RuneScape Veteran Curious About Brighter Shores

[Gamer]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been playing RuneScape since around 2006, though lately, I’ve not played it as much. To be honest, it just hasn’t been the same since the Gower brothers left, and the corporate greed in recent years has really put me off.

I’ve heard a bit about Brighter Shores and wanted to get some honest opinions from people who’ve played it—especially anyone who’s also spent a lot of time with RuneScape.

Does it have that same kind of charm and adventure RuneScape used to have back in the day? Or is it completely different? I really loved what the Gowers created with RuneScape, and I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since.

Would you say it’s worth downloading and giving it a go? Just looking for some real thoughts from players who’ve been in similar shoes.

Cheers!

-Update:

Originally posted by Gamer:

I gave the game a try today, and I have to say, I really like it. It has a vibe that reminds me of the early days of RuneScape Classic—almost like stepping back onto Tutorial Island.

The game feels nostalgic, but it also brings something fresh to the table. It’s clear that the developers, along with the Gowers, are treading carefully and putting a lot of thought into this project. I’ve always admired their work, and it’s exciting to see them create something with so much potential.

I really hope they stay committed to this project and push it forward with the same passion they had for RuneScape. The sheer number of quests and updates they brought to the table back in the day was incredible, and I’d love to see that same energy here.

This game has the potential to be something truly special, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it grows and evolves over time.

For now, it’s a solid 10/10 from me.

[Omega Haxors]

Don't come into this thinking this will be RS4, it's not. It's more like RSC2.

[alanchurch]

My advice - download and try; there is no initial cost.

[Rick Grimes]

Try it for sure. This game has a lot of growing to do in every aspect and only time will tell what will happen. Right now it is more or less a leaderboard grind. No bosses. Nothing to collect really. Many skills are only used for selling and making money. It is strange. You would think that cooking would give some sort of food buff, but you only can sell it. Try it out and wait for it to grow with us. I won't quit. Not yet anyways.

[Greb]

It's early days but it scratches the itch, but understand, it's very early days. We only have like 8 quests and some strange perpetual main quest which counts for like 24+ miniquests across multiple episodes.

Room system and how resources work are very unlike RuneScape though, and the game being in early access is quite barebones and we're still not even sure how this game is going to look in a few years.

I'd say, play it - it's free and you can give it a whirl, if you dislike it just hide the game in your library and have it removed from your Steam account and pretend it never happened. What's the worse that can happen anyway?

It's rough around the edges. There are a lot of things which leave much to be desired, but it's developing nicely over time. I do indeed believe it will get there, and even if you decide to put the game on hold for a bit? You can set yourself on passive activities and only check back once every 24 hours if you want (you may have to spend 30-60 mins every now and then to unlock the next passive activity, but that's about it).

It's already much better than it was a few months ago. When the game first came out, you couldn't even move via clicking on the minimap, for example, but that got added in very quickly due to popular demand.

Give it a go, if you end up disliking some things, add your voice to the crowd with feedback, it'll help!

I cannot speak for the game lacking anything from RS because this game is basically in the "RS Classic" phase, which I missed out on, only starting to play RS somewhere in 2003 and becoming a member in late 2004, and over time the game got more and more areas to get lost in and suffer greatly from, like Lumbridge Caves where your exposed flame would explode, leaving you damaged in the dark, fumbling around struggling to find your way out, and rapidly being eaten to death by bugs, causing you to die and lose a bunch of your stuff, etc. This game has basically none of that, at least not yet. You don't even lose stuff when you die (at the moment? I dunno).

Even if you get attacked by a high level monster (not all of them are aggressive) you'll be able to essentially cast "sanctuary" and they'll be forced to stop attacking you long before you're in any danger of dying. Aggressive enemies are mostly a nuisance as you travel around the map, since you can't just run away immediately and have to wait a few seconds before you can end combat by casting the "immunity" spell.

Speaking of spells, thus far they're not like RS, but rather just a few utility spells you cast completely for free. We have teleports which function like those free teleports that got added to RS "late" in its lifespan (it's real lifespan, I mean) that take time to cast but take you to a specific portal stone you've found somewhere in the world. With high hopes, hopefully eventually we'll get access to a proper spellbook? I dunno.

No ring slot, but we have amulet and cape slots! But currently no amulets exist and the only capes are just skillcapes which provide no bonuses other than swagger. So I dunno. I also hope one day we get a ring slot because rings are cool and magical, and utility / combat rings are essential!

Just kind of temper your expectations I suppose. There's definitely a lot of differences in game design, but overall it's still a game you can play with just a mouse etc, with many similarities to RS.

I think if you go in expecting 1:1 to RS2/3 instead of RSC you might be disappointed.

I'm going to stop rambling now Play Brighter Shores! Try it!

[Jhaaz]

Dont waste ur time, but hey its free

[Gamer]

I gave the game a try today, and I have to say, I really like it. It has a vibe that reminds me of the early days of RuneScape Classic—almost like stepping back onto Tutorial Island.

