⭐ How to approach Meridian 59

In this guide I'll explain the fundamentals of the game, why it's so good, as well as share some hints in order to secure a better experience overall; everything in a spoiler-free fashion.

This game seems obsolete af...

From an inobservant point of view, yeah. But the truth is that this game not only is the pioneer of a plethora of mechanics which may or may not be taken for granted in today's MMORPG's standards (i.e. guilds, guild wars, guild housing, outlaw system, open world pvp, pvp arenas, dev run events, skill based progression, etc.), it even makes wiser gameplay decisions in comparison of today's competition... You read that right: a game released over 20 years ago has certain mechanics that are better constructed than today's MMORPGs (new players are a testament to that. It's not full of old grandpas as you may think. Quite the opposite); but we'll get back to some of the most prominent gameplay factors later, so let's make a brief comment about a few other aspects instead: the retro graphics--it does have a certain appeal to it, an unmatched aesthetic that is pleasing to the eye--, the immersive fantasy setting/plot--both the locations and the story itself makes a great job in conveying the image of a credible world, fully imbued with a sense of mysticism and adventure,--and the soundtrack. The latter was a major selling point for me... Even though I didn't actually pay for the game (sadly).

Just listen to this and tell me if you don't feel like you're inside a butt-kicking 80s anime

Actually, I'll just link the full OST since it's noteworthy in its entirety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H3Aqr-dxOE

Ok but, the game is dead... Why should I play it?

There's plenty of practical reasons and counterpoints to that question, actually.

First of all, the game isn't dead, but it is influenced by peak hours. (You can count even 15 or 20+ online users in these periods, way less otherwise; it must be noted however that at the time of writing, it never happened that I was alone. There was always at least two or three other players).
Second, it really isn't a problem... Although human interaction plays a big role especially in late game, it's not like you can get stuck because you're only one of the very few connected at that given moment; here's an example: there's a dungeon with a door with two levers. In this scenario you have three options: ignore the door and the optional midboss behind it, get help to lift the lever simultaneously, or just do it yourself by activating a lever and quickly running to the other (which is considerably harder yet absolutely possible).

To summarize, you will not have the same amount of fun the veterans did back in the day, I would lie if I said that. But you will experience a taste of what was and still is something magic for many; the only real difference is that you can't expect glorious, fully-fledged wars between guilds because those can be pretty limited right now, yet I don't exclude a resurgence of some sort either, since that's a possibility too. You may find some luck in community servers, but that's a whole other story(*)...

The developers are still hosting new events from time to time, and the players are often up to new things. Maybe not as much as before, but you get the idea: the game isn't dead yet.

At the end of the day you should take it as I did: Meridian 59 is, today, a single-player experience featuring occasional and sometimes frequent multiplayer. That's it. That's how you can enjoy the game, simply watch it from a different perspective and don't get discouraged before even starting. This title can be enjoyable even if you're playing with just a few friends (or alone).

(*)EDIT: If you still think all of this sounds lame, then you should consider joining unofficial and/or modded servers, which seem to be way more populated. The most active, English-speaking one can be found on the following website: https://www.meridiannext.com/

WTF... This obsolete pile of garbage doesn't even support full screen mode?!

Download more RAM.

No but seriously, just resize the window with your mouse (for a maximum of half of your screen... Which may suck at first but it's doable and actually useful since you can use the other half for a bigger map of the game, infos on a quest or skill, or why not, porn).

If you really can't stand that sort of thing though, you'll have to download a third-party software like Borderless Gaming.



Here's one of the many configurations you may like to use

And what's with these controls?!

Oh yeah, "doom-mode" -- as I like to call it -- is enabled by default.

Although I do like moving my character's view with the arrow keys, I found out that in combat is way better to either have an accessible hotkey to make a 180 degree turn or better else, enable mouselook (which is the C button by default). You can change your control scheme as you please, and even some other neat stuff, such as binding the commands directly to a function key (we'll talk about that soon), or printing your own map. Yeah, that's dungeon crawling at its finest baby, your map gets filled the more you explore, and after you finish it... Reward yourself by printing it! Or just use Gilroy's map[www.gilcon.net], I guess it's faster...



The map of Meridian 59. Pretty cool, huh?

Ok then, I'm in Raza and this game seems boring as hell, I don't get all the fuss over it...

Raza is just a glorified tutorial; wait until you get to the mainland, start your first expeditions and THEN draw your own conclusions. If you like other MMORPGs, there's no way you won't like this one (that is if you aren't biased or if you're too impatient).



Raza, home. At least it was before I f*cked my character up.

Yeah, I'm on the mainland now and I'm even more confused than before, what do I do now?!

