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First of all, part of the title credit belongs to EvilLucario. Secondly, this post contains SPOILERS.
So it’s been a week since Twilight of the Gods came out. I left the quest a little optimistic since it was better than Extinction (then again Slime Quest was probably better than Extinction) and because I think I was really, absolutely clinging to the hope that maybe we’d get a quest that was a step in the right direction.
Kind? Of?
I’ll be honest. I am a crusty, crusty hag when it comes to this game. I made an account in 2007, stopped playing around 2011, logged back in during the Battle of Lumbridge, immediately logged back out after wondering what the f*ck Saradomin and Zamorak were doing on my lawn, and hopped back on in late 2019 to ride out the latest arc of quests. I consider 2008-2011 to be the golden age of Runescape, with great quests, minimal god involvement, and a solid balance of RP and skilling.
I am not happy with the story developments in the latest quest. At all.
It took me a bit to realize this, but honestly… why? Extinction was a sucky quest on nearly all fronts because it rushed through the story, had plot points that were present for little to no reason, was full of pointless exposition from characters I didn’t particularly care for, and ended in the most contrivedly anticlimactic way possibly conceived. (See my full rant about that quest here.)
TotG didn’t have as many granular issues as that. I loved the dialogue. I thought the character was back in the center stage. The locations and puzzles felt meaningful and interesting. And the World Guardian had more to say than just “hee hoo I got tricked again.”
It also rendered the Sixth Age an entire filler arc to an almost malicious degree.
First of all is the systematic de-Sliske-izing that’s taken place pretty much from Extinction onward. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think Sliske is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but we can’t ignore the history our character has had with him and the setups the writers seemed to be indicating to his presence in Azzanadra’s Quest and City of Senntisten.
But, nope! Stupid, stupid player! Those light and shadow voices that were in the shape of Sliske’s masks with his snarkiness and reason for existing (see: Endgame)? NOOOOOO those aren’t Sliske. How silly of you to think that! Oh, and Gregorovic, that guy who thinks you’re Sliske? He’s just craaazzzy haha. Now he’s a demon. And also gone forever.
Like… why? If you’re going to go through all the trouble of the setup in the first set of quests why do it? I’m well aware of Mod Jack’s contempt for the character, but going so far to root Sliske from the game completely feels more petty than story-driven.
The second, and biggest point, is what is basically the wide scale nerf of the Sixth Age as a whole.
So Guthix died and undid the Edicts… so we could just put them back in place? All the gods — including Azzanadra, who ascended for the sole and single purpose of him getting kicked out of Gielinor without any chance to explore his character, relationship to Zaros, or powers — are getting yeeted in a single questline. One. Unus. Een.
After a game of divine Wordle you find out that these characters are being banished into the netherrealm with a minimal amount of fuss (save for Zamorak) without the chance to explore the implications or anything. Characters that people have been following, chatting to, writing about, and debating over for TEN YEARS — zapped without ceremony.
(Never mind that it renders the entire argument that you can’t fight Seren in Extinction because the devs wanted to keep the gods a threat utterly nil. Why keep them a threat if they’re not around? Why not give us that epic boss battle if you’re going to kick them out anyway? Nope. Egg Plinko.)
So many storylines have been left hanging. What the hell is Zaros doing? How would he respond to Azzanadra’s godhood? What about the Temple Knights’ betrayal? What the hell is the deal with Aeternam? What about Armadyl’s search for a home for the aviansie? So many things that were left hanging are being rapidly swept under the rug in an effort to tidy up as fast as possible.
Then comes the World Guardian.
Well, former World Guardian.
MMORPGs are supposed to be theoretically perpetual, and it makes it harder when you have a central character doing all the Big Stuff. Even so, people get invested in that character over time. I’ve heard the argument of power scaling being thrown around, but that’s already happened in-game — Corp Beast was one of the most powerful bosses in the game when I left. Now people AFK him with a wheel of cheese.
A lot of players I know don’t see their character as an avatar, but their own hero with their own quirks, backstory, and decision-making process. It honestly makes the game more lively for me and has lent an extra element to the quests I’m doing.
I recently ran a poll on Twitter asking players with a similarly character-driven approach to questing what they see their adventurer doing after de-World Guardianing themselves.
About 60% said they’d go on adventuring like normal. Cool. But a solid chunk — 40% — didn’t see it that way.
They saw their character dying or sacrificing themselves. They saw their character retiring or not going on adventures anymore. A few (including anonymous comments I received separate from the poll) said they would simply ignore the latest developments and continue to be the World Guardian as if nothing happened.
40% of the people I polled see their character — one that they’ve probably invested in since they’ve started playing — stepping off the ride. What does that say for the story? How invested do you think those 40% are going to be in the quests moving forward? While I know there are those in that group who will remain invested in the NPCs and other story arcs, there are many others who have lost that connection between themselves, their character, and the game.
The Sixth Age happened whether the mods like it or not. While I still have mixed feelings about the decision to kill off Guthix and introduce the gods as active players into the story, that dynamic was (and is!) a huge part of RS3, its lore, and its questing community.
I’ve been a part of that community and I’ve seen how people have woven their own personal character’s stories into the development of it — how they’ve gone from being an adventurer running around shearing sheep and fetching eggs to becoming guardian of Gielinor. I’ve seen such cool takes on World Guardian powers, character designs, the interpersonal stories people weave between their characters and the NPCs, and so much more. It’s what got me back into writing creatively and creating my own characters, and it has brought me so much joy and energy both in the game and out.
Now I see those stories ending. Not out of spite or lack of creativity on the players’ part, but because the natural arc of the story has taken such an unnatural and illogical turn. (And also, after two bungled quest arc finales, sheer and utter heartbreak.)
I understand the writers wanted to (sensibly) de-escalate after a cosmic-level threat. Throwing a ten-year-long story into the garbage — with contempt — is an utter insult to those who have invested themselves in and become attached to Runescape’s lore. There’s already a Sixth Age-free version of Runescape: It’s called OSRS. You can even play it in HD now.
I don’t know if it’s because the writers couldn’t think of anything better, or because whoever is calling the big shots on the story movements has a personal vendetta against the Sixth Age that they have finally enacted on, but whatever the reason is — it’s not a good one. You’ve pulled the plug on this in the worst way possible, and while I’ll keep an eye out for the quests ahead, I’m not sure if I’ll be as interested in them as I was before.
Do better, Jack.
Tl;dr: Wanted better quest than Extinction, got Sixth Age rendered null and void.
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