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I actually like the contrast between Riven and Myst/its Ages in that regard. The environments in Myst feel very artificial and isolated, both for story and game tech reason. You're coming to these environments after Sirius and Achenar have messed them up, and using Atrus' self-made hub world of Myst to go between then. In Riven however, it's made clear from the start that you're trying to save this very real world, where life is continuing to operate unaware of the impending disaster. Some of Myst's puzzles do revolve around structures in the Ages that were in use at one point, but in Riven those things are still active and running and that becomes part of the challenge.
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Oct 17, 2016 05:04
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Fedule posted:Riven just has a different kind of puzzle than what people normally think of as a "puzzle"; situations where even perceiving what the puzzle is is part of the puzzle. It's a big interconnected series of things, and the game gives you one end (some kind of input panel) and expects you to see the other, and all the layers in between, and how they connect. I'll justify this summary a bit more when we've seen the first of Riven's signature puzzles. I will agree with that, but since they put the parts that tie everything together at one end of the long path, I was too distracted looking for the puzzle to appreciate the parts of it. This isn't a design flaw per se, it's just something that didn't click for me at the time and led to frustration. Obduction is similar (not on quite as big a scale), but being older and recognizing it let me file those bits away while getting on with the game, it also helps that they have a character give you your first tasks (his comments are basically "turn the water back on" "turn the power back on" and "finish the rest of the game"). E: My thought process just now "lessee, I played when it came out so I was... 15? I think that puts me past 'too young to appreciate it' and into 'impatient little twerp.'" Bruceski fucked around with this message at 06:34 on Oct 17, 2016 |
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Oct 17, 2016 06:28
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Entry 7 Ambient: lapping water and birdsong With the lake opened up to me, the question was really where to start.  Of course first I had to descend a three story ladder.   After a bit of thought I decided to start with the small building in the corner of the lake. It was a bit closer and it intrigued me more than the tall metal tower. I was getting better at piloting the submarine too, it was fairly straightforward with a bit of use.   I paused after climbing up onto the dock. It didn’t look like a torture chamber or a prison from out here.   In fact, it looked like a school  Looking around, it was definitely a school. Seats arranged carefully, letters put up on the walls in plain view.  The blackboard had a short lesson as well. I doubted I could translate it though, it didn’t look like anyone here speaks English anyway. Well, except Gehn and Catherine I suppose. Wherever the hell they are.  I looked at the device that stood front and center in the classroom. It looked like the giant cage in the Temple. The handle here looked promising.   Turning the handle produced a grainy and shimmering image. A man, speaking in the same local language. No idea what he was saying, but it was the tone of a public speaker, imperious, but gracious with his approval. Gehn himself, I presume.  I thought back to the image in the gate room. So this would be the realm of the teachers serving him.   I took a look around the rest of the school room. In the corner was a paper and some extra fruit. With no context, I had no idea whether it was the teacher’s grade book or a student’s work. The fruit was tasty though. Tangy but refreshing. I only took one, since these were probably student snacks as well.  On the other side was… a wooden toy of some sort. I also noted the lamps all had more pictures of those tusk whales.  Looking at the toy revealed another. It reminded me of hangman, with the little people dangling upside down. It wasn’t complicated, though the mechanics needed for this to work must have been impressive.  Turning the ring caused a random symbol to show up in the square at the bottom. Then the little man above the mouth would descend by a number of ticks.  Turning the ring back repeated the process for the other man.  Repeat the process until one of the figures reaches the bottom, where the fish would snap shut on the figure, and the game would reset itself. I admit, I was avoiding the implications of what I was looking at. Instead I focused on the symbols. Some of them were familiar, and it looked like each one corresponded to a number. I played around until I figured out all of them.  Of course, a lot of these symbols were familiar.  The eyes scattered around the island had these symbols as well. Numbers, two, three, four, and five. It suggested there was a one somewhere here, but I hadn’t seen it yet. The symbol for five though,  That symbol had been everywhere, along with the five pointed star. Hell, just about everything tied directly to Gehn had the number five somewhere.   But there was one more stop to get to. The cage tower on the far side of the lake. Dread began to form a knot in my gut. I had probably already subconsciously figured out what it was for.    Nevertheless, I got back to the sub and crossed the lake. I couldn’t just leave it unchecked.   The tower was an imposing structure. Only the Golden Dome had been larger. I noticed a metal walkway at the top of the cliffs as well. They cast weird shadows on the rocks underneath them.   The birds on the island seemed to fade away as I stepped onto the platform, and the water below that much closer. Something hit the metal below, sending a gonging sound and a brief rumble up the structure. I slowly took a lap around the circle, I noticed a handle of some sort on the far side.  Wondering what I would see, I pulled it.  Above me something from up high came down, descending on a metal chain to just above the water’s surface.  It was a pair of manacles.   I thought back to the children’s toy and the painting in the cave. People were strapped in by the legs and lowered to the water below, where they would be eaten alive by the monsters that were represented all over the island. Symbols of power, but a very real creature that Gehn used to execute people. Another metal sound rang out as something hit the metal below me. The water was dark and seemed much deeper than the lake surrounding it.  I didn’t stick around. As I left the rattle of the chain signaled the manacles making their way to the top of the tower again.  I returned the sub and went back to the village dock. I had been everywhere on the island, and had discovered plenty, but I was still missing something.  Here especially, the upper metal walkways could be seen hanging from the cliffs. There had to be a way up there.  But first I wanted to check something, a pattern that was forming in my head.  The eyes around the island were, I think, associated with the daggers that man was using. One of them was found underneath one, after all.  They had numbers and a sound, and several of them were also shaped like an animal.   And the way that man saved me from the guard suggested meant… maybe… that they were working against Gehn.  Whatever the eyes were, they might be a clue.  