{"id":1921,"date":"2012-06-26T17:11:20","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T15:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/satrapov.net\/mysst\/?p=1921"},"modified":"2012-12-14T15:50:57","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T14:50:57","slug":"fulfilling-great-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/fulfilling-great-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Fulfilling great expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The culprit:<\/strong> Riven (PC, Mac, PlayStation)<\/p>\n

Riven<\/em>\u00a0had some pretty big shoes to fill, as the sequel to one of the most famous games ever made. And I\u2019m happy to say that, not only did it successfully match its predecessor, but actually trumped it in every respect, resulting in\u00a0my favourite game in the Myst series, an opinion shared by a large portion of the fanbase. And this despite the fact that it\u00a0adopts a mostly linear structure which would not be reused in subsequent games, thus making it something of a standalone in the series. Be that as it may, between its release in 1997 and the release of\u00a0Myst III<\/em>\u00a0in 2001,\u00a0Riven<\/em>\u00a0sold over 4,5 million units. Doesn’t quite match\u00a0Myst<\/em>\u2019s 6 million, but it’s close enough to indicate a successful sequel.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t \t\n \"Golden\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n In terms of\u00a0gameplay and presentation,\u00a0Riven<\/em>\u00a0is\u00a0very similar to its older brother,\u00a0but its scope is much greater, despite mostly taking place in a single age. Sounds paradoxical, but this titular age, on its own, is four to five times as large as a single\u00a0Myst<\/em>\u00a0age, which, in a series so heavily based on creating immersive worlds, is something I can only applaud. The graphics have greatly improved, which also helps with immersion and creates a deceptively peaceful atmosphere with a disquieting undercurrent. If you get the feeling that you\u2019re being watched\u2026well, that\u2019s probably because you are. Overall, the\u00a0storyline is darker than its predecessor and has greater urgency to it, but also a significantly stronger backbone, culminating in a momentous, satisfying conclusion. With Sirrus and Achenar out of commission, the Stranger now has to deal with the fact that they lured their mother away to Riven to make trapping Atrus easier. Needless to say, it has resulted in a pretty big mess. Puzzles abound, just as they did in\u00a0Myst<\/em>, but they are more complex, more numerous and probably the most organically integrated in the entire series. This also fits the theme of the game, conveying the feeling of a cohesive structure attempting to hold a disintegrating world together (there\u2019s a reason it’s called\u00a0Riven<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Riven<\/em> has never been remade, which I find to be a distinct shame. None of its successors have been remade either, but they either have free roaming or a 360\u00b0 camera, none of which Riven<\/em> has. Which means that, since the release of RealMyst<\/em>, it\u2019s the only game in the series which is still restricted to its original slideshow presentation. There is, however, an ongoing, fanmade project called\u00a0The Starry Expanse<\/a>\u00a0which\u00a0intends to remedy that. I hope it comes to fruition, but even in its original form\u00a0Riven<\/em>\u00a0a wonderful, beautiful game, and if you enjoyed Myst<\/em>, you are pretty much certain to love this one too.<\/p>\n

Detailed review available!<\/strong><\/span> Read more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The culprit: Riven (PC, Mac, PlayStation) Riven\u00a0had some pretty big shoes to fill, as the sequel to one of the most famous games ever made. And I\u2019m happy to say that, not only did it successfully match its predecessor, but … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,909,910,4,52,21,10,8],"tags":[1297,1316,1317,1289,377,1286,1281,1280,29,378],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1921"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4916,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921\/revisions\/4916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grafskaya.club\/mysst\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}