If you don't care for some sections I made in this review, you can scroll past them but please trust me that CHARACTER, COMBAT, and CONTENT are worth the read.
I urge you to strongly consider giving this game a try; you may just find it worth your time, and if not I won't stop you from turning away. Subsequently, I will try to the best of my ability to summarize different aspects of the game I have categorized this review into, in an effort to pique your interest in trying out my favorite game I have ever played.
CONTENTS
1. INTRO AND VISUALS
2. FLAWS
3. CHARACTER
4. COMBAT
5. COMMUNITY
6. CONTENT
7. EVENTS
8. PETS
9. PvE
10. PvP
11. STORY
1. INTRODUCTION: If you are a person who judges a game on its graphic quality, you can turn around now. Mabinogi with its cell-shaded graphics has not the best-looking visuals, with even a jagged effect to its 3D models. However, all 2D NPC portraits and other anime-based illustrations are completely hand-drawn, giving the game a sentimental and captivating fantasy atmosphere. This is an MMO game different from any you've ever played. Throw out all you know about not just old-school tab-targeting hotkey-mashing MMOs, but every MMO you have ever tried, because this game is just that different.
2. FLAWS: I will get flaws out of the way first so they don't scare you away after you spend all the time reading my entire review if you so choose. Better to drive you away before you waste your time.
- This game is run by Nexon America, the same publishers of Combat Arms and Maplestory. Nexon has horrid customer support; you will almost never get a response.
- The game will go down for maintenance subjectedly, sometimes up to thrice a month and ~2 days downtime, but Nexon will give a 10-minute warning for the scheduled ones, which usually only last hours.
- Crashes are not unheard of, but they don't happen too often and people very rarely ever lose their items. In all 6 years that my server Tarlach has been running there have only been reports of items lost in a server crash twice, and it was only in 1 of 7 server channels each time.
- Bugs are rampant in this engine like an infestation of Bethesda Games' code's bugs with a mutation of gun-powered butts that just spray shit everywhere and spit in your face to top it off. None are game-breaking, but bugs are seen in all systems: User Interface (menu windows), Combat, Timing, etc.
- NA Servers can experience lag because they are not region-based. Sometimes server lag is universal, and things pause for ~10 minutes, but usually not more. From the East Coast, my latency in Tarlach is generally smooth.
Still reading? I hope you are finding tolerance in these errors and will consider giving this game a chance. Read on.
3. CHARACTER: Your characters are classless, cloneless, and 100% customizable, from different eyes and hairstyles, and colors for both, to age, specializations, and even weight - you can make your character fat or buff or skinny, depending on what you eat.
There is ZERO class selection; even with the talent assignments you are completely free to assign Ability Points to WHATEVER you wish as you progress. Your skills train by actively using them and meeting requirements rather than by level. Once you meet enough reqs, you spend AP to upgrade to the next rank for increased capability. Skills have up to 15 ranks.
Different areas of combat specialize in different types of damage, as there are Bows, 3 kinds of Alchemy (quite similar to Fullmetal Alchemist itself, even), Magic, or even Bard, Puppetry, Gunner, and martial-arts-like Fighter. Three elemental types in the game add to the dynamic fighting system - Fire, Ice, and Lightning.
A rebirth system allows you to reset to a current Level of 1 every few weeks, giving easy and regular access to more Ability Points to rank skills and accumulating a total level while keeping EVERYTHING about your character, except age, race, current level, and if you choose, looks.
4. COMBAT: The unique combat system is like none other I've seen, similar to a kind of Rock, Paper, Scissors. I would define it as strategy combat. It requires a degree of timing and reaction-based approach. Skills are loaded and executed, and the melee, for example, has a weakness toward a certain type of combat and strength toward another.
The Defense skill is loaded to reduce damage from oncoming "Normal" Combo Attacks, attacks where the player would flourish their weapon for multiple swings instead of loading a skill to execute. Defense allows Normal-attacking enemies hitting it to be stunned, allowing a chance for the player who just used Defense to counterattack at melee range. However, if your opponent is able to load and execute a "Smash" skill Attack on you, they will drive through your loaded Defense skill with their weapon and knock you back.
In return, the Smash skill has a longer execution time than a Normal combo at melee range, so in head-to-head combat, Normal beats Smash.
Let's review:
Defense>Normal
Normal>Smash
Smash>Defense
Pretty cool, right? Now experiment with over 80 other unique-in-themselves combat skills and how they work against other skills and enemies.
