Perhaps it *is* time Myst dies out...

[poutrew]

OK, I didn't mean it *that* way, but lets face it, historically, myst (all the games with the possible exception of Uru) is about a man who has died centuries ago. Playing as the stranger, I know everything I do in the game was done many, many years ago. Uru just accentuated that fact - wandering the deserted streets of D'ni, looking at the thick patina of age and ruin that is covering the once great and beautiful civilization, I know I have arrived too late. Reading Dr. Watson's journal, in the great shaft, where he finally realizes that trying to restore the city is like arranging dead dusty bones back to a sembelance of life, tells me that though the Myst series of games was fun, it is still like looking at a skeleton and trying to imagine what it once must have looked like covered with flesh.

I think looking backwards into the past is just the wrong way to go. I get the feeling that maybe Cyan feels the same way - I think we will be seeing more stories about contemporary D'ni people who are alive now, and at what they have achieved since The Fall. With the future in 3D, and with each iteration of the gameing experience being told with more powerful engines, I think the story telling has only just begun. So, I say, Atrus was a good guy, but he needs to assume a dignified place in the historical archives to make room for the next installment in the story.

Besides, as I was talking to a friend today regarding the future of home computing, inside of 5 years it will be possible to buy a machine and authoring system off the shelf at Wal Mart that will allow you to make your own Myst sequils at levels of quality that equal what professionals can do today (if you have the talent)... so you can bring old Atrus back to life and have him do a song and dance for you as a fan fiction http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[poutrew]

OK, I didn't mean it *that* way, but lets face it, historically, myst (all the games with the possible exception of Uru) is about a man who has died centuries ago. Playing as the stranger, I know everything I do in the game was done many, many years ago. Uru just accentuated that fact - wandering the deserted streets of D'ni, looking at the thick patina of age and ruin that is covering the once great and beautiful civilization, I know I have arrived too late. Reading Dr. Watson's journal, in the great shaft, where he finally realizes that trying to restore the city is like arranging dead dusty bones back to a sembelance of life, tells me that though the Myst series of games was fun, it is still like looking at a skeleton and trying to imagine what it once must have looked like covered with flesh.

I think looking backwards into the past is just the wrong way to go. I get the feeling that maybe Cyan feels the same way - I think we will be seeing more stories about contemporary D'ni people who are alive now, and at what they have achieved since The Fall. With the future in 3D, and with each iteration of the gameing experience being told with more powerful engines, I think the story telling has only just begun. So, I say, Atrus was a good guy, but he needs to assume a dignified place in the historical archives to make room for the next installment in the story.

Besides, as I was talking to a friend today regarding the future of home computing, inside of 5 years it will be possible to buy a machine and authoring system off the shelf at Wal Mart that will allow you to make your own Myst sequils at levels of quality that equal what professionals can do today (if you have the talent)... so you can bring old Atrus back to life and have him do a song and dance for you as a fan fiction http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Boyue65]

Getting Rand's voice right is gonna be tough.

[ivanxuereb]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by poutrew:
so you can bring old Atrus back to life and have him do a song and dance for you as a fan fiction http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>"I write words, writing worlds is my job..."

[Tweek]

course you would need to jump through Cyans legal hoops first.

Tweek

[ArienMalfoy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by poutrew:
OK, I didn't mean it *that* way, but lets face it, historically, myst (all the games with the possible exception of Uru) is about a man who has died centuries ago. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, he most likely wouldn't have died "centuries" ago, as the Myst games were supposed to take place in the 1800's, and since Atrus had D'Ni blood he likely lived for a long time after the events of the game. He could very well have lived into the 20th century. Do we have an official date of death for Atrus?

[JustBrett]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ArienMalfoy:
Do we have an official date of death for Atrus? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not yet. In fact, we don't even have any direct evidence that he IS dead, though the circumstantial evidence is mighty strong. Hopefully that's one of the things that Myst V will "wrap up", along with the death of Catherine and the circumstances of Anna's death.

[ArienMalfoy]

Thanks, JustBrett. I often wondered as I played URU whether or not Atrus and Catherine were still alive, and I admit that I don't keep up with the more detailed aspects of the Myst Universe, such as the official sites, timelines, etc.

[Boyue65]

As far as we've been allowed to see, Ti'Ana (aka Anna) simply died of old age. She WAS a human, after all, and in her advanced age I was surprised she could make the ascent to the surface with Gehn and Atrus.

Atrus and Catherine should probably be dead now. Atrus, because he was only about 1/4 D'ni, and he was getting rather old when we encountered him in Myst IV; the timeline between Revelation and URU is a bit thin, but at least one hundred years have passed. Catherine, because she was a Rivenese, is the big question mark; I haven't seen anything about the comparative ages of the Rivenese to the Humans or the D'ni.

[JustBrett]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Boyue65:
As far as we've been allowed to see, Ti'Ana (aka Anna) simply died of old age. She WAS a human, after all, and in her advanced age I was surprised she could make the ascent to the surface with Gehn and Atrus. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
It wasn't simply old age, though Anna was 91 when she died. See the last entry in Atrus's Serenia journal in the library in Myst IV. Her age may have been a contributing factor, but something else happened when she visited one of Catherine's Ages.

Anna was 50 at the time she fled the Fall, and was 75 when she followed Gehn and Atrus back into D'ni. That is pretty old for such strenuous activity, but I guess we can assume her primitive lifestyle in the Cleft kept her tough. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[ArienMalfoy]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JustBrett:
It wasn't simply old age, though Anna was 91 when she died. See the last entry in Atrus's Serenia journal in the library in Myst IV. Her age may have been a contributing factor, but something else happened when she visited one of Catherine's Ages. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hmmm....somehow I missed that. Oh well. It's just an excuse to play Revelation again. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif


<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Anna was 50 at the time she fled the Fall, and was 75 when she followed Gehn and Atrus back into D'ni. That is pretty old for such strenuous activity, but I guess we can assume her primitive lifestyle in the Cleft kept her tough. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My own grandmother walked everywhere she went until she was about 80. I'd say she averaged several miles a week, and dragged my sister and I along with her when we were younger! We didn't have as easy a time with it as Grandma did, but she never learned to drive so she just walked everywhere. So yeah, I can totally buy Anna being a spry old lady.

[Scythephantasm]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JustBrett:

and the circumstances of Anna's death. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You know, that's one thing that I was dissappointed about in Revelation. There wasn't really a revelation in the game. I was hoping that the explanation of Anna's death would act as one, for it triggered the boy's journey to evil and the like.

So I'm glad to hear that it will be explained in EoA http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Alahmnat]

We don't know that it will be, we're just saying it *might* be.

[ArienMalfoy]

And actually, it's more like we're saying we hope it will be.