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H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The following speculation involves spoilers for the newly released story in the Fort Forinthry series, and I'll be spoiler-tagging the contents of the early posts as such. You have been warned.

Here's my thoughts on Fort Forinthry and it's potential future so far.

1. The Raptor has some kind of backstory related to Misthalin. He's probably not ever going to tell us what that lore is, but he offers the player a pretty strongly worded "You don't know anything about me or my history" when the player suggests protecting Misthalin isn't something he would have any particular care for. A response that, for the Raptor, is seemingly a bit verbose and meaningful compared to his forward directions and terse manner of speaking. If this is a good guess, then our newly acquired head of the guard/Slayer Master is the perfect addition to our cast in this particular storyline.

2. Now, I understand that we just employed the Raptor to kill things in defense of Misthalin for some apparently unknown motivator mentioned above, and we might be able to hold our own in a major scrap, but when I heard we were hiring some guards, I was hoping for....I dunno.....more of them? We have four glorified club bouncers - and zero pairs of eyes on the north of the Fort's horizon. In exchange for the lack of numbers, we do get an interesting bit of history in that our new guardsmen were originally in a gang located in the Wilderness, but have a personal vendetta against Zamorak. But...seriously?

3. The guards being thin in numbers hurts in a number of areas. Mainly, because I had assumed they might have sourced our necromancy efforts insofar as being death fodder for the part of the skill that is related to Fort Forinthry in some way. Four cadavers doesn't really seem like a good amount to work with.

4. Finally, It is starting to look like the Fort is running out of space for additional buildings within its current layout...
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

12-Apr-2023 06:38:08 - Last edited on 12-Apr-2023 06:38:43 by H 1 L D A

E I E dInO
Sep Member 2022

E I E dInO

Posts: 226 Silver Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The Raptor is most certainly not just fighting for Misthalin. He is everywhere on Gielinor. He was even a limited time slayer master a few years ago when Jagex attempted to sell the Signature Heroes. The Raptor definitely should have a history and is significant like the other signature heroes. I think we will get a bit into the man behind that mask. Mod Jack is suddenly writing an article on the Raptor not without a reason. As Mod Pips said they are very serious about RS3 because of its IP and technologies. They want to do more. I'll think repackaging the signature heroes, including the forgotten ones like the Raptor, is a way to boost the values of their IP.

Zemouregal has given us a very clear message at the end of the quest. Their attack on Fort Forinthry is just a distraction. Necromancy is way bigger than that and all hands in Fort Forinthry can't merely stop it.

As the RS3 deves told us, the Fort Forinthry stories are related to the new Necromancy skill, but Necromancy is hardly just about Fort Forinthry. The first two quests of Fort Forinthry have served the purpose of providing us background lore on the new Necromancy skill. I think we are close to the final chapter preluding to the grand release of Necromancy.

12-Apr-2023 15:43:54 - Last edited on 12-Apr-2023 15:52:23 by E I E dInO

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

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I am ready to discover the Raptor is actually some NPC we know in the game.

EGW, and now Necromancy brought him back to defend Gielinor. It showed he is actually someone who cares about his world, although the other petty NPCs and bosses mean nothing to him.

12-Apr-2023 19:14:08

H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I don't think the Signature Heroes are really the best example of an area where RuneScape's brand is really improved. Ariane is really the only character who gets any validation at all, and it might be too late for a couple of them.

Owen? Guy had his quest series shelved after one entry, rendering him stuck with a zombified appendage given to him by his own favored deity's hubris.

Ozan? Put him under the ground in Menaphos so he can watch over a different method of training Dungeoneering and he might stay in there for as long as Jagex doesn't bother to finish the desert quest line.

Linza? Helped us fight a fish monster, and then became a Barrows brother after betraying us to Sliske.

The Raptor? Up until this week had more representation in limited events such as Gielinor Games and whatever that slayer thing was than he was present in the game, and he was in the Queen Black Dragon quest.

Xenia? Ariane straight up murders her after she murders some other wizard.

If you ask me, it would have seemed like most of them were forgotten up until they started packing them into the Elder God Wars plot because of the stakes for the world we all live in. Better late than never I suppose....

---

People seem to have mentioned this in multiple topics on this quest, but I don't think that Necromancy is a "smaller" update that is going to be limited to Fort Forinthry at all, but I don't think that the Fort Forinthry quest line, which will culminate with some tie-in to Necromancy according to Jagex, will have some grandiose reveal of a highly mysterious entity like Xau-Tak -unless- the story introduces us to the entity directly, much like Sliske's Endgame (a much more significant finale quest to a much larger arc than what Jagex seemed to verbally hint at for Fort Forinthry) did with the face-to-face reveal with Jas.

