Clio and Friends: Welcome to the Matrix
Generally, I will be examining the collectors myself on the Syntax instance. However, for Clio to even talk to me these days she wanted to see the ID card from my previous life as a bluepill, which most of us gave up long ago. So, for this first installment of Token Hunting, I enlisted the help of a brand new redpill my crew had recently seen to freeing. (An alt, for those of you who don't care for that silly in-character mumbo jumbo)
Fresh out of the Uriah northeast hardline, our intrepid redpill is ready to get going on his quest to becoming a powerful operative in the Matrix. But where to go? Past the usual crowd of loitering redpills, he spots a woman in green standing along the roadside. She calls out to him.
“Hey, redpill! Glad to see you made it through the awakening process. Now you're here and it's time to get down to business. The Matrix is a pretty harsh place – we need to help each other out if we're going to survive. You notice the ID card in your inventory? We all have baggage from our former lives, baggage that doesn't do anything but hinder our progress. I need you to hand that over before we can get going.”
Baggage or not, it's still a bit disconcerting to be handing over your ID card to a perfect stranger. Sensing some hesitation, Clio offers an envelope in exchange. It seems important, and maybe she's right about letting things go. What good is an ID card for a life that no longer exists, anyway? He makes the trade.
“All right, not a moment to lose. The first thing you'll want to do is turn around and use that hardline. Make sure you have all your abilities loaded up. They'll come in handy once everything hits the fan – and believe me, it will. Once you're done, head straight west until you find Stokes. There's a compass at the bottom of your HUD if you need it.”
And with that, he's on his way. As an aside, it's pretty clear that Clio and her buddies work for Zion, although never stated directly. They tell you to contact command at the end, and pretty much everything in the beginning is Zion. Wonder how they got the “standing around a dumpy dock” duty. Lock must really not like these folks.
He takes her advice and loads up some abilities and heads west. He notices that the envelope appears to be a “Note for Stokes” and holds it out to him as he approaches, explaining he just spoke to Clio.
“So, talked to Clio, huh? Good, good. No time to lose. There's something you're going to find out about soon: Exiles. They're programs, just like the Machines, except they're here in the Matrix without permission. Kinda like us, and you might think we'd be on the same side... but no! Most of 'em just want a bigger piece of the pie, more power... and they'll kill you on sight. Give me that note, and I'll get you armed and send you on to some more specific training. Time to get your feet wet, eh?”
Stokes holds out a shotgun, and another note. Since the note is addressed to him anyways, it seems like a fair trade. Stokes stuffs the note in his pocket and hands over the firearm and another note addressed to someone named Acid.
“All right, there ya go. Make sure you equip that shotgun – it's a little nicer than that piece of... that thing you got in the training construct. Now it's time to find Acid, to the west of us. You might want to bring up the map on your HUD [press the 'M' key] and add a waypoint. Just right-click near Acid's icon on the map and select 'Add Waypoint'. You might need to zoom the map out; just use the buttons at the bottom.”
Easy enough. A bit further west, near the entrance of what appears to be a club named Parallaxis is Acid. Right where the waypoint he set said she'd be. Again, our redpill offers the note with her name on it, but it appears Acid has something a bit different in mind.
“So far, so good, eh redpill? Well, I've got something a little more dangerous for you. You see those Choppers hanging around the containers just to the north of us? Those are some of the same Exiles that Stokes loves so much. It's time to take some of 'em out. They carry keys like sort of a gang insignia... bring me a key and I'll send you on your way. Oh, one more thing – you loaded up all your abilities, right? You might want to try out Remote Proxy now. Bring up your abilities screen [hit the 'O' key] and drag the Remote Proxy icon onto your hotbar, then click on it. Those proxies can be real life savers.”
Ah! We have our very first token collection duty. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, the gang insignias referenced by Acid are also referred to as collector tokens. These are the items that the gang members drop that can that are the currency of a collector trade, earning you the special item that that collector has. Into the maze of shipping containers we go! 5 Choppers later, and we have our key. Back to Acid, who is looking pleased.
“Nice! I see you're willing to take on a little dirty work. Good thing, too – there are Exiles like them all over the City, and all of 'em are bound to be tougher than these. You're going to need to practice and develop your skills if you want to survive. You'll need to use all your abilities out there. Now just hand over the goods, and I'll send you to the next spot. Plus I've got something that can help you out if you get into any trouble.”
In exchange for the Note for Acid and Chopper Key, she offers a Note for Override and several health pills. Definitely a good thing to have, considering the relative weakness of most characters going through this collector series.
“Before I send you anywhere – did you notice the building behind me? It's Club Parallaxis. Feel free to stop in and take a breather if you need to. There are clubs like this around the City, worth checking out if you're ready to party. Once you're set, head south between these buildings and keep an eye out for Override. You might meet up with some Exiles, but I think you can handle them just fine. Remember to have your abilities and items ready, by dragging them from your abilities window ['O'] or your inventory ['I'] to your hotbar.”
