Mabinogi: What the hell G19?

So, I've been one to always (usually) sing praises about this cute little game especially on its core combat mechanic which is like a more complicated rock-paper-scissors affair where the skill of the player can often make up for a weak character. Guess what they did in Generation 19?

They've thrown that out the window for the new story line, and have made the majority of the regular spawns have heavy stander. For those that don't know what that means: If you previously countered an enemy, they would get knocked back. If you defended an attack, they get stunned. If you smashed them, you knocked them back and bought room to prepare a defense or counter again. Heavy Stander negates all of that.

Now you counter, you do damage but they continue to attack. You defend, it blocks one attack but they continue to attack. You smash, they take damage and continue to attack. Ehhhh?

This does give new weaknesses for the AI when they defend though because usually a knock back triggers the AI to change their move. Now when they defend, you spam smash and when they counter you spam windmill.

But that's just the normal spawns. Wait till you run into a -full powered- Gigrashiy (winged form), the first of whom you must beat in a solo mission. Definitely way worse than Glas!

Wearing a pink sea bream robe probably didn't help. 

• It is an HP sponge.
• It has a strong staff swing (evade by being behind it)
• It poisons you from range (unavoidable, hits through mana shield).
• It can pick you up and stab you with the staff (unavoidable).
• It can freeze you in ice which does damage when it explodes (unavoidable).
• It can fly up and land right where you are, dealing damage (unavoidable even if blocked).
• When <20% health, it summons a shade of yourself where you are which runs towards it.
• If your shade reaches his hit box he gets healed, and you die. Instantly.
• He can and does spam all the above. 
• You need a specific skill set to fight them which you won't have yet at this fight.

Not sure who thought up of changing the combat system like this but I for one hate it. No point in thinking what to do, nor can you have fights where you take no damage if you time the correct moves. Now it's just "use your most damaging attacks". Yep, just like all the other mmos out there.

Correction: I think I found who thought up of this change.

Stupidest design decision ever. Way to kill your own uniqueness, Mabinogi. If I want to just DPS my way through fights I'll just go play Neverwinter Online.

Meanwhile, in Mabinogi

[My fourth post of Blaugust!]

There are ninjas and guns! Yes it's been a long while since I've set foot on the continents of Uladh and Iria and wow have there been some changes going on. Not just in the usual "let's add more crazy skills for people to master" but also an upgrade to both Vales and Filia and a peppering of new Mana Tunnels all over the place. Furthermore these and the Uladh Moongates have been upgraded to keep them open now regardless of the day or night cycle they used to follow.

Also, dragons everywhere!

Obviously someone decided that continent was way too big to fly or ride around on, and for the most part they would be right. While there I also decided to complete "G18: The Saga - Iria" and was suitably challenged by new foes and old. What I found really cool though were the RP quests, something that I've not seen in any other MMOs. One example: My character is told of an assassination attempt so I predictably go to try stop it. During the mission though I PLAY AS THE ASSASSIN. That is both awesome and educational since she uses the dual gun skill set I've not yet experimented with.

After you fight your way past the guards, guess who stops you? Your own character! Now that is totally cool! This also means when you face her you know pretty much everything she can and can't do, because you were using all her skills to get up to that point. Telling a story is definitely one of Mabinogi's strong suits and I was hooked from beginning to end. :)

Blaugust Bonus: I've been on Mabinogi NA for over five years now. I think that would make it my second longest running MMO that I play (with some gaps). Ultima Online is at the top spot, sitting on around twelve years of play (also with some gaps) but the clock on that isn't going up anymore as I no longer have it installed.

Ode to Mabinogi [Pic Heavy]

 

Crumena is Red,

 

Legatus is Blue,

 

I love Mabinogi

and so should you!

 

You can go to the forest to kick a bear

 

You can dress like a cat anywhere!

 

Take flight and soar into the sky

 

don't worry Milletians can't really die.

 

You can take your elephant on a boat

 

and catch stars as they fall down

 

hope your river raft stays afloat

 

and bring trade goods to each town.

 

Tend to your crops, build a home,

 

or through the vast lands roam.

 

Train your pets, dance like a fool.

 

sure, save the world a bit - it's cool.

 

You'll face demons and gods

 

and devious challenges true,

 

but that's ok because eventually,

a demi-god is you!

 

Be warned, with so much to do

you might end up with a wife!

 

Still, this game is worth a try,

Mabinogi: Fantasy Life.

Mabi improving Guildwars 2

Part of my Explorer of Tyria journal - you can find the rest here!

For some reason GW2 no longer lets me log on to their forum... I wonder why. Anyway, I feel that they can take a leaf out of Mabinogi on ways to improve the game. Recently they've been adding basic musical instruments into the game which is pretty good, unfortunately they are cash shop items though making them not as accessible to the general public and are a far cry from what you can achieve with the instruments in Mabi. Also I feel they missed out on a good opportunity with those balloon rides being instant teleporters as opposed to actual floating dirigibles that people can fly in, even if they were just "on tracks" to begin with.

Mounts of any sort would be a good addition actually, especially the flying kind. I imagine that would cheapen most jumping puzzles though. "Music and mounts are not needed," I hear you say. True, but they would add another factor to the game. One I think that would be positive, especially when you can do things like this.

They also should put more silly attires in their store, as well as let people fight in "town clothes". If the population of Mabi is anything to go by then at least half the players would prefer to be dressed in cat, cow, or penguin costumes while doing everything from lazily fishing at a stream to fighting giant dragons. Could be an untapped market there! They would also look incredibly cute. :3

Lastly the Living Story in GW2 updates every two weeks with temporary content to generally mixed reviews. Mabinogi also has temporary events  every two weeks that keeps the world "changing" but in addition adds story content in a more permanent fashion in the form of Generation quests. This may simply be possible on how they structured their game though. Sure, it means some NPCs can be seen or not seen based on where people are up to storywise which creates the odd occurence of player A interacting with something player B cannot see (and thrown into instances for story based combat) but on the whole it still works pretty well. If GW2 incorporates this it would certainly lessen the rushed feeling some people are getting at the very least.

Generation 17 Tips: Shamala's Nightmare

Been awhile since I was last on Mabi (installer problems) but the new story arc is a good way to fill your hunting list! Most of the events take place in Cor and revolve around the titular shapeshifter Shamala. All the quests give you LOADS of room giving you lots of opportunity to use your ranged skills. I also recommend a snake pet as it helps quite a bit on the teleporting bosses.

Black Panther Panties (seriously)
After beating up some silly green birds you will be sent to hunt a black panther roaming around Cor, twice! Ofcourse this means fighting a lot of other stuff as well but it should be nothing new. Don't forget to windmill the lycan and use your highest damage skill against ghosts before they get to fireball you. The panther itself is not as devilish as the one in the stage dungeon (which was removed due to it being ludicrously hard), however on your second foray you fight the black panther king who, apart from being high def/prot can and will teleport. I recommend using your pet snake to poison it, then trans/demi up to finish it off safely, WMing when it jumps behind you.

Spirit Hunt
Shamala will assist you on the next bit where you fight possessed critters but really, you should let her do the fighting. Again you have loads of room to lure and kill which is especially important for the multi-aggro salamanders. Given you have  a god-mode assistant you shouldn't really have any problems here unless you position yourself badly or eat a few ghost fireballs. A grim reaper waits for you at the end, and he's still as lol-worthy as the first time you faced him.

Snakeland
If you don't have a decent ranged wep you'd better bring a lot of pots on this one as you'll be facing many waves of poisonous snakes and a giant python at the end. It has IR (don't open with a smash) and Final Hit so either WM it to death or FH it first in demi/trans mode. Shamala will arrive halfway through to "assist", though she can mess up your combos.

King of the Jungle
Cool, you become a big deadly cat! You won't have time to enjoy it though, get familiar with your skills quick as there is literally an army of hobgoblins (plus their giant bear pets) to tear through before they kill the defenseless girl. It's an RP mission though so you don't really lose anything if you fail. Afterwards you have to go hunt lions/lionesses at the Cenae Meadows which is good practice if you haven't fought them yet.

