Support NeoGAF

[Arrage]

Jagex sold out when investors took over. Game is still ok, but only a shell of what it used to be. New combat gameplay is a mixed back: it brings a lot of useful shortcuts and quality of life improvements, but offers one of the worst piece of shit generic ability set ever. Most of the animations don't work properly and it just keeps cutting from one pose to another. There is an old system in place, but it deals less damage than the new one.

Tons of pay 2 level up systems are in place. This dude literally spent 6 hours of buying experience: https://imgur.com/a/IN208

 

[Xe4]

I remember playing this in elementary/middle school. Good times, for sure. The grind for dragon gear really put me off and made me quit. Honestly, I just should have done more quests and leveled up/got money that way. But whatever.

 

[Welfare]

Runescape was amazing. Did nothing but play it for days, and actually bought the member subscription for it. I still remember a lot of the sound effects and know most of the map by heart. What a great way to spend my childhood.

I tried getting into Runescape 2, but just couldn't. Haven't tried 3 yet.

 

[Final Verdict]

I agree OP. I used to be super addicted to the game, but left after the combat changed.

It just didn't feel the same after they took weapon specials away...

Anyways, I did really appreciate the awesome quest that they did. I think that was my favorite part of the game.

 

[Sciz]

I agree OP. I used to be super addicted to the game, but left after the combat changed.

It just didn't feel the same after they took weapon specials away...

Those are back, fyi.

 

[Tuck]

They never finished that damn elves quest line.

EDIT: Oh snap, they did! Years later.

 

[cyborg009]

They never finished that damn elves quest line.

EDIT: Oh snap, they did! Years later.

Did that giant crystal area ever open up?

Edit: This made me remember the Underground Pass quest. That quest was just awful right next to monkey madness.

 

[Vashetti]

Only played because the first guy I ever fancied was a Runescape fan

 

[Sciz]

Did that giant crystal area ever open up?

Yep. It's stupidly good for almost everything, too.

 

[Tuck]

Did that giant crystal area ever open up?

Yeah I just checked - looks way different than I was expecting.

I remember being so excited to see inside the Elf city when I was a kid. But I grew up before that day came.

 

[OldAsUrSock]

The '07 Runescape and Runescape 3 are still better than the majority of MMOs. While I may be in the minority of hardcore Runescape players(Ex-hardcore more like) that like Runescape 3 more than '07; what separates Runescape apart from many other MMOs are the quests and player economy. The leveling system is interwoven with trading and quests. People are chopping Yew trees for multiple reasons and not all just for the money that can be earned at the Grand Exchange.

I feel as though Jagex did take a wrong turn for the Runescape MMO, but with it being basically the only one of its kind that has a substantial playerbase it will have to do.

 

[max.renn]

one of the first games that i was truly addicted to as a young teen. I vividly remember the night i was tricked or manipulated into losing my Rune haly ( i believe that's what it was called), the scythe looking weapon, after that I never touched the game again.

 

[Octavia]

The original runescape was my favorite version. Back when the characters were 2d. I liked that pvp was everywhere, and basically it was like the wild west. I remember going into a store, and there was a dagger that would respawn every min. So I'd grab it and sell it. One time I walked in there, and 3 guys closed the doors around me. I stopped and said, "hi there" and then one guy took out a bow and started shooting me from across the room lol. Total noob trap.

My favorite activity was mining. I love the gameplay loop of mining, storage, refining, smithing, selling. Then just earning your way up through hard work to get a rune pick. I remember those iron fields just south of the one main town, and we'd all be competing to get them. Long nights of just reading the weird conversations between people as they mined.

 

[His Majesty]

Played Runescape since 2004 and I still regularly log in. People often ridicule Runescape for its graphics and immature community but it still is one of the best MMO's out there. The lore of the game is surprisingly well thought out and very well incorporated in the quests. This game has none of the crap that infests typical MMO's that flood the market nowadays. My favourite activity was pk'ing with my clan in the wilderness, had some intense and gigantic battles there. I also love how there is an actual consequence to dying, i.e. you lose all the stuff you are wearing and carrying. The skill system also allows for more sandbox and less themepark.

