[Taking Part in the Nexon PEAK Post Challenge]

Do you ever think about a game you stopped playing long ago and wonder, “Maybe I should give it another go?” For me, there is one game in particular that keeps bringing that thought back: Mabinogi.

Partly, it is because I had so much fun playing it throughout my school years. But since joining the game industry, I have also found myself wondering whether any other game captures the idea of a fantasy life quite so well. In this post, I want to explore why I sometimes feel the urge to return to Mabinogi.

Ever heard of “Fantasy Life”?

Digging up potatoes, shearing sheep...

Seeing how much I played Mabinogi, friends would often ask, “Is it really that fun? Should I try it too?” Countless times, I watched them quit before they had even made it through a week.

Honestly, I think Mabinogi is a game whose appeal depends heavily on personal taste.

Unlike other MMORPGs, where leveling up naturally makes you stronger, Mabinogi increases your character’s base stats as you train life skills. Developing those skills was therefore an essential part of the game.

I suspect that such a different style of play made it hard for many people to get into the game.

For me, though, there was real joy in discovering cooking recipes one by one. Tracking down a single skill book would naturally lead me through different activities across the game, and that made me think, “This really feels like living in another world.” It suited my tastes perfectly.

Being a jack-of-all-trades is best

In many RPGs, choosing a class means you cannot try a different style of combat with that character. Others let you switch classes but impose a penalty. I would often find myself wondering, “Should I build another character from scratch... or just take the penalty and switch?”

Playing Mabinogi, though, taught me that being a jack-of-all-trades was best. Debuffs? I’ll handle those... Attacking? I’ll do that too! Once I had put in the work to build a character who could do a bit of everything, being able to handle it all myself through skillful play felt like a whole new world.

Just because it’s an MMORPG doesn’t mean you have to spend all your time fighting!

Built around the idea of a fantasy life, the world of Mabinogi offered all sorts of things to enjoy.

Of course, there was combat, an essential part of any MMORPG. But there were plenty of other ways to play: crafting weapons and armor, expressing your personal style whenever pretty new outfits came out, or joining a guild and finding different kinds of fun within its community. (I still remember a guildmate cheering after crafting a piece of equipment with the best possible stats and their name stamped on it...)

There were also quite a few systems, such as ensemble performances and auctions, that set the stage for players to join in and create their own fun.

Looking back on Mabinogi today, this is what stands out to me most about how well the game was designed.

Creating nearly every kind of experience a player could enjoy in an online MMORPG, then consistently maintaining and updating it all, cannot be easy. The fact that Mabinogi has kept this up for over 20 years is what makes it a classic in my eyes.

Of course, there have been major controversies over how the game is run and issues with its probability-based systems. Even so, I find its ability to maintain a steady player base impressive in its own right.

Mabinogi: hard to return to... but still a game I want to recommend

Whenever I consider returning to Mabinogi, I find myself hesitating. Unlocking the newer content takes time and effort, and now that I work full-time, I simply do not think I can manage that commitment.

If someone asked me to name my all-time favorite game, I think I would still say Mabinogi.

It is not easy for me to start again now, but Mabinogi truly lived up to its “Fantasy Life” slogan and offers so many different ways to enjoy an MMORPG. That is why I still think it is worth trying at least once.