Originally posted by CounslerCoffee
never played the myst games because I thought that they were for losers...
I assume by “losers” you mean “highly intelligent individuals with the ability to think in the abstract.”
Think of it as the modern incarnation of the adventure game genre including
Zork and
King's Quest. As such, your job is to explore areas, solve various logic puzzles, many with visual or aural clues, and eventually complete the main task. The storyline concerns Atrus, one of the few remaining D'ni, his sons, Sirrus and Achenar, who tried to take control of Myst and all of its '"ages", but ended up trapped in two prison books, devices Atrus himself wrote and put in the Myst library to stop any unwelcome visitors from disrupting his ages. Atrus' wife, Catherine, is mentioned but does not play an active role in the game.
Your basic goal is to
- figure out what happened, and
- put things as right as they can be put, by finding Atrus.
You also get to visit what nifty ages Sirrus and Achenar didn't destroy. You start on a dock and have no idea what in the world you're doing. Fun, isn't it? The point of the game is to collect red or blue pages from the different Ages that you "link" to from Myst, and to make a decision of what to do at the end of the game. The story of what happened to the island of Myst and the associated ‘ages’ are revealed to you by observation and by the dialogue of the two trapped brothers.
Although the graphics are no longer state-of-the-art, these modeled and rendered images are amazing when you consider that this game was released in 1993. The background sound effects such as flowing water, wind and rustling leaves are very well done. The eerie music also adds appropriately at times to the situation. These sounds and music blend perfectly into the environments whereever you are.
There are no game characters to offer help, only a small library, a few scattered notes, and an assortment of tantalizing mechanical devices. Your aim is to operate these devices after which you’ll be transported to yet more worlds equally as fascinating as the first. It’s a game for players who appreciate solemn, solitary exploration and interpreting everything seen and heard in the game world, rather than (or as well as) running around, shooting and collecting items and chatting to game characters like a traditional “inventory-based” game.
It many admirers, but also a lot of detractors who prefer the latter type of adventure. Try it for yourself and make up your own mind.
:m: Peace.