5. COMMUNITY: There are guilds just like other games to give you a family to play with, as social interaction is a HUGE part of the experience of Mabinogi. Level, skill, and progress differences between any two characters can mean nothing at all, as players can aid each other in quests and party together in dungeons with 100% randomly-generated instances every time, as well as repeatable Shadow Missions, and players being able to choose difficulty. A friend window allows notes and messengers like an e-mail system with contacts, as you can even sort friends into groups. Gestures and typable facial expressions, like emoticons, allow people to animate their characters to match their mood. There are four servers that the game hosts players on. Nothing at all can be transferred across these servers, save friends and IM messages.
6. CONTENT: The game has many, many things to do. You can fashion yourself with a HUGE selection of clothing items and dyes, or work on Life skills, as well as other forms of combat, like archery, magic, and alchemy. Lack of classes allows for free switching and hybrid builds fit to your own playstyle. You don't have to find a single monster to bash the entire game if you don't want to - hone a life skill instead and sell your quality work in your own store on the game's player-driven economy to make a living. You can even have a free Homestead to chillax in the countryside and own Production tools (Furnaces, Anvils, Gardens, etc). Inventory items go by a grid-like spacing, so you fit items according to the space they take up. Most potions are only 1 square, while clothing items can be 2x3 = 6 squares. Your initial inventory is 6x10 squares.
7. EVENTS: I felt I needed to make a seperate section for Events just because there are SO many that Nexon constantly adds, and they really just make the game sometimes. Nexon will add friendly (though oftentimes, very cheesy) events almost weekly, lasting up to months at a time, where players participate in certain objectives to win rewards. Many rewards are limited-edition and desirable so players rush to get the full treasure that they can from them, and some require teamwork or dedication - but none ever require pay-to-win or elite levels to win above others.
8, PETS:Pets are a great thing about Mabinogi. An even greater thing is that though most are bought with real money, the game grants you two free permanent mounts as you complete the beginner quests - a powerful horse and giant eagle. One is the third fastest land mount in the game; the other, the third fastest flying mount. All pets fight for you, are shared among ALL characters, and have inventories. You can even assign custom-written or pre-set AIs for them to fit your combat style. Some pets while summoned allow benefits to certain areas, such as upping stats and others are mobile production sites where you can gather straight from your pet instead of having to find the corresponding raw resource (example: herb pig has an herb garden on its back that you can gather from). Some pets damage and knock back enemies upon summon - which is insanely strong for mob control or if you just need some extra skill loading time.
9. PvE: Enemies are found all across the maps of Erinn, a huge open land whose overworld spans at least 5 square kilometers, more than enough to explore. Almost every type of enemy's AI differs from the next, though not too terribly much unless they use a completely different type of combat. Enemies do use all of the same types of combats players can use, but most only use one or two types and are quite simple, while others are more something you have to get familiar with in order to stand victorious.
Grinding is nonexistent in Mabinogi; it is never a requirement nor an obligation in order to advance. In fact, the game penalizes your experience-gain for fighting in overworld fields for extended periods.
Raids are in the form of field bosses which appear at certain times throughout a real-life week. Some, like the Ice Dragon of the Iria continent's glaciers or the Red and Prairie Dragon of its deserts, are very strong (and huge) and will require upwards of 40 skilled Mabinogians to defeat, with rare drops being split among all equally. Others may only require one or a few to fight and would have much less threatening capability, but still have rare drops.
10. PvP: Fighting other players is another very open-ended aspect of Mabinogi. One method is dueling a friend 1v1 anywhere, with rules being able to be set by both opponents - you can agree on reduced damage by percentage, pets or none, boundaries, and more. The other are arenas. Guilds and parties can join and charge each other in huge team fights if desired; although, PvP rewards are not a huge part of this MMO, unlike some in which grinding PvP is required for the best equipment.
11. STORY: The story is in installments called Generations. An interactive anime-based storyline that is a sufficient length and is regularly updated will always leave players raring for the next Generation update. The mainstream story quests are completely optional, as are most (if not all) things in the game, but they do delve your character deep into an enticing and dramatic plot, complete with player-driven character development, conflict, and climaxes, for your character and for NPCs.
There is just so much content in Mabinogi that I will never be able to even sum it up in a review. Use wiki.mabinogiworld.com, the most complete community wiki you will find for the game - it will answer mostly ALL of your questions as you learn to play.
If you guys start to play, I'm on Tarlach server and my main character is Aznborne. Others are Leo172 and Leonnes. I'd love to play Mabinogi with anyone. I found this game 5 years ago, and I've always had an unforgettable time playing it.