Myst

[Discoalucard]

hardcoregaming101.net/myst/uru.htm

This article covers the basics of Myst, but for the moment, concentrates on Uru, the online game. It's a pretty expansive article!

I've never played it though. I haven't mucked with any Myst beyond the first one.

[Jave]

This is embarrassing to admit, but when I first found out about Uru, and saw in-game video, I was utterly disgusted that they'd moved away from those hypercard stack/panoramas to an actual 3D environment, and I thought multiplayer Myst was the worst idea ever.

Didn't have a computer that could run it (or internet) at the time, so it didn't much matter.

edit

sorry to be a grammar jerk:

Rand Miller is the brainchild of the series and is a guru to his fans and to those of the worlds and mythology he's created, making him a bit of a diminutive George Lucas.

Technically speaking, the Myst series would be the brainchild of Rand Miller, not the other way around.

[kal]

Myst is such a fascinating series a fun article to read. It's a shame they missed out on why people play MMOs - people and boredom relief.

[Garamoth]

Just a new tidbit I've found out: Uru was featured as one of the ten biggest flops in gaming by Geeks.com.

www.geeks.co.uk/9153-top-ten-video-game-flops

It might sound negative, but standing alongside "flops" like Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, The Last Express and Shenmue seems pretty flattering, all things considered.

[blackdrazon]

I read the first of the Myst novels (written either by or in close collaboration with the creators, I forget which) when I was younger, but when attempting to re-read it a few years ago I just couldn't stomach the mess. While I might not agree about Garamoth's analysis about games as a storytelling medium, he's right about Myst being good (very good) for worldbuilding... especially since that's all they seemed to have going for them.

I've actually been meaning to replay Riven for years. Why haven't I done that? It's right there, an arm's reach away, on my shelf.

[jorpho]

I found this article a little hard to follow, especially towards the end. Is Into The Deep City yet another game that followed Myst Online: Uru Live, or is it some miscellaneous header randomly thrown into the article, or what?

[Jave]

My sister and I were pretty big Myst fans back in the day. I think I still have all three novels in hardcover around here somewhere. I don't know if I could make it through them again, but at the time, I'd just finished reading the "Doom" novelization (laugh if you'd like... I do) so the Myst novels were like fine literature compared to that... and I was like 12 at the time. I always loved how the last paragraph in the book was, word for word, Atrus' monologue in the intro to the original game.

My sister and I were huge Myst fans, and played through the first 3 games. I didn't know Exile was by a different studio, but looking back on it, I'd believe it. The puzzles in that game seemed, different. Can't put my finger on it.

[Smithee]

I've got Myst 10th Anniversary DVD Edition and I played through the first with my mom. We'd a blast! So reading this article I think I'm gonna go through them myself. It'll be cool shit.

[blackdrazon]

I played through Myst with my dad. Oddly, it was The Seventh Guest that was a full family affair.

[Weasel]

Myst IV is actually really well put together - all the 360-degree panoramas are fully animated and look really sharp and the game does an excellent job of getting you lost in its world. That's something that I always thought Myst was really good at. Even if the puzzles are at times extremely cryptic (though on rare occasions are absolute works of genius, like learning to count in Riven by playing with a little childrens' toy), the world is always extremely atmospheric and easy to get immersed in, owing mainly to the ridiculous amounts of detail Cyan puts into their graphics, animation, and ecosystem.

The best way to experience the original Myst would have to be realMyst - good luck finding that these days, though, I hear it's getting hard to come by (and hasn't been rereleased at all to my knowledge).

[Garamoth]

Nov 25, 2009 17:59:51 GMT -5 jorpho said:

I found this article a little hard to follow, especially towards the end. Is Into The Deep City yet another game that followed Myst Online: Uru Live, or is it some miscellaneous header randomly thrown into the article, or what?

Yeah I have to admit the text doesn't flow as well as I meant it to. Sigh, I guess this is as good a time as any to bring out my "English is not my native language" card.

No it's just a header after the description of the areas, where I start talking about the graphics, sound and story. Maybe it should just be removed if it's confusing.

So has anyone played this? As I said at the end of my article, it's going to be available for free one day... well it should already be available, but Cyan never meets their own deadlines, which is sort of why the online elements of Uru always sucked in the first place.

[blackdrazon]

Nov 26, 2009 1:38:32 GMT -5 Weasel said:

best way to experience the original Myst would have to be realMyst - good luck finding that these days, though, I hear it's getting hard to come by (and hasn't been rereleased at all to my knowledge).

The new Age was in the DS port but otherwise yeah, I don't think the new features have shown their faces in any other remake.

[Garamoth]

Yeah, but it's only still shots of Rime (the new age) from RealMYST. All the other stills are from the original, so I assume there's a clash in visual quality. The RealMYST version is the definitive one, by far.

Not to mention that the DS version is pretty terrible... not only is the screen very small, but the definition is awful and the magnyfying glass only makes things look worse.

[Smithee]

I'm gonna get the offline of this game someday, it seems great!

Well... right up my ally anyways. Not like the online is around anymore, so HEY!

[roushimsx]

Nov 26, 2009 1:38:32 GMT -5 Weasel said:

The best way to experience the original Myst would have to be realMyst - good luck finding that these days, though, I hear it's getting hard to come by (and hasn't been rereleased at all to my knowledge).

It was on GameTap last time I used the service...haven't been able to play with it since it went web-based (yuck), though. GameTap used to be so excellent.

Looks like Cyan Worlds has partnered with GOG to start releasing thier back catalog (starting with Myst Masterpiece Edition), so we'll see if they RealMyst it up or not in the future.