Loot The Past in Old School Runescape

[IanDavis]

Loot The Past in Old School Runescape

Jagex re-releases the 2007 version of Runescape to current members.

2007: It was the year the iPhone was released, the Orange Box taught us that the cake was a spy, and Mass Effect still had moon buggies. Now you can relive it all over again, assuming you were a Runescape player. Thanks to a vote by its members, Jagex is re-releasing the 2007 build of the web browser MMO as [a href=http://oldschool.runescape.com/oldschool_index]Old School Runescape[/a], allowing you to travel back to a time when the PVP area The Wilderness still existed and Furgilisious was on the radio.

For the moment, Old School Runescape is only accessible to paying members. Current subscribers can play on the Old School servers at no additional cost. Jagex currently plans to keep it free for the next six months, but possibly charging a $5 access fee afterwards, depending on the population. Players can log in via a [a href=http://oldschool.runescape.com/oldschool_index]fashionably ancient portal[/a] using their current account details. Once on the other side, players will be able to talk to all their contacts on the normal servers, but won't be able to transfer items or characters. Interested parties can find more details on the [a href=http://services.runescape.com/m=rswiki/en/Old_School_RuneScape#Frequently_Asked_Questions]official page[/a].

Runescape launched in 2001 and was free-to-play before it was cool. For better or worse, it was the first MMO experience many gamers ever had. Considering the many metamorphoses an MMO goes through, having an officially sanctioned "snapshot" of a previous rendition is a pretty cool idea. I'm sure that more than a few gamers would dearly love for a pre-Wrath WoW or Everquest before Planes of Power to play again.

Source: [a href=http://oldschool.runescape.com/oldschool_index]Jagex[/a]
Image: Joystiq

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[martyrdrebel27]

the cake was a spy? dude, how could you get that wrong? did you also take an arrow in your tea?

edit: i'll attempt to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an extremely bad attempt at a joke, somehow involving the tf2 spy and portal. but like Chell stuck in an infinite loop, the joke doesnt land. just my opinion, but then again, you're the one getting paid for this so who am i to judge? also "before it became it was cool". as someone who pretends to be a writer, i can see the gears working there and how that mistake came to be. but the cake is a lie. the cake will never be a spy. stop that.

edit 2: recognizing my own potential ignorance, i decided to google the term in question, and it is indeed some sort of meme, however i still think its stupid. i appreciate your artistic choice to use the meme instead of the quote, but i guess if it were me being nostalgic, i'd be reflecting on the actual past instead of the joke crafted from it.

i wont attempt to hide my ignorance of the meme, instead i'll wear it proudly as a testament to my purist nature. or some such shit.

 

[Arakasi]

Runescape launched in 2001 and was free-to-play before it became it was cool.

Something about that doesn't seem right...

Anyhow, Runescape was certainly the first MMO I played, and damned if I am going to play it again. Ugh.
Hell, I've been turned off most MMOs.

 

[SoulSalmon]

the cake was a spy? dude, how could you get that wrong? did you also take an arrow in your tea?

edit: i'll attempt to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an extremely bad attempt at a joke, somehow involving the tf2 spy and portal. but like Chell stuck in an infinite loop, the joke doesnt land. just my opinion, but then again, you're the one getting paid for this so who am i to judge? also "before it became it was cool". as someone who pretends to be a writer, i can see the gears working there and how that mistake came to be. but the cake is a lie. the cake will never be a spy. stop that.

Spoiler: Image

Anyway, Runescape is an interesting case for me, I still have membership and play it when I can, but I can't recommend it to anyone. It's not a good game, the interface is horrid and the platform itself is laggy regardless of connection, the userbase is awful and the skills are all very static and grindy.

Spose I just got 'used' to it and stuck with it, it was a core part of my development both as a gamer and as a person and it'd feel weird to leave it behind completely.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

When people were playing runescape I was playing diablo2 and talking about how much better it was XD
runescape always seemed clunky, ugly and unappealing by comparison for me.

Solve media also informs me that skynet was aware of this arrangement ("skynet knows").

