Seems like they're preparing a new part of Time Temple.

As a disclaimer, I'm not implying (B) at all. Other people have said that he's trying to wake her, and I'm just following from there.

I actually hate the "MUHAHAHA! I DESTROY EVERYTHING" schtick.
It's moronic.
It gives writers a free pass to give absolutely no personality or motivation to a character.

Thankfully, Nexon hasn't had the character exhibit the "all must die" madness.

PS. From what I'm reading about this Chaos fella, he didn't intend to destroy everything.
In fact, he apparently creates a time loop to sustain himself forever.

My bad, I was referring to how he acts in Dissidia. But still, if everything includes yourself, then I pity the fool who wants all existance, even his own, to end.

On another note, I do think that maybe Rhinne IS evil, and Black Mage is doing a Bakal - making us stronger so we can defeat the true enemy. I mean, after all, if the game ended with Black Mage, Nexon KNOWS they're toast. So they either have to:

A)Create a story that branches off of the Black Mage's defeat

Or

B)Create an entire new threat to Maple World entirely (Since the original storyline concept of Masteria originally belonged to us, Naricain isn't allowed here, and sadly, neither are the Goetics.)

Btw, for future reference, Goetics is referring to the demonic group that Andras, Marbas, Crocell, Amdusias, Valfor, Vepar, Eligos, Ipos, Agares, and Astaroth belong to - the Goetia.

Anyways, Nexon won't simply end MapleStory on the Black Mage's defeat - evil is eternal, people just have no idea where to look for it.

My bad, I was referring to how he acts in Dissidia. But still, if everything includes yourself, then I pity the fool who wants all existance, even his own, to end.

I pity more the fanbases who are subjected to such tripe.

On another note, I do think that maybe Rhinne IS evil, and Black Mage is doing a Bakal - making us stronger so we can defeat the true enemy.

I have no idea who Bakal is (obscure, non-googleable references aren't helping), but absolutely nothing in the established plot would allow for the Black Mage to secretly be a good guy.

Maybe you'd have a chance if he was a newly rising threat, but this is the second time the dude has tried to conquer the Maple World. If there was a point for him to explain his alleged true motives, it would have been shortly after being sealed away the first time.

I mean, after all, if the game ended with Black Mage, Nexon KNOWS they're toast. So they either have to:

A)Create a story that branches off of the Black Mage's defeat

Or

B)Create an entire new threat to Maple World entirely (Since the original storyline concept of Masteria originally belonged to us, Naricain isn't allowed here, and sadly, neither are the Goetics.)

Or, you know, they could close their eyes, spin in a circle, and point to any fictional series and use whatever cliched method of universe perpetuation they used.

Among the infinity of choices:
- Create a filler arc in which some mysterious happenings are occurring and the players have to go investigate. Turns out to be a minor threat. If a really minor threat, this trope can be repeated until fans get tired.
- Have someone important disappear and they must be found.
- If the Black Mage is resealed, one of his loyal followers seeks to unseal him. Bonus points if one of the protagonists is tricked into helping.
- If the Black Mage is killed, one of his loyal followers finds a method to resurrect him, and the players must put a stop to the ridiculously elaborate ritual.
- Have a new threat appear, but, as the arc continues, reveal that the new threat is actually the Black Mage reincarnated.
- One of the Black Mage's generals takes charge of the army. All enemy uniforms are slightly altered.
- Vampires.
- A new enemy appears who is a significant threat, but will be defeated and subsequently alternate with the Black Mage every 'major' plotline.
- A new enemy appears who is a significant threat who, once defeated, will join forces with the Black Mage.

I'm sure I could think up more given the time.
This is not an 'either-or' situation.

Plus, for crying out loud, this is an MMO. How many bosses in this game have been defeated and subsequently disappeared?
There are no 'time-limited' bosses. Once you kill a boss once, well, you can go back and kill them again and again.

On a side note, I fail to see how the demons can't be allowed.

