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The graphics and sound are there; the magic isn't.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 52 / 59
Date: January 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Innumerable are the reviews of Myst and Riven in the gaming press and on the Web. Generally, reviewers either loved the games or hated them; the haters usually saw both Myst and Riven as nothing more than pretty slide shows lacking in any other substance.

As a lover of the original two games (they are some of my favorite games of all time), I have always felt that the reviewers who hated the games must have used walk-throughs rather than playing "blind" from start to finish. When one really plays Myst or Riven, one discovers a sense of magic which comes from interacting with what feels like someone else's world -- someone else's home. It arises from the impression, however subtle, that there is a culture and history behind these "artifacts" which can be, at least to some degree, experienced and re-lived. There were moments in both Myst and Riven (but especially Riven) of spine-tingling, near-emotional discovery that could give a player goosebumps; both games had a kind of completeness of underlying story (not to be confused with "plot") that caused the player to feel more like an archaeologist than a game enthusiast.

Given its lineage, Myst III: Exile is something of a disappointment. Many reviewers have mentioned the stunning graphics and gone on to say that "if you loved Myst and Riven, no doubt you'll love Myst III: Exile." This reviewer, however, feels differently. While the ambiance is there and the graphics and sound are indeed truly stunning, the transition from Cyan to Presto Studios is obvious; the magic is gone, largely because the cohesiveness of underlying thought is gone -- the culture and history are gone. Myst III: Exile plays more like one of the many "Myst lookalikes" which flooded the market in the '90s -- a series of "figure out how this machine works and go on to the next step" puzzles. Though some of the "machines" are without a doubt both beautiful and ingenious, they are nonetheless lifeless, without purpose -- it is difficult to forget that they are a product rather than an adventure. Myst III: Exile therefore suffers from what much of the adventure gaming genre has suffered from -- too many puzzles for puzzles' sake, too much emphasis on graphics and too much emphasis on plot (i.e. a progression of events) at the expense of story (i.e. the themes and intrigues which lie beneath). Also problematic is the fact that Myst III: Exile is both less complex and less nuanced -- in short, much less difficult -- than Riven. At times, characters or images in Myst III: Exile even provide obvious hints to direct the player, a kind of hand-holding which I often found to be frustrating.

There is no doubt that Myst III: Exile falls short of Myst and doesn't even begin to compare with Riven for fans of the series. On the other hand, there is no denying that the graphics are VERY good and the quality of the whole is still well beyond that of most adventure games. Do buy and finish Myst III: Exile, but don't expect escapism of the same quality found in the Cyan games.

Best Yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 81 / 108
Date: March 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I went to the Macworld expo and was able to play a demo of this game. IT IS AMAZING! This game is so much better than Myst or Riven. The best part though is the fact that you can litteraly look and face any direction, instead of jumping from screen to screen. Buy this game!

They keep topping themselves!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 31 / 32
Date: July 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I realize Ubisoft, not Cyan, made the third Myst game, but they really pulled off an excellent experience for us Myst fans. I got the collector's edition two days after it came out, and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first two, Myst and Riven.

Graphically, the freedom and playability are top-quality. You can actually move around while videos play, and turn 360 degrees plus full up and down at every location. The puzzles easily integrate into the story. Sound and music are superb, and in my opinion, the music tends to make the Myst games a top seller. They put a lot of work into that part of these games.

As for story, without any spoilers, they are utterly faithful to the D'ni history. You face a new (old?) adversary of Atrus, and he brings a new depth to the story. If this has been a concern, rest easy. Exile continues and expands the familiar issues of Atrus and his ages.

I have two small criticisms of the game, but I will only give one so the game won't be spoiled for you. It was way too easy, too fast. This could be because I finally understand how these people think, and nearly walked through most of the game. I don't know for sure. Myst and Riven took me over 9 months with the hint book. Exile took me three weeks without the hint book. Don't be discouraged, that could just be "ME" finally "getting it!"

Overall, Exile is a fine addition to the D'ni universe, and I hope to see future episodes of this amazing world. The puzzles, music, characters, and ease of game play will keep you spellbound right to the end.

I should add that people who were let down by the ending to Myst (including me), and grateful for a much improved ending to Riven, will be in for a great surprise at the end of Exile! The finale makes you feel like a real winner, and certainly leaves the door open for future Myst games. Highly Recommended!

