MapleStory Must Die
It is a rare thing when a MMO gains such popularity that it actually has multiple TV commercials airing in the united states. So rare in fact that only a small hand full have ever achieved such market penetration in the history of the medium.
What completely befuddles me is how this one particular game released in 2005 managed to ascend beyond the obscure realm from which it spawned, and become a international super Juggernaut that claims to have enough concurrent worldwide accounts to fill a small nation. It befuddles me because the game is horrible!
No not World of Warcraft; I am talking about MapleStory. If you have never at least heard of this game then I do not really know how you found this article. MapleStory is the flagship MMORPG from Nexon; the companies bread, and butter.
This is MapleStory.
When it launched back in 05 it was a one of a kind game, a 2D platformer MMORPG where you ran, and jumped, and fought much like in the old Castlevania games. It also pioneered another innovation that has become almost standard among eastern, and even some western MMOs, the Free to Play, and cash shop systems.
Rather then having to buy a boxed copy of the game and then pay a subscription on top of that, players instead were able to download the full game directly from the developer, and play as much as they wanted for free. Then if they REALLY liked it they could pay real money for special items, and clothing unattainable though normal play. Back in the early to mid 2000′s this was a radical departure from the standard pay to play norms of almost all MMOs, and was the key to the games early success. Nexon throwing up banner ads from hell to breakfast also might have had something to do with it as well.
But times change better games come out, and MapleStory must die!
The very fact this game has the astronomical sum of 70 million world wide accounts just sickens me. Well that’s actually a lie, the 70 million accounts I mean, not me being sick.
So Many Players…
MapleStory being a free game, an account costs no money, so many people create multiple accounts for whatever reason.
Then you have to factor in the millions of dead accounts, closed accounts, banned accounts, and god only knows how many of those 70 million are goldfarmer/goldseller accounts.
The day the game was released its graphics were already a decade out of date. I am by no means a graphic snob, but when you launch a 2D title that looks like a TurboGrafx game, has 3 frames of movement, and pixels large enough to kill a small dog YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!
Of course Nexon has used the fact the game looks like Bonk’s Revenge to their advantage. MapleStory is constantly updated with new zones, and mobs because they are just so easy to make. What they have never updated however, is the games frustrating, tedious, and completely broken gameplay.
To start, why make your MMO a platformer at all when the characters can barely jump as high as Mario in the original DonkeyKong? You are not going to clear any rolling barrels with those weak ups, and you are certainly not going to jump over the games mobs, which deal damage to the player just by casually rubbing against them. This has created an enormous problem since the games release, and has never been addressed. To get through groups of mobs you either have to kill them, or just run through them, and take the damage.
MapleStory Jumping
“Whats the big deal with that? Just kill em.” you say. That’s where the problem with MapleStory’s monster claim system comes in. Say you are fighting a monster trying to level up, I come rolling in, and see you fighting this thing in the way of where I am going. I am a pretty high level guy, but for whatever reason I don’t feel like taking the damage running through your mob, so I hit it, and kill it. The game credits me with the mobs kill instead of you, and all that fighting was for nothing, You are now mad at me, and will probably start shouting at me in misspelled caps locked sentence fragments about how I am a kill stealer and you hope my mother dies of malaria or something equally ridiculous.
Which segways to the games worst aspect, the player base. Everyone either is, or at the very least acts like they are 13 years old. MapleStory has become the 4chan of the MMO kingdom. A feted warren of raw concentrated dickery, where all logic, kindness, and common sense has long died, dried up, and blown away. This goes for all forums, and online communities associated with the game as well; doubly so for the godless pit known as Basilmarket.com.
The most terrifying thing about Maplestory is not even the game itself, rather it is other developers looking at its numbers, mistaking it for an actual good game, and making clones of it. Wind Slayer. Ghost Online, WonderKing Online, all near identical carbon copies of a game that is fundamentally broken. LaTale is the only exception, being the only MMO platformer that has come in the wake of the MapleStory craze that is even worth playing at all, because it’s the only one that at least attempts to fix whats wrong with the formula.
