Commodore AMIGA

Originalna navodila

  You have just stumbled upon a  most intriguing book,  a book titled Myst. You
have no  idea where  it came  from, who  wrote it,  or how  old it  is. Reading
through its pages provides you with  only a superbly crafted description of  an
island world. But it's just a book, isn't it?
  As you reach the end of the book, you lay  your hand on a page. Suddenly your
own world dissolves  into blackness, replaced  with the island  world the pages
described. Now you're here, wherever here is, with no option but to explore...

A Message From Cyan

  You are about to be drawn into an amazing alternative reality.The entire game
was designed from  the ground up  to draw you  in with little  or no extraneous
distractions on the screen to interfere  with the feeling of being there.  Myst
is not linear, it's not flat, it's not shallow. This is the most depth,  detail
and reality you've ever experienced in a game.
  Myst is real. And like real  life, you don't die every five minutes. In  fact
you probably won't die at all. There are no dead-ends, you may hit a wall,  but
there is  always a  way over  or around.  Pay attention  to detail  and collect
information, because  those are  the pieces  of the  puzzle that  you'll use to
uncover the  secrets of  Myst. The  puzzles you  encounter will  be solved with
logic and  information -  information garnered  either from  Myst or  from life
itself.  The  key  to  Myst  is to  lose  yourself  in  this  fantastic virtual
exploration, and act and react as if you were really there.

                 Rand Miller                 Robyn Miller

Myst is a registered trademark of Cyan. Inc. © 1993,1997 Cyan Inc. and SUNSOFT.
                           All rights reserved.
              Amiga version conversion ©1997. PXL Computers. Inc.
                   SUNSOFT is a trademark of Sun Corporation.


Rešitev

SOLUTION

There are several way to finish  MYST. The easiest is to first  understand MYST
Island and then go to each Age as you discover it. You can complete MYST in any
order. The order that follows is  arranged this way just for my  convenience in
explaining. You can do things in any order! 

You should first go  around the Island and  flip all the "marker  switches that
you see. (There are 7 you can switch  and 1 on the clock tower that you  can't.
There are 8 alltogether). 

As you entered MYST, you may have noticed a "hidden" door that leads down  some
steps into a room with a fountain or pool. Go in it and drain the water from it
by pushing the button in front. Then turn around. You will see a scrap of paper
on the wall. On  this piece of paper  are three things with  three numbers. You
can ignore them. Click on the paper. It opens and shows two numbers. Enter  the
number of Marker  Switches - 8.  Turn back around  and click the  button on the
pool (known as the  "imager"). You will see  a message that Atrus  left for his
wife, Catherine, telling her  of his problem. You  can deduce from his  message
that your task is to figure out which of his sons is guilty. 

THE LIBRARY

There is a bookshelf  with some ratty looking  books. Find it. There  will be 4
legible books. Read  them carefully and  draw out any  drawing you see  in them
(Except for the book with only puzzle clues) Pay attention, there is some  good
information in those books  that will help later.  Then, find the red  and blue
books. There are pages laying next to  each one. Put the red and blue  pages in
the respective books. Click on the book,  and you will see a message from  each
of Atrus' sons, Sirrus and Achenar. They both tell you to find the red and blue
pages to set them free. This is the point of MYST, so listen carefully. In each
of the four Ages (worlds) there is both  a red and a blue page. You should  get
them both (since you can only carry one page at a time, you'll have to go twice
to each Age). 

Next, to  get the  clues you'll  need, click  on the  map. It should have white
outlines of where you have flipped markers. Start the tower rotation by holding
down of where  you have flipped  markers. Start the  tower rotation by  holding
down the  tower and  watching it  rotate. You'll  see that  when it passes some
areas, the beam turns red.  Stop on the red spots!  This tells you a book  that
leads  to  another  Age is  stored  there.  (Atrus calls  them  the  "places of
protection") Click  on the  painting that  makes the  bookcase drop. Follow the
tunnel and elevator  to the top  of the tower.  There will be  two ladders. One
with a book and one  with a key. The book  ladder shows you where the  book is,
and the key that you will need  to solve the puzzle that leads you  there. What
follows are explanations to each puzzle that take you to each Age.

TREE PUZZLE

This one is the hardest to figure out, I think, if you don't know what's  going
on. The clue for this puzzle is 7,  2, 4. Inside of the cabin, there is  a safe
right beside by  the door. 7,  2, 4 is  the combination that  you should use to
open it. There is a  match in it. Light the  match, turn around, and go  to the
boiler. Put the  match in the  slot in the  bottom left-hand corner.  Crank the
handle with the  GREEN arrows. Go  until you start  to hear a  loud sound. Wait
until it stops, then crank the wheel back the other way with the RED arrows. Go
again until you hear a loud sound. Go quickly behind the cabin. You should  see
an opening in the tree coming down  at you. Climb in the opening. It  will take
you down.  Click on  the book,  and go  to the  Channelwood Age!