The game feels nostalgic, but it also brings something fresh to the table. It’s clear that the developers, along with the Gowers, are treading carefully and putting a lot of thought into this project. I’ve always admired their work, and it’s exciting to see them create something with so much potential.

I really hope they stay committed to this project and push it forward with the same passion they had for RuneScape. The sheer number of quests and updates they brought to the table back in the day was incredible, and I’d love to see that same energy here.

This game has the potential to be something truly special, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it grows and evolves over time.

For now, it’s a solid 10/10 from me.

[8.6h du mat']

unique

[tolkkiz]

If you can stand the episode system. Just keep in mind, that every time you move to the next episode, you suddenly forget how to do all the skills you trained in the previous episode. Yeah, you can still train them if you go back, but if you thought that your skills would help you in the future episodes, they don't. Combat is the worst since its the exactly same skill in every episode, yet you have to train it again and again from 0. It also means that if you want to go for max lvl in any skill, you are locked into one episode for the entire grind.

[StreetSoldierPk]

and its only going to get better :)

[23]

This game is dead. They really dropped the ball on this. Weapons don't even show on your character...its barely social...the map is tiny there is no exploration like RS.. I don't know what the f was he thinking when he made this. He could have made another gold mine by giving people what they wanted...Another form of Runescape in a different style but that plays and feels the same

[Gamer]

Originally posted by 23:

This game is dead. They really dropped the ball on this. Weapons don't even show on your character...its barely social...the map is tiny there is no exploration like RS.. I don't know what the f was he thinking when he made this. He could have made another gold mine by giving people what they wanted...Another form of Runescape in a different style but that plays and feels the same

well that is your opinion, i do not share that, as it wasn't supposed to be RuneScape 2.0.
my experience so-far, is that on my game, i see loads of people playing the game, and people are speaking to me on there, sure some people have there chat off, but not entirely different to the social on runescape is now.

[Tower Dove]

At release, most people were extremly happy with the game and enjoyed doing the story and discovering the world. If you're a rs player, imho there are good chances that you'll enjoy figuring out the game and doing the early progression that is very hand hold and not grindy.

Took me a while to get my marks on this game, but I recall early RS, it is way more healthy and enjoyable than early RS. But imho went out of EA too early, and gameplay is just way too weak to attract audience(combat especially is wtf bad).

Personally I really enjoy it 1 to 3h a day, and I have stuffs to do before it gets too tedious to continue playing actively for at least 3-4 monthes. But I'm going for base lvl200(which has no correspondance in rs as levels in bs do not work exactly the same) and monument complete(which is a skill maxed basically). During the meantime I expect chapter 5 getting released and combat getting expanded upon.

[Teran]

Originally posted by 23:

This game is dead. They really dropped the ball on this. Weapons don't even show on your character...its barely social...the map is tiny there is no exploration like RS.. I don't know what the f was he thinking when he made this. He could have made another gold mine by giving people what they wanted...Another form of Runescape in a different style but that plays and feels the same

This is the type of thing an ant says about a sleeping cat unable to comprehend the larger world around it or the passage of time. You are probably surprised every time the sky turns dark and think the end of the world has arrived and surprised even more when it lights up again and cold turns to warmth.

[ap10]

Originally posted by Teran:

Originally posted by 23:

This game is dead. They really dropped the ball on this. Weapons don't even show on your character...its barely social...the map is tiny there is no exploration like RS.. I don't know what the f was he thinking when he made this. He could have made another gold mine by giving people what they wanted...Another form of Runescape in a different style but that plays and feels the same

This is the type of thing an ant says about a sleeping cat unable to comprehend the larger world around it or the passage of time. You are probably surprised every time the sky turns dark and think the end of the world has arrived and surprised even more when it lights up again and cold turns to warmth.

Exactly. It's like mice and giants except neither has any comprehension of the other. It's kind of like how they say, "life happens when you're making other plans," but they never actually took the time to give it a chance like Andrew asked and they don't really play the game. There will always be great minds that think alike and then there's the comments from the peanut gallery. It's all so predictable.

[Celebeth]

Originally posted by ap10:

Exactly. It's like mice and giants except neither has any comprehension of the other. It's kind of like how they say, "life happens when you're making other plans," but they never actually took the time to give it a chance like Andrew asked and they don't really play the game. There will always be great minds that think alike and then there's the comments from the peanut gallery. It's all so predictable.

To be fair, I'm more inclined to blame the diminishing value of words like "Alpha" and "Beta" testing. A lot of people have come to expect that these qualifications mean nothing more than a fully released game, where a few bugs might be expected. Perhaps it would have been better if the game was marked as "Development", but I suspect that has more to do with the fine-print of the Steam rules.

Andrew Gower created a new game engine from scratch, which is a heck of an accomplishment for basically one guy. We're basically invited to help create a game with him. Anyone who expects more than that misundertands the original meaning of an Alpha game.

Anyone who played Runescape in 2001 and remembers it, will also quickly realise that Brighter Shores in its current state is more polished than Runescape in its original state. Although I do agree that there are questionable design issues in its current version.

People who expect a fully fleshed-out MMO are probably better off waiting 5 years. I'm personally here for the ride, and can't wait to see where the game is going.