Demonic Attacks
The "nightmare" phase begins here and starts with you assisting Waboka in fighting off demons which come in a variety of forms. All of them have no passive defenses though, and again you can make use of the vast space to snipe (or lance) everything. In addition Waboka goes for your target so if you hang back and take pot shots, he can do most of the wet work. Your main road blocks will be the trolls (unlikely), hollow knights (they have AR too), Arachne (who can summon burgundy multi-aggro spiders) and a Demilich who likes teleporting and casting high level chain lightining (the mini-liches are one hit trash mobs though). I recommend demi/trans especially for the last two.

Invasion of Cor
The demons are coming in force into the village now, but you have a lot of aid from the high level villagers. Indeed you can probably AFK in a safe spot and let them win this for you but I don't think they'll do it in time. Just pick your targets and let be the meat shields. Don't trans for the first two headlesses, you'll probably want it for the six Arguses or Demilich. Also, don't stand beside volatile zombies when they die (kaboom) and don't freak out too much about the ifrit at the end - the villagers will help you keep him stunned/knocked down. Also gold mask ghosts = snakes.

After all that comes the mysterious man who you must defeat solo. He summons monsters but doesn't himself attack, move or get knocked down. Simplest method for me was to hang back on a hill and magnum shot him with my ego bow, well out of the aggro range of his protectors.

Why do we need to save Shamala?
Seriously, you RP as her now and are technically on god-mode. Just follow the blue flowers and try learn the behaviour of the monsters for when you fight them as yourself.

Training Millia
After meeting this new NPC you have to help train her. First round is pretty straight forward (hope you remember how to fight skeletons and there's an ogre at the end), second round is trickier with the giant headlesses at the start and then the bone drakes and bone dragon at the end. Millia isn't as competent/useful in combat but she won't die. She will screw your combos though. The bone drakes/dragon move quick and teleport so range isn't that useful. I suggest demi/trans for them while you learn their AI. Alternatively they are super weak to snake poison (no idea why) so you can pet revolve them if you want as long as there is a snake in your stable.

Boar Hunting
LOL. Everything here has the AI of a pig (counter + defense only) until you reach the Sacrificial Pig (grendel) which has bear AI if the sound doesn't give it away. Just fight well and you won't need to use any tricks or transformations here.

Stupid Tribesmen
Somehow after helping all the Corians they think -you- are the bad guy. Oh well, kill them all - they behave for the most part like their demon counterparts with archers doing double aggro. Getting out of the town center is a good first move. Kusina has decent range with her bow but can still be outgunned. Tupai and Ruwai are a dangerous combo of stun-lock + summons so make sure you annihilate them (probably trans here) and quickly follow up by hunting down Kousai who has strong magic (FH works well). Waboka faces you last and alone and despite him having FH shouldn't be much of a challenge.

Escape from the deep dark Cave
Yeah I don't know WTF is going on. Just escape from the Solea caves. Despite being "enclosed" you still have tons of room (and time) to use range/pet revolve. Time your entry to be able to trans twice for easy mode since it's a long mission, otherwise slow and steady is the key. Bone drakes and another bone dragon await after the first false wall so snake em. Afterwards are more trash mobs until you get to the one hit light banshees and then the named banshee Elizabeth. She likes to teleport and fireball which is a stupid combo because you can windmill her out of her casting. FH works better, and as usual Demi/Trans to end the fight quicker.

Generation 16 Tips - Let not light see my black and deep desires

The last of the Shakespearian story-arcs, this supposedly revolves around "Macbeth" but has almost nothing to do with the original prose. Pity I was hoping they'd include "Titus" but I guess that was too much? The difficulty ramps up a fair bit here, forcing you to fight numerous Peaca spawn in big numbers so it pays to have a bunch of highlevel buddies by now. Like before your decisions will affect the ending.

The Witching Hour (solo)
Scathach beach and cave are full of really high level monsters, fortunately you don't need to fight any! Just mount up (I assume you have one by now) and ride past till you reach the shipwreck.

Death of Someone Important (solo as William)
Huzzah, you get to finally meet King Ethan MacQuill II for all of 1.2 seconds! Firstly you need to deal with Morrighan and her cronies though. Given your character has Rank 1 in everything now you shouldn't find any problem beating the mobs here. Just follow the mission prompts.

Assassin (solo)
You will face three fleet footed elven assassins here (damn you Castanea) all of whom have heavy stander and aggro far, pretty much at the start of the mission. One of them comes with a bow, and all of them will ignore the NPC you are supposedly protecting in favor of killing you first! Trans/demi early and mana shield up in case they land hard hits on you. If you have time you can summon Adniel but if you are prepared for them you should be ok with standard god skills - if aligned with Morrighan use Wings of Eclipse first to take more hits, if you've reverted back to Neamhain use Shadow Spirit on yourself to hit all of them followed up with fury of light and spear of light.

Even Ezio would be caned with your demi-god skills!

From Beyond (solo as William)
Been awhile since you've visited this place, and there's a new grave for you to see. A group of undead Peaca scum will ambush you here so again be ready to fight and thunder as needed. The hollow knights are dual wielding swords which actually makes them -less- dangerous since they have no bows but treat everything here with caution.

Necessities (solo as William)
You'll face Golems, Aonbharrs (careful of the cheating floating stones), and Balrogs in this mission. First two groups are easily enough dispatched with thunder while the Balrogs (gargoyle AI) will probably not live long against your smash-mill - even if you are using a pickaxe at this point. Once they're dead it will start to rain so dig those firey rocks and complete the mission.

Truth Helm (solo as William)
After killing -all- that other stuff 10 stupid alchemists stand in your way. Really? If you need help here you're doing something wrong. :P

Secret Meeting (bring high level help)
A very tough mission so you'd best bring a strong team. Ironically it is easier if you (party leader) remains talking to the NPCs at the top of the watch tower until your friends kill the three, rather large waves of Peaca monsters pouring into the grounds below. If you decide to join them then Andras, Odran, Padan, and Sinead will join the combat but should any of them die the mission will fail. Prep potions before attempting this and keep your mana shield on. Also avoid using normal attacks (almost everything has stander) and try stagger your trans/demi (don't do them at the same time) to match with what your allies are doing so that you don't all use up the extra power during the first wave - although with a strong team you'll probably finish this mission with both still active. Should you keep disconnecting then you may need to run the mission with fewer people. Also if it is still too tough find someone of a lower level to be party lead. Rare to find anyone on INT or below at this stage though.

The Third Guardian (solo)
Another visit through Rundal with not much new in terms of enemies, unless you are on hard mode in which case there may be some over powered red spiders and skeleton wolves in here for you. They won't be any smarter though so just fight as normal and prepare to counter or windmill as needed. Don't underestimate the boss - infact it is probably safer to over-kill her and trans/demi as your opening move. Shakespeare will try help here, just use him as bait. Most of Merrow's strongest attacks are evadable if you aren't busy using long animated combat moves like smash or windmill (you can't knock her down anyway) - she has a forward wave attack and an area attack that illuminates itself with giant circles which you should stay out of. Harder to evade her smash and counter though. Demi-god skills are probably the best way to eliminate her quickly.

Blood and Death (bring high level help)
You'll have a big NPC army to help you out here but what you most need is a full party. One of them (the oldest one creation wise) is going to be Shakespeare with R1 everything and will help in making things go smoothly. You must fight through tons of Peaca scum to reach the castle and a few more within, and the party leader must survive both boss fights (first against a lich and then against obvious main baddie) for the mission to be completed. Easiest way to do this is for him or her to hang back and let his faithful party members do the majority of killing at those points (stay out of the throne room and do not "rest"). Apart from the things you've already faced now there are these as well (all multiaggro at this stage):

Giant Firefly - With melee immunity, good defense against magic and range and a huge deadly windmill radius, you'll want to campfire magnum shot these things from far far away.

