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There is a “puzzle” in Riven that I got stuck on for hours, just searching the map looking for anything that I had left to do. I couldn’t find any more interactable things that hadn’t been done. Then I looked it up and found it was a door that you had to enter then turn around and close to find the hidden passageway behind it. There was no puzzling value to it being hidden like that, it was something you either simply found or didn’t. I put it down to old-style game design that hadn’t yet learned what not to do in a somewhat open world game.
Honestly this iteration could move the entrance like one metre to the left so it’s not hidden and it would be a better game for it.
This post embodies my entire experience with Myst and Riven. I was just constantly bewildered thinking I’d missed something important and broken the game or something.
Luckily i had a buddy that had a knack for those games so i got to experience the full game without constantly banging my head against a wall.
The only similar experience I had with Myst was the rail maze. I didn’t notice the audio cue at all so I just mapped out the whole thing on paper by following the left hand wall. I say that because when I was done, I tried following the right hand wall out of curiosity and it was the shortest possible path. It was like a cruel joke on people who say that you can find your way through a maze by following the left hand wall, just because the “left” wall was the way people phrased that concept.
I finished the whole series and it was better designed later on. None of the other games had such notorious sticking points.
Omg this was basically my experience too. I was so mad when I broke out notepad to show my friends how awesome I was and they were like dude
Yup, found out the real answer from a friend who was a little shocked.
I think there’s two of those in a row. It’s on the island with the big boiler and Gehn’s study and such, there’s the door into the cavern(?) where you can find the frog trap thing, and you have to close those doors to find the corridor to the spinning orb, then you have to close the door you came in to find the little syncroscope in a side chamber in a wall to stop it.
I had a moment like that on Myst. In the room near the beginning of the game, there is a button you are supposed to push, so you can insert numbers and change the messages on the machine. I didn’t see the button so I ended up wandering the island confused on what to do. I had to get help for that. Thankfully I ended up playing through the game with my friend.
As a nod to this, there is a part in Obduction that does the same thing. If you’ve never played it, it’s well worth it. Just keep the “cyan brain” on when you play!
