Beating Monkey Madness is still probably the most accomplished thing I've done in an MMO.
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[Reminiscing On] Runescape, 2003-2007
- Thread starter Tenebrous
- Start date
Beating Monkey Madness is still probably the most accomplished thing I've done in an MMO.
Which quest allows you to get into Shilo Village? I beat that quest on a level 3 account lol.
Edit: I guess the quest is named Shilo Village lol.
WildEagle18
Member
Do it, Monkey Madness was of the funnest quest I've done in RS. The rush of not wanting to die and losing everything. I brought so much Prayer pots, Anti-potion pots and swordies.
Me too, I remember working on Desert Treasure quest for the Ancient Magicks. I forgot if I ever finished it or not lol.
I have no excuse for not doing it except for laziness and not really wanting the D Scim, I even did the Regicide quest line before it, and THAT was one annoying quest line lol.
Bo Knows GAF
Member
Unless it's to play OG Runescape, dont. They changed too much
WildEagle18
Member
ShadowKingpin
Member
RuneScape has a special place in my heart. It's how I got started with MMO's. I started back when it launched and played for 6 years (On and off around the fourth year). Even to this day, I will log on once in a blue moon for the capes and such.
Was that the place with all of the bananas and that one pier? If so, then fuck yes. That's where I got all of my lobsters.
Was that the place with all of the bananas and that one pier? If so, then fuck yes. That's where I got all of my lobsters.
Zevenberge
Member
I played it too much, for about 5-6 years I guess, for a total of ~200-250 days (10000 hours). I spend most of my time being a paid member, and RS is therefore the single game that got most of my money. But, regarding the time spent, it was well worth it. Hell, I even made it to the rank of "player moderator", which was quite an achievement for my teenage self. Of course, the cherry on the cake was when the two original founders of the game (Andrew and Paul Gower) visited the player mod team.
I am really a sucker for the level and loot mechanics that RS implemented. Furthermore, it really had a ton of awesome quests. I'll never forget, ironically, "A Forgettable Tale...", which was one of the more hilarious quests.
Ah, memories.
I am really a sucker for the level and loot mechanics that RS implemented. Furthermore, it really had a ton of awesome quests. I'll never forget, ironically, "A Forgettable Tale...", which was one of the more hilarious quests.
Ah, memories.
Anything you can share? I'd love to hear behind-the-scenes details from back then.
The only WoW questlines I can think of that really match a RS quest in scope and style are the old Missing Diplomat series, which even left a lot of major unfinished business unresolved for years, just like RS, and the Scepter of the Shifting Sands series, which almost nobody got to do and which has since been removed. And those were both back in vanilla, when Blizzard didn't mind doing the occasional grand, globetrotting adventure.
That pier was my go to place as a f2p player (heck, the only place you could get lobsters as a free player).
What I remember the most was having to go from karajama all the way back to draynor village with a full inventory, and if you wanted to cook them first you had to bring your own fire or just wait for someone to do it since everyone just begged all the time.
...Then you became a member and catherby had lobster spots, an oven, and a bank literally a few feet away from each other. It blew my mind.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
It's old enough and trivial enough that I can probably skirt NDAs as an anecdote.
The company had an internship-style placement scheme with various universisties it had used to some success in customer support, so someone high up decided they could do the same for content developers too.
We got three placements in for a summer position, and they basically had free choice on what they wanted to work on (within certain degrees of scope agreed on before they started work) and had basically the whole art department backing them so as to provide a good impression.
One of those placement projects was Monkey Madness, which players love (see this thread) and internally the content devs absolutely hated, because it was a huge mess of spaghetti code that linked into multiple systems, and over the years has thrown up so many bugs as a result its not even funny.
One of those placements did Throne of Miscellania, which I don't think was ever that popular externally, but internally we all absolutely loved the concept of (running your own kingdom and getting resources from your subjects). I think it was over-balanced to the point of being useless in the end. Dude who made thats at Frontier now I think.