True to its roots, MYST 3 does not disappoint!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 22 / 24
Date: May 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Being a huge fan of both the original Myst and Riven, I obviously had high hopes and expectations for the latest installment.

I got my Collecters Edition copy of MYST3 yesterday evening, and unlike some of the previous reviewers, had absolutely no problems getting it installed and running on Windows 2000. My guess is that those who couldn't get it to work on Win2K didn't install DirectX 8 and Quicktime 4.1.2... both of which are included as install options.

When you first run the game, it will take from 30 seconds to a full minute before actually launching. Hopefully this can be sped up a bit when they release a patch, but it's not a big deal since that's the only time you'll have to wait for anything once the game starts.

Getting back to the actual game, I have to say that after several hours of play that I am certainly impressed thus far. The new 360-degree graphics are clearly the next step in pre-rendered game worlds. Those that were turned off by the original Myst and Riven "slide-show" graphics will certainly feel more immersed in the worlds of MYST3. One technological breakthrough that MYST3 features is the addition of more characters which actually look like part of the world. The previous games in the series would show flat 2D movies pasted on top of the pre-rendered images. MYST3, however, allows you to look around in full 360-degree freedom while the movies continue playing in the same place. Characters actually look and feel like part of the world instead of looking like cardboard cutouts. Kudos to Presto Studios for pulling this wonderful effect off!

The game itself is true to it's predecessors in that the history, characters, storytelling, worlds, music, and puzzles live up to expectations. Atrus and Catherine return and are in top form and the new characters I've "met" thusfar have been excellent. Presto Studios certainly did their homework when building this game, knowing full well that they were making a game that has a very large and loyal fanbase.

The other big change is that much of the soundtrack is now a real live symphony orchestra. Myst and Riven were composed electronically yet still sounded remarkable. Composer Jack Wall's score take many familiar elements from Robyn Miller's previous work and brings them to the next level with the full orchestra. Several of the musical numbers are very reminiscent of John Williams work in Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. If you liked the music of Myst and Riven, I highly recommend purchasing the Collectors Edition of MYST3 since it includes a full soundtrack CD.

My only complaints with the game are purely technical. I've noticed the game get a little jumpy from time-to-time, which is probably due to the video mixed in to the 360-degree environment. I'm running on a well-equipped 850mhz machine and can't imagine trying to play this on a low-end 300mhz box. There are some graphic options which can be turned down or off and if you are noticing this kind of problem, I suggest adjusting the options to improve performance.

My only other complaints are that the compression used on the 360-degree images often muddies some of the fine-detail that was previously seen in Riven. Luckily there is now a zoom feature that lets you closely inspect objects in the game world. And that the water effect is often too minimal and doesn't look quite right. The water effect in Riven was more effective, even if it wasn't completely realistic.

Overall, I must say that MYST3 has largely lived up to my hopes and expectations. Fans of the original Myst and Riven will not be disappointed... Just make sure you've got fairly up-to-date hardware to run it on. ;)

Be Patient--Its Worth It

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 43 / 60
Date: May 15, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I was one of the people who had a technical problem, initially, in getting the game running (namely, being prompted to put in a CD that was already in the drive). I followed the simple work-around posted on the tech support web site and was able to get up and running with a little bit of effort. At this point, the patch has been posted on the web, so fans shouldn't be deterred by potential bugs.

Any frustration I felt at the initial difficulty melted away when the game commenced. This game incorporates the best aspects of Myst and Riven, and based on a couple of hours of play, has great characters, a gripping story, incredible environments, and challenging puzzles (those who've said, in reviews here or on the fan web sites, that they've completed the game in a few hours have definitely looked at a walkthrough, or have sufficiently high IQs to take over that woman's column in Parade magazine).

I happen to like the interface and 360 panning and think it produces a better graphic effect than the 3D engine used in Realmyst, at least on my PII 450.

After playing for a while last night, I remembered that I had to go to work in the morning and looked at my watch, only to discover that it was almost 2:00 a.m. I am at an age where there are only a few things for which I am willing to cheerfully lose sleep, and an imaginative, high-quality game in this fine series is one of them.

