History YMMV / Mabinogi

** A majority of the content from Chapter 4 tends to get this treatment, particularly the mainstream storyline missions. Reenacting scenes from Shakespearean plays many have probably already read as UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia (i.e. Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet and Theatre/{{Hamlet}}) was considered by some to be boring and tedious storywise and mechanics-wise. The last two generations of the chapter involving Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice and Theatre/{{Macbeth}} are generally perceived as [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap a step up from the previous two]] in both respects due to breaking away from the Theatre Mission format and only using their respective plays as a framework for the game's story.

** The Soluna Blade Incident. See OvershadowedByControversy.

* EvilIsSexy:
** The [[SuccubiAndIncubi Succubus]].
** The Siren can also qualify.
** [[spoiler:The Goddesses depending on the generation.]]

*** TakeThatScrappy: Nexon once held a "Photoshop Ferghus" contest on the Mabinogi forums, inviting members to [[KickTheSonOfABitch get their revenge on Ferghus by making him look ridiculous]]. Dialogue in later generations poke fun at him as well.

* OvershadowedByControversy: This infamous NA "Soluna Blade" incident. To those who are not aware, in Early 2017, a user obtained the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Soluna Blade]] and the community exploded with amazement. However, after several investigations from various players, it turned out the Soluna Blade was GM generated and the user was a known friend of a GM. The community revolted and it took Nexon to delete the offending item from the user's inventory to calm down the community. The GM/CM suspected of the incident [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial was let go on their terms.]]

* GoddamnedBats: Enemies that appear in swarms, especially if some Archers are thrown in the mix. Made worse if these enemies exhibit multiaggro behavior. Overall subverted by the bats themselves. They have less HP than you might expect from their combat power.

** Recent content patches requires players to use rare item drops to craft endgame equipment instead of using items such as "Iron ingot". While some items are common, others are so rare that it can command a whopping 50 million on such items.

** Before Generation 1 was reworked not once, but twice, its final act was brutal. First you needed to run a specific version of Barri Dungeon- only accessible on real-life Saturdays- to find the gate from Errin to Tir Na Nog. Once there, you had to kill 50 zombies to bind in Tir Na Nog. Zombies are GoddamnedBats in Mabinogi since they can only be hurt by Windmill and will beat you bloody if you slip up. Next you run four dungeons in Tir Na Nog to get the Black Orb, and then run the Orb's dungeon to get the Goddess Pendant. Fail in the Orb dungeon, and you have to ''redo the last four dungeons'' to get the Orb again. The pendant opens up a triple-length dungeon with [[BossRush five boss rooms]] that leads you to the Goddess Pass. Finally, use the pass, and you go to fight [[ThatOneBoss Glas Ghaibhleann]]. The worst part? The only way to rez in Tir Na Nog is to get a Pheonix Feather from a party member. So if you wipe on any dungeon, or die while trying to solo it, you have to start that particular dungeon all over again. And if you skipped the 50 zombies quest, wiping gets you kicked all the way back to Errin and you have to wait until next Saturday to pick up where you left off.

* HilariousInHindsight: Nao used to be jealous of other girls who "matured" (read:grew breasts) faster than she did. She certainly matured since then. Doubly so, since she's actually ''sensitive'' now about the size of her breasts.

** Field raid contribution is a system in place that affects the item drop quality of the loot from defeating raid monsters. Sounds good to prevent people from tagging the monster and receiving a great item right? Wrong. Previously the raid bosses tends to be killed easily with a few hits. As of recent updates, there's a the raid bosses were beefed up and introduced a new set of scrappy mechanics.
** Field raids disables and desummons any active pets, making players unable to use them during the fight. The problem comes in when you don't know where the monster is located and previous issues has people overkilling it before you find it, leaving you a participation drop. Before a recent update, one raid quest assigned to players was to use Smash at the target. Unfortunately, using smash is slow and using it instead of other skills usually lets you get stomped on for massive damage or be a target for the boss' potential adds.
** As of recent updates, Raid bosses got their mechanics updated for the better or worse. It's no longer possible to solo them, breaking some older content related to it to impossible levels (Grandmaster). Raid bosses are given new skills that automatically activates during the fight. One of the skills assigned to a number of raid bosses is called "Impending Death", which drains the HP of a random player before killing them if not healed in time. Before the Arcana update, Healing was worthless and slow. What's worse, that most raids were made by people not in parties. What's even more worse that you now require a certain number of points to get a reward. What's even more worse that dying makes you LOSE points. Now combine it with Impending death and the previous sentence.

