[Apfhex]

I was kind of stunned to see this on MacUpdate. There's NEVER been a MYST demo before (right?? I'm /pretty/ sure). I had seen the preview of this game on the WWDC Keynote, though I had no idea it was coming out so soon. I still have 25 minutes to wait for the download. For those who have played this, what do you think? How does it compare to other MYST games? I played Uru, which was pretty stunning, though gave me a rather eerie feeling while playing it (maybe it was too engrossing?).

[Apfhex]

Well, my PowerBook can't run it. I guess the Radeon 7500 mobility isn't supported.

[calumr]

When I downloaded it it didn't work - the installed app was corrupt (it didn't have a Contents/MacOS folder in the bundle!) I want to play it, but I can't be bothered to download it again.

[goMac]

My impressions:

The menu lacks the usual Myst polish. Forgivable for a demo.

The graphics are excellent, although I think a bit lower quality than 3. Perhaps they were brought down for a demo.

The interface has some major issues. It does not follow the usual Myst interface conventions at all. Right click moves you out of an item view, not clicking out of the item. Clicking items you've picked up is a pain. You can only look at them in certain places, and the cursor doesn't unlock like it did in 3.

Speaking of the cursor, the new one is ugly. The classic style cursor would be great.

Navigation is odd, there are some places you should be able to go but simply can't... And when you open a door you are automatically moved through it. Not smooth transitions.

They need to do some work to smooth this out. Myst lore is used very effectively. Can't say that about Exile.

The puzzles are very much like they are taken from Myst 1. You'll see what I mean in the demo.

[reader50]

There was a demo for RealMyst.

Impressions on this one: supposedly doesn't work unless it's in the Applications folder. I tried it from the desktop anyway, it got a little ways in and it spontaneously quit. Moved to Applications and relaunched. Searching through the bundle didn't turn up why it wants Applications, perhaps some assumption hardcoded into the binary.

The graphics settings menu isn't accessible - doesn't open when you click it. The announcer voice is too low, but there is no audio option for the announcer voice. You need to bump the master volume, then turn down the music volume.

I edited the config file to bump it up from 800x600 to 1280x960, but made the mistake of leaving the config file open in BBEdit. A ways into the game, it KP'd - maybe because it tried to write to the open config file. Still, that should not produce a KP.

I guess my first impression is: hurried out the door, glitchy.

[The iMac Man]

Yeah, it HAS to be in the Applications folder on your startup drive.

And, the grahics are really low for the demo, which is plain stupid, IMO.

This demo was my very first experience with Myst of any sorts, and I have to say it is increbibly boring. But, I'm a FPS kind of guy.

-iMac

[Apfhex]

Well, I had it in the Applications folder, where it was installed, but it unexpectedly quit every time. I tried disabling APE as well. It must just be the graphics card, which is too bad.

I did try out the demo on a roommate's 1GHz Compaq with GeForce4MX. The demo seemed to barely run at all, the sound stuttering all over the place. I was able to look around for a few minutes before it just locked up and I had to force quit. The graphics are indeed low quality. I can understand wanting to make the demo download smaller, though.

Maybe I'll have another look at this game when it hits stores. Perhaps they'll release a better demo later? Unlikely I suppose.

[sideus]

Hope this isn't an indication of things to come.

[The iMac Man]

Originally posted by Apfhex:
The graphics are indeed low quality. I can understand wanting to make the demo download smaller, though.

True, but isn't the entire point of a demo to show off the graphics, and allow users to make sure they can run the game at levels they are happy with?

I don't understand what the point of this demo is...

-iMac

[goMac]

Well... Just finished the demo so I'll update my report.

I was strangely a bit choppy on my 1.25 G4 with Radeon 9600. The music is excellent. The puzzles are a lot like Myst 1, which I like. The necklace thing is a bit cheesy, I liked the journals better.


*******Spolier********







I wish Atrus and Catherine were getting along in this game. Them being pissy at each other makes me kind of sad....

Unless its a set up...

[Anubis IV]

Mine doesn't seem to run either...two year old PowerBook. I had had it outside of the Applications folder, and it didn't run at all there, just crashed, but when Imoved it to the Applications folder I was able to get a little bit of music before it crashed on me. I HOPE that the final version of the game will be better than that. I'm a huge fan of the series, but I must say that I was not impressed with Exile. Dunno if it's just me, but I felt as if it was pretty junky without the added creative touches made in the other games by the Miller brothers and the other guys like Richard Vanderwede (sp?).

[mac freak]

played it on the PC --
graphics are okay, but rather blurred...
The demo only includes a single puzzle. And it's 200 megs?!

Since the game is 3 DVDs, I figured it must be pretty long. But if this demo alone is 200 megs... who knows?

If the whole game is of this quality, it will be the worst in the series, which currently goes like...

1. Myst
2. Myst 3
3. Riven
4. Uru

...for me.

[Rev-O]

Okay, so it's not a breakthrough game. It's certainly doesn't appear to be worthy of mentioning at the WWDC keynote. Yup, it's another rehashed, tired-ass Myst game. Hopefully with the original creative team involved we will not get stuck with another Myst III (yawn).

Runs fine on my 2x2GHz G5 with a 64 mb radeon 9600, so I'll probably buy it.

[Sneeper]

I only played the original Myst. Do I need to play Riven and Uru to appreciate the story in Myst III? I don't want to miss out on references and allusions.

Someone catch me up.

I'd play Riven and Uru, but I'm not sure how well they'll play under Panther. Anyone know?

[lenox]

I too have only otherwise played Myst 1 (and the Uru demo...nevermind). From what I can tell of this demo, it doesn't seem like knowledge of the other games (especially Uru which was kind of a departure) is necessary. You already know Atrus, Catherine, and their two sons, and those are the main characters here, at least in the demo. Somebody please tell me if I am wrong here.

[goMac]

Myst is one of those things where you can play the game without knowing the plot. But you can get deep into th story. Myst III honestly had very very little to do with the plot. Myst and Riven where pretty big on plot. Myst: The Book of Atrus (which is an actual book) explains most of the background of Riven, Atrus, and Catherine. So far Myst 4 seems to be a continuation of the plot of Myst 1.

The only character not in Myst 1 that is in Myst 4 is Atrus's daughter. As far as I know, the only background on her is in the Myst books, and her brief appearance in Myst III. Oh... and she was a main character in Uru...

Anyway... its got one of those plots you don't need to know, but if you know the background it makes the game a whole lot funner. Riven was a great game if you read the Myst books.

[madmacgames]

keeps crashing after about 5-10 minutes on my 12" revision B powerbook.

took me awhile to figure out how to get out of something I was looking at. Turned out it is command + click (not right click as stated earlier, for me anyways). I kept trying to find the area on the screen that would take me out. that would have made more sense.

I only played Myst I, so maybe the others had this, but being able to take snapshots of things is pretty cool and will no doubt come in handy for the game. Myst I, I had a ton of sheets of paper with scribbling and clues all over them.