Poll time: Favorit Myst game

Jamie Marchant · **Posted:** Mon Feb 17, 2014 3:44 am

I can't run polls on the Cyan forum so I will run this here:

The question: what is your fovorit game in the series? Now I know this is probably one of the most
controversial topics I could think of :lol:

:winkn: but it will hopefully also be the most interesting.
I like Riven the best, it feels absolutely massive and everything seems to be 'there for a reason'. Also the puzzles aren't
to complex but aren't too easy either and seem to be nachuarl parts of the age.

Vector Cramp · **Posted:** Wed Feb 19, 2014 12:08 am

I'd have to say Riven. Myst was good for staring out, but I couldn't really buy that those people lived in the ages, a problem that was fixed in Riven.

I found Exile to be disappointing because all of the Ages shared the same tiny bit of history and I felt the "lesson age" concept just a cheep way for the developers to create puzzles, rather than take the time and integrate them into the world like Riven.

What I find most surprising whenever I show the ordinary non-gamer the Myst series, they find Myst IV to be their favorite.

Annabelle · **Posted:** Wed Feb 19, 2014 1:25 pm

I'm not surprised at all with the poll results. It's quite clear to me where Cyan should have been putting their money to work on a Masterpiece Edition... They would have made more revenues from that Masterpiece Edition than any other.

Bree0590 · **Joined:** Sun Jan 26, 2014 11:25 pm **Posts:** 13

How come Uru isn't in the list?

Tweek · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 12:11 am **Posts:** 2633

Bree0590 wrote:

How come Uru isn't in the list?

Because Uru isn't a Myst game.

I had to put my vote in for Riven. I enjoyed Myst and Myst 3 and 4 are alright (there are things I don't like about them such as the whole Dreamworld thing in Myst 4) and Myst 5 I don't class as a Myst game as it is really more of an Uru Expansion given the story involved. But Riven I keep coming back to and playing again and again.

m.a.x.2.0 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:28 pm

How could you try and rate your own children? Or rather, as in this case,
your friends "children". I refuse to vote. Love them all. Some days you like
to have your favorite blue shirt on, some days the green one.

korovev · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 2:14 pm

Riven hit all the good points: tough puzzles that have a reason to be there, gorgeous and detailed environments, a plausible plot, a villain that steals every scene he’s in, great music that doesn’t distract, etc.

While the latter games were nevertheless enjoyable, I find they introduced “mystical” themes that were a bit incongruous with the first two titles, beginning with the “noble savage” Saavedro (which was a great character, by himself), then with the Dreamworld and the Grower mystique (the last one I first heard of in Ends of Ages).

Jamie Marchant · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 2:32 pm

Bree0590 wrote:

How come Uru isn't in the list?

I can't remember, I think the reason was baecause I did not want to include 'spin-offs'. I felt
I had to include RealMyst since I felt it was different enough then Myst that if I did not include it, it might
make the results 'muddy'.

Annabelle · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 3:25 pm

Tweek wrote:

Because Uru isn't a Myst game.

Right

Tweek wrote:

Myst 5 I don't class as a Myst game as it is really more of an Uru Expansion given the story involved.

It should have been the 3rd expansion pack IMO.

If you look at the Myst/URU timeline there's a gap of nearly 100 years.

Myst
Riven
Exile
Revelation
.
.
.
(Gap of 100 years)
.
.
.
URU: Ages Beyond Myst
To D'ni Expansion Pack
The Path of the Shell Expansion Pack
End of Ages "Expansion Pack" --> released as a solo game though

In Myst, you are in the Stranger role whoever the Stranger is
In URU, you are you :lol:

Alien · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 4:32 pm

Stop all this nonsense about End Of Ages being an expansion. That is as correct as saying Riven is an expansion of Myst, it's wrong and nonsense.

I voted for Myst V End Of Ages because it has good graphics, different control methods (point & click or free movement or in-between the two) and it tried something different, drawing on a slate.

I think the only good point about Riven is the realistic graphics. The puzzles are too hard.

Jamie Marchant · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:45 pm

Myst V is a main serries game not an expanstion, otherwise it woulden't be "Myst V" it would just be "end of ages". To me the story wraps up the 'Atrus's family' story that begain in the first game. This is anouther reason I belive it to be 'part of' the serries.

As a side note I have no clue why Yesha appears older in the game then in events that took place in URU a few weeks latter(time travel?)

Tweek · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 12:11 am **Posts:** 2633

It's not nonsense at all.

Myst and Riven take place a short time apart (weeks if not months). Riven to Myst 3 has a gap of about 10 years or so. Myst 3 to Myst 4 is another 10 years or so.

