Myst Best indie/obscure Myst clones

[Crooked Bee]

Thanks for that, iqzulk. That was really helpful and informative.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Beyond Atlantis 2.

 

[Cool name]

At least they have the puzzles that are just cumbersome and horrendously integrated, not the ones that don't give you any information/feedback and require you to fully unleash your telepathic abilities in order to complete the game (I personally consider Schizm to be the worst of all the 4 games mentioned gameplay-wise, thanks to extreme amounts of backtracking with all those unskippable videos and crappy puzzle design).

I wouldn't say Schizm requires telepathy. The puzzles are really unfair and hard as fuck but not so much because they lack hints and stuffies but because they kind of expect the player to be Teh Kongming or something. The point in which I had enough was a puzzle in which you need to discover pretty much by yourself a set of coordinates using some matematical hints in base 12 or base 16 or something. Almost everyone who is too proud to check a walkthrough does abandon ship in that one. I spent weeks on it. Then I had an answer that did fit all the hints. And it was wrong. So I was, like, BUG! And my brother did check my notes (pages and pages and pages worth of notes) and was like 'No, the game is actually expecting you to know some pretty advanced math' or some shit like that, I don't really remember anymore. So he did solve it for me, and it took HIM almost an entire week. By then I was 'FUCK THIS GAME I AM GOING HOME.' I never again tried my hand at it, because it made me feel so... so... Inadequate. I did always pride myself in solving advanced math puzzles by using nothing but pattern recognition and out-of-the-box thinking, but that game did crush me without sweating it, and I did always pride myself in that I usually destroy Myst-likes in, like, a sitting or two. That game did bloody destroy me. So I love it simply because it's the Zhuge Liang to my Sima Yi or something. It's DAT GAME. I know I will never clear it so I don't even try anymore.

It is truly beautiful, anyway, and the puzzles are so hard you really feel SMART when you solve them by yourself. I even managed to get the DVD version with all the videos and shit because it is DAT GAME. I am just really, really scared of ever trying it again, because I know it's going to slaughter me. Again.

Also, in case of Schizm, DVD-version is mandatory.

This, yes. Totally.

Anyway, I did never play Schizm II because it's really hard to get in my usual Yohoho manner. Is it worth it?

Sentinel I did play, but it is really easy. The few puzzles that I did not know how to solve I just killed through brute force. By the end I was not feeling smart but abusive. Kind of like I did just kick a quad amputee with down's syndrome while in the ground or something. :S

Also3, did you play Istvan Pely trilogy (Majestic: Alien Encounter, Symbiocom/Syn-Factor, ZeroCritical)?

I completely forgot those ones. I did only play Majestic, I think. It was fun. Cheap and unpolished, yes, but lots of fun.






Anyway, moar games...

Darkstar. No, not Darkstar One. Just Darkstar. Pretty cool game if you are into cheesy FMV. I did like it a lot.

Safecracker. There are actually two games with the same name, one old and done by the same dudes who did Traitor's Gate and one new. The new one is hardest than the old one. In the old one I pretty much brute forced half the way because it was faster than trying to solve the puzzles.

Aura and Aura 2. Lots of pretty, some cool puzzles, not many terribad puzzles.

Zork Nemesis. The only Zork I like.

Morpheus. This game is pretty much Echo Night with more pretty and more hard. Not much more 'hard' but a lot more pretty.

Riddle of the sphynx. It has a sequel, the omega stone or something, but never did play it.

Amerzone. As beautiful as it is easy. Play it to enjoy the pretty, then forget about it.

Blackstone Chronicles.

Amber: Journeys Beyond. It is pretty much Morpheus with less hard and more Darkfall.

Journey to the center of the moon. Uhm, it's kind of bad.

The filmmaker. I didn't play it yet so I don't know if its any good.

Rhiannon. I did not finish this one. I just kind of forgot about it. One day I was playing it, next one I was like 'Meh.' I don't know if it is the fault of the game or my own.



And I don't know if I would call them 'myst-like' but there is Azrael's Tear and Echo Night: Beyond too. Explore, solve puzzles, lots of weird, lots of lonely. I got the same feeling from them as I get from myst-likes: Just explore and solve shit, keep interaction with stupid people to a minimum.

