Inven Global

How do you usually tackle a boss for the first time? Many players likely search for guides or videos created by content creators beforehand. Learning the attack patterns and strategies in advance makes the attempt much more efficient. However, there is a creator who truly enjoys the process of discovering mechanics piece by piece on his own. That creator is Sutyeou, who is sharing the joy of MapleStory through his "blind boss runs."

Having played a wide variety of RPGs, Sutyeou first stepped into MapleStory in the summer of last year. Since then, he has cleared numerous bosses without guides and explored MapleStory's history by watching past live streams and showcases alongside his viewers. While he may be a relative newcomer to MapleStory, Sutyeou is a seasoned veteran across multiple MMORPGs. MapleStory seen through his eyes offered a fresh kind of fun, even to veteran players familiar with the game.

What kind of game is MapleStory to someone who has navigated through so many RPGs? From the appeal of boss fights discovered through blind trials, to honest thoughts on the Paladin and Mihile classes, and the content he wants to tackle next—we sat down with Sutyeou to talk about his journey.

※ This interview was conducted via written questionnaire on October 16. Comments containing excessive profanity or malicious attacks against the interviewee may be deleted without prior notice, and disciplinary measures may be taken.

Q. An MMORPG master! Today, we are joined by MapleStory content creator Sutyeou, who creates in-depth analytical content based on his extensive RPG experience. Hello! First, please give a brief introduction to our readers.

Sutyeou = Hello! I'm Sutyeou, an RPG YouTuber and streamer! Thank you so much for calling me an MMORPG master. I feel that title is far too flattering for me. I'm just an RPG streamer who travels around different RPGs, acting like a clown to bring laughs, while always trying to share my honest personal thoughts and reviews!

Q. Since you started playing MapleStory last year, it has already been over a year. What made you start playing MapleStory in the first place? We're also curious if your perspective on the game has changed compared to when you first started.

Sutyeou = To explain why I originally started MapleStory, I used to be a streamer who focused primarily on Lost Ark. Wanting to reach a broader audience, I thought, 'Why not play the big three RPGs together—MapleStory, Dungeon Fighter Online, and Lost Ark?' That led me to dive into MapleStory in the summer of 2025. It turned out to be far more charming and fun than I had anticipated, so I naturally became a streamer who focuses mainly on MapleStory.

Before playing, I thought of MapleStory as just an extremely expensive game. But once I got in and played it myself, I realized it's actually a great game to enjoy slowly at your own pace.

As for bosses, before playing I had only heard rumors that it was just a game about 'dodging falling rocks and hazards.' But when I actually tried them out, there were quite a few bosses with great concepts and high quality, giving me a lot of fond memories of challenging them.

Q. You've experienced multiple RPGs in-depth and possess a deep understanding of game systems. Compared to those games, what do you think is MapleStory's biggest advantage? Feel free to name specific games in your comparison.

Sutyeou = In my opinion, MapleStory's greatest strength lies in its non-seasonal structure and the management style that suits it. I often think MapleStory is an RPG with a truly unique system.

Unlike seasonal RPGs, MapleStory is non-seasonal, meaning the ceiling for progression and stat expansion is set insanely high. Because of this, even when players become quite powerful, there are always higher steps left to climb, which strongly provides a sense of "motivation for growth" and "purpose."

Of course, this characteristic means some players get fatigued by gear enhancing. However, as a non-seasonal game, gear values hold up over long periods. Even if you take a break and return later, the gear you built previously retains its value over time, which is a very unique and interesting advantage.

Seasonal games often implement soft or hard resets that devalue items to synchronize the overall pace of the player base. On the flip side, seasonal games benefit newcomers by lowering entry barriers and making access to endgame content relatively light. Both seasonal and non-seasonal models have their pros and cons, making it fun for players to choose according to their preferences.

Q. Are there any systems or player cultures in MapleStory that regulars take for granted, but seemed confusing or strange from your perspective as a long-time veteran of other RPGs?

