After the excitement of vampyre-slaying, we're back to a mundane fetch quest. I have to say, the narrative arc of this "timeline" is kinda whack.
Anyway, I went into this quest dreading it. I have strong memories of this one, partly because it was one of the few quests I did in OSRS before abandoning that game entirely, and I wasn't looking forward to the grind for beads. Granted I'm not an iron, so I could buy the beads on the GE, but:
- That feels like cheating
- They're all hovering around 1k gold, which is a significant investment for me at this point (unless I transfer them from my main, which feels like even more cheating)
Anyway, first impression is that I love the graphical update to the Wizard's Tower (again this isn't new to me, I've been here a lot on my main for Runespan and the material caches in the undertower, but it's still great):
I'm also really liking the voice acting on Mizgog (I already knew that the quest had been reworked, thanks Quest Journal!), but here's the bit I was dreading:
Nice lore explanation for why killing imps drops random junk, but do I really need to go commit imp genocide to get your damn beads?
...oh. FRIKKIN SWEET.
So, I really like this rework of the quest, and not just for the obvious reason that it means I don't need to slaughter imps for random bead drops. I like it because it ties in very nicely with the Runecrafting skill (and the Rune Mysteries quest I haven't done yet) by showing you where to find the basic altars. It's a good bit of tutorialization.
Anyway, I'm closest to Lumbridge so I head to the Water Altar first. Bowl of water from the Lumbridge Castle kitchen, and I've got the first bead!
...and a mess to clean up. Was it really necessary to puke all over my shoes? Ah well, off to Al Kharid next. Luckily this guy just wants to fight, and he's an imp so he's no trouble. But he pukes all over my shoes again.
You said it, Twoie. Fine, let's go to Varrock next. I liked the Earth Altar puzzle; it reminds me of my favourite side mission from the first Mass Effect, I Remember Me. It's a nice dialogue puzzle where the character emerges as you choose the right options. This puzzle wasn't hard, but I like the way it's structured and I like how it teaches good lessons about talking to people with depression (i.e. don't belittle and insult them you monster). Could do without my shoes getting thrown up on again, but we all have our crosses to bear.
I should mention at this point that I've been talking to each imp after I get the bead from them, and I really like the additional storytelling details they add, particularly this one:
Foreshadowing overexerted itself back in Shield of Arrav, and is still sleeping it off.
I remember this quest being a really simple fetch quest, but I like how the rework foreshadows Grayzag's villainy, something we won't really see again until the end of the Void Knight series (which is a long ways off for Twoie here).
Anyway, last one. Air Altar (which I remember being south of Falador, but I guess they had to move it to make room for Clan Citadels) is an uncommonly tough one for me, because I'm playing on a laptop with a trackpad. But I got out my USB mouse and plugged it in, and had no real issues on the second go round. Well, except for the obvious...
*Sigh*. I hope Mizgog knows a dry-cleaning spell. Anyway, a quick trip back to the Tower, and quest complete!