My old pk clan opened back up on 07 so maybe I'll check that out again. Both 07 and EoC still have a large enough playerbase (100k at peak hours split 50/50).

 

[EmeraldSwords]

Runescape has and still is the only MMO that I keep coming back to. I don't play Rs3 but old school rs is just as addicting as I thought. There's just so much to do, I loved the grind...it's definitely one of my all time favorite games.

 

[Lashley]

Probably my favorite time with gaming.

Me and 5 other friends would play this nonstop and help one another out. Bought membership when I was still level 3.

Loved it.

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

zezima my man, zezima. that is a name ill never forget and yes rs was the goat, i was an addicted with my little bro. i costed a lot of money to my grandparents because i played on dial-up lol (broadband was very expensive and not very spread)

i stopped when they ruined the wildy on free worlds, it was the only thing that made me go back from time to time.

 

[cyborg009]

zezima my man, zezima. that is a name ill never forget and yes rs was the goat, i was an addicted with my little bro. i costed a lot of money to my grandparents because i played on dial-up lol (broadband was very expensive and not very spread)

i stopped when they ruined the wildy on free worlds, it was the only thing that made me go back from time to time.

Ya zezima is the GOAT. But ya Jagex had no idea what to do with PvP. During one of their PvP updates people were make money from it which was crazy.(Hot zones)

 

[m_shortpants]

It was the first MMO I played. It blew my feeble 13 year old mind. I would play non-stop after school.

No regrets

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Runescape had amazing quests. The most intricate were pretty much minature point and clicks. Regicide, Mournings End Part 2, Desert Treasure... I remember the insane amount of bullshit you had to do for the ultimate quest at the time, Recipe for Disaster. Shit, I don't think I even got halfway through that beast. Some quests (MONKEY MADNESS) were tense as fuck since you could die at pretty much every point, and death was serious business in Runescape. I fondly remember the snow areas up north, the Swamp areas in the east and that goddamn desert in the south. That desert was death incarnate.

And I really loved the inspect mechanic on everything. There were tons of clever little pieces.

Also I feel like I should highlight the underappreciated the music. The music was so good for a Java client based game. Listen to these and try not to get hit by nostalgia -

Newbie Melody

Workshop

Forever

Autumn Voyage

Barbarianism

 

[Shining Sunshine]

I just remember my experience with Runescape is...

- ugly graphics
- janky controls
- saw bots at every mining node
- found a free mining node and got one shot by some raid boss thing

That was it for me. I don't understand the love.

 

[Eos]

First PC game that got me hooked
this was the shit back in elementary

 

[Sciz]

Also I feel like I should highlight the underappreciated the music. The music was so good for a Java client based game.

Music is arguably something else they're best in class at, even in the MIDI days. Not everything is a winner, but it's a remarkably good hit/miss ratio for a game that's accrued over a thousand tracks in the last decade and a bit.

The orchestrated versions they've been adding in lately are magnificent.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

I just remember my experience with Runescape is...

- ugly graphics
- janky controls
- saw bots at every mining node
- found a free mining node and got one shot by some raid boss thing

That was it for me. I don't understand the love.

I think most people remember the quests fondly, for good reason. As far as I know they are still the most in depth MMO quests, as they felt like actual quests and adventures.

 

[Tagyhag]

Also I feel like I should highlight the underappreciated the music. The music was so good for a Java client based game. Listen to these and try not to get hit by nostalgia -

Yep, that's easily the most nostalgic thing about it.

Harmony

Scape Soft

Start

 

[ohlawd]

not really that crazy but I thought it was; got 99 Farming, Agility, Smithing, Hunter, Thieving in one school summer so two months time. this was about six years ago. apart from Farming, the rest of those were in the 60-70s

I miss playing the game. I logged in just now and I've missed so much stuff I don't know where to start.

 

[Dec]

Yep, that's easily the most nostalgic thing about it.

Harmony

Scape Soft

Start

The new stuff is really good too

Memories of Guthix

Dying Light

 

[Demoli]

Yeah I just checked - looks way different than I was expecting.

I remember being so excited to see inside the Elf city when I was a kid. But I grew up before that day came.