There was direct mention during production of the last arc (Legacy of Zamorak) that Jagex wanted to make things low stakes -for now.
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

13-Apr-2023 08:17:44 - Last edited on 13-Apr-2023 08:18:37 by H 1 L D A

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

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They haven't been putting much efforts into the Signature Heroes since their introduction, but they maybe doing more now. That's the point.

Remember, we didn't see Ariana's much before EGW, neither was the Raptor. But now we are seeing more of them in major events. Don't forget the Raptor has been the face of RS3 on Twitch for years. Then came EGW and Kerapac suddenly became the Signature Villain because of very high engagement. Perhaps now they are going to remaster the Signature Heroes.

13-Apr-2023 19:12:05 - Last edited on 13-Apr-2023 20:10:06 by Dilbert2001

H 1 L D A
Apr Member 2020

H 1 L D A

Posts: 1,666 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
I feel like Ariane had a bit of a "bridge" quest in Heart of Stone that transitioned nicely into Azzanadra's Quest and the Elder God Wars proper from the Rune Mysteries quest series, and it makes a difference in how I view her relative to say, the Raptor, who was in that one QBD quest and then spent his time making odd cameos in limited time events prior to Unwelcome Guests.

I want them to do better with them individually. Owen deserves to get his arm back if it's theoretically possible, and it probably isn't now that Saradomin is once again off Gielinor. When is Ozan gonna get to return to society and maybe pay off the kinda cute will-they, won't-they potential romantic arc with Leela?

Leave it to the player to give the Raptor importance, because Jagex had been loathe to before he stumbled into our Fort.

Finally, you mentioned Kerapac and I think he's a character that has been given significant justice lately, but also in the same vein as Ariane, where he kind of transitions from the introduction of the Dragonkin to the Elder God Wars plot nicely though bridge quests like Desperate Measures, which also features some compelling characters such as Thok, Hannibus, and Charos.

That's not even mentioning the classics! Zanik, now Queen Ellamaria potentially, Sir Tiffy and the Wise Old Man.

There are already "stronger" characters in the RuneScape property that exist. It's certainly good to see Jagex provide some real character behind the signature heroes, but it isn't as if "they need to improve those characters for the sake of the game's value!"

Spare me with that. The Raptor was the best choice for the part of the Fort they wanted to introduce, especially since we came off a quest that already introduced several new NPCs, following a story's beginning tale that does the same. It was a good time to bring some old faces into the mix. Plain and simple.
Quest Cape Owner since 2021

Maxed
- July 31st, 2022

14-Apr-2023 08:22:00

Dilbert2001
Jun Member 2006

Dilbert2001

Posts: 30,176 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
The World Guardian is definitely the face of the Runescape franchise. This game is all about the players, us. The World Guardian, Time Guardian, Duke of Forinthry or whatever title you want to call ourselves is going to get an iconic face later through Avatar Refresh.

All those Signature Heroes are only going to be our sidekicks. They are like Robin to the Batman, Kato to the Green Hornet, Iolaus to Hercules etc.

The Runescape franchise is a commercial product. What they sell is often dictated by what the consumers want to see. The RS3 team has shown this fact in a livestream when they told us why they scratched the old Hati and Skoll event and put Kerapac and the Dragonkin up a lot more often - the consumers asked for it. RS3 made the right choice evidently, as illustrated by their 18% and then 20% growth rate in the last 2 report years fueled by Archaeology and EGW, where Kerapac and the Dragonkin played a very significant role.

Going forward, I still see Dragonkin as a significant part of the game plan. RS3 just showed us "Other conspiracies below":

https://twitter.com/RuneScape/status/1646186956760424448?cxt=HHwWgICx-ZaUt9gtAAAA

There are likely more Dragonkin conspiracies below our player owned Fort. Consumers probably still love Dragonkin, even after Kerapac.

That's said, if the consumers like the Raptor, and the other Signature Heroes, we may see them being remastered into our iconic sidekicks.

14-Apr-2023 17:26:44 - Last edited on 14-Apr-2023 17:35:11 by Dilbert2001

Fox Totem
Dec Member 2023

Fox Totem

Posts: 1,896 Mithril Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
Original message details are unavailable.
The following speculation involves spoilers for the newly released story in the Fort Forinthry series, and I'll be spoiler-tagging the contents of the early posts as such. You have been warned.


Never mind that we do not have enough guards or that our fort is running out of room, why did we build it right under a steep hill? A hill that the Skeletal Horror is known to sometimes appear? (Will the Odd Old Man and his "research" and the origins of the Skeletal Horror be a part of the Necromancy lore?)

I have always been curious about The Raptor. When he first came out, I thought he might have been Robert the Strong in armour or a dragonkin in disguise / Ilujanka in hiding. (do not remember why or because of his name?) For awhile I even thought he was Nomad - since defeating Nomad was one of the few things that impressed him. I hope we learn who he really is. The point of the journey is not to arrive.

17-Apr-2023 02:40:10 - Last edited on 17-Apr-2023 02:43:56 by Fox Totem

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