RuneScape

THE BAD:
Some skills are just a 'grinding' feel
Quite a lot of the community's very unintelligent
Holidays morphing into chores

SUMMARY:
Well first off, if you think I have just started playing, no. I've been playing RuneScape for 5 years (almost 6 now) by stumbling onto the site. Its a very fun game and gives you a good fresh taste of fun when you start. If you play too much, you find yourself in a grinding coma. Also when you have a community such as Neoseeker, with a clan chat, its great fun. Considering most people in clan chats are not infantile, it gives you a on topic chat while playing. theres 400+ songs in the song player (though everyone listens to their own music) and you can see that it was spent a good deal of effort on it. Over all I'd say its a masterpiece, and with members, you add every little finishing touch of the mural.

Making money is relatively easy and you can find some methods fun. Considering the new 'Boom' of all the new players however, money making ways have depleted some. You can choose to go on a killing spree, getting rare drops, team up with your friends on a boss, or stay in your Player Owned House and merchant.

As said above, Player Owned Houses are a very nice and attractive reason to get members. Everyone always wants their own house, their style, and their parties, right? Why not do that on RuneScape? You can customize your house in quite a lot of ways, and even mount your ever so adored trophies. Theres also a combat room, and minigames to play with your friends in your house.

Though all this sounds good, all good things come to an end. There is always that bad chance that coming unprepared causes you a fatal death, or ending up with a party hat, and no way to sell it. Money making was mentioned in the second paragraph, and there almost is no end to it.

If your the all around, tough guy/gal you may want the brutal and strong armor. Say your more a bit of a 'sissy' you may want your average metal with a touch of gold or silver. And weapons are endless... You can choose from the Middle East Scimitar, the Northern Barbaric battle axe, the Abyssal Whip, the Granite Maul, and if your muscles are big enough, an anchor. Arrows, daggers, and spears can be poisoned to add a special affect to the damage. And though the player VS player in this is somewhat terrible, mini-games can always be fun. (Castle wars, Fist of Guthix, Tears of Guthix.

Skills, as mentioned are a big deal in RuneScape. All of them are different and you will find a use for almost, if not every skill. Some skills like firemaking, are easy. Clicks the logs, click the tinders. But takes quite a while to train. Others like Construction or Mining are difficult. You will have to be clicking numerous times and give 100% attention. Though they can sometimes be bought fast with money. IF you max out a skill to level 99, you are rewarded with a cape. Once you get your second 99 skill cape, all your capes will have a trimming on the edges.

Remember to always play safe, and don't run with spears!

THE BAD:
This could be taken as good or bad, but the game can be very addicting. You are always wanting that next best item or getting that next level in a certain skill. The graphics are not all that great, but they are half-way decent. Jagex is releasing a new graphics update which will add a more in depth feel to the game, adding more detail on the surrounding areas. The music scores in this game are also horrible, ugh. Depending on the area you are in there are different songs. By going to certain areas you unlock those songs, you cannot listen to them unless you have visited that area. You would be wise to run your itunes and muting Jagex's scores of music. They all sound like bad Mario songs, which in turn do not make them appealing or very catchy. In the past there has been a lot of bots, which are characters run by programs which get certain items for a person, even if the player is away from the computer. They tend to ruin the fun experience because you can be cutting logs and 20 level 3's will be there taking your logs. Another bad thing is the ammount of scammers. Before the trading update scamming was widely used by greedy players which, in the end, resulted in you being very sad.

SUMMARY:
I have played Runescape off and on for 4 years. It is really fun for awhile, it does get boring once you reach certain goals, you end up being really bored and selling all your stuff just to pass the time. There is a load of quests to do and items to obtain, but once you do all you can you can really just stand around with friends and chat, which can be fun to you, but for me it's a waste of time. Jagex usually updates their quest roll once-twice a month which can keep you on your toes. They are currently working on a graphics update which will greatly improve the look of the game, making it more appealing to the eye than the way it is now. Now it is a decent 3D model. Currently there is some good detail if you play the Hi-Fi version of the game. The Lo-fi version of the game gives you less detail on the scenery around you. You have the ability to do minigames such as castle wars and bounty hunter which can be a very fun way to pass your time. You can trade your items with other players, sell or buy things. Jagex recently updated it so you it is harder to get scammed when buying or selling rare/expensive items. I find it very good update showing that Jagex cares about the overall experience for their customers. Jagex recently took out "PK'ing" which stands for Player Killing. A lot of the players are very upset with this update, but I find it to be very appealing because I can now do treasure trails (which can be done by getting 'clue scrolls' from monsters) in the wilderness without fearing death. Speaking of monsters, Jagex has a large variety of monsters that you can kill. They can be found in various places of the map, ranging from dragons, to giants, to even cows. Jagex has the drive to make your online gaming experience with them more fun. If you like meeting new people from all over the world and reaching goals then you will truely love this game.

