Skyrim or one of the fallouts, those games are essentially um MMOs, but for single players. And I could see the matrix thriving in a situation like that, but it would take, again, years of programming and writing and voice acting to expand this entire giant world.
01:15:07
Speaker
And then, of course, it would just be still limited as those games are without any continuing stories ah after like a couple of expansion packs or whatever have you. But that just might be me speaking just like I should play Skyrim again. I mean, I see your point. It's um you could punch a dragon. It was great. And I think it's, you know, easier to. control the details of a like sort of like pseudo MMO like that, right? Yes, exactly. I think an open world single player matrix game. Is probably what would happen if they were to make something like that now, because it wasn't there. I think there it was like the newest unreal engine or whatever, and it was right around the time. Resurrections was coming out. There was like a demo of the engine.
01:16:01
Speaker
That was like a mini matrix game, right? Yeah, I don't know if this would justify its own episode because I think it was pretty, you know, minimal, ah but yeah, it was very sparse and short from what I understand. So. But the potential of it, I think, is I mean, obviously they were doing it more to show off the engine than to show off anything matrix related. It was just sort of a cross promotion. But, um you know, I think it's I think they would ah If anything, don't do the movie, Matrix Five, just make a game, you know, do kind of repeat the the idea of like, oh, the story continues in the game, um but but just set it after resurrections, maybe. I would be into that, honestly. Take the story into a completely different format altogether. Paint the sky with rainbows, but we don't know what that right we don't we don't know that reference yet. We haven't gotten there yet. I mean, we'll eventually.
01:17:00
Speaker
We will eventually. Um, do we have anything more we want to say about the matrix online? Again, if, if any anybody, if any listeners played the matrix online, we'd love to hear about it. I think I've pretty much said my piece about, uh, fair enough. Uh, in the meantime, uh, I have been hope Lickner. You can find me on various social medias that I hate. Uh, and I also have another podcast called Highland cartoons where I'm going through, uh, where we, or not, not you and I, Ella, but me, my partner and I Bex are going through a duck tails. Uh, and we're most of the way through season two at this point. So it's getting into the good shit kids.
01:17:38
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, I've been Ella Chesery. I will continue to be Ella Chesery, presumably. Uh, you can find me at drawn without ref on the socials, which I have a complicated relationship with. You can check out my other podcast mystery shack. Look back. I did with Charlie Marlowe and, uh, Shelby Sessler. I believe we're going to have some new episodes coming out sometime in the semi foreseeable future, since there is some new default content on the horizon. Oh, hell yeah. with the yeah the Book of Bill coming out yeah for those in the know. I've i've got my copy pre-ordered, it's gonna be good. yeah Me too, me too. And yeah, there's a...
01:18:18
Speaker
There's a whole lot of stuff out there with me. I got my website, uh, weebly.com, uh, which is E-L-L-A-C-E-S-A-R-I at, uh, weebly.com. Uh, no, not at dot weebly.com. Sorry. Let me just say, uh, let me just say that again. Uh, E-L-L-A-C-E-S-A-R-I dot weebly.com. Uh, so that's sort of my, my, my body of work, uh, and, and. and play, I guess, to whatever podcast yeah podcast or work. ah Anyway, yeah yeah, hire me for animation or whatever. Yes, you should. You're very good. Thank you.
01:19:01
Speaker
i
01:19:03
Speaker
And in the meantime, I guess that's all we have to say about that until next time. ah How are we? and here How do we end this show? It's been two. It's been two months. Jesus God. Well, happy pride, I guess. Yes, happy pride to all who celebrate. Love is the genesis of all things. And you are not alone.
01:19:29
Speaker
Goodbye.