The Timeline of Myst

The book of M’dium (Medium), which includes spin-offs and a parody of Myst

Note: Dates are in this post, which is to emulate what’s written in the journal.

2019.08.23 Around 1,000 years ago before the internet existed, I have found a graphic puzzle adventure game series created by the Miller brothers (Rand and Robyn), who founded the company called Cyan Worlds.

Notes: “🇯🇵” denotes Japan release.

Myst 🇯🇵 (JP Mac OS box art shown)

• Japanese title: ミスト Misuto
• Platform(s): Mac OS, Saturn, PlayStation, 3DO, Microsoft Windows, Atari Jaguar CD, CD-i, AmigaOS, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Android
• Released: 24 Sept. 1993 (Mac OS — NA), 1994 (Win 3.1 — NA), 17 March 1995 (3DO — NA), 30 Sept. 1996 (PSX — NA), 15 Nov. 1996 (PSX — EU), 1996 (PSX — JP)
• Composer(s): Robyn Miller

Myst is a graphic adventure puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Brøderbund, and released as a PC game for the Macintosh platform in 1993. In the game, players are told that a special book has caused them to travel to Myst Island. There, players solve puzzles and, by doing so, travel to four other worlds, known as Ages, which reveal the backstory of the game’s characters.

Players assume the role of an unnamed person who stumbles across an unusual book titled “Myst”. The player reads the book and discovers a detailed description of an island world called Myst. Placing his or her hand on the last page, the player is whisked away to the world described and is left with no choice but to explore the island. Myst contains a library where two additional books can be found, colored red and blue. These books are traps that hold Sirrus and Achenar, the sons of Atrus, who once lived on Myst island with his wife Catherine. Atrus writes special “linking books” that transport people to the worlds, or “Ages”, that the books describe. From the panels of their books, Sirrus and Achenar tell the player that Atrus is dead; each brother blames the other for the death of their father, as well as the destruction of much of Atrus’ library. Both plead for help to escape. The books are missing several pages, rendering the sons’ messages unclear and riddled with static.

2019.08.24 The second game will come out around four years later, except I didn’t own a Mac at the time (but briefly before switching back to PCs). Until then, there was…

Riven: The Sequel to Myst 🇯🇵

• Japanese title: リヴン ザ シークェル トゥー ミスト Rivun Za Shīku~eru to~ū Misuto
• Platform(s): Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Pocket PC, iOS, Android
• Released: 31 Oct. 1997 (PC/Mac OS — NA), Summer 1997 (Sega Saturn — Japan, Europe, and Brazil only), 30 Nov. 1997 (PSX — NA), Feb. 1998 (PSX — EU)
• Composer(s): Same as the first game
• Notes: Published by Acclaim Entertainment for the PSX port and Sega for the JP/EU/BR port, Square Enix (Enix at the time pre-merger) for the JP Sega Saturn port

It is the sequel to Myst and second in the Myst series of games. Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Red Orb Entertainment, a division of Brøderbund. Riven was distributed on five compact discs and released on October 31, 1997, in North America; it was later released on a single DVD-ROM, with improved audio and a fourteen-minute “making-of” video. In addition to the PC versions, Riven has been ported to several other platforms.

Riven’s story continues where Myst and its companion novel, The Book of Atrus, left off. The player assumes the role of the Stranger, the protagonist of the first game and friend of Atrus (Rand Miller). Atrus knows the ancient art of creating “linking books”, specially written books that serve as portals to other worlds known as “Ages”. Atrus needs the Stranger’s help to free his wife, Catherine (Sheila Goold; voice by Rengin Altay), who is held hostage in her home Age of Riven, which is slowly collapsing. Her captor is Gehn (John Keston), Atrus’ manipulative father and self-declared ruler of Riven. Thirty years earlier, Atrus and Catherine trapped Gehn on Riven by removing all of the linking books that led out of the Age; the very last book to be removed, linking to the Age of Myst, was the one they held to escape Riven. In the belief that it would be destroyed, they let the book fall into the Star Fissure, a rift leading out of the damaged Age of Riven into a mysterious, space-like void. Catherine was later tricked into returning to Riven by her sons, Sirrus and Achenar, whereupon she was taken hostage by Gehn. Eventually, the player discovered the unharmed Myst book, leading to the events in Myst.

2019.08.25 It would seem that Master M’dium as he had been the head Writer of the Guild of Bloggers before King Posterous retires from the blogging grind. Two Medium users have begun translating the post, and they suggested that I search through the chambers of M’dium for…

Myst III: Exile 🇯🇵

• Japanese title: ミストIIIエグザイル Misuto Surī: Eguzairu
• Platform(s): Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
• Released: 08 May 2001 (PC/Mac OS — NA), 07 Sept. 2001 (PC/Mac OS — EU), 22 Sept. 2002 (PS2 and Orig Xbox — NA), 04 Oct. 2002 (PS2 and Orig Xbox — EU)
• Composer(s): Jack Wall

While the preceding games in the series, Myst and Riven, were produced by Cyan Worlds and published by Brøderbund, Exile was developed by (the now-defunct) Presto Studios and published by Ubi Soft. The game was released on four compact discs for both Mac OS and Microsoft Windows on May 8, 2001; versions for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 were released in late 2002. A single-disc DVD version was later released for Windows and Mac OS.

