Tell us how you really feel (Episodes 60, 61, and 62)
This block contains my first Raid Leader request on a game I had previous experience with, another requested title that underwent some revisions, and a game so weeby that even the weebs were too weebed out by it to fill my comments section with weeb scorn. (They petered that out on Mabinogi anyway.) Happy birthday to me.
Episode 60: Mabinogi
The fervor I was getting to look at this game was haunting me, even before I had it directly suggested to me by occasional Script Supervisor “Trigger”, and apparent Mabinogi legend. Despite the express approval, touring, and feedback from him over the video, that didn’t stop the army of delusional Nexonites ready to nitpick it to oblivion on Youtube.
Oh, the game. Yeah, this game is pretty clunky and old. It’s targeting and combat system is weird. It’s focus on life sim style progression comes across as strange, and stifling if you don’t know what you’re doing, and lord knows the game isn’t going to explain it to you. Yet, despite this, there is something wholly unique and intriguing about the game, and the community within it is more than worth getting involved with… if you are on the right channels. Those players are pretty set in their ways though, so don’t let them hear you say you find something slow, clunky or weird. Or it’s City of Heroes and FFXIV all over again.
Recommended?: If you’re prepared for the learning curve, YES.
Episode 61: Marvel Heroes 2015
Another suggestion, though this one from an at-the-time “Beta Tester” who later went “Raid Leader”, Antonio B. a.k.a. NeoConzell. (He’s actually in Mercenary Kings, ya know.)
I didn’t think there was an interest in Marvel Heroes. The reception of the game was less than stunning, and when I looked into it the first time, I was concerned with what I would find, considering the front page article on Steam quoted “The most negative review [the article writer has] ever had to write.”
And playing it, I didn’t get why. At all. It was simple. It was FUN. What the hell was being expected, exactly?
Well, all that bad press didn’t do the game any favors as its launch got retooled and rebranded as “Marvel Heroes 2015” and suddenly met with much higher praise, so I looked at it again.
It was the same game. I really didn’t get it. A simple, goofy, fun ARPG Diablo-Clone style game with flashy effects and “kill and loot all the things” gameplay. I really couldn’t see what was so different about my original foray into the game to this most recent trip that would have caused such a turnaround. I skirted the issue as best I could in the video, but yeah. I really don’t get what was so different all the sudden. What a difference an arbitrarily tacked on year makes, I suppose.
Recommended?: YES.
Episode 62: Onigiri
This is as Japanese as a game can get. Instead of simply having a Korean game hype an anime style to attract the otaku scene, like say the odd focus on Flavor of the Month Anime shows being unceremoniously shoehorned into Mabinogi like Sword Art Online and Full Metal Alchemist…. Onigiri is fucking JAPANESE.
Its developer is a Japanese company. It takes Japanese settings and legends, like Susanoo, Amaterasu, and Princess Kaguya and kawaii’s the shit out of them. Its soundtrack is an electro-rock backed shamisen. Its anime tie-in was “Tantei Opera Milky Holmes” for fuck’s sake. You cannot physically get more Japanese.
And I loved the crap out of this game. Just a really fun, really flashy (and stupidly grindy) action MMO with a fun weapon switching combat system and Diablo-Style looting mechanic. It really is a pity the company felt the need to stick it to us baka gaijin by nerfing the hell out of the XP gains in the NA market, and I’m honestly kinda pissed about finding that out, but I can forgive all other trappings as it’s such a gorgeous and uniquely styled game. Definitely play it if anything in the video intrigued you.
Recommended?: YATTA! I mean, YES.
Posted on June 22, 2015, in Miscellaneous and tagged chaosd1, mmo, mmo grinder, opinion. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
MMO Grinder 
I still can’t get Onigiri to run on my computer, even disabling the firewall & antivirus doesn’t help. & if you mail support, you get the same automated response every time. The forums offered no resolution.
When you reviewed LOTRO you made prominent mention of its instruments. When you reviewed Trove, you even went out of your way to describe the note blocks and what people had done with them.
It really makes me wonder why you ignored the composing system when you talked about Mabinogi. Was it something you just didn’t get to experience during your time playing, or something you just chose to omit? As one of the most unique systems within the game and a huge initial draw for me to start the game when it first became available, it has a huge place in my heart and I continue to compose for it to this day.
As far as the game itself, the lack of explanation seems to be a side effect of streamlining and accelerating the newbie process. Way back when the game was fresh, you spent a LOT of time at newbie levels, and had plenty of quests to slowly ease you into everything. Nowadays, in a game with near-infinite character progression, they have made things where new players can quickly advance and bridge a bit of the gap, but this comes at the cost of properly paced learning. I always felt this was a concern, and your review confirms it. I still welcome all new players to try it out, and am always willing to help.
It’s funny how unique Mabi’s combat continues to be to this day. You would think that as old as it is, it would have had more imitators or advancements upon it by now, but the pool for action combat is mostly just beat-em-up and hack-n-slash, and those are almost entirely instanced. Mabi’s open-world action combat style is something I wish more others would try.
While I remember the music system was very well know in Mabinogi, it was something I chose to omit because it didn’t seem as prominent to mention and I didn’t come across too many people using it, when Trigger was touring me around, and there was so many other unique and difficult-to-explain mechanics. I also felt it was so complex to mention how the system worked that I left it out. It wasn’t the only apparently large aspect of the game I glanced over, and there’s that whole faction of “Fashinogis” who obsessed over costume choices, but again, not something I noticed as a newbie player.
i never understand why some korean/chinese mmos feel the need to make it harder for the NA audience to lvl
Onigiri was actually the first MMO I ended up playing extensively after catching it on your show, and I have to agree… that game was a blast while it lasted. It was the grind that eventually dropped me out of the title, but the flashy aesthetic, the pace of the combat really got me hooked on it for quite a while. The Japanese humor also reminded me quite a bit of the household I grew up in… which probably explains a lot, but eh. >.>