Demilich - may be hard to lure him away from his buddies but given that he teleports you may be able to isolate him. He will have lots of HP and can chain cast advanced magic (obviously). Probably better to use demi-god skills on him to end him quickly, team ganking windmill (he can/will teleport behind you) is probably the way to go.

Ghasts - summoned by the main boss they cannot be knocked down, have a ton of HP behind very high defense and do major damage. Group windmill to keep them busy. Actually you may just want to group windmill everything in the final room anyway as there's not much room to do anything trickier. :P

Main Boss - has a number of advanced skill too such as final hit, life drain and assault slash. Party windmill spam him against a wall to keep him off his feet, and his summoned Ghasts in check. Only Admiral Owen will be assisting at this point and if he dies it is game over. 

Generation 15 Tips - The villainy you teach me, I will execute

Finally we get some insight to what the heck Shakespeare is doing in Mabi in the first place! Gone are the nice cutscenes though, but at least you'll be taking a break from that stage dungeon for a while. Your responses to NPCs here WILL affect the title you get at the end so keep that in mind ("the sharer of joy" if you are usually positive, otherwise "the lone wolf"). Also this arc is loosely based on "The Merchant of Venice" but quite a bit has been changed (as usual).

Who you Gonna call? (solo as the mysterious man)
Oh noes, ghosts and wisps. Not much strategy here. Just keep punching to win.

Good thing too since these guys are on a break! :P

I'm on a Boat (solo as Bassanio)
Avast! Pirate scum! At least they aren't skeletons. If you've fought bandits before they behave just like this, otherwise - time to learn how to deal with this AI. :P Most baddies here have stander of some sort so smash-mill as necessary. Your buddy Antonio can take quite a few hits but given he's fighting with a fishing rod (idiot), you'll need to do most of the killing. Since it's an RP - you lose nothing if you fail so don't worry about it too much.

No Longa in Memory (solo as Portia)
Same old monsters here, and given that this lady has one of the best bows in the game AND is an elf you may as well use it. Don't forget you can still counter and windmill even with a bow, and she can hide if you want to sneak past orb and prespawned rooms quickly.

Alby your Price of Love (need two friends)
Your allies are going to be Bassanio and Antonio meaning you as yourself should be stronger than them in this run. Depending on your level there may not be anything new down here, however if you've run all the previous generations then you may be seeing some new opponents (higher tier, all multi aggro) which I'll cover now:

Black Poisonous Spider - as their name suggests, they are poisonous so kill em quick. Windmill is ideal.
Spider Wasp - treat as a stronger version of the Longa beetles.
Beetle Wolf - wolf AI with heavy stander. Smash-mill.
Grendel - bear AI with heavy stander. Smash-mill.
Cobweb Mummy - skeleton ghost AI with different skin. Smash-mill.
Spider Archer/Ranger/Fighter/Soldier - treat as very high HP goblins that only take 50% damage. Some have poison. Fight well and be ready to trans/demi if needed.

Gremlins and Goblins (solo as William)
A potential tough fight here and you have an NPC named Bella to protect/shield you. She actually has more HP than you so use her attacks as a distraction to get in and land a smash but beware of multiaggro as your familiar opponents are all hard-hitting. Like all RPs though you can just try again if you fail.

Ashes of Rabbie (fastest with a friend)
This version of Rabbie will be harder than usual since it is scaled to your level. At "ADV" you'll encounter armored skeletons too who have heavy stander so just like the Verona Dark Skels previously just smash mill them all to death. You will also meet two types of rats - cave rats (multi aggro and spawns in big groups) and giant sewer rats (poisonous) who are best to be windmilled to death quickly, otherwise you'll find yourself dying the death of a thousand bites. Lastly you will also meet skeleton squads. These self-destructing bomb carriers are best dealt with from a-far (like the lost sahagins) but have the passive defenses to counter it, and their explosion will hurt anything nearby potentially creating chain explosions. Ensure mana shield is active regardless when they are about and once again trans/demi if needed. Fortunately there are statues to revive at in here should you die.

Cursed Avon (solo as William)
This RP is easier than the last since you now have a bow and better skills. Remember that if there's a campfire nearby you can also use it to double your damage output with the bow. Lastly you should be proficient in dealing with skeletons by now meaning the poison skelies shouldn't be able to touch you to poison your ass. The exploding skels should also be easy since you have range and the room to use it, and the Skeleton ogres behave pretty much just like regular ogres.

Leave it to Fate (solo)
Nicca and Ethna from Qilla will help you out here and they are almost unkillable so just worry about yourself. The bandits that board the vessel can be pretty tough though (and for some reason I lagged a lot when doing this) so I advise trans/demi off the bat and don't be shy with the god powers. Killing the bandit leader ends the mission.

Scars of the Past (solo as William)
Should be a piece of cake for you with your RP char's uber skills now. You can use thunder to lay waste to anything in your path and probably should charge it up once there is only one measly goblin left in the wave (let the guardsmen handle it), that way you get to blast either the black wizard or black warrior with it as soon as they spawn. Pretty fun mission.

Escape from Belvast (solo)
You have Portia with you now but she's quite fragile so you want to do most of the fighting yourself. You need to evade the big giant guards or auto-fail and the correct path is ironically where the human guards are. These guys have a bit of HP and multi-aggro (pretty much like bandits actually) so you probably should time your mission to enter before trans time (like 4 am), trans/demi up and eliminate the first two groups then trans again for the last part. Don't be shy with your powers - they are there to be used, and don't forget to consume the souls of these innocent dudes while you are at it if you get the chance. A bow can help you snipe-lure them too, and you have a bit of space to use it after the first group.

A Pound of Flesh (fastest with friends)
Exactly the same run through Alby as before (unless you reached next difficulty level), probably a good idea to bring friends to help you clear it. The boss is an old friend who had no chance against you alone so now he should be really screwed. ^_~

Generation 14 Tips - O brawling love, O loving hate

Welcome to the next segment of Shakespeare's story-arc, this time dealing with Romeo and Juliet. It is very similar to the previous generation in that everything is solo, you have to read fast (if you haven't read "Romeo and Juliet" before), there are some nice cut scenes and it's still pretty easy. Here's a quick rundown of the combat parts!

Act I - Can't Choose Your Family
Ironically harder if done on lower levels, you will side with each of the families (you turncoat!) for 1.5 minutes each and have to keep 5 dudes on your side alive through out. Go for any opponents with spotlights first, followed by supporting any friendlies in danger and you should be OK. Enemies re-spawn when all of them are slain so if you can keep one alive a little longer it could help.

Act II - Shakespeare loves Skeletons
Romeo has a mini-sneak mission here but it's nowhere as hard as following Claudius. Just avoid the guards and make your way up the stairs. Later you'll also meet Verona Dark Skeleton soldiers, who are basically normal single-aggro skeletons with passive defenses. Just smash and windmill (they can windmill back) as you see fit. If you need practice just run through Rabbie normal again but by now you should know what you are doing. Used to be a panther mini-boss here too but since it was too difficult (pfft I beat it with my main and my mules) it was removed.

Act III - Stabby Stabby
Epic RP duel takes place between Romeo (you) and Tybalt who outclasses you with more HP and passive defenses. Good test of your skill as a player here and if you are competent should win in one or two tries. Afterwards it is more Verona skelies for you, but this time you have to protect a nurse. They're trying to make you rush into doing the wrong thing but there's an easy counter for it. Trans and Demi then destroy those bones with ease. What's the point of them if you don't use it right?

