MapleStory: The first releases

No, I'm not talking of GMS Beta, but of the very first versions of MapleStory itself. But first, I'll tell you my story.

One day, I was watching a video of the BGM "WhereTheBalrogFrom". I've always wondered about its origins and what was it used for, and, all of a sudden, I read a comment of a guy saying it was used in MapleStory's first beta versions for the excavation site's castles.

I decide to contact this person to know his sources and make sure he's reliable. It would've also been interesting to talk with him if he knew stuff about the old MapleStory. He told me that he knows a korean person speaking fluent english who has played MapleStory as it was back in 2003. We're talking of the very first beta versions of it (obviously in korean). We engaged in an interesting discussion and eventually it turns out that, thanks to this person (who also has a vivid memory of how the game was back then), he's very well-informed of how Maple was back then (he also told me that the BGM "Elfwood", which has been unused in most versions, was used in the first Maple Island - JMS apparently kept that one), and he's making a server which reproduces Maple's environment of the very first releases.

Less talk! I'll show you a very interesting video.

[video=youtube;Kdd98pYCkF4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdd98pYCkF4[/video]

Feelings overflow. So much nostalgia. I... just... am sad about how Maple has become in all these years. I mean. I'm not saying everything got worse. Lots of things have improved and all. But really, before it was just.. so much better. Less corrupted. A simple, fun, nice game. Now - at least this is how I see it - it's become a corrupted game which revolves around customers' money. Before, even if you didn't spend a cent, it was still fun. Now, not so much, in many ways.

But yeah, you got the point. I won't bore you more with my complaining and nostalgia. I'm just saying that I've found that video just awesome. I don't know about you people, but I did NOT know that was how Maple looked in the very first releases. It's just so.. nice.

For those interested in knowing more, the login UI in the video isn't EXACTLY how the original one looked, but it uses all (or almost) of the original sprites. The in-game UI, on the other side, IS actually the original one. It was very simple and totally different from what we're used to see. HP/MP didn't even have numbers shown, lol. It almost looks like a totally different game.

These people were very skilled as they were able to reproduce the UI perfectly. Even with WZ-editing, it's not that easy. You'll see many english windows because they've translated them. They obviously were in korean originally.

Finally, the BGM you'll hear at the login screen is just the one used for GMS' third job teaser page. It's very nice and really gives the feeling the game gave back then, but there was another login BGM (which is not the one we hear now) in the first BETA versions. They weren't able to find it, though, as nobody probably saved / uploaded it. Too bad.

For those really interested in how Maple looked like when it was first released, here are some screenshots, this time directly from the real game.

 Spoiler

Maybe many of you have already seen them, but I felt like I'd leave them here, for those who haven't.

There are many more which you can see. Just copy-paste this link in your browser, changing the last number from 1 to 29.

http://ftp.gameshot.net/gameshot/Screens...tory/1.jpg

Now wondering if there are any original gameplay videos of those versions. I doubt, or, if there are, they must be in korean video streaming sites. If anyone got their hands on one and shared it, it'd be very appreciated.

tl;dr: Nostalgia thread

That's actually pretty neat.

oh god the dice! LOL i miss that took forever for perfect stats haha

oh god the dice! LOL i miss that took forever for perfect stats haha

So true! Good ol' times..

pretty nice thread I loved it
and I'm not one of those people who likes read much

all my nostalgia explained with 1 BGM
[video=youtube;hQY8BdpHPMs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQY8BdpHPMs[/video]

pretty nice thread I loved it
and I'm not one of those people who likes read much

all my nostalgia explained with 1 BGM
[video=youtube;hQY8BdpHPMs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQY8BdpHPMs[/video]

Ooh, I remember the good ol' times when there were active events in Happyville.

Right now, everything's getting so repetitive. =/
After Ascension for GMS it's: Collect this<- Every. Single. Day. For prizes.
There used to be event PQ's too, even during Christmas, Halloween... I mean the prizes got "better", but there's no more fun in getting them.

a video with the same ui
mmmm... snow in ant tunnel? what?

That was pretty cool. Also Happyville bgm is nostalgic for me too. It was there shortly after I started playing.
It's a shame the game has become so nx dependant and corrupted now.

Best times when it was snowy and cold outside and I'm in happyville lagging fighting snowman *_*

a video with the same ui
mmmm... snow in ant tunnel? what?

Maybe they originally wanted seasons? :f6:

^I think it's intended to be atmospheric dust.

