For probably the 4th time now, I recommend Runescape to any old school UO players. I can't stress this enough. It's essentially UO+++ for free.... (Even the non-members free game is infinitely better than UO) but when you pay your $5.99 a month, (Yes $5.99), I assure you, you won't be bored for a long, LONG time. I'm about to close out my second month in this game and the amount of content, (And game mechanics) I haven't taken part in yet is still WAY more than any MMog I've played previously. Every other MMog since UO? I rarely MADE it to two months, but even if I did, the shine had flat out come off of it. This game takes Ultima Online and turn it from an idea to a thesis.

Caveats. Graphics whores need not apply, (Although when you actually spend a little time in the game, you start realizing that "every" area, creature, item etc is carefully handcrafted. I will say this, Java game or not, the graphics are infinitely better than even the current UO client and the creativity put into pretty much EVERY graphic is far and beyond any game to date..
The second caveat? Be prepared to deal with a ton of ignorant, bad spelling, rude, ornery and downright annoying children that are the majority player base of this game. Not because this is a child's game, but I would assume, mainly for the fact it is free to play and even the members version is only $5.99 a month. I've been a "gamer" since 1982 and an MMog gamer since 1997, so when one of these children who weren't alive yet when UO released calls me a noob, it makes me want to hunt them down and skin their faces. Ces't la vie.
Cursing in this game is a no no. (And the chat filter is so over engineered that some random words you could only "dream" were obscene get ****'d and the little pricks who play this game are VERY reportaholic. Most of you know me, you know I've played or beta tested damned near every MMog, but I can happily say that this is the best damned MMog I've come across since UO '97. Period.

I'd turn this into a proper review for you guys listing every feature that transcends even the current crop of MMog's (Age of Conan, War, Wow, etc etc) but there are simply too many features to pull this off short of writing a novella. Just a sample. Quests in this game are NOT step and fetch it, or kill x foozles. This game currently has 150 or so quests, BUT every one has something far beyond an exp or gold reward. Most open up new parts of the game, be they areas, equipment, emotes....Christ. Quests in this game provide tangible benefits beyond exp and gold.
Skills. Every skill in this game, (There are 24) is damned near a game in and of itself. Think I'm exaggerating? Find the Runescape wiki and read up on "any" of the skills and realize that for the majority, from lvl 1-99 (Think 1% to 99% in UO terms), each lvl of each skill gives you something new to do, something new to be. Are you a powergamer? Found Gm'ing skills in UO too easy? Try 6 months-ish to GM ONE skill in this game. But see? it's never a grind. NEVER. There are too many frikken things to do for any one part to become a grind. This game has a stable economy in large part due to the revolutionary anti-macroing systems put into place in it. Not only are they effective, they are fun, AND profitable. If MMog's were movies, the Devs of this game are all Scorseses, Spielbergs, and Lukas's. Like catching mobs in game geometry and ranging or Maging them to death? Not a bannable offense on this game. Most areas have "built in" parts that "allow" you to do this. Like I said, in this game, GMing is HARD.

Now I have this to say, this game has a large area, (comparable to the size of the "normal" world), called The Wilderness which prior to me joining the game was open, full loot PvP. Recently, this was scrapped in favor of full on PvP servers. The PvP worlds are still fairly new and finding their niche, but essentially, each is the equivalent of UO during server maintenance wars. I'm not counting the pvp mini-games which are each engaging in and of themselves, but for now, In UO terms, you stand around outside Trinsic or Brit bank (Lumberton and Varrok) and pvp nonstop. I'm sure there's gankage/PKing outside of these areas but for the moment, on PvP worlds, that's where it's at. Depending on how long you spend either PvPing or just playing the game in non-safe areas on PvP servers, your PvP "value" goes up, (Also dependent on how much wealth you are carrying or "risking" on your person), and the "drops" you get from pvp are scaled accordingly. So PvPing is both "I may get this guys stuff" AND a scaled PvE drop. So think of it as a hybrid PvP/PvE.
Oh, did I mention that there are 150ish servers and you are free to log on with the same character to any of them any time you log on? Want to pvp? Log onto server 23 or 65, want to play a specific mini-game? Log onto the sever that the majority play that game on. Mix and match to your hearts delight. Want to find a specific item to buy but not having any luck? Log onto Server's 1 or 2, (Which are essentially dedicated Trade Worlds). Also, the "Auction House", called the Grand Exchange in this game, is linked through all 150 servers, so whatever you're selling has an average of 130,000 potential buyers at any one time. Prime time weekends? Think 300k. (There's very little waiting around for shit to sell in this game compared to say, WoW or any other MMog) Ok. I fucked up and wrote a damned near full review. I blame beer. But realize, I've only touched on maybe 5% of this game. Am I a fanboi? Damned straight.