PUZZLE OF THE SUNKEN SHIP

The clues from the tower rotation  are: October 11, 1984 10:04 AM,  January 17,
1207 5:46AM, and November 23, 9791 6:57 PM. Go back to the planetarium and turn
the lights off. Sit in the chair and look up. Enter the dates into the machine.
You will see  three different constellations.  These will look  familiar if you
copied  down the  constellations written  in the  books in  the Library.  These
constellations are matched up  with symbols. They are  Leaf, Snake and Bug.  If
you go back to the tiny sunken  ship in the pool, you will notice  pillars with
animals and symbols on them. click on  the pictures on the pillars next to  the
pool. The tiny ship will rise in the pool and the big one will also rise in the
harbour. Go down to the harbour, go into the cabin. Click on the book and go to
the Stoneship Age! 

GEAR PUZZLE

The gears  are actually  opened up  by solving  the puzzle  at the clock tower,
which is in the water.  By turning the two wheels  or valves on the shore,  you
can change the time of the clock.  Set the time for 2:40. A bridge  will appear
from the water. When you get into the clock tower, there is a game like a  slot
machine. You have to crank right, left, right and quickly pull while the wheels
are still going, so that only the top  row moves to get 2, 2, 1. Return  to the
gears, a  trap door  will open,  exposing a  book, click  on it,  and go to the
Mechanical Age! 

SPACESHIP PUZZLE

The hint from the tower is 59 volts.  If you go to the generator room, (it  has
generators  as  far as  the  eye can  see  and a  yellow  light on  top  of the
building). There are  10 buttons that  control the yellow  light on top  of the
building).  There  are  10 buttons  that  control  the power.  Each  one  has a
different value. Clicking each one on  will either add or subtract that  value.
There  are  many,  many combinations  that will  produce "59".  There are  also
handles behind the generator building that will reset everything. Now that  the
power is on,  you can open  the Spaceship door.  If you kept  good notes at the
library, you  will remember  a piano  key diagram.  (OR you  can go back to the
library now and get it!) There is a keyboard in the spaceship that is the  same
as the diagram.  5 notes must  be reproduced in  order, first on  the keyboard,
then on the lever/control panel in the nose of the ship. The easiest way to get
the same notes  on the lever  machine is to  count the notes  as you raise  the
levers. This is tough and will make  you mad! Count up (in order 1-5),  8 notes
up, 20, 23, 13, and 6 notes up. Then pull the lever. It must be exact! It  will
play the  notes. If  you did  it right,  a light  comes on,  and the  next book
appears. Click on it, and go to the Selenitic Age. 

You are now ready to proceed to each Age. 

STONESHIP AGE

Go out to the little pump island.  There will be three buttons to click.  Touch
the one on  the right. you  will hear an  engine type noise  that is the  water
being drained out of the lighthouse. Go to this very same lighthouse. There  is
a small door above your head when  you are just standing in the main  room. You
will see a key on  the floor. It is on  a chain that moves. At  this point, you
ask yourself "huh?".  If you turn  around and look  down, you will  see a set a
stairs to go down. The chest down there is locked, BUT you will see a drain  of
some sort on left hand side of the bottom of the chest. When you turn it, water
comes out. Drain  the water, then  turn the handle  the other way  to close the
valve. For  you young  Sherlock Holmes',  you now  realize that  a hollow, wood
chest will float! Leave and go back  to the pump selector area. Touch again  on
the third or right most button.  Return to the now flooded lighthouse.  You can
see the key on the floor to open the chest, and take out the key from inside of
the chest. This key opens the small door above your head! 

Go up and look around. There is a generator with a crank handle. Turn it  until
the indicator  tells you  that the  batteries are  fully charged.  Go back  and
choose the second or middle button at the pump place. Go back to the boat,  and
turn left. If you go forward six times, you will see an small panel on the left
wall. This one way to  get to a "secret" room.  Don't go there yet! Keep  going
down the stairs. At the door, press the button and go in. This is a bedroom. To
the right is a desk. (You can open the drawer if you want-you'll see a  curious
looking needle). Left is a chest with drawers. There are things in some of  the
drawers. We are looking for drawer number four-it has the RED PAGE! Go back out
of the room and go up the stairs. 

Go to your left  and go down the  stairs six times or  clicks. Here there is  a
small panel  located on  the wall  to the  right. This  is another way into the
secret room. Go down the stairs all  the way, open the door, and go  inside the
bedroom. To your left on the bed is the BLUE NOTE! If you turn around, you will
see a chest full of  drawers. Open number six, it  has half of the VAULT  NOTE!
Write down its contents. Turn around, go out and up the stairs. 