Here are a few screenshots taken in the past of my gameplay.

THE BAD:
= Lagg, very annoying at times
= The odd loser player you'll come across
= The wilderness

SUMMARY:
Runescape. A massive multi-player on line role playing game. Consisting of over 100 worlds, and 5 kingdoms, the main idea of the game is to train skills in order to perform and complete quests, battle monsters, and of course have fun.

SKILLS

Possibly the centre of the game, there are 23 skills in total, and all are very different. Each skill starts at level 1, and you must gain a certain amount of exp in order to advance to the next level, until you reach the max level of 99. The exp difference increases with each level, for example, from level 1 to 2 you need 83 exp, however, from level 98 to 99 you need 1.2 million exp, which may become a problem with some of the more repetitive skills.

The skills are divided onto two category's. Combat and Non-combat. Combat skills involve Attack. Strength, Defence, Hit points, Ranged (archery), Magic, Slayer and finally prayer.

In order to gain exp for these skills you need to simply attack a monster, and every hit you make you gain a certain amount of exp in combat skills. And each of the skills respectively play a different part in fighting.
Attack increases the AMOUNT of times you hit.

Strength increases how HARD you hit.

Defense reduces your CHANCE of being it (not what is hit)

Magic uses spells to damage your opponent, or heal yourself.

Ranged uses any type of weapon that can be thrown to hit your opponent over a distance.

Hitpoints are how many times you can be hit before you die.

Prayer is a more defensive skill, used to heal, or protect you from attacks.
Slayer is a skill in which you attack a certain amount of monsters, of the same monsters, to gain exp.

The higher your level the higher the effect of the skills. Increasing all of these skills will in turn increase your "Combat level" the max combat level a player can be is 126. So only 8 of the 23 skills are combat.

The non-combat skills offer an fantastic range of things to do. Most non-combat skills link together. For example, mining and smithing, you mine metal ores, smith them to make armour, and then use in combat.

Non-combat skills involve the following.

Runecrafting, make rune stones to be used in magic spells. (the higher your level, the more runes you can make)

Construction, allows you to build your own house using a variety of materials such as wood, marble bricks, magic stones, and stone.

Agility, the higher your agility level the quicker your run energy restores. Also high agility levels allow you to take short cuts to move around the world quicker.

Herbalore, use herbs and other random items in order to make potions, which can heal you, cure illness, restore prayer, give you energy back, or make you stronger.

Thieving, Pick-pocket NPC's around the world, or pick-lock certain chests for rewards like gems, money, or food. Certian NPC's give more money than others.
Crafting, allows you to make rings, amulet's, and other useful materials such as bow strings.
Fletching, involves making bows and arrows for use in ranged.
Hunter, this is actually a non-combat skill. You lay traps, for animals and bait it.
Mining, Mine metal ores to be smithed into armour or weapons, higher mining levels allow you to mine stronger metals.
Smithing, make ores into metal bars, to be made into armour and weapons.
Fishing, catch fish to use as food, to restore hp in battle.
Cooking, cook the fish as it cannot be eaten raw.
Firemaking, make fires to cook fish on, or light passage ways in dark caves.
Woodcut, cut down tree logs, and use in fire making and fletching, or construction.
Farming, grow your own food with seeds.

Skills can be enhanced in a variety of ways, they vary in difficulty and Patience needed.

MINI GAMES

The game offers many mini games that can keep you entertained, or take a break from repetitive skills such as mining. Again there are non combat and combat mini games, and the rewards all vary. From incredibly powerful armour, to normal hats.

The most notable is a game called castle wars, its a kind of 20 minute capture the flag game, between two teams of the main runescape gods. good versus evil, in a battle of fighting prowess. Its not rare you see the odd level 95 take out a level 115. All typed of combat are used in this game, Melee, Ranged and Mage.

Each mini game offers a reward, such as token's, that can be traded for special armour.