Now the real adventure begins! If you chose your initial stats wisely (I sure hope you did. I'll give you a hint: check out the Steam guides for Meridian 59, specifically the one labeled with "stats" and the one with "basics". Trust me, it will save you a lot of time because if you end up with a screwed character you'll probably want to start all over, which is fun and all but maybe not after the 10th time you do so. Understanding these stats is unbelievably easy and yet there's lots of impatient users who don't pay attention to this stuff, and later on they cry about the fact that their character can't hit the sea while falling from a boat, so to speak); you can aspire to be pretty much whatever you want with some minor limitations. You like shooting with a bow? You like casting spells? Playing your bard's lute? Smashing stuff with a mace? Or a sword? Or maybe you like punching? Why not all of it? That's the beauty of this game. You can build your character however you want, hybrids are a viable thing... But don't get too excited because you can't be an ace of all trades either. Your options are: focusing on one or two schools to get the best out of them, specializing in a few more to get a broader level of knowledge, or learning whatever thing you see and ending up with a good for nothing character. It's a fine equilibrium.

(Please note that your INT stat highly influences the amount of skills and spells you can learn from the various schools, hence it's a great parameter for anyone, even for pure warriors. You can see a chart for this kind of stuff here[www.gilcon.net])

How does that answer my previous question though...

Yeah, sorry, it wasn't that apparent. Well, let's just summarize that with what I'll call the three "invisible acts" (and trust me there's lots of those unwritten rules which adds to the mysterious feel of the game... Stuff that I won't spoil to you if not strictly necessary): first of all, the "Calm Before the Storm".

You get new levels for your parameters just by using the stuff related to it (for example, you can upgrade your dodge by dodging, slash by slashing, and so on and so forth). This is also true for your HPs: before you hit the 30 HPs' treshold, you'll be immune to other players' attacks. By that time, you'll get considerably stronger since you'll probably have a few spells and skills, as well as better overall equipment. And so the second act begins: now you must be careful of other players because, well, they can kill you if they want... And you'll probably be weaker than them.

Now, the official servers are 101 (more aggressive playerbase, but more populated) and 102 (more friendly, less populated)... Don't trust these words! That's what the game says you, but in reality there's lots of good fellas in 101. I would suggest you to start from there, even if you're a newbie;

the third act consists in you being considerably stronger, and your choices will be proportionally weightier just as much. Your chances of surviving in PvP will be higher, of course, so you can be an outlaw and kill other players for your own good (this will label you with a red name which can be removed, but until then you'll be marked as a target for hunters), or help out the ones that are still on "act two", by killing the outlaws... You can also mind your own business, of course.

If you want to enjoy PvP without the rewards and consequences related to it, you can also fight in the arena with consentient users.

So... To finally answer your question of "what do I do now"... Just get better at the game! Level up your character, explore the world, fill your map, learn new things, kill monsters, sell the drops you get or keep the loot for yourself, buy new things, and all that sort of MMORPG stuff!



And of course! Get drunk at your nearest tavern!

This game is a grindfest, that's what you're trying to say...

I mean, did you ever play a MMORPG that wasn't at least a bit grindy, to some extent?

What makes Meridian 59 different, is that this part of the game can be dumbed down by being braver. Usually in this kind of games you have a bunch of monsters that are on a level similar to yours, so you kill them in sequence, up until the strongest one. In Meridian 59 however, you can be a bit more daring and kill creatures that aren't recommended for your current level. If you don't exaggerate, you'll see that there's a soft spot in which you'll level up way, way faster... This is riskier, of course, but you should consider the payoff.

If you want to know if fighting a certain enemy is easy, doable, difficult or impossible for you, you need to examine one of said enemies in order to know how they're called without actually engaging them, then say their name to Rook, in Cor Noth: he will tell you how strong those dudes are compared to your character.



Let's kill them all (even if I'm a bit underleveled!)

Say their name? What do you mean by that?

Meridian 59 was considered, back in the day, a GMUD (graphical multi-user dungeon). The game has its roots in a few genres, one of which are text adventures. That means that typing is not only useful for talking to players, but also to talk with NPCs, therefore getting new information, solving quests, buying and selling... Of course it's not like everything is structured around that concept, but for that stuff, you gotta type...

If you don't like that, don't worry! There's hotkeys for that sort of stuff too. For example, instead of writing in chat "say buy" in order to buy something from a NPC, you can just press the right key for it. Or bind it yourself (in my case it's CTRL+B, but you are free to experiment however you please).

...I'm managing to do well, but I don't know how to increase my mana, nor I know how to get new skills/spells

Regarding mana, there are several mana nodes scattered around the world; they're blue/greenish globes you can examine and use... And get more MPs in the process.



You can buy new skills and spells from certain NPCs, as well as start the game with a limited number of them. However, I suggest you to start your journey with basic skills such as dodge and block not only because pretty much every character needs them, but because you'll get the chance to upgrade this stuff since the very beginning. Of course, you're free to experiment with everything the game has to offer (and that's the beauty of it).

My character got cursed! What do I do now?!