 

[iqzulk]

So I love it simply because it's the Zhuge Liang to my Sima Yi or something. It's DAT GAME.

Well, in that case, I think, you'll really love this bloody... thing: 1, 2.

It is truly beautiful

Well, it's kinda uneven, I'd say. Aurora (organic ship city) and that balloon field were really, really cool, but then came Bosh's Tunnels (Buddhist temple? on mah organic planet with Gaudi-like design? get outta here!) which I really, really hated. And, well, the last location was nothing to write home about, although the pictures were considerably prettier than in Bosh's Tunnels.

Anyway, I did never play Schizm II because it's really hard to get in my usual Yohoho manner. Is it worth it?

On par with Sentinel in terms of difficulty, more linear in structure compared to it (Obsidian-like progression as opposed to Myst-like), has a couple of kinda nifty puzzles (in contrast with Sentinel which is just boring puzzle-wise), but still nothing even close to Obsidian in my book, has better, more colorful and more memorable visual design overall (compared to Sentinel) but not on the level of Aurora (of all Detalion adventure games I liked Aurora/Schizm and Eska/Sentinel the best design-wise), the story however is significantly worse than Sentinel's and kinda on par with REAH and Schizm. All in all - a kinda decent puzzler with pretty pictures (especially if you force all the antialiasing and anisotropic goodness via driver) - and not much else can be said about it. As for Yohoho - google

Spoiler

legendsworld.

I did only play Majestic, I think. It was fun. Cheap and unpolished, yes, but lots of fun.

Then you kinda owe it to yourself to play the other two. Symbiocom is basically more of the same, although longer and with MUCH better story and art direction (esp. the last stage, as I mentioned earlier) - and Zero Critical is the game I would recommend even if you absolutely abhorred Majestic.

 

[Coyote]

Agassi: have you managed to get Schizm working on any computers running Windows 7, by any chance? (I think I asked this the last time Bee was looking for first-person adventures, too. Sorry for hijacking your threads, Bee!) I started playing it on my old laptop and it worked great there, but I got stuck and eventually the laptop crapped out on me before I ever got to finish. Tried installing it on a newer rig and I can either get only a fraction of the screen to show, or if I configure it just right it will show the whole screen but with messed up colors and animations frozen in the first frame and some other odd glitches I can't remember ATM. I'd really like to go back and give it a try again.

As for the topic, pretty much any game that comes to mind has already been mentioned, but I'll second the mention of Titanic as that one doesn't come up very often despite actually being fairly well-made. The graphics are great; they do a really good job conveying the glamor of the ship. Indeed, as someone with a bit of an interest in the real-world Titanic, many areas look like they came right out of historical photographs. It can feel kind of sterile and empty at times simply because there are so many hallways full of passenger rooms that you can't enter (the game takes place primarily in the middle of the night, so there are few passengers out and about) or rich environments where you can't actually interact with anything, but it's definitely very pretty, and finding out which rooms have things of interest is part of the game, anyway (e.g., trying to find out what room a specific passenger is staying in so that you can visit him/her or investigate when s/he is out). Voice-acting is pretty good from what I remember. Story is kind of interesting, though nothing special; IIRC, you're a failed British spy who, when his apartment is bombed during World War II, gets a chance to go back in time and right his mistakes, potentially changing history in major ways up to and including preventing both world wars or causing the Nazis/Communists to take over Europe (there are multiple endings depending on what happens to certain items in the game). Actual puzzles are pretty easy, though.

Edit: Actually, one other that hasn't been mentioned, though I strongly suspect you've already played them: the Tex Murphy games. They're not what I would call Myst clones, but you did also mention the broader category of "first person adventure games" in your post, which they are (the last three of them, anyway), and Pandora Directive in particular has some very clever puzzles IIRC.

 

[abnaxus]

Agassi Impressive list of games you've finished.

Amerzone is short but sweet and IIRC referenced in Syberia.

The company that developed Mistmare made some first-person adventures as well, Ring: Legend of the Nibelungen and some trilogy about some historian travelling through time to find his wife (one set in Pompei, another in Jerusalem). They also made a time-travelling adventure starring a Lara Croft clone.