La Tale Screenshot
With the unbelievable amount of free online games on the market now, there is no reason to still be playing this broken crappy game anymore.
If you have never played MapleStory, don’t. If you use to play it, and wonder if you should try it again to see if it has got any better, it hasn’t.
If you are playing MapleStory right now, stop, and look at all the infinitely better options you have.
No wait.
Learn to spell first, then go find something better.
By, Justin Miller
February 26, 2010
#
The graphics arent crappy. Anyone who likes chibby/anime stuff would like it. I personally don’t play anymore due to my school, but I would recommend trying it.
March 27, 2010
#1
I agree with you Justin. Maplestory is a piece of crap . They mixes all the thing that must NOT be in a mmorpg (anime graphics…thats so ugly,2d mmo style…come on man we are in 2010 ! and the “no mmorpg intensity”.
Sorry for Maplestory lovers .
October 17, 2010
#2
Ehm, if gameplay does matter then try focus at that. And seriously. If you should shutdown every game with bad graphics then it wouldn’t hold. BTW this game is awesome.. Nice Party Quest system and leveling and grinding area’s. Nexon are also developing a lot of new features. And anime graphics.. Well, that’s just taste. This does not mix all the things an mmorpg cannot have. It got it all.. Good quest/Grind/Party Quest(/Dungeon)/Nice community/guild quest/often updated(Not shuting down)
April 2, 2010
#3
This sums up my criticism of Maple Story to a tea. A very fine tea at that, possibly an English one. I honestly never found the game very attractive. My biggest issue for almost any fantasy adventure game be it a console one or mmorpg is almost always freedom of movement. I find that the idea of the movement in an mmo being restricted to only two directions (the ladders and upper platforms non withstanding) unbearable. I can live with it in older Mario gameboy games but not in an mmo.
April 6, 2010
#4
well its a decent enough game that gets by i play it and its good so far. Its not the type of game thats for every body though.
June 18, 2010
#5
well man u said some prety much things that are true about maple story but for some people is loking good.for exemple me.i played like 1 month maple story europe and i growed alot of high lvl chracters (well for me cuz i cant grow any character over lv 60
)and after a maintace my acount have been ip bloked for being from europe ive get realy angry and sayd things like;i wish the man who baned me die in a fking trash can with some rats that would devour them.but now after like 1 month i realised that maple story WASNT so cool as it looked.
P.S. the guy forgot to also menton that dragonica ist as aple story cuz its 3D but still the monsters hit u even if ur 1 mile away from them so it suks but dragonica 2 should be launched around 2010 and i heared that its lots more beter.
July 22, 2010
#6
The writer summed up everything thats horribly wrong with MS.
May WoW live on forever…
August 28, 2010
#7
Eh…where to even begin. Musta raged quit. If you dont like the game dont play it? Horrible article period. The logical fallacies here are just amusing.
August 29, 2010
#8
it’s official. i really don’t like you. you don’t have to go all out saying the game should shut down just ’cause you don’t like it. how would you feel if you made a game and another person said it should shut down? not very good, i bet.
