Myst Will Not Die
Many, many years ago, I borrowed a copy of Myst to see what the fuss was about. And I just did not get it. I happen to really enjoy point-and-click adventure games, but Myst just did nothing for me. And I tried one of the sequels that got ported to the PS2 as I recall, and even with better graphics and fancier animation I still couldn't get into it. But the game remains one of the biggest selling PC titles ever, and has made its way onto plenty of platforms. And now it's going to make its way to one more: The Nintendo 3DS. Maximum Family Games has announced that it is developing Myst for a March 27, 2012 release on the handheld.
"Myst is expected to be a big hit with Nintendo 3DS players," said Len Ciciretto, President of MFG. "It takes everything we all know and love about the Myst series and gives it a 3D facelift."
As with the original game, you will find yourself stranded on the island of Myst and have to solve various puzzles as you explore your surroundings and solve the mysteries of Myst. The 3DS version will not only add 3D graphics, but an additional age to explore, the RIME Age, for a total of six worlds. Not sure exactly how gameplay will work, though. I would've expected to tap directly on the objects with the stylus to manipulate them, but if they're going to be up on the 3D screen, I guess you'd have to use the joystick and buttons. So then, not sure what the touch screen would even be used for...
Wootini
Posted to Video Games on 23 December 2011
· Comments (4)
Other stuff like this: 3ds, adventure games, maximum family games, myst, nintendo
I too have tried Myst and came away confused as to what all the fuss is about. =P
Here's how I described it to a a friend who asked what the "fuss" was about:
I personally am glad that it isn't dead or dying. I am one of those who absolutely love Myst, and the mythos that it spawned. The over-arcing story that starts out small, with a bitter rivalry between brothers that grieves their father, and ends up (over the course of the games) affecting not only the fate of this one family but that of two entire civilizations, is phenomenal.
I've played the games, read the books and have the music soundtracks. I'm also one of those who played the multiplayer portion of Uru, and enjoyed it immensely.
It'll be interesting to see how the 3D graphics will work. The Rime age was previously available in the RealMYST release of the game which was a re-release that used a fully 3D game engine that allowed for free roaming instead of a slideshow-style Hypercard presentation that was used in the original release
I tried Myst when it first came out, and I, too, just didn't "get" it. You would wander around These environments and tap things, and sometimes you'd get a noise or an animation or something, but there didnt seem to be much point to it. The instructions didn't explain where you were or what you were meant to be doing. Even the "in case of emergency, read hints" booklet didn't really do anything for me.
I tried it again on the iPod just recently, and for whatever reason, this time it clicked. I tapped something I'd never tried before, which led me to an area where I found something that made me realize what was happening, and then it was like I fell down a rabbit hole.
The appeal of Myst, at least for me, is that the player isn't strongly guided or motivated or really invested much in what's happening. It's just stumbling upon this other world, slowly discovering the purpose and mechanics to all of these interesting machines, and stumbling upon pieces of shrapnel from the terrible event that left the world so eerily empty. Not a lot is directly explained; for the most part, you're free to apply your own interpretations to it.
The problem, of course, is that you can spend a lot of time wandering around not knowing what to do before you chance upon the point of it all.
Wow. I think I just had a flashback of being 11 years old and playing Myst on the family computer in our basement. I'd wander around for hours unsure of what I should be doing...