The final placement wanted to do a multi-part quest, and was pretty much left to it.
When QA came to look at it, and realised he had done things like:
- make the quest giver the boss NPC you had to kill at the end of one part of the quest (so good luck starting that quest if anyone was at the end)
- do a login check so that anyone who hadn't started the quest was immediately teleported next to the quest giver (anyone being the entire playerbase, not just members, not just people who had the requisite skill levels. Anyone)
- questionable dialogue choices (like Monks of Zamorak shouting "allah allah akbar zamorak" when they attacked) and generally poor quality written english they went to senior management and raised their concerns.
His placement was abruptly terminated, but they had basically got a huge stack of unused art assets that nobody was going to be particularly happy with throwing away, so I was basically asked to cook something up from existing ingredients.
I'd just finished Horror From The Deep and was in planning stages for "A Viking quest" (which became Fremnnik Trials), and at the time Mages were in a pretty bad spot in the combat triangle, so I merged an in-between combat project I wanted to do (multi-target spells and spells with on hit effects) as the quest reward for Desert Treasure.
So because this was a hodge-podge of recycling premade mapsquares and assets explains all sorts of weirdness about it;
- the fact that a quest called Desert Treasure pretty much happens everywhere in the world except the desert
- the fact there are loads of "one and done" NPC appearances (like some dude living in a sewer under draynor, or a ghost near the waterfall)
- the fact a mahjarrat suddenly looks like anubis (when the previously existing ones in game clearly aren't)
- the whole "collect 4 diamonds each with their own boss" thing as a non-linear get them in any order aspect.
I also took the time to do a little lore tidying up about zaros, but a bulk of that wasn't ready in time so we snuck it in as a secret patch update with invisible ghosts later on.
Hah, how the hell did they think they were going to get away with that? Was it Reach's cousin or something.
Gamesadict
Member
This game was my first online experience back in 2006. Totally addicted for months before I moved to Silkroad Online, another MMORPG.
Recently remembered the 07 game is now free, so I plan to play that for a while.
Recently remembered the 07 game is now free, so I plan to play that for a while.
Played a bunch starting back in 2003, then very rarely for a while, and finally got 99 woodcutting a couple years ago.
Unfortunately, I can't work up much enthusiasm for the game now, as I don't know anything about the newer stuff and the things I used to do are very boring. And membership keeps getting more and more expensive, so I'm probably done with RuneScape. Kind of a bummer.
But, yeah, OSRS is pretty cool, so if you want to relive the glory days, give it a shot.
Unfortunately, I can't work up much enthusiasm for the game now, as I don't know anything about the newer stuff and the things I used to do are very boring. And membership keeps getting more and more expensive, so I'm probably done with RuneScape. Kind of a bummer.
But, yeah, OSRS is pretty cool, so if you want to relive the glory days, give it a shot.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
In fairness, I just don't think he knew what an MMOG was and thought it was like episodic content or something.
EDIT:
It's sort of nice to see RS on GAF as something other than a troll response to a "What MMO should I play?" topic
RS quests are still the GOAT. They put a lot of love into the story and dialogue, cool places to visit, interesting boss fights, riddles, tricky and oftentimes just tricky environmental puzzles, and awesome rewards. Every time a new quest was released, it was a great day.
And then team-based minigames like Catle Wars came out and those were awesome too. Had lots of fun in the Barbarian place (the one where you team up with four people with different roles), the rum making one, and the Great Orb Project.
I met The Old Nite once, he helped me crafted my first Amulet of Glory, I think.
And then team-based minigames like Catle Wars came out and those were awesome too. Had lots of fun in the Barbarian place (the one where you team up with four people with different roles), the rum making one, and the Great Orb Project.
I met The Old Nite once, he helped me crafted my first Amulet of Glory, I think.
I think everyone does.
I can kinda remember the Tier 0.5 questline, but not by name... Not like DT/MM/RFD, etc.