These are really obscure and outside of eBay probably impossible to find. I remember reading about them in French magazines more than ten years ago.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/ring-the-legend-of-the-nibelungen
http://www.mobygames.com/game/timescape-journey-to-pompeii
http://www.mobygames.com/game/jerusalem-the-three-roads-to-the-holy-land
http://www.mobygames.com/game/messenger

 

[SCO]

Black Dahlia?

 

[ghostdog]

I'm not a big fan of Myst and its clones since they are basically random puzzle games with some kind of plot thrown in, and generally the world feels pretty stale to me. I don't even consider them adventure games, but that's a debate of definitions, so fuck that. Anyway first person adventure games can be pretty good.

Post Mortem. A bit rough around the edges but great atmosphere, good story and even some C&C.






Mission Critical. Very good FP space adventure:






Realms Of The Haunting. Well written horror adventure with Doom-style combat and FMV cutscenes... oh gawd itz heavan !







Death Gate. A classic :






Azrael's Tear. Obscure awesomeness :

 

[ghostdog]

Lost In Time. True to its name no one remembers this one, but it's pretty good and rather difficult IIRC. :






Sentient. Obscure Psygnosis PSX game.






Hellnight. Really obscure PSX survival horror game:

 

[abnaxus]

Death Gate is a good game, but it has very annoying timed sequences, e.g. one where you need to take over the mind of a dog, then have about 30 seconds to find the correct vial to save yourself --- which boils down to trial-and-error as dogs can only see black & white.

I like Shannara better.

 

[Infinitron]

Legend Entertainment games are Myst clones too now? Eh, why not.

I'm sure Bee has played them all, though.

 

[ghostdog]

Legend Entertainment games are Myst clones too now? Eh, why not.

I'm sure Bee has played them all, though.

Since, as I said in my post, I'm not a fan of myst clones my suggestions are for obscure first person adventure games.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Yeah Legend Entertainment games aren't exactly obscure to me.

Anyway thanks guys, all first person adventure games suggestions are welcome; I love them all, not only Myst clones in the narrow sense.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Wow! Lots of games that I didn't even know existed! It would be cool to have a handy list with all the games mentione, a little description and some screenshots.

 

[:Flash:]

Zelenhgorm: The Great Ship (or Zelenhgorm: Land of the Blue Moon, depending on where you are)
It's a first-person FMV game that came out in 2002, when FMV was already dead for several years. It's also one of the few games where filmed characters in prerendered backgrounds works pretty well. I don't even know how they thought this could be successful, but obviously they did and the cast is pretty large. The company went under shortly after release, which is why there'll never be a resolve of its cliffhanger ending.

 

[iqzulk]

I wouldn't say Schizm requires telepathy.

Also, sorry, but it really, really does.
Even more tl;dry tl;dr, than the one above.

Spoiler

1) The visor puzzle. The one that's cut in the CD version, right? First, a little refresher:
Here is the diagram that "explains" how to solve this puzzle:

Spoiler

picture1:

Let's designate the symbols from left to right: "eye", a, b, A, B.
Now, here is the visor:

Spoiler

picture2:

The towers surround the visor. Rotating it, we need to measure B values for each of 5 towers using the proportion relation B=b*(a+A)/a, right (in non-decimal base, of course)? Then we enter those B values into this... ahem... nightstand - and if everything is right (ha-ha-ha), it unlocks the drawer, which contains something that we would totally NOT need IF this game followed at least somewhat practical logic instead of insane one. But we'll get to that. Anyways, here is the "nightstand" (note that the dials are NOT enumerated in the game itself):

Spoiler

picture3:

The visor stops at 6 positions: 5 towers + this representation of b symbol, which, by the way (being yellow), has a huge yellow circle right in the middle of it (circle not seen in the picture):

Spoiler

picture4:

Oh, and please note the moving scale - it's used to measure the b value of whatever it's pointed to.

Visor also has this plaque which tells us the numerical value of a right away:

Spoiler

picture5:

.
It also contains this panel:

Spoiler

picture6:

0 button resets the dial - and + button makes the visor to magically take a new measurement of the A (depth/distance) value of whatever it's pointed to.

