this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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131
Riven | Official Launch Trailer | Available June 25th (www.youtube.com)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

There is a "puzzle" in Riven that I got stuck on for hours, just searching the map looking for anything that I had left to do. I couldn't find any more interactable things that hadn't been done. Then I looked it up and found it was a door that you had to enter then turn around and close to find the hidden passageway behind it. There was no puzzling value to it being hidden like that, it was something you either simply found or didn't. I put it down to old-style game design that hadn't yet learned what not to do in a somewhat open world game.

Honestly this iteration could move the entrance like one metre to the left so it's not hidden and it would be a better game for it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

This post embodies my entire experience with Myst and Riven. I was just constantly bewildered thinking I'd missed something important and broken the game or something.

Luckily i had a buddy that had a knack for those games so i got to experience the full game without constantly banging my head against a wall.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Have you played Myst3:Exile ? It has all the qualities of the previous games but is generally much less frustrating. It's also extremely gorgeous

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Yeah, 3 and 4 were where they hit on a really good balance between the pre-rendered graphics and a smooth experience with the skybox-style wraparound images. In V they went to full 3D rendering which was clunky because the computers of the time just weren't up to it. I think now we're finally seeing how good these games can look and work in 3D.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

The only similar experience I had with Myst was the rail maze. I didn't notice the audio cue at all so I just mapped out the whole thing on paper by following the left hand wall. I say that because when I was done, I tried following the right hand wall out of curiosity and it was the shortest possible path. It was like a cruel joke on people who say that you can find your way through a maze by following the left hand wall, just because the "left" wall was the way people phrased that concept.

I finished the whole series and it was better designed later on. None of the other games had such notorious sticking points.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Omg this was basically my experience too. I was so mad when I broke out notepad to show my friends how awesome I was and they were like dude

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Yup, found out the real answer from a friend who was a little shocked.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

In cyan's defense, every other point and click mystery/adventure game at the time was so much worse about this shit. Spacequest had stuff like if you forgot to do something in the first room you fail in the last room and can't fix it. Even Nancy Drew, which was made for kids, had some bullshit (but at least a built-in hint system). Game design had come a long way. The new monkey island games are great.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I had a moment like that on Myst. In the room near the beginning of the game, there is a button you are supposed to push, so you can insert numbers and change the messages on the machine. I didn't see the button so I ended up wandering the island confused on what to do. I had to get help for that. Thankfully I ended up playing through the game with my friend.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

This is called a Metroid moment

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think there's two of those in a row. It's on the island with the big boiler and Gehn's study and such, there's the door into the cavern(?) where you can find the frog trap thing, and you have to close those doors to find the corridor to the spinning orb, then you have to close the door you came in to find the little syncroscope in a side chamber in a wall to stop it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I don't remember the second one, but it's possible I was checking behind every door after that so it would've been much easier to notice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

As a nod to this, there is a part in Obduction that does the same thing. If you've never played it, it's well worth it. Just keep the "cyan brain" on when you play!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've been stuck in Obduction for the past 3 or 4 years, last I remember I was trying to solve a rosetta stone type problem in a pump station

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

I'm not sure how to help, but so much of that game is interlinked with itself, where few things are standalone. It took a while for us to get through it.

Surprisingly, people say the gauntlet at the end is the hardest part, but we got through it pretty painless. It was some door that we missed as we ran through the world's that tripped us up and needed to get a spoiler to continue.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I have played through that and I don't remember that part, did they make it easier to find or something? I'd be shocked if they left it the same, it really sucked.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

It was easier I guess because it was a 3d world. But it was in Farleys house. When you go in through the back after you input the security code, that door stays open. When you close it from the inside, it reveals a tunnel that (eventually with seeds) leads to her private area with her things.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Actually the 3d thing makes a lot of sense. I had a walk around the new Myst game recently and everything's location was so much clearer when you weren't navigating it through static screens.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Same when we went through myst as well, the masterpiece one, not the new one.

Despite the limitations though, riven had an absurd amount of "views" or screens to give you the feeling that you were there. When I revisited it, I was afraid after the full 3d version, the kids and I wouldn't adapt to the still frames, but they held up surprisingly well!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Bloody hell, you fished out this memory from the abyss of my mind. I remember it. I was 8. All I wanted was to see those two sea mammals waddle once again in their little creek. Instead, I was granted impossible puzzles.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Did you ever finish it? If not the conclusion of the game was pretty satisfying, and nothing is spoiled by being told about the door thing. It's actually more memorable for me than the following ones, maybe because I spent so long wandering around in despair. I actually tried replaying it a little while ago but just bounced off the extremely clunky 90s design and the technical limitations. I think this remake will be a good chance to try again, and see the environments rendered nicely.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

No, I remember being stuck in a deep crater with turquoise water and a pumping station of sorts. I should really play it again !

There we go, I reinstalled it !

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Haha awesome, it will probably be easier than at 8 lol. I got stuck in my early 20s (long after the game came out, I'm not quite that old).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I didn't even realize what the link was. Riven is being remade ?! That's awesome !!!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yup, if you've played Obduction it's like that. Full 3d environments made with modern rendering. I tried the latest Myst remake and this one feels like a modern game, although I imagine most of the early 90s design foibles are still there.

I haven't played many of the other remakes of the original, there have probably been too many, but it's nice to see the later games getting this treatment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Yes, ok. Fantastic. Will definitely buy it. These games were such a big part of my childhood. The first one though... Never got really far. I wast too young

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Hell yeah!!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Destiny 2 and Warframe have ruined that word for me

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What are the chances this goes to PS5?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Probably pretty low. Firmament was released a year ago and still doesn't have the PS5 version even though it's listed as a platform.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Did Myst come to PS5 a few years ago? It was on Game Pass at that time. Nostalgia 10/10