Mortal Online 2 Gameplay Trailer - Is it Misleading?

[Backyard Employee]

Let me be the first to say I actually approve of this trailer from a visual stand point, as well as an audio stand point. It really does play off the best things MO2 does which is have good visuals and audio (At least here in this trailer.) The music is amazing and the actual scene depicted are fantastic. Especially if you have never played MO1 or MO2, which it seems to be hinging on given a few things.

A few criticisms.

1.) At the 1:09 mark the game boasts 'Crafting with a million options'. While this could perhaps be true (?) to some extent, it really gives a false impression of how vastly small the choices are in the grand scheme of things. There are only so many useful materials, weapon types, and armor types. I just find this is going to lead players into thinking that crafting is going to be this expansive thing to be unfolded when in-fact most veterans could tell the game uses a near 1:1 of MO1's numbers.. At least until new materials are added in.

2.) At the 1:19 mark you can see the game shows you extraction for a fraction of a second. It doesn't really illustrate the lengthy process that is extraction. Something a lot of players will need to do to acquire materials.

3.) At the 1:35 mark we get a glimpse at combat between players which, I understand for simplicity sake, is done at such an extremely slow pace like that of a crawl and demonstrates the different directions and aspects. Even though most combat is people squirreling around and spinning, with a lot of it being gridlocked into parrying stalemates. Also, it shows the use of one handed weapons twice even though most one handed weapons are hilariously bad for stamina, damage, reach, and speed.

4.) If you pause at 1:56 you can see the return of mobs just being reduced to pin cushions which still means most mobs are going to be taken down through means of mounted archery. Circling and pelting. I counted 21 arrows in total, not that the amount is meant to mean anything but players don't ever see all 21 of those arrows shot along with the circling. Only just the end to show you can EPICLY CONQUER CREATURES.

5.) I get the spinning jump attack is just for visual flair but it might give people the idea it's possible.

Overall, I think to an individual who has never played Mortal Online 1 or Mortal Online 2 this trailer will make them want to play but I have a feeling it really didn't demonstrate TRUE gameplay but rather in-game footage that was cherry picked and edited to look nice.

 

[Jatix]

You are 100% right. but I'm not sure if I've ever seen a game trailer that wasnt misleading.

I just saw this vid the other day. Its making fun of how much worse the new battlefield is than its trailer.

So while I think the MO trailer leaves out a ton. Like how the game is 90% walking/riding/timers/hitting a dummy/macro sprinting back and forth/ etc, and very rarely epic battles and stuff. No trailer includes the parts of a game that isnt fun. Which is why I base 99% of my opinion on a new game on what reviews I see when it comes out, and totally ignore trailers. But this MO trailer does its job. It tries to make the game look good. Watching an extraction timer for 10 mins would be dumb haha.

But my actual feedback to SV. If things are way too boring to put in the trailer, like extraction, you should prob re design it.

 

[Backyard Employee]

You are 100% right. but I'm not sure if I've ever seen a game trailer that wasnt misleading.

I just saw this vid the other day. Its making fun of how much worse the new battlefield is than its trailer.

So while I think the MO trailer leaves out a ton. Like how the game is 90% walking/riding/timers/hitting a dummy/macro sprinting back and forth/ etc, and very rarely epic battles and stuff. No trailer includes the parts of a game that isnt fun. Which is why I base 99% of my opinion on a new game on what reviews I see when it comes out, and totally ignore trailers. But this MO trailer does its job. It tries to make the game look good. Watching an extraction timer for 10 mins would be dumb haha.

But my actual feedback to SV. If things are way too boring to put in the trailer, like extraction, you should prob re design it.

I agree 100%. Most trailers aren't true to the spirit of the game, and usually show the best parts.. I mean why wouldn't you do that? But I find that charges a player base even more so when they have issues with the game. Especially when you lay in ideas such as "millions of crafting combinations". Using an amount like "million('s)" really is going to be used against them in later reviews.

But yeah. Thank you for the feed back.