September 19, 2010
#9
READ THIS EVN IF ITS BIG AS UR MOMAS BUTT@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ cmon guys MS isnt so bad this post is looking like outdated to me cuz MS is geting beter and beter have any of thos guys who posted bad replies about MS seen an aran in action or a batle mage?answer:NO!NO!NO! thts for sure. i admit tht MS is not perfect but is geting beter and beter i was still playng MS if i wasnt living in europe so i can acess onl MS eu tht is kinda prehistoric in comparation with the rest but still MS is great and i would recomandate it to any ppl EXEPTING EU PPL cuz MS eu dosent desrves playng its rely buged full of hakers shit events and as i said they arent even having evan but to the rest PLAY IT AND THN TALK! especialy korean ppl cuz MS korea is so cool READ THIS COMENT EVEN IF ITS BIG LIKE UR MOMAS BUTT@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
October 16, 2010
#10
Maplestory is just getting worse. I liked it back when the cash shop was just clothing and accessories. Now you can level up faster than light speed with all the events and the cash shop items. I loved maplestory back in like 2006 and 2007 before all the new jobs. Sure back than i couldnt get past level 30 but it was fun. i would play with my older brother and his friends. I stopped playing for awhile because i got Xbox Live and Halo 2. I recently played when evan came out. I just wanted to shoot my computer. The whole game is easy as pie. i got 5 level 40′s on a new acocunt. 1 day=level 30. when it took me like 2 years to get just one level 30. The whole game has gone down hill. i have problably tried over half of the games this website has reviewed and classic maplestory before the new jobs (pirate class is okay just because it just a mix between archer and assasin). The cygnus knights, evan, aran, and the new dual blade hero are just to strong. plus with all the updates it looks like only half the people can play. which nexon really only has maybe half of all of its accounts active (if they lucky) and now only half of that can play. so if you bad at math that means 1/4 of the accounts maplestory has are playing. Dragon Oath, Battle of Immortals, and Aika Online are some games you might want to try if you leaving maplestory or just want a better mmorpg. Aika Online doesnt got the customization i like but it has a good community and good story line. Dragon Oath has an AMAZING pet system. and Battle of Immortals is the most Unique Game play i have seen. But the MOST friendliest community of gamers i have come acrossed is 4story. its a copy of WoW. but than again its not. Its a game you just have to try.
October 17, 2010
#11
I don’t think the faster leveling through the cash shop hurt the game at all. Overall they INCREASED the speed of leveling due to the addition of countless new quests to the game. By paying you can level up faster – but you don’t need to pay. Who cares if someone who DOES pay levels up faster? It’s no skin off your back. Since MS doesn’t have PvP I don’t mind the added cash shop bonuses, as by paying no one is putting you at a disadvantage. If anything its easier to level up as a free user more now than ever! I think the new classes added a boat load of variety to the game which keeps players comin back. It’s easy to get to level 30 now, but get to level 80 – see how long it takes =]. And getting to max level still takes forever.
October 17, 2010
#12
Reply to ReMo
I think the bonus content is good and all for some people who like variety. but i liked the old version better. I think Nexon might be more popular if they had made Maplestory a classic version again. But thats my appenion. I think games that add on with new characters should keep the original version and make a Maplestory Advanced that has there old character history + they can chreate new characters. that would take away alot of the mass of people at grinding spots plus everyone would be happier. and servers would be less crowded.
November 28, 2010
#13
MapleSEA is a game that really pisses me off… for an unfunded newbie, its hell going through the earlier levels watching funded people with 1b+ doing 2X your damage at half your level. and i cant buy anything in the free market, the majority of them are scammers in the lobby and the items in the shops are too fucking expensive – how does a newbie fork out like 250m for a SOK-ed zakum helmet? and the grinding sucks hard at 30-50, either you fall asleep killing the same monsters thousands of times in the same area, or you level slower than other players when you get scammed in monster carnival. the community sucks and the gameplay sucks, usually you only use movement keys, potion hotkeys and ONE skill because all the other skills make training slower, and aran actually makes it WORSE, pressing C for 1000000 times a day makes your hand ache like its being bitten by a swarm of rats ALL THE TIME, even after you shutdown the damn PC. The average unfunded player has to do this for 120 fucking levels unless he gets lucky and has a rare and expensive item drop for him, but even then they usually get scammed out of it by the MFKING scammers at FM lobby! GRINDING sucks, COMMUNITY sucks, ECONOMY sucks. MS SUCKS!
