| You are currently viewing our forum as an Instinct guest. As a guest, you are restricted from the majority of our forums, and you may find yourself unable to use some features. In order to rectify this, please Register an account and join our community. We hope you enjoy this guest area which we have provided you, and further hope you decide to join. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| The Chosen Commander; Literary Criticism | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Saturday Mar 21 2009, 03:48 PM (327 Views) | |
 Lakster
|
Saturday Mar 21 2009, 03:48 PM Post #1 |
Silent Death
|
This is something I wrote real fast today that I've been mulling over in my mind since I finished the quest. If you have a few spare minutes, take some time and read it.  This quest really jumped out at me with the depth of its storyline. The previous fifty-interval quests were each very unique and innovative quests: The Legends' Quest brought us a new guild, new items, new food, a boss you had to battle four different times, and a new type of quest in which YOU became the person that scouts out un-wandered territory and make it accessible to the masses. Recipe Disaster is the very essence of a "different" sort of quest, in fact, it's alone in its own "Special Quest" category. It was really more like ten quests in one, helping ten different important people from meeting their doom in a Father Time esque fashion. It's obvious that The Chosen Commander had a "touch act of follow" from the start, but in my opinion it held its own in creating its own innovative touch to Runescape. The Dorgeshuun quest series has been unique from its very first quest, so it was almost destined that its final quest would do just the same, if not, more. Starting the quest off, one's avatar is informed of a crisis (nothing new) and is followed by Captain Uldak to the city's nursery. Of course, this move wasn't altogether necessary: we've been used to NPCs simply saying "I'll meet you there" and magically appears there no matter how fast we ourselves run to beat them. However, this harkens back to Death to the Dorgeshuun in which Zanik became the first NPC to follow us around (besides cats) and it really does add to the depth of Runescape. Moving on, we've got a mystery on our hands, trying to discover who it was that poisoned the poor Dorgeshunn children. Of course, none of this is new or innovative: children, poison, and conspiracies, but the sheer idea of trying to kill off a whole group of people by attacking their childern? It DOES add a lot of darkness and evil to the "kiddie" game of Runescape. We've already seen the H.A.M.s morbid desire to cleanse Runescape of "monsters," much like a fundamentalist nativist hate group, but I think this is the quest that really shows the depth they'll go to to achieve their ends. Trying to arrest the villain, he resists and, like so many quests before it, you must fight him. However, he employs the use of the "Protect from Melee" prayer which has only been used in a few quests before it (most of the Dorgeshuun quests included). Annoyed, I was just about to run to the bank to grab my trusty crossbow, when all of a sudden a portal appears! I was taken aback when Zanik appeared and helped finish off the merchant, with a lot of questions going through my mind. Jagex obviously forsaw this, because instead of simply having Zanik tell us what happened like most other quests, or having a cutscene like a lot of the newer quests, we BECOME Zanik and get to do what she did. We learn what to do just as she must have in a very Prisoner of Azkaban/Majora's Mask/Back to the Future-esque way. Following on with the quest, we are introduced again to the City Council. Of course, we've met them before, but it was at this moment that something really struck me: these guys are Commies! But not Communist as in the Soviet Union, Chine, or Penguins (from Cold War) but they're a more Marxist, idealist, City of Ember-type society, so different from Communism that it's not really even the same type of government. What's so ironic about it is that no human civilization has ever been able to make a Communist nation work in practice, yet these "monsters" were able to flawlessly and flourish. The next part of the quest brings up an issue that has been debated longer than anyone can remember: the capital punishment. It has long been questioned whether Hammurabi's Code of "an Eye for an Eye" is really ethical and should be in place with today's standards. Whether or not Jagex believes in the death penalty or not, they do warn against revenge as a motive in such a punishment through the brutal killing by Zanik of the convicted poisoner. Obviously something about Zanik has changed. With