** Ever complain about a feature with a reasonable issue and have a user dismiss it? Congrats! Chances are, that user has better equipment than you and can run said feature with ease!

* ThatOneLevel: Baol Dungeon in G3. The first time time you run through it, it combines UselessUsefulStealth with DemonicSpiders with LuckBasedMission (unless you know that the orbs aren't random at all and know how to Orb count...once you hit a door orb the first time, you'll never miss the next one). The second time through, it's a [[MarathonLevel five-floor complex]] that contains the toughest foes in the game that a character of that level couldn't possibly fight. Of course, they can bring experienced players along, but who wants to go through a two-and-a-half hour dungeon without any promise of a reward? The former is totally {{averted}} if you stock a good amount of Ice Mines, or have the ability to go Demigod to throw Spears of Light at your enemies, ''or'' have a extremely high level in {{Golem}} Summoning.

** Three words; '''''Shadow. Realm. Champion'''''. Occasionally popping up as the Tara daily Shadow Mission, this particular mission suffers from an unholy fusion of FakeBalance and FakeDifficulty. For the former, you're provided with a circle that buffs your damage output, apparently worth limiting the mission to single-player only. However, outside of the circle, that buff turns into a debuff that reduces defense, and it won't take long before you get forced out due to knockback from the horde that quickly descends on you. This is where the former turns into the latter, where you get continually knocked back into a corner until you get eaten alive by the horde of Fomors and spiders. If you get past '''that'''? The last foe you need to fight is ''Dullahan'', who brings his Hell Steed and Axe Throwing from his appearance in Ghost of Partholon. Good luck beating this, even with transformations and Demigod, on '''''Basic'''''.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Over the years the game began to drift away from its ([[ArtisticLicense loose]]) mythological roots and further into more {{Animesque}} tropes and conventions, largely hitting critical mass with the Ninja update. [[WordOfGod [=DevCat=]]] admitted they may have gone too far and made an effort to shift back, leading Chapter 6 to be based on Myth/ArthurianLegend[[note]]Which has its roots in Irish folklore [[OlderThanTheyThink despite being commonly associated with British legend]] [[/note]] paired with writing closer to Chapter 1.

** Everyone picks Merlin [[note]] Nets you Fireball, Ice Spear, Thunder- allowing you to skip their lengthy RandomlyDrops quests. It also gives you Snap cast, Spellwalk, and Meteor Strike ignoring their quests completely[[/note]], and sometimes Professor J [[note]] Gives you shock, which normally requires a lengthy RandomlyDrops quest, Hydra Transmutation, Golden Time, and Elemental Wave- which all requires a lengthy quest [[/note]] as their Hero/Elite Hero creation. Everyone will call out on you if you chose Starlet,[[note]] Starlet's puppetry combat skills are limited from a VERY limited Control bar selection and the way how Mabinogi's aggro works, while her healing is outdated and wouldn't help in mid to late game content, her music buff skills are easily trainable with patience, and her two out of three of her bonus skills can be obtained easily. Plus, Song is only useful when you become rank 5, as it no longer requires you to equip a microphone.[[/note]] Culinary Artist,[[note]] Whose cooking skills are just life skills and can be easily trained or bypassed with enough seals, its medicine bonus doesn't give you any bonus ranks, and the combat bonus ranks can be easily trained.[[/note]] or Treasure Hunter[[note]]Whose Gun skills are the only positive bonus, but you will be stuck using the weakest bullets unless you receive from other players or rank up Magic Craft yourself, and getting better guns has you invest on Hillwen Engineering, unless you buy it off from other players.[[/note]].

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven: One thing that really stands out is that ''every NPC with a name and a face'' has his or her own music. Every single one. And it's pretty good music, too. Someone must've really been feeling creative.

** The [[HornyDevils Succubus]].