The player assumes the role of a friend of Atrus. A member of the D’ni race, Atrus can create links to other worlds called Ages by writing descriptive books. In Exile, Atrus has written an Age for the D’ni to live on while rebuilding their civilization. The book is stolen by a mysterious figure; the player pursues the thief in an attempt to reclaim Atrus’ tablet.

Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

• Platform(s): Microsoft Windows only
• Released: 11 Nov. 2003 (NA), 14 Nov. 2003 (EU)
• Composer(s): Tim Larkin
• Notes: No console port or Japan release. Like the third, fourth, and fifth games, it is published by Ubisoft (then written as Ubi Soft).

Released in 2003, the title is the fourth game in the Myst canon. Departing from previous games of the franchise, Uru takes place in the modern era and allows players to customize their onscreen avatars. Players use their avatars to explore the abandoned city of an ancient race known as the D’ni, uncover story clues and solve puzzles.

2019.09.20 Need some time to finish up the post after it was not finished for three weeks, except there’s a fourth game, which is called…

Myst IV: Revelation 🇯🇵

• Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Original Xbox
• Released: 28 Sept. 2004 (PC/Mac OS — NA), 01 Oct. 2004 (PC/Mac OS — EU), around late 2004 to early 2005 (PC/Mac OS — JP), 29 March 2005 (Orig Xbox — NA only)
• Composer(s): Same as Myst III: Exile

The fourth installment in the Myst series, developed and published by Ubisoft, the creator of the Rayman franchise and the Just Dance series. Revelation was the first game in the series to be initially released on a DVD-ROM format at launch; a multiple CD-ROM version was not produced as it would have taken twelve compact discs to fit the data. Riven had been released as a DVD-ROM, but only after its first 5-CD version. Exile was later ported to DVD-ROM for the 10th Anniversary collection. Like Myst III: Exile, Revelation combines pre-rendered graphics with digital video, but also features real-time 3D effects for added realism.

Myst V: End of Ages 🇯🇵

• Japanese title: ミスト ファイブ エンド オブ エイジス Misuto Faibu: Endo of Eijisu
• Platform(s): Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
• Released: 20 Sept. 2005 (NA), 23 Sept. 2005 (EU), Oct. 2005 (JP)
• Composer(s): Same as Uru: Ages Beyond Myst

The fifth and final installment in the Myst series. The game was developed by Cyan Worlds, published by Ubisoft, and released for Macintosh and Windows PC platforms on September 20, 2005. As in previous games in the series, End of Ages’s gameplay consists of navigating worlds known as “Ages” via the use of special books and items which act as portals.

In a departure from previous titles in the Myst series, End of Ages replaces pre-rendered environments with worlds rendered in real-time 3D graphics, allowing players to freely navigate the Ages. The faces of actors were digitally mapped onto three-dimensional character models to preserve realism. The game also includes multiple methods of navigation and an in-game camera.

Pyst

• Japanese title: Not released in the Japanese market
• Platform(s): Mac OS, Microsoft Windows
• Released: 08 Oct. 1996 (NA only)
• Notes: Parody game

Pyst was created as a parody of the highly successful adventure game Myst. Pyst was written by Peter Bergman, a co-founder of the Firesign Theatre, and was published by Parroty Interactive, with Bergman, Stallone, Inc. as co-publisher. Mindscape began distributing the game on August 20, 1997. The parody features full motion video of actor John Goodman — the actor notable for portraying Dan Conner in the late 1980s/early 1990s sitcom Roseanne — as “King Mattruss”, the ruler of “Pyst Island”. Versions of the game were produced for both the Windows PC and Apple Macintosh operating systems.

Pyst Island is full of litter, most of the buildings are ruined, and graffiti reveals secret doors and solutions to puzzles that challenged players in Myst. Pyst utilizes three-dimensional graphics, animated drawings, and pre-recorded video and audio.

Gameplay is a simplified version of the playing style used for Myst. The game consists of a series of pre-rendered, interactive visuals of Pyst Island locations. With Bergman’s “seal of disapproval”, the concept is that the familiar Myst locations have been vandalized by millions of virtual players who have been trapped on the island, having “giv[en] up on trying to finish the damn thing”, and as a result have trashed the space, while a shady entrepreneur has built a “Dorian Grey money-making scheme”. However, unlike in Myst there are no real puzzles to solve. The player simply explores a setting, and then moves to adjoining locations at will.

The game does not feature the Myst-style point-and-click interface. Instead, the players are shown an image on a postcard with four arrow keys, on the edges, that players click to change the image on the postcard. The player moves through the scenes clicking the lateral arrow keys; clicking the upper and lower arrow keys two postcards are shown for every scene, all featuring a special Pyst currency in a stamp, stylized as “5F”.

A demo of the planned sequel to Pyst, Driven (an allusion to the Myst sequel Riven), was included on CD-ROMs of later Parroty Interactive games, including the “Pyst Special Edition” re-release of the game. Driven was graphically more advanced and allowed greater movement. The full game was never released, however. Palladium Interactive was bought by The Learning Company in 1998, who proceeded to dissolve Parroty Interactive before the title was finished.

This concludes this post on Shinkansen Retrogamer. I’m Samurai Cory, and this was the book of M’dium. See you next time.