A bit like zombie farm! :P

Act IV - Gardening with the Undead
Somewhat dangerous mission now, as soon as you enter you will be multi-aggroed by one of the skeletons and a verona ghoul (poisonous, has windmill) or verona ghost (most dangerous) of the set. You need to fend off the attackers but try to leave one of them alive while you harvest herbs or they'll all respawn. Use pets to distract opponents if needed. If a panther shows up you may want to exit the mission as they can be very problematic. If you are far away and have a snake you can easily kill it with poison and patience though. Definitely trans and demi while running this mission regardless. Afterwards you get to meet the 2nd guardian and all you need to do is run away as you are scripted to lose. :P

Act V - Road to Suicide
It's Romeo's turn to harvest herbs but again the damn skeletons are here. Try harvest first if possible before eliminating them. Windmill spam works best. Afterwards he gets an RP duel against Paris, who is a lot like Tybalt. However Paris is very aggressive which makes him easy to catch with counter. Once the lovers are out of the way the 2nd guardian will reappear. He's even easier than the reaper. To evade the majority of the attacks stand behind him or just shoot the slow bastard to death. My mule giant had no problem using basic knuckes on the thing though and seriously just punched him to death and drinking potions everytime he took a hit.

Golvan's De Ja Vu
The first of the extra stories you can do after completing Act V, it sees you running two long and dangerous missions to return a book to a stupid paper cutout - twice! Coill will have things you've already encountered previously along with possibly poisonous snakes and giant versions of opponents you've already faced. The big guys, much like ancient titled critters outside, can take more hits and dish out more damage but they have exactly the same AI as their smaller counterparts so don't freak out. The boss lady is pretty tough and can summon fire sprites (ironic given she's made of paper) so you may want to lure her away with ranged. I highly recommend trans/demi against her too, at least the first time around. If you feel you can take her without either on your second pass, go for it. Lastly, it's usually stupid to drink from the fountains so don't. :P

The stage dungeon segment poses it's own problems. The snowfield spiders multi-aggro and have a bunch of HP but if you lure them one at a time you should be able to neutralize them easily, just like the trolls. Giant Spider can be handled with smash-mill if it's alone but you should save your trans/demi (or plan to use a second one) against the giant troll as he is quite dangerous, and the giant castle golem after him even more so. Shadow spirit will help keep them stuck in place while you cane them so I hope you've been eating the souls of your enemies.

Ascon's Sadness
The second extra mission revolves around an old man's past. This is the first mission where your replies to the NPCs can change a few things but nothing major will be affected so just pick whichever you want.
After getting beat up in Ascon's RP mission you'll eventually find yourself working for the Rich Man of Emain Macha. First run is through Coill with denizens you've already met, as a bonus you can bring a full party and will probably be faster with a few extra hands. The boss is a Giant Ice Sprite who can be very deadly if you let it cast Ice Spear. Take care of its companion sprites then demi/trans up and smash that heavily armored freak. If you brought a team you can just take turns smashing but make sure -you- land the final hit so you can claim the jewelry pouch.

Second job is a solo run through Rundal to capture a kid cyclops. Again, nothing new for you here - just mixed groups of the same old stuff till the boss room. There's an entire cyclops family in there and while you can try just tame the kid cyclops and run, I prefer to make it an oprhan first by luring the others one by one and slaying them with demi/trans. Obviously if you kill the kid or run out of taming bait you'll need to re-run this dungeon. The Rich guy gives you free baits if he doesn't detect you have any in your pack, so just drop what you have and ask him for more before heading for the dungeon.

Might be a cousin in Morrowind.

Generation 13 Tips - The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune

The epic storyline in Mabinogi goes in a totally WTF direction at this point as it begins to introduce Shakespeare; Literally. It is also nothing like the previous story-arcs and is quite easy despite being a pure solo event, more so if you've just come from whooping a deity in G12. Some really nice cutscenes here though but be prepared to read NPC conversations really quick if you want to follow what's going on (and for some reason haven't read "Hamlet" before).

Act I - Welcome to Avon
I am assuming you can handle Alby, Ciar, overly cute furry rats, and wolves by now. There's a named wolf you have to fight in one part but if you did the final battle class board mission you would have already defeated him. The only new things for you here you get to fight with some help:

Snow Trolls (with Laertes)
They only know smash, counter and defense and unless they are the giant version have no passive defenses simply making them big multi-aggroing goblins. Laertes is an ass-kicker so if you aren't quick he'll take all your XP. The giant snow troll may cause him troubles though (depending on your total level).

Elsinore Ghosts
Horatio will help you out here but he's useless so you're going to have to put these things back in the grave yourself. They also multi-aggro and have instinctive reaction (dont smash to open) as well as poisonous hands but no stander of any kind so just fight normally to eliminate them.

Acts II & III - Have an Antagonist
After bashing some goblins and being introduced to the Grim Reaper (don't fight him yet, just stay away from his attacks - if he jumps into the floor, MOVE) you need to stalk Claudius on the stage. Getting too close, being detected or being too far at any point fails the mission. Failing loses nothing so feel free to keep retrying - he always follows the same path too.

You will also face a Castle Wall Golem later on who has instinctive reaction and passive defenses against range and magic but is weak to melee so just like the ghosts, normal combo/windmill it to death. If you feel threatened you can always pet revolver, or trans or demi for overkill. After him you'll be sent into Rundal to fight a Siren. Nothing new here other than her unless you are doing this on hard so I'll run through them quick:

Siren
She's like a succubus that can summon Sahagins, use advanced magic, teleport and has high passive defenses in everything. Sounds pretty scary, but if you want you can lure her with a long bow away from her summons. Alternatively, just trans/demi and tear her to pieces. I seriously just pallied up and killed her in one smash. :/

Gnolls
You'll encounter these doggies if you are at "hard" level and they behave just like ratmen. A single windmill should be able to swat a whole bunch of them to death or deadly right away.

Sahagin Ranger/Fighter
Again only found it you are at "hard" level, you can treat these multi-aggroing fish idiots as goblins with windmill. Being over level 1000 though, they shouldn't be any cause for concern. Send them back to Dagon however you see fit.

Act IV - The Curse of the Black Pearl

Bet you didn't know he was in Hamlet.

So Hamlet and his two buddies are on a boat to England and are are attacked by a bunch of rats followed by a number of Barbosa's (skeleton) pirates. You will be playing the part of Hamlet it this strange mission and if your skeleton slaying technique is rusty, will probably be running it a few times. You lose nothing by failing though, and failing is easy when you have to protect your two idiot friends (both of whom Hamlet tricks into getting executed in the original story).

Afterwards you will be defending civilians against sentries for around 5 minutes which is pretty easy, just look out for their smash and counters. Windmill/assault slash like mad if you want to clear them quick and then you get a nice trip to the graveyard where you have to re-murder a number of weak Ghost Cloakers. If you beat Oroborous already, your smash should be able to 1 hit KO them.

Act V - Well that was Easy
Hamlet is going to challenge you to a duel (LOL) and if you lose you have it coming. Then you get to fight the main boss, the scary looking Grim Reaper who is perhaps the easiest end-boss in all the story arcs so far. He has three attacks - if he spins in a sommersault he is firing in a straight line where he is facing. If he is spinning like a top he is attacking a small arc in front of him (where he originally was facing), and if he jumps into the floor he is gonna pop out beside you and slice your face so keep moving until he reappears. If he manages to land a hit, all your stats will start to drain which is kind of a non-issue. To beat him just stand behind the idiot and use fast normal attacks (ie. not smash) and when he turns around to look at you just run through him to his back again. Alternatively you can just wipe the floor with him if you trans and demi. Your choice. ^_^

Generation 12 Tips (Part Two) - Fighting in Falias

Having taken care of those pesky alchemists once and for all in the previous section, it's not time to deal with the more powerful forces at work.

A Goddess Remembers being in Danger (solo as Morrighan then solo)
The first part is a very fun mission and a good introduction to Morrighan's god skills which you will be using later. Try to always keep Wings of Eclipse active and use your Wings of Rage from a far distance (they'll move into range if they notice you) on the Daols to avoid multi-aggro. Your first hit won't kill them though, so be ready with a Silent Move (you won't be getting this :P) hot-key to evade their attacks. Don't worry too much if you fail as you lose nothing to try again.

The second quest though can be quite challenging. You need to destroy a number of arches in Falias and they are guarded by Aonbharrs - winged wolves that have heavy stander, instinctive reaction and really high protection and HP. You may want to make use of the Brionac to deal with them and certainly trans when taking them on. Dragon support is also available to wipe out one group. Beware too of the floating stones as like Cerberus they cannot be targetted, but these ones fire Thunder and Fireball (adv magic) so steer clear!

