Video Games

VERY DISAPPOINTING (2008-11-14)
If you enjoyed MYST, you will not enjoy this installment . nothing like the other adventures at all . More like tomb raider . I tried it out for a day or so and ended up throwing it away . Really sad , maby they'll remake it in the style of the first four . i mean really how do you go from a solid series then change the whole format ?! really disapointing

Still playing. good overall game. (2008-08-17)
good game. playing this now. and sure is hard to figure out a little, but still like the scenery and game play. is remarkable game that they have made. like it so far. but could be better. still not sure if buying it. I borrowed from library. got for 2 weeks to do this. hope I make it through. I'm sure I will. uru only took 15 hours. good game try it. in the middle now..

Letdown (2008-06-09)
I have played all of the Myst games. And loved them all. I spent countless hours exploring and studying and solving. I loved the beauty of the worlds and realistic characters. Then Myst V came along and sent the series out on a whimper. The graphics quality has decreased a lot. The polygons are more visible than ever, textures are flat in some places, and it doesn't have the "feel" of past Myst games (and I am playing with a great video card, so that is not the issue). I would have loved if they kept the environments at the same level as revelaiton or Exile: let you look around in 3D but keep the environment graphics high-quality. I don't care if I can move around freely if the world looks like crap.

And the characters were just as bad. These new animated characters look horrible. I played some games back int he 90's that had characters that looked just as good as these. It also completely changed the feel of the games from the previous 4. Seriously, if you are making one final Myst game, just keep it consistent with the prevous games. Don't change it on your way out.

So while you are walking through these lame landscapes and talking to fake-looking cartoon people, you solve repetative puzzles in this tiny Myst world. I finished this game in less than 12 hours 9and only because I explore everything). This game was too small, too easy, too repetative, and looked horrible. What a letdown to the end of a great series.

Not what I wanted to see (2008-04-14)
I have loved the Myst series since the beginning. I bought this one, hoping for another good installment. I didn't get it. In fact, I have yet to go back and finish this game.

Not for the puzzles, though the ones with the timers were VERY annoying since it always takes me a while to do those. Not even for the graphics, which were not up to previous standards. I mean, I spent hours just wandering around in Myst IV because I was so taken with the graphics, but I don't need fancy graphics to enjoy a game.

The main turn-off for me was the lack of connection to the characters. One of the main reasons I enjoyed the previous Myst games was because you get involved with the Atrus and his family. You've become his friend (well, in a way) and I personally liked the characters enough to want something good to happen to them. I even got a little choaked up at the ending of Myst IV. EoA abruptly ended that. You're left with a single depressing letter from Atrus and occasional contact with a grown-up Yeesha. All you're left with is the puzzles. Now, if all you're looking for is challenging puzzles, then I'd suggest picking it up. But part of the enjoyment of a game, book, or movie for me is caring about the characters in it, and EoA just lost that for me.

Great Ending to the Myst Saga (2008-04-08)
The Myst games have been loved by many for over fifteen years now. As I've read the reviews of this game, many people say it's different from the other games - too different. I agree; it is very different - yet very similar at the same time.

The game starts out with Atrus telling you about his worries of D'ni (the underground civilization of the Myst games) and his daughter Yeesha. Then the game starts, and you are in the chamber that was once Atrus's prison at the end of the first Myst game. On Atrus's old desk, the Myst book is locked up. As you progress downward through the old mansion called K'veer in D'ni, you find an odd-looking bubble. When you enter it, you touch a shimmering slab of rock on a pedestal, and an odd noise sounds through the whole chamber. You leave the bubble, and Yeesha links in front of you telling you about "The Quest." The main objective is to free the Tablet which has responded to you and, if you wish, has the power to restore D'ni. Then she links you to the desert, where you meet Esher.

Esher tells you Yeesha wants the Tablet, but he says not to give it to her. Then you go downward into a network of tunnels leading to D'ni. As the game progresses, you discover more and more about Yeesha and Esher. But you must decide who to trust in the end.

There are four main ages in the game. I don't want to spoil them for you, but I'll say that in each one you find a differently-shaped slate. Your objective is to carry it to the Keep, at an unknown place in the age. If you've played any other Myst games before, you'll know that doing this won't be easy. You'll have to solve a series of complex puzzles. But one of the coolest things is that you can actually draw symbols on the slates to communicate with a race of odd-looking creatures - the Bahro. You can actually have them change the environment and the like. You can see how this can open a door to some pretty unique puzzles. Unfortunately, the slate is heavy, and certain switches cant be pulled when you're holding the slate. Also, you can't climb with the slate either. This opens up more unique puzzle solving.

The interface of Myst V: End of Ages will seem very similar yet very different at the same time, much like the rest of the game. You can play three different ways: The first is Classic Mouse-Click mode, which is like Myst and Riven, in which you click the sides of the screen to turn, and the center of the screen to walk forward. The second is Classic Plus mode, which is like Myst III: Exile and Myst IV: Revelation, in which you move the mouse to look around, and click to walk forward in the direction you're facing. The third is Free-Move mode, which is like Uru, in which you move around freely using the arrow keys of WASD. However, Myst V: End of Ages is the first Myst game besides Uru to use Realtime, so the environments are actually constructed, instead of just being made of individual "slides" like the others. In this way, you actually move forward, instead of the screen just changing to the next slide. Also, the characters are computer-generated using face-mapping, and not live actors like the others.

So all in all, Myst V: End of Ages is a great way to end the Myst series. If you've played the other Myst games, you must finish the story up in this game. Even if you're new to the series, this is a great game. I recommend you play the other games before this one, or at least read up about the story, because a lot of things may not make sense to you in this one if you don't. But nonetheless, Myst V: End of Ages is a grand adventure for anybody.