2d mosh pit; repetitive game play with immature players
This will probably be one of the easiest reviews I have done because I have played this game for a long time. Plus, this game lacks in-depth gameplay, concepts and depth
Story: 7/10
Okay, maybe I did play this when it came out in my earlier teen years 2003 - 2004, but it hasn't 1 upped itself since then. WHY? Because this game lacks a solid story but still has one. It's called maple story, but lacks a good story; ironic. Anyway, the story sort of circles around what you do mainly in quests and also depends what class you chose from magician, thief, ranger, fighter and pirate. Now the pirate class is new but still bores me. The party quests are fun but there are way too many grubbers participating.
Gameplay: 5.5/10
REPETITIVE! All you ever do is train... that's it. Kill monsters to obtain mesos and items. ANYTHING ELSE? Maybe merchant but still that requires a lot of playtime and killing monsters. And often people have to plan out their days to train because people steal training spots.
Graphics: 7/10
Depending on who you are, you might give this a 10 due to its anime style of play. The monsters cry when you hit them or something. Yeah.. original. I give them that but otherwise they don't get much. Nice landscapes and nice models. But it hasn't aged well at all. Since 2003, we had bigger monitors and HD capabilities. At least runescape created a way to at least fit and size your screen. MS still has the 800x600 format that looks extremely nasty when trying fit it into your 1600x900 resolution.
Multiplayer: 8/10
Its a strong aspect of the game with the partying system and the party quests. Depending on your teammates, it can make and break you. The guild system is pretty well done.
Other players or aka Networking or Community: 3.5/10
Mostly immature players who haven't dropped their balls yet. Maybe its just me who is reviewing this from retrospect. I think people like this still exist in MS... i won't doubt it. I have met some people who are nice people but outside of that its just people who want cyber or something like that. And im also tired of people who ask to look for a virtual boyfriend or girlfriend. Look people, if you need a boyfriend or a girlfriend just ask random girls at your school, alright? Don't degrade your humanity any further either. And yes you can get married in this game!
Extras: 3/10
Nexon will want you to purchase their p2p items such as pets and double exp cards in their cash shop! I think its a pathetic excuse to make kids who are probably 10 - 13 to pay for your virtual crap. Sad. By the way, they sell their cash cards in your local pharmacies (duane reade, cvs, walmart, walgreens)
In conclusion, play if you want to. Looks fun but looses its charm in about a couple of plays. 6.5
Second Look:
After looking at this review i noticed that i missed out on an intergral part of the game which also leads to its downfall. Even though there's an anti hacking system, it still doesn't prevent the hackers. Too bad, because the popularity of this game is pretty much linear with hacking. Meaning that more popular, more hackers. SORRY! Plus where are the damn Game masters? Hello?? Where are you? Doing your job?
I truly believe this game is best enjoyed on a private server. With huge rates like 1000x EXP and 1000x drops! Yes, it actually takes away the huge grinding but hey, nothing can beat dealing 99k damage to taking on a boss 1 on 1!
5.5