So I wanted to make a thread about my thoughts so far on this game, I have only played for 3 days roughly. Got 1 Character to 40 and 1 to 45. Then tried the Burning Event, and got to level 115 (or something around there) I have tried nearly every class just going through their starting story points so not getting too far into most of them and continuing with classes that I really enjoyed.
:WARNING LONG POST INCOMING:
Controls: Now when you create a character you can choose what form of controls you want, the maplestory controls or controls that people are used to from other games. Most games generally allow you to change your keybinds. Sadly for whatever reason we can't actually change our movement keys. I would love to move with WSAD as that set up works a lot better than the arrow keys. Since I'm used to other games, neither set of controls work for me. So out of my own stubbornness I stuck it out and edited them to what was most comfortable (Which isn't really that comfortable (Still far away from the arrow keys) Next, the whole harvesting and looting as well as interact can't be placed on the same key. I would love it if I was able to change this this way I don't have 3 different keys that interact with stuff. Next, the CTRL Key being the basic attack, yes I get it. It works well with arrow keys a lot better than WSAD. I mean yeah you won't need your basic attack when you get further into the game as you'll just be using skills for the most part. This is my major gripe about the game honestly and does need fixed in my honest opinion. The game wouldn't be so off putting otherwise.
Cut Scenes: So the cut scenes are really great implemented anime like scenes to really show the story for some of the heroes. Pretty well done. However, when it looks like you just recorded a youtube video being played, it makes it less immersive and really silly looking. If the cut scenes were done properly where it goes straight into it, it'd be a lot better than seeing the start of a "Play" icon and at the end before going back into the game. Just a small thing that can be fixed.
Ark: The first character I created was Ark. I personally didn't like him or his playstyle that much (Only did about 5 of his starting missions or so) and was a lot squishier than some of the other characters I have tried out since then.
Demon: So Then I created a Demon (It's level 40 as of right now) And honestly I love the story that it has. The mobility for this class/hero/thing is crazy compared to some of the other classes I have tried. Able to glide across each map with ease when traveling comes in very handy, huge damage output and of course I went into the Demon Avenger route and well, use my HP for my attacks then press a button and gain it all back essentially. Honestly feels really over powered when I was trying this character out. And I can see it as a newbie friendly class.
Kaiser: Well, jumping from a really easy class to a "difficult" class really changes things a bit. I didn't get to far into it cause I couldn't complete one of the starting quests wanting me to press some kind of movement key with a skill I guess, honestly I was still learning the controls at this time well the controls I went with so if I had gotten a bit smart about it, I could had done a lot more. So I just got off him and well deleted it.
Angelic Buster: This is some Sailor Moon shenanigans I'm tellin you! But no seriously though surprisingly I really enjoyed her playstyle which was very spammy. (That and I'm a sucker for adorable things)
Kinesis: So this was my burning character that I have currently. I personally love his story and this is where I really started learning how the game really worked or had a better understanding so I enjoyed it even more. I honestly just lifted the enemies and slammed them into each other and spammed it that way all the way to 115 or so. That is how ridiculous it was. I mean also used other skills but that was my favorite, forcing them to follow me and to use them for killing things was hilarious to me. His personality is pretty awesome too from the story.
Xenon: Before I get into this character, I have went through the starting resistance story line where you "saved" the kid in the tank, first before trying this character and when I was doing Xenon starting stuff, I kind of thought you had saved Xenon...but that was me being dumb. Xenon to me was very confusing, easy to play don't get me wrong. But his stat distribution being forced to go through all of the 3 main stats for him first, then letting you choose which one you wanted was weird. I wasn't really sure where to put his stats so I just stuck them into luck. Deleted the character cause I got lost cause of the gardock stuff or something. I plan on remaking him though.
Cadena: I never knew she was a Nova. Thought she was a demon at first, but I was wrong :x Her storyline was fine, got her to around 73 or so as a burning character on another world (Reboot in this case). and as I kept getting new skills, I didn't actually like her at all. I mean she is really flashy with her skills but I went into her thinking I'd be getting chain related skills. Instead she just summons weapons and stuff.
Mercedes: I enjoyed her play style a bit and really liked how she was freaking out about being level 10 again. But I deleted her cause I got lost and couldn't go to a location where my quest is. So I deleted her, Going to have to try her out again and give her another go to really give a proper opinion.
Shade: Another character I got lost in I think, or I just didn't like his playstyle. Probably a mix of both. His story was noble, but he it seems like he is like 1 of 3 who doesn't have a memory of who they were. Which is starting to be a bit redundant.
As for the game itself, it's been really fun and I have been enjoying it, even though no one plays on my server cause for some reason everyone is in reboot. (No idea why that is but oh well). With how a lot of the stories seem to intertwine, the lore is actually really solid. Something you don't see much from games similar to this or not similar. Enjoying the gameplay which I enjoy spammy character it fits me just right in that department. I won't talk about graphic as I think that would be a stupid thing to talk about cause it is an art style.