Anyways, Nexon won't simply end MapleStory on the Black Mage's defeat - evil is eternal, people just have no idea where to look for it.

Well, no pomegranate.
Your reasoning is wrong though.

Maplestory won't end on the Black Mage's defeat for the simple fact that the game makes them money.
It's the same reason some shows drag on forever despite the fact that the plot could have easily been wrapped up ages ago.

Has the black Mage actually done anything considered "ultimately evil"?
I mean, he caused big bang, but that was arguably a good thing.
Future henyses/ereve scenario, he didn't do anything, the Cygnus empress did.
Back during the time of the "Legends", is it even established why they're fighting him in the first place?
All he's doing is chilling in present door ToT not bothering anyone
Nexons just pinning all their game changes on him.
"OMG BIG BANG BLACK MAGE DID IT"
"OMG CHAOS BLACK MAGE DID IT"
In fact, he's never done ANYTHING I'd classify as evil, correct me I'm wrong.
LEAVE THE BLACK MAGE ALOOONE

@Blades: He's obviously destroying the world by enacting fair and sustainable environmental protections.

Yeah, nearly everything big he's done so far has only ever been a cover for Nexon's latest updates.

Same reason why Shinsoo is OMGWTPHUGE in Erev, but tiny in the Empress fight in Future Erev. Hint: It obviously isn't because it shrinks with age.

I actually thought that was more because of budget costs than actual sprite functionality. They've proven able to make huge bosses with multiple summons- think Big Balrog , Von Leon, et cetera. Big Balrog is consistent with his size in cutscenes.

Having a huge Shinsoo pop up from the Empress's summoning wouldn't be impossible to do graphically, either.

I actually thought that was more because of budget costs than actual sprite functionality. They've proven able to make huge bosses with multiple summons- think Big Balrog , Von Leon, et cetera. Big Balrog is consistent with his size in cutscenes.

Having a huge Shinsoo pop up from the Empress's summoning wouldn't be impossible to do graphically, either.

Then why didn't they do it? Why didn't they make a huge Shinsoo for the Empress fight? There's no reason as far as I know. Or better. My supposition was that it'd have been hard / taken too long to make a huge Shinsoo, but apparently you proved it wrong by mentioning huge bosses such as Von Leon. Still, if it's actually longer to do, they might have preferred taking the easy way with Empress, or might have had to do it for design reasons and whatnot.

Anyways, I still think it's Freud in the video. They might have just not paid enough attention for his dragon to be identical to Afrien, and, mistakingly used Mir for the concept art. It'd just make sense for them to show the fight with the Black Mage which happened before we see Mercedes and Afrien after being hit by the Black Mage.

I really like, though, how they're showing that they haven't forgotten about the plot, and how it feels like we're getting closer to the Black Magician himself.

Though, is that Temple of Time area in the screenshot in the first page referred to the past or.. an area yet-to-be-released, where we might find the Black Magician himself or.. more of his followers / his generals?

Has the black Mage actually done anything considered "ultimately evil"?
I mean, he caused big bang, but that was arguably a good thing.
Future henyses/ereve scenario, he didn't do anything, the Cygnus empress did.
Back during the time of the "Legends", is it even established why they're fighting him in the first place?
All he's doing is chilling in present door ToT not bothering anyone
Nexons just pinning all their game changes on him.
"OMG BIG BANG BLACK MAGE DID IT"
"OMG CHAOS BLACK MAGE DID IT"
In fact, he's never done ANYTHING I'd classify as evil, correct me I'm wrong.
LEAVE THE BLACK MAGE ALOOONE

he poisoned ellin, evil dictator, made monsters more evil, kill people, destroy places.

Then why didn't they do it? Why didn't they make a huge Shinsoo for the Empress fight? There's no reason as far as I know. Or better. My supposition was that it'd have been hard / taken too long to make a huge Shinsoo, but apparently you proved it wrong by mentioning huge bosses such as Von Leon. Still, if it's actually longer to do, they might have preferred taking the easy way with Empress, or might have had to do it for design reasons and whatnot.

