fair warning, this is a bit rambly and stream of thought, while also being about what i was doing while playing one night

i've been on and off playing oldschool runescape since the very first day it came out (which is kind of unreal to think about, because the version of the game that's... a backup restoration of an old version of runescape - well, it's now been running longer than the original game had been around, when the backup was made!!! guh!!! i didn't even know how to structure this sentence properly!!!)

my main account is relatively beefy - no 99s or crazy cool gear or anything, but i have a quest cape, which is cool and i'm =:> abt this

on the side and very infrequently though, i've been playing a little bit of an ultimate ironman account (can't trade with other players, or use a bank to store your items) and it's been interesting



it basically forces you to play the game in a very different way, and in some ways it feels very old mmo - you're engaging with the world, and while it sucks to not have much use for the MMO part of the game (until you're skilled and high level enough for raids with friends or whatever, which is a pretty fuckin' huge time investment even without account limitations), being on the free to play worlds has been kind of contributing to the feeling - i see people hanging out and chatting, or training something in a TOTALLY inefficient way, or walking around with friends or whatever

the member's side of the game is a little less like this - people are generally polite if you interact, and there are multiplayer things you can do with others (not to mention the people who idle at the grand exchange (osrs' auction house) all day), but in general there's al ot less spontaneous interactions, and many parts of the (very cute and detailed) world

that brings us to my bloggy post about, of all things, me hanging out in runescape for a bit before bed - the client is shinier (and the community standard third party client is now semi official, even being optionally integrated into their new launcher) and the world is a lot more known, but i'm pretty much playing the game the same way i did when i was very young

this game holds -some- personal meaning to me if that wasn't clear, lmao - hence the rambly description while i play and write (more on that later =:o )

so i logged in, and remembered i was midway through a quest that gives a ton of smithing xp, classic noob stuff - the problem was that i logged in and realized, i had probably logged out last time as i had hit a slight wall on the quest

i needed to get two iron bars to progress - technically one, but thanks to a trick, i could get a copy of the quest item (a neat sword for low level players that you normally just give up to end the quest)

this sounds kind of mundane, but i love that - items in runescape aren't like ffxiv or wow, where they're just entries in an array; they're - well. they are that, i guess. but also they can be physically placed in the world; "drops" are *literal* in runescape - you have to pick items up off the ground to obtain them after killing something

it sounds small but it does wonders for making the game feel like a -world- - herbalism in wow involves using a menu to craft potions (using herbs you obtain by clicking on a node and waiting a moment or two with a progress bar)

in osrs, you obtain herbs (as drops from monsters or obtained from the farming skill, etc.) and mix them in vials (by using the herb on the vial item), then add secondary ingredients, and watch your character mix the potions - the animations are simple, sure, but they're -unique- for every skill interaction like that, and that goes a long way!!!


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it feels like an ideal mix between an older, more 'immersive' mmo - back when they were designed more to feel like living, actual worlds, and the other players were meant to contribute to that feeling, even if the amount of things you can technically do together is more limited than a (now) traditional themepark mmo. this isn't a criticism of new mmo design; i'm a big fan of ffxiv! it's just a market that's moved on a lot - games are more respectful of your time, generally; runescape is a strange beast in this landscape, because time investment is a huge part of the game, but it's also relaxed enough (most of the time) that you can sort of play it in the background, which i adore

also, bonus points: the game's community is... a mixed bag... but the devs have shown a strong commitment in the past couple of years to some nice inclusivity stuff - it doesn't feel weird, it's just small things like a character mentioned to have a same sex partner in passing; it's nothing major, but their pride event last year was extremely explicit, with a new holiday item and livestreamed parade in game - sounds like it isn't much, but this is a game where a non zero amount of people counterprotested the parade in game :x the community definitely needs some exposure therapy to a degree, although things are looking much more positive these days

anyways, so now that my tangents are done - i need two iron bars, right, so i walk up to the dwarven mines - i've got some runes to practice magic with, so i start killing dwarves for an uncommon potential drop, taking breaks between kills to recharge hp and write a bit





ironically, it would be pretty easy to just get 15 smithing and make then myself, but i'm doing the quest to get the smithing xp reward - that feels silly, so this way i'll train up another skill that i'll need a lot in the future

i smiled and listened to the music (osrs music is nostalgic for me, but also genuinely fucking good, and there is a LOT of it as it's all midi stuff in this game) and farmed some dwarves - i got one bar, but decided to back off for a bit as i was out of food (eating food heals you) and health



i passed by someone in a cool looking witch costume, so i took to my keyboard and questioned them about their fit - they stood there, silent, not respoding for an age and a half. however just when all hope seemed lost and i walked away...




as i walked away, i briefly considered saying something along the lines of "can't wait to blog about this", but even the Terminal Bit Generator in my mind knew that was a -bit- much

i walked to varrock and stumbled onto the halloween event - every year in osrs there are a few small holiday events, but unlike most mmo holiday events they're almost always unique and at least slightly engaging



this year's is adorable!! normally part of the reward for completing a holiday event is unlocking all previous event items for said holiday - this time, though, you're given access to the previous items immediately, because the event this year is trick or treating

you have to wear at least 3 pieces of 'spooky' gear from previous events to collect candy from npcs, which can be exchanged for rewards - this means everyone in the f2p worlds is hanging out doing stuff in costume, which is kind of fun and cute and sells the festive vibe really hard?? i'm not normally this interested in holiday events

...the witch fit being a reward is a good motivator to care, though

speaking of, one of the npcs who gives a big drop of candy is hetty the witch, an npc who helps you in one of the game's easiest and simplest quests - but the game acknowledges if you've done it or not with some unique and cute dialogue anyways, which is a trend that they do for a LOT of npcs - quests in runescape are a different beast in a lot of ways, but if i get on that topic i'll be gushing in a notepad doc until 1am

i adore the conversations with the npcs; there are a couple of named npcs who often address you in events like this as if you know eachother to a degree - it's nothing particularly exciting or novel, but it just makes me smile at how the interactions are usually positive and silly; the game can be serious during quests, but otherwise it's a pretty lighthearted world (well. we don't talk about varrock having run down buildings the commoners live in because they're all broke. or how megafucked everyone in morytania is. or how there's a fascist-esque racist gang that wants to exterminate monsters hiding under lumbridge. or- ugh, see, i'm getting sidetracked talking about the quests and they're actually really good and the setting is just so GOOD damnit i need to get candy from party pete, hang on dear reader

this event is actually really fun, you can engage with the trick or treating with npcs or just chop trees/mine/catch fish to passively gain treats; and there's a few npcs who give you enough treats to get the new outfit almost immediately if you want it (while having a few bonus tradeable rewards if you get even more treats). there's also a shared community goal, so getting further treats is contributing to that

f2p is rad as hell, i just see people playing with friends and talking - honestly rare for a lot of mmos these days

i'm going to call it here on this blog thought post thingy, but yeah, osrs is a good game and has a pretty good future ahead of it imo, especially with recent moves by the dev team (that i don't feel like summarizing right now =:p ) - hopefully you found some of it interesting; i'll report back about the quest, dear reader =:>


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