I'd have to give it a 8/10 for the terrible controls :x
Comments
Eh Close enough though it's basically the same type of thing.
Maplestory has some of the best music in gaming. Due to the numerous amounts of content, the music has a lot of variation rather than being fairly linear remixes of the same few song you see in other games. Music is definitely a strong point for Maplestory.
Artwork [9/10]
The artwork for the characters is consistent and good for its style of art; that’s all that really matters.
Avatar Customization [9/10]
As far as customization goes, Maplestory allows a lot of variations of clothes, accessories, hair, eyes. Not much to say here. Anvils further increase the diversity of equipment you can use.
Story [6/10]
There are good stories, there are really bad ones. The issue is that they are very episodic, majority of which are never relevant to the main plot nor mentioned ever again. The KMS theme dungeons are the biggest offenders of this, while non-KMS tried to remedy it to some extent with Monad and Stellar Detectives. This is of course unavoidable for an online game of this age; I’d give it a harsher score if this were a console game which should have consistent plot. But overall, the story (ironic to its name) isn’t something I’d attribute to what Maplestory is about. That said, I rarely see games that have good plot anyway, so I’m not going to judge it that badly; it’s the lack of consistency that I don’t like.
Graphics and sprites [7/10]
Maplestory sprites and backgrounds are simply inconsistent at times opposed to the artwork. There isn’t anything wrong with it despite being a dated style, it is an old game after all and you can’t blame it for that.
Bossing [6/10]
Many recent bosses feel more like DPS checks before you run out of lives from the full map OHKO move that can only be dodged using iframe or gimmicky mechanic which not all classes can utilize at the same efficiency. Bosses like revamped Papulatus is simply, blitz the boss with your burst attack before it can utilize all its mechanics. Some bosses are also very difficult and limited to a select number of top tier individuals for Reboot due to the higher HP and lower damage potential.
Progression [6/10]
There little diversity in equipment between classes with a few exceptions. This isn’t a bad thing, but it did lose the uniqueness and value of old equipment from OG Maplestory. There isn’t really a problem with it, just the unviability of majority of the equipment in this game is just slightly disappointing. Although, playing console games, this sort of progression is something I’m used to (just with 95% less equipment choices). What is certainly bad though are things like the droplets (and SW equipment prior to 25 star update) which stagnate your progression for quite along time, if not forever for some players who cannot invest as much time.
RNG [6/10]
RNG is pretty bad, but I’ve played Kantai Collection along with mobile games like FGO, so I’ve seen some really stressful RNG. Starforcing and cubes feel bad, but they don’t compare to the mental suffering I had and still get in Kantai Collection. The RNG in Maple isn’t particularly better and probably worse, but it just doesn’t feel as mind numbing (at least in my experience). Unless you’re booming Gollux or other irreplaceable items for some reason, it doesn’t feel that stressful. The droplet farming do make me want to lower that score though.
Sustained Playability [8/10]
I’m still playing Maplestory while I compleatly dropped games like Monster Hunter World (despite being a fan of MH) after 3-4 months of playing, so Maplestory must be doing something right. While MHW was incomparably more enjoyable when initially played, the burnout feeling for that game was too quick. Despite the grindy nature of Maplestory, it takes quite a long time to go on a hiatus. It just gives the vibe of being casual gaming despite being the farthest from it.
Gacha or Loot Box [8/10]
I always hated gacha systems that aren’t purely fashion. It was one of the things that I didn’t like in pre-BB Maplestory with items such as Pink Adventure Cape back then. For this, Phantasy Star Online 2 is a fairly good comparison which gacha is 99% limited to fashion based items which is sufficient for the game’s survival as a free MMO. Reboot pretty much negates the gacha problem from normal servers aside from perma pets which was remedied with monthly reward shop water of life. I would’ve given it 7 out of 10 if it wasn’t for that update.
F2P [9/10 (I can’t say how bad it is for regular servers in 2018)]
P2W only exist in the form of pets. Perma pet gacha, pet skills, and pet snack, the last one being a small one time investment. Monthly water of life remedied it fairly well, and free pets are available from Hilla as well as events. I would have simply given it 10/10 if it wasn’t for the fact that meso farming is a vital part of Reboot. MVP is perfectly fine, and its benefits like MVP buff is regularly shared with the F2P demographic. Unless I'm missing something, Reboot is devoid of P2W aside from pets.
Latency & server stability [3/10]
This is perhaps the number one killer for GMS Maplestory. Although this has little to do with the game itself, but nonetheless effects the player’s experience.
This would place it around 7.17/10 for Reboot Maplestory. Which is roughly what I expected to think of this game; it’s a fairly standard average game.
Every time I created a character with the 2nd set of controls, attack is always ctrl and movements keys are the arrow keys :l