COMMUNITY

Well the game has over 850,000 registered members, and literally thousands of people log onto this game every single day. At peak times you can catch around 180,000 on at a time.
Players of all nationalities play this game, from American, to the U.k and Asian. You can use the community to your fullest, by trading items to help train skills, but remember that these 180,000 people are not a computer, they are people, and they are greedy, and they will try to scam you out of items in order to benefit themselves, always try and be 2 steps ahead of the community. It is VAST, HUGE, one of the biggest ever. There are good people and bad people, the scammers, and the Moderators, hand picked by Jagex that over see the game in order to keep the peace.

The official forums usually have around 2000 people on at a time, trading items or discussing the game, and this is the best place to go if you need help on how much items cost, or help on a quest. Parts of the community, such as Neoseeker, are people that have branched off and developed there own faction in the many of runescape.

There is a problem again with the community, it seems higher level players and low level players are at a constant war with each other. High level players have very good equipment and believe they should keep it as they earned it, whereas low level players believe they should share it. This causes many arguments

Pures are also a problem appearing, it seems many low level players are killing the higher level players, they appear to be a low combat level but actually have a Very high Strength level, and hit high unexpectedly

QUESTS

There are 116 Quests in the game, some can take half an hour, and others can take you 6 hours or more!
There is an option in the game to see all the quests and what levels you need to complete it. Some require you to complete certain quests before you can more onto the next one. And rewards come in all types of goodies. Notable ones are ancient magiks. VERY powerful type of mage attack. You can also get rewards such as teleportation, new clothing or exp in skills, or the ability to make items such as runes. They also make you a more independant player, relying on your wit and intellegance to help you complete it.

Some quests require you to fight legendary monsters, or solve puzzles. Once you have completed all the quests you can buy a very special cape from a NPC in order to show off your achievement, it also has a special animation to go with it if you choose to use it.

SPACE

This is an issue with all players, and Jagex has acted upon this problem to improve this. Each player has there own personal bank were they can store items in any number, up to over 400million of the same item can be stores, but it only takes up 1 bank space. But because there are so many items in the game, banks become full very quickly. Inventory space has improved over time, but there could be more.

MONSTERS

The game consists over a wide variety or monsters, of all different levels.
Some will occur randomly, and there level depends on what your level is. These monsters are usually powerful if not prepared, and most players run from them.

There are some monsters that have developed more than others, and formed a kind of spices in the game, the most popular and fear probably being the Dragonkin.
The weakest of the adult dragons can hit in the 40's, they are formidable opponents, and should never be taken lightly, one slip up and you will die. Drsgons come in different colour, from easiest to hardest it goes, Green Dragons, then Blue, Red, Iron, Bronze, Black, Steel, and finally The King Black Dragon, VERY powerful, but very valuable drops. he is around level 276.

Other feared monsters are the Chaos Elemental, in the wilderness, and uses magic attacks, can teleport you, and disarm you, he can attack around 7 people at once, so it is best to team him.
Possibly the most feared Monster is the Kaphite Queen, she is level 333, and uses, magic, ranged and melee attacks, and she even prays. She is so strong that you need special armour to even attempt to damage her. She drops an item worth MILLIONS of money.

There are easy monsters that can be used for training, but the higher the monster the better the items it will drop.

MUSIC

The game offers its own music that can be played at any time you see fit. In order to unlock new music you must travel to new areas, as only some is available, at the start of the game. Music can range from jumpy and bright, to dark, and mysterious.

WEAPONS + ARMOUR

The Game has ALOT of weapons and ALOT of armour, and they also pair up. If yo have a type of armour you can bet theres a weapon of similar type. Weapons and armour come in 6 main original types. they are,
Bronze (weakest) iron, steel, black. mithril, adamant, and rune.

In addition to this if you are a member, you can also get your hands on, Granite, rock-shell, The famed dragon armour, the powerful and ancient barrows armour, and the incredibly rare 3rd Age armour for melee.

Mages get a new set of armour that increases the magic bonus when using spells. mages get, wizard robes, mystic robes, infinity robes, split bark armour, barrows robes, lunar armour, Skeletal armour, and 3rd age mage robes.

And rangers get armour that increases there ranged bonus, which includes, leather armour, which can be studded, Green dragon hide, Blue dragon hide, red dragon hide, and black, dragon hide, they can also obtain some barrows armour, and spined armour from monsters, and 3rd age ranger armour, which is more powerful than most melee armour.