Because whoever put them here went to a lot of trouble to make them hide in plain sight. I had traveled back to the tram stop, hoping to check on the eye there and confirm the number on it. What I hadn’t expected was that the rocks of the tunnel itself to form a shape by itself. Like the beetle at the water pump, or the Tusk whale in the lagoon. Right at its head, I could see the eye itself. The chirping sound it made did sound like a frog. I checked the symbol on it, three, according to my notes.   I was excited, I felt like I was getting somewhere. There was another bit of wildlife I wanted to check as well.  The pelican seals had come back to their rock, sunning themselves and snorting loudly.   This time I was much more careful, taking each step lightly and slowly, only moving when the creatures were not paying attention to me.  It took a little while, but I stepped onto the sand of the lagoon and looked in the eyes of the strange beasts.  The one on the right lifted its beak in the air, and barked. The same bark I had heard from the eye in the forest. Another animal associated with a number. When I started scribbling the note in my journal, the beasts took offense and slipped into the water again. I paid them no heed though, because I had another thought in my head.  This island was inhabited, far more so than any of Atrus’ ages, and the paths I had followed so far were all for the villagers. But they weren’t the only ones. The metal walkways attached to the execution tower, for example. There had to be a way for Gehn and his lackeys to get up there and prepare the unfortunate to be killed.  That wasn’t the only thing though. I returned to the forest and looked up into the canopy. More metal walkways stretched out among the trees. I thought back to the temple, and its door hidden in a shadowy corner. Maybe there was something similar here.  It might not be just hidden though. The temple, after all, could be carefully watched whenever supplicants were inside. Out here though, with so much space and a village nearby, simply hiding it was dangerous. Guarding it meant people would wonder what was there, and I certainly hadn’t run into many more guards on this island. Far better to scare people away, perhaps.  Soundtrack: Jungle Totem And what was more frightening than an executioner?  The metal and wood image of the tusk whale wasn’t just an object of worship. That was the purpose of the temple, after all, and bugs and animals would get at any offerings left here well before Gehn and his lackeys could pick them up. The imposing, toothy maw was likely meant to keep villagers from poking around here, discovering something. It certainly worked on me when I first discovered this place. But now I had a mission. The maw itself didn’t have any buttons or levers, but the two lamps at the entrance seemed out of place. I began to feel around on them.  A switch clicked on the right lamp. Bingo.  With a groan, the tusk whale’s mouth opened up, revealing a set of stairs in its jaw. If the image was worrying before, it was outright frightening now.  But I wasn’t going to let superstition keep me away here. This had to be the way to the upper walkways. I stepped inside.  The façade fell away quickly. The insides were rough wooden boards, and head of me...  Was a tram call button, and an elevator. It was time to see what Gehn wanted to hide from his people.
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Oct 18, 2016 06:26
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that loving lamp switch  Keep up the awesome work, OP!!
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Oct 18, 2016 07:25
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I missed a heck of a lot of subtext when I played this as a kid.
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Oct 18, 2016 08:06
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Figuring out the numbering system was a huge moment for my brother and me when we first played this game together.
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Oct 18, 2016 08:28
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Fister Roboto posted:Figuring out the numbering system was a huge moment for my brother and me when we first played this game together. A few years ago I was helping my parents clean out some of my old stuff for a move, and I found the scratch paper my brother and I used for this game. Half of it was covered with the number system because once we figured out the method to it we just kept going, translating all sorts of stuff. Why yes, we WERE huge nerds. Bruceski fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Oct 18, 2016 |
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Oct 18, 2016 08:46
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Bruceski posted:future puzzle stuff  Hey I'm gonna go into that and the new folks following along might want to figure that out by themselves.
M.c.P fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Oct 18, 2016 |
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Oct 18, 2016 09:01
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I never did anything with the fish head statue this early on, there's another way to figure out its hidden entrance later on.
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Oct 18, 2016 13:20
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Doing it this way also skips an extra scene later on.
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Oct 18, 2016 16:14
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Fister Roboto posted:Figuring out the numbering system was a huge moment for my brother and me when we first played this game together. Obduction has its own "completely foreign numbering system" angle and figuring it out (then becoming proficient in it - there's comparatively more of it there than in Riven, IIRC) was the same great feeling.
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Oct 18, 2016 17:00
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it's been years probably since the last time i played riven and i still have the d'ni numerals completely committed to memory
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Oct 18, 2016 18:05
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C-Euro posted:I never did anything with the fish head statue this early on, there's another way to figure out its hidden entrance later on. Same. It's cool that the game isn't super-linear so that there is stuff you can do out of order. I remember exploring the 3rd island with all of the paper mill stuff way before I ever opened the whale head. The game in the school that teaches you the number system is a brilliant piece of game design. I probably spent like an hour playing with that and taking notes the first time I played.
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Oct 18, 2016 19:40
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M.c.P posted:
Case in point of the thing about Riven, I didn't even think of that as a puzzle element. Scrubbed what I think was the offending text.
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Oct 18, 2016 20:24
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bitprophet posted:Obduction has its own "completely foreign numbering system" angle and figuring it out (then becoming proficient in it - there's comparatively more of it there than in Riven, IIRC) was the same great feeling. Obduction's system is interesting because there are a couple of things you need to translate into/from decimal, but for most of the times it's used you could just brute-force but to understand the logic behind it needs you to be conversational in the number system. The difference between, for example, handling a Hex system and saying "this means 256" and "this says FF".
