Customer Reviews

Myst Trilogy (Myst Masterpiece, Riven, Myst III - Exile)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Like a complete nincompoop, I bought this thing without visiting UBI Soft's website first. DO NOT try to run Myst Masterpiece Edition on a Windows XP machine. It will make things very unstable. At least, it did for me. Fortunately, I was able to reboot using the last known good configuration, then uninstalled the miscreant software and performed a System Restore. My machine appears to be fine now.

A visit to the FAQ page on UBI Soft's support site informed me that they do not support Windows 2000 or XP for their "classic" games, nor do they have plans to do so. So why are they selling a brand new boxed set of the most popular game trilogy in the history of the world without a warning? When they say "For Windows 95 or 98", they mean ONLY Windows 95 or 98. They didn't even mention Millennium Edition, that I could see!

Practically all new computers sold in the past six months have come with Windows XP, so I'm guessing there are going to be lots of very unhappy campers, if my experience is any guide.

Need I say more?

These are the best computer adventures money can buy! Many imitations don't measure up simply because they aren't as steeped in story, careful in game creation, or respectful of gamers. Those games were spun out hoping to turn a profit. The Myst trilogy games were crafted to tell a story and provide a smooth, exciting experience. The order of the games is Myst, Riven, and Exile. Riven is most successful integrating the puzzles into the story and environment; Myst is least successful, but it doesn't confuse the game. In fact, my favorite of the six worlds in Myst, called the Selentic Age, is the most chaotic. With each sequel, the graphics are more stunning. This is a big part of these games appeal. The worlds are so beautiful you'll want to return to them after you've won all the puzzles to walk around. I've read that some children ask their parents to play Myst so that they can watch the scenery.
Though the system requirements for each game are pretty low, I highly recommend using a graphics card with 3D acceleration for Exile. The 360 degree views are incredible! Having said that, however, I think Riven may be the most beautiful and fun of the three games. [....]

I'm a huge Myst/D'ni Fan, so you can take it as a given that this product will be very enjoyable to play and provide hours of brain-teasers and a gripping storyline.

But beyond that, you must be aware of two things. THERE IS NOTHING NEW. All the these games have been sold commercially before. Same thing, different packaging. Its like the 3rd or 4th time a company associated with Cyan has re-released a myst game. Its getting old, and you'll have no need to buy this if you already have the originals.

Point number 2, like it was said in other reviews, it is NOT compatable with winXP. I've had problems with Ubisoft customer support in the past, so I've kept that in mind when deciding to purchase this product. If you try running this game on a winXP client, be aware that you will get absolutely NO TECH SUPPORT from Ubisoft concerning XP issues, and they will likely not show much interest in attempting to help you with something that should be completely acceptable for a software product in the year 2002.

This is a buyer-beware product. Proceed with caution. They're good games, just be aware of the issues that may potentially come with trying to run them.

I picked this up a few days ago having never played any of these games and was blown away. Ive only sampled a little bit from each but I can tell you that its very high quality stuff here and as far as it not working for windows xp, all three games work FINE for me on xp. These games are true classics, whether ppl find them too hard or too boring is beside the point, if your into adventure games please give this trilogy a fair shot, you'll more then likely fall in love.

Myst. Mention this name to any 'hardcore' gamers who basically survive on mindless shoot 'em up games, they cringe in fear. Why? Is the gameplay that terrible that they avoid it like plague. The answer is a simple 'no'. These gamers are simply afraid of the mature level of gaming that MYST and its series projects and yes, they are afraid of its puzzles. They can't solve it as they don't bother to put in effort.

With that said, MYST is one of the classic bestselling game of all time for nine years since its release... until the Sims took over in April 2002. Myst is an adventure game. The beauty about Myst is its breathtaking images of surrealistic worlds and intertwined within it, is a gripping storyline of family rivalry and good vs. evil. The story starts out with you, accidentally touching a picture panel of an old book, and the next thing you know, you are on the island of Myst. From there, you are left with no choice but to explore.

In this trilogy package, you will get all three games:

Myst- Where you uncover the dark secrets of this mysterious island.

Riven- You will tread deeper into rich mythology of the Myst history, and save a dying world.

Myst 3: Exile- You try to rescue an entire civilisation stolen.

Each of these three game feature intelligent puzzles that one can solve if he/she is extremely observant, uses every logic that he/she has in their daily life.

The games also features fantastic soundtracks and breathtaking worlds to explore. People who have played Riven has compared the game's graphics like those seen on National Geographic. Want more prove? Log on to the game's website and you will see that Myst 3: Exile, has won numerous graphical awards since it was released last year. And what about Myst? The graphics that it had when it was first released, is the reason why you have a CD-Rom drive in your PC now. Many poeple wanted to play the game way back in '93 and to do so, they needed a CD-Rom drive.