Sutyeou = It might sound like a small detail, but one system I found confusing was MapleStory's consumable buff system. When I first started, there were just so many types of buff consumables that it was tough to adapt.

On top of that, among all the RPGs I've played, MapleStory had the steepest learning curve for beginners. Setting up WAP farming builds, understanding the vast array of progression systems, checking Stat Equivalents, and learning overall combat mechanics (2-minute burst windows, mini-bursts, binds, Hero's Will, invincibility frames, and so on). There was so much to learn that I remember my viewers pouring their hearts into teaching me early on.

Also, the boss reward structure—where fewer party members mean more rewards for each individual—felt very novel to me. Although it's an RPG, the game structure strongly encourages solo play, which felt quite fascinating and interesting.

Q. One of your signature content series is the "blind boss run," where you challenge bosses without reading guides. Was there a specific reason you decided to tackle them this way?

Sutyeou = Having played RPGs for a long time, there was a period where I felt major burnout with the genre. During that time, I did a lot of soul-searching on how I could make playing RPGs fun again.

When I thought deeply about when I had the most fun playing RPGs, ironically, it was when I was a complete newbie who knew nothing. So whenever I started a new RPG, I decided, 'Let's clear bosses through my own effort without relying on guides or prior knowledge.'

As anyone who plays RPGs knows, no matter how exciting a boss fight is, once you clear it, it turns into a boring weekly "chore," right? I felt it was a real shame when watching a guide turned a boss into a routine chore so anti-climactically.

Everyone's definition of fun is different, but I guess I'm someone who values the fun of the journey, even if progress is slow, over clearing a boss quickly. After all, games are ultimately meant to be fun.

Q. How far have you progressed in your blind boss runs so far? Which boss was the hardest among all those you've challenged?

Sutyeou = So far, my blind boss progression has reached Extreme Lotus! However, I haven't attempted blind Kaling yet. I'm planning to challenge Kaling in the near future. My viewers have been scaring me by saying Kaling is ridiculously difficult without a guide, so I'm a bit worried (laughs).

Out of all the bosses I've challenged so far, the most difficult was the Black Mage. It was overwhelmingly hard, and Phase 3 in particular gave me an extremely tough time.

During my attempts, news broke that Black Mage's timer would be adjusted to 20 minutes, so I really wanted to clear it before the 20-minute cap patch hit. I spent several days attempting it back-to-back. Luckily, I managed to clear it just one day before the patch, which made me insanely happy!

Q. Which boss did you find to be the most well-designed among those experienced blind? We'd love to hear specific reasons, such as pattern design or combat enjoyment.

Sutyeou = There are so many well-designed bosses that picking just one is really tough. But if I had to single out just one, I'd choose Verus Hilla. I recall taking about 17 hours to clear Verus Hilla blind, and every single hour of those 17 hours was genuinely thrilling.

Unlike other bosses, Verus Hilla has a unique Death Count mechanic that fits her soul-stealing concept perfectly. The detail of her wielding a scythe like a reaper is fantastic, and the concept of reclaiming stolen health through the altar to reuse in battle felt brilliantly executed.

About 15 seconds before her timed mechanic triggered, if I got hit by a string and received a red skull, praying desperately for strings to spawn quickly while dodging frantically was such a rush. Thinking back on it now, it was still super fun.

I heard many newcomers hit a wall at Verus Hilla and quit, but for me, Verus Hilla was the exact boss that showed me the true charm of MapleStory and made me fall in love with the game. Aside from her infamous poisonous cloud pattern from the past, I felt she embodied the absolute essence of MapleStory boss design.

Q. Conversely, there were likely bosses where the play experience wasn't as positive. Which boss was the most disappointing, and why?

Sutyeou = The most disappointing boss for me would be Dunkel. Simply put, I didn't find the fight fun. And at the risk of sounding overly critical, while fighting Dunkel, I couldn't help but wonder, 'Did the developers rush a bit when making Dunkel...?'