November 28, 2010
#14
Cash shop is imbalanced, you actually can get items that give you 2X drop rate, experience and now DB is compulsory to pay for their skillbooks using NX. Im quitting maple now because of DB imbalanced-ness compared to other explorer classes, and mechanic is going to be even worse – did you see the papulatus killed by mechanic in 10 SECONDS video? I bet you have to pay real money to buy skillbooks for them too – hell, i think you have to pay to create one! im moving to LOTRO – its free, the graphics are epic, the gameplay owns, it actually has a good story implemented through quests and you actually can get turbine points ( equivalent of NX in lotro ) by completing in-game deeds which also give stat rewards
December 1, 2010
#15
it depends on there taste in mmorpgs i thinking about going back or not
December 9, 2010
#16
maplestory suckss why would ppl play a 2d peice of shit
December 16, 2010
#17
Stop being a whining noob. It wouldnt be any fun if there were few players, and complaining about killstealing? That is ridiculous…name me a game where you can’t. If you dont like ms, then just ignore it, not make a hate article about it. How would you even know so much about it anyway? Your character sucks.
Also you say that the age group who play are around 13 and have no “logic, kindness or common sense” towards others. This is most likely due to people like you. From you posting this you are in fact worse than them. You say that playing this game is a waste of time. Maybe you should get a life instead of posting such bullshit up. Sore loser.
January 13, 2011
#18
Well well well, the author of this shit must have some serious problems, i mean DUDE, Nexon created a free game it got popular and you say “it must die (JEALOUS HUH)!”. You got a problem with maplestory, fine. Whatever problems you got don’t let it change the fact that millions of people enjoy this game and still will it enjoy it for many years <3
February 16, 2011
#19
This is the most biased review i have ever seen!
Remotay! Please remove this “review”
February 17, 2011
#20
This isn’t a “review”. It’s an opinion by a writer.
I personally like MapleStory and think it’s one of the better free to play MMORPGs.
May 29, 2011
#21
This guy is a complete idiot. first of all the punctuation and grammer is rubbish. You say about people having multiple accounts and such, well you cant say that just maplestory, every game, even pay to play ones have the same amounts of percentage to this, and to this day the population of the game worldwide is over 120million people, showing how much it has grown since you submitted this tedious review. The graphics for maplestory are specifically designed to be how they are, they are not outdated, and after having played all of the other 2d sidescrolling games you mentioned at the end i can say maplestory has the best graphics of the lot. I have played literally hundreds of MMORPG’s and maplestory is the only one i have stuck with for more than two weeks, it even has more appeal to me than games such as WoW. So, to conclude, you sir are an awful reviewer that only looks for things such as graphics and amazing visuals. The fact that this game has had so much popularity proves you wrong.
December 14, 2011
#22
I agree with Rowan here. It’s not just MapleStory that has people creating multiple accounts and such. Other MMORPGs have them too. Also, the graphics of MapleStory are meant to be 2D.
December 14, 2011
#23
I agree with Rowan. It’s not just MapleStory that has people creating multiple accounts and such. Other MMORPGs have them too. Also, the graphics of MapleStory are meant to be 2D.
June 19, 2011
#24
I know this article is somewhat old but i felt i should defend MS. It is a great game with a great and friendly community who you can easily make friends with and play content with. For a 2D game, it is very successful and fun. If you like anime you will like this game. Its one of the biggest online games out right now and by the way its going, i doubt itll die anytime soon. The community just continues to grow and content continues to expand. Overall its a wonderful game to at least try.
June 19, 2011
#25
MapleStory used to be like how you described it, but believe me it’s much better now! With the announcement of Big Bag, lots of things have changed about MapleStory. Firstly the graphics has been redone(still not 3D but I mean come on games from the 90′s were 2D but were still epic), The community is a lot nicer now and they’ll be willing to help you at anytime(still though you’re going to meet some mean players along the way). Also the experience curve has been greatly improved as now I can level up very easily(*Cough* *cough* Party Quests *cough*). Not just that, there is also the Chaos patch which will be released on June 29 that will finally feature PvP!! Yes you heard right, PvP is coming to MapleStory! As if those weren’t enough, you can discover a lot more as you play the “new” MapleStory.