OK, now we are all set.

Now to the interesting part. Problems with this puzzle.

1) How are you supposed to measure b value for all the towers (example on picture2)? I mean, where to center the lens? Correct answer: right at the top of the tower's roof. Why? Why not on the balcony's centre or the floor? Why does the B symbol (which, by the way, totally DOES represent the tower) has a circle with a fucking dot right in the middle of it? Who knows. Anyways, you need to take a guess

Spoiler

guesscount=1

and roll with measuring the top of the roof. BTW, yes, the b-scale-thing (from picture4) has a discrete step - and no, it DOESN'T center on each tower's top with such a precision as to not to leave any doubts about "where to center the lens?" question. A bright red spot right in the freaking roof of each tower as well as a bright red spot in the top-right corner of that triangle scheme in picture1 would bloody help, I'd say.

2) Which miniature_tower+dial from picture3 corresponds to which actual tower? I mean, do we go from the closest tower (smallest A value) to the farthest (biggest A value)? Or, get this, maybe, since dials '2' and '4' from picture3, are situated in the second row, while '1', '3' and '5' - in the first row, we need to assign two farthest towers to '2' and '4' dials while the closest three to '1', '3' and '5'? Or maybe we need to actually go left to right. Yeah, that should be it. That would correspond to rotating visor clockwise. What do we choose for starting point (dial '1')? Well, I bet, it's that neutral position in which the visor is pointing every time we start approach it and start working with it (it points of one of the towers in that position, BTW). Right? Of course, not! You are supposed to go clockwise from that giant yellow b symbol from picture4. How are we supposed to get it (especially since b symbol has seemingly nothing to do with all the point of reference stuff)? Well, of course we need to take a guess!

Spoiler

guesscount=2

.

3) The crucial point. What does (a+A) mean exactly? I mean, yeah, a could be equal to 10 (of something) and A could be equal to, say, 45 (of something). but what do those numbers actually designate? Or, more specifically, do they have the same metric (i.e. are a and A both measured in, say, "meters", or is a actually supposed to be 10 decimeters and A - 45 yards)? On one hand, the first association with any physical values that b symbol elicits is that moving plank (part of the visor) from picture4, that is actually used to MEASURE THE F(*&^%$ b. And since b has physical dimensions of a couple of decimeters - and B at the same time has order of magnitude of at least meters or even tens of meters, it would indeed imply that the metrics of these variables are, indeed, different. Moreover, take a good long look at that plaque from picture5. The game SHOWS you the physical object that is associated with that a value. And it has physical dimensions of, I'd say, ~20 centimeters. When, at the same time, the actual distance to towers is obviously at least tens of meters. So, that would already imply that, no, the metrics to a and A bloody differ a whole lot. Moreover, take another look at picture1. It shows pretty damn clearly, that the a thing, the zero point thing ("eye") and the b thing form a freaking triangle. And if b is actually that moving plank from picture5, then a is probably some detail inside that freaking visor, that happens to have the same length as the plaque from picture5 (and why not? I have no idea how the bloody thing works anyway - and the game most certainly doesn't tell me this).

All of this metric stuff, of course, wouldn't be a problem if the proportion formula for B would look like b*A/a. All of the metrics would just automatically factor in and go away - I mean, why not? This thing was obviously built specifically for measuring towers' height - so it would make sense that all the metrics would be accounted for, right?

But no. What we do have here is this formula specifically: B=b*(a+A)/a. And this (a+A) thing is supposed to bloody mean something. Of course we can do this special magic: B = b*(a+A)/a = b*A/a + b, but who the hell told us that b and B have the same bloody metric (especially since they obviously don't at the first glance, see above)?

3a) The GIANT YELLOW b SYMBOL. I'd say it has to do something with measuring b in some way or another, don't you think? Should I measure it to the right at the top of the symbol or at the GIANT BRIGHT YELLOW SPOT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT? Hell knows. Well, I'll measure it at the top. Oh, by the way, I tried to measure A while the visor was pointed at the symbol, but it didn't do anything. Figures. Since the visor is obviously there for magically measuring the distance to the towers, why should it work on some random symbol on some random wall, right? It says b=7. Now, what could that mean... Hmmm... Whatcouldthatmeanwhatcouldthatmeanwhatcouldthatmeanwhatcouldthatmeanwhatcouldthatmeanwhatcouldthatmeanwhatcouldthatmean~
Actually, it means nothing. The whole thing is a giant red herring. You are not supposed to measure the b thing at all there. It's pointless. Now, why is that symbol actually there?