Collecting in the Connous Underground (fastest solo)
Gathering stuff for the Ark of Falias is pretty straight forward - you would have encountered treasure chests in the Solea caves already if you had run to Vales (see second post), so it's just the Connous Underground that may be new to you. To get in, use an advanced L-rod (the digging version, humans need to ally with either the elves or giants to get one - though a normal one may work too) and find spots on the great desert outside Filia, preferably in sand storm regions. Eventually you'll dig up a cloud and a warning message. Wander into the cloud and you should fall in. Shouldn't need to fight any of the denizens in here (especially the Ifrit if he's awake) so just explore till you find some chests. To exit, just keep making your way to the center of the map and run up the stairs - or goddess wing out, or continent warp.

Golden Apple (best bring full party)
While there's nothing you haven't fought before here, most of the baddies are on their strongest variation and will spawn in big clusters so unless you like the idea of fighting 8 shadow ghosts alone you'd better bring a full team. The boss room especially has super powered boars and deers that must die in the offering circle to complete the mission. Don't be like me and windmill stuff out of the circle or it prolongs the difficult combat and annoys your helpers! :P

Final Chapter (solo)
It's end game time so prep well before entering this mission which comes in four parts:

Part I - Repair the stuff you Broke
Use Shock (without Brionac equipped) and touch the lithograph in the middle to figure out which one you need to fix. Fragments dropped from Aonbharrs will reassemble them. Again look out for the floating stones with advanced magic. Use everything you've got to stay alive.

Part II - The Feather is Mightier than the Sword
Not really, main boss will be throwing all sorts of crap at you and you need to run like mad to evade. When he begins his "light sword attack" you are supposed to use Morrighan's feather on him at close range. He only does this when he is airborne. If he lands, he is only doing it to smash you with his fist so steer clear.

After Part II, it's time to be like Neo.

Part III - Not Running This Time
Woo, now you've got perma demi for the rest of the mission as well as Morrighan's powers. Try to keep Wings of Eclipse active on top of your mana shield and avoid the main guy while you take down his minions. Like before, the Daols can be bad news but the area is big enough to lure one using a long bow. As long as you maintain single-aggro and avoid their light spears you should be able to take these guys down easily enough. Run away if Wings of Eclipse is turned off and keep evading till you have it reactivated.

Part IV - Attrition is Fun
Morrighan will help you face the main baddie and should she die it is game over. She's quite tough but don't draw out the battle for too long because she will lose eventually. As you may have noticed your adversary has a lot of deadly attacks when flying so the trick is to keep him grounded by hitting him with Wings of Rage the same time Morrighan does. When he's on the floor Brionac his face using any move (other than Windmill since he usually resumes flight if you do that) as much as you can. He can hit hard and do a shockwave attack while walking but your Wings of Eclipse and Mana Shield should be able to take the blows. Repeat until you are victorious.

Treasure Hunting
Now that you've won you can jump back to Falias at anytime by using the Brionac with either shock or demi-god to open a portal. You'll also require a falias fragment each time you do this which is only obtainable through Keith's Part Time Job in Tara Bank. I suggest doing it after a server reboot to give yourself better odds. Back in Falias you can change your god-powers back to Neamhain's if you so choose and you can try recover some of those artifacts you had brought. This involves defending an area against waves of Aonbharr but since I again haven't done it myself I'll have to write about it another time. :)

Generation 12 Tips (Part One) - Last of the Alchemists

Welcome to my quick tips for G12! This guide assumes you've read my previous classes and have certainly fought through the nightmare of the previous story arc. In comparison, this one isn't so bad but can still be tough in a few spots. Let's just quickly run through the combat bits:

Investigate the Homunculus Experiment (solo)
Nothing new for you here - you've been in tougher spots. It's a city mission too, which means you can call for dragon support or make use of the space for ranged attacks.

Don't worry, it's not these guys.

Alchemy Society (fastest solo)
Another outdoors mission with plenty of room to move. Other than the old shadow army guys you'll also find some arat boars (pig ai) and arat deers (shadow shire ai) that aggro pretty quick when you are close. The deer is more dangerous than the piggy but seriously if you are getting killed by Bambi then you should go back to combat practice with Ranald.

Secret Lair (solo)
A revisit to Peaca that is only scary if you are on Hard mode (over 1000 total level). The monsters spawn alone or in pairs and are pathetic shadows of their true selves. On Hard - they ARE their true selves so prep accordingly! :P

Jarlath the Hutt (solo)
Your main objective is to reach the top left castle room on the map. Bring an l-rod to detect the ice mines in your way though. Also there are 3-4 patrolling blinkers all of whom can be avoided by going through the central dining room.

Three Times into the Underground Waterway (solo w/ Leymore, then solo twice)
Again nothing too terrible here and no spiders to eviscerate your friend. Take down those baddies quick regardless though. On your return visit you want to prioritise the alchemists as they can keep summoning golems. God mode and/or Trans as needed. Your third run (Path of the Gods) through the same damned thing will be boring as there are even less monsters spawning, which kinda makes sense since you keep clearing the place out.

Goddess of Light (solo)
You'll meet new bastards here called Daols - like you they are demi-gods. They multi-aggro far and fast, have instinctive reaction (don't open with smash), can see hidden, have high HPs and can use spear of light at will. Even if you think you can take them you won't have the time to (15 mins) so as soon as it begins run to Navin (Neamhain) - you may need to use pets to distract or to move faster.

Coat of Arms (fastest solo)
City mission where you need to collect 6 pieces from 6 separate spawns. Shouldn't be problematic for you now since once again you have space and dragon support on top of everything else. Afterwards you get to run Temple Knights Rundal again, this time with Jenna (who is near immortal) which should make for a relaxing dungeon.

All Out Attack (solo)
The last stand of the alchemists, you'll have so many NPC allies here. If 5 unnamed or 1 named friendly dies you fail, fortunately the enemies are just alchemists (and optional spiders) so it shouldn't be that bad especially if none of them are targetting you! :P Just back-smash them all or final hit or god mode - don't use the dragon though as you'll undoubtedly hit and kill friendlies.

Spoiler! He's not the last of the alchemists either! :P

Generation 11 Tips (Part 3) - Snakes. Why did it have to be Snakes?

Good news, if you're reading this you have already gotten past the "hard" part of the main arc and the end is nearly within reach. There is another extra mission though for those that love the babysitting castle run... extra annoying that is. :P

Showdown at the Castle (solo only)
You'll need to take care of some idiot python dudes first (beefed up but same AI is same AI), and I think you can call for dragon support to speed things up. You also have a big area to work with so archery skills are a bonus. Pick off those shamans first. Eventually the boss and his enterouge will spawn, deal with his minions first via range or lure the main guy away for one on one time. He should be easy enough to read to fend off until he uses his death shadow attack, which you strangely -want- to be hit by three times. you quickly use your shadow stone as soon as that happens though or you will really be dead. After that you will have perma-demi for the remainder of the mission and a new found (and very useful) power which you should use to slay the fool. Back it up with spears of light to speed things up but don't let him hit you with his shadow attack again.

Caliburn Pass (bring team)
With their leader dead, you should bring a team to chase down the remnants of the Python army. One NPC idiot will be with you and he needs to live against the huge number of baddies but this won't be so hard if you have a big group. This force is led by a python wizard (behaves like a shaman) has advanced heavy stander and cannot be knocked down/stunned so be careful when you final hit him as he can and will fight back. Use demi and trans as you see fit, and if you manage it you can also eliminate one wave using a dragon strike - just look out for friendly fire.