JJDinomite
Banned
I still play RuneScape lol
RuneScape circa 2006 is probably may favorite game ever. It always got such a bad rep because of the graphics, but I think if you looked past that it had just so much to offer. The game has such a unique world and atmosphere.
It did a great job making you feel insignificant, which honestly I just love. So many games today are essentially "Press X to win". Games where your character somehow always defies the odds and comes up strong. But not this game.
When you start out, you are truly weak and useless. There are no designated zones for low levels or an arrow pointing you to some monsters to train on. If you die, you lose all but three items. You can't run for more than a minute without having to stop. Before you can teleport, you have to get your magic level up.
And I really think that this is why people hated the game. It's too unforgiving, too demanding, and too confusing.
Which is exactly why I loved the game.
There's usually a threshold for new players to the game. Those that can get past the initial shock of the early-90's graphics may try the game out for a few hours. And for the first time they will lose. I remember to this day how it happened to me. I had somehow bought fill iron and was carrying a cash stack of a whopping 600gp. I was a fool and didn't bother to bank any of it. I got a bit overconfident and started attacking some dwarfs at the Dwarfen Mines. I ended up dying and losing all of my money and (at the time) valuable items.
Here's where most people would have quit. I'm so glad I didn't. I've since probably dropped around two months of playing time over the last ten years. Compared to a lot of people, it's not even that much. I've been off and on the game for years, but I still love the darn thing. I get so much crap from friends for it, but honestly I know that they just don't understand it.
RuneScape circa 2006 is probably may favorite game ever. It always got such a bad rep because of the graphics, but I think if you looked past that it had just so much to offer. The game has such a unique world and atmosphere.
It did a great job making you feel insignificant, which honestly I just love. So many games today are essentially "Press X to win". Games where your character somehow always defies the odds and comes up strong. But not this game.
When you start out, you are truly weak and useless. There are no designated zones for low levels or an arrow pointing you to some monsters to train on. If you die, you lose all but three items. You can't run for more than a minute without having to stop. Before you can teleport, you have to get your magic level up.
And I really think that this is why people hated the game. It's too unforgiving, too demanding, and too confusing.
Which is exactly why I loved the game.
There's usually a threshold for new players to the game. Those that can get past the initial shock of the early-90's graphics may try the game out for a few hours. And for the first time they will lose. I remember to this day how it happened to me. I had somehow bought fill iron and was carrying a cash stack of a whopping 600gp. I was a fool and didn't bother to bank any of it. I got a bit overconfident and started attacking some dwarfs at the Dwarfen Mines. I ended up dying and losing all of my money and (at the time) valuable items.
Here's where most people would have quit. I'm so glad I didn't. I've since probably dropped around two months of playing time over the last ten years. Compared to a lot of people, it's not even that much. I've been off and on the game for years, but I still love the darn thing. I get so much crap from friends for it, but honestly I know that they just don't understand it.
JJDinomite
Banned
Oh my fucking god you made ice barrage? You monster.
That reminds me of a moment for when I was still f2p and talked to the npc that sold scimitars, and he always said "you'd be a monkey's uncle before you got your hands on a dragon scimitar".
Turns out during the quest you were actually required to impersonate a baby monkey's uncle:
This game has some top tier writing man.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
In retrospect I maybe overtuned magic a bit
Regardless of what people may say, Runescape will always have a soft spot in my heart.
How many days I spent playing that game. Runecrafting using the Abyss, fishing Monkfishes, mining coal for buy my Runite set, faming Moss Giants for Big Bones and building my house. And farming, oh, it was great.
Community was superb too. Helpful people you could always find. And doing crazy stuff on the Wilderness.
I really wish someday we could get another MMO that is like old Runescape without being P2W. A game in which you can do whatever you want, and quests aren't only fetch stuff, kill creatures or go to another place.
