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Lush and atmospheric, not for all computer gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 40
Date: November 20, 1999
Author: Amazon User

As a computer entertainment experience, there's been almost nothing like Myst. The game's success lies in its beautifully rendered scenery and lush soundtrack, a pervasive sense of mystery (hence the name), and overall atmospheric tension.

From the opening monologue, we are drawn into a world where we - as the player - must not only familiarize ourselves with the environment, but must even determine the goal of the very game itself. Although the ostensible objective is the solution of the puzzles, the actual purpose for playing Myst is the exploration of the very real world that the creators of the game have made.

Unfortunately, much of this atmosphere and wonder is lost on the modern computer gamer, used to more "twitch"-style 3D shooters. If you are looking for a game to challenge your adrenal gland, look elsewhere. If, however, you appreciate a sense of dramatic atmosphere and love the sense of discovery exploring a new and uncharted world, you won't find much better than this game.

Once you get into it, it never gets out of you

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 30 / 30
Date: December 20, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I have a hard time categorizing Myst as a "game." It feels more like a book. If you don't like books...you won't dig it.

Many games play more like a TV show, where the storyline is handed to you up front and your actions fill in the minute details. Not so with Myst, which gives you an enigmatic cinematic opening (which, though it's related to the game, explains nothing at all -- but it does establish an intriguing atmosphere) and then simply places you in an unfamiliar location. The existential search begins: Where am I? How did all these curious things get here, and what do they do? And why am *I* here? Only careful exploration ("attentive," that is -- there's no danger of harm, though some scenes do suggest it) yields the clues, some obvious and many subtle, which assemble into an understanding of the story -- a bona fide *story* -- of the situation you're in.

Myst isn't a perfect game, but it's a truly compelling story -- if, as I said, you're into stories. (If you loved Nick Bantock's mysterious, romantic story/art book "Griffin and Sabine," then Myst is for you without question.) If you absolutely require a more straightforward introduction but still like a sense of intrigue and brilliant, inventive puzzles to solve, then go straight for the sequel game, Riven. But I'd still suggest giving Myst a try first.

Myst Set the Standard for Computer Games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 29
Date: October 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Myst was the first home computer game to win a broad based audience. It was a rage in the mid-1990's when it first came out, and it has intrigued game players and non-game players alike. Selling like grandma's homemade hotcakes in a lumberjack camp, Myst won Ubisoft, the manufacturer, awards and of course lots and lots of money.

Myst is different in that it is not a shoot 'em up arcade-style game. You are "dumped" on an island and you have to figure out various puzzles to "win" the game. The puzzles are challenging and engaging. They will hook you into the game and keep you playing for hours of mental stimulation - explain it as "getting your mental exercise" when your spouse complains that you are spending too much time in front of the computer screen.

One final note, some gamers may not like this style of a game, as it is an intellectual pursuit rather than a "test your reflexes" game. You may spent hours looking for little clues to solve a complex puzzle. You also have to learn to use objects and machines and see what effect they have on the environment. It is very involved, and unless you are motivated to solve puzzles in this fashion, you will quickly become frustrated with the game and quit. It may take months to figure out the game and reach the end! Some simply do not have the patience to play a game and have to pour so much time and energy into it. If you need to solve your games instantly for gratification, then this is not the game for you.

Myst was the first computer game I really came to admire for its complexity and interest factor. The graphics were mind-blowing when the game first came out, but now appear amateurish compared to recent releases in the Myst series. Still, it stands the test of time and is a good place to start for beginning computer gamers.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig, Computer Freak

WARNING: DON"T BUY IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS XP

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: October 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

WARNING: Holiday season is upon us - The DVD version of this game (MYST) as well as its sequals EXILE and RIVEN do not work with Windows XP especially if you have Quicktime 3.0 or higher. We contacted the company though thier website and they have no intention of upgrading or providing drivers for said games to accomodate users. By their own suggestion at CYAN and RED-ORB and PRESTO is if you have purchased these games and they do not work take them back to the store and see if you can get your money back. Unless the compatibilty with any game produced by this company specifically says it is XP compatible DO NOT PURCHASE IT> Thanks

After Several Years--- Still the Best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 16
Date: November 22, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This game was one of the first I've ever played on the computer. This was several years ago. In all the years that have passed, I have seen nothing that comes close to the quality of Myst in the supposed genre that it created. Myst IS the genre. The graphics may have been surpassed due to the evolving technology, but I am still amazed at the quality of the breath-taking visuals to this day. The prospect of the original idea of not having any music practically horrified me because of how much the immersive soundtrack adds to the experience that is Myst. The plot unfolds like an interactive mystery novel in which you've been plopped right in the middle of. Definitely a must for those who are still human and would like to immerse themselves in an experience that has made Myst the best selling game of all time.

