MYST

[SWard]

Anyone ever complete? I swear my uncle was playing it for like 8 years...

 

[Rivereyes]

Hah, I remember the local press raving about it on release. It failed to connect with me. The full screen 'figure it out' pop-up puzzles were a major turn-off, as I am a born and bred, inventory-hoarding point and clicker. Even it's phenomenal graphics (for the time) failed to pull me in. I remember Myst more as a fixture in gaming magazines and my subconscious than an actual adventure game.

 

[Zoid]

I loved playing Myst. My family and would all crowd around the computer and try to solve the puzzles together. I have very fond memories of it. Now you can play the full game on your phone. My, how far we've come!

 

[spvtnik1]

The game came with a book which was the 'diary' of the player, or one of the characters? So by reading the journal/diary you could figure out the puzzles, but in a canon sort of way. That's the only way I was able to finish the game.

 

[jpishgar]

Finished it! And the second one!
AND! For bonus points, even played the John Goodman-starring parody version "Pyst".

 

[Lutfij]

Nope, didn't finish it, though I wanted to. I still have the game somewhere in a box gathering dust. Might need to install and play it

 

[Krud]

Back when you could rent CD-ROMs at video stores, a high school friend and I spent an entire weekend playing through the game; it kept our interest to the very end, but we both absolutely hated the "ending." I realized later it was setting up for sequels, but at that age I very much preferred closure in my adventure games. Between that and the relative lack of characters, I held a bit of a grudge against the game for far too many years. I was convinced (in the late 90's) that it helped kill the adventure game genre. Obviously I was wrong, since the genre isn't dead, and in hindsight it was amazing that they made the game with such a small group of people. I'm still not a huge fan of the game, but I can respect it for what it was, and in some ways it helped boost PC hardware technology, which I always consider a good thing.

 

[veoviscool12]

The game came with a book which was the 'diary' of the player, or one of the characters? So by reading the journal/diary you could figure out the puzzles, but in a canon sort of way. That's the only way I was able to finish the game.

That was the official Prima Strategy Guide for the game, and it's how I finished the game as well! There was no way seven year old me would have gotten close otherwise. It was a brilliant format, and split the book into two parts: a diary of the 'Everyman' ('Everywoman'?) who documented their journey through the world, and a straightforward "Do this, then that to solve the puzzle" walkthrough. The diary was a nice touch not only because it added a bit of narrative to the world but also because it gently provided you with clues without revealing the solution right away. That allowed you to give yourself a nudge without spoiling the whole puzzle.

They kept the same format for the Riven Strategy Guide. I loved reading through both strategy guides just for that diary, and must have done so at least fifty or sixty times. Still have them on my shelf. Though the Riven one gave me a bit of trouble because the diary didn't mention that the codes were randomized. Took a lot of page flipping and walkthrough searching to figure that one out.

 

[Dan]

I've never completed a MYST game . Knowing me at that age, I most likely just played a demo for hours and hours and never got anywhere.

 

[Chriz86]

I'll defend MYST anyday, but Riven was just too much to handle. I still recommend playing one of the realMYST games, the atmosphere is still fantastic and the puzzles are actually doable.

 

[spvtnik1]

That was the official Prima Strategy Guide for the game, and it's how I finished the game as well! There was no way seven year old me would have gotten close otherwise. It was a brilliant format, and split the book into two parts: a diary of the 'Everyman' ('Everywoman'?) who documented their journey through the world, and a straightforward "Do this, then that to solve the puzzle" walkthrough. The diary was a nice touch not only because it added a bit of narrative to the world but also because it gently provided you with clues without revealing the solution right away. That allowed you to give yourself a nudge without spoiling the whole puzzle.

They kept the same format for the Riven Strategy Guide. I loved reading through both strategy guides just for that diary, and must have done so at least fifty or sixty times. Still have them on my shelf. Though the Riven one gave me a bit of trouble because the diary didn't mention that the codes were randomized. Took a lot of page flipping and walkthrough searching to figure that one out.

This reminds me of the little book that was included with Lemmings 2: The Tribes. A hilarious account of a young Lemming journeying off through the 12 different worlds, encountering all the different lemmings of each one, and finally finding his way back home. It wasn't an instruction manual or guide, just one of the only attempts I remember of putting the Lemmings world in to some type of narrative context until All New World of Lemmings / Lemmings Chronicles came out, which had a short intro video that gave some context to the story.

 

[veoviscool12]

I'll defend MYST anyday, but Riven was just too much to handle. I still recommend playing one of the realMYST games, the atmosphere is still fantastic and the puzzles are actually doable.

See I'm the opposite. Myst is a cornerstone of computer gaming history, but I don't think it's aged quite as well as Riven. I think Riven is the absolute pinnacle of Cyan world building to this day, and despite its age (20+) it still looks fantastic.

 

[Zloth]

I finished Myst. Pretty good game, though I had to giggle at the guy that wanted "the blooo PAYges!"

I played Riven, too, and beat that. There were a lot of things better about it but, when I played, there was a TON of disc swapping.

 

[Chriz86]

See I'm the opposite. Myst is a cornerstone of computer gaming history, but I don't think it's aged quite as well as Riven. I think Riven is the absolute pinnacle of Cyan world building to this day, and despite its age (20+) it still looks fantastic.

I tried so hard to get into Riven, even got very far back in the day. But it always ended up to be way too obtuse for my tastes. I did enjoy Obduction a lot, it's pretty great in VR.

 

[Frindis]

I never owned it myself, but I remember playing it a couple of times at a friend's house and being surprised as to how good the graphics were.

 

[Volley]

This here is another game I always wanted to finish, never did get around to it. If I were to go back, I would choose the 3D Myst version this time, lol.

Despite being a slide show puzzler, the graphics were very impressive at release and I always appreciated the first person view.