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

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.