Melee fighters also get weapons such as axes, swords, maces, halberds, spears, and scimitars in the same types as armour, bronze to dragon, and barrows, and you need a higher attack level to wield a certain type. They vary in speed and strength. They can also get hammers, and a whip.

Mages get staffs of all kinds of elements such as wind, and fire, and wands.

Rangers get, long bows, short bows, composite bows, javelins, darts, throwing knifes, crossbows, a cannon, and the powerful crystal bow.

MYTHOLGOY

The game has fantastic mythology. Including Lancelot, Dragons, Magical abilities, Knights, decorated armour. They allow you to make your own clans, and the quests often revolve around a hero of some sort, which all adds o the med evil feel of the game...no matter how much its swayed from it.

IN CONCLUSION

+ Great cost, defiantly worth it.
+ Worth getting into.
+ Alot of people say this game is addictve, but only if you let it. Love the game, but don,t make it your life, and respect the players and you will get respect, and remember the more you put in, the more you get out.

THE BAD:
-Bad Apples
-Scammers
-Hackers
-Combat triangle

SUMMARY:
Runescape is a Java based game made by Jagex. Considering the technology, Jagex has pushed Java to its limits. Runescape is an MMORPG That has two versions. Classic, now closed to all newcomers, and Runescape.

Free worlds and Membership:
Runescape uses a very cool demo mode that is its own game in its self. You can make an account and log onto the "Demo" which is the free version of the game, With this mode you get access to a limited number of the features, but are not limited in time you can play.

If you choose to, you can dish a small $5.00 fee a month and get a Membership, with this you get full access to the expansive world of runescape, Including dragon and barrows armors, new monsters, new areas, and over 100 quests to complete, not to mention tons of minigames.

UPDATES!!!
First I will talk about the all important updates.
Jagex updates Runescape with new content Weekly. Most of these updates are for members, but every so often Jagex shows love to the free worlds. The updates span from graphical updates, tech updates, new quests and items, new areas and minigames, or some funny pictures and letters from fellow players. The updates can keep you busy and challenged.

GAMEPLAY!!
Gameplay in runescape is your basic point and click interface, with easy to use menus. The gameplay also causes alot of interaction with other players along with NPCs. You will find yourself constantly meeting and beating goals, only to set another one.


QUESTS!!!!
Personally my favorite part of the game. There are over 100 quests to choose from, With difficulty ranging from Newbies to true runescape masters. After completion of a quest you are awarded Quest points and a reward of items, experience, access to new areas, or New Magic Spells.

SKILLS!!

The skills are a main focus on runescape. Ranging from Woodcutting, to slaying rare beasts, From hunting odd creatures, to Making potions from herbs. The skills are easy to train, but can become tedious. Rewards for training skills are new abilities, new items, or a stronger character.


ITEMS!!!
The game of runescape could not function with out the items in game. Ranging from armor and weapons, to Herbs and potions, from bows and arrows, to rune stones and staffs. The virtual economy relies on these items. There are a few items considered as "Rares" that sell for outrageously high prices and are the dreams of every avid player.

STORIES AND CUTSCENES!!!
Many quests have fun stories and include cutscenes that will have you Laughing so hard you fall out of your chair.

EASY TO USE INTERFACE!!!
The interfaces are designed to lend a hand to any new players and allow easy navigation from your list of quests to your inventory. It helps the game flow at an easy pace. The website also features a forum and a hiscores page to help you in anything you need.

FREE DEMO!!!!!
If you can call the free version of the game a demo that is.... The "demo" includes around 25 quests to complete, A vast amount of armor and weapons, Many of the skills, along with a slew of areas and enemies to kill. The free Mode will have you begging for more, that and begging your parents for the $5.00 a month....
It gives a very good taste of the game, but holds enough back to keep you wanting that membership.


BAD APPLES......
It seems more and more players are becoming rude and discourteous in the world of runescape. Many players will throw the word "Noob" at you if you so much as ask for directions. Many players find themselves in arguments and fights at the drop of a hat, wether it is over who gets to kill a monster, or wether they won't agree that another player is right or not. Many players find it funny to rant their racial tentsions in game. Jagex is starting to crack down on these bad apples. Hopefully the situation takes a turn for the better.