Find the telescope at the top and look  into it. If you point and click on  the
picture,  you  can move  it.  Click and  drag  to the  left.  There are  degree
indicators. The three degree's  without a picture of  the Island are 115,  135,
and 180. This will come in handy! If you haven't had to do so yet, you may want
to consider going back  to the generator and  getting a fresh recharge  for the
batteries. Go back to the first door (cave-like) we entered on the boat and  go
down 6 times  or clicks. Remember  the secret panel  to your left?  Go into it.
Walk down the hallway until the open room. If you look down, you will recognize
the rose drawing we saw  in the compass. The 135  degree marking we saw in  the
compass correlates to this compass on the floor. Push the arrow button  between
South and East (135 degrees!). The lights will come on! Ahead of you is a  lamp
underwater. Cool picture. Get all the way out and go to the pump buttons.  Push
the first (left)  button, and go  back to the  cabin door. Go  down all of  the
stairs. At this point, you  will see a table in  front of you. If you  click on
it, the MYST book morphs out of the table. Open the book and go back home! 

CHANNELWOOD AGE

This  world is  powered by  windmill energy  and water.  So, before  we can  do
anything,  we  need  to  hook  everything up  right  in  the  windmill.  To get
there,follow these directions: (F=forward, L=left, etc.) 

F, F, F, FL, F, FR, F, FL, F, F, F, F 

If  you  look  down  here,  you will  see  a  switch,  much  like the  switches
controlling train tracks. Water (which=energy) can only flow to some places  at
some times. We will have to throw the switches correctly in order to power  the
things we need in this world. We will use this particular switch as a reference
point. I'll refer to  it from now on  as the starting switch.  Looking forward,
you will see  the windmill. Go  inside, so we  can power up!  There should be a
faucet handle at your  feet. Turning it will  start water flowing. Energy  will
now start flowing on Channelwood. 

HINT: You will be able to hear running water when you are standing on top  pipe
that has water flowing through it. 

Go back outside the windmill to  the starting switch. Look down at  the switch,
and make sure that the water is flowing to the left. We can't get to the stairs
yet (which we will need) Go: Forward-left, Forward, Forward , Forward and check
the switch. The water should be  going to the right. Foward-right, Forward  and
check this  switch. Water  should be  going right.  Forward-right, Forward  and
check this  switch. Water  should be  going right.  Go Forward-right,  Forward,
Forward, Forward. A motor will be  running. Open the elevator door and  get in.
Throw the handle and take off! 

NOTE: THIS IS TOUGH TO FOLLOW. Go: Forward, Forward-right, 

Forward-right, Forward,  Forward, Right,  Forward, Forward,  Forward. From this
room (lots of pots laying around) go Right, Forward, Forward, Forward, Forward.
Throw the Switch. In the distance you'll see something moving. That's where  we
need to get to. Turn around 180 degrees. Go Forward, Forward, Forward, Forward.
From this room (again!), go Right, Forward, Forward, Forward-right, Forward six
times, Right,  Forward, Forward,  Forward, forward  down the  stairs. Open  the
door. Go forward five times. We're back at the started switch. Change the water
to go toward the stairs (right). Go left, and then forward six times. Climb the
stairs, turn left, and there's the elevator. Flip the switch - it'll take us to
the third floor. Get out on the third floor. 

Turn around 180 degrees. Go Forward-right, Forward, Forward, Forward. This is a
bedroom of some sort. There  is a night stand in  the room with drawers. Go  to
is. The Red Page is in the left side. On the right side, you'll find half of  a
white  note-this  is  a Vault  note.  COPY  THE INFORMATION  DOWN.  IT  IS VERY
IMPORTANT! This is one half of a note, with the other half in Stoneship.  Leave
the room and go forward four times, forward-right, and then forward again  four
times. This room has some smoke and mirrors, but we're on our way out! Leave by
going out the opposite  door you came in.  Go right, forward, forward,  forward
-left  and forward.  Enter this  room to  find the  blue note!  There are  some
messages in this room using the machine. They are not that important. Go out of
the  room  and go  forward  twice, forward-right.  Get  back to  the  elevator.
Throwing the switch will get you to the second floor. Go down the stairs. 

