Mabinogi

Mabinogi (마비노기) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released by South Korean Game Distributing Company Nexon Corporation, and developed by devCAT studio, one of several development teams in Nexon Inc. The Welsh language word mabinogi is found in the original manuscripts of the Mabinogion.

The game engine features hand-painted textures stylized with edge detection outlining. The game world is developed continuously, through the release of important Patches (referred to as "Generations" and "Seasons") that introduce new areas, additional features such as pets and new skills, and advancement of the storyline. The Graphical user interface (GUI) is simple and designed in the likeness of Microsoft Windows' task bar.

Mabinogi was built on a hybrid Value Added Services model (which varies slightly for each game localization) that allows free play and the subscription of paid packages, purchased through the game shop. In South Korea, beginning with the Chapter 3 patch, Mabinogi changed to micro-transactions. It now allows 24-hour free play and the Item Shop only offers items, and subscriptions for added options.

Gameplay
The player is not limited by any class other than the character's race, and is free to level up any of the different skills available. The combination of skill choices, age, items, physical constitution, and other variables such as Titles, is what makes up the character. The gameplay is largely skill-based. To learn and improve skills, (AP) are required.

There are also various social aspects, like sitting around a campfire, playing music, having a friendly chat, sharing food, as well as making use of different Emoticons to make user interaction more colorful.

There are currently two continents, Uladh and Iria. If you start as a human you will begin your game in the Uladh village of Tir Chonaill. If you are an elf, you begin your game in Iria at Filia, in the region Connous. If you start as a Giant you will begin your game at Vales, in the region Physis, which is located far north in the continent of Iria.

Character creation and development
Characters are created by using Character Cards. There are two kinds of cards: basic and premium. One basic card (called a free card) is given free of charge when there are no characters in the account (such as when an account is newly created). Free Cards can use premium looks. Premium cards allows more customization options, but are not required. Note: As of June 18 2009 when you make a new account you will be able to choose premium looks, but for only the free starter card. But when you make an assistant Giant/Elf Card you can't use premium.

Currently there are three races: human, elf and giant. When creating a character, one may choose an age between ten and seventeen. The character will advance one year in age every (real) Saturday. Different ages yield different initial stats and affect the amount of stats raised when leveling up. AP is also granted when aging; the younger you are the more AP you get when you age. For example when a character is ten it gets five AP when it ages to eleven but when it is 16 or older it only gets two AP when it ages. After twenty-five it receives none.

Rebirth is an important feature in Mabinogi. Rebirth allows the player to change the character's age, gender, appearance, and reset the character's level back to 1, while keeping all previously learned skills. As of the North American release of "Pioneers of Iria" players may now rebirth for free upon reaching age 20. The free rebirth option allows you to reset your level and age, and will not allow you to change your character's appearance. Also, when using the free rebirth, you automatically return to your character's last location. If you do not wish to wait until age 20 to rebirth, you can rebirth using a "basic" or "premium" character card purchased from the "Premium Shop" once each week. Rebirthing by use of a character card will allow you to change your character's appearance as well as reset age and level.

After the age of 25, characters will not gain Ability Points from aging, which is required to advance skill ranks, and leveling becomes increasingly harder and slower. Therefore, to accelerate character advancement, players must use the rebirth system.

The player's eating habits affect the character's build. Eating certain foods in large quantities will increase their weight and may also raise/lower some stats. For example, berries have a slimming effect. These transformations happen over time.

Each (real world) day of the week grants players specific bonuses, such as getting a higher experience rate for certain skills, higher item creation success rate, aging, gaining AP, etc.

Combat system
In manual combat, predicting the enemy's next move and making use of your skills is important. However, there is also an automatic combat mode. Automatic combat mode basically times normal attacks. Skills, when used, are incorporated into the automatic combat. It is dangerous to use, however, since often the time it takes to cancel an automatic command is long enough for an enemy to attack you.

Some monsters are aggressive and will attack and pursue on sight, while others attack in a pack or ignore the player. Unlike other MMO in the market, Mabinogi's combat is arguably more tactical in nature - requiring careful analysis and timing of what skills to use and in what fashion. As opposed to the 'tank' roles portrayed in more popular online games, Mabinogi's combat focuses on the player not being hit at all - through careful use of skills and precise timing. The overall complexity of Mabinogi's combat system has made it much more difficult for Computer game bots to be developed, though a few have been designed to farm the significantly easier low-level monsters for paltry amounts of in-game currency.