Anyways, I still think it's Freud in the video. They might have just not paid enough attention for his dragon to be identical to Afrien, and, mistakingly used Mir for the concept art. It'd just make sense for them to show the fight with the Black Mage which happened before we see Mercedes and Afrien after being hit by the Black Mage.

I really like, though, how they're showing that they haven't forgotten about the plot, and how it feels like we're getting closer to the Black Magician himself.

Though, is that Temple of Time area in the screenshot in the first page referred to the past or.. an area yet-to-be-released, where we might find the Black Magician himself or.. more of his followers / his generals?

I don't know why they didn't do it, but like I said, I suspect budget restrictions. Or maybe they didn't want another mega-boss layout. Or one where the mega-boss wasn't the main monster, it might have overshadowed super Empress's evilness.

FFV reference here, think of the black mage as the main villian, has he done much damage yet? no, not really, but back then he almost destroyed the whole thing, and is now rising to power.

ok, that's your generic story, but it's what's going on.


and i think it would have been awesome if somewhere during the fight with the empress, she summoned a gigantic shinsoo, and floated next to it throwing attacks both at the same time. can't say the people fighting her would enjoy it though.

Yeah I knew there was gonna be Dark Monks and Dark Guardians.

oh, @viaje, and going off-topic here, about chaos, based on the dissidia storyline he DOES want everything to end, but is unable and is trapped in an infinite loop, which is what fuels his motives to end it all (even though in the game, he looks as having given up on escaping this fate.)

I pity more the fanbases who are subjected to such tripe.


I have no idea who Bakal is (obscure, non-googleable references aren't helping), but absolutely nothing in the established plot would allow for the Black Mage to secretly be a good guy.

Maybe you'd have a chance if he was a newly rising threat, but this is the second time the dude has tried to conquer the Maple World. If there was a point for him to explain his alleged true motives, it would have been shortly after being sealed away the first time.


Or, you know, they could close their eyes, spin in a circle, and point to any fictional series and use whatever cliched method of universe perpetuation they used.

Among the infinity of choices:
- Create a filler arc in which some mysterious happenings are occurring and the players have to go investigate. Turns out to be a minor threat. If a really minor threat, this trope can be repeated until fans get tired.
- Have someone important disappear and they must be found.
- If the Black Mage is resealed, one of his loyal followers seeks to unseal him. Bonus points if one of the protagonists is tricked into helping.
- If the Black Mage is killed, one of his loyal followers finds a method to resurrect him, and the players must put a stop to the ridiculously elaborate ritual.
- Have a new threat appear, but, as the arc continues, reveal that the new threat is actually the Black Mage reincarnated.
- One of the Black Mage's generals takes charge of the army. All enemy uniforms are slightly altered.
- Vampires.
- A new enemy appears who is a significant threat, but will be defeated and subsequently alternate with the Black Mage every 'major' plotline.
- A new enemy appears who is a significant threat who, once defeated, will join forces with the Black Mage.

I'm sure I could think up more given the time.
This is not an 'either-or' situation.

Plus, for crying out loud, this is an MMO. How many bosses in this game have been defeated and subsequently disappeared?
There are no 'time-limited' bosses. Once you kill a boss once, well, you can go back and kill them again and again.

On a side note, I fail to see how the demons can't be allowed.


Well, no pomegranate.
Your reasoning is wrong though.

Maplestory won't end on the Black Mage's defeat for the simple fact that the game makes them money.
It's the same reason some shows drag on forever despite the fact that the plot could have easily been wrapped up ages ago.

Because kMS nor any other version that isn't gMS doesn't have the Goetics. If they do, then it's only by the PvP armor, which is naming convention only.

Furthermore, the Goetics were created in our region, meaning that it wasn't something that kMS could use to retcon into the Black Mage story (although they themselves would have to retcon all of Episode 1 to make a new story out of it, as well as add more Goetics).