Start from the starting switch. Change the switch to the left. Go forward-left,
forward,  forward, forward.  Change this  switch so  the water  goes right.  Go
forward-right, and forward. At this switch, make sure the water is going  left.
We'll go  forward-left and  forward. Go  left with  the water  forward-left and
forward get's you to a bunch of forwards until you see and engine/pump  lookin'
thing at the  end of the  path. Forward-right, forward,  Forward, forward. Flip
the switch and watch a magic  bridge appear! Follow the path forward  until the
elevator. Turn  around and  trace the  pipe left,  until it  runs out. Find the
crank here and crank  it, the pipe will  extend. Turn around, head  towards the
elevator, but go past it back to the bridge motor/pump. From here, go  forward,
forward, forward,  and forward-left.  Go forward,  forward-right, forward, look
down. Throw the switch to the other side. Turn left. and go to the next switch.
The water should be flowing beneath your feet. Turn around, go forward,  Right,
forward, Forward-left,  Forward, Forward-right,  and a  ton forwards  until you
reach the elevator. Get  in. shut the door  and throw the lever.  Open the door
and you'll see the MYST book! 

MECHANICAL AGE

You are facing a gear. Proceed inside  the fortress. Go left. As you enter  the
room, face the throne.  There is a small  indentation on the bottom  right-hand
corner. If you click  on it, a door  appears. Go inside. Inside  the bottles is
the red page. You can grab it and  skip to the rest of my instructions. To  get
the blue page, go into the other room. There is a weird looking object next  to
the throne. It's a  simulator. Next to the  throne is an indentation  where the
blue page is. (Also among the rooms on  a wine shelf is a note from Achenar  to
Sirrus. Achenar claims that Sirrus is greedy) 

Go over to the simulator. It  demonstrates the rotating of the Island.  Push up
the left handle, then  the right. Pulling them  back down again after  rotating
will yield a  sound depending on  the degree of  rotation. You will  need to be
familiar with all 4 sounds for 90, 180, 270, and 360 degrees. 90 degrees sounds
like a  high ping,  180 like  a spring  coiling, 270  like a  bird flapping its
wings, and 360 is a dull, hollow, metallic sound. 

If you retreat into the hallway, you  will see a small red button on  the wall.
When you  click it,  the floor  drops down.  You will  see a  display with  two
upside-down c's. Line them up until they are red in colour. Turn around and  go
back up the stairs, click the red button (thus elevating the floor back again).
Walk into the elevator. 

In the  elevator, choose  the "up"  button. Once  on the  top floor,  click the
middle button and hurry and get out of the elevator. It will descend the half a
floor  and  you  can climb  in top  of it.  There are  controls on  top of  the
elevator. You can now  rotate the fortress by  pushing first the left  and then
the right lever, waiting,  and then pulling them  both back down to  check your
progress. You need to move it 180 degrees. (Spring coiling sound) 

Rotate  the  island 180  degrees  and 90  degrees  to get  to  those respective
islands. Each one holds 2 of the 4  symbols that you will need to enter to  get
back to  MYST. There  really isn't  anything on  the islands  but the  symbols.
(remember, the second time around to  get the page you didn't get  before-don't
move the fortress!  Just grab the  page and enter  the symbols. It's  still the
same!) Once you have the 4 symbols,  simply enter them into the machine on  the
original island you started at (yes  you have to move the fortress  back!). The
symbols are: 

1. Upside down "c".
2. Opposite pointing triangles flanking a rectangular box.
3. Three small triangles pointing up towards a ball.
4. The left side half of a full moon. 

Hit the red button and the MYST book appears. Click and get home! 

SELENITIC AGE

You start in  the spaceship. After  you step off  the path, you  pass a door on
your right. Two clicks forward from the door, turn and face left. If you follow
the path, you will come to a small creek or stream that you can hear. There  is
both  a  button to  press,  and the  blue  page here.  The  button turns  on  a
microphone. There are 5 microphones in  all, and 5 different symbols for  each.
Get back on the main  path. Go up the stairs  in front and to the  left of you.
Click on the button at the top  of these stairs. You can hear the  volcano like
chasm.  Get  back  on the  path and  go until  the large  clock. Click  on this
microphone. Continue forward and  take a right at  the fork. Continue down  the
path, down some stairs,  and find a mike  for a tower looking  symbol. You will
find the red page here. Retrace your steps back to the fork. Go right. You will
find the final button to click at the wind symbol. 

There is a  ladder here, go  down it. Turn  on the light.  Turn around and walk
down the tunnel. Climb  the ladder, and climb  the stairs. There will  be a box
looking thing with metal  doors. Click it to  open. There are tuner  buttons, 5
symbol buttons, and a "sigma" or play-back button. The object here is to "tune"
in the sounds  of each object  with where they  are on the  display. You can do
this by hand, letting  the display tell you  when you are close  (the hand will
blink a lot). Or, you can enter the following numbers. To enter them, click  on
the symbol for stream, volcano, clock, tower, or wind, tune in the number,  and
move on to the last one. 

Stream -- 153.4
Volcano - 130.3
Clock --- 55.6
Tower --- 15
Wind ---- 212.2 

After entering the numbers, press the sigma or play-back key and listen  close.
The order played back is different. You need this order to get into the  shack.
The order is: tower, stream, wind, volcano, clock. Enter them into the panel on
the shack you passed earlier. Push the button and enter! 

