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I never made the connection that the lights called the whark to where people were to be fed to it. Clever. In a nasty way, of course.
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Nov 4, 2016 07:58
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I think the Cartography Island was the area my 8-year old self got stuck on.
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Nov 4, 2016 15:59
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oh yes oh god yes form the head FORM THE HEAD unghhhh...
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It's not at all initially clear what the point of the giant map is, which makes it frustrating to examine.
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Nov 4, 2016 21:59
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IronSaber posted:I think the Cartography Island was the area my 8-year old self got stuck on. That was the area things started finally making sense for me, but I reached it quite a bit later in my exploration.
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Nov 4, 2016 22:37
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Speaking of Riven water, I wonder what a Rivenese waterbed would be like.
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Nov 5, 2016 00:24
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depending on if body heat is enough to make it react, a waterbed might not even work on Riven
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Nov 5, 2016 04:22
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The novels suggest body heat is enough to make the water react. A Rivenese water bed would start fine, but would slowly move away from wherever you were lying, eventually leaving you lying on the boards below, with the mattress bulging up around you. So like a slow under-inflated air mattress, really.
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Nov 5, 2016 06:49
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M.c.P posted:eventually leaving you lying on the boards below, with the mattress bulging up around you. When you think about it, it's classic Gehn. "I want a fantastical world where warm water defies gravity!!" ... lying on a 'deflated' waterbed ... "Well this sucks. It's not like I didn't think everything through! huff" "...wonder what I can copypasta from the greats to fix this..."
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Nov 5, 2016 07:41
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Taking a hot bath would be literally impossible in Riven. What a terrible world.
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Nov 5, 2016 08:28
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Fister Roboto posted:Taking a hot bath would be literally impossible in Riven. What a terrible world. Everyone does look real dirty but idk if that's just supposed to support the tribal aspect
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Nov 6, 2016 03:18
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I mean...the only people we've really gotten a good look at were a prisoner (or at least a guy masquerading as one for some arcane purpose) and a little kid? Like, those are both demographics you're going to expect to be pretty dirty for various reasons, without one of those reasons being "they're tribal savages who haven't invented hygiene." C'mon dude. Don't be that way.
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Nov 6, 2016 03:26
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Riven!  As a huge Myst fan as a kid, I always love reading Myst series LPs. This is great! I especially like the inclusion of the lore - not only is Riven the one most closely tied to it (at least until Uru and Myst V do their own thing with it), but it's bringing back a bunch of nostalgic memories of reading the books and following all the Cyan news, ARGs, retcons, and so forth on the old Myst fandom forums. I know that at least one person in a previous LP has mentioned being part of that community too; it was the first internet community I was part of, and included the first people from the internet I met IRL. So just beyond playing the games, Myst is always going to have that level of nostalgia associated with it for me. I also had no idea that Cyan had made a new game, and the people here comparing its puzzle style to Riven are definitely selling me on it.
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Nov 6, 2016 07:26
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Actually if body heat is enough to repel the water, how does anyone even drink anything? Someone didn't put a lot of thought into that.
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Nov 6, 2016 08:07
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Perhaps the water is heat-repelled due to some sort of easy-to-filter contaminant? And the tuskwhales simply have a low enough body temperature to still have it be water-like? Or maybe it's just that one area of water? Lots of possible answers, nothing concrete so far.
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Nov 6, 2016 08:13
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It seems like it's not the quickest thing in the world. I bet if you're quick you could chug a glass no problem. After that it's probably not an issue; water doesn't compress, unless the whatever-it-is is going to do something ridiculously disgusting you're probably getting hydrated. As for the tusk-whales, since I was curious about it myself I looked it up and pretty much all real cetaceans have an internal body temperature similar to humans, but they need a lot of blubber to maintain it because water conducts heat so much better, so I suppose that limits how much heat makes it to the surface of the animal. They might also just need to constantly keep moving like some sharks do, so the water doesn't have time to move out of the way before they're gone. For reals though I think it's just a case of Cyan going "Let's do something weird and cool to make this world seem strange and alien" without really thinking through all of the consequences.
