My Beta Impressions

Arioc

Reading up on the game, I realize it's been out for a while in Korea and gone through several game updates where zones, classes and two player races have already been added. This american beta is simply a port of the existing korean game, with some changes made for the american version such as the Sharp Mind skill.

After playing this game for about a week I realize that level 1-15 is deceptivly easy and quick. Through courior quests, talk-to's and simple steps you are given a well balanced series of quests to level you up quickly with minimal actuall combat. As you work your way through the quests which train you the fundamental skills you begin to realize that each time you level you get AP points (Advancment Points) which go into your pool to be spent on increasing the rank of individual abilities like combat arts, spells etc. But that number is finite and you quickly invest your AP, spreading them thin rather then focusing, unaware that as you level your earlier levels provide you with 5AP, then 3AP, then 1AP per level..

At 15 you hit a wall, suddenly you've accomplished the menial quests and gained the basic attacks, and now are asked to fight creatures which wipe the floor with you. The magic quest which grants you your first spell isn't till after level 15, so unless you have cash to burn and know where to buy the spellbook you won't even know you should save AP for it.

After my first character I felt I must have spent my points poorly and gimped my character. So I rerolled and ran throught he newbie quests again, (easily done in a few hours). Once more from 15 on you get a few "kill 5 of X mob" quests but X mob either kills you or you win by the skin of your teeth. After you kill 5 of X you're left with the brilliant quest.. "Make level 20".

So from 15-20 you're grinding exp, cash for the insanly expensive novice armor and equipment sold at the blacksmith and generally grinding away in hopes of improving yourself.

As I spoke with other players and read up on the forums and on wiki's I realized that once you get the inital skills by 15, there aren't realy anymore skills to get. Sure there's maybe 1 or 2 more attacks, achieved through long quests much later on near level 25-30, however once you have your abilities you're stuck with it.

It does have sandbox elements but too few for my taste, and the world is much smaller then I suspected. Once I ran around the zones I realized how tiny the world was, made to feel distant only by the constant crawl speed they call a run.

I was disappointed at the lack of depth the game had. I would have chalked the sudden wall I hit at 15 to simply a bit of numbers imbalance, but would have toiled through it had I believed that getting some better gear through hours of grinding famor scrolls (rare drops off creatures -- specific to their type -- which can be turned in 10 at a time for sums of cash) if I felt there was alot more to discover and advance in.

However the american version is still Gen1, which means only humans, no paladins or dark knights, and fewer zones. I am not as familure with the asian mmo player base and perhaps this is simply the degree of depth they prefer in titles, not alot to achieve but get it all quick then choose what to do with it.

Sadly this isn't the game for me and dispiute it's cute nature, the camera collision was obnoxious, the limited view distance really made me feel a bit claustraphobic at times, as well as the need to run everywhere unless you luck out and the moongates are open to it at that time (something which only occures at night to a location based on the day of the week, not exactly something you'd wait for...)

 

CleffyII

I find a few of your points true but a few others not investigated enough.

The prices on gear is steep, but this is simply to make player crafted goods more desirable.  It only costs a couple hundred to make a piece of clothing that the NPC would sell for 2200.  So there is a nice profit in it for the crafter.  However, this is also killed by the lack of an Auction House or Player Shops.

AP yup, thats annoying.  You also gain 2 AP every week for aging.  I think its a way to get money when the item shop is released.

Also it does have some nice aspects to it that really arent seen.  Like players getting fat or muscular as they do certain tasks and it affects thier stats.

Hellmarauder

You are too quick to judge.  Mabinogi's world is a lot bigger than what you have visited.  By reading your words it seems to me you're still stuck on the "newbie island", and are unaware of a HUGE continent that's just beyond the ocean.  Maybe they only put in Gen 1 "world", but I've played Gen 3 and known the actual world is far, far bigger than what you've described.

 

It's a good sandbox game that avoids usual pitfalls of  other sandbox games.  There's AP restriction for a reason: so no one can master everything.  If everyone can master every skill and become  fully self-sufficient, there won't be a need to rely on others and there won't be any player-driven economy to speak of.  That's the pitfall I'm talking about.  Mabinogi avoids this with steep increase of AP requirement for higher leveled skills.  Someone in asia has calculated that to level cap a single skill will take at least 300+ AP's.  So you HAVE to rely others for crafting needs or combat-support needs and can't do everything alone.  In other words, you have to specialize in one field or one profession just like in real life.  But you can always have other skills at low levels just for fun.

 

There aren't that many skills, but that's the beauty of it; so monsters can use same skills as you, so there's no cheating favoring the player of same level.  Yes it'll be a grind without rebirth, which is why you must access cash shop to buy character card to support the game.  But with unlimited times of rebirth you'll be able to get tons of AP's without having to worry about AP restriction too much, at least in the few skills you intend to cap.

 

Bottom line for me: this game does most things right on pve: it's got smart monster, skill-based combat, randomized tailor-made dungeons and great storyline campaign with a huge and interesting world.  Unfortunately for me though i prefer a good pvp endgame and this is where Mabinogi is serious lacking.  That and the fact that it's a cash shop dependent game.  This is why I always consider Mabinogi a p2p game with subscription based on character and not on fixed time.

WizGamer

This game is amazing. It is really innovative(there are so many things to do) and I can play it for hours on end. It's not really a grind at all because combat is dynamic artificial-intelligence enhancements.

Dragance

is it click to move? useing arrow keys, or both?

paulscott

click to move, keyboard+click to attack.

I've been messing around in it(quit WurmOnline), and the game does quite a bit right.  

The skill system is balanced, and the AP drying up didn't surprise me at all since you need to build your class with something.   I can play a spellsword that favors support .

The enemies actually respond to you and are challenging even if it is rock, paper, scissors type mechanics/AI. You can be just about any level, in just about any gear and still die horribly to wildlife you were killing at lvl 20 if you don't know what you're doing or mess up really really bad, while at the same time someone who knows exactly what they're doing can take out something 3 times their level(well what they'd be expected to be able to take on at their level).   believe it or not at level 20 the young grey foxes that you pass on your way to ciar are considered about your level, while the grown ones aren't.

as for armor you don't need to be to worried about it, you're still going to die a one or two hits from a boss if you make a mistake you'll still die to normal mobs if you don't recover.

as for grinding there's a secret* I learned from WurmOnline, don't pay attention to your levels you're going to get them whether you drool over them or don't.  Oh and the grind is worse than you think since you're going to rebirth once or twice, when you do you pretty much always reset your level to get ever more AP(you keep your skills, but lose characteristics gained through leveling your level).  But then again a persons real level is mostly based on their skills since they increase the power of them more than stats and give good stats to boot.

as for the graphics I pretty much don't see them(as they are) after being in the game for about 5 mins and start doing something.  It's something that happens after reading so many books and likely happens to just about everyone else that plays the game.   and the view distance is OMGWTF I feel like a mole.

 

*was secrete

Feldron

I would say the grind starts more at lv 18 then 15 but still its there and yeah the first lvls are an cake walk

but then if you where to play and not do any quest the grind is there from an even lower lv its just the quests hands you lvls

My problem witht he game though is complete lack of heroics

Starting quest include making flour, gathering berries, going to school, having an npc fix an item, delivering goods, etc

I mean you go from racoons to foxes to rats bats spiders then wolves, then goblins, bears kobolds

Well basically its not very heroic when some of these monster kill you, especially when any really hero would own then

The only quest even remotely heroic is when you save a villager from a gaint spider.

Maybe if your a 3rd world farmer this is heroic, but otherwise not even close