Well, remember how I said that that if you try to measure A there, it does absolutely nothing? Well, not quite. It kinda tries to tell you that A=0 for that wall and that the actual physical distance to that wall is equal to a=10 in A's bloody metric. It also kinda tries to tell you, that if that b-measuring-plank was, in fact, near that wall with that symbol from picture4, and it was proportionally hundred of times bigger, so that it would appear to you being the same angular size as it is now, being part of the visor, those b values from that hypothetical plank would actually be in B's bloody metric.

Now, I know that the chances of any Detalion guys reading this are next to zero - and know that they are out of business for nearly a decade - and I know that they really DID fix a lot of this shit in their subsequent games, BUT:

a) Guys, I am not supposed to magically know how your bloody gadgets bloody work. I operate on trial-and-erroring and pattern recognition. And both don't bloody work if I have zero information. If the machine doesn't give me any fuc~ bloody feedback, I naturally assume that it doesn't bloody do anything unless I have a concrete, specific reason to assume otherwise. For Christ's sake, if the bloody dial oscillated a bit around that 0 point immediately after pressing the point, I would really, truly, indeed get the idea that it's kinda trying to tell me "I'm trying to measure this distance but apparently it equals to zero WTF". But no, in your case NOTHING happens. At all.
b) Why the hell did you think that introducing physical objects directly associated with a and b variables was even remotely fair to the player when, in fact, in reality, a and b values have nothing to do with actual physical dimension of those associated objects whatsoever? Do you understand that this, right here, is not simply some "red herring" - this is a direct lie which you try to feed to the player at the very moment he first glances at that a-plaque and b-measuring-plank?
c) Guys, what in the nine hells name does that GIANT YELLOW b SYMBOL WITH THE GIANT BRIGHT SPOT IN THE MIDDLE do on that wall? That wall has almost nothing to do with the b value FFS! It's a GIANT YELLOW HERRING which is simply there to Waste. My. Bloody. Time. The only thing that... thing is needed there for is to explain how the hell a and A (or b and B) factor together (which would be hell of a lot easier if you didn't introduce physical objects with dimensions directly associated with a and b a little while ago)! And THAT would be A LOT easier to tell to the player using the BLOODY ZERO SYMBOL (and yes, you can still go with "giant" and "yellow") which is used in your fancy non-decimal counting system bloody everywhere! It would also help if that symbol was actually centered right in the middle of the lens in its neutral (b=0) position, so it would serve as b=0 point, as A=0 point and as a zero point for enumeration of the towers all at the same time (which would be pretty cool, I assume).​

Anyways, this, right here, requires player to take two more pretty significant guesses (without any information sufficient enough to actually prove or disprove those guesses): the one about A scale actually working and showing 0 (while having no evidence of it actually working!) while measuring the distance to the wall and the one about assuming the actual a thing having the same metric as A and, thus, being completely unconnected to the physical dimensions of that a-plaque on the visor.

Spoiler

guesscount=4

4) Did I mention, that all the moving parts of both the visor and the "nightstand" are sllllllllllow to the extreme - and that the visor is situated something like 15-20 screens away from the "nightstand" (all the transitions being slow and unskippable)? Did I mention that you need to make those calculations five freaking times in non-decimal base (pray to your freaking God you would guess the right formula at that point and NOT assume that a<<A in that (a+A) thing, so that B is simply b*A/a) - and God forbid you to make even a tiniest error even in a single "digit"? Did I mention that the ONLY notification you will ever receive about your solution being correct or incorrect is the click of that "nightstand" drawer opening? That if it doesn't click, if you guessed the tower order wrong, if you centered the lens at the wrong points of the towers, if those plaques and planks really confused you, if you didn't pay attention to the measuring scale "not working" on that wall, if you, at last, made a teeniest-tiniest FUCKING (I'm sorry) mistake during those 20 minutes you were solving that shit 5 times in a row - it simply won't click. And if it won't click - that's that, make hat you will of it. Meditate on your bloody navel all day long, if you like.

