Mabinogi: Iria Sagas 1 and 2

[Part of my Mabinogi Tutorials.]

I know I'm incredibly late with these but really, if you've played through all the generations in order there shouldn't be much here that would phase you, what with your transformation and demigod skills. Half the time you are role playing someone else anyway so dying is not really a biggie, just a learning curve. Furthermore, it's all completable solo (and I think mandatory solo too). Still there are a few tips I can think of to make life easier:

How to Start:
Just pick an episode from this button. You can only have one episode active at a time.

Monster Lag and Space
Sometimes you enter a mission and all the NPCs seem stuck in place but you are free to do whatever. This is more prevalent in quests with lots of NPCs and big spaces. I believe it also happens more often in busier channels so if you want a helping had on hard quests try start it from there. Regardless if they are moving or not most of the quests give you a lot of room to work with so bring a bow or whatever ranged attacks you like and be proficient with your pet revolver and mount summoning / stuns / knock backs. Yes, this makes some really tough fights pretty inconsequential. Especially if you have a strong spirit bow. Muahahahaha. It won't happen all the time, but just be aware you have some control over it.

Shyllien Nature Reserve and Hillwen Mine
You have to go into these two for the first saga to collect stuff. Both have lots multiaggro enemies so be prepared and be careful. Lure and kill. You can even bring friends to help if you like.

Retreat to Vales (S1 E3)
In this mission you must escort NPC engineers from the mine to the city and it obviously won't work if they are suffering from Monster Lag (above). Get into an instance where they can walk and ignore the large skirmish against the White Dragon, you'll get to fight it soon enough. Patiently kill all the goons that appear in your way (they might be late) and you will be fine.

The End of Bhafel (S1 E6)
One of those annoying role play missions, make sure you use the potion to run faster and put up mana shield. Also knowing when to final hit is key. Try save it for the last two pillars (or patiently wait for the recharge) as those ancient ghosts will get annoying.

Macha (S1 E10)
She's a bit of a pushover for an end boss. Pet revolver or using a mount to kick her while you are landing fast attacks will take her down in no time (61 hits and she's done). Shylock's step and final hit with little knives will probably do this fastest.

Last Attempt (S2 E1)
The most irritating shadow mission of the entire saga, you play as yourself with no powers and crappy stats. So crappy that any of the boars can kill you in one or two hits. Way to go hero! While giants and elves might be fast enough to actually do the stone throwing thing and then climbing ladders this is what worked for me as a human (slowest race in game) - without throwing one stone:

• Look straight ahead, lure single boar off to the left and open with defense. Combo three hits and it leaves. Now switch to weapons slot 2 (bare hands).
• Get attention of 1 boar, climb up ladder when it gets close.
• Immediately jump back down as it loses aggro and rush it with your fists (fast hitting). Combo three and it leaves.
• Repeat until boss boar appears at which point you should switch back to slot 1 sword and shield.

Aliens and Balloons (S2 E3)
When you encounter the alien blobs, only target the alien map eater as all damage you do to all aliens hurts yourself too. Be prepared with health pots. Also for the balloon part, you can get away with using the "forward ballista" (1st one where wyverns spawn) then switching to the one to its left when you are out of targets. Don't move from that position, instead swivel the gun from side to side to gun down the enemies. When the enemy balloon appears you might need to switch again.

Snowfield Pursuit (S2 E4)
This skiing mission looked like it would be fun if it didn't make me fail after 5 seconds of entering with the enemy distance of ???. How to get around it? Use Ch1 and monster lag that sled for a 5 second win.

Dian Cecht (S2 E5)

I've spotted a weakness in her defense! *drool*

With her poor armor choice the only thing defending her really are her magic crystal shield generators. Just break those (faster with a pet) and then you can do what you want with her.

Final Fights (S2 E6)
There are lots of tough fights in the final episode of the second saga. Cessair's Heart, the Cessair Army and Ruairi. Guess which one is the hardest? If you said the Cessair Army you are correct. Handling multiaggro in this game is tough, and tougher still with dozens of respawning enemies who can use advanced magic, wire pull and final hit. Be prepared to run as your allies aren't enough to distract all the bad dudes.

Ruairi can be problematic because of his dopplegangers (again multiaggro) so try lure and fight him at an edge where fewer of his shades can find you. Also, you should abide by his decision and go all out. I found him more dangerous in his first form than his second. For all the aforementioned, I suggest you get ready to demi-up.

Cessair's Heart on the other hand is a decent fight but she's alone so your regular transformation should be more than enough to get past her.

Grinding EXP And Gold
You can replay episodes for 5000 gold, which also means you can grind their rewards. The two "best" ones I would think would be:

The Missing (S2 E2)
You need to: Solve easy puzzles, travel in Uladh (gates open all the time now), argue/fight easy pirates, fight dragon (which you don't need to live through)
Reward: 100K+ XP, 50k Gold

Heroic Path: The Choice (S1 E7)
You need to: Do 1 talky RP mission, 1 combat RP mission, 1 shadow mission of running away, travel a little in Iria (best with flight + gate timing)
Reward: 100K+ XP (Daily Bonus on Thursday and Weekends gains another 100k XP and 30k gold)

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.