That's because it was hard to feel craftsmanship in the cutscenes or the attack patterns themselves. The overall narrative arc during combat was lacking, and the patterns felt like they lacked a unique identity specific to Dunkel.

I heard that from a lore standpoint, he's a very well-crafted boss... so I plan to savor the lore slowly on my own time later.

Q. Do you have any memorable anecdotes from your blind boss runs that you'd like to share?

Sutyeou = When I was doing the blind Black Mage attempts, I went in without even knowing how many phases the fight had. But my viewers kept gaslighting me into believing Black Mage had 7 phases. I genuinely believed it and felt overwhelming despair during the attempts.

Phase 3 was already so hard that I kept dying without making any progress, and with viewers constantly saying there were 7 phases... I remember feeling dizzy thinking, 'I might literally spend a whole year trying to clear Black Mage.'

Even after clearing Phase 4, I didn't even realize I had beaten the boss and thought to myself, 'Finally moving to Phase 5...!' (laughs).

Q. We understand you faced significant difficulty while attempting Extreme Lotus solo recently. Which parts were the hardest? Also, what are your thoughts on high-difficulty boss content in MapleStory as a whole?

Sutyeou = The trickiest parts during Extreme Lotus were the Phase 1 shield and Phase 3 patterns. In Phase 1, Lotus constantly gains a shield, and since I didn't know Ascent could strip it quickly, I contorted my gameplay in every way possible to clear the shield using Lotus's own mechanics (laughs). As for Phase 3, the onslaught of incoming patterns was so overwhelming that parsing them one by one was really difficult.

What I always realize when tackling high-difficulty bosses in MapleStory is that clearing at lower damage multiplier ratios requires optimizing absolute micro-details. From overall rotation builds to gear setups, job-specific advanced techs, and hidden boss counters—the lower your damage multiplier, the more meticulously detailed your knowledge needs to be. The process of refining those details is both brutal and incredibly fun.

Recently, I challenged Normal Adversary on Lynn with a 118% multiplier, and it took about 10 hours to clear. Learning tricks and mechanics I previously had no idea about, taking step-by-step progress toward a clear, was tough but hugely enjoyable.

Q. What do you consider the pros and cons of your current main class, the Paladin? What makes it appealing from your hands-on experience, and would you recommend it to beginner players?

Sutyeou = First of all, thank you so much for calling Paladin my main character (laughs). Everyone teases me that my main is either Mihile or Blaster—even though I haven't even leveled a Blaster yet (laughs).

The main advantage of Paladin is its relatively easy playstyle compared to other classes. Having a 30-second invincibility skill is huge, and its high damage reduction gives it high durability compared to other classes. Thanks to this sturdiness, I died far less during my blind attempts.

The downside is definitely its lower base damage potential compared to other classes. Paladin used to provide strong party synergy, but when that synergy was nerfed, the compensating damage buffs felt relatively modest. While that's disappointing, I believe you should make the class you love most your main in an RPG. And Paladin is the character I feel most attached to.

When I first started MapleStory, Lynn was released as a new class, so almost everyone was leveling Lynn, but I was over there making and leveling a Paladin by myself.

Another drawback of Paladin is its underwhelming mobility. However, with the recent general improvements to Warrior rush skills, it's gotten much better than before!

As for Paladin's appeal, first of all, the character looks very handsome (laughs). It has a stoic, dependable vibe, so if you're thinking, 'I want a rock-solid, trustworthy character!', it's a very attractive choice.

I recommend it to beginners who want an easy and sturdy class, but wouldn't recommend it to players who prefer high-skill ceiling classes with high power ceilings.

Q. During this Challenger World season, you played Mihile and even earned the playful nickname 'President of the Mihile Association' from fans. After undergoing a rework and leveling the class significantly, what is your assessment of Mihile now?

Sutyeou = When I first played Mihile, I thought it was absurd. The control difficulty was quite high, yet its damage was abysmal. Because its damage output was so low, despite having team-protection skills, nobody would invite it to parties... I kept thinking it was an absurd class.