Oh yeah, about Bakal - you must not play DFO. He's one of the core villains in that game: Dragon Tyrant Bakal. Go to DFOSource and search using "Bakal" as a keyword.

And one last thing - the Black Mage MAY be one of the biggest villains in Maple's history, but it doesn't mean that kMS HAS to bring him back to continue Maple's lore. It's like with Arthas in WoW - Arthas is dead, and Bolvar took the Lich King's helm out of sacrifice rather than powerlust - meaning we're NOT going to see a new Lich King encounter, because of the kind of man Bolvar is. (Forgive me for my mentioning of WoW - it was the only example I could come up with).

It's the same with Mabinogi - even if Cichol or Balor somehow DIE..... you get my point.

A good game/game series won't reuse a villain more than once (.hack//G.U. is a special exception here, since Ovan technically didn't die until Vol 3, and Aura pretty much brought him back as an NPC), and if they do, they wouldn't DARE use the setback (Kael'thas) story gimmick. That's like a low blow for storywriting.

Has the black Mage actually done anything considered "ultimately evil"?
I mean, he caused big bang, but that was arguably a good thing.
Future henyses/ereve scenario, he didn't do anything, the Cygnus empress did.
Back during the time of the "Legends", is it even established why they're fighting him in the first place?
All he's doing is chilling in present door ToT not bothering anyone
Nexons just pinning all their game changes on him.
"OMG BIG BANG BLACK MAGE DID IT"
"OMG CHAOS BLACK MAGE DID IT"
In fact, he's never done ANYTHING I'd classify as evil, correct me I'm wrong.
LEAVE THE BLACK MAGE ALOOONE

So you're just going to ignore the fact that he set a trap that turned Cygnus evil in the first place?
Or are you pretending that that was a benevolent action?

Pretty sure it was established that he was trying to conquer the whole damn world. You know, that generic stuff.
Still good enough reason to stop him.

If nothing else, he ordered for Slayer's house to be burned down, so he killed at least two innocent people there.

Has the black Mage actually done anything considered "ultimately evil"?
I mean, he caused big bang, but that was arguably a good thing.
Future henyses/ereve scenario, he didn't do anything, the Cygnus empress did.
Back during the time of the "Legends", is it even established why they're fighting him in the first place?
All he's doing is chilling in present door ToT not bothering anyone
Nexons just pinning all their game changes on him.
"OMG BIG BANG BLACK MAGE DID IT"
"OMG CHAOS BLACK MAGE DID IT"
In fact, he's never done ANYTHING I'd classify as evil, correct me I'm wrong.
LEAVE THE BLACK MAGE ALOOONE

I would classify this statement as humorous sympathy. Too bad for you I know you know the truth.

Because kMS nor any other version that isn't gMS doesn't have the Goetics. If they do, then it's only by the PvP armor, which is naming convention only.

Actually...
CMS has it.
TMS has it.
MSEA has it.

Furthermore, the Goetics were created in our region, meaning that it wasn't something that kMS could use to retcon into the Black Mage story (although they themselves would have to retcon all of Episode 1 to make a new story out of it, as well as add more Goetics).

Weird. I thought MSEA got it first. Seems I was wrong.
Fair point on the rest since it didn't originate in KMS.

Oh yeah, about Bakal - you must not play DFO. He's one of the core villains in that game: Dragon Tyrant Bakal. Go to DFOSource and search using "Bakal" as a keyword.

I played it for the Maple crossover event, but found it to be god-awful. Like, literally one of the worst games I've ever played.
Will give that a look though.

And one last thing - the Black Mage MAY be one of the biggest villains in Maple's history, but it doesn't mean that kMS HAS to bring him back to continue Maple's lore. It's like with Arthas in WoW - Arthas is dead, and Bolvar took the Lich King's helm out of sacrifice rather than powerlust - meaning we're NOT going to see a new Lich King encounter, because of the kind of man Bolvar is. (Forgive me for my mentioning of WoW - it was the only example I could come up with).