the prisoner dead and our heroine banished from her city, the quest is over, right? Wrong! We are sent on another mission to sniff out a new H.A.M. base in Kandarin. What I really liked about this part was learning more about the H.A.M. organization. Although Sigmund is one of the leaders, his views are not representative of everyone in the organization; his of those of a more radical wing of the group. In fact, the true H.A.M. leader, Johanhus Ulsbrecht, tells us that there were so many differences between the two that it was Sigmund who broke away from the rest of the group with a select few who shared his view that all monsters should die. This is very reminiscent of real-world radical groups such as Al Qaeda or the Ku Klux Klan and it really helps us look on them in a different way as well as the H.A.M. organization. Groups are often defined by their most radical wing which really isn't fair considering they're a small minority. Inside Sigmund's wind mill base in Kandarin, we see this radical wing's true ruthlessness. Poor little Grubfoot who we've seen bossed around by his own kind for being small and puny and finally accepted by the Dorgeshuun, has been kidnapped. His story really reminds me of the brutality of the KKK: Grubfoot had been minding his own business, traveling between the Goblin Village and Dorgesh-Kaan when he was jumped by Sigmund and a few of his cronies. He called out for help and there was a guard nearby! The guard laughed and said "Stupid goblin" as he was carted off. This just cemented in my mind the sheer racism felt by not only the H.A.M. but many in Lumbridge, and perhaps throughout Gielinor. Helping Grubfoot escape was relatively easy and the guard-dodging and forced removal from the base are reminiscent of many Dorgeshuun quests. Sigmund, always bound to don a good ole' Ring of Life, finally met his demise much like Sauron from Lord of the Rings. Zanik cutz off his finger (with the ring on it) before dealing the final blow to ensure that he finally dies for good. Later on we learn that the necklace she's wearing is embued with Bandos' power, so much so that he, like Sauron, loses much of his power when it is lost. Back to the storyline, Bandos' fury is magnanimous once you free Zanik from his grasp and the Goblin Chieftain becomes Bandos' Avatar. On your way back to Dorgesh-Kaan, you meet up with Juna who is shocked that Zanik has strayed from her destiny to become the "Chosen Commander" of the goblins. I really liked this conversation because it backed the old addage "You control your own destiny." Zanik had faced her destiny that everyone, including Juna, had pushed her towards, and she turned away from it. Back in the underground city, there's havoc as the citizens learn of the Apocolyptic disaster which is about to befall them from their forsaken God, Bandos. Much as Huck was forced to turn away from his derranged "Pap" in Twain's famous work, the goblins who have thrived on their own are now faced with their "parent's" retribution. I love the way Jagex is able to portray the sense of panic and hopelessness in the residents of the city, it made these goblins appeal more real than anyone else has in Gielinor. We can find our own fears and lost dreams portrayed in their terror. Ultimately, with the help of the "monster's" technology (which is yet to be matched by any "civilized" kingdom on the surface) and a bit of fighting, the Avatar is destroyed, Dorgesh-Kaan is saved, and the quest is completed. With the end of this 150th quest comes a new beginning for Runescape. Quests are no longer "fetch, fight, and forget." Jagex has proved that they can create a masterpiece in quests that rivals any form of story telling known to mankind, and I personally look forward to it adamantly! |
 
| |
 |
 
|
 MisterrBryan
|
Friday Apr 3 2009, 12:39 AM Post #2 |
The One And Only
|
My Ass? |
|
|
|
|
Lakster
|
Friday Apr 3 2009, 08:09 AM Post #3 |
|
Silent Death
|
Lol, you can write fast and still take two hours writing if it's looooong... it's just fast writing. 
|
| |
|
|
|
|
iKogasu
|
Saturday Apr 4 2009, 10:38 AM Post #4 |
Singe the Heavens
|
I similarly enjoyed this quest a great deal... though I'm not sure I'd be motivated to write a literary criticism on it... perhaps I should start doing this for major updates... You really took a look at this quest, and you caught a lot of things that I missed, successful communism for one. I kind of wish that I had read this before doing the quest, because then I could have appreciated the new elements, and the like, even that much more. |
|
Fenikkusu, Mamorinuku. Ryu_Fenikkusu, Kogasu. Bankai. | |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
|
|
| « Previous Topic · Library · Next Topic » |
11:07 AM May 20