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Rifleavenger
May Member 2022

Rifleavenger

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You're guilty of some colossal hyperbole here; there are several planes of horrifying non-Euclidean geometry between Rondstat's rewrites and Lovecraft. This isn't to mention that the gods being more aloof has no effect on their willingness to interact with the World Guardian, given his/her position, or even Jagex's ability to write them that way since aloofness is not an inhuman quality. I did not mean that Rondstat wrote them as Lovecraftian horrors. What I meant was that it is very hard to write an alien mindset on a character that has to be spoken to. So the more common options are a) make them essentially human or b) keep the alienness by making interaction rare to impossible (Lovecraft, and the reason behind why ME3 ruined the reapers). Runescape cannot do the latter and keep the 6th age plot anywhere near similar (though I do dread them seemingly NOT doing this with the Elders).

As for the gods still interacting with the World Guardian, in Rondstat's suggestions having the gods NOT talk to the player as much featured very heavily. As for having all of the gods be given human-style aloofness, it'd seem a bit redundant to me to give so many characters the same trait. Also, if Jagex wants an "all sides are right" story, they cannot make every god not named Guthix a distant prick. Rondstat's suggestions would almost certainly tilt perceptions towards the Godless/a story where one faction seems to be the clear protagonist. Which I could respect, don't get me wrong, but it's not what Jagex is aiming for. They seem to want every side that isn't a designated villain (Bandos?, Tuska, Sliske) be sympathetic while still having flaws. And they haven't done a terrible job at that.

Still, perhaps it is weak criticism. I'll admit as a book, or a movie, or an anime, or a single player RPG I'd pick Rond's piece over RS3's. But as the plot of the point and click MMO I've played for nearly one and half decades it doesn't sit right with me.

25-Mar-2017 07:37:21 - Last edited on 25-Mar-2017 08:02:57 by Rifleavenger

Raleirosen

Raleirosen

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Rifleavenger said :
Rondstat would have a setting with uncaring, thirsting gods that cannot appear to the player as anything except monsters (since by this script they'd have littler interest in talking to us), completely torn by war, unyielding monsters even stronger than them, and unfathomable aliens that eat planets far stronger than all of them put together. It would also cover the entire planet, since it's an all consuming god war. Meanwhile silly penguin quests are still being released alongside this. I doubt we're reading the same posts, then... to me it seems like you're taking Rondstat's suggestions to their most violent extremes. For example, not all the gods are uncaring, therefore not all of them are straight up monsters (e.g. Saradomin); the god wars wouldn't necessarily cover every corner of Gielinor (due to the nature of the gods focusing on certain areas, as well as Jagex's inability to put everything in-game at once). And like I said, I don't see an issue between penguins and a dark storyline. RuneScape has handled that before.
Rifleavenger said :
Sure, but it's what a game where your character can master every single trade they set their hand to, no-sells some of the most powerful entities in the setting, and in-universe cannot die is . It's not becoming anything different anytime soon. I don't see how a darker story that makes the player feel less powerful is impacted by those considerations. The trades have nothing to do with world war and god politics, the no-selling wouldn't necessarily be an issue in Rondstat's rewriting (and in any case have plausible in-game explanations), and player death doesn't need to be threatened for dark story events to have emotional impact. Patrolling Lore FC almost makes you wish for a Great Revision.

25-Mar-2017 08:11:16 - Last edited on 25-Mar-2017 08:16:25 by Raleirosen

Raleirosen

Raleirosen

Posts: 5,069 Rune Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Rifleavenger said :
As for the gods still interacting with the World Guardian, in Rondstat's suggestions having the gods NOT talk to the player as much featured very heavily. As for having all of the gods be given human-style aloofness, it'd seem a bit redundant to me to give so many characters the same trait. Also, if Jagex wants an "all sides are right" story, they cannot make every god not named Guthix a distant prick. Rondstat's suggestions would almost certainly tilt perceptions towards the Godless/a story where one faction seems to be the clear protagonist. Which I could respect, don't get me wrong, but it's not what Jagex is aiming for. They seem to want every side that isn't a designated villain (Bandos?, Tuska, Sliske) be sympathetic while still having flaws. And they haven't done a terrible job at that.

Still, perhaps it is weak criticism. I'll admit as a book, or a movie, or an anime, or a single player RPG I'd pick Rond's piece over RS3's. But as the plot of the point and click MMO I've played for nearly one and half decades it doesn't sit right with me. I retract some of my earlier comments, you're correct about Rondstat wanting less player-god interaction. I glossed over some of the earlier posts from January and interpreted those points as a simple change in the gods' attitude, not necessarily their behavior (i.e. the gods coming across as more alien in their dialogue rather than not talking to the player at all). That aspect does seem very Godless-oriented... though of course, the Godless are barely present in the current incarnation of the game, so Rondstat's revisions might be what's needed to make their cause seem even slightly worthy.

Bottom line that I think we might be able to agree on is that Jagex's storytelling has been severely lacking, to the point where the fact that RuneScape is an MMO (which places many limitations on really quality storytelling) is no longer an acceptable excuse. Patrolling Lore FC almost makes you wish for a Great Revision.

25-Mar-2017 08:24:01 - Last edited on 25-Mar-2017 08:27:28 by Raleirosen

Rifleavenger
May Member 2022

Rifleavenger

Posts: 1,381 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Well, while I won't change my opinion (better overall writing than the actual story, but I don't feel it fits and some of the characterization changes are strange imo; Armadyl allying with Zamorak in Endgame just because the former can't work up the will to attack the latter?), I'll concede I've little to back it up. Rond's storyboard would not preclude nuance in favor of grit in a finished draft. I'm a scientist, not a writer or literary critic, so my knowledge and ability are wanting; I haven't taken a literature course since High School and I'm halfway to my PhD.

Raleirosen said :
Bottom line that I think we might be able to agree on is that Jagex's storytelling has been severely lacking, to the point where the fact that RuneScape is an MMO (which places many limitations on rea Oh, I can agree to that wholeheartedly. It compares very unfavorably to, say, Final Fantasy 14 where the writing has actually improved greatly over the span of the game.

25-Mar-2017 08:31:20 - Last edited on 25-Mar-2017 08:35:00 by Rifleavenger

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