Long quests that have a big epic storyline attached to them, with multiple stuff to do before finishing it. Even to these days, I still remember fondly the quest in which you must pass a cave before reaching the elven lands.
How many days I spent playing that game. Runecrafting using the Abyss, fishing Monkfishes, mining coal for buy my Runite set, faming Moss Giants for Big Bones and building my house. And farming, oh, it was great.
Community was superb too. Helpful people you could always find. And doing crazy stuff on the Wilderness.
I really wish someday we could get another MMO that is like old Runescape without being P2W. A game in which you can do whatever you want, and quests aren't only fetch stuff, kill creatures or go to another place.
Long quests that have a big epic storyline attached to them, with multiple stuff to do before finishing it. Even to these days, I still remember fondly the quest in which you must pass a cave before reaching the elven lands.
Thanks!
Crazy to think that a quest as important to the game as Desert Treasure was a salvage project. Azzanadra's become incredibly significant over the years, mahjarrat being shapeshifters is a major plot point, the four ancient elements show up all the time as they flesh out more Zaros lore, the basic concept of switching spellbooks got expanded to lunar spells and ancient prayers (and I think there's another set coming soon), and even the ghost miniquest has had some followup and inspired other secret miniquests.
You left a big mark, and it's really cool to hear about it.
Miscellania's decently profitable for certain resources even now, for what it's worth.
Man, I really fucking miss Runescape from 2006. When the 2007 version came out a few years ago I tried and it was extremely disappointed because it was the one after that terrible update that changed all the visuals of the game, especially ore, but before the even worse free trade death.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
I worked really closely with Paul on a lot of lore stuff, and did a lot of fleshing out of backstory elements, so I'm not surprised its still in the bible.
My last "real" content before moving to "mechscape" was the 100th quest, but I was half way through Lunar Diplomacy when I moved so a lot of the lunar spellbook, the overall quest design and the opening dialogue heavy section where you're trying to not get your boat to sail in circles was all mine as I was trying to tie up some loose ends narratively (specifically seeding some answers about rune essence and begin introducing the stone of jas concept).
EDIT:
Specifically, magic in RS is weird. Like, you have all your standard firebolt type stuff, but then you have weird shit like "bones to bananas".
I wanted Lunar Diplomacy to be the antithesis to Desert Treasure, so while DT was a big blockbuster all action all bossfights combat quest, and the pay off was big eye catching combat spells, I wanted to make a more puzzle and dialogue heavy "for the skillers" piece of content, where the pay off was a no-combat spellbook to help with skilling, so had a long list of things that were regular spellbook equivalents (bones to bananas, superheat item) but more so, and for more skills. I also wanted some better teleports, as the sort of crappy choice of locations you get with the zaros set was the offset for the combat magics.
Basically, I wanted to make a fully utility-focussed spellbook, but there was a lot of overlap with existing utility features like teleport jewellery or other quest reward skill buff items.
Anyone remember the massacre of Fally? when someone reached level 99 in house building and threw such a huge party it broke the game and then they went around killing people, I remember the video that was captured of it with Nightwish Planet Hell playing, SUCH GOOD TIMES. Could never go back to runescape to play it, too much nostalgia and playing it wouldn't do it justice anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0y2huQoOnw
Peak Runescape era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0y2huQoOnw
Peak Runescape era.
Also I stopped playing because I used to play Barrows a lot, it's how I made my money, I was set on buying all of the Barrows armour (Best in the game no question, also best thing in runescape) and I was trading for some of the stuff, and I didn't realise at the time, I had managed to get 10mill and I was trading for something way less than that but I accidentally typed in an extra 0 so it put all of my money in the transaction, I didn't notice and gave the dude 10 mill :/ Pissed.
I also nearly had a heart attack when I just came back from Barrows and had money and items and was going to trade on the border of the wilderness, can't remember the place, and then he got me in a surprise place with ice barrage, I had no armour on, I was clicking like crazy to escape eating what little food that I had, luckily I manged to get away just in time. i wonder if I had turned the computer off would it have saved me too?