 

[Lord Hair Remover]

As someone who played MO2 but not the first game I can still see what the OP is trying to say.

The game play trailer does feel very disingenuous about what you'll actually be doing and I find people never exposed to Mortal will more than likely love what they see in the trailer.

The game market is extremely dry and with titles such as Elden Ring, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, and even Ashes of Creation being out by months or even years until release nothing really is on the horizon.

I don't believe in the idea of releasing a game simply because the market is dry to draw as much attention given that MO2 is highly unfinished and it even says this in the website in quite an elusive way how persistence is simply when the game no longer will be wiped.

So some players will come in and quit due to many bugs, lack of features, and server instability and others might come in a few months down the road and not have to deal with those issues.

I also don't think people will appreciate paying a monthly subscription fee when the game is still actively being worked on considering you won't be able to access your character unless you do, and by this I mean there may be potentially game breaking bugs you'll have to deal with and be given no compensation for time and item loss.

I find this will ultimately drive bigger groups of players away as some will have issues where others will not.

On note of the trailer itself. It's a trailer. I've seen plenty of trailers that looked horrible and the games are amazing and vice versa. Smart players will wait for what reviews say and look at what both sides say as going off a top rated review of a player who has 3k hours can be significantly biased either for or against the game.

But I can promise the steam store page will see a lot of negative reviews for a misleading description and trailer.

 

[Tzone]

Some stuff like craft with million of options is just disingenuous. Million of points less options. Only a couple worth while crafting options.

 

[Backyard Employee]

Some stuff like craft with million of options is just disingenuous. Million of points less options. Only a couple worth while crafting options.

I remember when they put a trailer up about Mortal Royale and said there was 'hundreads' of options.

​

 

[Lord Hair Remover]

I remember when they put a trailer up about Mortal Royale and said there was 'hundreads' of options.

View attachment 2831​

How does that even get past an editing phase?

 

[Zyconnic]

Let me be the first to say I actually approve of this trailer from a visual stand point, as well as an audio stand point. It really does play off the best things MO2 does which is have good visuals and audio (At least here in this trailer.) The music is amazing and the actual scene depicted are fantastic. Especially if you have never played MO1 or MO2, which it seems to be hinging on given a few things.

A few criticisms.

1.) At the 1:09 mark the game boasts 'Crafting with a million options'. While this could perhaps be true (?) to some extent, it really gives a false impression of how vastly small the choices are in the grand scheme of things. There are only so many useful materials, weapon types, and armor types. I just find this is going to lead players into thinking that crafting is going to be this expansive thing to be unfolded when in-fact most veterans could tell the game uses a near 1:1 of MO1's numbers.. At least until new materials are added in.

2.) At the 1:19 mark you can see the game shows you extraction for a fraction of a second. It doesn't really illustrate the lengthy process that is extraction. Something a lot of players will need to do to acquire materials.

3.) At the 1:35 mark we get a glimpse at combat between players which, I understand for simplicity sake, is done at such an extremely slow pace like that of a crawl and demonstrates the different directions and aspects. Even though most combat is people squirreling around and spinning, with a lot of it being gridlocked into parrying stalemates. Also, it shows the use of one handed weapons twice even though most one handed weapons are hilariously bad for stamina, damage, reach, and speed.

4.) If you pause at 1:56 you can see the return of mobs just being reduced to pin cushions which still means most mobs are going to be taken down through means of mounted archery. Circling and pelting. I counted 21 arrows in total, not that the amount is meant to mean anything but players don't ever see all 21 of those arrows shot along with the circling. Only just the end to show you can EPICLY CONQUER CREATURES.

5.) I get the spinning jump attack is just for visual flair but it might give people the idea it's possible.

Overall, I think to an individual who has never played Mortal Online 1 or Mortal Online 2 this trailer will make them want to play but I have a feeling it really didn't demonstrate TRUE gameplay but rather in-game footage that was cherry picked and edited to look nice.

