I've just played Myst (The Masterpiece Edition) today, paying £15 instead of £35 or £45 for
Myst III. Figured I'd save £20 if I didn't like it, and I'd know the
plot first if I did.
I didn't like it.
The age shows, slightly. That's not bad - I expected that, and the gameplay wasn't affected by it. But there were a number of major failings.
- It was too easy
I have just played Myst today. Past tense. I bought it at lunchtime, came home, installed it by three, and had completed it by eleven, including a break for tea. So that's all of eight hours of solid gameplay. Whoa.
Admittedly, Myst was written in a vacuum. Being the first game of its type, many parts have become common place in other similar games, such as Monty Python's Meaning of Life and Discworld Noir, both of which I've played and completed. Like IQ tests, there is a certain learning factor, making each successive game slightly easier.
- It was buggy
You put two pieces of paper together, and part of it reads 'First ... turn every ... switch to the 'off' position. Then go to the dock and ... turn the Marker Switch there to the 'off' Position.' So that sounds simple: turn them all off, the dock one last. But no. Read the cheats, as a last resort, and it says the exact same thing. Just with 'on' in place of the first 'off'.
- It was too easy to cheat
Admittedly, this is possibly my fault. But to get a general hint, all you have to do is click the black band at the bottom of the screen, a little like the letterbox.
But as before - it's sometimes nessacary. And usually they don't tell you much more than you already know - just enough to say 'Yes, you're on the right track'.
And that's it. Three problems. Three huge problems.
Not to say that the plot's great, or anything else.
Much like AI - don't believe the hype.