I also nearly had a heart attack when I just came back from Barrows and had money and items and was going to trade on the border of the wilderness, can't remember the place, and then he got me in a surprise place with ice barrage, I had no armour on, I was clicking like crazy to escape eating what little food that I had, luckily I manged to get away just in time. i wonder if I had turned the computer off would it have saved me too?
This game man.
I quit in 2008 after finally getting a full Guthan set and losing it when my friend talked me in to fighting a 3 dragonoth's or whatever they're called. We had tombstones then, but I wasn't able to grab anything and teleport to leave because of the damage output of all of the monsters.
All that grinding and I threw a fit and was done.
I had a quest cape, level 70 something in Construction and house I took pride in.
Still no game has been able to top it's quests, I just got Witcher 3 and it's coming pretty dang close. The only difference between Runescape and Witcher 3, is the grind and preparation needed to go on these quests, the fatal battles you encounter if you come unprepared.
I quit in 2008 after finally getting a full Guthan set and losing it when my friend talked me in to fighting a 3 dragonoth's or whatever they're called. We had tombstones then, but I wasn't able to grab anything and teleport to leave because of the damage output of all of the monsters.
All that grinding and I threw a fit and was done.
I had a quest cape, level 70 something in Construction and house I took pride in.
Still no game has been able to top it's quests, I just got Witcher 3 and it's coming pretty dang close. The only difference between Runescape and Witcher 3, is the grind and preparation needed to go on these quests, the fatal battles you encounter if you come unprepared.
MetroidPrimeRib
Banned
That's really cool, never knew you worked on RS. any stories about recipe for disaster?
I do remember. Always reminds me of the corrupted blood incident in WoW.
PhoenixDawn
Member
This definitely took up a significant portion of my adolescent years, but I don't really feel like it was completely wasted. A lot of people in my school also played so it was a great way to make new friends and have something that we could all have as a 'strong' foundation to meet up and discuss. Plus, being involved in a clan and even getting to the higher levels of management in it provided a lot of opportunity to develop some leadership and social skills, as weird as it sounds to say that. I liked that it was a great way to relax but also provided the opportunity to put myself in social situations that I probably wouldn't have without games like it.
IRC chat + private messaging was great originally, but I was very happy when they finally added a group chat because that took it to an entirely other level to me in terms of social interaction within it. I found myself using it more as a social platform than actually playing a lot of the time, haha. Hell, I probably 'wasted' a ton of time that could have been spent actually leveling just sitting in a bank or running around with friends while talking in the group chat.
I'm not too sad that I quit several years ago as it definitely was hurting my outside life, but definitely would be lying if I didn't still get urges at times. Luckily I've stayed strong and haven't even logged in as I know if I did that I'd probably end up having months of my life disappear again, as weak as that makes me sound. They did a hell of a job making an addicting game, :lol.
IRC chat + private messaging was great originally, but I was very happy when they finally added a group chat because that took it to an entirely other level to me in terms of social interaction within it. I found myself using it more as a social platform than actually playing a lot of the time, haha. Hell, I probably 'wasted' a ton of time that could have been spent actually leveling just sitting in a bank or running around with friends while talking in the group chat.
I'm not too sad that I quit several years ago as it definitely was hurting my outside life, but definitely would be lying if I didn't still get urges at times. Luckily I've stayed strong and haven't even logged in as I know if I did that I'd probably end up having months of my life disappear again, as weak as that makes me sound. They did a hell of a job making an addicting game, :lol.
No, if you dc there's a 10s timer until disconnect if you are in combat, they'd most likely have killed you in that situation.
Edit:
Here's my play time I guess
His Majesty
Banned
Hehe, Runescape was burning that day. Also hilarious that it happened on 666.
Good points, I am really good friends with someone I met like 9 years ago on Runescape, we play a lot of games together too and will likely be meeting up in person later this year.