This demented donkey-Kong  country nintendo action  sucks. It takes  forever of
trial and error  to map out  where to go.  Just follow these  instructions: Get
into the driver's seat and press FORWARD. Here are the steps: 

N, W, N, E, E, S, S, W, SW, W, NW, NE, N, SE, 

Exit the vehicle, click on the book and get back to MYST. 

FINISHING MYST

If you haven't been  doing it before now,  you'd better make sure  your game is
saved so that if you mess up, you can do it again. Go back to the fireplace and
get inside of  it. Go ahead  and turn the  switch. When you  see the plate drop
down though, you want to enter the correct pattern. You should have written  it
down earlier when you where going through the library books. 

NOTE: It's pattern number 158 in the far right book, middle shelf. 

Enter the pattern  correctly by pushing  on the slate  in the right  area. When
you're down, flip the switch. The  fireplace moves and opens. There is  a GREEN
coloured book. Be careful! Open the book, without double clicking on the  page.
Atrus will appear and talk  to you. Click off of  the book to put it  away. Get
back in the fireplace, flip switch. At this point, if you copied down the VAULT
notes we found, you would know that you are now supposed to make sure that  all
the marker  switches on  MYST Island  are switched  (you should  have done this
earlier), except the one  by the boat dock  where you started out.  Do this. Go
down to the docks and flip the marker off. The WHITE PAGE will appear. Go  back
to the fireplace. 

Enter the correct fireplace code and pick up the GREEN Book. Now you can travel
to Atrus in Dunny by  touching the page. Atrus is  working at a desk. Give  him
the page. He leaves to take care  of "something". You WON! Atrus will now  tell
you about an upcoming adventure (MYST 2). Here are the ways to end MYST: 

ONE: Drop the white Page, and take the Red page to Sirrus. LOSER! 

TWO: Drop the White Page, and take the Blue page to Achenar. LOSER! 

THREE: Drop the White Page and go Dunny without the White page. LOSER! 

You should have listened to Atrus. You'll have time to learn. You're now  stuck
with him Dunny. 

You can take the Myst book from the  desk and go back. You are free to  explore
all the ages of Myst.  Notice that where the Red  and Blue books where are  now
fried, burned areas. That was the business Atrus took care of when he took  off
for a second.


Povezave:
ClickBOOM - Nakup originalne igre

Najave:
Svet Kompjutera, April 1997, Bonus Level, Branislav Babović
Amiga Format, #97, May 1997, Preview Special, Andy Smith
Amiga Format, #103, November 1997, Previews, Andy Smith
Amiga Format, #106, January 1998, Previews, Andy Smith
Amiga Format, #107, February 1998, Previews, Andy Smith
CU Amiga, June 1997, Previews, Andrew Korn
CU Amiga, December 1997, Feature, Andrew Korn

Opisi:
Amiga Format, #108, March 1998, Review, Andy Smith, 92% 

MYST - Gaming Special

AMIGA FORMAT GOLD

Andy Smith dons his deerstalker and picks up his magnifying glass in an attempt
to solve the mystery that is Myst...

  Myst  is very special.  It's not often  a game appears,  on any format,  that
manages to  completely engage  the player,  but Myst  is just  such a  game. No
wonder then  that it's  the biggest  selling CD-ROM  game of  all time,  having
achieved a massive following when it was  released for the PC and Mac a  couple
of years back.
  Its crown may well have been stolen now by some PlayStation game or other but
it's certainly still something to crow about.
  And it's not as if it's the  easiest game in the world to get to grips  with.
Anyone looking for linear structure, simple puzzles and clues aplenty are going
to find themselves very  frustrated. Myst gives you  nothing to start with  and
expects you to get  on with it. Even  after several days of  playing you're not
going to be entirely sure what's going on or what you're supposed to be  doing.
But let's go right back to the beginning.
  This is  a point and click  adventure, of sorts. You  view all of the  game's
locations from a  first person perspective.  Interaction with the  landscape is
achieved by means of a small cursor in the shape of a hand that you move around
the landscape. If  you want to  move forward, place  the hand on  the screen so
it's pointing up. If you want to turn right move it to the right of the  screen
until it points right. Simple as that. If there's something you can pick up  or
pull or whatever,  then the hand  changes so it  looks like it's  gripping. You
don't get much easier than this.

"Myst is a strange island you find  yourself on at the start of the  adventure.
Quite why it exists is not entirely clear..."