It's a trailer and it must showcase the good things - not what could be a tedious task and what is only a viable features/moves etc...
Have you seen any game trailer where it shows the character staring at a progress bar for 30 seconds? These things might be shown in a gameplay trailer if you really wanted to show that but since so many things in MO is in progress it would be stupid to showcase it anyway. It might be changed later anyway. Furthermore, I bet a gameplay trailer would still show the fun things to watch - not the character running for long periods of time like so many games have incorporated in the game design.

So no I do not think the trailer is misleading in any bad way. It does what a trailer should do - create hype and interest

 

[Tzone]

It's a trailer and it must showcase the good things - not what could be a tedious task and what is only a viable features/moves etc...
Have you seen any game trailer where it shows the character staring at a progress bar for 30 seconds? These things might be shown in a gameplay trailer if you really wanted to show that but since so many things in MO is in progress it would be stupid to showcase it anyway. It might be changed later anyway. Furthermore, I bet a gameplay trailer would still show the fun things to watch - not the character running for long periods of time like so many games have incorporated in the game design.

So no I do not think the trailer is misleading in any bad way. It does what a trailer should do - create hype and interest

Why is creating hype the right thing to do. Yeah is it good for the population which might be good for the game yes but its ite the appropriate thing to give false expectations. All the fun things to do in the game are a minor amount of the time you spend in the game. Very tedious and time wasting game with the fun far in between.

 

[Zbuciorn]

The trailer is done correctly but in the begging feels little bit hermetic and empty.
Cool stuff starts with players acting and seeing warriors lined up before the battle was the best part.
It is good little clip which I sent to my friends to promote the game.
Could be better but then it would cost SV resources which for us players is better to see spend on the game instead promo materials.
I would avoid showing up crafting or any game mechanics just focus only on the game vibe in this sort of productions.
Music was perfect!

 

[Backyard Employee]

It's a trailer and it must showcase the good things - not what could be a tedious task and what is only a viable features/moves etc...
Have you seen any game trailer where it shows the character staring at a progress bar for 30 seconds? These things might be shown in a gameplay trailer if you really wanted to show that but since so many things in MO is in progress it would be stupid to showcase it anyway. It might be changed later anyway. Furthermore, I bet a gameplay trailer would still show the fun things to watch - not the character running for long periods of time like so many games have incorporated in the game design.

So no I do not think the trailer is misleading in any bad way. It does what a trailer should do - create hype and interest

Sure, I agree with you. A trailer should show the best of what a game has to offer.. but I don't think it should tease at things that are misleading.

But I want to argue another point of this trailer that a lot of the footage is taken from the perspective of things being quick and fast paced when.. they're really not. With some of the things shown being pushed in even though they don't really hold much weight in the actual game.

I can tell you now a lot of people are going to see the jousting, and the 'fighting' with the one handed weapons and shields and once they try it out in-game they're going to say "what the fuck is this?".

I think the trailer is good. Good for people who know nothing about Mortal because it tempts them much more easily into believing it's something it is not.

The trailer is done correctly but in the begging feels little bit hermetic and empty.
Cool stuff starts with players acting and seeing warriors lined up before the battle was the best part.
It is good little clip which I sent to my friends to promote the game.
Could be better but then it would cost SV resources which for us players is better to see spend on the game instead promo materials.
I would avoid showing up crafting or any game mechanics just focus only on the game vibe in this sort of productions.
Music was perfect!

I agree with your point at the beginning of the trailer. It seems like many devs do this for their games which are in an alpha, beta, early access, etc. type of stage where they showcase numerous locations as if to say "hey look how cool, beautiful, and big our places in-games are!" when in reality you go into the in-game and they're just empty static objects that might look pretty but have no purpose, no life, no meaning. Anyone remember Tindrem in MO1? It was HUUUUUUUUUUGE but filled with a whole lot of nothing. All those buildings either just to serve as fillers and if a building DID have an open space it was sparse and empty.