No worries. I was actually researching WoW last night because, despite having never played WoW, I'm aware of some of the lore, and was wondering how they dealt with a progressive storyline. More specifically, I was wondering how they dealt with the fact that the Lich King was defeated, as you mention.

Well, they didn't.
This exemplifies what I was saying before. Even if a boss is defeated story-wise, it will never be removed because that means removing content.
Luckily, Maplestory has a plot device that would easily allow people to return to this old content without restricting the plot from marching on: The Temple of Time.

That said, the Black Mage will be back. He doesn't have to be, but trends dictate that he will be.
He isn't "one of the biggest villains", he is the main villain.

It's the same with Mabinogi - even if Cichol or Balor somehow DIE..... you get my point.

I don't play Mabinogi, but, sure.

A good game/game series won't reuse a villain more than once (.hack//G.U. is a special exception here, since Ovan technically didn't die until Vol 3, and Aura pretty much brought him back as an NPC), and if they do, they wouldn't DARE use the setback (Kael'thas) story gimmick. That's like a low blow for storywriting.

You're either a hypocrite or your definition of "more than once" differs from mine.
If a villain returns for more than one story arc, he's been reused.

Speaking of which, I can't put my finger on what series your avatar comes from...

Actually...
CMS has it.
TMS has it.
MSEA has it.


Weird. I thought MSEA got it first. Seems I was wrong.
Fair point on the rest since it didn't originate in KMS.


I played it for the Maple crossover event, but found it to be god-awful. Like, literally one of the worst games I've ever played.
Will give that a look though.


No worries. I was actually researching WoW last night because, despite having never played WoW, I'm aware of some of the lore, and was wondering how they dealt with a progressive storyline. More specifically, I was wondering how they dealt with the fact that the Lich King was defeated, as you mention.

Well, they didn't.
This exemplifies what I was saying before. Even if a boss is defeated story-wise, it will never be removed because that means removing content.
Luckily, Maplestory has a plot device that would easily allow people to return to this old content without restricting the plot from marching on: The Temple of Time.

That said, the Black Mage will be back. He doesn't have to be, but trends dictate that he will be.
He isn't "one of the biggest villains", he is the main villain.


I don't play Mabinogi, but, sure.


You're either a hypocrite or your definition of "more than once" differs from mine.
If a villain returns for more than one story arc, he's been reused.

Speaking of which, I can't put my finger on what series your avatar comes from...

First things first:

CMS, TMS, and MSEA are NOT KMS. Furthermore, I think they deal less with the Black Mage than we or jMS do.

As for Bakal, here. A picture of what his humanoid form looks like (taken from DFOSource, I credit Neople and IamSummoner for its use):



Now, regarding the Lich King - the article you posted is a year old. Furthermore, if memory serves correctly, we ACTUALLY didn't unlock the Lich King fight until late 2010. That article was most likely posted before the World Firsts, or a little after (due to how it doesn't show his Citadel battlefield).

As for the Black Mage always being a boss? Sure, it's like redoing the final battle of Zelda 64 after you've beaten it - sure he's still alive, but that's because you're pretty much not killing him for story reasons - you're farming his drops. When I said what I did, I meant killing him for the purpose of ending that specific plot, not for putting him on farm status, like how Zakum is (and quests in Maple aren't in real time, which further backs up my point).

Cichol is basically to Mabinogi what the Black Mage is to Maple - the penultimate evil, as of now. He's died once before, but was revived/retconned back at the end of Episode 12, and it's quite clear to me he faked his death.

My definition of more than once equals just that. You can reuse him for a plot, sure. But do that more than once, and it suddenly becomes ugly. It's like Team Rocket - technically they SHOULD be over and done with, but every episode they come back, like flies.

Basically:

One time plot appearance = Best
Two time plot appearance = Okay
Three or more plot appearances = Bad


EDIT - As for my avatar, it's Megaman Star Force, the pseudo-sequel to Battle Network.

First things first:

CMS, TMS, and MSEA are NOT KMS. Furthermore, I think they deal less with the Black Mage than we or jMS do.

