Vaati Reviews...
Mabinogi



Well, I have a journal so, I might as well put it to use.
So, I'm here to talk about a new MMO on the block called Mabinogi, which is created by the same people who made MapleStory. This will be a long review; I'm going to cover all the basics.

No scores. I'll let you draw your own conclusion.


Let's start.


How is the 'feel' of Mabinogi?
Mabinogi is very, VERY anime-ish. The graphics are, alot of the music is, the hair styles are very anime, even. If you don't like anime, stray away.
I DO like anime, though, so, let's talk about the plus sides rather than the negatives for a minute.
Some may complain but I find Mabinogi to be a very pretty game. The music is pleasant, most of it is, atleast, and I enjoy it. The design for the towns is very detailed, too. I think looks wise, Mabinogi has been done well.

If you've ever played Dark Cloud 2, which is a PS2 title made by Level-5, Mabinogi feels alot like it. And I like Dark Cloud 2.

The negatives? Not many, atleast not for me. For those of you who like darker titles, like, World of Warcraft, I don't think Mabinogi would appeal to you much.

Is it free?
Yes, actually. What I really love is that, if you DO use any money on the site, it's not to open up extra areas. You already have access to the whole world of Mabinogi. If you buy any sort of service or extra, it's purely optional. Like, a premium character that has more features or some extra items.


Combat
Seemingly mandatory to any MMO, combat is a big thing. Mabinogi claims to have a strategic combat system. This worried me; being a player of the well-known Runescape for years, I am very used to point-and-click combat.
You can get away with the strategy of locking onto your opponent and beating away... for a little while. I done this up until I got to the second boss in the game, which requires you counter attack to defeat it. I of course did not know how, and it was a big problem.

Basically, the combat is not for people used to the point-and-click method. It delivers on having strategic elements to it... however I'm not currently doing too well with that. I guess I'll learn.
You learn alot of extra combat skills in the game, such as defense, counter-attack, smash, among many others.

Leveling Up
Absolutely nothing special going on here. Kill stuff, earn EXP, level up. Do quests, earn EXP, level up. If this sort of thing doesn't appeal to you, Mabinogi will not be your cup of tea/piece of cake/food or beverage of choice here.

Quests
If this game delivers on anything, it's quests, and it gives you plenty of them. Not to mention, I found a few to even be, gasp, enjoyable. However, there are always going to be the ones that are boring and seem very difficult for those who are not obsessed with leveling up. Here's an example.
At level 14, I was given a quest to defeat five black wolves. I go and, just to kill one, ended up using about all of my health potions. In other words, I needed to be a higher level for this quest to be easier.
So I done that exactly and upped my skills some, and the quest was STILL difficult. After that I was given one to defeat five of a higher level of wolf. The problem is that your friend, the lolowl who delivers your quests to you, will not deliver very much until you're done with the ones it gives you, and at level 14, I had the new white wolf quest, AND a quest to defeat a giant spider I could'nt defeat until I was level 20 or higher.

There are always the quests you can buy off of NPC's, though. But if you're like me, you don't want to PAY for your quests.

I am in no way saying this is bad. Most of the time the quests are fun if you're into that sort of thing, and will usually give you very good rewards, including new skills and sometimes 2000 gold or over.

Dungeons
AGAIN brings up memories of Dark Cloud 2. Pretty basic RPG stuff, here. Of course, I've only gotten to play in Alby Dungeon but, although I enjoy it, some of the people looking for more... 'deep' experiences will probably be unhappy.
Basically, my experience in Alby Dungeon was...
Open a treasure chest, which triggers enemies to appear. Kill enemies until one drops a door key; go on to next part of dungeon.
Open ANOTHER chest... you get what happens. This time, find the boss key from the enemies that appear. Get key, defeat boss, collect reward, leave.

Apparently some of the dungeons are longer, but, I don't imagine the experience changing much. Like I said, I enjoy it, but it'll vary with people.

Sounds like a stereotypical MMO. What's the catch?
There are alot, trust me. For one...

Life Skills
Ah, yes. Finally, my FAVORITE feature on Mabinogi... the life skills.
If you're like I am, and enjoy simple things such as watching your customized Sims run around acting like morons, you'll take pleasure in this. Some of the best experiences in Mabinogi are the smaller ones.
This game gives you ALOT to do.
To name a few of these life skills, there's...
The Musical Skills, being composing and playing instruments. You can make up your own music or play other people's songs via uses of codes. This is not an easy system to figure out, though.
The cooking skill. You can choose a variety of ingredients, and so far it seems pretty in-depth.
The tailoring skill, which allows for you to make clothing.
There are more, which I am too lazy to list. But it turns out that some of the best things in Mabinogi are the moments you see your character learning these and using these skills.

Aging System
That's right; your characters can age. Worry not; no death by old age, here.
You can make your character, from the start, at ten years old. The character will slowly age up to 25 years old; it stops there.
I suggest for players wanting to get strong, and fast, to make an adult character.

NPC's
Unique thing about Mabinogi's NPC's? You can befriend them. They'll even remember you if you visit often, you know... that sort of thing. I don't think it's as deep as the company describes but it is certainly an interesting feature.


Wrapping this thing up...
My Personal Opinion
When I'm not causing insanity in Hyrule, I'm playing videogames. And I have tried alot of MMO's so far, even Flyff, which was supposably really good.
Turns out I didn't like it.
I tried this one Pirate one... didn't like it, either.
I played Runescape for a while. I liked it but at around level 64, it got hard to find stuff to do.

I was skeptical about Maginobi but, wow, I am... absolutely hooked. I have alot of fun with it. I love the feel, and the activities, and the... I could go on. It's just an awesome game. It is certainly MY cup of tea.



Hope this helped a little bit. I'd supply screenshots but, I don't have any, not to mention I'm making a new character soon.