Myst Was Supposed To Change the Face of Gaming. What Is Its Legacy? 374
glowend writes "On 24 September 1993, computer users were introduced to Myst. Grantland takes a look at the game's legacy, two decades on. Quoting: 'Twenty years ago, people talked about Myst the same way they talked about The Sopranos during its first season: as one of those rare works that irrevocably changed its medium. It certainly felt like nothing in gaming would or could be the same after it. Yes, Myst went on to sell more than 6 million copies and was declared a game-changer (so to speak), widely credited with launching the era of CD-ROM gaming. It launched an equally critically adored and commercially successful sequel, and eventually four more installments. Fans and critics alike held their breath in anticipation of the tidal wave of exploratory, open-ended gaming that was supposed to follow, waiting to be drowned in a sea of new worlds. And then, nothing.' Why didn't Myst have a larger impact?"
Re:The graphics were simply brilliant (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Better games came along right after? (Score:5, Informative)
and that's the thing: pre rendered just isn't that fun, breaks the immersion. flat shaded realtime can be more immersive.
basically "oh why aren't games like myst??" can be answered with a simple line: Philips CD-i sucks ass.
heck.. what I want the answer to is what the fuck happened to under a killing moons promise of good games?!?
Re:The graphics were simply brilliant (Score:2, Informative)
FWIW, in the same genre I preferred Obsidian.
Re:Better games came along right after? (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, exactly!
I worked at a software store when Myst came out, and we sold MOUNTAINS of it. That at the 7th Guest (and Encarta, LOL) were the go-tos when people added a CD-ROM to their system and wanted something to do with it. But the feedback was universal - after a couple hours in Myst and the visual excitement wore off, it turned out there wasn't much game. It wasn't much more than a graphic Choose Your Own Adventure book.
Doom came out shortly later, and everyone forgot entirely about Myst. We sold mountains of Doom, and then we sold mountains of those *terrible* compilation CDs that had bazillions of maps downloaded off the internet. And then Doom2, and then more add-on maps (and not long after we started selling NICs and 10Base2 terminators ;). Being able to go anywhere and engage anything was what Myst didn't do, a step we had *expected* Riven to take... but it didn't.
Under a Killing Moon was also a big seller - and there were other games in the vein, too. All very interesting to play, but like the LucasFilm-style games they got murdered by FPSs and RTSs. I never quite understood why - Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island were great games with broad appeal. Strange they didn't survive longer.
heck.. what I want the answer to is what the fuck happened to space combat, and the X-Wing & Wing Commander promises of good games!
Re:The graphics were simply brilliant (Score:5, Informative)
What happened was they tried to go online more, and Uru happened.
Wonderful graphics and levels, with online bits and pieces (I don't know if it was really multiplayer, but there was some social component to it). But all this before most internet connections were capable of dealing with it (5 minute load times for zoning between sections was a really serious deal breaker).
It died, hard, and I think that took the wind out of their sails for a bit. Not sure they ever recovered much after that.
(I was in the early beta and stuck with it pretty much through that, and it was never ready for prime time at all. Last I checked I was still listed in the credits, I'll have to check that again some time).
Re:Great game. Wish there were more like it. (Score:4, Informative)
You must be thinking of later games in the series which were developed by other studios. Every puzzle in the original game was solvable without brute force by either applying simple logic or making use of the clues available to the player. That's actually a large aspect of what set it apart and continues to set it apart.
Re:The graphics were simply brilliant (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, called realMyst [gog.com]. The graphics are actually better in realMyst than the prerendered Myst graphics were. Myst's graphics were actually pretty bad, we just didn't notice at the time.
Re:The graphics were simply brilliant (Score:4, Informative)
Oh, then this is probably my cue to turn up and point you to Mystcraft [binarymage.com]. Mystcraft is just as the name implies: a mod for Minecraft that adds Myst-like mechanisms for creating and exploring Ages. Yes, it's just about as fantastic as it sounds. (And by God, don't forget to bring a linking book if you don't want to get forever stranded.)
And to answer the question raised by the article, I just spent my lunch break playing Mystcraft. Today, in 2013, 20 years after the release of Myst. So I'd say, pretty relevant indeed.