You need a certain spell to get rid of it, and some players will gladly do that for you. But if you don't want to get through the hassle, there's another way...

I'm telling you this because it does seem pretty evident when you see it, but it's really not, and my guide's objective is exactly that: helping you understand how the game is structured in the big picture, without spoling.

So... It's not a spoiler if I say that there's a certain NPC on Marion who sells "remove curse potion(s)". The twist is that you can't use it if you're under 30 points of Karma! The first time I struggled a lot with this thing, because it really wasn't that apparent; anyhow, just kill enemies which raise your Karma, and you're ready to drink that potion; it's pretty easy to guess which enemies aren't innocent: those are the ones you want to target. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, just kill stuff and see if your Karma is raising... Oh and by the way, you can check your Karma (just like any other parameter) on the stat section, right-side of the HUD. You know which one I'm talking about if you read the "basics" guide.

Also, if you got cursed by picking up items with the cursed modifier, that will teach you. Remember that is always wise to examine equipment before picking them up or using them. And if the description doesn't give it away that easily, you can always use a wand of identification.

In fact, there's lots of useful and not so useful items in this game, and as a newbie you may want to visit the city of Tos exactly for that reason: there's a chest in the hall of this town which is often filled with powerful equip and other stuff that pros give out to needy players, for free. But now I'm digressing;

My character got killed! What do I do now?!

Go back and pray that your loot is still there, but beware, because PKers (player killers) are known for setting traps such as leaving said loot behind exactly to trick you and kill you again.

And this is where I introduce the concept of "the mule".

You can have two characters per account: the first one will probably be your main, whereas the other will be a "mule". As the name suggests, this character can have a multifarious of purposes, like giving you the chance to try out new skills/spells you couldn't learn with your main, or scouting an area for PKers[...]; when a mule dies, you probably won't care as much as if it were your main, and that's because upon death you lose both your items AND the progress you made in your parameters. Not all of it, often it's really not that much... But no matter the amount, you got the idea: it's never wise to die, especially if you could've avoided it. You don't want to work again for a level you already got before; this is why you must at least minimize the loss when that happens, by having a mule who can get back the loot and who knows, maybe even avenge your main! Better else, join a guild with other players: along the various benefits, you'll have more protection and a powerful bond with your allies. Death is a hard thing in this game, and that's why said bonds are often pretty strong. That and the fact you don't wanna tarnish the guild's reputation, of course.

As a general rule of thumb, it's wise to deposit precious stuff / stuff you won't need on a vault, and your money on a bank. Do carry with you some coins, but not that much that you will regret it if something or somebody kills you. Oh and don't think that you're safe if you don't see red names online, because they often use a mule to spot you and then log in with a PK just to hunt you. Often, they're smart. That's why you must be smarter than them (and hopefully someday you can protect yourself against these dudes... Or even join them! That's your choice).

How about (XYZ)? How do I do that?

As you may have guessed at this point, you have two friends in this game who can give you more information on whatever you want to achieve:

Other players (beware though: asking too many questions in chat, especially obvious ones, will give out your newbie status, thus drawing the attention of bad apples. Check out who's online first, and if there's too many players, prioritize private chat rather than public; and of course, if you happen to make some friends, ask directly to them).

Gilroy's Guide[www.gilcon.net] (a valuable and irreplaceable source of information; it's been this way for decades, and you may want to check it out if you happen to have some questions you can't be bothered to find out for yourself. Just go to the website, and search for what you need! Simple as that).

The End

There's a lot more things I can say about this game, but that's not the point of this guide.
So, to conclude, I would like to thank the community and the developers of this great game. They really deserve it; did I make some typo? Did I share wrong informations? Please post about it in a comment and I'll fix it as soon as possible.

Have a nice hunt!

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[Solstar]

To this day i still don't get how to level up or how to find x character in x city

[j e f f]

nice

[Viandante]

Thanks for the spelling correction, I care a lot about that sort of thing (even though these old guides of mine are beyond repair, the grammar is simply too screwed). Also you can download more RAM by sending an email to your OS manufacturer - and yes, I'm a big ol penguin

[lx]

first, where can i download more ram???
second, i think, "information" does not have a plural form.
third, are you a penguin?

[Viandante]

No problem pal(s). I've added an edit on the "game is dead" section by the way, you may find it useful. It's about a way more active server which also has a website and a Discord.

[RadKnight]

good guide, appreciate it ... cheers

[Faeronix]

I thought it was a good guide. :V

[Viandante]

That's just your opinion though. It's not objective.

[darxide23]

Oh, I understood what you were trying to do. I was just illustrating how you failed.

[Viandante]

You clearly didn't read the guide, didn't you? Or you're just missing the point completely. Eitherway, I'm forced to explain the format, then. The titles are simply a generic critic that might arise with certain players, and everything is addressed and tailored around that simple idea. It's not that hard to understand, really.