Official Riven Players Guide (Bradygames Strategy Guide) [Paperback]

Bill Keith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bradygames Strategy Guide | Publication Date: December 27, 1997

Riven allows players to interact with multiple characters as they explore the world of Riven. The "Official Riven Player's Guide" uses Brady's popular hints and solutions approach to give players what they need to help Atrus find Catherine in the sequel to the ever-popular Myst.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Official Riven Player's Guide will use Brady's popular hints & solutions approach to give players what they need to help Atrus find Catherine in the sequel to the ever-popular Myst. Riven will allow players to interact with multiple characters as they explore the world of Riven, and will set a new standard for graphics in this genre of game.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: BRADY GAMES (December 27, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566867622
• ISBN-13: 978-1566867627
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 7.8 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,742,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helped Comprehension without Giving All Away Too Soon, January 14, 2002

By 

PETER K BROWN (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Official Riven Players Guide (Bradygames Strategy Guide) (Paperback)

This book was a godsend that ended up making my overall experience with Riven much more enjoyable and overcoming the sense of being really dense that I had felt many times in the first half year of playing Riven. All this by not giving too much away in the early sections of the book.

I am an extremely infrequent adventure player (I fiddled with a text-based game about a mad dwarf and princess when the Mac first came out). However, I installed Riven when I bought a Mac G4 450, wanting to try something new.

After dabbling with Riven for half a year or so, I had been almost everywhere, taken copious notes, read a couple of the game's characters' journals, and created detailed, annotated maps of Riven using illustration software. Despite which, I still felt that I had no clue what I was supposed to be doing or if I was making any progress. I had grown to be more interested in understanding what it was all about than in actually completing the game. I had a sneaky suscpicion that there wasn't really an end, that it was all just supposed to be an 'experience'. Maddeningly frustrating!

Then I stumbled on this Player's Guide book while browsing in a computer store and bought it. I stubbornly read only the introduction and first chapter, not wanting to spoil the game, but also taking great comfort in knowing that I wasn't missing something really obvious or doing something really wrong. Thankfully, the introduction spells out what is to come in subsequent chapters of the book so you won't have a fear of too much being revealed.

I spent another good number of months continuing to explore with an open mind and made some more discoveries before feeling I'd hit another wall. I then read the 2nd chapter in the book which talked about geography and mentioning the things you'd need to accomplish in different areas. I was pleased to learn that I'd really done most of what I'd needed, lacking one.

When I focused my efforts on that one thing, I was able to solve it and then the game opened to a new level--I hadn't read the specific location or a description of the task or a solution--I was able to enjoy finding and solving it on my own after a gentle nudge in the general direction.

All of a sudden things started making sense, and the overall structure and direction of play started coming together. I hit another wall and sought help after another half year had passed by--this time I needed very specific help on how to solve one aspect of a puzzle that I had to dig into one of the later chapters of the book for.

Then I was able to complete the game (with help from 'Saved' scenarios) without additional help from the book.

After all was said and done, I went back to read the complete walkthrough chapter and enjoyed seeing how it all fit together and how my two-years of working on the game had been very productive overall. How I'd missed some of the more logical flow of events that had made the game more difficult to solve. And that with just two missing pieces I just plain couldn't figure out, the book had been there to get me over the hump when I was ready for (or MORE than ready for!)

Bottom line: I won't buy the Brady Games guide for Myst IIII: Exile right away. But I'll probably end up buying it gladly after a while... Unless I can figure out Myst III on my own! And even then, I might buy it anyway to get "the rest of the story!"

Book Contents
Chapter 1: Roaming Through Riven
Chapter 2: The Islands of Riven: Maps and Specifics (where you should've been and what you should've seen)
Chapter 3: Puzzles and Problems: The Solutions (puzzle-by-puzzle detailed hints, and then guidelines for how to solve them)
Chapter 4: Walkthrough: All Revealed (The title says it all and the chapter does reaveal the quickest, most efficient way to get through the whole game)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT GUIDE FOR THE FRUSTRATED AND STUCK GAMER, April 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Official Riven Players Guide (Bradygames Strategy Guide) (Paperback)

Riven was the first computer game I played when I bought my MAC several years ago. I had no gaming experience but was thrilled with the game play and the awesome beauty of the graphics. Though inexperienced as I was at the time, I was still able to solve the simpler puzzles on my own. THEN came the point where I reached the more difficult ones, and frustration and panic set in. Then I found the cure - this book! Some strategy guides out there simply give you the blow by blow instructions for solving a puzzle (and while this may end your frustration it also spoils that great feeling of accomplishment that comes from discovering the solution with your own wits). This strategy guide for Riven is different. It is devided into several chapters which reveal solutions in incremental fashion. The first chapter gives very gentle hints that stear you in the right direction without revealing any solutions. The subsequent chapters reveal more and more - until the last chapter which is an actual walkthrough giving you every step required to solve the puzzles. If used properly this guide can be a great help. Please fight the temptation to go to the walkthrough chapter - it will spoil your game.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have!, August 8, 2001

By 

"melissamoss" (Crestview, (NW) Florida-USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Official Riven Players Guide (Bradygames Strategy Guide) (Paperback)

ABSOLUTELY A MUST HAVE! It fills in tons of blanks and gives you so much more understanding of the whole fantasy story with out giveing you answers...unless you want them. It is totally planned and well laid out so that you have your choice of what you need or want to know (if you like to cheat) Even after you finish the game, the book is awesome to read!! Please get this book if you are going to play the game and read the intro!