2014-07-02, 12:17 PM
Maple Story didn't even have proper instanced maps until years into the game's life, and even now doesn't use them in plenty of areas where they'd be handy. (Party Quests.)
Maple Story only loads one map at a time, but it is very much open world by design for the reasons already mentioned, in that you will encounter other players on the same map on the same channel, etc., just a more primitive, low end PC friendly way.
Even WoW has to load different continents when you travel between them. There's even a "portal" to enter the Blood Elf area from the Plaguelands.
Maple Story only loads one map at a time, but it is very much open world by design for the reasons already mentioned, in that you will encounter other players on the same map on the same channel, etc., just a more primitive, low end PC friendly way.
Even WoW has to load different continents when you travel between them. There's even a "portal" to enter the Blood Elf area from the Plaguelands.