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Oct 18, 2016 20:29
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Riven is very much a note-taker's dream.
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Oct 18, 2016 20:57
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As someone said before i think, part of the puzzle in Riven is recognizing that it's a puzzle. It's very much not a game-ified confined set of rules and puzzle pieces you get that's "solved" and you move on to the next room. One puzzle's solution is part of another puzzle's question, and you need to have solved a third puzzle to even notice that the first puzzle is asking a question.
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Oct 18, 2016 22:08
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I contend that there are only actually two puzzles in Riven.
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Oct 18, 2016 23:24
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Fedule posted:I contend that there are only actually two puzzles in Riven. This is correct, it's what makes it such an interesting game.
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Oct 19, 2016 01:06
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While Riven only teaches the numbers, the text that appears in the classroom and elsewhere is an actual language they invented for the series, and just about everything in the game (written and spoken) has since been translated. I'd recommend only looking them up if you've finished the game to avoid spoilers.
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Oct 19, 2016 17:18
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Fedule posted:I contend that there are only actually two puzzles in Riven. I've heard the same thing, and having played through the game I agree. Everything else is just getting around and figuring out what the puzzle pieces actually are.
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Oct 19, 2016 18:08
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The D’ni In the last Lore update, we went into the Art. Now we’re going to talk about the society and civilization that created it. Editor’s note: Myst is a long standing franchise, and subsequent to Riven people just kept writing and expanding on backstory. There’s a lot out there, though thankfully it’s not openly contradictory… most of the time. Fair warning.  D’ni is the name of the people, the empire, the capital city, and the language, in case you’re curious about the number of apostrophes about to get thrown around. We’re going to start with the people.  The D’ni People Though Atrus there is only a quarter D’ni. We’ll get into it later. D’ni are, largely, light skinned and gaunt, mostly from generations of living in a giant cave. Thanks to Ages they aren’t utterly pale and blind, since they can hop over to a beach and get some vitamin D whenever they like, but for the most part they stay light skinned. And this is not at all because the developers/actors for Myst were a pair of brothers that were pale as the driven snow. They are also extra-long-lived, most of them having life spans lasting three centuries. Besides that? Entirely human. The origins of the D’ni was on a world called Garternay, “Root of the Great Tree” in D’ni (the language). They called themselves the Ronay on that world, which orbited an aging red sun. Not much else is known about the planet, besides the fact that the Ronay learned and developed the Art. However, the red sun of Garternay was starting to die, and it was already getting increasingly difficult to survive. A large predicament for any species, but fortunately the Ronay had the Art. Their finest minds started working on new Ages suitable for the mass emigration of their species. Most of them went off to a rich and fertile age called Tehranee, which becomes the subject of a novelized adventure in The Book of D’ni. We’re not going to worry about them. Instead, we’re going to follow a smaller group of somewhat stick in the mud Ronay, who felt that the others had forgotten their humility. They create their own Age called D’ni, featuring a massive cave system with glowing algae, and move there instead. The thing is, a cavern system means a world around it, a surface, plants for atmosphere, water systems…  The point being that the Age of D’ni is Earth, and the cave the D’ni end up in lies deep underneath North America, somewhere in New Mexico. The D’ni arrived in roughly 7600BC, set up shop, and thrived under the Earth for the next 9400 years. They had good kings and bad kings, wars and rebellions, but the D’ni lived on regardless, somehow unknown and ignored by the world above.  The City of D’ni The main cavern that the D’ni set up shop is a vast and open space, dominated by an underground lake filled with an algae that glows and fades in a roughly 30 hour cycle. The city is divided into neighborhoods spread around the edges of the lake, most of which is residential area save for Guild Halls where the crafts and creation of the Empire take place. Islands dot the underground lake, most of them reserved for the rich and powerful and their private mansions. Great Silos occupy a major place in each neighborhood, storage areas for the food and goods delivered from the farming Ages.  Map of the caves around D'ni, click for HUGE Small caverns and winding caves split off from the main cavern, mostly unoccupied and ignored save for the adventurous. Some of them lead, in their winding and circuitous way, to the surface. There are maps and signs to get to the surface, and the occasional human will find his or her way down to D’ni territory, but for the most part they are simply left alone.  The D’ni Culture D’ni society was ruled by a King, who worked closely with a Council of Guild Masters. The vast majority of the D’ni work for one guild or another, either one of the 18 Major Guilds, or one of the myriad less powerful Minor Guilds. Sound familiar? The Major Guilds were mostly focused, unsurprisingly, on books and the Art. There were the Guilds focused on making the books: The Bookmakers, Inkmakers, Writers and Maintainers (in charge of making sure Ages aren’t abused or misused) There were the Guilds focused on exploring the books: The Surveyors, Cartographers, Linguists, and Analysts. There were the Guilds focused on setting up buildings and utilities in a book: The Stone Masons, Engineers, and Mechanists (no I don’t know what the difference is) There were the Guilds focused on taking the resources back from a book: The Miners, Chemists, and Caterers. And finally there were the Guilds that were necessary for any Empire filled with people: The Legislators, Healers, Messengers, and Archivists. The Writers Guild is the most prestigious and commands the most power, and for good reason. A skilled writer could create a world with precisely what you might want or need, and