This is one rework I actually did play, since I was active in the game for a couple of years around the time it came out. I have fond memories of the old Prince Ali Rescue, but it was basically a fetch quest in the same vein as Ernest the Chicken, so I remember the reworked version being vastly superior.
We start off talking to Ozan, who's voiced now unlike in Burthorpe; I guess they couldn't get the actor back in after these two quests? Anyway, he gives us the background exposition, which so far is taking place about five minutes before the events of Prince Ali Rescue. But what's this?
Foreshadowing waves sleepily from bed.
Oddly, I thought the Skulls were supposed to be from the Skull region of the Arc; this is...what? A regional franchise? Or just a second gang with a highly coincidental name? Unclear.
Anyway, one dialogue puzzle not worth speaking about, and we're in the bar talking to Khnum. It's at this point that the voiceover starts to become a problem: despite hailing from Al Kharid (a.k.a. fantasy Middle East), Khnum is clearly voiced by a British person. He actually sounds a bit like John Rhys-Davies, who is extremely Welsh. So that's a bit distracting, but nevermind.
I liked the dialogue puzzle we have with Khnum (I'm a sucker for dialogue puzzles, apparently), but I have the sneaking suspicion that this puzzle isn't actually possible to fail. Quick look at the wiki and...yep. Not possible to fail, but the game "scores" you based on your answers. I got "Artful Dodger", if you're interested. That's fairly cute, I guess, although I did appreciate this bit:
The fact that horses don't exist on Gielinor, and the hoops people go through to use horse-based turns of phrase regardless of that fact, is probably my favourite running joke in this game.
After leaving the bar is an interesting sequence, a tailing mission of all things. It calls the Assassin's Creed games to mind, although mercifully it's not quite as much a "grandmother's footsteps" sort of mission; I don't think the movement engine would tolerate something like that. I wouldn't say it entirely works, because it's very unclear how close is too close (or how far away is too far), despite Ozan's running commentary, but I'll grant them that it's different; it's a nice change of pace from the usual dialogue/inventory puzzles, or just a static cutscene. Interactable is almost always better, in games, so this was a step in a good direction.
Tailing Khnum takes us to the prison, an old mainstay of Prince Ali Rescue (incidentally, I like how Ozan refers to it as "the old prison"; a subtle nod to Runescape's history), and we're introduced to the next lead character in the Desert series:
Foreshadowing sits up in bed and takes notice.
In seriousness, I make these "foreshadowing" jokes in almost every post, and I'll likely continue to, but I do it because I love the little hints showing how much the story is planned out in advance. This joke about Leela being a princess isn't paid off until the release of Menaphos, five years after this quest was released; the joke about Reldo I made in Shield of Arrav wasn't paid off until 2019, a full eighteen years after Reldo was added to the game (granted, I know for a fact that Reldo's fate wasn't planned out that far in advance). As someone who cares deeply about narrative, it pleases me to see Runescape's writers do the same. They may not release quests as often as they used to, but they still care about the story and they want to make that world the best it can be, and I respect that.
Anyway, moving on. Another dialogue puzzle with Khnum, this time where we try torturing him for information. Obviously a palace guard turned hardened criminal isn't going to be easy to crack, but we find a way...
Same, fam. Same.
This moves pretty swiftly into the confrontation with Lady Keli, who might also be voiced by someone of Arabic (or at least Indian) descent? I'm not sure, it's hard to tell. Props to the cutscene animators, though; I wasn't quick enough to get a screenshot, but the image of those two mercenaries with the glowing eyes was extremely creepy, in a way that very much fits with who Lady Keli turns out to be.
As creepy as it is, though, the fight isn't actually that hard. Ozan got down to about half health while I was killing my dude, but I quickly helped him out. I was idly curious what would happen if I let the merc kill him, but I wasn't about to stand around waiting to find out.
Finally, Leela tasks Ozan and I with delivering the ransom note to her father, Osman, which she can't do herself because reasons. Ozan very reasonably points out that he's been banished from Al Kharid, and so legally shouldn't be anywhere near the place. Quite why he needs to do it is never adequately explored, I mean I could very easily take the paper to Al Kharid without his involvement. But Leela insists, and gives him a "get out of execution free" phrase to tell Osman:
...hold the phone. Is that a reference to Prince of Persia? I'm sure it must be, because it's a very high-profile game and probably the most famous video game set in the India-Middle Eastern region. It just seems strange, because in The Sands of Time that phrase was used between two characters who were extremely romantically linked, most famously before a (PG) sex scene.
So, Ozla confirmed?
Ozla? Ozeela? Leelan? I'll workshop it.
Another thing I liked: Ozan's running commentary on the way to Al Kharid. Good tutorializing, because it gives new players an idea of where exactly to go, and it's nice character- and world-building.
To the game's credit, I truly thought getting Ozan to Al Kharid would be the end of it. But no, we have to deal with a trademark unhelpful guard:
Alright Ozan, what do we do now?
Brilliant, buddy, just great. Surely this will convince Osman that we're trustworthy, worth listening to, and above all that we're not involved in the kidnapping of the prince.
*Sigh*
Joking aside, I also really like the sequence that follows; it's a fun homage to Assassin's Creed, which Ozan obviously takes some inspiration from. I also liked the background conversations between NPCs (most notably the two guards, and the couple above the tannery), which subtly lay the foundation for some later story development. However, I do think it's bullshit that we don't get Agility experience for this; there's as much going on in this sequence as in any Agility course in the game; make it official, Jagex. Come on, OSRS did it.
I also liked this bit at the end:
Come on Ozan, time to earn your keep.
A fun cutscene follows, with more set-up for later quests in the Desert series. Once again, I admire how much this was planned out; these plot threads were left hanging for five years before getting tied up with Menaphos.
A nice easy puzzle (with extremely explicit instructions), and then...Osman!
You Guthiz-damned liar, Ozan!
Better. I told you this plan sucked. Luckily, Twoie is better at explaining that Ozan is, and she fills in Osman about Leela. Time to pull out the sex-phrase she told you, buddy...
...you are USELESS. Why do I keep you around, I mean honestly. Anyway, Osman is finally convinced, we have a brief conversation in which Ozan fails to convince the Emir to part with the Kharid-ib, and the Emir dies. On that tremendous downer of a note, quest complete.
A couple of notes before I go.
First, I couldn't help but notice this bit in the conversation with the Emir, directed at Ozan:
I'm not sure if the Desert quest series is ever going to get wrapped up, considering the lukewarm reception to Menaphos (and the fact that storytelling seems focused on the Elder Gods for the last several quests), but if it ever does here's my prediction: Ozan is the long-lost son of Emir Shah, brother of Prince Ali. Tension between Al Kharid and Menaphos run high because of the tension between Osman and Ali, but Ozan and Leela convince them to stand down, and eventually get engaged or married, bringing a final peace between the kingdoms. Bonus points if Ozan either rises to the position of Emir, or is killed. What do you think?
Last note, which is more of a meta note. I've been rocketing through these quests so far, but it'll likely be a while before my next update. The next quest on my list is Diamond in the Rough, which is also my first members quest, and I have to figure out how I want to get members on Twoie. I don't particularly want to pay an extra $12 a month just for an alt, but I'm also not sure I want to spend 40 million gold per month from my main (I'm wealthier than I've ever been before, but that's still a significant investment). I'll have to think on it, but in the meantime I'm not going to have any updates, because I'm committed to this stupid self-imposed limitation. Damn my artistic integrity! Damn it to hell!
Anyway, bye.