I don't know, it there is some universe, where this sort of STINKING PILE OF SHIT puzzle would be considered a proper, fair and well designed puzzle one could be really proud for finally solving - it sure as HELL isn't this universe.

Oh, and did I mention what you get for this puzzle, that certain something from the drawer? A plate. Why do you need this plate? Well, it's because, you see, in the cellar of the temple the is a stone with some coordinates scribbled on it (coordinates, BTW, don't work). However, you can't quite make those coordinates out. Why? Well, because, there is a statue of some cosmonaut dude standing right next to it. The statue has a floodlight instead of its face - and that floodlight is shining on the stone with coordinates so brightly, you can't make anything out. Like this, right?

Spoiler

So, we naturally need something in order to block that light. However, we are invisible. So, we use that plate (which we physically move from "nightstand" - and to the cellar) in order to block the light shining from that "cosmonaut"'s head lantern. Except, well, we could use anything else for the exact same freaking purpose. There is a ladder standing right next to the bloody statue - the ladder that BOTH Sam AND Hanna would manage do drag to block that light at least partially. If the ladder was undraggable - hell, anything else, anything at all! No. Only that plate from that "nightstand" will do. Adventure game logic...

You know, I didn't complete this game by myself. I started it anew a lot of times, when I wanted to play something like that atmosphere-wise, but I always stopped at Bosh's Tunnels. Finally, I gave in - and watched a 720p-noncomment playthrgouh on YouTube just to see the final location and to see the ending. And I'm just so glad I'll never have to go to this game ever again (the same, although to the lesser extent, concerns Alida and Morpheus, BTW!). This game, compared to Riven and RHEMs which always gave you all the information in abundance - it's simply a dysfunctional cripple. It tries - but it simply doesn't bloody work, at all. And that wasn't the only example too, you know.

Anyways, fuck this piece of shit game, fuck those piece of shit puzzles, fuck those piece of shit Bosh's tunnels, fuck that piece of shit metric ton of backtracking and dual-character-puzzles that apparently plague the second half of the game and fuck that piece of shit cripple of a "story".

Okay, I'm done. Finally.

 

[SCO]

nice rage

 

[Crane]

ghostdog, thanks for that awesome post.

For my contribution, I can point to a japan-only, though fully english myst-like released in 1999 for the psx called The Book of Watermarks. I've never played it, but it could be interesting.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Anyway, I did never play Schizm II because it's really hard to get in my usual Yohoho manner. Is it worth it?

Schizm II is on Gamersgame for under $5, you filthy pirate.


http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-SCHIZM2/schizm-2-chameleon

Spoiler

I could even gift it to you if you want


:inlove4ever:

 

[Cool name]

I am super duper mega uber grateful for the offer but I can't really accept. I would feel really bad about taking advantage of Mistress when I do not pirate because I lack the money as much as because I am a bitch and an asshole and have a gigantic sense of entitlement.

 

[Crooked Bee]

x-posting this from the indie bundle thread:

ASA - A Space Adventure is a terrific Myst/Riven-like adventure game in space, and it's currently part of an Indie Royale bundle together with some other games I know nothing about:

http://www.indieroyale.com/

Still, that game alone is well worth $4 if you're a fan of the genre.

 

[Crooked Bee]

So, I'm willing to gift a fellow Codexer a copy of ASA (as part of the Indie Royale bundle). If you want it, please post ITT; I'll check back in 3-4 hours, and if there's more than 1 person who wants it, I'll throw a die or something.

(Not posting this in the Giftstravaganza thread because ideally I'd like someone who actually plays Myst-likes to get it.)

 

[FeelTheRads]

I'll take it. Unless there's someone who wants it more than me, then I'll let them have it.

 

[tuluse]

I would also like it, but I can easily afford the $5 for it, so if someone wants it more than me or FeelTheRads, they should get it.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I would also like it, but I can easily afford the $5 for it, so if someone wants it more than me or FeelTheRads, they should get it.

Already gone to FTR, like, a minute ago; sorry about that!