Since the rework, Mihile's playstyle became very easy. I'm still playing Mihile regularly these days. If a beginner asked me to recommend one of the classes I play, I would honestly recommend Mihile even over Paladin or Lynn.

Previously, you had to land a parry strictly every 5 seconds to match boss patterns, but that's no longer required. Now, you only need to land parries purely for survival.

Human nature is funny though—and Mihile mains might not like hearing this—but strictly in terms of fun, parrying every 5 seconds felt more satisfying. There was more hands-on mastery in playing the class. But back then, the class's baseline damage was so disastrously low that this revamp was inevitable.

Q. We know you run reaction content watching past MapleStory showcases and official live streams. As someone who started MapleStory relatively recently, which showcase or announcement left the strongest impression on you?

Sutyeou = The most impressive showcase for me so far was the 'ASSEMBLE Showcase.' It was the decisive trigger that made me start playing MapleStory in the first place.

Even though I knew little about MapleStory back then, the massive volume of updates combined with Director Chang-seop Kim's eloquent speaking style made me think, 'I really want to try MapleStory!' In fact, many players joined MapleStory after watching the ASSEMBLE Showcase.

There were so many impressive announcements by Director Chang-seop Kim, but if I had to pick one, it would be the recent announcements regarding 'Soul Amplification, Potential, Advanced Ability Reset, and Scroll Enhancement Revamp.'

The reason that announcement was so striking was that I had been harboring doubts about MapleStory's direction recently. Over the past few months, I wondered, 'If the game's pacing speeds up this much compared to the past, can the dev team keep up? Adding punishing progression systems right now would be tough given player sentiment, wouldn't it?' But Director Chang-seop Kim just boldly went ahead and added punishing progression systems anyway (laughs).

I describe it as 'punishing progression,' but I don't mean it negatively. Given MapleStory's nature, like it or not, it was a type of progression that had to be added. MapleStory maintains a much longer long-term pacing compared to seasonal games.

Even if it draws criticism whenever new progression elements are introduced, it's a game where developers must add power systems that players cannot max out easily. Doing that takes the courage to be disliked, so seeing Director Chang-seop Kim push forward knowing he would take heat earned my quiet respect.

Q. This summer's 'Overdrive' update added various content including the new class Lethe, new 6th Job skills, and new boss Bellona. How would you rate the summer season overall?

Sutyeou = Overall, aside from the friction surrounding the new 6th Job skills, I think it was a summer season close to perfection.

First off, the new class Lethe was released with an accessible playstyle, allowing complete beginners or returning players to try it without pressure. By offering an easy class to comfortably draw in new and returning players, combined with a vastly improved Challenger World, it felt very well prepared to help new players blend into MapleStory seamlessly.

Do you remember Challenger World Season 3, which ran after last winter's Crown Showcase? A massive crowd flocked in hearing about MapleStory's major winter event, only to burn out on day one because they couldn't reach Level 260 (laughs).

What makes MapleStory attractive is that whenever management makes a mistake, you can tell they try not to repeat it next time. Those mistakes and player feedback built up to make Challenger World Season 4 a massive success. Reaching 170,000 players who hit the Challenger rank in Season 4 is truly amazing.

Also, both new bosses, Bellona and Maylin, are very well made and high quality. One thing I want to sincerely praise the MapleStory devs for is their visible effort to create fresh boss fights every single time.

The Adversary, Bellona, Maylin, and so on—you can feel their push to design new formats of boss battles each time. That's easy to say but extremely hard to do—caring enough to deliver a fresh experience to players every time.

Plus, with MapleStory's current meta focused heavily on boss mules ('barracks'), right when players started feeling overwhelmed by daily/weekly chores, they dropped the patch standardizing all boss fight timers to 20 minutes. From quality-of-life improvements to major content updates, it felt like a summer season packed with solid content.

