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TGS 2013 – Maple Story: Unmei no Shoujo Hands-on Preview

By Janelle | September 19, 2013 at 11:55 am

Originally a Korean exclusive, MapleStory: Unmei no Shoujo is being brought to Japan in 2014 by Sega. This is the second portable take on MapleStory, a cutesy platforming MMORPG by Wizet that’s been running in some form for over a decade now. From the looks of the demo, MapleStory: Unmei no Shoujo does a good job of translating the gameplay elements of the MMO into an easy-to-play portable adventure.

All of the quintessential elements of MapleStory‘s combat are here: The walking, jumping, plaforming and attacking are all like its online counterpart, but also feel a bit smoother and more intuitive. Double-tapping the keypad to dash is a great addition that cuts some of the walking boredom, ups the battle tension, and makes getting around a lot more entertaining. Skills could be mapped to a limited number of buttons for easy use.

What is missing from the experience is character customization. Unmei no Shoujo follows the adventures of a girl with a spirit inside her, and so all play is done as that character. She can use various weapons and skills, but there’ll be no real customizing of her appearance, stats, specialties or anything else that a player of the MMO might select to his preference.

The demo, which consisted of the first chapter of the game, had the player-named titular girl tracking down a martial-artist bear who has stolen the scroll containing a secret technique. There was a panda-filled Asian-themed town to explore, with shops, training grounds, NPCs, and all kinds of cute houses. Venturing out of town, the roads were filled with monsters to slay: mainly pigs, later followed by kung-fu bears and pandas. At the end of the road, I was able to catch up with the thief, and duked it out with him on a separate battle screen. Dashing and skill use was important in taking him down, as standing and whacking him with a spear wouldn’t slow him down for long. The chapter ended after beating the boss, though not before some androids showed up to crash the party, heralding story developments to come.

At this time, no western localization of Maple Story: Unmei no Shoujo has been announced.

Topics: Maple Story, MapleStory: Unmei no Shoujo, Previews, Tokyo Game Show 2013