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Ultima Online: Korea?

PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2008 9:36 am
by Monster
A new Korean free-to-play MMORPG was recently released for the US named Mabinogi. From what I can tell, it looks for the most part like a UO clone (but with improvements). You can fish, shear sheep and make clothes, chop wood, make potions, smith weapons and armor... you can even compose your own music! It sounds like the game is designed to accommodate people who like to just hang out as well as people who want action (again, just like UO). The combat is basically real-time and the game uses a skill system like in UO (mages can learn to use bows or swords, etc.). If I ever take a break from GTA IV I might just check it out.

PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2008 11:09 am
by Wynn
PvP?

PostPosted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:36 pm
by Monster
I'm not sure what to believe about that. I read several sources and each said something different, and I couldn't find anything about PVP on the site. One guy posted a video of him dueling, so I think you can duel like in WoW. Another person says there's not PVP implemented in the US version yet, another says there is arena PVP, another says there will be world PVP... so not sure. I think there is at least a little PVP in the game, though I doubt there will ever be PVP like there was in the golden age of UO.

PostPosted: Thu May 08, 2008 11:23 am
by Monster
So I finally got around to playing it last night and I'm pretty impressed. The combat is fast and fun and there are lots of things to do. There are also instanced dungeons... you can drop an object on a dungeon altar and creates a new instanced dungeon for you based on the object dropped.

From what I can tell, there is an infinite amount of quests in the game, and you keep receiving new quests left and right. Sometimes when you finish a quest, an owl will literally fly up and drop a new story quest on you, so often you won't even need to seek them out yourself. In addition to story quests, you can buy quests from many NPCs, as if they were items. These quests are usually quests of the gathering variety (which is on par with WoW).

Combat is fast-paced and mostly real-time. It's a rock-paper-scissors type system, where defense overrides attacking, and special attacks override defense. You can read more about the combat here if you're interested. I still don't know if there's PVP. I think there is an arena because you can buy arena passes in the game. When you right-click on people there is a menu that includes "Attack" but nothing happens when I click it (however, I was just clicking on unattended spammers in town, so maybe a duel menu comes up). There is also an "Attack" option for innocent animals like livestock but nothing happens with that either.

You can compose your own music and it's pretty advanced. In addition to a melody, you can have two different harmonies. The better your composer skill, the more notes you can have. The better your instrument skill, the better you play the song as well. At lower ranks you can make the song sound really bad if you failed your hidden roll. From what I can tell you can compose pretty much any kind of song you want.

The game is skill-based like UO, but you also have levels to raise stats and HP/MP/Stamina, as well as to give AP to spend on skills. In addition, raising skills also raises stats usually. Unlike UO, skills are ranked, so you don't gain bonuses in a skill until you level the rank.

There's still a lot I haven't learned about this game. I guess there are pets and mounts in the game, but I don't know if they're in the NA version yet. Pets sound really cool, and they all have different abilities. For instance, you might get a broom that sweeps the floor for items, and can be ridden through the air or on the ground. There are even multi-slotted mounts that more than one person can ride, which I've never seen before in an MMORPG.

Since this is a free game in the typical Korean mold, there are also bonuses you can get if you pay money. For instance, you can have up to 20 characters, but only only one will be free. You have to pay $7-$9 to get new characters. If you pay $9, you get a lot more customization options (even though there are enough decent free options). By paying $15/month you get special perks like more storage space and other things as well.

The game also looks pretty decent, but I had to force AA through my video card since the option was grayed out in the game for some reason. The models are cel-shaded with outlines, so they look like 3-d anime.

Maybe the most important thing, however, is that the game is actually polished. I haven't seen translation errors, or errant Korean characters, and the interface works pretty well. Also, it's easy to figure out how to play, especially since it includes an extensive tutorial done through quests. This is hands-down the most polished free Asian MMORPG I've ever played.