Hello.

This time, the theme is games for the long holiday, so I wanted to write about something worth playing on your days off.

While considering what to cover, I thought of a recent MapleStory update that made it possible to enter party quests alone, and decided to take a closer look.

Before We Begin

Of course, even with solo entry available, these are not activities you are likely to spend a great deal of time on, given how much else there is to do in MapleStory today.

Still, most of these party quests were introduced so long ago that many players will likely have fond memories of at least a few of them. There was little reason to go to the trouble of gathering a party just to revisit them, but now that you can enter alone whenever you like, I thought they might be worth trying again for fun when you have some time.

The following party quests became available for solo entry in the last update. With the exception of Dimensional Crack, the Ludibrium party quest, you can now enter essentially all party quests alone.

• Romeo and Juliet

• Nett's Pyramid

• Lord Pirate

• Escape

• Dragon Rider

• Kenta in Danger

• Resurrection of the Hoblin King

• Moon Bunny's Rice Cake

• Remnant of the Goddess

• Forest of Poison Haze

• Ariant Coliseum

This makes it easier for anyone trying to register party quest monsters in their Monster Collection. I started by revisiting 3 that were particularly memorable to me, though everyone will have their own memories of these quests, so I recommend trying a few when you have some time.

[Nett's Pyramid]

I imagine many of you remember playing Nett's Pyramid for EXP back in the day, and I have some faint memories of doing the same.

There are 4 lanes in total, but the range of today's deployable skills and attacks makes it quite possible to cover them all, which brings home just how much things have changed.

Special skills like these are available, though there is little need to use them these days.

One thing that struck me while playing was how long it takes, with 20 waves making for a longer run than I expected. I imagine that was an advantage back when EXP was the main reason to play.

As shown here, it has 1 dedicated row in the Monster Collection.

Clearing the quest rewards you with Nett's Emeralds along with EXP.

You can exchange Nett's Emeralds for items, though I was struck by the fact that the rings are time-limited.

[Resurrection of the Hoblin King]

Resurrection of the Hoblin King, offered by Shammos, is a party quest in which you escort him safely to the place where Rex is sealed. There appear to be a few related regular quests as well, but you do not need to complete them to enter the party quest.

You need to pass through 3 ice ravines, and your character can use double jumps and other skills without restriction. If Shammos runs out of HP, you fail the quest.

Shammos keeps muttering to himself like this along the way.

Monsters appear at intervals as you travel, and there are quite a few of them.

If you are working on the Monster Collection, though, their numbers are more of a benefit than a drawback.

On the first map, you can obtain Ancient Glacial Water, as shown here. Your character cannot drink it, but you can use it later to restore Shammos's HP.

A monster registered in the Monster Collection.

The second map follows the same pattern, with Shammos frequently stopping to talk as shown here.

One useful piece of advice he gives is to break the ice beside my character in the image above. Skills can break the ice too, though the final chunk seems to require normal attacks. Unless you clear it away, Shammos cannot get through.

Another thing to watch for is the falling ice shards, which your character can take a hit from without trouble, but which deal enormous damage to Shammos. Monsters deal around 4000 damage, while the ice shards deal around 40000. Whether he gets hit depends on how he happens to move, so avoiding them seems to be a matter of luck.

The final map follows the same pattern, but as you can see, Shammos had taken so many hits from the ice shards that he had almost no HP left by the last stretch. I had already used the Ancient Glacial Water in the previous area and thought I would have to try again, but fortunately, he made it to the exit.

Once you arrive, Shammos betrays you and summons the Hoblin King, although the boss poses no threat at all these days.

Defeating the Hoblin King completes the party quest, and he drops a Hoblin Warrior Mark.

You can exchange these Hoblin Warrior Marks for items with Shammos: Perfect Rex's Earrings require 5, while Rex's Hyena requires as many as 60. I obtained 1 on this run, so if only 1 drops each time, the daily limit of 5 runs means collecting 5 a day for a full 12 days to obtain the mount.

This is what the mount looks like while riding it. It seems a modest reward for the time it requires, but in terms of rarity alone, I imagine it ranks quite highly.

[Kenta in Danger]

Kenta in Danger, offered by Dolphin, is a party quest in which you rescue Kenta after he gets into trouble during his research. As with Shammos, you need to keep him alive, though Kenta seems to be at much less risk.

When you enter, you find yourself in the deep waters of Aquarium, where heading down reveals signs of Kenta.

You can rescue Kenta by breaking the wreckage with normal attacks.

After that, defeat the sharks, collect 10 Air Bubbles, and hand them over to clear stage 1.

Kenta then walks to the portal.

On the second map, you will find 4 areas like the one shown above, along with bricks in matching colors.

Pick up the bricks with the harvest key and use them to seal all the holes to clear the stage.

Next is a cave with rising water, where you simply need to make your way up. The fish-like monsters in the water were unfamiliar to me, so they were interesting to see.

Once you reach the top, jump onto the lever to go higher.

On the final map, 2 Pianus appear, and they are easy to defeat now as well. It made me wonder what their stats were like back in the day.

The reward is the fairly well-known Kenta's Goggles. Since 2 Pianus appear and each drops 1 scale, completing the daily limit of 5 runs should give you enough for 1 pair of goggles.

Thank you for reading.