 

[martyrdrebel27]

the cake was a spy? dude, how could you get that wrong? did you also take an arrow in your tea?

edit: i'll attempt to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an extremely bad attempt at a joke, somehow involving the tf2 spy and portal. but like Chell stuck in an infinite loop, the joke doesnt land. just my opinion, but then again, you're the one getting paid for this so who am i to judge? also "before it became it was cool". as someone who pretends to be a writer, i can see the gears working there and how that mistake came to be. but the cake is a lie. the cake will never be a spy. stop that.

Spoiler: Image

Anyway, Runescape is an interesting case for me, I still have membership and play it when I can, but I can't recommend it to anyone. It's not a good game, the interface is horrid and the platform itself is laggy regardless of connection, the userbase is awful and the skills are all very static and grindy.

Spose I just got 'used' to it and stuck with it, it was a core part of my development both as a gamer and as a person and it'd feel weird to leave it behind completely.

really guy? you're gonna quote me while conveniently leaving out the part where i recognize and admit my failure? take that fox news shit elsewhere.

 

[SoulSalmon]

the cake was a spy? dude, how could you get that wrong? did you also take an arrow in your tea?

edit: i'll attempt to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an extremely bad attempt at a joke, somehow involving the tf2 spy and portal. but like Chell stuck in an infinite loop, the joke doesnt land. just my opinion, but then again, you're the one getting paid for this so who am i to judge? also "before it became it was cool". as someone who pretends to be a writer, i can see the gears working there and how that mistake came to be. but the cake is a lie. the cake will never be a spy. stop that.

Spoiler: Image

Anyway, Runescape is an interesting case for me, I still have membership and play it when I can, but I can't recommend it to anyone. It's not a good game, the interface is horrid and the platform itself is laggy regardless of connection, the userbase is awful and the skills are all very static and grindy.

Spose I just got 'used' to it and stuck with it, it was a core part of my development both as a gamer and as a person and it'd feel weird to leave it behind completely.

really guy? you're gonna quote me while conveniently leaving out the part where i recognize and admit my failure? take that fox news shit elsewhere.

Woah, step back and chill down mate, I wasn't attacking you, just posting the image in case you or anyone else hadn't seen it.
Rough day?

Edit: Ah ok, I see what you mean now. I clicked quote a while before posting because I was on hold with my phone company and they picked up before I finished typing. I promise you I didn't leave anything out intentionally and I can go back and re-quote you if you want.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

the cake was a spy? dude, how could you get that wrong? did you also take an arrow in your tea?

edit: i'll attempt to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume it was an extremely bad attempt at a joke, somehow involving the tf2 spy and portal. but like Chell stuck in an infinite loop, the joke doesnt land. just my opinion, but then again, you're the one getting paid for this so who am i to judge? also "before it became it was cool". as someone who pretends to be a writer, i can see the gears working there and how that mistake came to be. but the cake is a lie. the cake will never be a spy. stop that.

Spoiler: Image

Anyway, Runescape is an interesting case for me, I still have membership and play it when I can, but I can't recommend it to anyone. It's not a good game, the interface is horrid and the platform itself is laggy regardless of connection, the userbase is awful and the skills are all very static and grindy.

Spose I just got 'used' to it and stuck with it, it was a core part of my development both as a gamer and as a person and it'd feel weird to leave it behind completely.

really guy? you're gonna quote me while conveniently leaving out the part where i recognize and admit my failure? take that fox news shit elsewhere.

Woah, step back and chill down mate, I wasn't attacking you, just posting the image in case you or anyone else hadn't seen it.
Rough day?

Edit: Ah ok, I see what you mean now. I clicked quote a while before posting because I was on hold with my phone company and they picked up before I finished typing. I promise you I didn't leave anything out intentionally and I can go back and re-quote you if you want.

haha, I'm sorry dude, I don't mean to come off as a dick, though I sometimes do when the right buttons are pushed. Being misquoted is one of my pet peeves, and while I should have taken a more measured approach, i guess i'm just used to people on forums intentionally misquoting in order to either further their cause or perceived superiority. It's the unfortunate nature of forums i suppose, jerks turn nice people into jerks who then turn nice people into jerks. it's like a digital zombie apocolypse. i sincerely apologize for my brash behavior. that is so gamefaqsian of me, i really should be striving to remain within the more respectful boundaries of the escapist. and while polite but heated back and forths are becoming more and more rare as the douchebags we all fled from find themselves here, i believe our community here is still one of the most respectful and intelligent of many forums i'm been on.

wow. ranty much? i'm not even entirely sure i made as much sense as i was thinking i was when in the rantzone.

