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. :)

Off to the Races

My second Mabinogi lesson! To find what other classes are available please see the binding post. :)

As of this post, everyone can get a free elf AND giant character card. All you have to do is reach their home cities on the Iria continent. I suppose a quick comparison of the available races is a good thing to add here:

Humans - runs the slowest but are the most versatile skill-wise. Can dual wield swords. They also have the widest array of gear that they can equip. They are my preferred race.

Giants - runs faster than humans and are geared more close quarters combat. Can dual wield blunts. They are weaker at magic and have almost no range capabilites though, and have the least amount of equippable gear.

Elves - runs faster than giants and are geared more for ranged combat. Can shoot while mounted and can hide from enemies. They are the weakest at melee.

If you started in Uladh and want to cross over quickly just go to Actions -> Continent Warp and pick Iria. If you started in Iria then I think you have to complete some basic exploration tasks before it lets you out into Qilla Camp proper. Remember to not have anything in your hands to "collect" artifacts from pillars, other than that it should be pretty straight forward. Once you are out of the tutorial zone you'll find yourself at Qilla Base camp and can begin your run to the race of your choice. You can only get the other free character 24 hours after you get the first one.

Easiest way to reach either city is if you have friends or make friends or even just ask strangers really nicely if they can give you a lift through a mana tunnel to either/both cities. If you are very anti-social or unlucky, then you'll have to reach them on your own. It is a good idea to "tap" the Mana tunnel a short distance from Qilla Base camp (to the West) during the day when it is open to provide an easier return trip too.

To reach the Elf city of Filia, you'll need to run East (that's turn right) when you exit Qilla Base camp and hug the mountains till you find a way across to the desert. Cross that and just keep running through the Karu forest, across a bridge, and then across another huge, sand-stormy desert.  Once you get to Filia, find their leader - Castanea, she's towards the back of the town and ask her about "elf/giant alliance" to get your free card.

To reach the Giant city of Vales, you'll need to run North West (turn left) when you exit Qilla Base camp and hug the mountains till you find a small valley that leads into the Nubes mountains and eventually down into the Solea Caves. Your mini-map will not be helpful down there but it is still straight forward to traverse. Just follow the left cave wall and make sure you run through any cave walls that can be opened (easy to identify via mouse cursor). You'll pop out on a clearing then dive into another cave system. Same thing, just follow the left wall. Eventually you'll come out on the snowfields and from there is a straight forward run to Vales to talk to their King, Krug about "elf/giant alliance" to get your free card. Obviously if you ever need to run those caves from Vales to Qilla, just follow the right wall.

They hate each other so much they want to make babies.

If you are running to either do not stop for anything and try avoid all the monsters you see. The trip will take you about 40 minutes either way, possibly slightly longer to Vales due to the cave system. Near each town should be another mana tunnel that is open during the day. "Tap" these to mark them on your map. You can then travel between the ones your character knows about as much as you like when the tunnels are open. On the Uladh continent the moon gates work very much the same way, only at night.

A good side quest for you new players to do when bored (like there's not enough to do :P) is to mark every single moon gate and every single mana tunnel you can get to (each town has one nearby and the tunnels in Iria show up on your mini map). While there is no combat involved there is a lot of leg work. Your reward will be ease of travel later on, coupled with being able to see the vast landscapes in the world of Erinn. :)