Mabinogi (video game): Difference between revisions

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There are no job classes as such (and only minimal differences between the three available races), or level-based building points. Instead, the game uses a number of non-exclusive skill paths to develop abilities and increase stats; divided into "Combat", "Magic", "Alchemy", and "Life" categories; the last consisting of the usual crafting skills, among others. The player can advance in any path, at any time; and can theoretically max out every single skill in the game. However, due to the time and effort required to level up skills; most players concentrate on skills that apply to more traditional character builds, such as [[Fighter, Mage, Thief|Fighters, Magic Users, or Rangers]], along with some secondary life skills to boost stats appropriate for their play style. Skill advancement is done through the use of "ability points", gained through aging (up to a certain point) and leveling up.

One of the most unusual aspects is the "Rebirth" mechanism, which enables the player to reset a character's age, stats and level while retaining skill development (and the stat boosts gained thereby). Because of this, [[Level Grinding]] is unimportant; and reaches a point of diminishing returns fairly quickly. Due to the ability point system, rebirth is an essential gameplay mechanic.

 

 

Mabinogi Fantasy Life does have an overarching story, which is released bit by bit in large updates called "generations", which themselves consist of smaller updates called "seasons".

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: G13 cuts away the [[Plot]] of [[Hamlet]] down to the important scenes. G14 does the same with [[Romeo and Juliet]].

* [[Arrows on Fire]]: But only if you're near a campfire.

* [[Artificial Stupidity]]: The pets. Oh [[God]], the pets.

*** Not to mention the fact that you can log in as them yourself to deliver a [[Killer Rabbit|fuzzy beatdown.]]

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Tarlach and Mari were both given [[Backstory|backstories]] and motivations to try to save Morrighan, and continued to be important up to present time {{spoiler|though the player doesn't learn until after G1 that Mari was reborn as Nao.}} Ruairi was just a guy with a sword who might have wanted to save Morrighan mostly because he was infatuated with her. {{spoiler|Later storylines show that he survived, [[Break the Cutie|became much less]] [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|happy-go-lucky]] and [[Face Heel Turn|turned evil]].}}

** Arch-Wizard Mores from one of the G1 RP dungeons once the most powerful RP character, with Rank 1 bolt spells that the players, at the time of its initial release, were unobtainable. He also had the monster skill version of Chain Casting, allowing him 5 charges at once.

** The second example comes in the G3 sub-story as a way to allow players to test drive Dark Knight abilities before making the final, irreversible decision to become one. {{spoiler|It is a run of Barri Dungeon as Ruairi after the events of Tir Na Nog, during which he's much stronger and stocked to the gills with various potions. }}

* [[The Battle Didn't Count]]: Morgant tends to brush off in-game losses like nothing serious happened. The first time this happens he returns just one scene later to quickly dispatch the people who had just beaten him. The second time he implies [[I Let You Win]] and decides to let the local [[Eldritch Abomination]] have his fun with you instead.

* [[Beef Gate]]: [[Averted]] on the fields; monsters usually stay off the main dirt path in any given junction area and generally don't try to chase players around unless you walk right up to them and stand there, and they tend to give up the chase quickly enough (though nearly every monster can outrun humans, so you'll usually get hit once or twice before you can get away). Dungeons tend to use this one in several variations of straight and/or [[Subverted]]. Giant and Elf Guards however, are absolutely straight examples: if you happen to be of the opposite race, or a human supporting the opposite race, and try to enter either of their capital city, they will [[Curb Stomp Battle|crush you like a bug on a windshield]].

* [[BFS]]: The two-handed sword, the claymore, the dragon sword, the cleaver, the great sword, and especially Vales great sword. Later generations added the Glory Sword and the Dragon Fang, which each take up as much space as a suit of armor.

* [[Big Bad]]: In G1, Morrighan is this.{{spoiler|..only to be revealed as Cichol, the real [[Big Bad]] for most of the rest of the story, although Esras takes the lead in G2.}} In Chapter 2, it's {{spoiler|Crumena and perhaps [[God of Evil|Irinid]].}} In Chapter 3, {{spoiler|Cichol is at it again, only to have other villains such as Tuan the Python Knight in G11 and Nuadha in G12 after Cichol is unceremoniously disposed of in G11.}} The [[Big Bad]] of Chapter 4{{spoiler|, in a bit of a twist, actually ''is'' Morrighan, though she seems to be more of a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] than previous ones, as she only wants to stop Shakespeare from writing any more plays.}}

* [[Boss Dissonance]]: Of both types. Usually if the dungeon feels too hard or too easy, the boss will be the opposite, but not always.

* [[Boss Subtitles]]: This happens whenever you fight a dungeon boss.

* [[Boxing Lessons for Superman]]: One way to raise your stats (and the only way that persists through [[Restart At Level One|rebirth]]) is to train skills, because almost all skills contribute one or more points to some stat or another. This leads to things like taking up weaving and tailoring to raise Dexterity for melee and ranged attacks, or wizards studying music theory and composing for extra Intelligence.