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Nov 6, 2016 09:12
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Dr. Buttass posted:For reals though I think it's just a case of Gehn going "Let's do something weird and cool to make this world seem strange and alien" without really thinking through all of the consequences. Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate.
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Nov 6, 2016 09:29
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I was gonna include it I the Atrus lore post, but boiling Riven water makes it act like regular old potable water. Drinking it unboiled leads to rather severe indigestion. One imagines land creatures thriving for some time on hot springs until humans figured out fire.
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Nov 6, 2016 11:24
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Jabor posted:Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate. I don't see where the two are mutually exclusive.
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Nov 7, 2016 00:27
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How did we get into this mess anyway? Is the protagonist a normal person from 1993?
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Nov 14, 2016 05:49
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Colonel J posted:How did we get into this mess anyway? Is the protagonist a normal person from 1993? Yes. You find a book in a library which takes you to Myst. When there you save Atrus from his sons' machinations, but he's too busy keeping Riven from collapsing to help you get home. So if you help him, he'll help you.
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Nov 14, 2016 06:01
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Colonel J posted:How did we get into this mess anyway? Is the protagonist a normal person from 1993? No, the protagonist is a normal person from the early 1800's.
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Nov 14, 2016 07:04
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For all intents and purposes, the Stranger is probably someone living in 18th-century New Mexico who managed to find the MYST book in a desert somewhere near the Cleft that Atrus grew up in, given the appearance of the telescope on Zandi's estate in URU.
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Nov 14, 2016 10:12
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The Myst series has one of the weirdest retcons I've ever seen. All the games and books released before URU are just that in-universe, games and books based on 'real' events. Trap books like the ones Sirrus and Achenar were trapped in and the one that was stolen from us at the start don't exist, they're just 'artistic license' for the sake of gameplay. Also they moved D'ni from somewhere in the Middle East to under New Mexico. Oddly Myst IV is based on the post-URU rules of 'trap books don't exist' so even though the game is about Sirrus and Achenar they don't recognise the player since in the new version of events they never talk to you thought the books. The red and blue books were just normal linking books to ages with no return book (and S&A didn't think to bring Myst books with them not realising the books were a trap).
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Nov 14, 2016 10:42
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The specifics and retcons necessary for Myst 4: Revelation to make sense are vast and strange. I enjoyed it (but I enjoy many, strange things), but I'm not going to pretend it fits at all with the original Myst. Sorry for the delay everyone, the past week has been stressful. I'm working on the promised Lore post now.
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Nov 14, 2016 10:54
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Atrus We’ve covered the background and the history of Myst well enough. Now, let’s turn to its movers and shakers, beginning with the man who got us stuck on Riven in the first place. This is entirely a summation of the novel The Book of Atrus, which I honestly recommend.  Atrus grew up in a small burrow built into the side of a defunct volcano somewhere in the Chihuahuan desert. Turns out there’s quite a few out there, so good on you Myst writers. He lived, alone, with his grandmother Anna, and for some time that was all he knew. Anna and Atrus survived with careful ingenuity and the cultivation of a small farm, supplemented by a trader that would occasionally pass nearby. Anna would trade various strange artifacts and devices for the goods and seeds they needed, but she never let Atrus interact with anyone, for fear of slavers. In the meantime, Anna taught Atrus D’ni writing and instilled a sense of exploration, creativity, and wonder in the young boy. An early incident solidified his devotion to careful observation and his reserved nature. ----  On one of Atrus’ birthdays, Anna returned from the trader with a gift, a rare creature. A kitten with bright orange fur. Atrus named him Flame and became his caretaker, a welcome friend in the desert. A few years later, Atrus had taken to studying some of the plants that grew around the volcano, seeking out something that might be helpful to eat or as medicine. He had chanced upon some bright red flowers, and was growing some in his personal garden, which Flame loved to play in. Eager to see their taste, he tried a leaf. He was nearly immediately sent into convulsions, and forced himself to be violently ill to save himself. The plant was toxic, extremely so. Regretfully, he discovered this too late. Flame had already taken a bite of the plants, and was found dead in the garden. ---- Atrus was fourteen when Gehn returned. He had left an infant Atrus with Anna and then left more than a decade ago. Now he was back to teach Atrus the Art. He promised to return Atrus in three months, and Atrus, excited to see the D’ni Anna had told him about, agreed.  