#podu

Podu: Among the toughest of the Po-Matoran, Podu is an active member of the Po-Koro guard, protecting his people from whatever threat may emerge from the sea of sand. Though not as renowned an athelete as Hewkii, Podu is still quite accomplished as a Kohli player, possessing a powerful kick that can plow through any opposing team’s defense. Loyal and stubborn in equal measure, Podu will insistently plug away at a task until it’s done, though this does give him considerable tunnel vision, leaving him oblivious to very real threats to his own safety until they’re right on top of him.

Harena: Harena is something of an oddity. A traveling Matoran, he spends his time attending to the Vuata Maca trees in each village, ensuring they’re all healthy and producing enough fruit to sustain the Matoran there. Though by all accounts friendly and outgoing, he never seems to stay in one place for too long, constantly hopping around to keep an eye on each village’s tree. The other Matoran are typically glad to provide him with hospitality whenever he arrives, but when asked where his home is, his response is a vague “I go where the winds of fate take me.”

Nobua: The youngest child of Turaga Whenua, Nobua has great dreams and aspirations, no doubt inspired by the adventures of the wandering Ta-Matoran Takua. He’s particularly fascinated by the legends of the Toa and hopes that one day he’ll get the chance to meet one of them in person. Still too young to help out in the mines directly, he often helps his father out with administrative work.

Ombak: A rare non-hybrid Ga-Matoran born biologically male, Ombak is an accomplished surfer... and under an immense amount of pressure to pick a spouse so as to potentially keep the genetic strain going. Problem is, he doesn't really click with any of his suitresses and seems to have eyes elsewhere.

Tauraki: Very few Po-Matoran would earnestly profess to prefer the floating village of Ga-Koro to their desert home, but Tauraki has never been comfortable in the arid Po-Wahi and has made no secret of his desire to move to a more temperate climate. Unlike most of his kin, he's readily thrown himself at swimming lessons courtesy of regular visitor Macku, which she provides in exchange for sneaking her into the village to see Hewkii.

Phiri: An artist at heart dreaming of following in the footsteps of Kopeke, the only thing holding Phiri back... is her own crippling lack of self-confidence. Believing herself to be no good at the craft of ice sculpting, she instead resigns herself to sentry duty at the village's borders, where she's clearly bored out of her mind.

Iskra: The resident gossip of Ta-Koro, Iskra is on top of the rumors going around the village, regardless of their basis in the truth. She's excellent at spinning a yarn, however, and is incredibly charismatic. Vakama wishes she would stop and check her sources every once in a while.

Sekhala: A Po-Matoran athlete, Sekhala is an accomplished goalie who aspires to one day outclass Hewkii himself. Her boisterous nature is endearing to many of her compatriots, though annoying to others.

Beku: An oddly-colored Ko-Matoran, Beku isn't quite as well adjusted to the cold as his fellow tribesmen. Like Tauraki of Po-Koro, he's considered moving out to another village, one with a warmer climate and a more open and welcoming atmosphere.

Alavai: A Ga-Ko Hybrid, Alavai prefers cooler waters and can often be found near the base of Ko-Wahi swimming in its streams. Turaga Nokama can't help but see aspects of the late Toa Mangai Kanae in her, though she can't bring herself to say anything on the matter.

Handaki: An Onu-Matoran miner, Handaki's arms double as pistons that allow him to pound his way through solid rock. A serious, focused sort, Handaki is a dedicated worker and, off shift, a quiet, contemplative sort who puts his hands towards more delicate tasks like painting.

Quest for the Toa, originally titled Tales of the Tohunga, is a game for the Gameboy Advance, released in the October of 2001. It serves as a prequel to MNOG (I originally thought it came out first, but apparently not) that chronicles the adventures of Takua prior to his awakening on Ta-Wahi Beach. Fresh off his banishment from Ta-Koro, Takua finds himself getting roped into various adventures across the island of Mata Nui, over the course of which he rescues the Turaga from perilous situations, recovers their staffs, and generally makes a name for himself as an island hero.

Conceptually speaking, this game is lovely. It fills in some lore gaps left by MNOG, adds a little more worldbuilding, shows off more of the beautiful island of Mata Nui, and sets things up for the game before it. What's not to love?

Well, as it turns out, a lot.

