Myst was published by Brøderbund Software, developed by Cyan Worlds and created by two brothers that did the design and directed the game (it was, much like a movie).
The original game was released on the Macintosh (in 1993) and then later ported to Microsoft Windows and Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Jaguar CD, AmigaOS, CD-i, 3DO, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS.
“Myst puts the player in the role of the Stranger, who uses an enchanted book to travel to the island of Myst. There, the player uses other special books written by an artisan and explorer named Atrus to travel to several worlds known as “Ages”. Clues found in each of these Ages help reveal the back-story of the game’s characters. The game has several endings, depending on the course of action the player takes.” (wikipedia)
The game was a success, no doubt, and was considered the best selling PC game of all time until TheSims dethroned it. Besides mind blowing graphics, at the time, Myst helped move the game and PC industry along by selling CDROM’s. The game required a CDROM, which was rare at the time, and I recall them bundling Myst with some CDROMS or hyping it as “you need a CDROM so you can play Myst.” On more than one occasion when a person game to me asking what they should get to show off their new (costly) CDROM I would say “you need to try Myst.”
The gameplay of Myst consists of a first-person journey through an interactive world. The player moves the character by clicking on locations shown in the main display; the scene then crossfades into another frame, and the player can continue to explore. Players can interact with specific objects on some screens by clicking or dragging them(wikipedia)
Franchise sales: 12-million copies (first Myst game alone in the franchise, 6-million), pretty impressive eh?
You don’t have to be a huge Myst fan to know how it changed the industry, grew the medium of CD-based games and entertained millions. A real gamers thinking game!
To hear our full impression of Myst, checkout the TD Gaming Podcast Episode 77.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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Okay, Don – low level characters in Mass Effect are hampered in combat, partly due to the fact they’re underpowered, and also due to the fact the combat isn’t well-designed. The key to surviving early combat is this:
1. Use biotic and engineer powers a lot. Biotics goes a way towards crowd control, while engineer powers weaken. Make sure you get the weapon abilities that allow you to rapid-fire without the weapon overheat, too. Remember to restore your shields when they go out.
2. Be a coward for a while. Don’t try to wade in. A good example of this is the bar – after you kill Fist, you have an entire bar of hostiles. You should make sure you have full health and shields, then run for the exit, healing and restore your shields when they are almost depleted. Your teammates will be downed, but if you make it far enough, they’ll get up and follow. When fighting the giant Geth, run and hide and take out the smaller Geth before you duck-and-shoot the giant Geth.
3. The toughest battle you’ll have is when you’re attacked by a group of Krogan and Geth when rescuing Liara. Make sure when you rescue her, you have an engineer and a biotic so you can crowd control them. You’ll probably deal with that a few times before succeeding.
4. Always upgrade your items as much as possible.
At some point, your characters become so powerful, they mow down enemies easily – usually, this involves the Spectre’s ability to revive downed teammates. It also involves the uber-weaponry and armor as well, to the point that the only way you die is if you do something stupid.
The good news is that when you start a new game, you can use the character you just finished with — and they’ll start at that high level, so you won’t have to deal with weak characters from the start.