The Cleft and the volcano it was built on were, in fact, the end point of an aborted effort by the D’ni to make a highway to the Surface. It still lead through a maze of caves and passageways, only traversable thanks to a map in Gehn’s possession. After days of hiking underground, Gehn and Atrus arrived at D’ni, and Atrus began his education in the Art. Gehn, however, broke his promise to bring Atrus back. They remained in the ruins of D’ni and its Ages for years. Atrus eventually became very aware of Gehn’s single-minded madness, how all his inhabited Ages (Numbered clinically in order of creation) were oppressed and bent as simulacrums of D’ni culture with Gehn as their God-King. Atrus became aware that he was being groomed as an inheritor, a God-Prince, which made him deeply uncomfortable. The destruction of Gehn’s 37th Age, and the loss of the people there, was the final straw. Atrus stole Gehn’s map and attempted to escape back to the Cleft.  Unfortunately, he was caught. Gehn dragged him back to D’ni and locked him in an old mansion named K’veer. Atrus was left there with water and food to survive… and Riven’s descriptive book, a linking book back, and the means to edit. Atrus rightfully suspected a trap, and first tried to escape from his prison. All this did was cause a cave in, truly trapping him inside. Out of options, Atrus entered Riven, expecting an elaborate trap from his father. Instead he fell in the lake and nearly drowned.  A group of Rivenese people saved him, one of them a woman named Katran. Atrus, being a nosy imperialist, mispronounces it as Catherine, and the name sticks. He spends some time in convalescence (drinking untreated Riven water makes you pretty sick), but the Rivenese people kept his presence hidden from Gehn and his lackeys. Catherine revealed that Gehn’s efforts to teach the art to others had finally born fruit, and that she was capable of writing Ages. This put her in a position of trust, granting her access to parts of D’ni and his Linking books on Riven. However, her talent made her a prize, and Gehn decided to marry her. She pleaded with Atrus for help, and they, in their limited capacity, made a plan to evacuate the people of Riven and trap Gehn there. Catherine would steal the linking books from Gehn’s protected areas in Riven. In the meantime, Atrus would edit Riven so that it would be saved from imminent collapse. Catherine also managed to write an Age, the Age of Myst, to serve as their base of operations. Things went well, but at the last moment Atrus was betrayed by some of the Rivenese people and captured by Gehn. Gehn, not one to waste a spectacle, made his wedding a combination wedding/execution. But Catherine had been successful on her end, and had a secret ally as well.  Anna, Atrus’ Grandmother and Gehn’s mother, knew Gehn would not keep his promise. She had followed them into D’ni, and had lived hidden among the ruins, observing Atrus and Gehn, and waiting for a chance to intervene. Anna found Catherine stealing books, and they made an alliance. Anna wrote the Age of Myst, and at this last moment Anna and Catherine worked together to make the edits needed to rescue Atrus and Catherine both. In the middle of the ceremony, a huge, metal dagger plummeted from the sky, tearing a hole in the ground on impact. The seas roiled and lightning filled the air, but in the fissure itself Atrus looked down to see a field of stars. In the confusion, Catherine broke from Gehn’s side and joined Atrus. Atrus was quite thoroughly confused at this point, but he trusted Catherine. They leapt into the star fissure, met not with the sucking vacuum of space but a beautiful, comfortable void. They placed their hands on the linking panel, and the last Atrus saw of that book was it tumbling away into the stars.  Atrus and Catherine stayed on Myst, writing Ages and raising a family. Anna, regretfully, died in an accident after a decade on Myst, leaving Atrus and Catherine to raise their two sons on their own. Gehn, and the people left behind on Riven, weighed heavily on their minds. But the chance of them failing and leaving a key for Gehn to escape prevented them from taking action. So they lived, and wrote, and tried to learn and rediscover what they could about the Art, until their sons betrayed them in search of wealth and power. Catherine was led back to Riven, and Atrus was trapped in K’veer once more, where he discovered his edits to Riven had finally failed, forcing him to return to the book and do what he can to prevent the Ages' destruction. Unfortunately for Sirrus and Achenar, Atrus had created traps for the thieves he suspected were in his library, suspecting but not willing to believe the culprits were his own two sons. The two brothers were trapped in turn, and for a little while, Myst was an empty Age But it was at this moment that a gormless dork finds a magic book somewhere and gets himself inserted into this family drama, first rescuing Atrus from K’veer, and then being sent to Riven to rescue Catherine and trap Gehn. The results of which, we are in the middle of in this LP. M.c.P fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Nov 14, 2016 |
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Nov 14, 2016 13:40
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I love how the default D'ni solution to everything is "Write an age". That explanation of the events leading up to Myst was great. It would have been nice if some of that had appeared in either game.
