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We currently live in the period where some MMO-RPGs (Massive multiplayer online - Role playing games) dominate the gaming era. These titles include the all too famous World of Warcraft, Hellgate: London and even the amusing MapleStory. However, if any gamer were to perhaps spend some time investigating the origins of these genre of games, he would probably find out about one of the earliest kinds of RPGs ever invented, MUDs, which is exactly what Imperian is.

MUD refers to Multi-User Dungeon, or more recently, Multi-User Dimension. In a nutshell, imagine you are playing an RPG based on text, with no graphics at all. The text-driven game is identical to any RPGs in terms of gameplay, allowing you to interact with other players, objects, events as well as non-player characters in a typically fantasy world. Since having appeared in 1977, MUDs have evolved into the more popular graphic games that are so common these days, however, a market still exists for MUD players today. The successful company behind Imperian, Iron Realms, owns 3 other similiar MUDs, with a new graphical RPG in the making as well.

The first impressions of a text-based game would be, “That’s so shallow! What can I do in it, what’s the fun of not being able to see anything?” On the contrary, Imperian offers depth and an immersing environment. Within the game, world which you can explore in is huge, numbering to over ten thousand rooms to roam about, with intricate political system based on the concept of role-playing, as well as a complicated combat system. The combat system is structured in such a way that a newer character, if he knows what he is supposed to do, could easily defeat an aged and experienced character within the game, making the focus on individual skill rather than the quality of equipment your character carries, cropping the advantage the older players would be expected to have.

However, the complicated systems and the compulsory rule for role-playing within the game causes the learning curve for Imperian to become extremely steep. Newer players would find themselves easily overwhelmed and find the complicated gameplay hard to understand at first, as well as being unable to adapt to the role-playing requirements of the game. In addition to that, despite Imperian being free to play, the game uses a skill system where you need to gain lessons in order to learn such skills. Only a very limited number of lessons will be provided for you as you progress within the game, so in order to make the fullest of your character, you would need to spend a considerable sum of money on the game to purchase “credits”, which you use to convert into lessons to learn all of your skills.

Despite the steep learning curve for combat, as requiring a decent monetary capital in order to be able to fully enjoy all aspects of the game, Imperian serves as an addictive game which will simply draw you in for more once you get the hang of things. It is not surprising that some of the players describe the game as being “more addictive than drugs”.

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This is one of the main core game products from Nexon, Wizet & Asiasoft. MapleStory basically started off as a Korean 2D side-scrolling MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) which is unique in its own sense. What makes it addictive is the interaction between the user and the game itself. Unlike the usual monotonous cursor-aim-click-kill opponents or monsters type of game, you actually have to be focused and be involved in the game by jumping around and killing mobs while keeping a lookout on your HP and MP bar. There’s also a guild system in MapleStory which ups its value to near that of World of Warcraft (WoW) and other MMORPGs. This game offers 4 different job classes: Warrior, Bowman (archer), Magician, and Thief. Each class has the same number of job advancements to be made upon reaching the required level, namely at Level 10: First Job Advancement; Level 30: Second Job Advancement; Level 70: Third Job Advancement,;Level 120: Fourth Job Advancement (this is usually where you are demi-god in MapleStory after maxing out your skills).

Story Line: There really is not much of a storyline in MapleStory despite their futile attempts to create one. You will accept quests along the way that will tell you bits and pieces of information which do make sense for awhile until you advance to the later stages of the game accept the other quests. Then you’ll realize that most quests have their own individual plot and have little or no link to the others. Players will find themselves exploring the different areas in the game, leveling to get stronger in order to become a good samaritan that will save the weak and protect the good and like all good samaritans do in order make the world a better place.

