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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Another great video from Neil. I will visit the museum one day. That is a beautiful looking machine, especially the keyboard. I was very surprised to find out it was only a 286.
Was not expecting everything on one board like that. It probably would have been easier to just package a PC and Megadrive more or less separate with a switch between them. Sega really put some work into that.
That’s right! It’s referenced in the video as well (and from memory Neil also mentioned it in a previous video, but I wouldn’t be able to link to it tbf)
The channel has been renamed as “RMC - The Cave” at least two or three years ago. Neil was already shortening the channel name into RMC in his videos, so to him this was a fairly easy decision to make. The main reason to do the change in the first place, is that the “Man Cave” part was originally a joke from his wife (a sign above the door to his hobby space) and not entirely fitting a channel that is now made (semi)-professionally in a space outside the house. He even has a computing museum nowadays so he wants to do all this without jokes that could be misinterpreted without context.
At its core it is a sandbox war economy simulator in space with some bad (optional) story tacked onto it. It offers some tutorials but most things will be learning-by-doing. The battles are quite fun and you can participate with whatever ship you like, from fighters, frigates or corvettes all the way up to destroyers and carriers. Building your own stations to fill the deliberate shortages of the NPC economies is very satisfying and the station designer is easy to use. The universe is somewhat dynamic with warring factions being able to take over territory of other factions and the Xenon faction posing a threat to everyone although these changes are slow so you won’t be rushed into defending yourself (except if you setup shop near enemy territory).
It’s the only game that really does what it does, but it has a learning curve like a brick wall, and a combo of UI & certain mechanics that make it harder than it needs to be. I still keep playing it…
If you yearn for complex space logistics with some first person space combat sprinkled on top, and can tolerate obtuse mechanics and some bugs, it’s quite fun.
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