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Nov 14, 2016 15:44
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Lets be fair, it does. Atrus' journal references the history, the image of a man being cast into the depths is Gehn's corruption of the events, and there will be future references to these events that you may recognize as we come across them. Everything else reveals aspects of Gehn that are similarly present in Riven, which I'm hoping this Lets Play reveals the great deal of effort the development team put into its subtle world building. Myst, its true, doesn't really go into it beyond mentions of Catherine and Gehn.
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Nov 14, 2016 18:07
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Thanks for the great LP M.c.P. I played this game a lot as a kid and made progress but I never understood what was going on with the story. It's fascinating now to see how everything in the world has a purpose, making it feel truly alive, whereas child me thought it was just a collection of disjointed puzzles.
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Nov 14, 2016 18:38
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M.c.P posted:Myst, its true, doesn't really go into it beyond mentions of Catherine and Gehn. And the intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKCawALGeXw
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Nov 14, 2016 20:28
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Veotax posted:The Myst series has one of the weirdest retcons I've ever seen. All the games and books released before URU are just that in-universe, games and books based on 'real' events. Trap books like the ones Sirrus and Achenar were trapped in and the one that was stolen from us at the start don't exist, they're just 'artistic license' for the sake of gameplay. Also they moved D'ni from somewhere in the Middle East to under New Mexico. I'm pretty sure I read that the Cleft was always intended to be in New Mexico, but there was a communication issue between Cyan and David Wingrove (author of the Myst books) and he was only told it was located "in the desert". He picked the wrong one.
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Nov 14, 2016 23:59
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The good news is that NM has defunct volcanoes too, and the Navajo call themselves the Diné.
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Nov 15, 2016 00:18
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Entry 10 Ambient: Lapping water I played around a bit with the map, but it was disappointingly sparse on information. This wasn’t helped by its operation. First I had to select the island on the overlook, then turn around and walk to the metal viewing chamber.  I started by looking around the Village Island, but it became apparent that buildings weren’t represented here. Which was probably a limitation of the model, making it impossible to show overhangs.  With a couple strange exceptions. Here was the Village Island dome, the one I found first. No trees or walkways, but the dome itself was represented right there.  Next I checked the L shaped island I was on. Oddly enough, the spiky rock formation was represented here…  But not the very building I was inside.  Around the bend was the dome on this island. I decided to examine it after I was finished with the map.  Curious, I checked Temple Island, and found the dome I spotted from below. That bridge between the islands was likely the only way up there.  Which led me to the connecting island and the one I was traveling to next. The map’s limitations demonstrated their issues here, if there were any structures in this ring shaped island, I had no way of seeing it here.  Just about the only thing of note was the crater in one part of the ring.  Which left one last island, the small one that was utterly invisible from the main four.  It was… a single enormous tree stump. Full size it would put the tree on Myst to shame. Had Gehn cut it down for paper? I’d have to go there to ever know.  But I didn’t have much to show for the map. There was a little more of the island to check.  This small lake at the top of the island had a few more paths here.  Down one path was another spinning dome.  Nestled in a corner like I saw in the map. I wondered why these structures in particular showed up when so many other things didn't.  I turned around and went down the other walkway.  More wooden statues of the tusk whales, and what looked like their tusks lining the edges. More than seemed possible, considering the size of the creatures and their place at the top of the food chain. Maybe they shed their tusks regularly.  The walkway led around to another of those viewers, with a good view of the spinning dome in the distance.  