  But what's the game all about?  That, dear reader, is still a mystery to  me.
Myst is a strange  island you find yourself  on at the start  of the adventure.
Quite  why  it exists  is  not entirely  clear,  but after  a  couple of  hours
adventuring you come  to realise that  there's this character  called Atrus who
spends his life  jumping between different  ages and different  places, helping
the inhabitants (if there are any) and generally enjoying the wonder and beauty
of the places he  helps to create. Something's  gone wrong in paradise  though,
and Atrus suspects one of his two sons, Sirrus or Achenar, of not only meddling
with things  they shouldn't  but of  actually destroying  times and places that
Atrus has lovingly built.
  Confused yet? You will be, my friend. You have no clues to start with, either
to  what's  going  on  or  what you're  supposed to  be doing.  After a  bit of
wandering around you'll suddenly  start to get an  idea of what's happening.  A
scrap of paper  here leads to  searching a room  there which reveals  a clue to
somewhere else. Before you know it, you're immersed in the whole bizarre  world
of Myst. But don't expect it to be easy. Not only is it generally vague, but  a
lot of the puzzles are really quite tricky. Miss some tiny detail and you could
be wandering around for  days going over the  same old ground again  and again.
This  is possibly  the only  real disappointment  with Myst,  but even  that's
forgivable once you're aware that it plays this kind of tricks on you.
  Let's take the scrap of paper as an example. After a couple of minutes on the
island you'll find the paper that explains that there's an important message to
be read  on the  'imager' that's  to be  found in  an ante-chamber next to your
starting location. Fair enough, let's head there then.
  Right, we're in the ante-chamber and we've found what can only be the imager.
Several speculative  clicks on  the thing  have got  it to  do a  couple of odd
things, but there's no recognisable message coming forth. A more detailed  look
round the room reveals a not on the  wall by the stairs. The paper tells us  to
input the number of marker switches on the island into the imager to reveal the
message. First of  all, what's a  marker switch? Second,  how do you  input the
number (which for argument's sake let's say is eight)?
  Right  next  to the  note on  the wall,  on the  top left  corner, is a small
button. You'd miss this if I didn't tell you – trust me. Click on this and  the
note moves  to reveal  a panel  where you  can input  numbers. Enter the number
eight, go back to  the imager and click  on the right button  (you really can't
miss this) and  suddenly the message  comes through, and  now you're off.  This
kind of  thing doesn't  happen that  often but  it does  teach you  to be  very
observant when  you're in  a location  and to  click on  everything. This  can,
however, be time consuming when you see how detailed some of the locations are.
Don't, whatever you do, let that put you off. I merely want to illustrate  that
you have to play Myst carefully and with some effort. As the instructions point
out,  you have  to play  as if  you're really  there and,  though this  may be
stretching things a little, it's worth bearing in mind.

"Before you know it,  you're immersed in the  whole bizarre world of  Myst. But
don't expect it to be easy..."

  Myst is intriguing, addictive and thoroughly gorgeous to look at, although  I
had a few problems getting the game  to run on the A1200 in the  office (solved
with a patch  downloaded from a  website) and it  needs a whopping  8Mb of fast
RAM. However, it's still one of the best adventure games to have been  released
on the Amiga. Even if you're not really interested in adventuring, you'll  find
Myst to be thoroughly engaging. The clever and subtle way the game reveals  its
secrets makes it hard  to leave and the  way the whole story  is woven together
makes you keen to learn more. Just as one piece of jigsaw falls into place  you
find there are half  a dozen more pieces  that don't seem to  fit anywhere. And
don't for a minute expect to be stuck on the island of Myst. You'll be off  all
over the place, sometimes without really wanting to.
  Myst is not  really a game for the  novice. Although the puzzles are  largely
logical, it does take a bit of common sense to make head and tail of them.  You
don't have  to be  Einstein to  get through  the game  but it's unlikely you'll
understand what you're supposed  to be doing if  you're thicker than two  short
planks (which you're not because you're reading AF) or a complete beginner when
it comes to  adventure games. You're  also going to  need a notepad  and pen to
remind you of  important clues, which  may be aural  as well as  visual, and be
prepared to sit  and think situations  through. If you  are, and you  certainly
should be, and if you've got a machine with a high enough spec to run the  game
properly, then you should search for a copy of Myst as soon as you can.
  As for  me,  I'm  off to  find what's  so important  about January  17, 1207,
5:46am. Suggestions on a postcard please…

"...You have to play as if  you're really there… Myst is intriguing,  addictive
and thoroughly gorgeous..."

PUBLISHER:      Sadeness (01263 722169)
PRICE:          29.95 pounds
VERSIONS:       A1200
REQUIREMENTS:   8Mb FAST RAM, CD ROM
RELEASE DATE:   Out now

GRAPHICS:               5/5
The graphics can't be faulted. Detailed, stylish and varied, you won't tire  of
them.
	
SOUND:                  3/5
Sparing, but the eerie music and effects make it superbly atmospheric.
	
ADDICTION:              4/5
Get past the start and you'll find yourself hooked and unable to leave.
	