A couple of links to whet your appetite....


http://runescape.salmoneus.net/quests/

http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/RuneScape_Wiki

P.S: Being a browser based game, there ARE no expansions to buy, all the new content comes free (Or with your $5.99 a month). And trust me, there are additions and improvements EVERY week. Plus Plus moment? Jagex's new game, Mechscape, (For the Sci-Fi crowd) Is supposed to release this month. Expect double-plus good entertainment values if Runescape is any indicator.


P.P.S: Whoops, this was supposed to be in the "So what are we playing now" thread. Drunkeness-- Also, Ras, since there's never any frikken front page updates, feel free to edit this and throw it up if you want. I was going to write an in depth review but this is about the best I can pull off currently. (Too busy playing the damned game.....)

I frikkin' hate you, Zen. Now I am thinking about playing this because no install, etc. You suck. So much for my Gran Turismo/Fallout 3/FF Tactics gaming. You bastard.

While I'm still a WoW addict, I just realized I could play this on my work computer while on trips and the company would be no wiser. Oooooo tempting. I might have to dabble with this...

Reading the wiki on this and pretty interesting. Tell me, can I max out all skills or is there a cap a la UO?

Also, see any issues for an 8+ year old to play this?

Edit: spelling

If there's a cap, I haven't run across any word of it. From what I understand, you can GM all 24 skills if you have 3 or so years to do so. It's actually, (To me) kind of a negative. I bought a new account a couple days ago to make a dedicated Miner/Smith....but when i logged on my main, realized that he already had both better Ming/Smithing but had high enough magery to port around instead of running around with the new guy. As for an 8 year old playing? Sure. If you ask me, that's about the average age of the player base. lmfao I actually ran across a FIVE year old playing the other day. Guess they start em young these days. I catch no end of hell when I admit that I'm 36. Apparently these kids think that gaming was invented in the last 5 or so years and that "Big People" aren't allowed to have fun. Yet another reason I want to skin them alive..... I actually had one tell me "Why don't you go play WoW with the adults and stuff....." My reply? I got bored with it after a month and a half....

Portaled!

How's anyone going to find it in that portal mess. First time I saw it the other day, I thought bob had fucked up the board again and didn't pay it any mind. GIVE ME THE FRONT PAGE THAT NO ONE READS! (It will impress my wife....)


Also: Next up from the Drunken Zen factory, the balls out, awe inspiring drunken review of PoxNora. (If I can ever pull myself away from Runescape)


Ya know? it's not a bad angle. Slog's review of War? Drunk. My review of Runescape? Drunk. Maybe we should just do drunken game reviews. it's an idea anyway... (And I'm often inebriated)

Frontpaged, you big vaginaman.

Write more drunk stuff.

If this gets 4 or 5 "adults" to come play, I will consider it win. Seriously, it's an excellent game, but with god as my witness, it makes me want to beat my future children. (And they aren't even conceived yet......) I mean seriously, I can write an entire other article about how incredibly rude, offensive and ignorant the people (Mostly children) are in this game. You'd swear they were raised on UO '97 they are such grieftastic little bastards. <----- I take this back, after spending 30 or so minutes reading the Darkfail forums to see what's up 3 weeks post-release, I am now realized that the kids on Runescape are, in fact, a bunch of well mannered saints. My bad.


