The latest quest to come out, Deadliest Catch, has had a lot of hype. First and foremost, it's name was chosen in an unusual fashion. Initially, a group of names were picked by a mod from a forum thread asking for suggestions. His top picks were put in a poll, and voted on by players. So, in a roundabout way, players named the monster of this tale.
Of the names available, Thalassus was a pretty decent one, so no complaints there. Especially when you know Jagex has a tendency to bad puns and lots of humor. Regarding the quest itself, I enjoyed it quite a lot. I especially like the graphics for the monster, which looks very cool.
To begin, go to the fishing guild, and speak to Jones the Fisherman. He starts the quest, and of course, is the main character (not counting Thalassus) during the quest.
The requirements generated some controversy- upon first announcing it, Jagex made an error and listed at least one of the requirements significantly lower than it should have been. Quite a few players trained levels to prepare for the quest, only to find they were not qualified on the day of the quest. There were plenty of complaints on the forums! If you were one of those caught in the middle, I'm sure it left a bad feeling about the quest.
Deadliest Catch is rated as a Master Quest. I'm not sure why, except that the requirements to do the quest itself were set pretty high. The hardest part is the mermaid's conversation. Make the wrong choice, and you have to start over. The memory puzzle with the trail of wreckage wasn't so bad. If you've got a decent memory, you'll have no trouble. If not, make a simple point by point map. In all other respects, this was a short, easy quest. I still liked it, just surprised it rated 'Master Quest'.
The mermaids themselves were another point of controversy. They were essentially 'topless', though not done in any way to draw specific attention. I know this is supposed to be a kid-safe game, but it seemed blown out of proportion to me. Some people will complain about darn near anything.
The best part for me was at the end of the hunting trail, when you actually get to see Thalassus. And later, when (if you've convinced the mermaids to help) Thalassus spits Jones back out. Great graphics, and a lot of humor there.
Aside from the monster itself, I was also liked the scenes with the Master Smith, Linza. Unique character, lots of conversation, cool graphics. Loved the close-up, Jagex did a great job, not just on her, but the anvil was very… anvilly looking. It just looked a lot nicer than the standard anvils spread across Runescape.
While the end might have been a slight let-down, I like that I can go back (up to 10 times) and re-hunt Thalassus for more hunter experience. It's kind of fun, though it gets harder with each succeeding attempt.
The rewards are pretty nice, commensurate with a short master quest. Not many, but the points are very nice, especially the fishing exp. The wieldable fishing nets were nice, but it seems like they'd have included a wieldable fishing pole too.
I don't typically do guides, just reviews. If you need a good guide, Wiki is usually a good source. In looking to refresh my memory while writing this, I also see RuneHQ has a good guide. Either will get you through this quest admirably. Like I mentioned, it's not really hard. There's not even any combat. Just a little adventuring, minor problem-solving, and a fun story.
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