Wait, store permits anywhere? Wouldn't mind that actually. @17.jpg

This thread was a nice read and the SSs were quite nostalgic in what they represent, despite having never actually played this ancient version. Shame this remake looks to be korean only.

You have no idea how hard I nostalgia'd when I saw those maps.
T_T RIP.

D: f5 to not get ninja'd but someone else notice what I'm going to post.

Non Cash permit?

I'm glad you people are liking this thread. I didn't expect so many to like it.

a video with the same ui

Great find! Thanks!

all my nostalgia explained with 1 BGM
[video=youtube;hQY8BdpHPMs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQY8BdpHPMs[/video]

Best times when it was snowy and cold outside and I'm in happyville lagging fighting snowman *_*

Totally agree!! What I miss the most are those xmas events which they held in 2007-2008 or so. Those were THE BEST xmases I've had with MapleStory. The events truly were great, and I'm not talking about reward-wise (because, really, that's the last thing which matters to me), but I'm talking about the whole thing. The quests, how you could choose between Maplemas and Versalmas, and, especially, as you said, the Snowman event. I really liked it. It was very well-made (you had to fight with a claw which you got from boxes around Happyville and then when Snowman appeared snowball throwing stars started snowing from the sky). Then you had to gave the little elves the gift boxes it dropped to get a prize. I really wish they held that event again, because I really liked it. I even suggested them to do it, but, as expected, I wasn't heard.

Anyways, watching that beta gameplay video I realise how anti-Maple was the Big Bang patch. I'm saying this not because I don't like the change itself, but because the BB patch completely removed a part of the game, making it more boring (to me, at least): the length of maps.

As you can see in that video, Maple has always had long maps, and they were something which actually made the game more various. Most of the maps were long, had different shapes, and made you have to walk a lot. Yeah, sometimes it could be annoying. But it was part of the game, and it reproduced how a 'realistic' environment could be. I'm not talking of the places themselves, but of how they were structured. A 'real' environment IS various. Now maps look plain boring, with portals that don't go further than a few steps from each other and maps structured more rigorously (map 1 has mob 1, map 2 mob 2, map 3 mob 3, etc.). Before they all were more various, and it was that variety which I liked. I approve of some map changes because of quest issues or other things. But not the whole Victoria Island should've been changed. Some of the changes, such as the Ellinia-Leafre portal being further away, didn't even help users that much. I'm glad Ossyria wasn't changed much, but still.. they removed much "variety" there too (such as maps with mixed mobs, etc.). Then Ellin Forest. I hate how, with the new "revamp", they made the maps smaller. It's just against what the original plan for the area was. And, about that, I'm going to show you another video from the same guy.

[video=youtube;_mTcMzkpkR8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mTcMzkpkR8[/video]

It's a custom Ellin Forest. As you can see, I'm not the only one thinking that longer, more various maps would be better. Now, maybe his are a little too long, but you get the idea.

Changing some things to make the first approach with Maple for new users easier is okay, but.. removing part of Victoria Island and making most maps plain boring just for faster traveling purposes etc., is just against Maple's original way.

L> High Quality Old Login Music... ):

While on the subject of massive maps, the original map that contained the Magician Job Instructor, The Forest North of Ellinia I think it was, or was it the field? It had 10 or so dungeons off it. Either way, made for an epic ascent into 2nd job. Oh, and a lot of "where 2nd job mage instructor" threads on Basil. Three-road Split was awesome too, and the L forest (got stuck in here once) before jump-down was implemented.

Custom EF was nice, needs more unmarked hidden streets.

*notices the @Kryptodev.com login* Good times. Used to .wz edit a lot on there back in the day of v.62 private servers, lol. Got quite good at it too.

That old mouse.. that dice... those certainly bring back memories.

Wow interesting. Did maple have F1-F9 as hotkeys in the first versions? Or was it interchangeable at all times (as I see Shift/Crtl/End/Ins/Del/Home/PgUp/PgDwn on other screenshots)?

If they had F1-F9 as hotkeys, did they have different keys to jump/attack too at those times? Alt to jump and then pressing F9 for a key just doesn't make sense to me.

Past Henesys? do want.

Awesome thread Brings back a lot of memories, I had no idea the UI was so different back then, I always thought it started with the pre-bb one. Just wondering, do you (or does anyone) have a working link to the GMS 3rd job teaser page? Your link is dead unfortunately, I really wanted to see it again, been so long since I looked at it.