Mabinogi features a traditional melee combat approach (utilizing various swords, maces and shields), a ranged combat approach (using various weapons such as crossbows and long-bows) and a magic approach - all of which have their own strengths and advantages at different points of the game. Mabinogi's freeform skill system allows players to hybridize between any three of the combat trees at any time - the only limitation lying with the player's overall proficiency at operating the game controls and mechanics.

Dying causes loss of experience points, and sometimes equipment (lost items can be retrieved at an NPC at a cost). Fallen players can be revived by other players, or by the in-game NPC, Nao, if the player has bought the Nao's Support or Fantasy Life Club services (or Nao's Soul Stone in some versions). If the character has zero experience points and suffers a death penalty, negative experience points will accumulate. If the player reaches negative 100% experience, they will no longer be able to revive by themselves and must wait for another player to revive them.

Fantasy Life
There is a wide range of Life skills which give the player the chance to experience a different side of the “fantasy life”. Players can perform tasks such as tending to the wheat and potato fields, making flour, gathering wool from sheep and eggs from hens, weaving and making garments, mining for minerals and crafting weapons, playing and composing music, cooking dishes, etc.

Using a system called Music Markup Language (actually a variation of Music Macro Language, which is completely distinct from the notation format usually referred to as Music Markup Language, players may compose their own arrangements or use music scrolls created by other players. In the North American version, these are known as the "Compose" and "Play Music" skills. Different musical instruments, such as lutes, ukuleles, flutes, and others can be used to play. There are legal implications of playing copyrighted music, and Nexon officially discourages such actions.

Non-player character interaction is important. As the player talks to different non-player characters, more dialog keywords will become available. These will reveal plot points and NPC backgrounds, unlock quests or skills, etc. NPCs also offer a variety of services such as shops, item repair and upgrade, skill apprenticeships and more. Players can also request part-time jobs from some of the NPCs, which can be completed in a quest-like fashion.

Mainstream plots
Mabinogi has mainstream story campaigns. These campaigns have connected story lines that reveal the background story of Erinn and several important characters. The North American version of the game made mainstream services free at the Pioneers of Iria update.
 * There are campaigns in sequential order, each implemented at their corresponding Generation updates.

-Chapter 1
 * Generation 1: Advent of the Goddess (여신강림)
 * Generation 2: Paladin (팔라딘)
 * Generation 3: Dark Knight (다크나이트)

-Chapter 2
 * Generation 4: Pioneers of Iria(이리아의 개척자)
 * Generation 5: Elves in the Desert)(사막의 엘프)
 * Generation 6: The Giants(설원의 자이언트)
 * Generation 7: Ancient Secrets of Irinid (열대의 강, which means "Tropical Rivers")
 * Generation 8: Dragon (드래곤)

-Chapter 3 (Not yet progressed in the US and Europe)
 * Generation 9: Alchemist (The Shadow World)(연금술사)
 * Generation 10: The Goddess of Light (빛의 여신)
 * Generation 11: Sword of the Gods (신들의 검)
 * Generation 12: Return of the Hero (영웅의 귀환)

Quests, Exploration Quests and Part-Time Jobs
There are many different quests that players can complete throughout the game. Different types of quests exist, some are party quests, others involve monster hunting, item collecting or other tasks, for instance, skill-based quests like cooking or tailoring.

Some of them are received by the player at specific points or after certain quests are completed, others are given by the Non-player characters, some can be purchased as quest scrolls and, finally, there are also exploration quests that the player can enroll in through the Quest Boards found throughout Erinn.

Quest rewards may consist of experience points, Ability Points, gold, items or a combination of these rewards. Quests help the player to discover the game's regions and to find out about the many available NPCs, as they involve traveling to different parts of the game world and talking to all the different non-player characters.

Exploration quests typically involve finding certain hidden objects using Divining rod or by finding landmarks or animals and making a sketch of these. Different exploration quests are available according to the player's exploration level. There is also a player rank for the completion of each quest. When a character completes exploration quests or simply comes across these hidden landmarks, the character's exploration level will increase, and as they level up, the character will gain Ability Points, and access to new exploration quests. when a player's exploration reaches landmark levels, the player must complete a mandatory quest to continue gaining exploration levels. The highest exploration level one can attain is 60.