were responsible for the continued survival of the D’ni Empire. Most of the Kings of D’ni were from the Writers Guild. They are the ones that control the Art, and prohibited anyone but themselves from learning how to Write Ages. Its equal parts power and prevention. The Writers certainly guarded the Art closely, but a poorly written or dangerous age could threaten not just the surveyors tasked with visiting it, but also the whole Empire if something terrible should come back. Of course, like most rules, it gets broken often enough and there are plenty of stories of people learning the Art behind the Guild’s back. The other Major Guilds were, if not as prestigious, still powerful on their own. They tended towards a certain elitism, saving space in their halls for those that can afford the prohibitively expensive ‘training’. But those guilds also believed in a Meritocracy and would, on occasion allow a skilled lower class D’ni into their halls. Below them were the Minor Guilds, a large collection of easier to enter organizations that served to occupy and represent the lower classes. Most of the Major Guilds had their own private Ages, and some of the richer families had private Ages as well. There was a fair bit of bureaucracy behind getting an Age written and accessed by others, but time and need created a vast multitude of worlds in libraries spread throughout the city. All D’ni traveled to other Ages for one reason or another, ranging from farming to relaxation to schooling. The D’ni never created populated Ages for the purpose of enslaving them. Call it cultural traditions from the first D’ni to arrive, but they had a strong revulsion as a culture to enforced servitude. It wasn’t all nice feelings though, much of that revulsion stems from a strong xenophobia and a fear of any other civilization getting their hands on the Art. That same revulsion led to the D’ni making very little contact with the surface for the aforementioned 9400 years, and ensuring that any unlucky spelunkers that show up stayed permanently. The question of Outsiders, the non-D’ni from the Surface and populated Ages was a major philosophical point of contention for the D’ni. One that, eventually, led to the destruction of their civilization. But the specifics of that will have to wait, as they have quite a lot to do with what happens in Riven. Instead, next time we will look at Atrus, our friend from the beginning of the game, and discover how he got himself in the predicament of editing his father’s book while a stranger rescues his wife. M.c.P fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Oct 21, 2016 |
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Oct 20, 2016 15:32
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I'm so glad you're doing these lore posts. The sum total of my knowledge about the background elements of these games is everything you encounter in Myst, and a tiny bit of Riven. The only other Myst game with a title that I recognize is Uru, and I only remember that one being advertised. Never actually played it. So, thanks for the lore. 
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Oct 20, 2016 17:54
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M.c.P posted:
Uru concept art? Thats the steampunk city from Ni no Kuni "Hamelin". Where did you even find that?
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Oct 20, 2016 22:20
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Tombot posted:Uru concept art? Thats the steampunk city from Ni no Kuni "Hamelin". Where did you even find that? Apparently the internet lied to me. I'm crushed. edit: offending picture replaced. Let's all pretend this is a very professional and well researched lp. M.c.P fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Oct 21, 2016 |
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Oct 21, 2016 01:41
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This is what Gehn-style editing does.
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Oct 21, 2016 02:43
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Whoa whoa whoa, wait. So when we use the book behind the fireplace, at the end of Myst, and arrive at D'ni, WE HAVE ACTUALLY MADE IT BACK TO EARTH!? AND THAT FUCKER ATRUS ACTUALLY HAD THE BALLS TO SUGGEST THAT HE WASN'T SURE HOW TO GET US HOME, BUT THAT HE WOULD WORK ON IT!? I understand why he did that, given his situation, but SON OF A BITCH.
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Oct 21, 2016 04:35
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RickVoid posted:Whoa whoa whoa, wait. To be fair to Atrus, he could simply mean "I don't know the way to the surface from this room, but once I'm not spending 23 hours a day preventing Riven from imploding, I can start mapping the place out for you." From the sounds of it, it wasn't exactly encouraged for the citizenry to go and try to go to the surface, so even if he knows you are from earth, and that the D'ni cave systems are on earth, there's no reason to think he can get you to the surface.
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Oct 21, 2016 12:52
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The Watercrown posted:To be fair to Atrus, he could simply mean "I don't know the way to the surface from this room, but once I'm not spending 23 hours a day preventing Riven from imploding, I can start mapping the place out for you." From the sounds of it, it wasn't exactly encouraged for the citizenry to go and try to go to the surface, so even if he knows you are from earth, and that the D'ni cave systems are on earth, there's no reason to think he can get you to the surface. Except the next lore post is coming.
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Oct 21, 2016 13:00
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IIRC the deal was actually that the D'ni room Atrus is in during Myst/Riven, has its entrance blocked by tons of fallen rock. So while yes, technically when you're there with him you're "on Earth", it might as well be a totally different place until you come into possession of some TNT or whatnot. Also IIRC, in the last novel, Atrus finds enough people/resources on other Ages that he is able to excavate the doorway and regain access to D'ni. At least, I'm pretty sure the room is accessible by the time Uru happens? I need to reread/replay all this.
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Oct 21, 2016 15:46
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See, it's also possible Atrus doesn't know you're an Earther from the surface, so he's sitting here going "Listen bro I really gotta get this figured out first but once I do I swear I'll try to figure out which Age you're from so we can send you home," blissfully unaware that technically speaking you're already there. Do the D'ni/Atrus know that D'ni and Earth are the same place? This may also be relevant.