Unfortunately, something had set this one off its base. It was misaligned, and I couldn’t see the dome with it. No possibility of timing here, but that wasn't an obstacle. I pressed the button repeatedly, hoping to luck into the right timing.  It didn’t take long to hit the right point. The dome opened up, gleaming gold in the sunlight.   It was a short walk around the lake to see if this was, indeed, the same as the one near the Village.  Inside was another book, and the same slider lock as before.   But that was everything to see on this part of the island. I turned around and headed back to the tram, and the mysterious ring island.   On the way back I noticed the water above, shimmering like a Jello mold as it protruded from the rocks. Astonishing, really.    The tram was there waiting for me where I left it.   It was a simple matter to get it prepared to visit the next island in the chain.   This ride was a relatively straight shot, but I wondered what I would encounter here, and the purpose of the long bridge to the Temple Island and its connection to that giant dome. It was Gehn’s, clearly, but what was it for? Even seeing the inner workings of the structure ended up revealing nothing.   Ambient: Wind and waves I arrived at the stop and stepped out, looking immediately at a staircase to a building at the top of the ridge.  While I climbed the stairs I noticed another track that seemed to dip into the water. It was shaped a little differently than the tram tracks.   But it was time to see what the building up here was hiding. I walked up to the door and peered in through the windows.  I could see a little inside the small room. Devices, tables, and a few books. I reached for the door to open it. It clunked in place. A few more tries revealed the heavy metal door was firmly locked.  I checked right. No buttons, no levers, no trails hewn into the rock.  I looked left. Nothing. This was the first door I’d seen in some time that was securely locked. No puzzle combinations, no keys hidden in chests. There weren’t any other pathways either, this was the only place I could reach on the island.  I’m going to look back through my journal, and see if there’s anything I missed. ---  It took some checking, but I’m not quite done here yet. I think I’ve figured something out. First though, I’d have to do some backtracking. First, the tram back to the Map Island.  Then, back through Map Island to the other tram station. I noticed the elevator had been lowered while I had been gone.    Watching the elevator rise from the impossible water, gleaming in the light poking in from above, was impressive.   Then through Map Island to the other tram, to return to Village Island. See, there was something I had figured out. Well, nearly figured out, but I had enough clues to give it a shot.  The thing I needed first, if I was going to complete my job here, was the trap book taken by the mysterious man who freed me from the cage I arrived in. His calling card was a small dagger, a symbol of resistance against Gehn.  Besides rescuing strangers from other dimensions, they also left eyes scattered around the inhabited island. Each of them was had a number, and each was associated with an animal. Thank goodness I had found the schoolhouse, or I would have never figured out the symbols were associated with numbers.  Number 2, the scarab beetle.  Number 3, the frog.  Number 4, the Pelican seal. This one I could only really have discovered by sound, but it was so distinctive, there was no mistaking it.  And Finally, number 5, the Tusk whale. I was missing a number, 1. There was a possibility it would go to 6, but… So many things here revolve around the number 5, it was worth a shot. I didn’t have a concrete idea of it, but I did have something to try.  The fish I had seen from the viewer, with the little ball floating in the lake. It was well created, it couldn’t just be a coincidence.  Back on Village Island the same watchtower spotted me and sounded the alarm once more. I kept walking. I wasn’t going anywhere occupied.  Thankfully the ladder to the prison was still down. I idly wondered if the downtrodden Rivenese were willing to investigate if this mysterious stranger hadn’t come barging back onto the island.  Or perhaps my trip back to the prison was going to expose the Resistance. Hopefully I could take care of things before Gehn’s lackeys could fall upon their hidden tunnel.  Sountdrack: Rebel Theme I returned to the mysterious room. It was time to see if my thoughts were correct.  I looked about and found a triangle shaped fish, close to the one from the viewer. This was the biggest leap I was making in this puzzle, but it was a chance. I pressed down on top of the pillar, and it lowered into the ground.  