Maple Story
By: Nick Martineau
General Game Information
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Title: Maple Story
Company: Wizet\NX Games
Type: Side Scrolling 2D MMORPG
Price: Free
General Game Information
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Hardware Specs:
Quick Overview
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Maple Story is the worlds first 2D side
scrolling MMORPG
Original target audience was for kids
between the ages of 7-15 but the
average age of a player is 24
Over 1.5 Million people registered to
play
Quick Overview Cont.
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Four different flavors of the game
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MapleGlobal – United States
MapleSea – China
MapleKorea – Korea
MapleEurope – Europe
With anywhere from 5-10 servers per
flavor
20 channels per server
Story Line
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No real continuity to the game, do
what you want, when you want
Player Roles
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Four different roles to play
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Thief
Bowmen
Magician
Warrior
Instillation
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Go to http://www.mapleglobal.com/
click on the download button and
download the game.
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NOTE: The web page must be opened in
Internet Explorer
About 200MB
Run the downloaded file to install
User Interface
User Interface Cont.
User Interface Cont.
User Interface Cont.
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Fairly functional game play without to
many problems
Controls can be tricky, there are about
45 keys that are bound to various
functions
Better to use a gamepad with
keyboard bindings
Game Play
Game Play Cont.
Game Play Cont.
Game Play Cont.
Game Play Cont.
Game Play Cont.
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Playing the game is quite simple
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Run around
Kill stuff
Do missions
Gain expirence
Level up
Don’t die
Scoring
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There is no scoring in this game
however you do receive drops and
money (mesos) from monsters that are
either traded in or used to buy various
items
Experience
Artwork
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Visually stunning for a 2D game
Not a lot of animation
Lots of monster artwork (about 2000
monsters in the game)
Lots of item artwork (about 1000 items
in the game)
Monster Artwork
Sound and Music
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Not the best midi files ever
Some sound effects are cool others
are annoying
Ability to shut the music/sound effects
off
Special Features
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Cash Shop
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The way the game makes money
Can buy different items, pets, gear, safety
charms, etc…
Manual
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Not an official game manual but there
are several web sites that will help you
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www.hidden-street.net
www.basilmarket.com
Bugs
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Hacking!!!
Game Review
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What is good/fun about the game?
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Its eclectic
Easy to learn, easy to play
Great artwork for monsters, skills and
worlds
Social interaction, play against the world
Play for free, character never expires
Unlimited character levels
Game Review Cont.
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What is bad about the game?
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At level 60 it takes about 10 hours to
level your character and grows every
level
Quests don’t give enough experience at
high levels (level 65 quest gives 10k exp
when you need 1.9 Million to level)
Hackers – VacHack, map hack, destroys
the game and the economy
End of Class Presentation
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Question?
Comments?
How does it compare to similar
games in the same genre?
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Character types are similar (warrior,
thief, mage, bowmen, etc…)
2D graphics makes the game easier to
explore but doesn't give it any depth
like 3D games
Free to play, no monthly fees, no cost
to buy the game, only pay if you want
to buy something from the cash shop
Better or worse then similar
game?
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Better
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Free to play, easy to learn
Lots of things to do, lots of areas to
explore
Worse
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No depth to the game
While 2D is cool it gets old after a while,
you cant run around monsters
Appropriate Age
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As it was mentioned before, the target
audience was for 7-15 year olds but
the average player is 24
Design Mistakes
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Allow hackers to hack
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Not a full proof system to stop hackers
GM’s don’t respond quick enough to
players requests
Summary
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Strengths
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2D art work is amazing
Lots of areas to explore
Lots of game content (missions) to do
Tons of monsters
Lots of skills
Unlimited levels
Free to play and own
Eclectic and fun
Summary Cont
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Weaknesses
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2D gets old after a while
Takes forever to level as the character
progresses
Hacking destroys the game economy
Music and sound effects get annoying
after a while (thankfully you can shut
them off)
Worth Purchasing?
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Yes and no I suppose
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Its worth getting and playing but you don’t
have to pay for it
How could it be improved?
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Get rid of the hackers
Cut down on the amount of experience
needed to level in the latter levels
Have more quests that reward the
player more frequently