Ras: You didn't put up the Runewiki link (Scratch that, you put up the Runewiki link linked to the Comments link. (WHO'S the drunk fucker here???) Also, any question anyone has, I'd be happy to answer. Understanding of course that this game is incredibly complex and even two months in with 12+ years Mmog experience, I've still only scratched the surface.

Incidentally, Oxen broke her MMO cherry on UO and my wife is breaking hers on this game.... Teaching MMog's is HARD!!!! lol

So wait is there PVP on every server or has it been relegated to only a few Abyss like gankfest thunderdomes servers?


Just played for the first time, fighting a scorpion with a n3wb sword is unfair to some.

Just curious wtf does GMing logging bring you? Or GM fishing? Just curious.

Looks very promising, though I hate the camera angle system.

Any guild suggestions?

The game has a ton of built in mini games 5-6 of which are PvP+ so yeah, "every" server has pvp to some extent or other. Check out the Runewiki and look up Clan Wars, Soul Wars, Castle Wars, Stealing Creation... etc etc. As for "open" Pvp? Yeah, Thunderdome. The higher your logging the better trees you can drop, hence the better bows you can fletch, you can also eventually combine it with fire making to make Pyres to burn shades (Which provides Prayer exp), Barbarian Pyre ships... There's a new mini event with Evil trees popping up that uses wood cutting to effectively "fight" them. Like I said in the review, There is really no (Taste ID) or (Herding) in Runescape's skills. As for fishing, food in this game takes the place of gheal pots in UO, so the higher your fishing, the better the fish, the higher damage healed "by" the fish.

http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Woodcutting

http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Fishing

And yes, took me about 4 days to get used to Arrow keying my map view and mouse to move/control etc. I really wish they would allow re-mapping of the view controls to Wasd, or maybe allow the mouse scroll button to rotate, but like I said, it becomes second nature pretty fast.

Couple of ideas to speed up your money.... Cross the bridge east of Lumbridge, follow the road a bit north and start killing cows, loot the hides and bones, bury the bones for prayer exp. When you have a full load of hides, go to the top of Lum castle and bank them, repeat until you have 50-100 hides, run north to Varrok and find the Grand Exchange (Big round shaped area nw of town, Pull the hides out of your bank in "noted" form (Center button on the bank box interface) and sell them en masse. Bam, you just made 20kish gold. Once you hit combat lvl20ish.... (Listed in the crossed swords interface where you change your weapon styles), Find Edgeville ( Right across the river from the Exchange) and enter the Edgeville dungeon, work your way north and East until you find the Chaos Druids, kill them for the herb drops (The herbs range from the lowest, Guam at 600ish gold an Herb up to Ranaar which is 6000+ gold per herb.) Between those two, you'll be n00b rich in no time. Also, use Runewiki and Sal's Realm, between the two, there's nothing about this game you can't find.

As for Guilds/Clans: I'm not sure how to "do" them. I know there's several clan based minigames but damned if I'm joining a clan full of 14 year old retards, so I haven't delved into them. lol Give me an idea of when you'll be on, (And which server) and I'll come friend you and maybe give you some of the junk from my bankbox (Which is overflowing). My characters name is Jimmywarlok.

Scorpions? Did you go through the East gate into the Al Kharid desert? That's the closest I can think of Scorpions being. Until combat lvl 20 or so, stick with Goblins,Cows and Chickens. My wife is like CL 50 and STILL loves killing Goblins. And Cows. (Women!)

That's a roger. I decided to make a mining mule, headed for the nearest mine I could find and got ganked by a monster before I got one ore. It was like being back in UO without the suburban sprawl.

Awesomeness.

Course I just lost all my newbie gear. But c'est la vie.