PLAYABILITY:            4/5
So easy to use you'll get lost in this world.
	
OVERALL VERDICT:        92%
One of the best looking Amiga games of all time. It will intrigue and  enthrall
you from the moment you first start.

CU Amiga, February 1998, Game Review, Jason Compton, 92% 

MYST

What more can  be said about  the best-selling CD-ROM  game of all  time except
that it's finally here?

  I remember the excitement in the air when the hoax Myst demo was shown at the
Montreal Amiga Convention in the summer of 1996 – on a PAWS portable Amiga,  no
less. The prevailing mood as we stood  there and boggled was that it must  be a
hoax – but at the very least it was a proof of concept. An AGA Amiga could very
well run the game that's kept  millions glued to their monitors. Now,  nearly a
year and  a half  later, ClickBOOM's  development team  has made  Amiga Myst  a
reality.
  By now, after the months of build-up in this magazine as well as the years of
coverage in the popular media, everybody has at least a vague idea of what Myst
is all about. It's some sort of graphical adventure. The spartan  documentation
isn't much help either – it's safe to say that the box tells you more about the
actual "purpose" of the game than the CD case booklet does.
  Part of the purpose of Myst  is that it's a game of exploration. It  wouldn't
be unfair to say it is about solving a mystery or two. That makes it unfair for
both of us if I give you a complete plot summary, but it is worth knowing  that
the experience of Myst revolves around a man named Atrus and his rather unusual
books.
  Atrus is an avid scholar  and scientist – a true renaissance man.  It's often
said a good  book that it  makes you feel  like you're in  a different time and
place –  but Atrus'  books really  DO take  you to  a different time and place.
That's how  you wound  up, disoriented  and aimless  on the  seemingly deserted
island of Myst. A  catastrophe has befallen Atrus  and most of his  books – but
some remain, waiting to be discovered  by you, to transport you to  other lands
where you can piece together the information and evidence you need.
  For  you,  the player,  you have  only the  mouse at  your disposal.  Myst is
completely driven by graphics – the ultimate GUI. Unlike other game which  have
attempted this (Sierra in particular), there is no complex inventory management
to deal with. In  general, objects you can  pick up are for  very specific, one
-off uses – you don't need to wonder if you'll need that match you just  picked
up in two hours. Myst does revolve around puzzles, but they're typically not of
the "Use object X on object Y" variety. Rather, you have to learn, read, record
and interpret what you see around you and can cull from Atrus' record, and then
figure out how it might be relevant to a particular roadblock. 

What's the fuss, then?
  All of this might sound a bit pedestrian to you, or at the very least nothing
that should have made millionaires out of its authors. And I'll warn you  right
now –  for the  first five  minutes you  play Myst,  you may  well come to that
conclusion. Click forward, flip switch, click forward, ho hum. Particularly  if
you're  in a  rush, or  haven't approached  the game  with an  open mind,  it's
entirely likely  that your  first impression  will be  negative. Mine was, both
when I first played the game on a PC  a couple of years ago and when I got  the
ClickBOOM preview. But then  I sat down, cleared  my schedule, and gave  Myst a
real chance.
  Then, I started to  like it. It really started to  suck me in – not quite  so
much with  the graphics,  although they  are nice.  It was  the music and sound
effects that really did it. So often when a game author is trying to create  an
engrossing environment, they forget to stimulate as many of your senses as they
can. Without tactile feedback and Smeel-O-Vision, Myst does a very good job  of
bringing you into Atrus' world.
  It was Atrus himself who put the finishing touches on my conversion. When you
find his writings and records, you really get an insight into this man, and why
you should feel compelled to do what's right in his name. (That and there's not
much  of a  game  if  you don't.).  When  I'd  read his  work and  examined his
drawings,  and  then tried  paging  through one  of  his obliterated  books,  I
actually felt a  certain pang of  loss and disappointment  when all I  got were
hopelessly destroyed pages. Myst  has this funny way  of making you care  about
what's going on.
  Of course, the  sound and music aren't going  to be quite enough to  keep you
playing for hours and hours. That  is where the much-lauded graphics come  back
into play. No, it's not like playing  in a fully detailed 360 degree 3D  world.
You will find, as I did, that sometimes you feel you should be able to turn  to
face  a  certain  way  and simply  can't.  In  congested  areas (forests)  this
sometimes gets to be annoying and  disorienting. But when you do get  where you
want to be – and even along the  way, for that matter – you're treated to  some
very engrossing imagery. Again, you can't expect every intermediate "going down
the stairs" shot to  be an absolute work  of art, but there  are many locations
and rooms in Myst where you should allow yourself a chance to say "Wow. That is
really nice." before you start clicking  away like mad trying the right  button
to press.
  The worlds of Myst you will visit have their own internal logic, as does  the
game. Discovering that logic  is another part of  the joy, along with  being an
appreciative spectator. The game really does make you think. On the other hand,
the global proliferation of Myst means that if you DO get stuck, help is  never
very far away. 

