Myst discussion.

[Tylerisepic1]

It's my second most favorite game series. I literally grew up on Myst. It was so good at the time... Nowadays I usually play realMyst, but my most favorite game out of all of them was Uru (i know, hate me) but I actually loved the online portion.

[MegaTurtleRex]

I was into the genre as a kid but played The Secret of Monkey Island and really all the other Lucas Arts gems of the time. Myst was very strange, one of those quiet and solitary first person adventures. If you like those try and find S.P.Q.R The Empire's Darkest Hour.

[Creaphis]

I tried the first Myst after I got some version of it on Steam. None of the puzzles seem to have any kind of accessible logic to them - it's all just "bang your head against this arcane machinery until something happens." I get that Myst is a Significant Entry in the Annals of Gaming History so I'll get back to it yet, but I've definitely been putting it off.

Straight-forward puzzles, like cutting ropes with scissors and hitting nails with hammers are sucky in another way. They're boring. Games where the puzzles have their own unique logic are the sweet spot. Games like the first Discworld adventure, or the later Zorks, or the earlier Monkey Islands, all teach you to think in this way: What is the funniest way I could solve this puzzle?

[kristus]

The puzzles in Myst is entirely based on logic and hunting for clues.

Myst is definitely one of my favorite series. All the games in it are truly amazing. I've played through all of them except the expansions to Uru. Also were on MOUL for as long as that lasted (shame it never really got off the ground).

[Da Werecat]

Creaphis said:

None of the puzzles seem to have any kind of accessible logic to them - it's all just "bang your head against this arcane machinery until something happens."

It's more of a "pixel hunt a clue that will make the solution obvious" type of game.

[Kirby]

Da Werecat said:

It's more of a "pixel hunt a clue that will make the solution obvious" type of game.

It is not that at all, nor is it what Creaphis said. kristus is absolutely right, it's completely based on logic and using clues. You don't spend your time clicking all over the place in Myst, you spend your time exploring. I'm curious as to where most of you are getting stuck.

[Da Werecat]

Well, I exaggerated with "pixel hunt", I guess.

[Waffenak]

I got myst for atari jaguar cd and riven for ps1 but havent played neither of them

[baronofheck82]

I remember this about Myst: I rented the game (for the PS1 if it matters) and didn't get to play it because some numbnut decided to gouge out a circle, square, X, and triangle on the back of the game CD. Hardy har har.

[Varis Alpha]

i recall my brother playing the series a lot back then. he was very into this point and click games. meanwhile i could never really get into these point and click games myself, Myst included. maybe because i never really played them, though: i preferred more active games like FPS and platformers (ironically enough i suck at platformers today and like games with a more laid-back style or strategical games better. i still like FPS though)

[gggmork]

In lolo, pushover,etc, the puzzle elements have clear rules and its fun to use logic to narrow down your choices from a much wider selection of candidate choices to find the solution (unlike mazes and some games where you pointlessly serially try each choice until you find the right one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSxwY7QB558
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGZhDxpKrcA
Solutions in myst are more abstract/cryptic, less rule based and less fun imo, from what I remember at least.

[Megalyth]

I used to own the true-3D remaster as well as the original, and Riven. Myst was one of those games that I really wanted to play, but never actually got around to giving a serious run. Naturally, this was back in the golden age of graphic adventures amidst a storm of awesome LucasArts titles, not to mention Doom, which took up approximately %99 of my gaming time.

baronofheck82 said:

I remember this about Myst: I rented the game (for the PS1 if it matters) and didn't get to play it because some numbnut decided to gouge out a circle, square, X, and triangle on the back of the game CD. Hardy har har.

lol'd

[wildweasel]

The thing about Myst is that you have to be ready and willing to take notes. Nearly every puzzle in the game has a clue or solution hidden somewhere else in the area you're in (or, in one particularly stand-out case, in a different Age entirely). The tricky part is actually identifying something as a clue, which actually can screw you over if you're not paying attention.

Spoiler

Specifically, I'm talking about the underground tram maze in Selenitic. I had long decried that puzzle as bullshit, because I was trying to literally draw a map of the maze. What I hadn't realized at the time was that there was already a "map" from the Mechanical Age - more accurately, the Fortress Rotation Simulator that can be found in the main fortress.

