Gamertell

Title: Mabinogi
Price: Free
System(s): PC with Windows
Release Date: Open Beta started 3/5/08
Publisher (Developer): Nexon (Nexon)
ESRB Rating: N/A
Pros: The pay-for part only applies to character creation. Everything else in the game can be done with a free account. You choose how to grow your character. Lots of skills to learn. Lots of part time jobs and quests. Looks and sounds fantastic. Very immersive.
Cons: Since it is still in its beta stages, not everything is accessible yet
Overall Score: 9.5/10

Mabinogi is so good, I would pay to play it. Normally I frown on pay-for-play MMOs, especially if you have to initially buy the $39.99+ game. I always feel as though the owner is being ripped off, having to pay to play a game they just spent so much on. However Mabinogi‘s quality and experience makes me question my thinking. Thankfully it is a free-to-play MMORPG, and quite possibly the best free MMORPG I have ever seen.

Mabinogi, though only in the open beta phase, is just amazing. It provides an interesting experience where players can choose to work through the game on their own, or with others. When you first arrive in the game’s first town, Tir Chonaill, you are encouraged to talk with the villagers and make friends. Doing so will give your character titles, items, part time jobs, new skills and NPC friends. It also opens up an assortment of quests.

Rather than all the quests being the standard “Go kill this and come back” or “Go get this and come back,” they can instead require you to perform certain activities or jobs. For example at one point the shepard boy Deian asks you to sheer sheep for him and Caitin asks you to harvest and grind wheat to make a sack of flour. Pretty much every activity grants experience, so you can level up without fighting if you want.

The skills really are amazing. So far there are quite a few available, and more are supposedly promised once the game is completed. The fact that not all the potential skills are available and that only the human race is available for characters are the only downside of the beta. Other than that, the game is amazing.

Also interesting is the way that characters grow and change. You can start as a child or adult, and grow through the game. Each week a character ages a year, and aging stops at 25. After 21 days, you can have your character be reborn, and the character will keep all of its skills, completed quests, ability points, items and its name. Only the character’s appearance and level changes.

Also I just want to let others running Vista know that you shouldn’t have any problems. My computer more than met the requirements, but runs Vista. When the game started I received a warning box saying there may be graphical issues, but I haven’t run into any problems at all through two days of play, so neither should you.