~.:A Fragmented Game:.~

[Zepheras]

Every update on the homepage, we see new areas, new items, new monsters and graphic updates to runescape. But after playing for a year or so, and being a member for a month not long ago, I find that the world of Gielinor still isn't very well developed in terms of storyline and game depth.

 

 

 

For example, the recently introduced bracelets. Bracelet of clay, an item introduced into the game for convenience sake. The name itself isn't very creative. With every rant on the official runescape forum for more easy-way-out training, I see all kinds of items that don't have a history behind added every now and then. Games necklace, aka another form of traveling method. Charged amulet of glory, same purpose, and no explanation for why Legends guild would provide teleport to those 4 location. For convenience gameplay?

 

 

 

Areas added to the map for the sake of questing, some were...alright. Fit nicely in place. Others, not really. How nice, a goblin hideout in front of the fishing guild, and near there there's a fenced up area for dwarves, and tada! Supposedly war between the two groups.

 

 

 

Another thing is the humour within the game, especially during quests. Humour is good in the game, but sometimes it clashes with the theme. The update on the history of the Shield of Arrav was too serious for the game itself in my opinion. (Not to mention random parts of the story relating to dream mentor...huh?). So where are we heading? A light humoured game with no serious in-depth storyline or one with mythical lore and dark past of the Age of Gods?

 

 

 

Perhaps not a strong argument, but who knows, maybe we'll have a new weapon that gives runecraft exp when you kill monsters with it in the month of June?

[Platinum_Myr]

Yeah, I have noticed that the history of the game doesn't really exist, but then again, its not really meant to.

 

 

 

I think they should add more history to places, but they did stuff, and can't really change it. They should start now, or add "history" that "works" for those crazy areas.

[sohkmj1]

Dude, it's an rpg game based on nothing. It doesn't need a storyline.

 

It's unlike WoW when there is a storyline behind every area.

[jonno53]

thats an interesting point. however, i think some things don't exactly need history, you could make it up : (although a little explanation somewhere wont go amiss):

 

 

 

the large supply of coal in the area would attract dwarfs (simple). maybe it was originally goblin area and the dwarves forced em out, and they had to find a place to live... who knows.

 

 

 

and the enchanted jewelry doesnt need an explanation, other than a nice way of teleporting around. that IS the explanation... like in Real life where people are always trying to find faster, cheaper transport/power supplys, the magical world of runescape would have wizards constantly trying to make the world a smaller place... possibly...

 

 

 

basically, you could make any idea about the history of everything in runescape, and with a little logical thought, everything could fit into place if you looked hard enough (most conspiracys are formed this way)

 

 

 

thats why i liked the new museum; it tries to connect everything, with a reasonable result

[Zepheras]

Dude, it's an rpg game based on nothing. It doesn't need a storyline.

 

It's unlike WoW when there is a storyline behind every area.

 

 

 

If it wasn't based on anything, and doesn't need a storyline, you won't be seeing zammy and sara rune set, and the so called 3rd age armour (If you know why they're called 3rd age, read up on the history of gielinor on the homepage. Hey, you do know that gielinor has a history of its own, don't you?). Dude.

 

 

 

And I can understand why WoW is the most popular MMORPG around, in terms of membership count. If the game developers don't put effort in details like this, it's hard to attract new players. I'm not saying that Jagex isn't, but at the current state the various part of the game don't integrate nicely together. Maybe we can give them more time on this.

 

 

 

 

 

And I still think bracelet of clay is a crappy name, period. :boohoo:

[Trobigod]

Well I guess that's why there's such a huge bunch of kids in RuneScape nowadays, they just want easy to understand game that is popular for their age group, they don't care about stories. (I know that not all kids are like that, just the majority, based on MY experiences.) I have yet to find a person under the age of 10 who can read a book without pictures and has a good story + is long.

[Cryptogram]

...But after playing for a year or so, and being a member for a month not long ago...

 

 

 

Give it some time, you may learn much, much more (if you want to) through the member's quests.

