Did Anyone Actually Finish Myst (without cheating)?
January 17th, 2008Myst has been announced for the DS, and while I have sort of fond memories of the game when it was the biggest thing to hit the computer since Zork (being one of the first games to really “take advantage” of the CD-ROM format, if I remember correctly), I also remember it being brutally impossible to solve.
It’s certainly been awhile since the last time I gave it a stab (probably close to 15 years now), but I think I only ended up beating it when I found a guide for it online. I particularly remember some sound puzzle that required you to turn off some “klaxons” and having absolutely not the faintest idea of what I was supposed to do with it. The guide told me what to do, but not why I was supposed to do it, but I think the clues were nearly subliminal.
The DS version will come with some improvements that should help considerably, such as in-game note-taking, and “snapshots” of certain screens that should cut back on some of the backtracking. Still, if I’m right about the game, a guide will probably still be nearly required.
I have a feeling that, despite it’s age, the game will be a big hit on the DS, but it may end up really stumping a lot of its purchasers, who will then either lose interest or simply trudge through it with a guide. Perhaps that doesn’t really matter, though, and people will simply just be happy to have the experience in their pocket. Or perhaps I was just too young at the time to understand how to solve the puzzles, and it’s not as bad as I think it is. So I ask, did any of you actually manage to complete the game without outside help?
Posted in DS, Jeff |
January 17th, 2008 at 8:21 am
I’m kind of on the fence about buying the game for the same reason.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I actually haven’t played the original Myst, but I’ve completed every other game in the series with minimal guide usage. There’s definitely a weird and obscure sort of mindset you have to get yourself into, but I don’t think any of the games are impossible (though Myst IV comes close).
It’s a pity they ended the series with V, since that was easily the best and most accessible one.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
I have the same question (although, admittedly, I’ve almost always gotten stuck at some point in an adventure game and had to rely on some help). If I recall correctly, the problem with Myst was less that the puzzles were difficult per se than that it was really hard to figure out what the puzzles were and which were solvable at which points. Once you worked out what the boundaries were, it became a lot easier.
January 17th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Dear Eris, no. Then again, it might have had something to do with me being too young to really appreciate it at the time.
January 17th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I just remember switched/levers that controlled stuff not in view at that moment. I hated pulling a lever and walking all over the place trying to figure out which miniscule change was made to the landscape.
And no, I never did beat it. I was in 7th grade at the time and probably a little less patient reading books and stuff lying around with puzzle hints =)
January 18th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Yes, I beat it without getting any hints. I did struggle a few times.
January 20th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
My sister completed both Myst and Riven without a guide. I swear she used up an entire sheaf of printer paper just to write her notes…
January 27th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I remember that game. I had to use a guide to complete it. Particuarly I remember the elevator puzzle towards the end where you had to enter a code make it move, but it was rediculus with no real rhym or reason to the numbers needed. The most unintuitive game I have ever played.