I still play the game so I can add the Elf City was by far one the best designed updates ever, it's unreasonably good. There are even expansions coming next month to it, includnig new prayers and spellbooks.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

There seems to be more thought put into things like Dragon Slayer, Monkey Madness & Desert Treasure than the combined total of effort put into World of Warcraft's entire catalog of quests.

Runescape had amazing quests. The most intricate were pretty much minature point and clicks. Regicide, Mournings End Part 2, Desert Treasure... I remember the insane amount of bullshit you had to do for the ultimate quest at the time, Recipe for Disaster.

Hahaha to still get my work namechecked as a benchmark ~10 years or so later.
feelsgoodman.gif

There is a really weird backstory on how Desert Treasure ended up being made.

 

[hohoXD123]

Pretty sure I was addicted to this game. Didn't even pay for membership but got countless hours out of it.

 

[Xenoboy]

Haven't played it since Plauge's End released last year. Took a break so when I return I can do the rest of the quests.
This game will always with me, I'll never forget it. I had some of my most memorable in games with this game. Me and my friends used to make fun of each other. I was the quester and PvMer. The others were the mercher, Pker, Grinder, etc.

 

[Tenebrous]

Hahaha to still get my work namechecked as a benchmark ~10 years or so later.
feelsgoodman.gif

There is a really weird backstory on how Desert Treasure ended up being made.

You did well.

Seriously, I'd struggle to name a single World of Warcraft quest, and I've put well over 17,000 hours into that game. They're not quests - They're checklists.

 

[Princess Viola]

this game was my shit in elementary and middle school

i still log-in every few weeks too

 

[KJRS_1993]

Hahaha to still get my work namechecked as a benchmark ~10 years or so later.
feelsgoodman.gif

There is a really weird backstory on how Desert Treasure ended up being made.

You made those quests?
Desert Treasure was absolutely amazing at the time, me and my friends all played it together. Real good time, 14 year old me appreciates it!

Could I ask though - what happened to Jagex, really?

 

[Huw_Dawson]

Most MMORPGs can learn things from RuneScape:

1. If you hook it into the economy, give it a bit of content and a level unlock tree, players will cheerily do normally extremely boring things to make the overall economy more interesting. Jagex figured this out in about 2000.
2. If players want to grind, they will grind. You can spend the same amount of time making actual quest content, or you can make quests into the grind route instead. The advantage of the former is that you can make better quests and give your players either clear targets to work towards ("Oh man, I need X to do The Underground Pass") or give them variety. Why is it that Runescape actually has a more memorable set of stories than the vast majority of MMOs?
3. Tying levels into a simple XP bar is incredibly lazy design and almost all MMOs are punished for it. RS diversifies the levels so that you can level up doing many different things.

This was a game made in Java in Cambridge, and built such a dedicated studio that when they had to remove Wildy PVP to try and kill botting, people threw bricks through their windows.

Also, best MIDI music in an online game.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and RS broke a lot of ground in anti-botting measures. They had specific well-made pieces of content designed to test if you were a bot once in a while, which were basically fun surprise mini-games.

 

[wishdom]

Quests were so damned fun and the dialogue was full of references, they were certainly the best quests I've played in my whole gaming life.
My main goal was to complete all of them for the Quest Cape, which I managed to accomplish in 2008.
Then all that was left for me was grinding skills or the occasional mini-game, so I left (and all that free-trade fiasco).

It's really nice that they listened to the players and released old school server though.

 

[WillyFive]

Surprised an IOS or Android version hasn't been made yet. Loved the game, had a great world and soundtrack.

 

[Filthy Casual]

Oh man those old runescape tracks... Good times man good times. Was my first MMO as well, played it for hours on end with my mates for months in 07/08. One summer was just a runescape summer

 

[Princess Viola]

Surprised an IOS or Android version hasn't been made yet. Loved the game, had a great world and soundtrack.

I might be misremembering, but weren't they gonna release this game on PS4, Xbone, and Wii U or something?

 

[billsmugs]

The best thing about Runescape was definitely the range of skills. You could theoretically play for hundreds of hours without ever fighting anything, by doing mining, woodcutting, crafting, cooking etc, which is something I'd love to see in more games (including single player ones like Elder Scrolls).

I've kept playing off and on over the past 10 years, about 7,000 hours according to my Adventure's Log.