 

I've been p2p for two years and I'm just starting to get my head round the "history" of RS. :-k

 

The new museum helps a lot.

[Zepheras]

I'm hoping for so as well. I did a few of the major quests while I was p2p, some had great storyline, but others were rather random. There was this guy called Damis(?) in Desert Treasure quest, until now I still don't know why the heck did he live in a cave and look like a normal lvl 2 man with a sword. Seems like Jagex just randomly come up with 4 bosses for that quest.

 

 

 

And there were so many other characters (Zaros etc...)that aren't well developed yet. There's lots of room for improvement!

[Guest]

I don't even pay attention to the story line (small as it is) that exists in runescape. It's never been that in depth and I really don't need an explanation for every item that's released.

[Matok]

you made some good points there and some of them are true, especiely regarding the inconsistent and somewhat patchy storyline.

 

 

 

Unlike the well-established MMORPGs out there that were planned & designed months a head before releasing, RS was and still is, a "developed-in-motion" (not sure this is a proper english but oh well) MMORPG.

 

areas,monsters and myths were and still added to the game on a monthly based.

 

 

 

Due to its nature some of the features still look out-of-concept or badly connected (especeily the old ones) but personaly i think that Jagex has managed to recover this un-planned patchy begining and build something quite reasonable.

 

 

 

Btw,if you look at some of the story lines/Histories in some of the other MMORPG out there you can see that those are heavly based (not to say,imitations) of fantasy/sci-fi books (which in turn, based on the bible,greek,nordic and other mythologies..)

 

I think that in that aspect runescape has some sort of originality. It does have the usuall godes,dark magic,demonic monsters and other fantasy crap but on the other hand it retains a light,humoristic attitude which simply suggests: Dont take us too sersiosly...(well, thats also not too original either)

 

 

 

Regarding the quests,i agree,some of the quests (like desert treasure,MEP2) were a bit loosely tied , but some like underground pass (rs "dark side"),my big Arm (the "light side") and great brain robbery (dark but still funny) were quite good.

 

Its hard to comeup with something brilliant on a weekly base. Even gr8 Kurt Vonnegut,RIP, wrote some crappy books u know...

 

 

 

So where are we heading? A light humoured game with no serious in-depth storyline or one with mythical lore and dark past of the Age of Gods?

 

Probably the first and i am totaly fine with it.

 

 

 

and one last thing, sometimes a bracelet of clay is just ...a bracelet of clay

 

:D

[Lep]

I don't even pay attention to the story line (small as it is) that exists in runescape. It's never been that in depth and I really don't need an explanation for every item that's released.

 

 

 

Same for me. It doesn't work well for Runescape, things like the Elder Scrolls it does though.

[JimmyMcNabb]

you're missing the vital point... its a GAME

[Kenshinjapan]

you made some good points there and some of them are true, especiely regarding the inconsistent and somewhat patchy storyline.

 

 

 

Unlike the well-established MMORPGs out there that were planned & designed months a head before releasing, RS was and still is, a "developed-in-motion" (not sure this is a proper english but oh well) MMORPG.

 

areas,monsters and myths were and still added to the game on a monthly based.

 

 

 

Due to its nature some of the features still look out-of-concept or badly connected (especeily the old ones) but personaly i think that Jagex has managed to recover this un-planned patchy begining and build something quite reasonable.

 

 

 

Btw,if you look at some of the story lines/Histories in some of the other MMORPG out there you can see that those are heavly based (not to say,imitations) of fantasy/sci-fi books (which in turn, based on the bible,greek,nordic and other mythologies..)

 

I think that in that aspect runescape has some sort of originality. It does have the usuall godes,dark magic,demonic monsters and other fantasy crap but on the other hand it retains a light,humoristic attitude which simply suggests: Dont take us too sersiosly...(well, thats also not too original either)

 

 

 

Regarding the quests,i agree,some of the quests (like desert treasure,MEP2) were a bit loosely tied , but some like underground pass (rs "dark side"),my big Arm (the "light side") and great brain robbery (dark but still funny) were quite good.

