Steven likes this game, so it's probably some lolicon sh1t

With just under 300 hours on record, I feel qualified to at the very least give a run down on why I don't recommend the game. Firstly, it advertises itself as this fantasy life type game where you can do whatever you want, which now a days just isn't true. Despite the casual tag on the store page, this game has a very hefty grind. Now, they alleviate this to an extent by allowing you to make a character and boost straight into an Arcana, which is this games advanced job system so to speak. However you don't actually learn the game this way. Aside from them revamping tutorials a lot in this games history, the one main issue it continues to keep is player attention. There are people who will log in just to idle. Normally this isn't a bad thing, but when you're rewarded for doing nothing, there's no incentive to do anything in the game.

In the earlier years of the game it was definitely more of a do what you want kind of game. You could run dungeons for gear yes, but there was other things you could do instead like craft or gather, learn the layout of different maps even, but now a days the experience is kind of railroaded. They want you to grind, they want you to run the same 3 starting dungeons for exp and increase an arbitrary number that makes your damage go up. There's not really a lot of social aspects either, there's no reason to really be social when a good chunk of the players AFK in a major city just for the reward. I've actively tried to get a friend into the game and they had the same sentiment where it just didn't feel worth it to play if there's no incentive to really learn what to do. There's also the factor of P2W elements, with some gear previously only being available in a gacha. This was recently rectified by adding them to a loot dungeons loot pool mind you, but the odds of getting them are fairly low. And because getting the loot from the loot dungeon isn't technically a gacha, the odds of obtaining some of the better gear from that dungeon isn't known.

The other issue is how unhelpful the tutorial is. It's entirely possible to follow the new tutorial they added, and STILL be railroaded into the wrong direction so to speak. The tutorial at one point will ask the player to enter a dungeon meant for 4 players, it doesn't mention playing this dungeon with a party nor does it mention how difficult the dungeon actually is. And with the issue rolling back around to how unsocial the game actually is, it would be hard to actually finish this tutorial unless you somehow stockpiled revives if you're stubborn enough to solo it, or actually went and found a group of three other players.

The early game combat WAS a rock paper scissors kind of thing, but now a days it's less so that, more so "how quickly can I clear a room?" There's nothing too intricate with its combat, the combat is the simple tab-target type of game we've all grown to know if you've played games like final fantasy 14 or world of warcraft.

Crafting and Gathering now a days isn't relevant unless you have a particular want for something that you can't get form dungeons. However its not as indepth as other games. If you're expecting something like XIV's crafting/gathering system, firstly you're playing the wrong game, but secondly crafting is very simplified, you can make items fairly easy. Even in it's later levels, crafting still won't be relevant however unless you plan to dive very deep into the end game. Which is very much an unfortunate thing.

And the last thing I'll mention is the microtransactions. They aren't aggressive about it, but if you want to make multiple characters at some point, you will eventually run into the issue of lack of character cards, The other potential issue is cosmetics. While you can purchase them in game through the player market, don't expect them to be affordable unless you're in the end game. There's the previously mentioned gacha, which also have the issues of being a gacha. What do I mean by that? Say you wanted a pet, they only recently released it, but its only available through the gacha. You have to roll on a set percentage and hope you get the whistle for that pet, and pets can usually provide MANY benefits to the player.

Is the game greedy and not worth your time? Absolutely if you agree with anything I've said thus far. Should you try this game? No. Not unless you're prepared for an absurd grind with barely anyone being social.

I started playing Mabinogi originally 18 years ago. Spent hundreds of dollars on it. Lost my account cause I couldn't remember what email was used and eventually years later tried again. I will not play this game until they fix the constant SPAM of "beginner chats" and the constant SPAM of banner rolls across the screen. Its so infuriating. And yes - I updated the settings to REMOVE ALL THE CHATS INCLUDING BEGINNER CHAT SO ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE VISIBLE BUT THE STUPID SETTING AS ALWAYS DOESN"T WORK. I will not go back to the game until this is fixed because I don't have to endure the pure harassment of not being able to play the game because of having to deal with unwanted other players. This game would be so much better as a solo game. So much better without constant events. So much better without so much damn clutter. Sigh - I miss the old mabinogi of so long ago. It's still worthless to play nowadays. I guess I'll try again in another year to see if they fix the problems of their most basic settings not working.