Is it possible to view total play time on accounts that have been dormant for years? I stopped playing around 2007, but I've logged in occasionally since then to see what's changed and I'd love to know how long I spent playing it. I tried emailing Jagex once a while back to ask if they could tell me but they didn't reply.

It looks like you have to buy membership to view stats, but if it shows full play time from account creation to present then I'd be willing to pay ~£3 for 14 days membership, just to see how many hours (days) I spent playing it as a kid.

 

[Burgess_101]

Whoever stole my Jaffaking101 account taught me a valuable lesson that day.

 

[ohlawd]

Hahaha to still get my work namechecked as a benchmark ~10 years or so later.
feelsgoodman.gif

There is a really weird backstory on how Desert Treasure ended up being made.

you had a hand in those quests?

dude

*bows*

RS, even I'm missing 50 quests now, has THE best quests in gaming. Desert Treasure was so captivating

While Guthix Sleeps (dunno if you wrote that) left me shook, man. I wonder if that quest line is finished. Probably not since it's damn important

 

[Noobcraft]

I might be misremembering, but weren't they gonna release this game on PS4, Xbone, and Wii U or something?

Iirc there was a working 360/ps3 version at one point but neither company would allow it to be published on their platforms.

 

[Xenoboy]

you had a hand in those quests?

dude

*bows*

RS, even I'm missing 50 quests now, has THE best quests in gaming. Desert Treasure was so captivating

While Guthix Sleeps (dunno if you wrote that) left me shook, man. I wonder if that quest line is finished. Probably not since it's damn important

That Quest line finished two years ago and started another one directly after. That quest was one heck of a quest.

 

[Dec]

Is it possible to view total play time on accounts that have been dormant for years? I stopped playing around 2007, but I've logged in occasionally since then to see what's changed and I'd love to know how long I spent playing it. I tried emailing Jagex once a while back to ask if they could tell me but they didn't reply.

It looks like you have to buy membership to view stats, but if it shows full play time from account creation to present then I'd be willing to pay ~£3 for 14 days membership, just to see how many hours (days) I spent playing it as a kid.

You get access to an Adventure Log of stuff you've been doing lately that has a time played counter. You need an active subscription to access the Adventure Log though.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Could I ask though - what happened to Jagex, really?

LOL I'm not going to touch that question with a bargepole.

 

[WildEagle18]

I love runescape when it came out. I remember my friends and I would talk about Runescape everyday. I remember when I first got to Varrock I wondered to much and get killed by those Mages where you do the Demon Slayer quest, I was so mad cause I lost majority of my bronze equip.

I remember the first time I got a membership, I was overhelm, there was so much stuff to do lol. I did the Monkey Madness quest and holy crap that was intense, my friends gave me tons of anti-poison potion. The quest in runescape were amazing, it's probably one of the reason I loved playing RS before.

My major accomplishment was probably being able to get Abyssal Whip and D.Claw.

 

[Plasmid]

I've been playing the old school version that came out a few years ago. The nostalgia is amazing.

Could I ask though - what happened to Jagex, really?

They got bought out of ownership by a VC company that insists on MTX throughout the games.

 

[satriales]

As others have mentioned, the quests were really good. I also loved the treasure clues which would hint at a spot in the world to dig for a (usually) decent reward.

When the Grand Exchange first came out I remember finding a quick money making scheme by purchasing Frogs Legs cheap from an NPC and selling them on the Auction house at a massive markup.

 

[Tagyhag]

I love runescape when it came out. I remember my friends and I would talk about Runescape everyday. I remember when I first got to Varrock I wondered to much and get killed by those Mages where you do the Demon Slayer quest, I was so mad cause I lost majority of my bronze equip.

I remember the first time I got a membership, I was overhelm, there was so much stuff to do lol. I did the Monkey Madness quest and holy crap that was intense, my friends gave me tons of anti-poison potion. The quest in runescape were amazing, it's probably one of the reason I loved playing RS before.

My major accomplishment was probably being able to get Abyssal Whip and D.Claw.

Combining all the time that I have spent playing Runescape on all my accounts, it's over 10,000 hours.

...And I STILL haven't done Monkey Madness.

This old school account will be the one.