Have you ever said to yourself “I hate my life? I want to do something new and different” Well Nexon is giving you the chance to have a new fantasy life in a free–to-play game that is being developed by devCat Studio. The North American release of the MMO, Mabinogi: A Fantasy Life began on Jan 30th with their one week Closed Beta testing period.

Now as most Beta testers have come to expect you will encounter bugs, glitches and lag. All of those were plentiful during this closed beta session. Looking past those aspects of the testing though is a wonderfully fun concept for an MMO. Mabinogi is inspired by Celtic mythology and offers its players a wide variety of skills to learn and places to explore. Your character’s skills are broken down into three categories, Life, Combat and Magic. You are empowered as you step into the world to decide what kind of life you will lead.

Let’s start with Character Creation. Characters are created using Character Cards. Each account starts off with one basic character card. If a player wants more they can be purchased through the cash shop that will be implemented later. You will later be able to choose either a Basic Character Card or a Premium Character Card (more hairstyles, face choices, etc.). The first thing you get to choose is your Gender and Race. Now initially the only race available will be Humans. Later on in the game you will be able to choose Elves and Giants. Next you get to choose your Age; you are able to choose between 10 – 17. One thing to keep in mind is that your character will age every real Saturday. Then you can start customizing your look by choosing your hairstyle, hair and eye color, face, and skin tone. When you are happy with your look you can join the world and start your adventure.

When you first enter the world you are transported to an empty room where you will be met by a mysterious woman. She will give you the information needed to start your life. Now this is basically the start of the tutorial that teaches you the basics of controlling your character. It’s pretty short so it’s really not a bad idea to go through it at least once. After completing the tutorial you are told that you can never come back and you will start your life in the town of Tir Chonaill. Once there you will meet with the town’s mayor and your life begins. Now one thing you may notice is how owls seem to flock to your character now and then. Well this is part of the quest system. Every time you level a white owl will bring you new available quests and when you complete them a brown owl brings you your rewards. Sometimes you may need to walk around the town for this to be activated as it is the town’s residents that are sending you these quests.