"MapleStory was better in the old days." "Huh... after the Big Bang update, the game lost its romance."

"You don't miss the MapleStory of the past... that's not right... You miss our younger selves from those days..."

"If MapleStory Classic is released, most will quit before reaching 2nd job advancement!" Why do people argue so much about this?

MapleStory is two different games. 'Pre-Big Bang MapleStory' before 2010,

and the MapleStory after Big Bang, known as 'Post-Big Bang MapleStory'. Internationally, this is referred to as BBB,

or Before Big Bang MapleStory, highlighting their stark differences. The differences between the two were quite clear.

The Big Bang patch, as Director Oh Han-byeol stated, was a patch that "changed everything except the game's name."

In other words, the current MapleStory and the past MapleStory are essentially different games, except in name.

Naturally, there’s a disconnect between those who started playing MapleStory after the patch, and those who have been playing since before.

It's inevitable that their tastes are starkly different. Even 12 years after the Big Bang patch,

why do people still yearn for and mention the game from back then? There are several charming points of the so-called "Pre-Big Bang MapleStory."

Firstly, there's the freedom. As the game's name suggests, MapleStory is fundamentally centered around a "story."

It provides players with a set storyline, and as they follow it, they naturally gain EXP to some extent.

However, old MapleStory followed an opposite approach. Players were first thrown into the world of Maple,

and as they traveled across different worlds to level up, they would naturally encounter quests in each world.

This made character development challenging and cumbersome, but it also greatly increased the freedom to roam around as one pleased.

This approach significantly heightened the sense of freedom. Then, there's the adventure aspect. Orbis, the city of fairies above the clouds in the El Nath Mountains,

Ludibrium Castle in the middle of Ludus Lake, formed by the melting ice of the El Nath Mountains,

and the mysterious village of Aquarium, floating above the deep sea canyon under Ludus Lake. Leafre in the Minar Forest, home to the ancient Harp race, and the Temple of Time.

MapleStory always provided players with "vague information."  "What should I do here? What's the level range of the monsters?

What are the final bosses? Are there many quests?" Players had to figure out such information on their own.

They literally roamed the worlds in a state of 'ignorance'. In such a state, the mystical BGM,

variety of monsters, and the vast scale of the fields ignited fear and a sense of adventure in the players.

They were literally overwhelmed by the scale. The reason why players who hadn't even completed their second job advancement as Thieves

would venture deep into Sleepywood using Dark Sight, encountering Wild Kargos, Taurospears,

Tauromacis, and Junior Balrogs, and delighting in the experience, as well as the excitement of seeing Gatekeepers and Thanatos in the lowest level of the Clock Tower,

stems from their ignorance and anticipation, coupled with a strange fear of the mystical monsters. In the early 2000s, those strong memories remain vivid in players' minds,

even now in 2022, people still reminisce about those feelings. Perhaps Director Kang Won-gi's statement

that "not disclosing detailed game information to players was customary," should have been applied not to the monetization items,

but to these adventurous aspects of the game. Thirdly, there's the incredibly slow pace of the game.

This aspect might be controversial, but as everyone knows, the XP bar in old MapleStory increased exponentially as the levels went up,

so to reach level 200 from 199, you had to continuously use area-of-effect skills with no cooldown for about 60–70 hours.

It's a well-known fact that this was the only way to level up. Also, to travel to another continent by 'ship',

you had to wait up to 10 minutes and then spend another 15 minutes on the ship,

a playstyle that truly tested one's patience. I remember crying when I was a child because after taking the ship twice,

my one-hour daily gaming time was already over. Haha. However, this slow pace of the game

actually allowed players to focus more on interacting with other players. Although there were conflicts over spots among high-level players and faction fights,

among low-level players or newbies, celebrating level-ups, congratulating on item finds,

chatting with other players encountered while hunting, etc., were highlighted due to the game's extreme difficulty.

It's ironic that the process of communicating and journeying with others became more prominent. Alleviating and resolving the stress of leveling up through interactions with others

created stronger bonds between people. Therefore, not just in MapleStory, but many players, tired of the increasingly cold reality of modern society,

reminisce about the friendly MapleStory community of the past. And if we were to find one last reason...

Rather than the current MapleStory, which has an anime feel, the early MapleStory, with its vague and dreamy storylines,

actually stimulated players' imaginations more.

Some people simply preferred the concept of the initial MapleStory. That's a reasonable, simple understanding of it.

Pre-Big Bang MapleStory is indeed a peculiar game. The original MapleStory disappeared after 2010,

and it only lasted for about 7 years, starting in 2003. However, for over 12 years since the Big Bang update,

there have always been necromancers delving into the MapleStory of that era,

and surprisingly, their numbers are not decreasing but seem to be increasing. On YouTube, original MapleStory videos from the past are

referred to as "holy lands," and people seek them out. Videos reminiscing about old MapleStory are starting to reach views of

1 million, 2 million, and more. YouTubers focusing on old MapleStory as a theme

are also increasingly emerging these days. Pre-Big Bang MapleStory is a game of the past,

but it's also a new trend. Look, in fact, old MapleStory is still a masterpiece, even when we reflect on it now.

Is leveling up inconvenient? Would you quit immediately if it reopened? So what? Here and now, if you found even a moment of happiness

sharing memories with others, that's all that matters. That alone gives old MapleStory enough value.

And to continuously share that joy with you, I've created this channel. I look forward to our journey together.

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