Myst - excellent first computer game or gift

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: April 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Myst is popular because it's a great game that requires a fair amount of thought, but isn't so challenging that players won't have success. It's set up so that with each accomplishment, you are led to the next step (i.e., your are rewarded). Though not an action computer game, it does provide excitement for people who enjoy figuring out puzzles and exploring graphically interesting computer-generated worlds.

Don't be fooled, however, into buying Riven on the basis of your Myst experience. The sequel to Myst is not the same, and takes more effort. Also, if you do not have a DVD player, Riven comes on 5 CD-ROMs which must be swapped continually to complete the game. It's annoying and interrupts the flow of the game considerably.

Watch Out

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: June 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is the Windows 95 version of this game. It won't work with the newer versions of Windows.

Great puzzle game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: January 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Although the technology behind this game is a little dated now, this is still an excellent puzzler for those who like games that don't involve shooting monsters. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy blowing away bad guys as much as anyone else, but it's nice to play something a little different every once in a while. This game does not depend at all on weapons or killing anything, nor does it require you to do a lot of jumping or physically manuvering around obstacles. It is entirely a "thinking" game. The closest you get to physical action is the fact that some of the puzzles to solve are mazes.

You start the game stranded alone on the Island of Myst, with no idea how you got there, and no idea how to get home. Your only clue is a note found on the ground near the island's library. From this slender beginning, you learn about the history of the island, about Altus and his two feuding sons, Sirrus and Achernar, and the four mysterious Ages you must visit and explore. Be sure and explore the Library thoroughly. Check everything. The books in the library contain important clues. They are not strictly necessary to solve the game, but they help out a lot, especially the Mechanical Age (with the rocket ship). Personally, I found the Channelwood Age the most difficult, but all of the Ages can be solved with a little logic, and thorough exploration. Each Age is also filled with little trinkets and gadgets that don't really help you solve the game, but they reveal a LOT about the personalities of Sirrus and Achernar.

Visually, the game is absolutely gorgeous. Each Age has an entirely different look and feel to it. The user interface is extremely simple and intuitive. The haunting soundtrack and well-done QuickTime animations also add a lot to the overall feel of the game.

The only people you will actually interact with at all in the game are the aforementioned Altus, Sirrus, and Achernar. This leads me to my one and only complaint about the game. I wish the Millers had spent a little more money to hire some better actors to play these roles, as all three of them are badly overacted. But, that's a minor gripe. Altus' acting is so bad, it's actually funny.

Once you've played through this game a couple of times, it becomes pretty easy. However, I still maintain that the game does have a lot of replay value. Why? Becuase once you have figured everything out and memorized the solutions to all the puzzles, you can get to the end in about 3 or 4 hours, tops. But that 3 or 4 hours is time well spent immersed in the game's beautiful environment.

I've noticed several people who have mentioned that the game does not run well on Windows 98. I've encountered this problem too. If you install the game from the automatic installation dialog box that comes up when you insert the Myst CD, the game will play OK for a little while, but will eventually crash. However, I was able to find a solution. If you're running Windows 98 or newer, do NOT install from the dialog box. Instead, go to the Install subdirectory on the CD, find the "install.exe" file there, and click on it to install the game that way. The installation procedure is slightly different. You'll know you are doing it the different way when the game installes to a new directory called c:\myst. If you use the automatic dialog box, it will install to a different subdirectory. I installed the game using this alternate procedure, and it has been running fine with Windows 98. I hope this helps anyone out there experiencing problems. It would be a shame to miss out on a game as good as this one becuase of operating system problems.

An intricate, spectacular experience that spawned a legacy.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have to say that Myst is just one of those things that changed my life.