A flashback for me.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 25
Date: April 09, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Myst III was truly awesome experience. From the great graphics with very high detail to an awesome soundtrack, this game was better than Riven. I read one of the reviews that said he beat this game in one day. No way unless you used a cheat guide. A friend of mine totally ruined this game using the guide and it still took him 12-14 hours to beat the game doing it right the first time. So if it took him a month on the original Myst (It took me about 5 days), then he didn't beat this in one day. This game has many puzzles and they are difficult.
The basic story line is that the character you see the most, Saavedro, is upset with Artus's sons who have ruined his world, and blames Atrus for the death of his family. And you follow Saavedro through many ages solving puzzles along the way to try and restore those ages. The ages are as follows:

1. J'Nanin: This is where it all starts. The detail that went into this is quite awesome. Your goal here is to get into the 3 large tusks around the island. And that ain't easy.
2. Amateria: This is my favorite. From the rolling thunder and flickering lightning in background to the sunset on the other side, this age is awesome and alot of fun. You have 3 devices that you need to get to work, and once you do, clues are given to you to get into the last house. Once there, you have to solve the final puzzle which takes you on a very cool ride.
3. Edanna: This one I hated. There was very little light and the trails you were to follow were not very well marked. But what you had to do to solve the puzzles was very well done.
4. Voltaic: This was also a very cool age. This age had some of the most awesome scenic views in the game, plus a very cool ride you got to go on.
5. Narayan: A very small age. Not many places to go and the puzzles were alot easier than the rest were.

This game felt alot more like Myst than Riven did. Like in Myst, you went to one age and solved it and moved on to the next. If you got stuck, touch the linking book and you can try another age. Riven was a vast age and you may solve one puzzle on one island that worked for a different island. Just a mess trying to solve. The cutscenes are nothing special except for you when you solve a puzzle and some of them were great. But the scenery and music were awesome, and they keep adding more animation with each Myst game. The end scenarios (there are 3 or 4 different one) aren't anything special, but neither was Myst's ending. This is the game I had hoped Riven would be, and though I liked Riven, Myst III definitley captures that old familiar feel that Myst had.

Myst III Exile v1.0 is BUGGY!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 22 / 26
Date: May 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

We had Myst III Exile on our wish list for months. When it arrived, it failed to run on ALL THREE computers in our house.

If you have an Intel Chipset, you will need a (currently unavailable) patch. If you have a NeoMagic chipset, you will need a (currently unavailable) patch. If you have Windows 2000, you are out of luck. Windows 2000 is not supported.

*****Myst 3 beats Riven by a LONG SHOT!!*****

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: May 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you liked Riven then you are guaranteed to LOVE Myst 3: Exile! The graphics are beautifully stunning since everything is completely pre-rendered(All 3D, no flat images), the 360 degree rotation makes getting around ten times easier than it was in Myst & Riven, and the puzzles are still as equally fun & challenging. However, if your computer lacks some of the system requirements that the game requires be prepared to be dissapointed. My computer is a top of the line pentium 4 and of course Myst runs beautifully on it, but on my friend's older computer it looked horrible and ran too slowly. Also, a word of advice: ***No matter how confused or stumped you are at any point in the game NEVER EVER EVER look in the help books!!*** I got about half way through Riven on my own until I finally gave up and went out to buy the official strategy guide for help. I used it throughout the entire 2nd half of the game and felt like a big looser for cheating and giving up so easy. I'm not making the same mistake on Myst 3 and so far I've gotten through 3 worlds on my own. It *IS* possible to figure out the game without these guides, so as long as you are willing to use your brain and NOT GIVE UP! You'll feel very proud of yourself to know that you got all the way through without anyone's help! Anyway, Good luck and have fun!

Great game over too quickly

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: May 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

It took us just over 12 hours to finish the game. We were really hoping for 30-40 hours, based on Myst and Riven.

The 360 degree 3D really is impressive, but (in my opinion) makes the game a bit dizzying at times, since the screen is virtually _always_ moving.

The graphics were beautiful, especially the Edanna world, which has to be the most interesting level I've ever played in any game.

All in all, it was a great experience... just wish it wasn't over so soon. (By way of comparison, N64's Banjo Tooie took us over 50 hours!)

Have fun!

It doesn't work

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 18 / 22
Date: May 23, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Don't run out and buy this. If you have a vedio card made by Intel, SIS, MPact, Trident Blade , or Neo-Magic the game will not run. The patch is not ready yet(5/22/01). To find out what video card you have, bring up the START menu and select "run". Type In DXIAG in the windoe thet pops up and press OK. A window will pop up with a series of tabs near the top and have the title DirectXDiagnostic Tool written across the top. Click an the Display tab and look for the viedo cards name near the upper left under Name .

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