Generation 7 Tips - Can I be a mongoose?

No but you can be an otter! There is no "story" for Generation 4-6 (they were just new areas - Rano, Physis and Connous) and there is no proper "quest" that starts this generation off (its also a new area - Couracle); in-fact you can skip it, but I've always thought skipping stuff is just giving yourself less game content and is generally a stupid thing to do. Here's the quick run through of the problem parts, and as usual, you can find the rest of my classes in the binding post:

Those Effing Fragments
You'll need to get yourself to Couracle in Iria and mark the mana tunnels at Cor and the one nearest Pantay swamp (still kinda far). Remember that if you have no flying mount you can just ride the hippos across the river. Once at the swamp you'll need to use L-rods to excavate chests and bring back fragments (2x2 preferred) to Voight. You are after an ancient sun, snow and lightning fragment and if you have been doing basic exploration AP harvesting then you know how to do this, and that Voight is going to fail on around 30% of your retrieved stuff. Be prepared to spend a lot of time in the swamp hunting for these. Also you will probably run into these during your prolonged stay there:

Giant dragonfly
Like spiders, these only know defense but can multi aggro if you are silly enough to wander into them. They also have low HP making them easy kills, but they are easy enough to avoid.

Hippos
Only found on the Western part of the swamp, these ones have "pig" AI and know defense and counter. They also have heavy stander due to being fat so be careful with normal attacks if you end up fighting one. Usually they'll leave you alone anyway, just don't provoke them.

Swamp Cobra
Has your standard snake AI (with smash) but is possibly the first critter you've encountered that has poison. Poison in mabi is very bad in that it does a percentage damage based on how many HP the victim still has. It won't kill you but it will get you to 1 HP pretty quick. For this reason if you have to fight these, kill them fast and don't let them bite you!

Gator
Aggressive sharp-toothed lizards that like hiding in the swampy water. They aggro pretty quick, enjoy smashing, and do high levels of damage. Of all the swamp critters, these are the ones you will probably end up fighting most during this section. They will easily outrun you so fight well and bring bandages to recover from any injury (black) damage  they do.

Hobgoblins
Can pop out in pairs when you find chests. If they are exorcists then you can probably try take em out. Just treat them as goblins with magic, nothing really special. However if head hobgoblins appear I suggest you run. They have high levels of stander, high hp, fast multi aggro and do lots of damage making killing them before they and chestdespawn a bit of a challenge. Fortunately they only run as fast as you (human speed) so it should be easy, and probably less time consuming, to escape.

Row, Row, Row your Boat
Once you have all three you'll need to visit the temples at the bottom of Erkey falls. The only way to get there with out help is by rafting, so make your way up to the La Terra Highlands with 10 pieces of firewood and you can talk to the native up there to build your raft. Bringing sufficient pots to stay alive is also a good idea as you will be attacked by hobgoblins on your trip down river. If you have it, you can use advanced magic or high rank crash shot to blow away the opposition on the banks as you pass but otherwise just transform and make sure to steer the raft to the RIGHT at the junction or you'll have to do it again. Once you've made the turn, steer left to avoid docking (unless you want to get off at the hobgoblin village but you may lose your raft) and fall down the waterfall. The cutscenes here lag sometimes so just be patient and wait them out. Once down there it should be safe enough to do what you need to do. If the giant alligator is awake, it may be best to avoid it for now. :P

As a side note, Rafting is another way to gain exploration exp and is quicker (but obviously more dangerous) than doing the Cor circuit if you can kill lots of hobgoblins during each run.

Longa Otter - (as Ruwai)
The highlight of this story arc, Ruwai is pretty kickass for an otter. Use more of his normal attacks instead of smash as he can chain a long set of them and you should get past all the scum of this desert dungeon in no time.

Mirror Mirror (need a giant)
If you aren't a giant, you're going to need one to help you get through the Par Dungeon part of this arc. While there are "ice" or "snow" variants of things you should be familiar with, there are a few new enemies as well:

Shrieker
Floating ice heads that behave like wisps, though they favor ice bolt. Remember how to kill a wisp? Same thing here.

Bandersnatch
Almost the same as zombies, except on the lower floors they can sprint at you and do pretty good damage. They have low HPs though which makes a giant's stomp the ideal way to neutralize them. Windmill works too, but the most widely accepted method is firebolt revolver to keep them at bay.

Wendigo
Treat is as a fit ogre that has higher defense against ranged and magic. The wendigo must die a specific death for the mirror witch to appear - it must be slain by a giant wielding an ice pole, and ice poles (if you don't have one) only drop when the wendigo uses stomp. Your main problem will be keeping this creep alive for your giant to bash as by this point, you will probably be able to dust him in short order if you aren't careful. To be safe, let your giant buddy solo him.

Mirror witch
She has many dangerous powers and broad array of defenses but she can't use any of them if she's pinned on the floor. Safest way to fight her is seriously to gang smash/windmill her. That may sound kinky but you'd better do it or it is you that will be raped. :P

Don't be fooled by her hotness, she's as cold as ice.