* [[Breakable Weapons]]: All weapons have a certain amount of durability, which slowly decreases as they are used. Eventually, they'll break, and you'll have to repair them at one of the many blacksmiths. How much you'll have to pay to repair it depends on how expensive the weapon is. In fact, all equips have durability.

* [[Breast Plate]]: [[Averted]], for the most part. The vast majority of the female wear, at least in the armor department, covers everything realistically. Doesn't stop a few from having a skirt, though.

** Skirts are not limited to female armour. Several Roman-inspired styles also have skirts, such as the unisex Lorica Segmentata, and the male-only Endoria Lorica Hamata; as well as the Bone Marine armour.

* [[Bribing Your Way to Victory]]: When it first came out in North America, the game was like this. You had to pay for character cards in order to rebirth your characters, which is a nearly essential part of the game, and you had to buy one of three extra services available in order to play through the storyline and possess a [[Empathic Weapon|Spirit Weapon]]. However, this was changed with the ''Pioneers of Iria'' release. It is now possible to rebirth for free, with some time restrictions; and anyone can do the storyline quests and own Spirit Weapons.

** Paid service does still provide a significant advantage over free service; mostly via access to [[Auction House]] selling, expanded storage, better experience point awards, and a small number of complimentary useful items.

* [[Cosmetic Award]]: The new journal feature that lets people compare to others to show off. It's used partly to choose [[Badass Bookworm|Royal Alchemists]] for the week.

* [[Collection Sidequest]]: It is possible to obtain books in the game that ask you to collect a number of items. If you do this, you'll get a special item, usually an equip.

** In addition, most monsters drop some sort of item (Fomor Scrolls in Uladh, assorted body parts like fur, hooves, and scales in Iria) that can be collected into stacks of 10 and turned in for a reward by purchasing a quest from an NPC.

* [[Competence Zone]]: Given an [[Justified Trope|in-game justification]] through the rebirth mechanic.

* [[Difficulty Spike]]: G3 in Chapter 1 and G11 in Chapter 3. G3 is reduced somewhat in that it doesn't really get hard until near the end, but G11 is pain and misery the whole way through. Even worse, you're forced solo for nearly all of G11, while in G3 you can almost always bring backup. G14 includes another difficulty spike for Chapter 4, bumping up the [[Mooks]] considerably.

** Most of the harder G11 missions allow the player to bring one [[Badass Bookworm|Royal Alchemist]] to help, which depending on his/her power and skill level can greatly alleviate the difficulty of these missions. Buchanan Inside the Castle and Location of Destiny, however, do NOT allow Royal Alchemist assistance; Buchanan Inside the Castle is particularly infamous because its difficulty certainly warrants Royal Alchemist assistance.

* [[The Dragon]]: Dark Lord/Morgant.

* [[Dragon with an Agenda]]: {{spoiler|Morgant implies himself to be one.}}

* [[Enemy Chatter]]: Some of the enemies, such as Imps and Kobold Bandits, will actually say things to you. There's even one dungeon boss, the Succubus, that you can actually have a pseudo-conversation with.

* [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]]: The female playerbase '''really''' likes [[Hamlet]].

* [[Excited Episode Title]]: "Conflict! An Unexpected Battle!" (The original Korean name for this level was simply "Encounter.")

* [[Fake Difficulty]]: G11 seems to be an experiment by the developers to find the most annoying combination of [[Video Game Tropes]]. An early level is a combination of an [[Escort Mission]] and a [[Marathon Level]]. A later level combines [[Randomly Drops]] with a [[Timed Mission]].

* [[Full-Contact Magic]]: Blaze.

* [[Gainaxing]]: [[Subverted]]. While Nao's breasts do bounce a bit, they stay together and don't go off in opposite directions. None of the other characters have any bounce at all.

** A glitch involving new Mercenary scrolls to not dissapear upon use allows instant five Lion spams to help on shadow missions, making That one levels and That one bosses of Shadow missions like a piece of cake. Averted with the Elite type lions, where the glitch isn't present.

 

* [[Get on the Boat]]: Only really useful for the title that you get from riding the boat ten times, as every twelve hours in-game, you can warp from one continent to the other. Also, the Uladh seaport is in the middle of nowhere. If you get the title, though, you can get on the other boat, and discover some exclusive items fishing there.

* [[Get Thee to a Nunnery]]: Spoken, but not word for word. G13 is an adaption of [[Hamlet]], you know.

* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: {{spoiler|[[Damsel in Distress|If you're having]] [[Sealed Good in a Can|trouble believing]] [[God's Hands Are Tied|that Morrighan]] ''is'' the Goddess of War and Vengeance, just find an image of her with her eyes open.}} * shudder*

** Other than that, bears and other animals possessed by Fomors will also have glowing eyes.

* [[Good Is Dumb]]: Overall, the Dark Knight transformation is probably just a ''little'' more effective than the Paladin transformation, but they're still similar to the point that for most players it's a matter of style.

** {{spoiler|Ruairi is just an above-average fighter with decent equips and decent skill levels}} when you control him. {{spoiler|He's a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] ''every'' time you meet him as a villain.}}

* [[Grid Inventory]]

* [[Grim Up North]]: Physis. [[Subverted]] in that the Giants there tend to be fairly relaxed and (assuming [[Elves Versus Dwarves|you aren't an elf]]) friendly.

