Anyone finished Riven??

[XanAlderon]

I managed to finish Myst, but Riven was impossible!!

 

 

I hope noone used a walkthrough....

[WrathOfDeadguy]

I remember doing Riven, sans walkthrough, waaaay back in the day. I also remember having to leave the game and come back a number of times due to frustration, but thanks to a handy notebook and pen (unless you've got a photographic memory, the game is impossible without those) managed to work out the puzzles and eventually reached the ending. I also managed, completely by accident, to find one of the "whoops, you screwed up" endings by randomly punching in the code to a *certain* hatch before I was supposed to have discovered it, resulting in the Riven being destroyed along with everyone still living in it. The end scene (the proper one) is still among my favorites.

 

I wish I could find a one-disc version of the game, though- I still have my original copy (with the original cardboard case, no less), but I've long since lost my patience for "please insert disc 1/2/3/4/5" every time I move to a different area of the game world and haven't played through in ages because of that. I think I still have some of my old Myst/Riven notes lying around somewhere, though. Ah, for the days when game developers assumed that gamers could figure things out on their own. :)

[XanAlderon]

Yeah, I also had a notebook full of notes on Riven and Myst, It was absolutetly essential!

 

I never finished the game but those "Eureka" moments are some of the best!!

[doomjockey]

I actually played this just recently in an as yet incomplete attempt to beat the entire series. Myst was pretty cool, but I felt like Riven went above and beyond. I'd love to brag by saying I didn't use a notebook, which is true, but boy did I have a lot of back and forth return trips. I found the animal puzzle to be one of the most challenging ever in my gaming experiences.

[XanAlderon]

Thansks to a note book, I found the animal puzzle really easy!

[WrathOfDeadguy]

That bloody board with the marbles stands out in my mind. I don't know why, but that kicked my butt up one wall and down the other for a while before I got past it. I think my favorite one was the underwater railcar.

[XanAlderon]

damm that underwater railcar!!!

 

I was stuck there for so long before I figures out how it worked.

[araashan]

That brings back awesome memories, Riven was one of my favorite games ever, and I finished it all without a walkthrough. The animal puzzle was probably the one I got stuck at the longest. I actually got frustrated and didn't touch the game for 2 months. Eventually, the solution came to me as I was waking up.

 

By the way, there's a no cd patch available for Riven. It's not official, but it works great. As long as you still have your cds, and have the space available on your hard drive (only 2.67 gigs, not a lot on today's standards), you won't need to bother with changing cds all the time.

 

I also finished myst 3 and 4. The fifth one, I played for about an hour, but the fact that they replaced actors by animated character destroyed the mood for me, it just didn't feel the same. It's also set 50 years after Myst 4, or something like that. To me, a Myst game without Atrus isn't really a Myst game. Overall, I'd say Riven is the best title, followed closely by the original Myst. The 3rd and 4th game are worth it if you're a fan, but not as good as the first two, and Myst 4, especially, can be frustrating, as a lot of puzzles revolve around precise and fast mouse movement. So many times, I knew the solution, but couldn't drag my cursor fast enough while keeping the necessary precision.

[jojo man]

I've beaten Myst but I've never played Riven. I bought a game called Schism, that is amongst the Myst style of games, but i've never beaten it.

[XanAlderon]

Anyone come across that Myst parody, called Mylk?