Longa Hide and Seek - (as Atrata)
The anti-climactic final dungeon - Atrata has no hope in fighting anything in here so just get used to using the "hide" action that is available to all elves as you hit those orbs. Remember it drains mana so drink up when you are running low.

Another Soul in the Stream

The first of my Mabinogi lesson! To find what other classes are available please see the binding post. :)

Mabi follows the free to play (but you get more stuff if you pay) schematic, and if this is your first time logging into the game I strongly suggest going with the free human character card they give you first - even if you ultimately want to play as an elf or a giant. You then need to pick what server you will play on - this is very important as you cannot switch around later on. If you are trying to join friends be sure to pick the same one they are on (duh), otherwise the choice is yours:

Mari is the oldest and has the highest population and probably the highest level players all around. Alexina is the newest, and most probably has the lowest population and lowest number of "high level" dudes. Tarlach and Ruairi are in between those two. If you want to personally say hi to me in-game, you can find me at Ruairi. :)

Next you actually create how your character looks like. Since it's a free card you are using, you will be limited from majority of the facial expressions and hairstyles but you can fix that later (if you really want to spend money on it) so again, don't worry too much. Your name however, cannot be changed later so pick one you are happy with.

Age is not so much an issue in the game as you will want to constantly cycle back (you'll understand why as you play). To keep it simple pick your age based on how often you can / will play. If you are going to be very active start at age 17 which I think is the oldest you can pick. If you only play once a week start at age 10. I'll explain why in a later post.

All that is left is to select your start point: I recommend Uladh / Tir Chonail if you want to play as a human. If you are really dying to play a giant or elf straight away start at Iria / Qilla. Once you are happy with everything go ahead and finish the creation process.

Hello Boobs.. I mean... World!

After talking to Mabinogi's resident guardian angel you will be asked what destiny you wish to follow. I suggest Warrior (not Fighter) first but you can pick whatever takes your fancy. Afterwards you will soon be dropped into your selected starting spot and beset by owls dropping tons of stuff on your head. Don't worry - it's natural here. If you are in Uladh then you can begin talking to townspeople and doing various little quests here and there. If you started in Uladh, I strongly recommend going to the School and taking classes from both Ranald and Lassar (she's inside) as they provide a lot of information on the battle mechanics of the game. You should also ask about "skills" from everyone you talk to because really - you will want them all.

Why you ask? Skills, more than anything else, determine your stats and each of them have around 16 ranks of effectiveness. As an example, if there are 2 archers using the same bow - the one with Rank 1 ranged mastery will not do as much damage as the one with Rank 1 ranged mastery and Rank 1 refining. At first glance, refining has nothing to do with archery at all - until you realize that each rank gives a lot of dexterity, and every 4 points of dex increases ranged damage. It is due to little quirks like this that you should work on your "main" character for everything (fighting, magic, crafting, etc.) and use mules or alts purely for storage space.

Mabinogi Classes

After writing up that mini Ultima Online course I thought I'd do the same for my current favourite MMO - Mabinogi! Note that this guide pertains mainly to the North American version of Mabi but will hopefully still be useful for everyone.

If at any time you want specifics then you should head on to the Mabinogi Wiki which is a fantastic resource to keep handy, and remember if you need more help you can always ask on either the main forums or the forums at Mabinogi World. Alternatively feel free to also leave suggestions or questions right here! :)

Without further ado, lets begin:
1. Another Soul in the Stream
2. Off to the Races
3. Gearing Up
4. Teaching an old dog new Tricks
5. Fastest way to gain AP
6. If I were a Rich Man
7. Home is where the Herbs Are
8. All-Guide Binder
9. Generation 1 Tips (Part One) - The Stoned Goddess
10. Generation 1 Tips (Part Two) - Everybody loves Dougal
11. Generation 2 Tips - Give me my Transformation
12. Generation 3 Tips - Holy Hell
13. Becoming the Dark Knight
14. Generation 7 Tips - Can I be a Mongoose?
15. Generation 8 Tips - The Unfair Dragon
16. Generation 9 Tips (Part One) - Where the Fomors Hide
17. Generation 9 Tips (Part Two) - For SCIENCE!
18. Generation 9 Tips (Part Three) - War and the Time After
19. Generation 10 Tips - A Demigod is Born
20. Generation 11 Tips (Part One) - We eat Demigods for Breakfast
21. Generation 11 Tips (Part Two) - Beginning to Hate that Castle
22. Generation 11 Tips (Part Three) - Snakes. Why did it have to be Snakes?
23. Generation 12 Tips (Part One) - Last of the Alchemists
24. Generation 12 Tips (Part Two) - Fighting in Falias 
25. Generation 13 Tips - The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune
26. Generation 14 Tips - O brawling  love, o loving hate
27. Generation 15 Tips - The villainy you teach me, I will execute
28. Generation 16 Tips - Let not light see my black and deep desires
29. Generation 17 Tips - Shamala's Nightmare
30. Iria Sagas 1 and 2

More classes to be posted soon!