July 4, 2011
#26
I’ve just started replaying Maple Story after 3 years. I can’t believe how much new stuff they’ve added to the early levels; classes, areas, quests, NPCs, better loot drops, & PvP & crafting are coming this month. The feeling of repetition is gone, esp. since by level 35 it’s easy to make cash & the axis allow for superfast travel.
July 4, 2011
#27
Oh I forgot, the game feels more story-based now, at least of you pick the right classes. The game doesn’t lag or crash near as much.
July 22, 2011
#28
At least this wasn’t Omer
August 1, 2011
#29
Personally my dad won’t let me play games such as WoW because you have to pay and all the bad rep it gets… so i started playing maplestory because it’s free nd it’s not one of those games where you are severely limited by not buying things. I love the graphics and everything about it and nexon is pretty good at fixing any problems to make the game run smoothly. I also kind of like how it seems like everyone is 13 because then it feels less serious and more fun and laid back.And what’w wrong with mario? I love mario.
August 6, 2011
#30
What’s wrong with being 13? Take a breather. Stop being a d**k.
August 9, 2011
#31
I don’t see anything wrong with the graphic style, being an Asian myself :> Despite your hate for it, the game is still very alive with many many active players. I even find the game to be entertaining once in a while.
And I’m not 13, I’m 32 lol. Maplestory reminds me a lot of NES games I used to play when I was younger. And that is great.
August 19, 2011
#32
Dead on. The community is immature beyond belief and mages and dual bladers will come to a map your on because all the channels are full. But instead of sharing the map with you that you’ve been on for the last 30 mins. they will follow you around and kill steal your mobs until you leave harassing you. The game now has pvp but it isn’t even closed to balanced after 2mos. It’s mind numbing to me that people played this game and have never played WonderKing or the now closed WindSlayer which pvp was the greatest ever. I played the other 2 games for 3yrs. before I even tried this game. MS took a month and a half to get to level 120 playing about 20 hrs. a week during the summer. The game is a joke gold sellers have killed the flea market with the most inflated prices you will ever see and after 5yrs it finally gets a crafting system? If you played this game for a yr. or more before this your a fool. No pvp or crafting for 5yrs? Fail for not using a search engine to find WindSlayer.
October 8, 2011
#33
If you don’t like Maple… then don’t play it. Plain and simple. You have every right to dislike it, it’s a free world… but if you have such a severe hatred for the game that you wrote this, then in my opinion that is sad.
I’ve been playing Maple since 2006, and am still enjoying it. Of course it has its issues, as all games do. In my opinion it has grown (in a good way) since then. No one is making you use cash shop items to get by. It’s not mandatory. It’s not like another user using said cash shop items to get ahead faster is really affecting you. So what if it’s a 2D platform? Some people like that. Some people find it to be reminiscent of their childhood games. So they don’t share your taste in graphics… who cares? It’s a freaking game. Most would not yell at people playing Mario to “get with the times” so why bother doing it with Maple. Also, because it’s not 3D, the lag will not be as bad like in Runescape. Mind you, Runescape is a browser game so that could also contribute to lag.
I have tried other MMORPG’s in the past… and Maple is really the only one I’ve kept playing. I’m about to try AION but I’m not sure if I’ll really like it; I didn’t like WoW. I think what I like most about Maple is the fact that I don’t HAVE to rely on other players to level. I don’t HAVE to party quest to get ahead… and I really love that, as I’m a player that loves to play alone. I think ever since the Big Bang, it’s really made it easier to play on your own, without relying on the other players.
As for KS-ing (kill stealing) it happens in other MMORPG’s as well. It’s bound to happen. As for the population problem, they have created PLENTY of new servers to accommodate.