Do your noob mining in the two mines sw and se of Lumbrigdge at the corners of the swamp. Other than giant rats, you shouldn't have a problem. As for your noob gear, go to any of the skill tutors, Green star burst icons on your main or mini map, and they'll give you more noob equipment. Lumbridge has a forge to make ingots but to smith, you'll have to walk up to Varrok. Just forge your ores in Lumbridge, bank them then when you have 40-50, walk up to Varrok pull the ingots out and get to smithing. The southeast Varrok mine is good from copper/tin up to iron ore and a bank is in easy running distance. Also, don't forget to get better pickaxes as you level up. The better the metal of the pickaxe, (Or axe for lumbering) the faster you mine/cut. Once your combat lvl gets a little higher, the unicorns next to the southeast Varrok mine are good to hunt. They have 100% drop of Unicorn Horns (Which go 1k+ gold on the exchange) and they always sell instantly. Good early money. Bear this in mind though. There isn't much point in "mules" in this game. It's functionally impossible to pass items between characters so there not much use for multiple ones other than if you want to make like a Berserker Pure. (0 Defence and high attack and strength) for pvp. Also, this game has literally a ton of ways to travel, but most other than porting with Magery require quests to be done. The sooner you get your Magery up, the sooner you can port around instead of all that running nonsense. Ways to travel? Canoes (Lumberjacking), Faerie Rings, Gnome gliders, Gnome Spirit trees, charter ships, etc etc etc. There has to be at least 20 different modes of transport but the easiest is Magery. Also, there are three different Mage books, Standard, Ancient and Lunar although Ancient and Lunar are something even "I" with two+ months in game will probably have to spend another 3 months or so working towards. Also, Summoning is the kickassness.

http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Mining

So I've spent a few days slaughtering cows and muling their hides up to the Great Exchange. Somehow got to level 20 combat in the process.

It really is the closest thing to UO that I've played in a long time. Though the lack of p2p interaction on screen is still really odd to me.

But holy fuck the great exchange is such a great implementation of a central player run market, really a commodity exchange thus the name, it should be copied far and wide.

It's so UOish that I keep walkin away from other players at the bank out of habit. Even though Runescape wasn't insane enough to implement p2p thieving.

So far I'm making a balanced swordsman with little or no magic skills. Haven't even used a bow yet. If I could just find a warfork and a mount I'd be all set.

No idea why I haven't played this game before.

Yeah, I had to stop myself from making a "Vendorbuybankguards" macro. lol What do you mean by lack of p2p interaction? Yes, the Grand Exchange is the best implementation of of the "auction house" concept I've run across. Just having everything sell near instantaneously does it for me. Still waiting for some other oldskool UO people to get on, at least 8-10 of you so we can set up gank squads on pvp servers and do shit like Clan Wars and Stealing Creation. Since you're cl 20 now, you can do the pvp servers. My best advice is to log on naked and just run around equipping yourself off of the shit on the ground until you have some decent-ish gear and bank anything you can't use yet. I've found that fighting unarmed is actually comparable to the lower end weapons so pre-lvl 60ish, you can literally kick or punch people to death. (I've gotten a couple warns for yelling "I'm Rick James bitch!" while kicking people to death. I did an assload of Mining/Smelting/Smithing last night and am starting to be able to make my first steel items. I'm also dumping huge amounts of money into building my house and Summoning. My wife has like 300k in the bank because she never buys anything. lol So what time (Central) do you play? Give me your character name and the server you've settled on and I'll friend you and give you some armor and other crap. We play on the Texas members server and I do pvp on 23 and 65 but I've played on servers as far away as Netherlands without a hitch. Also, I found out last night that Ore nodes respawn on a sliding scale with server pop, so if you're going to mine, pick a server that is close to maxed out pop wise like 1, 2 or 3. Btw, are you doing freetoplay or did you spring for a membership? Just being able to play full screen made the membership worth it for me. The other skills and areas are just Lagniappe.

Nic? Anyone? (Hearing echoes.....)

Fine. SEE IF I EVER DO ANOTHER REVIEW!!!! :: Runs away Crying ::

:: Runs back crying ::

:: Falls down ::

Yep.

Runescape is the first real online game that I've played and I love it. It was easy to pick up and there are so many different things to do that its impossible to get bored. If you need food, you fish and cut down trees to cook the fish. What drives me to increase my skills is to be told that I don't have enough points to do a certain task. For the next three days, I will do that specific skill until I have those blasted points and Can do that task. Then I'm the top dog, but nobody else seems to care. LOL That's just me....hate to be told "no". You guys should give it a try. We can all get on the same server and mess with the people while they try to fish. fun, fun, fun.