When you have finished rotating the fortress and pull the locking lever, the Simulator makes a sound. This sound differs based on what direction the fortress is facing when you pull the locking lever. You're supposed to note down which direction the fortress is facing, and the sound it plays. When you later take the Selenitic Age's tram maze, the tram will play those same sounds every time you reach an intersection, at which point you are supposed to associate the sound with the correct direction to move. If it plays two sounds, you're supposed to move diagonally.

[kristus]

I actually missed that entirely. I did draw the map for it. But I only had a difficult time traversing that maze the first time through. I always seemed to remember the general direction to take in subsequent playthroughs. I just figured that the chimes were there to make it easier for you to know at what intersection you were currently at.

[Kirby]

WildWeasel said:

The thing about Myst is that you have to be ready and willing to take notes.

*spoiler*

I feel like this happened to most people who played the game. My father spent hours on that puzzle because he didn't make that one connection. When I first gave it a serious run on my own in 9th grade I picked up on it pretty quick but if you don't then you get stuck looking for some sort of visual clue at each turn.

Those tunnels are haunting o_o

[kristus]

I'm sure it wasn't hours. The maze isn't that large.

[geekmarine]

You know what's weird? It's like one of the best-selling computer games of all time, and I have literally never played it. Maybe one of these days I need to go check it out. But yeah, just thought that was kind of odd that I've never played the game myself.

[Bucket]

It's one of those games that doesn't age well. At the time it was a brilliant approach to point-and-click adventures, but it soon got lost in the shuffle.

[Devalaous]

I played it back when I was very young, it bored me. Played Riven on the PS1, it bored me quickly. However, we did have some random point and click PS1 games called Ark of Time which was far more enjoyable, as you could actually get things done. Broken Sword and Monkey Island were also favourites of mine. Definitely not a fan of Myst style puzzles.

[Epyo]

I loved exploring in myst when I was like 5-7, and I thought the majority of the puzzles were completely impossible. Myst III was the first game in the series that I was actually able to complete without a guide.

Less than a month ago, I saw that a fully-3d collector's edition of Myst was put on Steam, and I had an afternoon with absolutely nothing to do, so I gave it a go.

Turns out, I'm much smarter than I was when I was like 5-7! I was able to breeze through the game in less than a couple of hours, and didn't need to look up a single solution. Even the puzzle that I remember from my childhood as thinking it was absolutely insanely difficult and no one could ever expect to figure it out, now I figured it out in just a few minutes -- the underground tram puzzle, as already mentioned in the thread. When I was young I just skimmed my strategy guide for the directions to go to get through it, 'cause I just wanted to explore.

Spoilers about the tram puzzle:

Spoiler

I didn't even make the connection to the rotating-fortress's sound effects that WW mentioned. I got to the tram, wrote down the directions I was going so that I could backtrack easily, noticed the sound effects changing so I wrote those down too, then I noticed the sound effects were conveniently matching up with the directions.

You do have to take notes sometimes, but these days it is as easy as picking up your phone and taking a picture of the screen! How awesome is that.

Bucket's right though, it hasn't aged well, even the 3d version I was playing just didn't look very good. I bet I could still play Myst 3 because it was very pretty and very unique looking, but Myst is just kinda boring by today's standards.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

Played it back in the day, remember it only vaguely and not fondly. I think I found the creepy brothers to be the most interesting thing it had to offer (up to and including the bad ends.)

[Stygian]

I still have an original hard copy of this game. Sadly, it isn't very portable since it relies heavily on a now-ancient version of Quicktime for just about everything.

I wish I could play this game as an adult just to see if I could get any farther with the puzzles.

[Bucket]

Not even QuickTime. It's basically a glorified PowerPoint presentation.

[kristus]

Stygian said:

I still have an original hard copy of this game. Sadly, it isn't very portable since it relies heavily on a now-ancient version of Quicktime for just about everything.

I wish I could play this game as an adult just to see if I could get any farther with the puzzles.

RealMYST doesn't require QT though.

[Stygian]

kristus said:
RealMYST doesn't require QT though.

I'm talking about the old Windows 95 CD-ROM version. The thought of having to pay $5.99 for a digital copy of a game I already own just rustles my jimmies (I know, I'm a cheap bastard).

[Mr. Freeze]

Myst requires critical thinking and relies on atmosphere, so it doesn't surprise me that casual gamers say "it's outdated/obtuse" or any other meaningless phrase.