 

Its hard to comeup with something brilliant on a weekly base. Even gr8 Kurt Vonnegut,RIP, wrote some crappy books u know...

 

 

 

So where are we heading? A light humoured game with no serious in-depth storyline or one with mythical lore and dark past of the Age of Gods?

 

Probably the first and i am totaly fine with it.

 

 

 

and one last thing, sometimes a bracelet of clay is just ...a bracelet of clay

 

:D

 

 

 

Didn't Andrew say somewhere that he made Runescape just for fun and never planned for it to be a huge success :-k ? And I do agree with you on the bracelet of clay. What else are you suppose to call it :| ?

[Will H]

Well, about the bracelet of clay, it does have logic behind it (reference to tower of life logic/magic), when you enchant the sapphire, you use water runes as the orientation of the spell. Therefore it is only logical that the sapphire would secrete water which wets the clay that you mine. JaGEx aren't completely clueless. You can work out things by yourself.

 

 

 

The whole legend of Arrav references to Lunar Diplomacy / Dream Mentor fits in perfectly with the storyline. Please, tell me something which is in the game which the game doesn't ask questions about.

[berbatovsky]

Someone mentioned the Elder Scrolls series as an example of a game with a lot of 'lore' , these games are massive like runescape, and i find it very hard to follow all the history because it all intermingles and all the names mould together (made up but representative examples : florian, flanian, tranioan) it all gets very confusing and tbh if i want a great story ill play an FF game or watch a movie or read a book.

 

 

 

The main 'story' (of rscape) revolves around the Gods and i agree that not enough emphasis is placed on this theme, but the very nature of the game basically excludes this sort of thing. The point is you aren't on a plotline, you can do whatever you want without learning a damn thing about the 'story' of the game, its a sand boxish RPG whereas something like WOW is a straight up old school RPG, you're an Elf (or whatever) and you must rid the world of evil (or something), you play that role and thus the game insists that you know what you are fighting and why (history), Rscape gives you a limited version of this through quests but the emphasis is on getting levels more than anything.

 

 

 

The game does feel somewhat dysfunctional and there is a definite lack of cohesion when questing but thats the way it is and probably always will be.

[Lakitsym_Rose]

Well I also think that if there was a defined storyline or plot then it would ruin the fun of RuneScape. RuneScape is so popular because you simply can't beat it. There is always something to do and if you end up killing whichever God and become a god yourself and find out all the truths, lies, and histories of RuneScape then it ruins the fun. When you buy a game and beat every mission with all the powerups or whatever, do you continue to play it?

[reaper88888]

Actually, even without the museum, there's a very large amount of history behind RS, you're apparently just too lazy to read it all... And besides, it's. just. a. game. It doesn't need history or plot to be fun, but it has them anyways, and that makes it even more awesome : .

[sryen]

Story has never really been a major part of runescape, which is unfortunate.

 

 

 

I think the biggest problem is how, like someone said, the main part of it is based on the gods, yet a lot of the information on the gods is constantly mixed up. At one point Jagex mods on the forums were saying Armadyl and Zaros were gods of Fire and Ice (obviously untrue) and now they say most say they are evil and good, while some aren't specific at all.

 

 

 

In the knowledge base it says that Saradomin and Zamorak helped shape Gielenor, yet we know form the god letters and the ghostly robes mini-quest that it is not so.

 

 

 

My friends and I tried learning everything there is to know awhile ago about runescape lore. It didn't yield much, after years, since there just wasn't enough info.

 

 

 

They don't care much about the storyline, to most of the mods they seem to think its just there. I have a feeling the storyline won't get better too. You'll have your occasional interesting quest, but otherwise, if the same trends continue, the story isn't going anywhere.

[rareghoul1]

Dude, it's an rpg game based on nothing. It doesn't need a storyline.

 

It's unlike WoW when there is a storyline behind every area.

 

 

 

If it wasn't based on anything, and doesn't need a storyline, you won't be seeing zammy and sara rune set, and the so called 3rd age armour (If you know why they're called 3rd age, read up on the history of gielinor on the homepage. Hey, you do know that gielinor has a history of its own, don't you?). Dude.

