Mabinogi is a hugely successful Korean MMO -- hugely. Despite being named after the Mabinogion (the collective name of several stories from medieval Wales) the first thing that's going to strike you about Mabinogi, particularly if you're more familiar with western MMOs, is just how "Asian" it feels – featuring everything from a Final Fantasy-esque score to anime styled character portraits and "super-deformed" avatars. It's about as far away from the likes of Second Life you can get (or even World of Warcraft) offering a very consistent, polished experience within its pseudo-medieval world.

There's good reason for the level of polish: Mabinogi has been on release in Korea since 2004. If you're interested in experiencing a world unlike most others about the only thing that is going to put you off is the huge 850 mb download that's required to begin playing. Surprisingly, though, the download was incredibly quick even on my often slow connection, and the title didn't require any extensive patching before I could begin. I did have to sign up for a Nexon passport, however, which includes some pretty bizarre questions (including asking my ethnicity, which is quite unusual. You can opt out of that one, though.)

Character creation is performed using "character cards". There are two kinds, basic and premium, and you get only one basic card unless you choose to purchase more – purchasing cards is one of the main revenue streams of Mabinogi, along with a monthly pass that offers a lot of extras. There aren't any item sales.

If you only have a basic card (like me) you're stuck with a limited selection of haircuts and facial features -- not that a premium card expands your selection massively – and once you've chosen yours, you're given a short introduction from Mabinogi's poster girl, Nao, and dropped into the "newbie town" Tir Chonaill (named after a medieval lordship in Ireland, where the county of Donegal stands now; which is not in Wales.)

The initial experience of playing Mabinogi is very similar to most MMORPGs. Players take part in a succession of tutorial missions intending to get them familiar with first the use of the interface and then the game itself. If you're used to MMORPGS Mabinogi still has its own quirks; in a way it plays similarly to Diablo (clicking with the mouse performs most actions in the world, including movement and combat) but it has its quirks with its interface, including the unusual way skills are organized.

Within a couple of hours in Mabinogi's first town I'd managed to explore quite a lot of different aspects of the title just by doing the quests which are (for some reason or another) dropped on your avatar by birds. I'd investigated a dungeon to rescue a villager from a giant spider (dungeons are instanced, like in many MMORPGS) taken a few part time jobs (which seemed thankless --chopping wood was difficult and low paying, and sheep shearing little better) and had a chance to do a little shopping (many players run shops which almost always out-pace the NPC shops for value.)

So far, so MMORPG, it might seem. And if we're being completely honest, to new players Mabinogi is disappointingly heavy on the traditional RPG aspects, with even part time jobs and other skills (such as cooking) all feeling like a grind to "level up" rather than an enjoyable part of a "fantasy life".

However, are we judging it too quickly? You'll have to wait for our conclusion to find out!