You are right about the 13-year-olds. There are sometimes too many immature players, I will agree with that. However it seems that since the Big Bang that has gone down a little. However, I am NOT 13. I am 21, have a husband and my own house. I go to school. I hardly spend any time playing Maple, but when I do… I enjoy it… I do it to relax. It’s just fun. I’m not some 13 year old n00blett that approaches people on Maple with “cc! cc! cc! D:<" Also, not all of the younger players are like that. It's ridiculous to just assume everyone you will meet on Maple is like that, though if you've had a lot of bad experiences with players I can understand why you would.
All in all… if you don't like it… don't play it. It's honestly very simple.
October 11, 2011
#34
“…the companies bread, and butter.”
I can spell just fine, thank you. I think you need to work on your punctuation, though.
October 16, 2011
#35
pretty sad of you to say that maplestory must die, learn to enjoy the game before you start hating on it, yeah at first i didn’t like it, but you just gotta give the game some time before you can fully enjoy it. i’m disgusted by this article.
thank you though for saying we’re the 4chan of mmo’s, at least we know we’re popular then most games
October 21, 2011
#36
omer, i thought you were better than this, trying to take a game down just because of YOUR personal opinions. this game isnt hurting any of your precious games too much, i like your reviews KINDA, but now i dont think i like you personally. there are more mature people here than you think. dont be so judgemental come on!
October 22, 2011
#37
I didn’t write this editorial. A different writer did. I personally like MapleStory.
October 23, 2011
#38
Im sorry but your a fucking reatard
November 8, 2011
#39
Jason,
Hes retarded in your eyes because your retarded enough to not be able to spell retarded.
November 20, 2011
#40
can’t tell if author is troll or really stupid.
December 14, 2011
#41
Never mind, I’m a complete fucking faggot who hates video games!
January 4, 2012
#42
Are you kidding me? Maplestory is good , but the fact that Concurrency character max STOPPED me from playing this damn game is terrible I mean seriously who thinks about Concurrency character max? I barely played for 2hours Probably because I went and exchanged storage and everything but who cares? NO MORE CONCURRENCY CHARACTER MAX I’m serious.
January 19, 2012
#43
You know, I could accuse WoW for almost everything you just accused MS of.
It completely befuddles me that it’s so popular, when it’s a horrible game! World of Warcraft must die. An even larger player base with immature, obnoxious, addicted 13-year-old kids who yell obscene insults in n00bspeak and CAPS. Kill-stealers. Gold-sellers and spammers and scammers. Terrible graphics for a 3D game, in comparison to everything else out there. You can practically see the polygons: they are large enough to kill a small dog. The environment is so terribly simplistic, I could make something better using third-rate software. It’s not even free to begin with, so there’s not much to say about a Cash Shop type system…but it eats into your savings at a rate of $180/year, when there’s so many better ways to spend your money and other free/one-time payment games to play. In the game, your character can jump ridiculously high, but it’s absolutely useless, because you still move horizontally forward at the same rate and you still can’t avoid mobs with aggro. WoW revolutionized the MMORPG industry, but people need to get with the times!
…I think I covered everything. XD
No offense to any WoW players, and no offense to 13-year-olds. I’m no hater; I simple don’t care much for WoW, since the gameplay system doesn’t suit my taste. You press the autoattack key and sit there, occasionally pressing a second key, watching as the first monster dies. Same with the 20th monster. Rinse and repeat with different quests, but essentially the exact same method…I just got bored. Still, don’t you think I imitated the author pretty well?
January 20, 2012
#44
Nothing is perfect,some people like different stuff but maplestory will continue to try to put it into your expectation by frequently upgrading it.
January 31, 2012
#45
plz help me theres standing i i downloaded the wrong gamee plz help me
February 1, 2012
#46
I personally love maplestory, mainly because It’s fun to play an mmorpg that all of my friends actually have,and it’s fun to get shit loads of free stuff, but compared to other ones I have played it is definitely not a diamond, I do enjoy some levels of challenge, which maplestory rarely has to offer!