Sure, the players gathered and formed up is cool but is it true as to what the game will actually be like for them. People don't just form up in ranks and then duke it out in battle like that in MO2.. neither did they do that in MO1 (Some tried but yeah). I don't think I could link the video in good faith without putting in my two cents of "oh and also that doesnt really happen in the game, it was just an event organized by the ceo of the dev company."

Showing crafting is important which I don't think they really did it the 'true' service of illustrating. Showing a bunch of weapon models changing, and colors of armor changing does not inform the player on a quick glance of how it actually works. Anyone who has played MO1 or MO2 knows weapon variety has always been super low due to the fact of many 'filler' weapon types which were just severely outclassed, imbalanced in comparison to other weapons, etc. etc. Even more so in MO2 honestly.

Like the point I made about one handed weapons.. I feel like it gives the wrong impression that one handed weapons are going to be worth while using when in-fact they're some of the worst to use in-game (And not even from a 'meta' point of view.. One handed weapons just feel like garbage. Reach, stamina, animations, damage, speed, etc.)

The music was great. The actual SCENES were great. I just feel like most people are going to get absorbed into seeing the trailer if they have no previous knowledge of the game and go play-and-stop the trailer to look at all the little details and get the notion that certain things will be present or work a certain way.

 

[ThaBadMan]

Sadly yes. For one the trailer makes me want to play this skill based game but it dont exist sadly and im forced to be content in MO2 which is MO with a graphical upgrade.

What I can hope for is to run this game better then I ran MO....hmm yes...sucks to be me right...ah well back to the endless search for a good MMORPG

 

[ThaBadMan]

It's a trailer and it must showcase the good things - not what could be a tedious task and what is only a viable features/moves etc...
Have you seen any game trailer where it shows the character staring at a progress bar for 30 seconds? These things might be shown in a gameplay trailer if you really wanted to show that but since so many things in MO is in progress it would be stupid to showcase it anyway. It might be changed later anyway. Furthermore, I bet a gameplay trailer would still show the fun things to watch - not the character running for long periods of time like so many games have incorporated in the game design.

So no I do not think the trailer is misleading in any bad way. It does what a trailer should do - create hype and interest

Hype and interest is useless if you cant back it up...sounds like both you and SV are equally good at learning from past mistakes...

 

[Backyard Employee]

Sadly yes. For one the trailer makes me want to play this skill based game but it dont exist sadly and im forced to be content in MO2 which is MO with a graphical upgrade.

What I can hope for is to run this game better then I ran MO....hmm yes...sucks to be me right...ah well back to the endless search for a good MMORPG

I feel your pain honestly.

 

[Tzone]

I really hate Hype because Hype is usually fake and perpetuated by blind people pushing out false expectations.

I never hype any more because you will just be pissed off and disappointed at the end of the hype train. Hyping and hype is a bad practice.

 

[ThaBadMan]

I feel your pain honestly.

Yea man trust is a disgusting concept that should have never been invented.

 

[Backyard Employee]

I really hate Hype because Hype is usually fake and perpetuated by blind people pushing out false expectations.

I never hype any more because you will just be pissed off and disappointed at the end of the hype train. Hyping and hype is a bad practice.

Which is honestly the reason I don't think this game play trailer is a good thing in the bigger picture of a potential success with MO2.

 

[Backyard Employee]

Yea man trust is a disgusting concept that should have never been invented.

I miss those pictures of the poorly drawn red line under the words "skill based game". Guess MO2 is just going to ride the coat tails of paid advertisements via Twitch streamers and push out more casualized watered down content that is half-baked and not even fully realized.

But yeah. It'll be ready in January. /s

 

[ThaBadMan]

Which is honestly the reason I don't think this game play trailer is a good thing in the bigger picture of a potential success with MO2.

/Agreed

 

[Highlander]

I'm honest, the music is perfect. unfortunately they could only offer the beauty of the landscapes, the rest is not explained very well. They exaggerated with the 1million weapons combinations...
I would have preferred a few clips of small first person battles, to show that the fight is not as slow as some say if there are more than 5 people fightning each others.