Now if you factor in the time jump between Myst 4 and when Myst 5 was originally set you're looking at almost 200 years (give or take). Originally Myst 5 was set 50 years after the events of Uru until it was retconned with MOUL.

A significant gap for a next chapter to say the least.

Now if we factor in storyline. Myst introduced us to Atrus and his family and hints at the damage done by Sirrus and Achenar. Riven introduces us to Atrus' father and his wife and the damage done by his father. Myst 3 returns to Sirrus and Achenar and shows quite explicitly the damage they caused and how it effected others. Myst 4 again is about Atrus' family. With it showing him wanting his sons to find redemption and not trying to make the same mistakes with Yeesha.

Now Myst 5 isn't about Atrus' family and the destruction caused by them. Whilst Yeesha does factor into it (and to a lesser degree Atrus which could be argued that if it wasn't sold as a Myst game his appearance may not have taken place) it is mainly a carry on from the storyline elements introduced by the Uru series. Namely the D'ni, their slavery issues, freeing the Bahro, and The Grower.

Not to mention that most of the elements from Myst 5 are recycled Uru content. Esher who was mentioned in Marie Sutherlands note in Uru. The 4 Ages, the slates and tablet are recycled content from the 4 Seers from Uru and again those 4 Seers were pretty much rolled into one guy who became Esher.

Then of course there is the matter of Pre-rendered games of Myst to Myst 4 (realMyst was released because it was a test of Plasma 1 which at the time Cyan was using for DIRT/Uru) and Myst 5 is 3D.

Ubi wanted another Myst game, Cyan needed money so they took Uru stuff and wrapped it in the Myst name and we got Myst 5. As a result it is not far of a stretch to think of it as an expansion to Uru.

As a Myst game it falls flat, mainly due to it not being connected to Myst as an expansion to Uru it wraps up a lot of stuff nicely and introduces new questions and concepts for the future.

korovev · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 5:59 pm

Jamie Marchant wrote:

As a side note I have no clue why Yesha appears older in the game then in events that took place in URU a few weeks latter(time travel?)

Jet lag?

Maybe it’s some arcane influence of having failed to deal with the Tablet (one of her tattoos is missing, too); in the ending she hasn’t recovered yet. I doubt it’s time travel, as the K’veer speech comes after those events.

Annabelle · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:00 pm

Alien wrote:

Stop all this nonsense about End Of Ages being an expansion.

Easy to write, hard to defend :lol:

Or maybe something is underlaying...

Thing is Myst 5 is in the continuity of URU. I won't rewrite all of what Tweek wrote but HIS text & my point of view make sense. I was even wrong with my "small" gap of 100 years, it is 200 years, I remember now that Tweek wrote it.

In Myst 5, you are engaged in the journey just like URU, you play you in the present time not someone, The Stranger, in some old setting in the 19th century even before the American Civil War.

janaba1 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 21, 2014 7:53 pm

Thank you, Tweek ... What an excellent, short (read:understandable) and coherent chronological recap or breakdown of the 'events' around Myst and what is called the Myst series (incl. End of Ages officially lol), Riven and Uru ... I never really understood this lol ...

As I didn't grow up with Myst, this isn't my favorite one (I started with Cryo games which I loved), though the story was interesting and I wanted to know it for a better understanding of the other games in the series ... The same applies to Riven, though Riven you cannot really compare to Myst, it is more complex and of an absolute gorgeous beauty, but the puzzles were too difficult and I don't like point-and-click, means screen to screen navigation, but I loved to explore and admire its awesomeness with the help of a walkthrough lol ...

I liked Myst Exile very much, but even more the beauty and story with Yeesha in Tomahna and her brothers and the Dreamworlds etc. of Myst Revelation ... One (as for myself) could in general see a steady increase in graphics, navigation quality etc., and Myst V - End of Ages was creepy for me lol, but this was just the best as for free exploration and the graphics, the light bubbles for teleportation, the magic tablet etc. and esp. for the end of it all, where I, yes I haha, was able to free the Bahro, which delightedly spread its wings and would then soar into its final freedom ... Wow ... Then came (Until) Uru (in 2006 for me), which was a perfect continuation for me as for free exploration, being myself with the choice of toggling first and third person (I like those lovely avis lol) and exploring and having fun with fellow explorers around the world etc ...

Yeah, that's my Myst/Riven/Uru story in short ... What to choose as a preference now ... If I had to, I'd say Myst Revelation as I cannot choose Uru/MOUL here lol, Riven in 3D with free roaming and exploring would be something though, Myst V is great too in a way despite the creepiness, esp. for Todelmer ...

Poll time: Favorit Myst game

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