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Oct 22, 2016 04:24
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Dr. Buttass posted:See, it's also possible Atrus doesn't know you're an Earther from the surface, so he's sitting here going "Listen bro I really gotta get this figured out first but once I do I swear I'll try to figure out which Age you're from so we can send you home," blissfully unaware that technically speaking you're already there. Remember that he's only a quarter D'ni in the first place. The other 3/4 had to come from somewhere. For all Gehn's faults, he doesn't seem to be too interested in marrying his creations nor forcing himself on them in that way. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Oct 22, 2016 |
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Oct 22, 2016 04:30
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But D'ni isn't their original Age. Are you saying he's okay with schtupping someone else's creations? I'm not sure that's much better...
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Oct 22, 2016 04:59
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Dr. Buttass posted:See, it's also possible Atrus doesn't know you're an Earther from the surface, so he's sitting here going "Listen bro I really gotta get this figured out first but once I do I swear I'll try to figure out which Age you're from so we can send you home," blissfully unaware that technically speaking you're already there. Mostly this, Atrus knows the player used a Myst linking book he last saw falling into a bottomless pit (see opening video to Myst), but has absolutely no way of knowing where the Myst linking book went/the player came from. I assume this will be explained in the next lore post.
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Oct 24, 2016 23:56
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This is a big one. Entry 8  Ambient: Birdsong and bugs I stepped in the elevator and looked around. Controls seemed simple enough, and there was even a groove where the handle scraped against the wood. I grabbed the handle and pulled it upwards.   The tusk whale mouth closed, and the elevator turned. Odd, but it started rising soon so I just put it to the difficulties of putting elevators in trees.  And at the top, the metal walkways among the trees, above the simple villager paths below.   It wasn’t long before I found something to pique my interest. A dark metal dome, spinning like a top. It seemed to be decorated with a number of circles, but beyond that I had no idea what its purpose was. I did notice the pipe running into it. I checked back through my journal and confirmed that this was, in fact, the second dome I’ve seen so far.  There were no obvious ways to stop it though. I took a look around and noticed a gap in the railing, with some sort of device on a different walkway pointed right at the dome.  It was just a quick loop around from where I was.  The device clicked at me, the wheel spinning in time with the dome.  Looking closer revealed a primitive animation, an eye slowly opening and closing in different ways. The circles appeared to be on the spinning dome itself, but I noticed one of the images was yellow. Tapping the button on top at random didn’t do anything by itself, but after getting used to the timing…  I hit the button at the right symbol.  The dome ahead of me slowly came to a stop, and then opened up with a slick rumble.  Another golden dome, this one gleaming in the sunlight coming through the trees. Honestly, it was astonishing.   I rushed back around the walkways, wondering just what I had uncovered.  At first I was disappointed. Another combination lock. But peering through the glass chilled me to the bone. A book. A book left under careful protection, locked by passcode, and further hidden from the village where they were not allowed to be. Atrus’ places of protections sprang to mind, but I had no observatory to tell me the passwords here. Gehn was likely too careful for that. It had to be a linking book. Which was impossible. Atrus was certain this Age was a prison, that his Myst book was the last link away, and that had dropped where no one could recover it. Had he missed one? That would make my missions nigh impossible, Gehn could be anywhere in the vast multiplicity of Ages, and possibly Catherine with him.  I remembered the pictures in the Gate Room, the process of making books. Maybe Gehn had rediscovered the process of making books as well. But that would lead to the same problem. I imagined myself, endlessly chasing Gehn from subjugated world to subjugated world, while far behind me Atrus struggles endlessly with the book of Riven. If I failed to get back before his desperate edits finally failed…  I pushed the thought from my mind. I was still on Riven, and there was hope yet. Like as not Gehn would create a hub Age for himself and his private studies. And perhaps these domes and books were a recent development, so Gehn hadn’t gotten very far at all. Hopefully, anyway. But if I fail, it would mean more than Catherine’s life and that of the people of Riven. Atrus’ fear of a Gehn loose in the Ages were realized. And from all that I’ve seen Gehn’s treatment of Riven so far, I’m inclined to agree.  The walkway continued, upwards and away from the jungle.  I was greeted by another building. The walkway was familiar, situated across from the small hole where the watchtower was.   The door swung open easily, revealing another imposing looking chair. The tusked jawbone that made the back made my stomach turn. The teeth were sharp, made for piercing, tearing and crushing. The whole jaw was nearly as tall as I was. The tusk whales were getting more distressingly real by the hour. Another of Gehn’s chairs.  I took a seat and noted the two levers in front of me. I tried the right one first, but it clicked and did nothing. When I tried the left one though…   Panels in the ceiling opened up, and the chair itself slowly lifted into the sky.  The view was astonishing, especially the village spread out below. I wondered how many of the Rivenese could see me. I wondered what they thought of this stranger in their ruler’s chair, poking at the levers.  I looked over the lip, and even from here the drop gave me a bit of vertigo. In perfect view was the execution tower.   I gave the right lever another try, and this time the platform below the tower closed, revealing another star design. A test pull revealed I could open and close the platform from here. I realized I was sitting on Gehn’s own judgement throne.  I pulled the left lever and lowered the chair again.  Thinking back, I can clearly picture the events. The Rivenese villagers called out of their homes, the tower in front of them and Gehn on his seat high, high above.  Gehn would no doubt make his intentions clear, expounding on justice, his authority, and the failures of the poor unfortunate being chained to the manacles at the top of the tower.  Gehn would render his verdict, and, exerting his own control, the platform of the tower would open, revealing the dark waters beneath. But the executioner himself would be at the base, one of Gehn’s lackeys, ready to pull the switch that would lower the accused, screaming, to his death.  What’s most disturbing is the presentation, the sheer showmanship of the whole setup, and how it exists in full view of the village, a daily reminder of their ruler and the power he wields.  