Another type of special quests are part-time jobs, which are given by the NPCs. Part-time jobs (called Arbeits) in all regions but North America) are only available at a specific time of the day for each NPC and have a time limit to be completed. The player must complete the requested tasks (i.e.: delivering an item to another NPC, crafting a certain number of items, collecting objects, doing farming chores, etc.) and report back to the NPC to choose their reward. As you increase in successful jobs, NPCs will give you harder and more rewarding quests.

Repeating these part-time jobs helps to raise the intimacy level between the player and the NPC (giving certain items to the NPC may also help). When a "friendship" has been established between them, certain merchant NPCs will reveal a secret store to the player with special items to purchase.

Time and weather
The game has its own internal clock, with thirty-six minutes of real time corresponding to one in-game day. The sun and moon move visibly across the sky with the hours, with objects casting shadows that move accordingly, and the moon undergoes lunar phase. A second moon, always rising and setting opposite the sun, is described as the source of magic energy, and players recharge mana faster while it is in the sky.

Each real time day of the week offers players the opportunity to take advantage of specific gameplay bonuses, such as increased skill success or lowered NPC store prices and also go to the other world. Weekday names used in-game reflect the Celtic mythology that the game evokes. In Mabinogi, actual days of the week represent seasons and are named for the traditional Welsh and Irish quarter days and cross-quarter days.
 * Imbolic (Sunday)
 * Equinox/Alban Eiler (Monday)
 * Beltane (Tuesday)
 * Solstice/Alban Heruin (Wednesday)
 * Lughnasadh (Thursday)
 * Equinox/Alban Elved (Friday)
 * Samhain (Saturday)

A dynamic weather system is also in place, with effects such as heavier or lighter cloud cover, rain, and thunder. The weather affects the outcomes of certain player skills and work done by NPCs.

Titles
Achieving certain conditions will reward the character with a title. These conditions can range from participating in the closed beta to completing quests. Titles, when applied to a character, can change the character's stats, for the better or for the worse. An easy title to get is (player-name) the Reborn.

Some titles are unique in the server, with each server having only one character who holds that specific title.

Other game features
Players can set up stores to sell their items. Items cannot be looted since any item dropped from a monster cannot, as a rule, be picked up by another player for an amount of time proportional to an item's value. Items can be safely traded through the trading panels. As another safeguard to item loss, items dropped by a player as a result of the player's death are automatically recovered by an NPC nearby, where they can be retrieved.

Generation 3, in later updates, added housing areas between Tir Chonaill and Dunbarton in an area splitting off of Dugald Isle, and also between Bangor and Emain Macha in an area splitting off of Sen Mag Plateau. Through this housing system, players can bid for a house and pay rent for it afterwards, in order to keep it. Houses may be used as stores, and players are able to purchase items to decorate their homes.

As in many other MMORPG's, player characters can get married in-game, by requesting this to a marriage NPC. A pet system is also available. Players may purchase Pet Cards from the game store and summon them in-game. Pets can help in combat or, in some cases, even be used as transportation, allowing the player to travel at a greater speed than on foot. Each pet has a fully customizable AI system, allowing the owner to give it preset actions he or she desires. Pets can even be played by themselves. Like the player characters, pets also grow as they age. Unlike player characters, however, pets automatically learn skills based on their level.

Other features worth mentioning are the friend, party and guild systems. Guild creation requires the purchase of an extended play package from the game store. Guilds can expand/level up by meeting an increasing quota of points (called Guild Points, or GP), which are earned by the guild's members by staying in-game. The party system is similar to other games, and allows sharing of experience points between players. Player versus player combat is also possible in special arenas, as well as between Paladins and Dark Knights at any location, as well as "pet duels", where characters arrange combat for their pets. As of the Pioneers of Iria release, elves and giants can also engage in PvP combat at any location, as can those humans aligned with elves or giants. More recently, a dueling system was launched, allowing PvP between any characters, within a range of customizable conditions.

