/\/\4P|_3 5T0RY? (Maplestory?)

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A game by Nexon and Wizet.

Is it a "leet" game? Is it not an elite game. Maybe, maybe not, but it has a HUUUUGGGE fan base. Some people say there are 5 million accounts, some say 7 million, 11 million, 20 million, 50 million, and 110 million. Hmm. Pretty big gap going on there. (The most consistent is 70 million accounts.) Anyway, anything over one million is impressive for any game, which is why Maplestory is notable. The most consistent is 70 million accounts.

Question number one: Is it good? Again, people disagree with each other. Some people love the idea and game play where you jump around, and it is not the usual kill this, go there, and watch your character slash the monster until it is dead. Some people hate it because of childish graphics, grinding, and the platforming. My opinion? It is fun when you start, but how you'll progress over time generally sets in when you hit level 30. Either you'll continue or you'll drop out.

Question two: Ehm, I can't really think of another question.

The game can be played over a really long period of time. However, it needs a Maplestory download as well as the Nexon Game Manager. This took a few hours to finish up, but then I finally got to play. If you can suck it up for that long, you're on your way.

Anyhoo, when you start up the game you'll be taken to the world screen, where you'll see a surprising number of worlds. Due to the recent Big Bang patch, the look and feel of the game, along with monster drops, experience rate and such were changed dramatically.

So, you pick your world, which will take you to channel selection. Again, lots to choose from. The most crowded will obviously be channel 1.

Pick your channel to go to the character selection. You don't have any, so let's create one. You have a choice of 6 major classes. Adventurers, the most common class, which start out as Beginners, but branch out into the 5 main subclasses: Warrior, Bowman, Magician, Thief, and Pirate. Each of those branch out into 2 or 3 sub-subclasses. They have a level cap of 200, and are generally the most familiar characters.

Dual-Bladed Adventurers. I don't really know much about them, other than they have dual blades. Go figure.

The Resistance. Oooh. These start as "citizens," and become Wild Hunters, Mechanics, or Battle Mages. They have a level cap of 200, and are interesting to play because of their completely unique skills. Wild Hunters have Jaguar Mounts, Mechanics have Mechs, Machine Guns, Flame Throwers and other weaponry, and Battle Mages have awesomeness. Yeah, I don't know.

Cygnus Knights, or the Noblesse. These guys progress incredibly quickly. They also separate into the same subclasses as adventurers (sorta.) However, their level is capped at 120, meaning that ordinary adventurers will overtake them in power a few levels above their cap.

Arans and Evans. "Heroes," with special abilities, they are the hardest to play, but become the most powerful. They have skills unique to their own class. They have a level cap of 200.

So, you've chosen your class, and you start play. You'll start in the beginner area, where you'll learn basic control, and then it's off to the whole wide world of Maplestory.

Timing your attacks is important, otherwise you won't hit anything, and the enemy will probably just ram into you. Which will hurt. Ouchie. Skills can be used to bolster your allies or harm your enemies.

You will pick up a lot of monster drops, mostly Usable Items and Etc. Items. Usable Items are, well, usable, but Etc. Items generally don't serve a purpose, unless you're Questing or need it for a magical recipe. Seriously.

Combat and Character Progression basically is the game, but if you get bored of that you could head on over to the Free Market, where all of the players of the world and channel converge to sell their virtual goods, if they didn't want to NPC it. This generally consists of elite items, and not newbie items. For example, you won't see someone spamming, "S>Tree Branch 2 Mesos @@@@@@@@!" Selling is "S>," buying is "B>."

In the portals to the right, you can see a large number of portals, each of these portals lead to about a dozen player shops each. Again, the items sold are very expensive because they are very high level. So, the Free Market is not really a place for newbies. Which brings us back to character building!

I'm assuming that since you read this far you're either laying or seriously considering it. You want me to give you a straight answer. I would say, "Yes, try it! I mean, what do you have to lose?"

So, for the players that have started, here are some good monsters to train on.

Slime: These are located near Ellinia, on Victoria Island. Any AoE spells or skills will work well here.
They can be killed in large numbers, because there are huge groups which clump up into one horde. They drop mainly Common and Magician equipment.

Experience: 10

Stump: These are found close to Perion. They are a little tough for beginners, but give OK experience. They also form clumps. They drop mainly Common and Warrior equipment.

Experience: 13

Pig: They are fast and jump occasionally. They drop a spread of equipment.

Experience: 12

And now, some higher level training.

Blue Ribbon Pig: These guys are fast, jump, and flock in huge groups. They are found near Nautilus. AoE attacks = Fast Training.

Experience: 23

Ligator: These guys are tougher and will put the pain on newer players. However, they stay in huge mobs and move slowly. Recommended to train on Blue Ribbons first.

Experience: 37

And that's it! So, finally...

If you can deal with repetition, 2D graphics, and any possible addiction, Maplestory is a great game.

Final Score: Great!

All monster info taken from global.hidden-street.net. Picures taken from BasilMarket and Hidden Street.