And, God help me, I was headed back to that same tower. Stopping in the secret elevator, I noticed the groove of the switch actually seemed to extend a little further down.  The middle area was back at the tusk whale effigy, but pulling the lever further proved fruitful.  The elevator lowered down into the rock, revealing another floor.  Another tram stop, the one corresponding to the blue tram button up a floor. Probably a bit of convenience. By the time the elevator lowered, the tram would likely have arrived.  I wasn’t done on this island yet though. There was something that closing the tower platform might let me do.  Of course, it would be a bit of a trip to make my way back to the tower.  My journey back was interrupted briefly, when I ran face to face with a young Rivenese girl in the jungle. She turned tail and fled quickly without a word.  Not before tripping on her own feet though. I stayed put. I doubted anyone would react well to a mysterious stranger chasing after a three year old child.  I waited until she could get away and continued on my way.   Thankfully the sub was docked where I left it, meaning I wouldn’t have to circumnavigate the entire island to get to it.   It was only a brief underwater jaunt to return to the execution tower. Once more the sound of water just below my feet filled my ears. The metal sounds from deep below still gave me pause.  With the platform closed, it felt much safer. I remembered the last time I came here. Pulling the switch would lower the manacles, and after a short time, they would lift into the air again.  With the platform closed I wouldn’t have to worry about making myself an unwilling sacrifice, and by definition it needed to be able to lift a person’s weight. In fact, it would probably need to be stronger than that, the tusk whale’s teeth were sharp, but any carnivore tears at its prey. Hanging upside down, it would be akin to fishing with a block of chum, the larger creature biting in and jerking side to side, leaving behind-  I pulled the switch, and the manacles lowered down. It was just a matter of sitting on the manacle bars and gripping the chain.  Once again I felt the eyes of the villagers on me as I took a seat on the gallows.   And, slowly, I began to rise.  I hopped off quickly at the top of the tower, facing the last place on the island I hadn’t been to.  I peeked down the hole I had just vacated. Not an experience I wanted to go through again.  The top was lined with more of the enormous jaw bones. Gehn had killed plenty of these tusk whales before turning to them as executioners. It was certainly effective imagery.  I had other things to explore though. I crossed the narrow gangplank to the door on the other side. 5 sections again.  Peering through the bars of the door revealed something astounding.  I rapped on the bars, and the prisoners slowly looked up. We locked eyes, and I tried to communicate that I would let him out. Hand gestures, pointing, that sort of thing. He remained stoic and remained seated.  I decided to do something a bit more practical and looked for the door controls. I noted a wheel to my right, and was thankful this switch wasn’t tucked away past a secret tunnel on the other side of the Age.   I gave the wheel a turn, and was rewarded by the prison door opening wide. I waited a moment, expecting the prisoner to jump out in exultation of his freedom. He would accompany me and teach me Riven’s ways, and the two of us would team up against Gehn to end his tyranny with the power of understanding and friendship. I stood there for about a minute, but he didn’t come out. Perhaps he wasn’t that interested in friendship.  In fact, when I went back to the prison, he was gone entirely.  I stepped inside, mind racing. No other obvious exits, and I was right next to the door. He would have to be a literal ghost to leave without me noticing. There had to be another exit. I felt along the brick walls, but they revealed nothing.  The only feature in the entire room was the dirty water grate in the center. An oddly placed one. Why would a cell in a stone mountain need drainage?  The grate flipped open with a rusty squeak. I thought I saw something in the murky water and reached in.  Not too deep inside I felt a handle of some sort and gave it a pull.  Soundtrack: Rebel Caves The rumble of stone on stone caused me to look up, and watch as a piece of the wall slowly opened, revealing a secret passage. So this is where the prisoner went. Did he know who I was? Was I being led this way?  I paused at the entrance. A secret tunnel in Gehn’s own prison. A concrete location of rebellion, kept hidden from Gehn’s own guards and lackeys. The prisoner disappearing was the only indication this was here in the first place. But did he know why I was here? Maybe I was walking into a trap.  Trap or no, I couldn’t leave this be. Being caught would probably be an improvement to wandering lost as I was.  Which made the pitch black tunnel a bit of irony. I stumbled my way forward, one hand on the wall and one in front.  Until I reached the other end. An opening into the sea. No side paths and a sheer drop ahead. I stopped, but somehow this didn’t seem like everything to find here.  I noticed the small stick and globe to the side. Tapping it lightly turned it on, emitting a small bit of light.  I turned around and noticed another lamp, rendered visible by the light.  Turning this one on revealed more of the cave ahead.  I slowly made my way back through the tunnel, turning on lights as I went.  Until I made it to a door, set in the stone wall. I must have blundered past it in the dark   I had to turn on a couple more lights, but I could see the handle in the stone. Opening the door revealed another passage, this one already brightly lit.   The tunnel was long and winding, seeming to lead deep into the stone of the island.  But it led to a room, hidden behind two secret doors and into Gehn’s own prison.  A room marked by the dagger I’d been looking for ever since I got here.  The room was lined with pillars depicting a variety of animals, maybe 30 alltogether.  Some of them were quite familiar. I thought back to the eyes, spread around the island. Looking around I found a frog, the beaked seal, the beetle… And each of them was numbered, 2, 3, 4, and 5. They were a code! A hidden passcode for the villagers to discover on their own. Gehn and his lackeys stayed to their own spaces, but if a villagers disobeyed, or was unruly and was sentenced to death… then they might find the escape, and make their way here. I nearly had the whole code myself. Access to the Dagger rebellion, at my fingertips. But I decided against guessing by trial and error. There might be a failsafe in the stones, or some of the rebels might come through and dart me. I’ve certainly had my fair share of miscommunications while I’ve been here.   I left the secret room, and the prison. There was more islands to explore, and more to understand about Riven.   Further along the walkways I found a ladder that could be lowered to the wooden gangways above the lake. A more dignified path than taking the manacles again.  I’m sitting at the elevator tram station, writing this entry and processing everything I’ve discovered so far. I’m this close to solving the rebel code, but I’m admittedly hesitant. I don’t speak their language, and I resemble Gehn far more than any of the locals. Before I dive in and look for the trap linking book, I feel like there’s more of Riven I need to understand. Hopefully this next island will have more to reveal.