Skills
Each character can develop a large number of skills, although some can only be learned if the character is of a certain race (Human, Elf, Giant). Skills are divided into four categories: Life, Combat, Magic and Alchemy. Life refers to crafting and performing skills, such as fishing, cooking, composing, tailoring, smithing or potion making. Some of the Life skills available are also mini-games. Combat refers to melee and ranged attack skills, as well as defensive moves. Magic comprises three kinds of elemental magic (ice, fire and lightning) and non-elemental magic, such as healing and recovery skills. In G9 Alchemy was introduced to the game world. Alchemy is used with a cylinder and a crystal, and can be used to create temporary walls, summon golems and a number of spells resembling magic according to the crystal used.

Ability Points (obtained when the player levels up, ages or has completed important quests) are required to take each skill up a level. Each skill is ranked from F to A and then from 9 to 1 (F being the lowest and 1 being the highest possible rank of a given skill). By practicing different skills, the experience for these skills (and also for character level) will go up. If the player performs a certain skill until it reaches "perfect skill" training (before advancing that skill to the next rank), they will also receive special bonuses. Skill levels cannot be lowered once they are advanced, unless a Skill Reset Capsule is used (only available on the Item Shop and can be bought using Nexon Cash, or from the Advanced Play Premium Service). Additionally, the AP required for ranking up may differ between Humans, Elves, and Giants in certain skills. Ability Points are also gained from leveling up your Exploration Level.

Paladin and Dark Knight Skills
Human Players can acquire special Paladin skills, which allow their character to transform into a Paladin and use power-up skills, after completing the Generation 2 mainstream plot. They can also convert their Paladin to a Dark Knight by solving the quests available in Generation 3, Season 4. Dark Knights and Paladins strongly oppose each other. Dark Knights have an additional skill, not available to Paladins, which gives them the ability to control fomors. The player can only transform into a Paladin or a Dark Knight once a day (in-game time). The Paladin or Dark Knight timer resets at 6:00 AM each morning (game time). This transformation used to require a premium service but with the Pioneers of Iria update, the mainstream quests and the skill is free to use. To save time in dungeons, transform shortly before 6:00 AM (e.g. at 5:40 or 5:50 AM) so you can transform again later in the day if needed. Dark Knights and Paladins each have different ranks and different title within the rank. A paladin's rank 1 form is called a Champion. A rank 1 Dark Knight is called InfraBlack

Falcon(Elf) and Beast(Giant) Skills (Beast Transformation)
With the addition of Pioneers of Iria, elves and giants can undergo a series of lengthy sidequests to attain their own transformation skills. Giants use Beast skills, while Elves use Falcon skills. Elves attain a skill called Elven Magic Missile which can be used during the transformation. It has a spinning wheel of 3 different elements and whatever you arrows lands on is which element your arrow is infused with. Giants can also use their respective skill named, Giant Full Swing, which allows the player to do a number of spinning swings (which depends on the skill's rank.) As with Paladin and Dark Knight skills, players may only transform once per day (in-game time). The timer is reset at 6:00 AM each morning (in-game time). As with Paladin and Dark Knights these skills are free to use.

Alchemy Skills
Available in G9, in the town of Tailteann you can purchase cylinders(weapons to activate alchemy skills), skill books and crystals you need to learn alchemy. Because the skills are excluded as a brand-new category, alchemy sees fit to every players. With the mastery of alchemy, players can attack monsters with cylinders (or "tower cylinders" available in G12) powered up with crystals, produce special crystals that are needed when using some skills and cannot be bought in NPC shops. The four basic elements of chemistry are wind, water, fire and earth. Be sure to learn it because alchemy is important throughout the Chapter 3 plots. Some skills can only learned from the G9 mainstream, while some skills are only available in later generations. (The American client has not yet progressed to G9)

Demigod Skills
Available for all races. During the last mission "The Goddess of Light" of G10 mainstream, players have to run the additional shadow mission "Light and Dark". There, players can fight with the boss of G10: Doppelgänger and try the power of demigod skills. Once the mission is completed, you can use the demigod transformation skill "Awakening of Light", attack skills (attributed to the goddess Neamhain)"Fury of Light", "Spear of Light" wherever and whenever you want. Players can train the skills by leveling up or being reborn, but one transformation activation causes 6 points penalty, while other demigod attacks causes less training points penalty. In the story of G11, another demigod skill "Shadow of Spirit" can be learned, and soon after the skill is learned, players must use the skill to defeat the boss of one of the "shadow mission", or else no damage can be caused. (The American client has not yet progressed to G10) Recently, two more demigod skills (attributed to the goddess Morrighan)"Rage of Wings", "Eclipse of Wings" will be released in the last generation of Chapter 3, G12.

