Recently I started playing the MapleStory MMORPG, and it turned out to be a lot more fun that I had expected. I went into this endeavor figuring that the game was probably aimed at pre-teens and that I would blow a couple of hours on it just to see what it was like. Since it was free, I would just be out the time I spent downloading the client and playing it.
I first heard about MapleStory last year at Gen Con. The "swag bags" that were handed out contained, among other things, a pack of the MapleStory trading card game. When I opened the pack, noticed that one of the cards had a code on it to enter into their online role-playing game. I did not have a computer running Windows at the time as mine died around not long before and there is no client for Linux, so I was unable to try out the game until I recently built a new Windows box.
Maple Story can only be called a "role-playing" game in the loosest sense. The same reasons that people argue that "Diablo" is not a true RPG can be applied to this game. The similarities to actual RPGs include creating – and later customizing – your character and interacting with NPCs and other PCs. However, the interaction with NPCs does not give you any dialog choices other than accept quest or decline quest – and occasionally tutorial topic choices. You cannot follow different paths through the dialog and end up with different results as happens in true RPGs like "Neverwinter Nights".
Speaking of quests, this is the subject of one of my few complaints about the game. The majority of the quests are either "step-and-fetch" quests that make you traverse back-and-forth between several areas just for an anti-climactic completion or involve picking up 50 items dropped (sometimes) by one speceific monster. To get the 50 items, you may have to kill that same type of monster 200 times. Needless to say, this activity gets monotonous and the reward normally feels less than rewarding.
My other complaint is that the game seems to be Windows-centric. I am not sure why this is not a web-based game and that a client must be downloaded and patched. It seems that it would be easier for the game creators to make an online interface; this would ensure that everyone is constantly up-to-date and would allow play from any computer with a browser. Also, if they insist on a downloadable client, there are many graphics and sound libraries that are cross-platform between Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and BSD. It would seem that they are missing a large number of potential users by not supporting more operating systems.
Overall though, Maple Story is well put together. The graphics, sound effects, and music are aesthetically pleasing. The world is relativley large with many different areas to explore. The monsters have unique strengths and weaknesses so it does not feel like you continually fight a different looking version of the same creature. And there are a wide variety of items in the game, many of which I still have not learned the use of. This is a game that – if you like MMORPGs or side-scrollers – should keep you busy for some time, and – for free, it is hard to beat the price.
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