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Oct 28, 2016 11:53
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I remember being spooked at seeing those Rivenese natives because (at least in Myst) these games are usually so lonely.
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Oct 28, 2016 16:32
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oh yes oh god yes form the head FORM THE HEAD unghhhh...
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Oh hey, Riven! I remember watching my dad play this when I was in elementary school. I tried it on my own later on but never made it far - I think unlocking the wheeled submarine thing was about as far as I ever got.
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Oct 28, 2016 22:54
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So now we've finally seen our first puzzle! From how this whole playthrough has been presented, it's pretty apparent what we're working with and how it fits together (or at least I think it is; it's obviously a little bit tricky to imagine how this looks to a newcomer when I've already done it myself) but let me tell you, that poo poo does not just jump out at you while you're wandering confused around these islands. A lot of the material is hidden on this big island we've been wandering around but even if you somehow did figure out this whole thing here and now in a real playthrough, they were nice enough to put clues on each island, so you have to have explored everywhere to finally solve it. It was alluded to in the update, but yeah, there are a lot of different elements working together to produce the solution to this.
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Oct 28, 2016 23:41
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I tried playing Riven when I was twelve or so, and yeah, I missed everything. I flailed at the lack of concrete puzzles for a while before surrendering, partly because the surreal sense of isolation was starting to wear on me, and somehow walked away with the idea it was a cheap sequel. So seeing somebody else navigate the game, not just as series of hidden puzzles, but as a world, is pretty amazing.
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Oct 30, 2016 06:49
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Entry 9 There’s something exciting about taking a tram in Riven.  Besides the high speed and g-forces, I mean.  Sitting in the chair, turning the car around, it’s truly the first step into new territory. A concrete jump from one place to another. Even the linking books give you an image of where you’re going.  I headed to the new island filled with determination, and a bit of a clenched gut at another of these roller coasters.    Which made this ride, a relatively straight shot, a bit of a disappointment. It was over a lot sooner than I’d expected.  The car pulled into another underground station.  And I hopped off the car, ready to confront whatever remained here.  Something at the back of my mind was the nature of this place. This wasn’t a public route, this was reserved for Gehn’s servants. A tram stop hidden behind a secret elevator. I might stumble into revelations sooner rather than later.  The corridor, lined ruler straight through a rough cave, lead left and right.  A glance to the left showed an interesting door. I headed that way.  The path got a bit claustrophobic, as the walls lined with bricks closed in. I walked upwards for time.  Soundtrack – Wahrk Room Into a large open room. Stalactites loomed overhead and stalagmites flanked the walkway.   And in the center, placed on a raised pillar, was another of Gehn’s chairs. The man liked his seats of power, apparently.  I took a seat and took a look at the controls.  Pressing the red button turned the seat around, where I was face to face with the giant blue window. A school of fish swam by. There was an unearthly beauty to it.  Pulling the little handle lowered the big sphere on the right side.  I looked at the giant ball in my lap. 6 buttons with circular symbols on them. They looked like the symbols on the rotating domes. In fact, I recognized the eye with a line from the dome on Village Island.  I pressed the button on the bottom. A light in the center turned on, blue. The tabs rotated the circle, and at the same time, the image moved. Was I looking through a camera?  Pressing the next button showed a different color, this one green. Interested, I kept going.  Yellow,  Orange,  The circle with a line didn’t show any colors. Looking at the picture, it looked like something had broken the light off.  As I turned to the eye with a line, the same symbol highlighted from the dome on Village Island, I think I found the culprit.  Pressing the button didn’t show anything on the camera, but I looked up and saw a red light, hanging from the roof of the cave. Then, a low, drawn out wail echoed from the water.  And, from the murky depths, I met Gehn’s executioner.  It stared at the window, tilting its head like it was waiting for something. A meal, no doubt. The sound was the same as the eye in the lagoon, but I hardly needed to realize the connection.  Bored and disappointed, the tusk whale swam off.  Then a little thought entered my head. These things were animals, trained to respond to the light to act as an executioner. A simple association… but perhaps they could be disassociated?  I pressed the button again.   Soon I was rewarded by another visit. The giant was already getting a little impatient, only lingering for a second before swimming away.  A third press only earned a brief pass from the tusk whale.  I persisted, hitting the button a fourth time. This time I could see the beast approaching quickly. I wondered what was different this time.  Then it slammed into the glass, shaking the cavern and sending dust falling from the ceiling. The glass, to its credit, held fine.  The tusk whale gave a contemptuous tail flick, and swam off for the last time.  Pressing the button any more didn’t bring it back. I had to calm down a bit, but I had struck another blow against Gehn, and this one an important one. If I failed here, at least his grisly executioner was no longer at his beck and call.  Confident that the glass wasn’t about to crack and let the ocean in to claim me, I tried the handle on the left. The orb on the right lifted, and the orb on the left descended into my lap.  Two buttons, and a black screen.  I tried the right button, turning the screen on and revealing… a rock wall?  