Next, the scarab beetle. All these animals were important to the Rivenese, at least enough that Gehn would use the imagery in his own buildings. I wondered what they originally represented.  Third, the frog. Was this how the Resistance kept themselves hidden, using aspects of the culture that was being crushed under Gehn’s heel? I wondered how long Gehn had been here, trapped and trying to bend these people to his will.  Fourth, the Pelican Seal. Gehn may be trapped, but it was clear he had somehow rediscovered the Art, if those books in the domes were any indication. How many people would turn on their own nation for that kind of power?  I turned to the fifth and, hopefully, final pillar. The tusk whale, a beast that probably always loomed large in the cultural conscience of Riven, but now even more so as Gehn’s executioner. I layed my hand on it, and pressed down.  The effect was immediate. The still wall ahead of me rippled, and I realized it was Riven water, suspended like glass in front of the dagger. Slowly, it drained away along the walls, laying bare the dagger.  Slowly, the dagger lifted, revealing a platform.  A platform with a book on it.   I stepped forward, cautiously. The edges of the paper were frayed and burnt, and there was some kind of crystal frame on the linking panel.   I looked in the linking panel, and it revealed a grey Age, dominated by a bulbous plant. Smoke poured from the top, and small opening glowed with light from inside. I paused and marveled at what I was looking at. Gehn was not the only one able to write Ages here. The resistance had also managed it. I wondered if Gehn even knew they were capable of this. But then, how could he? All signs pointed to him no longer being on Riven, likely on his own private Age where he was safely insulated from the imminent destruction of these lands. I paused, hand over the panel. I had been rescued, but I still didn’t know how these people would react to me. One of them saved me, certainly, but did they understand who I was? I certainly didn’t have many chances to communicate with them. But I remembered Catherine, Atrus’ wife. While Gehn had been all over the island, her whereabouts were completely unknown. Maybe, just maybe, she was here.  I placed my hand on the panel. The world went dark, and I heard the sound of a link as I passed through.  And then I was there, standing on a wooden pier staring at the bulbous plant. I had forgotten how magical it was, traveling through a linking panel. The hopping back and forth on Myst had inured me to its mysticism, but on Riven, this had been the first link I made since I arrived.  Of course, there was no one around. I’ve been sitting on the pier writing this entry and seeing if anyone was going to show up.  There is a lovely statue in the cave here. At least I didn’t totally misread the signs, it’s clear these people have no love for Gehn. It’s actually quit-       Soundtrack: Boat Ride
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Nov 15, 2016 13:08
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Geez, you do this whole LP and you forget to pick up the dagger at the start to show them you're friendly? What sort of adventure game did you think this was?
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Nov 15, 2016 14:26
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Puzzles solved: 1 (50%) I'm a little surprised we didn't explore one other place before doing this. In doing so we could have found the remaining eye and the pattern of reasoning that allows us to connect it to the Whark. Though I guess it's kind of cool that nothing in the game forces you to do the legwork when you can just reason it out. On sound; all of the eyes have sound as well as visual cues. I actually completely missed the visual cues when I first played, young and foolish as I was. You can find each of the represented animals in the game, and hear the sounds they make, and the rolling eyes make the same sounds. Of course this leaves a complication that we'll see when we find the remaining eye, but like I said, that complication can be reasoned past. From the animals, to the sounds and visuals, to the eyes, to the numerals, to the numbers. This puzzle has - almost literally - been staring us in the face since we started playing, with elements scattered all over. Then we come across the input panel, which demands animal pictures, and so the process begins; perceive the clues, perceive that they even are clues, and connect them together. From a collection of seemingly innocuous animal encounters and rock formations, and a weird little game for children, we pull out the password to the resistance hideout. Riven is a good game. Only one puzzle left to go! 
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Nov 15, 2016 15:50
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This is blowing my mind. Is there a rock formation for each animal?