Myst is indeed a fantastic game to play, and with this package, there's nothing much to loose. Sure, it doesn't work well on Windows XP and Me... but most games on the market don't too.

Myst triology will definately be and adventure that you cannot forget.

No one told me before I bought this that none of the Myst programs work with any modern Windows operating system.

Myst. Riven. Exile. The words send beautiful images and music floating through my mind.

"Why should I even consider buying these games?" you may ask. I'll put it to you simply: you haven't lived until you've played the games of the Myst Trilogy. That's cliché, I know, but it's true. The places you'll discover can, and will, be your reality for as long as you let them. You'll find yourself fully immersed in the beauty of the worlds of Myst, be it the surreality of Myst, the photoreality of Riven, or the perfect mix of Exile. The quality of the work, both audio and visual, will suspend your disbelief shortly after popping in one of the 10 CD-ROMs included in the Myst Trilogy...

"You have just stumbled upon a most intriguing book, a book entitled `Myst'. You have no idea where it came from, who wrote it, or how old it is. Reading through its pages provides you with only a superbly crafted description of an island world. But it's just a book, isn't it?

"As you reach the end of the book, you lay your hand on a page. Suddenly your own world dissolves into blackness, replaced with the island world the pages described. Now you're here, wherever `here' is, with no option but to explore..."

Myst, Riven, and Exile have offered me many, many hours of wonderful escape from this world. They are unmatched in story, depth, and quality.

In short, if you've never lived these worlds before, you are truly missing out on something amazing.

These games are rich in graphics, sounds, & story lines. Myst III is the most realistic of them all in the sense that you can move your mouse around to look all 360 degrees from a given standing position, just like you would look all around in real life. But this series can cause headaches & heartaches for Windows users. If you use QuickTime 5 or later, Myst I will freeze when you reach several scenes, including Atrus & Catherine's forechamber by the dock. Windows users don't need QT5 or later for Myst III; that's for the Mac users. Use QT4 & all 3 games should run smoothly. Also, the Readme for Myst III recommends that you update your video & sound drivers. But doing this only made matters worse for me. It messed up my DirectX drivers so that I couldn't open Myst III. Worse yet, the new drivers affected the functionality of other software I had on my computer. But worst of all, I resorted to reformatting my hard drive, thus permanently losing files I had forgotten to back up! The moral is, THE LATEST VERSION OF A SOFTWARE PROGRAM OR DRIVER IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST. As for game play issues, some scenes in all 3 games are so dark that you have to turn your monitor's contrast & brightness up all the way to see very well, by doing which you could wear your monitor out. Also, many sounds are choppy & out of sync with their videos.

In the best of circumstances I would have given 5 stars to the best-selling computer game series in history, for stellar graphics, plots, & acting. But I take away 2 stars for the above-listed problems, leaving an average rating. So buy the games or not, it's your choice, but do plenty of looking before you leap.

i went and looked at this locally to buy for a friend whom i have been trying to get into games, as i already have all three. on reading the systems requirements, i found myst didnt work on mac, which means it is necessary to buy realmyst in addition. this adds greatly to the cost, like double, but what else is new for mac.

no matter. in my opinion, these are three of the best pieces of software ever published, especially riven. although it is an old game, the scenery in riven is absolutely outstanding. some say its a slide show, but if this bothers you, think of it as an action game with an extremely slow frame rate. characters are few and far between, but the acting of the unctuous gehn is very convincing. the real achievement of these games, though, is the quality of the puzzles. although exile falls a little short, riven and myst have not been equalled, especially the former, where 5 islands and 3 "ages" are integrated into two main and several ancillary puzzles. getting through this without help leaves one with a sense of accomplishment, as, with respect to these puzzles, the quality of logic is not strained. overall, i think that riven is a work of art. my only gripe is the constant shuffling of the five discs, which gets to be annoying but of minor consequence. none of these games carries an inventory or has "hot spots". one actually has to figure things out; no applying inventory by trial and error and no hints from the cursor.

these three games are the apotheosis (gold standard) of "adventure". every computer owner should have them.

I don't own this trilogy set, but I do own all three games. Why would I buy all three... because they are absolutely awesome! Well, if you have a lot of patience and a mind that thinks outside the box they are. If you're looking for a game to challenge your resoning skills, buy this! If you're looking for great audio and visual quality, buy this! Just start the game, dim the lights, [turn] up the speakers, and hold on. If you start at the very beginning, enjoy the view of Myst Island. Oh, and look to your left...