Turning the wheel with the tabs soon revealed some familiar territory.  I was looking at the lake near the village! I recognized the wooden docks and the cage tower. I remembered the little telescope, peeking out of the rock near the docks. Does this mean that they were observing me the whole time I was exploring the lake? I tried to remember if I saw the telescope move while I was there.  Looking at the entrance to the docks revealed something interesting. A… fish? A small ball floated in the water where its eye would be. Was… I looking at the last eye on the island? I resolved to give it a try later.  I pressed the left button, and the camera switched to a different room. There was no way to rotate the view here, and nothing seemed to happen as I waited. What was I looking at? I didn’t recognize the room at all, but this viewer was a way to keep tabs on people. Was this someone important to Gehn? Maybe he had other prisons, though at a glance this place seemed much nicer than the barren cell.   But I had exhausted everything this viewer had to offer. Pressing the red button again raised the orbs and turned the chair back around.   I walked back down the stairs, and away from the viewing room.   The other path from the door led to a less extravagant door.  Through that, was a metal lattice and another elevator.  The orange light from below seemed to fill the room with heat from below. It wasn’t your typical elevator shaft.   I stepped inside and pressed the obvious button. The wooden door lifted up to close, and the elevator rose. I couldn’t seem much through the tiny window, but I thought I saw water.  The door opened at the top, revealing a much better decorated area than the one I left. Unless you enjoyed sheet metal floors, I suppose.  I glanced back at the elevator. More of the strange Rivenese water filled the bottom of the chamber, and I realized the lift I took was painted in gold. Had I stepped to the other side of the curtain? Or maybe Gehn likes his aesthetics. The gate room, hidden behind a secret door in a temple, was proof enough of that.  I continued onwards, through a door at the end of the hall.  To another tram station.  I had to check around to see if I hadn’t made some kind of impossible loop, but this was a different one. The door across the gap was proof enough.  Pressing the button turned the tram around, letting me enter.  Curious, and not about to leave the island directly, I stepped inside,  Turned the tram around,  And stepped out on the other side. A bit convoluted, when they could just put a bridge in. Maybe it was one of Gehn’s ideas.  I stepped out into the fresh air, a welcome change from the stale caves.  The gantry provided a spectacular view of the islands. Far ahead of me, I could see the only island I haven’t been to, though the tram tracks nearby led directly to it. The long footbridge to the Temple Island stretched across the water. Looks like I could soon make a loop to where I started.  Looking right, I could see the distant Village Island with its jungle. Honestly, it was pretty small when you take the whole thing in, but then, many of Atrus’ own Ages had been small to begin with.  I continued upwards. Tusks lined the edges of the cliff above.  Soundtrack – Survey Island Getting to the top, I paused at the sight. Mysterious rock formations jutted out of the water, which glowed from beneath with strange colors.  Was this man-made? The way tusks had been placed all around seemed to suggest it. The metal walkway winded through the rock formations like a snake.  Halfway through I noticed a glow from beneath. I was walking over the elevator shaft here, though why it was open to the sky escaped me.  I pressed onwards, to a wall and a set of stairs leading further upwards.  Another lagoon, this one a brilliant blue, and far shallower.  Rocky plateaus lined the sides of the path, these with strange spigots on the sides. Their purpose was a mystery.  Nowhere to go but onwards, as the narrow path got shallower, leading to a crack in the wall with some sort of plate inside.  Another elevator, and a way further up. I was starting to wonder how many more of these there were on the island.  It rose a fair ways, and stopped at a metal gantry.  I walked forward, high up in the sky. This might just be higher up than Gehn’s judgment chair.  I stepped forward and looked down at the path I just took. The rocky plateaus had been… something. Blocks, it seems. Curious, I pressed the L shaped one.  Water began to fill in from the holes in the plateau, creating a strange shape made from Riven’s stranger water.  I tried another button, and the water receded from the L shaped rock, and instead forming a shape on the plateau matching the button I pressed. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it at the time.  Thoroughly confused, I turned around. It looked like there was another way through the elevator.   This one led to yet another water feature, and a strange structure.  I stepped inside.  Inside was a small, circular room. More D’ni lined the edges, and right below me was another panel. Curious, I tapped on the glowing square.  With a metal shriek, the pins of the square in front of me lifted into a shape.  The handle on the side rotated the image around. From this side, I could see it was some kind of giant dome.  Tapping another square made the pins form a different shape, a different section.  The giant dome made me certain. This was some kind of interactive map of Temple Island. I vaguely recognized the cliff I linked too, and the paths on the outside of the giant golden dome. Was there a way to examine the other islands?  On a hunch I headed back to the gantry and its strange water formations.  The button I had pressed was the same basic shape as the one I left. This might just be the way to select an island to look at. The one with the hole… was probably the lake at Village Island. But the others… I’m going to continue messing with this, see if the map reveals anything interesting. The top left square is an island I haven’t been to, and then there’s the final small one on the top right. I can only see four island from here, the one I’m on and the three around me. What’s this fifth island then, and where is it? I’m not sure what the simple map will show me, but it’s worth my time taking a look.
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Nov 4, 2016 07:10
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