What is the deal with secret shops?

[Nirvash]

I have fed Agnes over a hundred of those dumb books and she still won't give it to me. The wiki's information seems lacking, or outdated, or just wrong. I've been at this for over an hour, following all of it's guidelines. "If they say this, you only need about 10 more books". Bull. This is ridiculous.

Youtube is useless because there's only like 3 people who make Mabinogi videos, and if they're not filmed on a cellphone, they're sped up 5X, or the quality is so bad you can't make anything out, or they cut randomly so you don't know how much or what you had to do. "So here's how you do it." -cut- "And it's done!".

Searching on google brings me to tons of forum posts from almost a decade ago where people say just read the wiki, and others who give information that directly does what the wiki says DO NOT do. So, I don't know what the hell. There's no reason we should have to do stuff like this for a single skill book.

[AtomicWVGirl]

Those shops can be very frustrating and challenging. Idk what information you already found but this page on the Wiki has always helped me get the shops open. Some of those NPCs can be pretty challenging though. http://wiki.mabinogiworld.com/view/Secret_Shops#How_to_impress_an_NPC

[Fluffy]

Are you on alexina? if so, I might be able to help with your dillema.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

For Agnes you're better off using 10-20 friendship potions since she needs around 100 books, assuming you don't mess up and trigger her reduced friendship events.

Though NOTHING has changed since Mabinogi came out regarding secret shops, so all the information is still as valid (if somewhat vague and unhelpful) as it was back then.

With exception of Fleta, there aren't any exact numbers since there's variance in how many friendship points you gain per item which is then modified by their "difficulty". (Fleta's numbers are so small the variance is only within 1-2 items, so is extremely consistent). They made Fleta extremely easy on purpose due to her erratic schedule and limited availability.

because high difficulty greatly reduces the amount of friendship points you gain, messing up can be a HUGE set-back compared to the easier secret shops.

[Nirvash]

I did finally unlock it after 30 or so more books. What are the friendship reducing events? That is where I've read conflicts of information. Some things saying DO NOT DO ANYTHING AT ALL, and other things saying after every few items you should ask "nearby rumors". It doesn't make much sense.

Best part, I get the book, up the skill, and then look at the requirement for the next level of the skill, and... ANOTHER SECRET SHOP!

Originally posted by Herostar~Corrupt:

Are you on alexina? if so, I might be able to help with your dillema.

I am on Alexina, though if you are planning on buying me a book from her because you already unlocked it, that won't work. The skillbooks from the secret shops are 100% untradeable.

[kaiyl_kariashi]

The only time you don't do anything at all is if it says something along the lines, of "I should probably stop this conversation).

you ask about nearby rumors and ask about personal every time you give an item, since both of those add friendpoints too. Just don't do it if they're being negative since you'll lose full points instead of gaining them, same with giving gifts.

then you pass then 1 gold piece 4 times and check again (gold is neutral gift that won't negatively affect your standing even if they're bored but is nearly worthless for gift giving and only really worthwhile to reset their Bored status), and if they're aren't negative, you can continue.

Agnes is the hardest secret shop in the game by far (Kirine is the same, but ONLY reason you'd ever use her shop is if you're a giant and want the giant handbells she sells to cheese the Note-playing Muscial KNowledge quest, since otherwise you need Note-bottles or hope it's close enough to Christmas to get some regular handbells), though Nele is also kind of hard.