At least they're not on a Plane! (solo or with royal alchemist)
Now you have the finale - no not against those 4 shaman guys, against the 4 giant snake heads that appear after you kill them! I hope that by now you've got Rank 1 smash because that will come in really handy (and timely, you're on the clock) - in fact it is the only skill you need here. That's right, you just need to be the Hulk. Bring enough stam pots to let you keep using it along with the rest of your regular finale gear and try prioritize "downed" heads to deal real damage to them. The key to surviving is not getting hit! DUH. :P Fortunately the snakes follow a set pattern which should keep you ahead of their quite lethal breath attacks which come in two main variations:

Fireball - they launch projectiles exactly where you are standing. How to ever evade this? Oh yeah, just MOVE. Easy. May as well load up a smash while doing so, and if you feel like - sneak a smash in before the next attack begins.

Rivers of Fire - this is the one you really want to avoid as it is almost insta death to get hit. There are always safe spots to stand when they do this, it is just knowing where to be. They fire three of these in sequence (and I'm not kidding, it always follows the same sequence - after sequence III it goes back to the first one) so you can predict what's next. Generally it's not wise to attack them while they do this as you need to be thinking of the next safe spot to stand in.

General Behaviour:
Fireball (x2) . Resting (smash em) . Flame Throwing Pattern (see below) . Resting (smash em) . Fireball (x2)

Attack Sequence I: Circle, Cross, Circle
On Circle: Stand in the middle of the circle to evade.
On Cross: They are breathing at the head across them, so stand to edges of the screen not occupied by giant snake heads.

Attack Sequence II: Up or Down, Cross, Up or Down (opposite of 1st)
On Up or Down:  Stand on the left or right edges (remember the screen is at a slight angle) not occupied by giant snake heads.
On Cross: They are breathing at the head across them, so stand to edges of the screen not occupied by giant snake heads.
Recover: This is the only sequence where if you are standing on the left or right edges at the start, that you can get a breather to demi/trans or bandage as you don't need to move for the duration.

Attack Sequence III: Left or Right, Circle, Right or Left (opposite of 1st)
On Left or Right: Stand on the top or bottom edges (remember the screen is at a slight angle) not occupied by giant snake heads.
On Circle: Stand in the middle of the circle to evade.

Going for a Party Dress
After those giant snakes you may underestimate the little castle rats in this mission. They will be levelled to match you, so expect them to survive your first combo. Other than that, they're just rats. :P

Suspicious Rumor (solo or with royal alchemist)
Oh good, now you get to meet the 2nd most horrible "normal" spawn in the shadow castle (blinkers still worse)... sulphur spiders. These multi-aggro bastards are tough, do high damage, can take a beating, and enjoy spamming their deadly windmill. The non-colored ones are weaker, but tend to explode upon death. Be ready to heal/trans/and demi as needed, and use a shield if you are planning to use turtle defense. AoE summoned pets are also useful especially if they pin you to a wall.

Getting some Support (solo)
Just a really long castle mission here with nothing you haven't beaten before (no spiders, yay!). Bring gear to recover and look out for those wandering blinkers (damnit!).

Another Secret Experiment - Weapon X (solo with one NPC)
Oh man, you are really going to hate your stupid, suicidal friend here as he will probably die a bit to the many sulphur spiders in this mission. Just kill them as fast as you can and heal the fool when you are able. Say out loud the phrase in the secret note you found in the final chamber to access the second part. If you make it here then at least your pal will be fully healed and he actually does better against the enemies here (no spiders) but you should still help him out. Have the Brionac ready in your secondary slot once you reach the boss room because Deadpool (he's back!) can aggro you from very far away. Fastest way to beat him is to demi-god and spear of light him twice (with Brionac in your hands to increase damage). A drawn out battle is not good for the health of your allied NPC.

Generation 11 Tips (Part 2) - Beginning to Hate that Castle

The previous section sets the tone of what is to come (in a word: frustration), but nothing worth doing is ever easy so just grit your teeth and plow through these at your own pace - remember you can take breaks from this nightmarishly difficult story-arc by doing other things like normal dungeons, life skills, trading, tending to your homestead or just chatting with friends in town. :P

Song of Partholon (solo)
Woo a return to Ciar! Aren't those goddess statues grand? While it will scale to your level there is nothing you haven't fought variants of here before. Expect everything to multi-aggro, and windmill will serve you well. Don't forget, you have TWO transformation types to help you out by now if you really get into trouble.

The Three Stooges (solo with 2 NPCs, can bring royal alchemist on second run)
Remember how you kept those 2 twits alive a few missions back? Well you'll need to do that again, fighting pretty much the same baddies, through two MUCH longer castle missions so be sure to prep lots of gear. Fortunately they are both not timed, meaning you should bring bandages and heal them when you get the chance. Second time through offers a mini orb puzzle in the central castle room. Hit the orbs without dual wielding in the following order to avoid fighting extra bastards, or if you really want the EXP - just whack away. :P

Hit them in that order to sail through.

Seven Pages (solo, or with Royal alchy)
What is it with people leaving pages in the shadow castle? Well this time you can only find the pages inside a leprechaun's pants so you need to fight tooth and nail to get into them. Yah, Mabi is funny like that sometimes. :P You can only get 3 pages from the little man's pants (if you don't kill him) and one from the end chest which means you need to do this mission twice at the minimum. Due to repeated pages expect more like 3 times. Only "new" enemy are ghosts of partholon which are the weakest "ghosts" in the game. The behave exactly like the temple knights you caned in the previous story arc so they shouldn't be a problem.

Glimpse of Peaca (better bring a team)
Peaca is a really bad place, and even though it is "toned down" to have only one or two monsters per room you will need to be on your game to survive, especially if this is your first time coming in here. Fortunately there's a statue to revive and again, no time limit to complete so recovery in possible. The usual denizens in here are:

Ghouls
Ranged attacks are innefective and they have minor heavy stander. You can smash mill the bastards but they can windmill you back too so look out. "Ice Tennis" is recommended, that is one person fires an ice or lightning bolt to stun the enemy, while a second smashes it's face. Roles are then reversed and it continues until the enemy is dead.

Wights (Whites lol - they sound like laundry)
Immune to melee. Use ranged or magic to take them down. Like ghouls they can also windmill but these baddies also come with advanced magic and chain casting to back it up. If you are a melee only person, defend your archer by standing in front of them ready to windmill the threat away to buy them time for another shot.

Cloaker
Immune to magic and loves to cast death-dealing thunder. You can archer the thing to death or team smash as it has no windmill or counter, only defense.

Ghost
Immune to magic and highly resistant to anything else, they can also cast advanced magic (based on their color), teleport and windmill with high damage output. They will most likely kill you a few times, so don't be shy to trans/demi against them. Pin them to a corner and group-mill them to death or arrow revolver archer with windmill defeners like a wight. If you manage to pin it down with Pummel then your friends can get in free smashes.

Hollow knight
Stronger versions of the ghost armors you've fought in G1. High defense against melee, and team smashers should be careful of its windmill. Weak to magic, but it will take long to defeat with so many HPs. Magnum will work, but usually this begins an archery duel as the Hollow Knights also know magnum and worse, arrow revolver.

Lucas the Rapist
The boss of this version of Peaca, he behaves like a bear. If you've fought past everything else he should be easy enough to defeat. Unfortunately you can't kill the prick. In case you were glossing over the story, not talking to NPCs, or just unable to read between the lines, he basically raped Belita and attempted to drug-rape Dilys too. Scum like him deserve a painful death but in Mabi, a minor beating is all you can dish out.

Ancient Alchemy (solo)
Given that you've fought worse by now, the low number of spawns here shouldn't cause you any problems.

Everyone is in Danger, not just Jenna (solo with one NPC)
No combat required in this mission, just to be quick. Go in prepped with a cylinder and a shock crystal. You'll need to use shock on yourself then sprint to the Brionac (spear thing) and touch it to end the mission, before Navin kills you or your buddy. Steer clear of her when she's doing fury of light too.

Generation 11 Tips (Part 1) - We eat Demigods for Breakfast

You would think now you are a "demi-god" that things would be easier for you, but this story arc just ramps up the difficulty so much that it's almost like you need your new powers just to survive. There's a long list of trouble spots for this one so let's get right into it.