The Amiga implementation
  It was a hard a fast requirement of ClickBOOM's conversion contract that  the
game be virtually indistinguishable from the original, and to that end as  much
of the original's source material  has been used. QuickTime, while  perhaps not
the optimal choice for Amigas all things considered, is used just as on the  PC
and Mac versions for the in-game animations. The graphics look the more or less
the same – I was sent a PC version of Myst for comparison and can confirm  that
the Amiga version does indeed have nicer images in some scenes.
  The only  real difference is that  to start the game,  you have to make  sure
your audio and video  are properly configured. ClickBOOM  chose to use the  AHI
retargetable audio system for Myst – if you don't already have this  installed,
not to worry. Myst will handle the  details for you. For video, you must  first
select  a screenmode  before entering  the game.  Myst will  not automatically
detect if  this screen  is large  enough, however  – experiment  with the  most
attractive (Super72 or a Double-mode, for example) in high res  laced/noflicker
and reduce to regular NTSC or PAL if your machine is overly sluggish.
  You have the option of installing various pieces of the Myst CD to your  hard
drive  for  optimal  performance.  In the  most  extreme  cases,  you can  copy
virtually nothing  but the  executable, or  essentially the  entire CD. I found
that audio lost sync with animated video at times on a minimum-spec  quad-speed
CD – if this happens to  you, experiment with installing more data  and relying
less on the CD.
  CyberGraphX  support  was and  is planned  for Myst  but in  order to  ensure
Christmas  delivery  it  was left  off  of  the CD  for  final  bug testing.  A
CyberGraphX executable was not available at  the time of this review, but  will
be on ClickBOOM's website shortly. 

What does this mean?
  The  arrival  of Myst  on the  Amiga, even  when you  ignore the  time that's
elapsed since the rest  of the world got  it, is certainly a  major event. It's
brought a legitimately enjoyable game to our favourite computer and pushed  the
envelope of system specs a little bit (can you imagine what would have happened
just a scant three years ago if you  insisted on 8 megs of RAM, AGA or  better,
and a CD-ROM  drive? Madness in  the streets!). And  with ClickBOOM in  serious
talks with ID over making Quake their  next project, are we seeing a return  to
mainstream legitimacy for the Amiga as a gaming platform?
  The  jury is still  out on this  one, but from  my discussions with Alexander
Petrovic, producer of  the Amiga port  of Myst, it  seems clear that  we should
consider Myst  as an  exception, not  a rule.  Extraordinary circumstances (the
sufficiently eye-catching fake demo) piqued the interest of a developer  (Cyan)
and  Amiga  publisher (PXL)  sufficiently  that a  deal  could be  worked  out.
Similarly  extraordinary  circumstances  played a  role  in  the current  Quake
discussions – the proliferation of technically illegal implementations of Quake
on the  Amiga due  to ID's  source code  being leaked  once again  got a lot of
attention.
  As much as we may like to think so, porting a game from the PC or Mac to  the
Amiga requires more than sending a case of beer and a stack of source code to a
hobbyist Amiga  programmer in  Sweden. Any  project of  Amiga Myst's  magnitude
requires, among other things, extremely strict quality control for an  original
developer such as Cyan to give it the go-ahead.
  So, despite the best intentions of PXL and other aggressive Amiga publishers,
it seems that while some doors have been re-opened, there is not bound to be  a
full fledged re-invasion  by those publishers  and developers who  have dropped
Amiga support over the past few years. What's still the most important fact  is
that Myst is now here. It is what it  has been built up in our minds to be  – a
groundbreaking game. And it's ours now, too.

"But it's just a slide show!"
  If you  REALLY insist on treating  Myst as a slideshow,  go ahead. Open up  a
graphics viewer  and co  just through  all the  pictures on  the CD. There's no
special encoding to stop you.
  I guarantee it'll work.  Then, when you've worked that out,  double-click the
Myst icon and play the game. I guarantee that it is a lot more fun that way. 

Myst
 Workbench version:     3.0 
 Number of disks:       CD ROM 
 Memory:                8 Mb 
 HD Installable:        Yes
 HD Installable:        Necessary
 
 Graphics:              97% 
 Sound:                 94% 
 Lastability:           92% 
 Playability:           98% 
 OVERALL                92%
 A superb game which looks great too.

Svet Kompjutera, Marec 1998, Opisi, Miljan S. Mirović, 88%

Pomoč:
Amiga Format, #112, July 1998, Hints & Tips
Amiga Format, #113, August 1998, Hints & Tips, Andy Smith