Being that young I think Runescape taught me quite a lot, doing things that required math outside of school, supply and demand in the market, in-depth crafting that honestly taught me a bit about what goes into making certain real life things.
I had quit playing for 4 years or so and in that time met my wife and one day we realized that we both played Runescape in the past so that resulted in both of us returning and playing pretty consistently since then (6 years or so now).
I think I started playing around 05 or 06, and stopped by 08. But then I came back and tried a membership in 2010 and still had a lot of fun, despite the changes.
Then I tried Runescape 3, and found myself watching voice-acted cutscenes. I'm sorry, but I can't abide by that.
Then I tried Runescape 3, and found myself watching voice-acted cutscenes. I'm sorry, but I can't abide by that.
I think the game peaked around late 2012. It was so fun to play before the sudden change in the gameplay system.
Ritual of the Mahjarrat was an amazing quest.
Dude, that's awesome. Desert Treasure was really fun, thank you.
Ritual of the Mahjarrat was an amazing quest.
Dude, that's awesome. Desert Treasure was really fun, thank you.
Zezima actually got his account hacked last week by lizardsquad lol, who would have thought that'd ever happen?
RS was fun but RS3 sort of ruined it for me completely, the combat system sucked for a game like RS imo. Oldschool is alright, I still play occasionally. Peak years are definitely 2007 ish before they removed the wild, man those were good times if you were a pker.
Piercedveil
Member
Runescape was easily one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. I played almost nonstop from 6th grade until right before starting freshman year in high school. I ended up with about 176 days of playtime IIRC. I absolutely loved Runecrafting since it made me a ton of money and constantly required my attention. My RC skill level was at 94 I believe when I quit.
It's fun to think back about Runescape but there's no way I could ever get back in to it. I no longer have the free time or desire to play it the way I used to, especially after all of the bad updates they had (which was what led to me quitting).
It's fun to think back about Runescape but there's no way I could ever get back in to it. I no longer have the free time or desire to play it the way I used to, especially after all of the bad updates they had (which was what led to me quitting).
They fixed the combat thankfully, Revolution completely fixed the combat woes for most. Just set up your rotation and it's set.
Oh nah I know that, but it's not the same. I still login RS3 to do ports as it pays for p2p and takes 30 seconds a day so I pay a little attention to the updates but not completely.
Revolution and spec attacks back just aren't the same as OSRS combat and I don't think you can even do most of the high end bosses on those, which while makes sense, sucks for those that don't like the new combat. PVP also still sucks I believe as it mixes revolution and EoC and EoC just destroys (and so it should as it requires more effort), unless something has changed there... I haven't actually tried PVP just what I heard? so I could be wrong. I don't see any reason to do PVP on Rs3 though with OSRS now available, most pkers transferred over and by the time any of those updates came out they would of been a decent level.
It's a good game I guess, it's just not really runescape any more to a lot of people.
PVP in the "Wildy" was the shit. It used to keep you on the edge of your seat not knowing if a dude with sweet gear could KO you a couple of clicks away. Not sure what happened? But wasn't it changed a lot?
I have to admit I was addicted for awhile, levelling combat on the Iron and Mithril Dragons. Hoping for that Visage(?) drop.
It was good fun. Killed a lot of time. Not sure I'll ever return.
I have to admit I was addicted for awhile, levelling combat on the Iron and Mithril Dragons. Hoping for that Visage(?) drop.
It was good fun. Killed a lot of time. Not sure I'll ever return.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Dagannoth Kings, fuck yeah!
Andrew made me put in a lame "THIS AREA IS REALLY DANGEROUS!" confirmation at the start of their dungeon because he was worried folks would just wander in to check it out and get ripped a new one hahaha
Hah... okay, so, for starters nobody internally had noticed we were getting close to 100th quest release, and the Legends quest wasn't specifically designed as a 50th quest, it was more just the way things worked out, so obviously various forums started talking up how the 100th was going to be some crazy epic long thing, which was honestly not going to happen (and amusingly the 100th quest almost wasn't the hundredth quest because one of the developers who generally ran late on his projects was in fact running late on one of his projects and we needed to shuffle the releases around a bit).