The not-so Hidden Page (fastest with some friends)
You'll be given a monacle to find a hidden page somewhere in the shadow castle. Fortunately these pages were written on sparkly paper and they emit a very visible shine when you are nearby, indicating when you should put on your eyepiece to pick it up. There are a few missions where these pages appear but for ease and speed I recommend running "The Other Alchemists" on basic and bring some friends to speed it up. You will meet a few new baddies here:

Blinker
The bane of castle missions, these multi aggro floating eye balls have a dendancy to hover around and using a spot-light, drain peoples HP. Prioritize them and open with a smash to hopefully take them out before they notice you. Supposedly sand-burst and frozen blast is good against them too but I'm no alchemist. For a change, windmill is not so good as if they survive it they usually do their hover attack. Also they can summon extra help if wounded too badly. If they cause you too much strife, use your new-found powers to wipe them out fast.

Python Soldier/Shaman
The extra help I was just talking about, though their AI is familiar enough. The soldiers are basically re-skinned shadow fighters while the shamans behave just like the hobgoblin shamans you would have already fought in G7 while looking for those artifacts. You didn't skip it like an idiot right?

Leprechaun (small and giant)
These jolly little fellows are very timid, weak, easy to read, and if you knock them down (without killing them) you can "harvest" their pants of loot. Yes, it is as wrong as it sounds. They've got pretty strong magic though so don't foo around too much. The "giant" version is a guardian of a mini treasure room where you need to shrink and go through a mousehole to reach. No point fighting him, just get a pet to distract him while you loot and escape!

Cerberus
Though you may not run into this in this particular mission I thought I'd add it now. It is an indestructable trap that appears in the middle of a room and will fire bolt magic or poison fumes every so often. You can duck into the corners to avoid the poison (it's eyes will glow purple as a warning) and use evasion for the bolts but the only real way past it is to clear the monster spawn quick. Poison spitters will never use bolt attacks and vice versa.

White Orb and Warp Rooms
Again you won't run into these right now, but you will eventually. In the "white orb" rooms one orb will glow white for a few seconds then move to another orb while you are fighting baddies - if you hit the white orb the door will open allowing you to cut short the combat. The opposite of this are the warp rooms, where you hit an orb (during combat) which opens a warp portal providing the only way out or face an unending spawn of monsters.

Basilisk
This large and heavy lizard has very high passive defense and will not be knocked down by anything, so just use the highest damage attacks you have available while you've got mana shield and pots keeping you alive. There are "gaming" ways to beat it in a less dangerous fashion but if you brought help and are running this on basic as I suggested, you should be fine especially with trans.

Royal Library (solo or with royal alchemist)
A short mission but the main problem is you will be facing a Blinker on "your level". Be prepared to use trans and demi-god powers to take it down. If it causes problems you can ask a Royal Alchemist for help.

Into the Frying Pan (solo with Gwelyas)
Now you will start getting killed by food. I kid you not. The main objective here is to "kill" 5 ~ 9 Fruit, 5 ~ 13 Flour, and 7 Eggs within the red circle and to hit the big spoon to exit after 7 minutes (important). These things have incredibly high protection so it helps to go after the things your NPC buddy has "tenderized". When the silverware starts spawning (behaves like flying swords) you can kill them to get a cooking knife for yourself which can help lower the defenses of the food. Expect to have to demi-god and pally or be prepared to be defeated by eggs and berries. I don't need to say that killing anything that shouldn't be in the dish within the red circle will stuff you up royally. :P

You probably need to trans/demi to beat these!

Strange Books (fastest solo)
An easy mission with a new enemy type. Strange books can launch explosive paper airplanes in random directions. They shouldn't cause too much problems to defeat however as they are just an upgrade of the mimic types. Windmill to open.

Getting the gang back together
Need to find some NPCs you've met before, and the first one is within the shadow castle again. You'll be fighting familiar spawn, just lots of them and by yourself (unless you have a royal alchemist buddy). Just trans and demi as needed, there's no time limit so you shouldn't be in a rush. Incase you've forgotten your priority should be wizard/archer -> lancer -> fighter. The next dude is in the shadow city, don't you miss this place? There are a few baddies that you can avoid, but for more fun I recommend dragon striking since you won't be able to use it for majority of this story arc.

Revenge (solo as Jenna)
To make it go a lot faster than the TV series of the same name, just stand far away from the multi-aggroing enemy alchemists and magnum shot all of them to death. Should be a piece of cake.

Caliburn Investigation (fastest solo with 2 NPCs)
The first of unfortunately many missions where you need to keep your stupid suicidal buddies alive. Expect to do most of the fighting and try kill things quick. It's the same baddies you've fought before but you may need to be more reckless this time since you're baby-sitting morons.

Generation 10 Tips - A Demigod is Born

Welcome to my quick guide for Generation 10! I am assuming you have read through the previous classes at this point which means you already have a good grasp of the majority of the enemies here. You've already survived G9 so you won't find G10 so bad. After the last quest line, the shadow forces are in withdrawal (I assume), but those pesky alchemists are still up to no good. Here are the spots I think may give you grief.

Survivor Rescue (solo)
Welcome to Shadow Tara! Ironically the first things you see will be some of the strongest bastards in this story arc. Those shadow ghosts are highly dangerous and for now it would be wiser to flank and avoid them to reach your destination. You will however need to fight some bone soldiers who are pretty much exactly like their shadow counterparts, so nothing new here.

Lezarro's Book (solo or with royal alch)
Standard fare of killing stuff in orb sections, just stick to the main roads. If you are having problems finding the orbs bring along some arat berries to radar them out until you get used to where they spawn. The boss room features zombie soldiers, who basically are just like the Tir Na Nog zombies. I hope you've been practicing your windmill - if not this could be a difficult fight and you may want to look for a royal alch to help you out. Or better yet, just practice windmill?

Lileas' Honey (solo)
Just want to point out your main target here are the honeycomb trees, not the bad dudes. You don't have to kill any of them.

Jousting Practice
The last bit of a large collection quest has you joust against an NPC in the arena. This is a pretty fun mini-game and it is worth paying the small amount of gold to get used to it even after you've completed this quest. You'll need at least a mid-level proficiency in it (reading NPCs) later on.

It's come a long way huh? :P

Cubic collection (fastest solo)
Getting you exploration up should be easy by now if you've been doing the Cor circuit. When it's time to get the cubic stuff just load up on passes before heading out. Fastest collection is by only doing the first 2-3 rooms, wiping out mimics, then leave and repeat until your collection book is complete.

Third Wheel in Maiz (as Arenren solo then as Voight and Isla - you need a friend)
If you haven't yet gone to get your Final Hit quest (humans) then there's a high chance you've not been in the Maiz Praire ruins before, and you are in for some tough opposition. When doing the 2 player version, Voight will be doing most of the fighting but Isla -MUST- still cover him. Use magic to buy him time to windmill or counter the multi-aggro mobs.

Slates
They behave like goblins but have very high protection (no passive defense though) and even higher damage. Using defense will probably still result in serious injury so windmill, counter, and smash if the opportunity presents itself.

Skeleton Ghost
Generally all ghosts in Mabi are bad news, at least this type has no passive defense. They do dual aggro quick and do very good damage in both melee and magic. Final hit may result in your death if two of them are on you, so you are better off luring one to a free corner and dealing with it the usual windmill, counter way. Be ready to take action if it charges up magic though as it will almost always move in for a melee swipe right after. They can also windmill.

Return to Longa (fastest with party)
Just variations of the critters you fought on your last run through here, the only thing new is the boss at the end - a familiar named alchemist. He tends to just behave like any other alchemist though, with the extra ability of healing to full if he yells "I am immortal!". Makes you wonder why he doesn't just keep doing it. Anyway, if you are solo just turn on trans and wipe the floor with him - get ready for the usual wind/water blast combo. If you have a group, just keep him on the floor so he can't do anything with smash-mill.

