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| Obduction Backer |
Joined: Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:55 am
Posts: 153
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I'd have put this in a forum more suited for "General Discussion," but since there are spoilers for Myst V and MOUL here, I figured I'd put it in the Spoilers section.
I'm sure a lot of us have wondered what it would be like to be able to explore the ages from Myst V in Uru. It would indeed be pretty great, and in fact, certain fan shards have developed ways of making this possible by way of technical trickery. But even there, they're not perfect ports - converting the content in such a way that it's appropriate in Uru is a tough process to be sure. It's made me wonder: To what extent would Myst V content be appropriate in MOUL? What makes sense and what doesn't?
One important point that should be made is that if this is done, it needs to be done in such a way that it does not spoil the experience of playing Myst V. In fact, I bet this, next to the general time/effort it would take to convert the content for Uru, is why Cyan didn't bring in more of the Myst V content into Uru - K'veer aside. This may seem like a minor or nitpicky point, but I think it's very valid and incredibly important. We should be willing to sacrifice some explorability in order to keep Myst V worth playing and re-playing.
Another important thing to keep in mind would be how appropriate that content would be as Uru Live content. There's the more general question of what makes sense canonically, in the established world of Uru Live, but even on a bigger scale, what makes sense thematically in the MMO that is Uru. Exploration in many of the Myst V ages depends on lots of puzzle solving, and requires specific game mechanics that are incompatible with Uru.
With these two points in mind, let's go through each of the Myst V ages, and I'll give my take on how appropriate each would be in Uru. Please note that I'm not suggesting that the powers that be actually release Myst V content into MOUL - I just want to have a discussion about what would theoretically make sense. (That being said, Cyan, if you were planning on surprising us at some point, I hope you're listening.  )
K'veer
Already got it, and with a sweet new stained-glass window and music track at that. Great. 
Great Shaft
Absolutely. We've already got a version of it, where Tomahn II is the only area accessible. Theoretically we could just expand outwards from there, remove the Yeesha journals, and place the Descent content (Relto page, Dr. Watson journal) in the correct place in Tomahn II, have all the links to Descent redirect to Tomahn II and we're good to go.
Seemingly, the only tricky part would be the elevator/buttons/floors, which in Myst V, need to be pressed in order to gain access to other areas of the Shaft. HOWEVER, no clickables are actually necessary in the Great Shaft - we wouldn't even need the floor raised - as long as all doors are open, and as long as we have...
Direbo
Yes, BUT, as a garden age, and a nexus for The Great Shaft, NOT as a nexus for the Myst V ages. Following the example set by K'veer, the Bahro bubbles/pedestals should be flat-out removed - maybe even replaced with Relto/Eder style benches as an added bonus. But the linking books to the Shaft should be left, and the gates should be open, making Direbo a good way of getting through the various stages of the Shaft.
Tahgira
Sort of, but I actually vote no on this one. Yes, the age is explorable enough without needing to solve many puzzles, which is nice, but I frankly just don't see the age making sense in the context of Uru. It just doesn't seem like an age that needs to be there.
Now, I have a hunch Tahgira is a total conversion of Beyond Gira, an expansion of Eder Gira Cyan was planning on releasing in Uru Live way back when - there's a track on the soundtrack, and even concept art, if you know where to look (notice the trees? They're the same as Tahgira's. That, plus the name is where I'm getting my hunch). That would obviously be something neat to see in Uru, but I'm just not seeing Tahgira as something that makes sense in context.
Todelmer
Partially - exploration of this age really depends a lot on the Myst V game mechanics and on a lot of puzzle solving, so releasing the age as-is doesn't make much sense to me. But you know what does?
The space pod. It's just too perfect. Todelmer is a pod age, and if all we were to get was just that pod at the end, I would be more than happy. It would go perfectly in that fifth pedestal where the other four Pod Age books are in the museum. (Though I gotta say, the pod ages should really be merged into one book on the Relto bookshelf instead of four. Then the two books on the bottom shelf could actually be squeezed into the top shelf.) Remove the Tablet Keep, slap in a Nexus pedestal, and we're good to go - nothing else needed!