Visuals/Sound: The graphics are practically one of the best that you can get in a free 2D online MMORPG game. It’s pretty awesome and the characters are pretty cute, though the backdrops can be slightly pixilated despite being on high quality, giving it a canvas painting look. Skills animation wise I’d say they’ve done a pretty good job to make up for the lack of 3D graphics. Overall there aren’t many flaws you in the graphic system unless you opt for the lower quality settings. Each map has its own unique background music and the tunes throughout the game are pleasant and in a way even catchy. Together with the sound animations of the different skills and spells you will not get bored if you travel to and train in new areas.

Combat: Combat in MapleStory is quite similar to Mario-kind-of-game-play. Basically because the entire game map is in 2D you move up, down, left, right, not around. You have platforms and ledges serve as stepping stones to move around the map. The layout of each map is different so there will be a combination of platforms, ladders, ropes, teleportation keys and hidden maps. First off, your character doesn’t auto attack so you actually have to plan your skills and manage your attacks. Holding down the attack button doesn’t work because after some time your character will just stop attacking (this is a move to stop botting). As explained, the different jobs have different combat skills such as ranged attacks and melee attacks. The only melee class would be the warrior and the sub class of thief, the bandit. Monsters in MapleStory are also interact with the players in the sense that they will deal damage to you the moment the bump into your character. Each mob has different skills and movement speeds. Some mobs are able to jump onto platforms so their movement routes in the map are not predictable. Spawning rates and the places at which the mobs spawn also vary. Adding up all these you will end up with a battle system that requires you to make use of tactics in order to overcome the various mobs you’ll encounter.

Gameplay: Gameplay is pretty simple. The age group of people who play MapleStory covers quite a large range - from 8 year olds to married couples to parents. The ability to customize your own controls are a plus in MapleStory as well as it is one of the very few games which actually lets you customize 90% of the controls. Each time you gain a new skill, you can just open up the window to edit your controls in game and assign your skill to any selected key. This freedom given to players to change their controls on the fly also helps makes the gameplay less tedious. Please do not be surprised if you happen to meet real jerks at a constant rate because like all online games there are bound to be spoilers. On the whole, the gameplay here is pretty fun and innovative.

Leveling: The extent to which you have to train in order to level up in MapleStory will only start to rack up when you get to the higher levels in the game. This is because from needing 15 EXP to level up from 1 to 2, almost 2 million EXP is needed to level up from 69 to 70 and about 27 million EXP is required to level up from 119 to 120 and close to 2 billion EXP to level up from 199 to 200. This proves how impossible it is to do so. However, there are Party Quests (PQ) for all levels to help them pull through the harder leveling periods. At the moment these PQs are located at Kerning City PQ (level 21-30), Ludibrium PQ (level 35-50), Orbis PQ (level 51-70), Zakum Quest ( level 55< *note: no one goes to Zakum until level 100<), Guild PQ (level 10<), El Nath PQ (level 120<) and lastly Horntail PQ (level 80<, note: no one has completed this quest yet). Though these quests might take up more time, the rewards are great.

Hacking: Hacking in MapleStory was at its peak rate before they introduced the GameGuard Anti-Hacking program. Right now, there are still hacking programs that can bypass it but if you are caught in game using such illegal tools, the player will have his account stripped and banned for a certain period of time depending on the offence that he/she has committed. Besides hacking, there’s actually a Law system in MapleStory that you have to follow. For example, no selling of A-cash, Mesos, No Vulgarities etc.

Cash: This is a totally free online game. No monthly fees or any form of payment is required. However they do have a Cash Shop from which players can purchase A-Cash to acquire additional equips, in-game items to beautify their character or aid them in their journey.

Summary: If you like MMORPGs and have a decent internet connection, then this is the game for you. You’ll need a lot of patience to play this game because of the slow rate at which you’ll level up at the higher levels. For people that are thinking that the characters look the same, they don’t. There’s a wide selection of armor to choose from, hence players have a choice of dressing up their character in their preferred style. Ultimately there’s not much of a chance that you’ll bump into a twin. When comparing MapleStory to games like Runescape or Neopets, MapleStory definitely wins hands down, a highly recommended game.

Official Website: MapleSea

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