A bolt from the blue...

Sail

Wanna hear a funny story?

3 years ago is when I bought my computer. With the motherboard, I got three free games: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, XIII, and Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. I played all three, but my favorite was Uru. Cyan was going to launch an MMORPG called Uru: Live in a month, so I signed up for an account before it's launch date.

The release never came. The project was dropped. Fast-forward to the present.

Today, I received an email informing me that I have been accepted into the Uru: Live closed beta. 3 years they kept my account information. And were considerate enough to make up for the incident 3 years ago.

For those who don't know, Cyan Worlds was picked up by GameTap a few months ago, with the intention of reviving Uru: Live. I had been following the details closely since then, and then today happens.

I am completely stunned. Granted, I am not nearly as excited for Uru: Live 3 years later, but perhaps my excitement will be rekindled as I play more. But it's weird, isn't it? Wouldn't it be nice if all companies were run this way? With a deep concern for their customers?

Andrew

Wow, I am completely surprised. How are they going to transfer the Myst style gameplay into an MMO? If this turns out to be half as fun as it seems to be, it may be the first MMO I will ever play.

Apreche

I have a Myst rant. I will give it another day.

Rooster

So do other podcasts. Randomization (of which I am not a fan) had a pseudo-Myst rant in one episode which didn't last nearly as long as it prolly could have.

I played a bit of Uru. I wasn't too impressed. *shrugs* Oh well, nobody else like The Bouncer.

Andrew

I have a Myst rant. I will give it another day.

You couldn't solve the piano puzzle could you?

Apreche

I will now give you the thesis of my Myst rant in as few words as possibly can without giving any supporting evidence.

It is primarily because of Myst that we have an obsession with graphics instead of gameplay today. Myst is almost solely responsible for all the terrible games with fancy graphics of the past ten years. If no game had done what Myst did, then we wouldn't need Nintendo to start a "revolution".

HMTKSteve

You got that right Apreche.

I'll still go back and replay my SSI "Gold Box" AD&D computer games but I won't replay any of the "super graphic" ones.

Andrew

I will now give you the thesis of my Myst rant in as few words as possibly can without giving any supporting evidence.

It is primarily because of Myst that we have an obsession with graphics instead of gameplay today. Myst is almost solely responsible for all the terrible games with fancy graphics of the past ten years. If no game had done what Myst did, then we wouldn't need Nintendo to start a "revolution".

I disagree and will respond accordingly when I have the proper time to organize my thoughts.

Jason

Myst was crap. It locked you into a world that had few options and little appeal. It was far too linear and restrictive. The graphics were nice for the time, but you couldn't really experience the world because there were just a couple of degrees of freedom. Plus, I HATE PUZZLE GAMES. Run into one you can't solve and POW! you're stuck.

Sail

I will now give you the thesis of my Myst rant in as few words as possibly can without giving any supporting evidence.

It is primarily because of Myst that we have an obsession with graphics instead of gameplay today. Myst is almost solely responsible for all the terrible games with fancy graphics of the past ten years. If no game had done what Myst did, then we wouldn't need Nintendo to start a "revolution".

That's probably true. But the first time you play a Myst game, you think it's the greatest game ever.

Johannes Uglyfred II

Even if you don't like the games, I found the books to be good. You get all the information about the world, characters, and plot without having to endure frustrating puzzles