Noloben
Sort of. Does it need to be there? Probably not, but it has a few things going for it: It's been mentioned very frequently in the game itself - of note is that sticky note in Sharper's office - so it would make sense in the context of Uru Live to have the age there - say, perhaps, by putting a book in Sharper's D'ni office. But since the age is pretty puzzle heavy and pretty dependent on Myst V's game mechanics to solve and fully explore, maybe only part of the age. Let's leave the magic of the actual puzzle solving to Myst V itself, and just have the most basic exterior locations explorable. Since physically the age is quite small, we'd still feel like we're getting to explore all of it, even though technically we wouldn't have access the lab inside.
Laki'ahn
No. I feel like this age is puzzle-heavy to the point where I doubt it would even be enjoyable exploring outside of the context of Myst V. In fact, I always thought Laki sort of existed as a representation of Esher's character, and helped give him a little backstory, so it serves a specific purpose for that *story* that wouldn't really fit in Uru. So as far as I'm concerned, Laki can stay in Myst V where it belongs.
Myst
Of course - we've got access to the library already, after all, and I, for one, have been dying to see the day when that stone barrier goes down and we can walk on the island itself. That being said, is Myst V's incarnation of the island appropriate for Uru? Not entirely. The player only ever sees it in the "bad" ending, and so the age is intentionally given a dark and dreary tone. I don't think that'd be appropriate in the context of MOUL.
But, I think with a few minor adjustments, it'd be fine. I still think it's important to show the island in its run-down and decayed state, but the island should feel mysterious and not sad. Here's the adjustments I would make:
- Turn the rain/lightning off. Not only is it dreary, but it also reduces visibility, and makes a lot of excess noise. So remove those weather effects, and remove all the sfx files related to the rain.
- Increase the global lighting slightly. Everything is so dark. Since the lightning has a noticeable affect on the global lighting, I'm assuming it'd be possible to brighten things up a touch without making any real big changes.
- Replace Myst V's Myst music with Uru's Myst music. The age, as we've adjusted it now, is still brooding, but it now has more of an air of mystery to it, and is less disheartening/depressing. Likewise, the music we've already got for the Myst Library in Uru is mysterious and a bit dark, but not necessarily sad. It matches our new tone perfectly, and it's already been established as music representing Myst, so we might as well keep it.
Once these changes have been made, the only thing we have to do is to take the collectibles from the library in MOUL (sparky, clothes, Relto page) and move them to the same spot in the new library - although, if we want to get creative and scatter them around the island a bit more, there's always that. Also, the Slate pedestal should be removed, but that should go without saying.
Also, I really think Myst should be a public age, rather than an instanced one, like the current Myst Library is. I imagine with Uru's current levels of traffic, that wouldn't be an issue. Actually, I feel this way about all of these locations since no "changes" ever need to be made to these ages in a way that would make playing them with others problematic - but I feel particularly strongly about Myst Island in this case, due to its history. I imagine people will want to visit THE Myst, not "a" Myst.
(Side note, I'm actually all for removing the instanced versions of Ae'Gura and the garden/pod ages from MOUL entirely and just replacing *any* age that doesn't require any changes be made to it with one single public instance. {Except Nexus, of course, but it doesn't seem like that's actually supposed to be an instance even in-game.})
Releeshan
Not really necessary, but it's small, and it's cool - could easily be worked into, perhaps, K'veer, or anyplace else, really. However, it would need a few small changes made to it in order for it to work as an Uru age, as those of you who have used exploits to explore the age more will surely know. First, it would need a whole new skybox - the backdrop may seem fine in Myst V, but look even a little bit past the intended camera area and you can see it's actually quite a mess. Second, some sort of barrier or gate would need to be placed in front of the stone staircase leading downwards - if you've ever tried to do it, you'll know your avvie basically just falls into the abyss.
Anyway, those are my thoughts, and I've hoped you enjoyed reading them! I would love to hear feedback from you guys, and any other ideas you might have. Pipe-dreamy though it might be, people have been talking about wanting to explore Myst V ages in Uru since, well, Myst V came out. Forever, really. But when you get down to it, how appropriate that would even be to begin with is actually fairly complicated, and worth discussing, I think.
_________________ 
"Your choices, Maurus. Free will is an incredible gift." -Dr. Watson
Last edited by Maurus on Sat Aug 24, 2013 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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