The Mabinogi World
In the Mabinogi world, there are three beginning towns in Generation 1, named:
 * Tir Chonaill (A beginner area)
 * Dunbarton
 * Bangor

Some areas of Uladh are for more experienced characters:
 * Port Ceann
 * Sidhe Sneatcha
 * Tir Na Nog (Tir Chonaill's alternate world version)

There is also a wide variety of other maps, such as the fields which connect the towns, dungeons and quest maps, the "Soulstream" (where Nao appears) and "the Gate".

The game world is expanded continuously through subsequent major patches. Generation 2 introduces a new town to the world of Erinn, Emain Macha, and two new dungeons named Rundal and Coill.

With the Pioneers of Iria update (which had content from Generations 4 - 6), a new continent was added. Named Iria, three regions were added. Rano's Qilla Base Camp is where humans start. It has many new areas and also introduces Exploration quests, which are all done within Iria. Connous's Filia is where elves start. It is a desert region, Filia being an oasis town. Physis, finally, is a northern snowy region. The town of Vales is where giants start.

Generation 7 introduces a jungle region of Iria named Courcle. Many new skills are introduced and received in Courcle.

Generation 8 adds another extension to the continent of Iria, Zardine, where a new mainstream quest takes place for the human characters. This area features active volcanoes and sulfur geysers, and is "not a part of Erinn," according to the game.

Generation 9 adds some new regions and a new town, Taillteann. Taillteann is a town of Alchemy, where most of Chapter 3's mainstream takes place. Taillteann is on the Uladh mainland, West of Dunbarton.

Generation 10 adds more new regions, connecting Tara (a new town) to other towns (Taillteann and Emain Macha) and fields.

Generation 11 opens Castle Rath in Tara and is only available to players who have certain titles.

Generation 12 introduces Falias, the now-deserted city of the gods. To gate to Falias can be opened anywhere but requires the activation of "Brionac" and a "Fragment of Falias".

Moon gates and Mana tunnels
"Moon gates" in Uladh connect remote areas and allow players to teleport through them. The destination of Moon gates changes every (in-game) day. They are periodic and can be mapped and predicted (as many Korean and Japanese fan sites already do). On a particular night, all Moon gates teleport to one place. (Sadly, during the G11 S1 extra season in Korea, all the Moon gates which were located in fields or by dungeons were deleted, which meant only the ones standing for a "town" were left.) "Mana tunnels" in Iria connect different points across the continent. These, however, work differently from Moon gates. Mana tunnels can only teleport players to a Mana tunnel that the players have used before. The light cycles are important to these portals: Moon gates are active only at night, while Mana tunnels can only be used during the day. Mana tunnels, when active, replenish the players' mana if they are standing close to it. Players can also move from one continent to another by boat or by selecting "Continent warp" (once per twelve-hour game stretch) from the main menu.

Dungeons
Mabinogi uses an instanced dungeon system, with random map generation, that allows dungeon exploration by multiple players at the same time. When a player enters a dungeon, he will find a lobby with a statue of the goddess, and a platform before it. A separate dungeon instance is created for every unique type of item thrown on the platform (for dungeon passes, a unique instance is created for each instance of pass dropped). Depending on what the player drops, he might end up in a dungeon instance with players already in it.

Dungeons maps consist of connecting rooms and corridors. As he explores the map, the player will encounter chests or other devices which will, if opened or activated, summon monsters that must be defeated in order to progress in the dungeon path. At the end of each dungeon, there is a large room, which will usually have the boss enemy of the dungeon (sometimes escorted by a number of other enemies). Once the boss and its minions are defeated, a treasury room is opened, with the rewards for clearing the dungeon. The number of treasure chests inside the treasury will be equal to the number of characters in the dungeon (at the time of dungeon creation). Players can thus explore the dungeons in teams. Some dungeons have special items called passes which allow harder (and sometimes easier) versions to be done. Some passes require a specific number of players to form the team.

Treasure chest keys are tradable, permanent (until used) objects (they won't eventually vanish if dropped) that cannot leave the dungeon floor they were spawned on. At the end of the dungeon if you are feeling generous you can give away your treasury room treasure chest key to another team member.