 

 

 

And I can understand why WoW is the most popular MMORPG around, in terms of membership count. If the game developers don't put effort in details like this, it's hard to attract new players. I'm not saying that Jagex isn't, but at the current state the various part of the game don't integrate nicely together. Maybe we can give them more time on this.

 

 

 

 

 

And I still think bracelet of clay is a crappy name, period. :boohoo:

 

 

 

actually WoW might have more paying members, but runescape has more people playing, even if you don't count pures.

[Aresgodowar]

look at it from their point of view...hmmm what kind of content would apeal to a 6yr old..

[Artemis_42]

Actually, if you pay attention to quest dialogue and read all the in game books you would notice that there is a fair amount of history involved with the world of Gielinor. Most people just choose to skip over these sorts of things however.

[Personcowcow]

Umm..RuneScape is probably the MMORPG I know of that has the most backstory and plot involved. The writing is excellent - quests are referenced in other quests, most things are clearly related to others. Compare this to other MMORPGs - where quests are: "Fetch me 11 rat tails. Despite the fact that I carry a heavy sword, and in my house are various signs of richness, for some reason, I am too lazy to get them myself, and also, I apparently have some sort of need for them."

[Zepheras]

Yep, that's what I did, read the books from all the quest and such (the bookshelf from PoH was great btw), and carefully read through the storyline for all quests that I did. That's when some of the ideas were inconsistent, sort of rushed through for the sake of producing that quest for that week.

 

 

 

My point is, if you have monthly updates, why not do a better job fixing up the details here and there? 12 opportunities a year, and runescape is already how old, 7yrs? Rather than churning out updates that get rantings everywhere (not saying all were bad, some were REALLY good). I don't mind if they didn't perfect the history part on the first try, members can always discuss on the forum, and they can always alter their mistakes after careful planning. And they don't even make it such that you have to follow a strict and defined story plot, everyone can just continue their leveling in any areas they like. But it makes the gameplay more interesting like someone said, more than the mere sara/zammy supporter (because you love red and I love blue) that kind of thing. Runescape is fun, but why not make it more fun?

 

 

 

P.S. Green is cool too.

 

 

 

Bracelet of clay, bracelet of clay....why not bracelet of hydration? It can even be used to hydrate things like flour. It's just like the weapon Keris, its meant to deal more damage to kalphites, but would you prefer the name Keris or something like Extra-damage-on-kalphite blade?

[Arambul]

Dude, it's an rpg game based on nothing. It doesn't need a storyline.

 

It's unlike WoW when there is a storyline behind every area.

 

 

 

If it wasn't based on anything, and doesn't need a storyline, you won't be seeing zammy and sara rune set, and the so called 3rd age armour (If you know why they're called 3rd age, read up on the history of gielinor on the homepage. Hey, you do know that gielinor has a history of its own, don't you?). Dude.

 

 

 

And I can understand why WoW is the most popular MMORPG around, in terms of membership count. If the game developers don't put effort in details like this, it's hard to attract new players. I'm not saying that Jagex isn't, but at the current state the various part of the game don't integrate nicely together. Maybe we can give them more time on this.

 

 

 

 

 

And I still think bracelet of clay is a crappy name, period. :boohoo:

 

 

 

actually WoW might have more paying members, but runescape has more people playing, even if you don't count pures.

 

Well, I think WoW has about 8.5-9 million subscribers, from what I remember when I played in January. I highly doubt RS has that many people, not including pures and macro'ers/sweat shop workers. And each one of those WoW subscribers are one person, since you can make more then one character on a subscription.

 

 

 

On-topic: It is a bit choppy in its history, but there are sections that have a good story. DT is a good example. If you actually read some stuff, you can find a lot of history.

[homer205]

I completely agree, bracelet of clay is a terrible name; it needs to be bracelet of soft clay, as you mine soft clay with it.

 

And if you read all the information in quests you'll notice lots of history, I don't personally read the god letters though so I don't know about them