After a quick drink and look around inside the club, it's back outside and south to Override. On the way we spot another collector standing along the building. He appears to be a member of the Choppers, but isn't attacking or acting aggressively at all. Perhaps we'll need to visit him later on.
“So you think you're hot stuff, huh? Well you're doing pretty good... but don't get **bleep**y. I can't tell you how many operatives we lose when they get in over their heads. As long as you're in Richland, just remember this: Things get tougher as you head south. If you get yourself in trouble, just point yourself north and run. Now you better keep that in mind, 'cause I want you to get some more Chopper Keys for me.”
In fact, in addition to the Note for Override, he wants three Chopper Keys. Luckily, it only took combatting 8 Choppers to get enough keys. Override didn't have much to say, but seemed impressed.
“Not too bad kid. Hand over those keys, and I'll send you on your way, with a little parting gift.”
The trade is made, and along with a Note for RPM, Override also hands over a pair of Industrial Pants!
Industrial Pants
Melee Damage Resistance (3pts)
Requires: Min character level at 3
“Before you do anything, you better equip those pants. They'll give you an edge in a close fight... and you're gonna need it. Now head southwest. You'll find RPM down there, and she'll finish up the training for ya. And remember: if you're in over your head, go north.”
Southwest it is, but not before equipping those pants, to RPM. She stands in the parking lot near the Uriah southwest hardline.
“So, you're the new redpill, huh? Clio and the gang have been sending me some info on you. Sounds like you'll make a great operative, if you keep it up. Now I need you to use everything they taught you and bring me six of those Chopper Keys. Remember, experiment with those abilities you have loaded up. And level them up when you get a chance... it makes a big difference.”
Nice to know people are starting to talk about our new redpill. I thought the dialogue here was very nice, tying the collectors together as a group. Six Chopper Keys turned out to be a tall order, as it took him tearing through 33 gang members to come up with them. Seriously.
The time and effort pays off though, as we complete the starter contact mission set, and receive our brand new Industrial Shirt. The ballistics buff + the pants melee buff round out a low level nicely. Just need to go hit that pesky Mars Industrial Storage for some gloves, and you'll be gold!
Industrial Shirt
Ballistic Damage Resistance (3pts)
Min character at lvl 3
RPM has some final words before the gang sends me off into the dangerous world of The Matrix.
“Well, looks like it's time to head out there, soldier. If you haven't already, tag that hardline behind me – that's something you'll be doing a lot of. Once you've got a hardline on your list, you'll be able to teleport there, plus use it for your abilities, code storage, and all that good stuff. Now would be a good time to talk to Zion command. I know they'll have some missions for you to run. Just bring up your cell phone [hit the 'N' key] and you'll be on your way. Good luck operative!”
Phew. And that's that.
As far as an introduction to the game, I've always thought these were great. I cannot imagine a player trying to get going in the game without the content of these missions, but many do. I really like the dialogue contained within, with but a few exceptions. Clio's bit about the ID being baggage from a former life, and letting go was very true to the Matrix spirit of bucking the system. Stokes disdain for the tutorial gun made me chuckle. I got a real sense of individual personalities, which is hard to do with the limited space and capability of a collector. Override is a bit more cautionary and has good reason, based on the operatives he's seen fall due to overconfidence. As I mentioned earlier I really liked RPM's comments about how they had all been contacting each other as you progressed. It makes them feel just a bit less static.
My only real dialogue complaint... I found Acid's comments about Stokes confusing. He doesn't seem to “love” the Exiles... in fact he warns me about them and hands me a shotgun!
In the end, all the collectors in this sequence do a very good job of hyping up the player about things to come in my opinion, and convey their messages well. I was glad to see that the club/party culture is represented, and a good variety of gameplay elements introduced from waypoints to proxies. The only thing I still want to see introduced in this sequence of course, is the Find/Seek team functions.
The gear is good, considering it's for a lvl 3. It's fairly easy to hit at least lvl 4 just doing these collectors, especially if you hit a patch like I did and need to kill 33 choppers to get 6 keys. For someone not encountering viral attacks just yet, killing Choppers or running their first missions, it's a good introduction to resistances and buffed clothing. I was sort of surprised that RPM didn't mention, as Override does, just exactly what that ballistics buff means. There's space in the collector window dialogue box. Maybe something to think about?
Overall, very well scripted introduction to game concepts. The neighborhood is obviously not hard to farm and isn't supposed to be. Essential sequence for new players, and a fun reminder for this 50 of what it was like to be taking my first steps in The Matrix Online.
Next installment, which will be much shorter I'm sure, we'll be heading back to Uriah for some boots to round out my Industrial outfit from FastBack. Thanks for reading.