Q. The next winter season is gradually approaching. What updates do you expect for this winter? We'd also like to know what content you personally look forward to the most.

Sutyeou = As many players probably predict, I think the level cap might expand. Over the past year, the developers have been giving out EXP very aggressively, so even as a relatively new player, my main Paladin is already approaching Level 294.

Also, I hope they improve the Legion Champion Raid this winter. Even though it's once a month, it's pretty exhausting (laughs).

The content I'm most looking forward to is the seasonal boss added to Challenger World each time! I had a blast attempting KAI and Maylin. Standard MapleStory bosses are designed around party play, but seasonal bosses are tuned for solo challenges, giving them a completely unique feel. It's refreshing, and I'm eager to see who the next boss will be.

Another thing I'm excited about is which new class I'll end up leveling this winter. I'm already thrilled just thinking about it. Personally, I'd love to try Aran or Adele—I really love the Warrior class branch.

Q. What area do you think must be improved to help beginner players settle into the game smoothly?

Sutyeou = MapleStory has a massive amount of information for beginners to learn, but I think it's great that developers have been trying to make guides as beginner-friendly as possible recently.

Apart from that, if there's one area that definitely needs improvement to help newbies get settled, it's class trial functionality. When starting a new RPG, every beginner struggles with the question, 'Which class should I pick?' So if they allowed players to test out skill effects and basic skill rotations when creating a new character, that would be wonderful.

Also, while MapleStory is focused on solo play in the early stages, once your stats get high enough, it eventually becomes a party-play game. Playing solo means you can play however you like, but once you start joining parties, there's a whole separate set of required party mechanics and knowledge.

It would be great to have even a basic guideline for beginners in that regard. After all, I'm getting close to the point where I'll need to start party play myself, but I feel pretty lost since I know nothing about party coordination (embarrassed).

Q. Since diving deeply into MapleStory, your channel content and audience demographics likely experienced shifts. What changes have you personally felt? What new MapleStory content do you want to challenge next, and what is your goal as a streamer?

Sutyeou = There was indeed a big change in my viewer demographics after I started playing MapleStory. Many Lost Ark viewers unsubscribed while new MapleStory viewers subscribed, so for several months my subscriber count stayed completely flat—neither growing nor shrinking (laughs).

While many new viewers joined my stream after I started MapleStory, what's interesting is that some Lost Ark players also transitioned to MapleStory and continued watching my channel. So there are quite a few long-time viewers who still tune in regularly. I really felt the truth behind the saying, 'Maple, DFO, and Lost Ark are one.'

As for new MapleStory content I want to tackle, there's so much. I want to explore the lore thoroughly, try a series where I level a character from Level 1, and test non-Warrior classes too! I also want to play other RPGs outside of MapleStory to deepen my general understanding of the RPG genre.

As a streamer, my primary goal is to reach 100,000 YouTube subscribers, and I'd also like to build friendships with other creators. For a long time, I've streamed by myself like an isolated island.

I don't have grandiose goals—I just want to keep doing what I love for a long time, steadily. I feel streaming suits my aptitude perfectly and makes me truly happy.

Q. Thank you for taking the time for this detailed interview. Lastly, do you have any final words for your fans and MapleStory players?

Sutyeou = I say this very often to my fans: despite all my flaws, I am always grateful that you support and enjoy my content.

I'm also deeply thankful to the MapleStory Inven team. Looking at the interview questions, I could tell how thoroughly you researched my background before inviting me, which I truly appreciate. And to all the MapleStory players—thank you so much for helping me settle into the game and encouraging me along the way.

I constantly remind myself: 'Maintain video quality so viewers enjoy whichever video they click on my YouTube channel.' I will keep this mindset unchanged and do my best so you'll enjoy any video you click on in the future.

Making you laugh brings me so much joy. I guess I was born with the spirit of an entertainer (laughs). Thank you again for the interview, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Thank you.

▶ [Link] Sutyeou's YouTube Channel