I got the game from a relative many moons ago, for the Christmas of 1997. I was 12, and while everyone else was pining for the long awaited sequel, Riven, I was discovering the Myst universe for the very first time. I was intrigued from the get go. The back of the box seemed like the dustjacket to a surrealistic mystery novel, and I was dying to figure out what happened. Being horrid at logical problem-solving (something which really hasn't changed over the years), I armed myself with the guide book and dove in. I resurfaced several months later just in time for Riven (we actually needed to purchase more RAM for our faithful old Mac before it would run, but I remember thinking it would be the end of the world if I did not get to play it), and by then I was gone, completely, totally, irreversibly obsessed by the universe presented to me in this game.

I was rather shocked when I was on another site and noticed that people could find negative things to say about Myst. It spawned a phenomenon: a multitude of sequels, novels, and other merchandise, and it just keeps growing with additions like Uru and the recently advertised Myst IV: Revelation (how excited was I when I found out? ;). It has been cited as the best selling game of all time. Why on earth would someone call it dumb, boring, without a point or a storyline, when it had such a profound effect on me? Then I got to thinking about it and realized that actually, you need to have a certain level of intellect to really appreciate Myst and its sequels. The original version, the game that I played, was released in 1993, when CD-ROM games were in the definite minority. Back then, if anyone recalls, most video games were not at the graphically spectacular state they're in now. Therefore, when you loaded Myst, you were literally *blown away* by the quality and vividness of the graphics. Everything is incredibly intricate and just visually gorgeous to look at. More than ten years later, I'm still impressed by the graphics. Some have complained about the lacking navigational system of the game, but again, think of the time when the game was released. I know that I was extremely pleased that everything was as simple as pointing and clicking instead of having to manuver some kind of controller with 76 different buttons and joysticks and what have you. Also, when I first loaded the game, I waited and waited for someone to jump out and shoot at me, but no one ever did. Myst is unlike all of those mindless first person shooter games, instead allowing you to live long enough to appreciate the surroundings and get into the puzzles and backstory without having to worry about being blown to smithereens. Some would complain this solitude doesn't provide them with enough "stimulation" but the game held my attention for eons longer than the other games I've played where the only thing that was going on was chaotic crossfire.

But what really got me into Myst was, aside from the intensely beautiful surroundings, was the storyline. Some might call it dull, but that's only because your purpose is never directly spelled out for you. At the time I got Myst, the only other game I had played at length was Star Wars: Dark Forces (a game I do love, by the way, but it's an entirely different kind of game from Myst). At the beginning of each level, your mission objection is directly dictated to you. With Myst, nothing. You are simply there, and the only thing that keeps you motivated is your intense curiosity. People with short attention spans looking for gore and blood will be almost immediately turned off. People like me, however, well... will be all the more fascinated. And I don't know about you, but just the fact that I was completely alone the entire time creeped me out more than having 1000 angry stormtroopers breathing down my neck in Dark Forces.

It isn't really fair to say that Myst is a game, because it isn't, not in the traditional sense of the word. Myst is an experience, a universe all its own, presented to you on a CD-ROM. You can be pulled into the universe, the breath-taking environments, the riveting mysteries you are trying to solve, the hauntingly beautiful music (and if you like the music, please please buy the soundtrack, because it rocks :), and the characters you encounter along the way... or you can choose not to. But just be warned... you will definitely be missing out on something extraordinary. I recommend this game for everyone, as well as the sequels. I find them all equally wonderful.

A Marvelous Mindgame

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If you like shoot-em-up action and gore galore, this is NOT your game. If you enjoy exploring new, mysterious, and unknown worlds, and figuring out how things work, you will love MYST. MYST's creators borrowed from the ideas of some of the oldest computer mindgames--explore, touch, press the buttons, turn the wheels, read the books and papers--and created fascinating, interconnected puzzles that require patience, persistence, logic, and some intuitive leaps to solve. My husband bought the game, messed around with it for several hours, and gave up in disgust. I decided to try it and was hooked in minutes. Ultimately, I think, most players won't care much about the three chracters in the game; The challenge of solving the puzzles is all-absorbing, and the worlds to be explored are fascinating. You have to pay attention to small details to solve some of the problems, and there are plenty of meaningless, but intriguing distractions in every scene. Solving this game (I'm not even sure it should be called a game) requires out-of-the-box thinking and lots of note-taking. Every successful entry to and exit from a new world is a thrill because you've solved a very difficult puzzle just to get there. MYST is frustrating, fascinating, fun, and very rewarding. And it's a great precursor to RIVEN, which is MYST to the tenth power.

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