Where MNOG opted for an approach that was light on gameplay and heavy on story, Quest for the Toa does the opposite, going for a much more gameplay-focused experience while peppering in lore here and there. Conceptually, there's nothing wrong with this approach. After all, this is a game, it's meant to be played. However, video games, like any other form of entertainment, are at their best when they direct their focus toward their strengths. A game with an engaging story can afford to be light on gameplay, and a game with amazing mechanics can get away with having very little story. The reason why I cannot praise Quest for the Toa nearly as much as I did MNOG, is because despite being focused on its gameplay, this game is not fun to play.

Now that is not to say Quest for the Toa is no fun at all. It has its moments when it picks up and becomes a truly enjoyable experience. Namely, the sports played in each village are a joy to play through. Ussal Crab Racing, Ngalawa Boat Racing, Koli, Kewa Bird Riding, Huai Snowball Sling, and Ignalu Lava Surfing are all a blast. They are certainly challenging, and it can be a little tricky to get the hang of them, but that doesn't get in the way of having fun while playing them. And on top of that, each one is a new piece of worldbuilding that fleshes out the island of Mata Nui and its populace even more.

But the rest of the game? The wandering between and through villages, battling Rahi and collecting items? It's just...frustrating. I want to explore this island, I really do, and the game has plenty of branching paths and hidden nooks, so it wants me to explore too! But there are so many Rahi in this game. SO MANY. And all of them want me dead. It's a little difficult to explore all there is to explore when I'm being swarmed by half a dozen Rahi every few steps. And maybe, maybe that wouldn't be that bad if the rest of the game mechanics didn't make each and every fight a chore. I could rag on the aiming system, but there's a solid chance I'm just bad at that, so I'll let it off with a warning, but what I can't let go is that you can, and will, get stuck on EVERYTHING in this game. Plants, rocks, enemies, it doesn't matter. The player character's hitbox is HUGE, and if it even brushes up against something, it stops you dead, and you won't be able to move forward until you back off and go around. Oh, and don't even get me started on ledges. If you even get near water, or a cliffside, you will fall. I lost count of how many times I watched Takua get yanked to the side and pulled off a ledge by the game designers because I dared to get too close to the edge.

Oh, aside from the entrance to Ko-Wahi, that is, where to enter you must step off the edge, stand on nothing, and then walk across the void around the roadblock and back onto actual ground.

(Insert noise of exasperated defeat here)

There's more, of course. I could talk about how the Volo Lutu Launcher's kickback can make it nigh unusable at times,or how you only get a fraction of your health back when you die. I could talk about minor things like randomized Matoran appearances, how you can design your character at the start of the game only to be forced to play as a miscoloured Takua, or how Vakama described Takua recovering his mask as well as his Firestaff in MNOG but you only recover his staff here. I could complain that this game still goes into no detail on Takua's banishment despite bringing it up often. I could even talk about that Karzahni-damn Kofo-Jaga in Po-Wahi that made me scream in rage. But you know what? That would be unhealthy. It would be unhealthy for me to think too much about, and it would be unhealthy for anyone else to read, so I think I'm done.

This game upsets me. Because, admittedly, it is the origin of a lot of good things. This is the introduction of Toa Stones, of various Matoran sports, of the designs of numerous Rahi. There's neat new lore here, like the Vuata Maca trees that gave the Koro power to operate their machinery, the various powers of the Turaga's staffs, and the Element of Melting that explained how Ko-Koro got clean water. Hell, this game has Podu (one of the only characters in the whole game with a non-randomized appearance), a Po-Matoran who appears nowhere else and who justifies bright orange as a Stone colour 7 years before Pohatu Phantoka comes into existence. But even with all of that, Quest for the Toa is just not fun to play. It's a game, by definition, it should be fun, but it isn't. For all the good it has to offer, most of it is just a frustrating slog. I appreciate its place in the lore, I truly do. As a story, it's fine. It's a series of fetch-quests, the bread and butter of Bionicle, and I really am happy to have finally learned what Takua was up to before MNOG. But the fact that I quite literally sighed in relief when I finished the game and rejoiced that it was finally over, is rather telling. And that's why I will not be replaying it. Never again.

To anyone who really enjoys Quest for the Toa, power to you. I'm glad it brings you happiness. And if you have more positive things to say about it, please, go off. Rant, rave, ramble about what you love about this game and I promise I will hang off your every word. Because as painful as I found the experience of playing this game, it's still a part of Bionicle, and it deserves to be loved for that. Just not by me.