MapleStory SEA

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~~Basic Information~~
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Title of the Game: MapleStory SEA
Platform of Game: PC
Genre of Game: MMORPG
Developer: Wizet

Released June 23, 2005, in Singapore.
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~~Opening Note~~
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Sigh... After seeing so many reviews on MapleStory, saying how awful or how great it was, I feel that it's high time for me to have my say at this game.. MapleStory is a game developed by Wizet, a South Korean company. It is a 2 dimensional, side scrolling, massive multiplayer online role-playing game, which is free to play. Alright, so its to play, surely that means a great deal of people'll come and try it? True, many people did. First, let me list down all the good things about MapleStory. It's a fairly easy to understand game, the controls can be configured to your own liking, the maps are fairly big in contrast to characters so that players don't feel too cramped. It is still a fairly popular game. Right, now that I've listed everything I felt was ok about it, on to the... "undesirable stuff". The first thing that was really undesirable for me was when I first ran the MapleStory program. I know that MS (common abbreviation here) is meant to be a cutesy kind of game, nothing too violent about it. But, in my humble opinion, the music... was pretty "not nice". Seriously, the fact that this game is "cutesy" makes it on the downside for me already! Music aside, the graphics were pretty decent, even if it was cutesy like. Facial expressions were available, and the animations on everything I have seen in this game so far were ok. But here's another problem. its just TOO cutesy. Imagine drawing something really demonic looking, then someone takes your drawing and somehow manages to integrate it into the Powerpuff Girls or some really kiddy show. It just does not feel right... On to the most disappointing part about this game. For the first 30 or so levels, its pretty easy to level your character up, as the amount of experience you require to level up is quite on par with the amount given per monster slain. Beyond that, the game play starts "looping", as the monsters that give you the fastest experience are usually the same ones you'll face for the next 10 levels or so.. Now, why couldn’t they make the damned leveling up bit a little bit easier? I mean, it was ok for me for the first 20 levels after I hit level 30, but it REALLY started to get boring, dull, monotonous, tedious, irksome, tiresome, and humdrum. Seriously, it totally sucks killing the same damned enemies for hours and hours to gain a level. Yes, there are quests which help you gain experience, but some of them are just so screwed-up hard! Lets say you're given a quest to kill a hundred Dangerous monsters which take maybe 10 million hits to kill, and you're required to collect their drops (items that monsters sometimes leave behind. e.g. Kill a snail, and it may leave its shell for you. Gross.). You can bet on it that around 40% or so of the time the monster just REFUSES to give up its drop, and you've got to waste the next year or so going back and forth town, getting your potions to fuel your mana, going back to slay more of them, rinse, wash, ring out, repeat. TEDIOUS. Not to mention that the same goes for leveling up your character. Kill a whole bunch of monsters (like say another 10 million of them), running out of mana potions, going to town and get more so that you can go back and kill more of the same monsters blah blah-de-blah blarg. As most of us know, hackers, scammers and the like are ever present in game, and we also all know that at times the Moderators can't respond to every little cry that anyone makes. Still, is it too much trouble to ban someone that the whole world's calling a hacker because he is really hacking?! And what the hell is up with the ban time? A 14 day ban for saying a swear that a Moderator sees?! Seriously, swearing is so damned common (no doubt you've come across parts of this review which I really wanted to say that 4 lettered swear word that starts with , but I have to calm down and not cuss.), and people get banned 14 days for swearing at the wrong time... Ridiculous.
One more part about this game, because I had enough. The cash shop. You spend like 10 bucks to get 10k A-Cash to use in the cash shop. What do you do with it? Beautify yourself with clothing that gets spoiled within 90 days and are generally so gaily overpriced that it'll be cheaper to just go draw the sprites yourself on some picture editing program like Photoshop or stuff. There are one or two items that are sort of worth it, like the 2X experience coupons or the safety charm, but the rest of them, generally put in for beautifying purposes.

Overall, if you're the type of person who likes to be known for being totally lifeless, training from level 1 to 120 in a month, this game is for you. For everyone else, steer clear of this game, because unless you're stupid and get addicted to MMORPG's (like myself, last time).

By the way, this game is not bad. It is just averagely boring.

Guess I'd better do a better game next time... I nearly typed out the real cusses.