** Also, during G13 in Act 2 Scene 2, it is impossible to defeat the Grim Reaper, as it is immune to all damage.

* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: Priest Meven isn't incompetent at his job, but he's pretty easy going for a priest, contrasted with his more serious assistant, priestess Endelyon.

** On that note, Comgan is a Priest in the mining town of Bangor, trying to raise money to rebuild the old church (which got destroyed in a fire). He's 14 at best.

** It's not mean to the bears because some bears have the title "who knocked out a person at [age] 10"

* [[Impossibly Delicious Food]]: Eating perfect five-star food produced by perfectly completing the cooking skill minigame actually [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kGfygYE4qA triggers one of several cutscenes] depicting just how impossibly delicious the food you just ate was, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdHX_wYr990 one of which] actually has your character pass out and be revived by Nao, who informs you that without her intervention you would be dead.

* [[Inexplicable Treasure Chests]]: These are typically only found in dungeons. However, during certain events, they can drop from just about every animal and monster in the game.

* [[Insurmountable Waist High Fence]]: And bushes. And tree stumps. And rocks.

* [[Item Crafting]]: A large portion of the clothes, tools, armour, and weapons available in the game can be crafted, using the tailoring, handicrafting, and blacksmithing skills. You can do things like cooking food and making potions, as well as crafting completely useless items like paper cranes, "costumes", and furniture.

* [[It's Not You, It's Me]]: Midway through the G1 storyline, it's revealed that {{spoiler|Tarlach actually ''does'' care about Kristell, but after seeing how far she was willing to go to prove her love for him, he feels he's not worthy to receive. Also there's the fact about him being a Druid, and unable to leave the area he's taken residence in.}}

* [[Jiggle Physics]]: Applies only to Nao. No other characters exhibit any sort of bounce at all. Not even [[Gag Boobs|Rua]].

* [[Kick Them While They Are Down]]: The Assault Slash skill.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Triona is attacked by the brainwashed paladins.}}

** The underground Ant Hell maze has a number of doors leading to higher-reward areas. These can only be opened by possessing certain titles, skills, or items; or by performing certain very specific actions based on rather vague clues.

* [[Our Elves Are Better]]: How many fantasy settings do you know of with Desert Elves?

* [[Patchwork Map]]: Iria at first appears to be this. On closer examination, the layout does make climatological sense, with forests and plains seperated from desert by huge mountain ranges creating rain shadows. The north is a frozen waste, with the a small, arid zone consisting of a volcanic island laden with hot springs similar to parts of Iceland. Although Karu Forest appears to be sandwiched between two deserts (Muyu and Nares Plateau), it's at the very southern tip of Iria beside the mouth of the Rutra river. This enables it to benefit from the rain shadow created by the mountains on other side, which channel moisture from the ocean into a narrow river valley.

* [[Pet Monstrosity]]: The pets you can buy include [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|venomous snakes]] and [[Giant Spider|giant spiders]].

* [[Unblockable Attack]]: Wings of Rage, which ignores all forms of defense and tracks the target, making it undodgeable and ublockable.

* [[Unnecessary Combat Roll]]: The Evasion skill. When in use, the player can avoid being hit with arrows, bolt magic and alchemy depending on the success rate, which gets lower near the end of the skill's animation. Higher ranks of the skill raises the success rate, the number of rolls that can be executed before going into cooldown, and shortens the time to recover from rolling.

* [[Useless Useful Spell]]: The magic music scrolls sometimes gives stats, but only 1~10 of str/dex/int which isn't that much.

** Subverted with the more advanced music scrolls like [[Deadly Upgrade|Berserk which makes you unstoppable but can get you easily hurt (can't use defend).]]

* [[Villains Never Lie]]: {{spoiler|Cichol spends the entire course of G1 trying to trick everyone that Morrighan had turned against Humanity. In G3, he tries to do it again. Whether to believe him or not is up to the player.}}

* [[Virtual Paper Doll]]: Due to the wide selection of clothing items and the ability to use dyes for customization.

** Iria is literally an entire continent for the player to explore and find stuff in, walking from Vales (the Giant's starting town) to Filia (the Elves' starting town) then to Port Qilia (Human settlement) can take nearly two hours, if not more.

* [[Yandere]]: {{spoiler|Kristell}} used to be a minor example, as she attempted to invoke [[Defeat Means Friendship|defeat means love]] on {{spoiler|Tarlach}} at least ''five'' times before she realized it wasn't working. More recently she's grown out of most of the negative aspects of [[Yandere]], but she's still somewhat obsessive over {{spoiler|Tarlach}}, though not as much.

* [[Younger Than They Look]]: Mores looks like an old man at any point in the story, but he's actually only 36 as of his RP Math Dungeon. Juliet is only supposed to be 14 or so, but she's quite [[Buxom Is Better|developed]] for her age.

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* Game [[Wiki Rule|wiki]]: http://wiki.mabinogiworld.com

 

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