So I noticed folks talking about the 100th quest and went to Mark and said we should do something for it, and he agreed but basically dropped it in my lap to figure out. We back and forthed a few ideas, and I basically pitched that instead of going "super high level" like most big releases did, we should make it super inclusive so that every player could take part, and he agreed but said it should also be a sequel to the first quest (which was Cooks Assistant, which is not only a super lame quest, but also the only actual content Andrew made) so I was like, yeah okay, I can work with that.
So basically, I did a quick plot outline (100 years celebration, RS illuminati, time travel, sealed evil in a can, multiple mini-quests that can all be done independently, but not locking any content away for anyone because chances were people would pick this up on a new account and there was no way of dropping quests when begun, so I didn't want to interfere with anyones regular gameplay) and sent it round the team asking if anyone was interested in working on it, and they could get devtime allocated to do it outside of their normal projects because we were on a clock.
So pretty much everyone was up for it, we had a quick brainstorming to flesh things out and I encouraged everyone to go back and reuse any NPCs or areas they'd previously worked with that they'd like to do something more with, because the whole thing was supposed to be a celebration of quests, and basically everyone was free to come up with any ideas they wanted, and we would split the work up so there was something for every combat level to have a go at, and I'd do the quest framework stuff (the setup, the individual progress checking, the sub-quest rewards and the big boss gauntlet at the end).
Some devs missed their deadlines (Osmans Garden minigame was supposed to be part of RFD, which is why he gets anti-macro evented out in the opening cutscene - does that even make sense anymore?) but all in all worked out really well and everyone had a lot of fun doing something off the usual beaten path. I had a few disagreements with the guy in charge of combat because I wanted the joke kitchen weapons to have the same stats as 'real' weapons and he didn't think joke weapons should ever be usable as real weapons and I stand by that, but we compromised by letting stuff up to Rune level, and I got gauntlets in that matched existing weapon sets, so the progressive tiered reward wasn't entirely pointless.
As we were low on time I wanted a boss gauntlet as the big finale, but it turns out not many devs had actually made traditional boss enemies so an embarrassingly high number of them were my own. and I made them all food themed because I thought that was funny.
My biggest regret is I called the big bad the Culinaromancer, when Gastromancer is so much better as a name.
About a day before release, we released that the - fairly new to us as a team - instancing technology we used for the opening cutscene was actually pretty heavy in terms of server cost, and the likelihood that every single RS player was going to rush straight to Lumbridge Castle and start the quest (which opened with that cutscene...) meant there was a real risk we were going to crash servers on release. Mark wanted to up the skill requirements to prevent that, but that really went against my idea of it being a quest that literally everyone could begin and at least partially complete, so I talked him into letting me use some random obscure item as a check instead, so we could trickle the population a little (and RS has A LOT of random obscure items). I picked Gnome Cocktails because its an entirely optional activity that a lot of people have never even bothered doing, plus it had the benefit of being literally on the other side of the planet, so it would direct a few folks into checking out an area they had maybe never bothered with outside of quest requirements.
All in all, it went pretty well and I like to think embodies everything about RS quests!
PhoenixDawn
Member
Thanks for the writeups, MrNyarlathotep. It's awesome reading up on the background details of all these things that I had only previously experienced as a young player of the game. The quests were definitely my favorite part of the game and were one of the few things that I routinely looked forward to doing. They did a great job of pushing me to level up while also being a blast to play through, for the most part. I loved taht RS quests had fun little stories to them that made me feel actually involved in what was going on in the RS world without being just a generic MMO questline. Even if they did have a lot of fetching at times, the writing did a great job of masking it and making me want to continue. Thanks for the great times!