I don’t think it’s a big deal where you start. The latest iteration of Riven will likely be the most accessible and that’s probably what matters most if you’re just starting out.
Much of the appeal (for me at least) is that the storyline is a Tolkien-like epic story spanning thousands of years. Myst takes place before Riven, and if you wanted to consume it in chronological order you would start by reading the books (which are surprisingly good). But it’s fine to go back and “fill in the blanks” if you play in a different order. It’s like reading The Hobbit after you read The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Also note that Riven and Riven 2024 are the same story so there’s no need to play both of them. Same with Myst, just pick the most modern iteration of it. The versions that allow you to move and look around freely take away a lot of frustration with trying to make out what the world looks like and finding clues.
When the C-suite says “innovation” they tend to mean either “things other companies did that this company hasn’t done yet” or “obvious stuff that we should have done already but didn’t”.
I have lost all interest in playing any future Bethesda games because of their engine. It was pretty crap (but acceptable) back in 2011. Now it feels like a scam to pay for their games. Like one of those “GameStation 5” you can buy on Wish.
Sony literally pulled the game from the PlayStation Store because of the low quality. At that point it’s not just a subjective opinion but fact, so I resent the claim that I’m bending the truth.
Yes, the issue was with last gen consoles. I don’t think that matters to the point I am making, nor that it worked for you personally on your setup. It worked okay for me too, but I was on a high-end PC.
I think renting should be renting, and purchasing should be purchasing. I’m okay with renting and what that entails (e.g. they might remove the service in the future and I won’t ever own the game). I’m also fine with buying games, and for some games that have a lot of sentimental value or replayability I do want to own them.
What I’m not okay with is the current state of affairs, where they make it seem as if you buy the game and you pay full price, but legally it’s only “licensed” to you and the license can be revoked at any time. It’s all the disadvantages you describe with renting, but with the price of buying. So that’s what I had in mind with my comment: I’d be content instead of angry if they offered a rental service with honest terms of service and a fair price, instead of the bullshit they’re pulling right now.
If there was a proper rental service I would likely rent a lot of games that I wanted to try out. Then I would go to GOG to buy DRM-free versions of the games I want to keep for a long time. Games like Civ5, RimWorld and Cyberpunk 2077. I think I wouldn’t need to rent a game for three years to figure out that I want to buy it, more like a month.
The problem is that they advertise it a certain way and sell preorders, and then the game doesn’t live up to what they advertised. Worse, they didn’t allow anyone to review the console versions which were so unplayable that Sony removed it from the store. It would have been fine if people knew exactly what they were paying for, but they were misled.
Sure, it was unmet expectations but even if the expectation was just 'it works", they still didn’t meet it. And that’s kind of the bare minimum to even be legal when you’re charging money for it. I disagree that the console versions were 7/10 on release - more like 1/10.
For most games, I’m fine with renting my games. If they charge a reasonable continuous rental fee and not a crazy one-off price that will make the game available for some unspecified amount of time at the publisher’s discretion. For example, I could imagine paying $2 / month to play Assassin’s Creed. And if it turns out to be boring I can just stop renting it.
What the hell. Just a couple of months ago Valve was saying a new Steam Deck was unlikely for the foreseeable future, and I bought one based on that information.