 

[Johkmil]

For some of us old-timers (I started playing Runescape in 2002, I think, not even ten years old) this is not the "old school" I remember, this is the graphics update that came after some years. The real old-school Runescape used some barely animated sprites, with the attack animation being a slight difference in the angle of the line representing your sword. Ah, the memories.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I started playing Runescape in 04 and quit in 07. It'd be kinda fun to take a nostalgia trip and relive the first MMO I ever got into but tbh, if you can't transfer characters I reaaaally cannot be arsed leveling up again. I have 99 Magic and Fletching, All of my combat skills are 80+ and all but two (the two released after I quit) of my non combat skills are 60+. That's ALOT of time invested in that character that I really don't have the time to repeat.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

For some of us old-timers (I started playing Runescape in 2002, I think, not even ten years old) this is not the "old school" I remember, this is the graphics update that came after some years. The real old-school Runescape used some barely animated sprites, with the attack animation being a slight difference in the angle of the line representing your sword. Ah, the memories.

As far as I'm aware, if you're a member you actually can play RS Classic. At least that was the case about a year ago when I went back to the game for a month to see what had changed.

And after one quick googling: http://www.runescape.com/classicapplet/playclassic.ws there you go. 113 people are currently playing =')

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Ah 2007. I remember that year. I spent lots of time on this silly website called "The Escapist" and played Second Life. Oh how things have... stayed exactly the same. *Logs into SL*

 

[Johkmil]

For some of us old-timers (I started playing Runescape in 2002, I think, not even ten years old) this is not the "old school" I remember, this is the graphics update that came after some years. The real old-school Runescape used some barely animated sprites, with the attack animation being a slight difference in the angle of the line representing your sword. Ah, the memories.

As far as I'm aware, if you're a member you actually can play RS Classic. At least that was the case about a year ago when I went back to the game for a month to see what had changed.

And after one quick googling: http://www.runescape.com/classicapplet/playclassic.ws there you go. 113 people are currently playing =')

I am aware of Classic, but that would mean becoming a member, and that is against everything I stood for. I might have been the worst MMO-player in the history of Runescape. I was constantly broke due to my pig-headed insistence that finished products should cost more than their raw materials, and somehow failing to assemble a full set of steel armor even at level 50.

 

[Jamous]

Wait what? The Wilderness doesn't exist any more? Well that's news to me. I'm quite impressed and also kind of happy to see that Runescape's still running. It had a lot of features that were pretty fun and surprisingly original given the settings. I mean some of the skills were wonderful. Woodcutting, Firemaking, Construction, Cooking. something that I haven't really seen explored anywhere else and I actually really liked that.

 

[juyunseen]

Huh? They're finally rereleasing a build from when I played a lot?

...

Do kinda want.

Too bad I gotta pay...

 

[CardinalPiggles]

I actually renewed my membership for a month to have a look.

Then I realised you have to roll and BRAND NEW CHARACTER. Early grinding is the worst, because you're so restricted by what you can do.

I think I might just play out my membership on the main servers with my main character to be honest. 2007 was alright but honestly the upgrades they've made since then were actually fantastic (relatively speaking).

 

[Falterfire]

Ah Runescape, the game that introduced me to all sorts of fun real life concepts like budgeting, outsourcing, and careful management of time. Not even being sarcastic, as an 8 year old playing the game (Wait, 8? Has it been that long? Really? I guess so) I learned quite a bit about self management.

 

[Bigsmith]

Ahh, runescape was my first MMO.

Never going back to it... ever. In fact I don't even see the point in my posting. XD

 

[kailus13]

So it used to be free to play but now you have to have a subscription? Does that seem like a step backwards to anyone else?

 

[gigastar]

So it used to be free to play but now you have to have a subscription? Does that seem like a step backwards to anyone else?

The subcription you pay for the full current version and the 2007 version are the same.