SCAMMERS.....
Gold pieces are the life blood of runescape, And many players will resort to underhanded methods to get them. Scamming is the act of lying to another player to cheat them out of their hard earned money, It is very common to find players scamming or complaining about getting scammed. With some anti-scamming systems in place it is less likely to happen, but it still does. It doesn't look like its going to change any time soon.

HACKERS.......
Scammers are bad, but hackers are in their own world of bad... They use fake websites, and key loggers to get info on a players log in and password, then they strike, Logging into the players account and taking any and everything of value. Their are some precautions you can take, and some systems jagex uses to help, but some hackers still make it through.


COMBAT TRIANGLE.....
The combat triangle......The most important placement of the runescape world....At least it was... The triangle balanced the combat styles abilities. Rangers were weak to warriors, warriors weak to Mages, and Mages weak to rangers. But then Jagex released Barrows armor, This made warriors overpowered, then came ancient magiks, this made the Mages able to kill everything easily, The rangers however, are still on the short end of the stick as they are dominated by both warriors and mages...


FINAL SAY!
runescape is a great game, with constant updates, tons of quests, lots of skills, tons of items, and the free demo it quickly sinks in its hooks and won't let you go. But with many bad apples, scammers, hackers, and the fall of the combat triangle, Runescape is declining, and many players find themselves quiting or being discouraged from playing. But with no downloads necessary, along with no need for giving jagex an email address, name, phone number, or address to sign up and make a character, along with not paying a cent, it is still the best MMORPG out there....Just be prepared to be flamed by World of Warcraft players for playing runescape.

THE BAD:
Skills can be rather boring and tedious
So-so graphics
Combat is so-so

SUMMARY:
RuneScape is a brilliant game. It's a very large MMORPG created in Java. Because of this, nothing (such as combat, skills, etc.) can be very in-depth, but it's still a blast to do. RuneScape has a very large lists of skills to do, from fighting hand to hand, to using magic, to chopping trees, making bows and arrows, mining and smithing your own armor, fishing and cooking your own food, there's always something new to do. This is one of the great things about RuneScape; if you get bored of one task, do something else!

These tasks, however plentiful they are, can be rather boring, as they all primarily require just a few clicks of the mouse every now and then. You may be wondering how any of this can be fun. What's really great about it is the leveling up. As you'd expect, your skills start at level 1. As you use the skills, your level will increase, the highest level being level 99. As you increase your skills, new things will be unlocked. Examples are when you hit 60 Attack, you can wield Dragon Weapons, or when you get 60 Woodcutting, you can chop Yew Trees, which will grant you more money when you sell the logs.

RuneScape also has many, many quests (100+.) These are one of the main highlights of the game, as they require you to complete lots of puzzles, kill many very powerful monsters, go through strange dungeons, and use new devices and items.

Ultimately this game is very much worth trying out, mainly because it's free, and the requirements needed top play it are very low.

THE BAD:
Lag occurs often on a full server
Scammers and hackers aren't rare

SUMMARY:
Runescape, basically an online topia of awesomeness. When I heard about this from a friend a while ago, I thought, "Oh great, another online mmorpg." Now, my thoughts are completely different. This is an MMORPG like you've never seen. With all of the different levels that are neccessary for most parts of the game, it is sure to keep you in front of your computer screen for hours. There is anywhere from construction to firemaking to crafting to attack levels. There are millions of weapons to choose from. The smithing feature that allows you to make weapons is an excellent feature also. If you can't afford it, make it! You can spent countless hours wondering from one end of Runescape, to the other meeting various and colorful people and items along the way. You can never get bored. There is always something to do! Whether it is mining, or just trying to get your level up, there is never a dull moment in this game!

THE BAD:
Unfortunatly, on Runescape there are alot of people that will try to scam you out of your money or items that have taken you a long time to get. There are some other members that'll try and trick you into giving them your password, so you have to be careful on Runescape. Luckily, you can get guides on the internet on how to protect your account from being hacked, and from you being scammed out of money or items.

Another downside to Runescape is that if a server your own has a lot of members on it, you can experience some bad lag, which can be annoying at times.

SUMMARY:
Basically, this is a brilliant game to get in to, and you can get really addicted to it. The graphics aren't the best, but the gameplay is absolutely awsome, and the game does load pretty quickly, considering how big it is, and that you don't have to download it. Runescape is especially fun to get into if you have friends who play on it, who you can chat to in the game. I would definitly say give this game a go, as it can be massively rewarding if you stick with it and work hard on it. One of the Best MMORPG's on the net.