As for Bakal, here. A picture of what his humanoid form looks like (taken from DFOSource, I credit Neople and IamSummoner for its use):

Your point? You said something wrong; I corrected you.
I conceded that Episode 1 didn't originate from KMS, so don't get huffy.

No idea what purpose showing me a picture of an antagonist from a random series serves....

Now, regarding the Lich King - the article you posted is a year old. Furthermore, if memory serves correctly, we ACTUALLY didn't unlock the Lich King fight until late 2010. That article was most likely posted before the World Firsts, or a little after (due to how it doesn't show his Citadel battlefield).

The article is not "a year old".
It's from December 8, 2010. God, reading is damn hard.

Edit - In addition, your timeline is also off. Apparently, the Lich King fight was available as early as May 2010.

As for the Black Mage always being a boss? Sure, it's like redoing the final battle of Zelda 64 after you've beaten it - sure he's still alive, but that's because you're pretty much not killing him for story reasons - you're farming his drops. When I said what I did, I meant killing him for the purpose of ending that specific plot, not for putting him on farm status, like how Zakum is (and quests in Maple aren't in real time, which further backs up my point).

Except it isn't anything like that.
When you beat Ocarina of Time and restart your save file, you don't start the game at a point after you've killed Ganon. That's impossible.
You will always start at a point before killing him, so the story has not progressed.

If Maplestory's story progresses past the point where the Black Mage has been killed, but you can still go back and kill him, then there is an issue of continuity.

My definition of more than once equals just that. You can reuse him for a plot, sure. But do that more than once, and it suddenly becomes ugly. It's like Team Rocket - technically they SHOULD be over and done with, but every episode they come back, like flies.

So you're going the 'hypocrite' route. That or you think the story of Mabinogi is pomegranate, which would be odd seeing your penchant towards referencing it.
Because, apparently, this Cichol guy has been the antagonist in seven different story arcs.

EDIT - As for my avatar, it's Megaman Star Force, the pseudo-sequel to Battle Network.

That explains why it's familiar but unfamiliar.
Using a different threat every game didn't prevent that series from being pomegranate.

Your point? You said something wrong; I corrected you.
I conceded that Episode 1 didn't originate from KMS, so don't get huffy.

No idea what purpose showing me a picture of an antagonist from a random series serves....

I was saving you the trouble of having to figure out what he (Bakal) looks like.

And I apologize for the other retort.

The article is not "a year old".
It's from December 8, 2010. God, reading is damn hard.

Since I'm not interested in the game itself, other than the date, and whether any parts of it included "since the Lich King has been killed", the rest means absolutely zilch to me.

Except it isn't anything like that.
When you beat Ocarina of Time and restart your save file, you don't start the game at a point after you've killed Ganon. That's impossible.
You will always start at a point before killing him, so the story has not progressed.

See, there's the problem. Ocarina of Time doesn't have any post-game content, so the story's time is frozen in that one spot. With other games, like Summon Night or those that actually have post-game content (Megaman X Command Mission excluded), the game does update to NOT force the final boss on you. Therefore, in this case, there's an issue of real time questlines, which not many games actually possess.

So you're going the 'hypocrite' route. That or you think the story of Mabinogi is pomegranate, which would be odd seeing your penchant towards referencing it.
Because, apparently, this Cichol guy has been the antagonist in seven different story arcs.

Yes. But he's never been the final boss. He's been a major factor in guiding the events of what goes on, but we've never DIRECTLY confronted him. By your logic, we're getting close to the actual Black Mage FIGHT, something Mabinogi has never, nor may ever, have the luxury of receiving with Cichol.

And by the by, I don't think the story of Mabinogi is pomegranate - my only beef with it is the filler arcs and the fact that it's biased towards humans for one whole saga of it (not to mention the content in those specific arcs remains untouched as far as gameplay goes) if not the whole thing.

That explains why it's familiar but unfamiliar.
Using a different threat every game didn't prevent that series from being pomegranate.

