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The game is comprised of the "home base" age (Myst Island) and three other ages. My grandfather had since lost his copy of the original and I had never heard of Riven or Myst III Exile.As soon as I got it working (the first three in the series require certain versions of quicktime, included on the discs) I immediately was taken back to the good old days of great puzzles, subtle story, and fantastic gameplay.To those who don't know, Myst, Riven: the sequel to Myst, and Myst III: Exile are all point-and-click adventures. The entire first three games are played in a slideshow fashion. This game also relies quite heavily on remembering solutions to puzzles. A new character interrupts your trip to the new home of the D'ni people, Releshan, by stealing the Releshan linking book.
These puzzles, however, will take you all game to solve if you do not look at a guide or look at your old notebooks if you are playing through for a second time. The hero from Myst returns to Atrus (a character you meet if you chose the correct path from Myst) who explains that his wife, Catherine, has been kidnapped by a man named Gehn. Yes I said notebooks. Atrus equips you with his journal and a fake linking book to capture Gehn with. You will find things on the first age (Myst Island) and on other ages that will be extremely helpful in solving the puzzles of the other ages. The gameplay isn't extremely ahrd, but it isn't easy either. Gehn is Atrus's father and the age in which he has been exiled (Riven) is becoming more and more unstable, and will collapse soon. You do not see your own character at all.Since this bundle includes DVD versions of all three games, I will review each seperately.First off, Myst, the graphics are not fantastic, the game is prerendered, and one can beat the game (if they know the solutions to three puzzles) in a matter of minutes.
When I stumbled across this 10th anniversary edition while browsing my local computer games store I had to get it. Atrus also explains that he cannot let you get to riven with a proper way out because Gehn is trapped there and Atrus doesn't want to let him out. It was confusing and extremely hard for me to complete at that age. This is not to say that the player's time in Riven is limited, but it does add a bit of urgency to the game.
Each of the myst games relies heavily on puzzles and memory. The games seem to get easier as the series progresses. The "hero" (the player) is faced with a choice at the end, only one of the three paths is correct. Myst captured my attention as a fantastic game years ago when I first played it at my grandfather's house as a child. The puzzles are hard, but not to the point of frustration, as some may be in Myst, but it is a good challenge.Myst III: Exile is my favorite of the three games included. In this third piece of the Myst story The player finds him/herself in Tomahna, Atrus's new home with his wife, Catherine, and daughter, Yeesha. You follow this character (you later find out his name is Savedro) to the "learning" ages Atrus made for his sons, Sirrus and Achenar. In this game J'nin is your home base age and contains the linking books to the three other ages.
Myst Veterans will find it simple, but newcomers may be confused. The player is a faceless ageless gender neutral culturally ambiguous person with no background or story. Everything you can "zoom in" on in Myst III is probably important. If you do not use notebooks or notes you will not be able to complete this one without a guide. I won't tell you which is the right one though.Riven: The Sequel to Myst has similar gameplay elements, but instead of linking from age to age to solve puzzles one is traveling from island to island to solve them. the best tip I have for anyone playing Myst III is to remember what is in J'nin Most solutions to puzzles lie somewhere in the home base age. Especially in J'nin.in all these games are very fun (Myst URU and Myst V are as well) and I would recommend them to anyone who likes puzzles and thinking outside the box to get things done.
Like most of the other reviews, I also had issues with these games. I got to a point where it corrupted a save, and I gave up on it. I surprisingly ran Myst (the first game) totally fine with Vista Home Premium on my Dell Inspiron 1501, and Riven (the second game) kind of worked. It installed and played the game, but froze up constantly. Online forums contained many pages of issues with many different computer setups and troubleshooting, so clearly these games have issues. I should have read these reviews BEFORE I purchased this set, but oh well, maybe next time.The short and skinny: BUYER BEWARE, this product may not work.
I travel often and like to play Myst. I updated Myst.I purchased the Myst 10th Anniversary group. I'm disappointed that my upgraded DVD of Myst can't be installed onto my harddrive. I don't want to have to carry along a DVD to play the game. That's just something else to worry about.
This game does not work on Vista. Don't listen to those who say otherwise. Do not purchase if you run Vista.
I have been wanting to play these games again on todays computers and this DVD version is great.No bugs or slow play. It's great to play these Video Greats again.
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