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Nov 15, 2016 18:08
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Colonel J posted:This is blowing my mind. Is there a rock formation for each animal? I never saw the fish when playing, not even in reruns (and I knew it was *somewhere*). I didn't know I could turn the wheel. Fortunately a few logic leaps can do the trick.
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Nov 15, 2016 18:19
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A little surprised by your decision to skip that island with the locked door, but it has info you need in order to beat the game so I guess we'll be seeing it anyway! It also contains an alternate hint to the puzzle we just solved, which I think is an interesting thing to have.Bruceski posted:And the intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKCawALGeXw There's a good GDC post-mortem about Myst (done by Robyn Miller) in the Related Videos for this one- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cULHgP8tmo. Spoilers for Myst, maybe light spoilers for Riven too? I don't remember any plot or puzzle points coming up for Riven, at least.
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Nov 18, 2016 06:14
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Realtalk I thought this would make for better pacing. Besides, with as much as I've been talking through the discoveries, the suspiciously fish shaped thing with an eye was too clear a clue and too easily connected to just let it lie.
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Nov 18, 2016 07:39
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C-Euro posted:There's a good GDC post-mortem about Myst (done by Robyn Miller) in the Related Videos for this one- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cULHgP8tmo. Spoilers for Myst, maybe light spoilers for Riven too? I don't remember any plot or puzzle points coming up for Riven, at least. Ooo, good catch. I love these sorts of things. I think my personal favorite was the question "did you need to do a lot of hacking with Hypercam to make the game". That had to have been asked by somebody who never used the thing. I used to make high school projects in Hypercam and that program was amazingly resilient and functional. Bruceski fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Nov 18, 2016 |
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Nov 18, 2016 08:20
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Man, Riven is probably the most gorgeous game I've ever played. Even with all the advances in computer graphics since, there's something about Riven's use of vivid light and color that make it surrealistically unforgettable. Posters have already pointed out what's most exceptional about Riven: it's an unknown place, not a series of abstract puzzles strung together with scenery. Encountering Riven as a kid felt quite natural - after all, the entire real world is an unknown place to a kid so exploring it isn't that much different. I got a remarkable distance in Riven compared to Myst or, really, any other game in the genre that I tried at that young age, because Riven was so intuitive and one piece of understanding naturally led to another. I've been repeatedly disappointed by games ever since, especially the "puzzle" genre, that fail to create a coherent setting underlying their adventure. In comparison, most games feel compartmentalized, disconnected, fragmented, and slapdash - exactly how Ghen's ages are supposed to feel, which I believe was (and still is) an intentional criticism of other game companies. Side note: it seems very clear to me that the Art is a fantastical version of programming: using special tools and special language to bring an imagined place to life. Ages are even buggy and unstable if you make mistakes when writing, and Ghen is criticized for copy-pasting otherwise-good blocks of "code" without understanding the subtleties of how they interact. I picture Atrus as a worn down sys-admin desperately stabilizing a monolithic-but-shoddily-written server that he doesn't dare reboot or reformat (because he, unlike Ghen, views the people in the simulation as actual people). The closest modern game I can think of like Riven isn't another Myst game, nor any puzzle game, but the first Dark Souls game. It's about navigating a vast interconnected world whose story only makes sense if you're paying attention to details. The difference is that you don't have to pay as much attention to the environmental story being told in Dark Souls (since the "puzzles" in Dark Souls are about dealing with the inhabitants, not the environment, and the answer always involves violence). In both games, though, the exploration is both the challenge and the reward - and comprehension is not freely handed to you. Narrators are unreliable and you're left examining often-incomplete environmental clues. These games show rather than telling, and the result is beautiful. I wish more games offered such a place to explore. Pity that the art is so difficult to practice well. e: Am in the middle of moving and just got rid of my old MacOS Riven disks (though I also have the game through GoG, I believe). The game came on a set of 5 CD-ROMs. The numerology persisted even in the physical packaging of the game. The box and CD cases were quite beautiful, too, being done up like the Rivenese art we've seen ingame. Corbeau fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Nov 18, 2016 |
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Nov 18, 2016 22:14
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