Well, that's because Star Force and Battle Network don't even tie into each other canonically - Megaman Classic, X, Zero, and ZX all do in one way or another. You just have to notice the cutoff points. Some games aren't exactly canon, and are more of a fan-demand/joke (least to me). Hell, even Classic doesn't tie into Battle Network nor Star Force - they're spinoffs.

As you're killing you could find out there's someone far worse than him, though not completely dissimilar, meaning he COULD be as bad/powerful as this other guy, giving the time or right resources, and in the process of killing the Black Mage, the other guy is also destroyed in the process, so you know of him, but never had to worry about him. During this time, the black mage disperses his soul, and basically "possesses" another big boss, or something meaningless making it a big boss, or multiple bosses, making them strong (would be a good excuse for stronger bosses yet again), and we just don't know that's the case till later on, hen he finds a way to bring himself back into the world.

At this point, you're stopping his "minions" which would actually be him, even if they still mostly have control of themselves, as they try to complete the task, but in stopping his minions, you are actually helping his soul to reunite, ultimately making his last possession much stronger, and upon "stopping" him from finishing it's goal, you actually help it to do so, and at this point another world shattering event occurs, and black mage now actually rules the world, in full power, and we no longer have the future we see with Future Henesys, but one where the Black Mage was forced to achieve is goals by other means and completed such goals, a future far, far worse. (Similar to Anita Blake series, if anyone is familiar, most likely not the only one, but the only one I can think of off the top of my head, they think they finally defeat the big bad, and soon after find out she possessed many of their greatest enemies)

On top that, the goddess has awakened, and we were not her dream in the end, she was able to stop us from being wiped out, and bring us closer together, and through this we are further powered up, further sharing each other's knowledge, bringing forth some more classes, and advances in job advancement. Bringing everyone, including Cygnus, into Ascension. This would give them a million reasons to make much stronger enemies, with the Black Mage at such a peak, he would have minions from other worlds and universes (excuse for Naricain to be brought up in GMS, even Subani if they wanted to), even the pure power emanating from him forcing monsters we already know, to change greatly, ie; Future Henesys mobs.

Idk, that's one great way to continue the story further, imo. Btw, the other guy mentioned earlier, just vanishes from the plot, or could be brought back by the Black Mage, under his rule, of course.

Sorry was bored.

My theory +1

The Black mage intends to reawaken the Time Goddess to potentialy destroy the world.

I like this.

This is how I see the plot turning out: As far as I know, there's no past ToT. There's the main road, but I don't see how it leads to the past, it's just you reviewing what you've done, it's not necessarily the past. They're going to make the middle door lead to the past. You enter the new map on the KMS site, which is ToT from the past, and I'm going to assume that you fight Akyrum by the door (based on that snake monster). After you beat him, a lot like the map in between the boss room and the bonus stage of CWK, you enter the Black Mage's throne room only to find it empty. You find a mysterious figure trapped in ice, and when you click him/her, you're teleported back to town. This new figure=Teaser into the next legend.

At this point, we gain the next two legends and the last resistance character, add in a bunch of random missing content for a couple of months, until we get back on track with storyline.

You learn that the Black Mage is trying to awaken the Goddess of Time, not to destroy the Maple World, but to set himself free. I bet he's stuck in a time flux of some sort, and waking the Empress will disrupt the flow of time that is her dreaming, and allow him to escape his prison.

Enter: a bunch of new maps for high levels, maybe a level raise at this point and a Big Bang type of patch.

You fight the black magician. He is defeated, but swears to come back, as is obligatory.


Enter MapleStory 2.

You're fighting off the remnants of the Black Mage, with a side plot regarding the Goddess' mirror. This eventually becomes the main plot, in something similar to the Masteria/Versal fiasco. If we have any luck, maybe NxKr would actually pick it up and expand on it farther than we could have ever hoped GMS could have, even with Prose.


But yeah, that's how I picture it.

So much tl;dr posts about this....