Fomor Mata (solo)
The fights to the arena should be nothing new for you, but when you get there your jousting skills will be put to the test against a fomor commander. Fail the joust and you fail the mission. Hope you've been practicing! Win the joust and then you have to beat him on foot. He is pretty much the same as the named commander in the previous story arc only in black armor instead of gold. Look out for his golems and his life drain and remember you can use the entire city to maneuver around if need be. Don't open with a smash as he has instinctive reaction. Poison may be useful against him if you or better yet, a pet has it.

Couracle's Heart Again, because you forgot to pick it up last time (bring full party)
Basically you'll be fighting a zillion baddies you've already fought before - just all at once. To this end bringing a full party is recommended. In the final area you'll be joined by NPCs from Tailltean who once again must survive the encounter. Don't worry, it's not as bad as the "Last Battle" in the previous story arc. Those shadow ghosts you avoided in the first mission will be here again, and this time you'll need to fight them. They have thunder (perhaps your first baddie with adv. magic) which can easily kill anyone and heavy stander so make sure they don't get to cast by standard gang smash-mill. One skilled person can disable the ghost long enough for his buddies to kill the rest then help out. Alternatively 2 should be able to take out a ghost directly by keeping it on its ass.

The only thing in your way is yourself (solo or with royal alch)
Before entering the shadow realm prep a cylinder in one weapon slot and your primary weapon in the other. Also prepare a hotkey for "life drain" even if it is at novice rank and move all your current life drain crystals to the top left of your inventory if you have any. The finale takes place in a very familiar place and has two stages. Your enemy will be using alchemy skills that you can use evasion to dodge plus demi god abilities which are evadable by just running around. Any damage you do to it will hurt you by 50% - but this is not a bad thing. Punch its face once (cylinder equipped) to injure yourself then evade like crazy. After it does the "area" attack (as opposed to the light spear attack) it will taunt you so use the music box to make it go crazy temporarily. As soon as this happens hit your life drain hot key and drain the bastard (if you brought a royal alch this is his job). To proceed to the next stage the life drain must restore you to full health, so you cannot be too injured (unless your life drain skill is unusually high) and not be on full health to start with. If you run out of dark life drain crystals or he kills you, you may as well restart the mission and save any nao stones you were planning on using for stage two.

Second stage has him summon some buddies but now you have the demigod power. Don't be hasty as it doesn't make you invulnerable! Your regen will be much higher now and you should be able to outrun all your enemies, but having HP and Mana pots in reserve is a good idea (you should know to be using mana shield by now). If you followed each story arc then the best thing to do now is stand in a clear side of the circle and call for a dragon strike on those bastards then work on slaying the main guy. He will resummon all his pals if you kill all of them, so if possible leave one or two far away so you can deal with the main baddie in peace. You can then go berserk using your new abilites on your foe to destroy it quicker. Ho ho ho, now you have demi-god mode. :)

Generation 9 Tips (Part Three) - The War and the Time After

Now that you've gotten the bulk of the war out of the way and have stopped the (not so prevalent now) elf / giant conflict with a hand drawn picture in the previous part, it's time for the last push against the shadow bastards and put an end to their plans.

Scouting Mission (best bring party)
This mission features the return of Glas through random encounter, but this time he doesn't summon gargoyles - he summons crag cows. The alchemist method of beating him is to wind blast a cow 3 times so it gets confused and attacks Glas. The non stupid method of beating him pretty much just revolves around using trans and then Final Hit the fool. If you prefer you can lure him out with ranged attacks first. Crash shot will also hurt him badly when he's surrounded by the cows.  He still regenerates quick and will have a ton more HP this time around so you want high damage or wounding strikes.

 After he's done a named alchemist will show up and while he can also summon golems and invert your screen, if you've just beaten the big four armed monster there's not a lot this idiot can do to you.

Damsel in Distress (fastest solo)
Your first mission where you can bring a Royal Alchemist if you so choose (and if you know any that are free), but I think you should be able to handle this solo. The mission says to protect Jenna. This is BS. She can protect herself just fine against melee-ers. You keep -yourself- alive and kill any archers as soon as they show up. If you've cleared your sector -then- you can go help Jenna until the next wave arrives.

Alone in the Barri (solo based on level)
Whew, suddenly you get a normal dungeon. Makes you suddenly appreciate those goddess statues huh? Anyway this place will be geared to your level and if you are on a difficulty of advanced or below you would have already encountered everything in here in prior Generation quests. If you are on Hard, then there are a few new things but then again if you are on Hard you've prolly already fought them? :P In case you haven't,  they all multi-aggro and are:

Chon Chon
An ugly magic-using bird. Treat as a strong sprite. Weak to magic. Resistant to melee and range so big hits only if you're going that way.

Goblin Hunter/Archer
Sturdier goblins that can poison you. No passive defenses mean you can kill them however you like, though a high ranked windmill or final hit is probably the fastest way to take them out.

Spiked worm
Dangerous and highly resilient to all forms of attack. Treat as a heavily armored snake. The wiki advises fire bolt-counter. Being a non-mage I either bow them or smash-windmill.

Lost Sahagin
Are quite blind and have a small aggro range. However if you hurt him to less than half HP, he triggers his self-destruct - giving you mere moments to run away. Killing him outright also makes him explode so they are best dealt with using range or magic. The blast is strong enough to kill or seriously injure anything nearby (1/3rd dungeon room) and if there are many of them this could lead to a chain reaction.

Last Battle (full team recommended)
The allied army has now decided to attack the shadow realm in force! Your task is to make sure not a single one of them dies in the 15 minute blood bath about to follow. Strongly recommend a full team to handle the many waves of enemies that show up, as it is unlikely that you will be able to heal your compatriots between waves. Target the enemy golems first as their windmill can do a lot of damage in a wide area and try stagger your trans-times between your party so that 1 or 2 of you are beefed up at any given point. Always try pick up downed players when you are able to though.

Finale (full team recommended)
Usually the same team that helped with the Last Battle will want the XPs from this one so bring them in with you. Now that you don't have dorky NPCs to protect the fights should be a lot easier, and even the named shadow commander will suddenly be curb-stomped since there are more of you. Fight your way into town past numerous cutscenes and eventually you get to the big boss of this story arc.

Boss Fight!

OMG it's Deadpool!
Well, half of a giant version of him. He has life drain, a big stomp attack, a fast moving rush, and later giant flying swords all of which can easily kill those in range. He's got pretty high protection too so the best attacks are either from far with a high crit bow, or upclose using smash and windmill. He gets angrier at half HP, and at 1/3rd (the roof is opened) someone -has- to call Adniel for help or everything will do 1 point of damage. As usual, mana shield and many pots can keep you alive during this battle. I shouldn't need to remind you to use your trans by now. Winning gives you a groovy title, and a less groovy enchant for your shoes. :p

Pierrick's Violet Grave
A small side quest that you can do. Only dangerous part is wandering into Fiodh solo. You would have already fought everything here in previous generations though and have definitely defeated worse monsters so it should be a cake walk. A long cake walk.

Reminiscing with Andras
Another small side quest that opens after finishing the main Generation 9 arc. Two potential problem spots here, the first being Longa Emerald dungeon which (unless you are an elf) you may not have run yet before. Baddies spawn in big quantities here but they are individually weak. Things you'll encounter are:

Stone Masks - Treat like goblins that have magic.
Armored Hounds - Good old Wolf AI. They sound like a dude going "UHHH" when you knock them down though.
Pythons - Maybe big, but still just snakes.
Beetles - Similar to the Giant Dragonfly earlier. These Low HP flying bugs come in droves and some can windmill, so windmill THEM first!
Emerald Golem - Your main problem. This boss will only take big damage from Emerald Arrows that you get from running Longa normal. Still defeatable if you and your team just wail on him enough but expect to take a few hits because he won't go down so easy without a properly armed archer.

The 2nd problem spot which is an RP quest as Andras through a FULL Rabbie dungeon. She excels at magic so you may want to stick to that like you did with Tarlach during his run.

The Ending Question
If you say that today is important you'll get the Tailltean Two-hander. If you say that the past is more important you'll get Andras' Bow. Both are decent weapons so it just depends on what you want.