I missed my chance to be among the crowds in 2004 who boo-ed for Serenia.

What on earth was Ubi-Montreal thinking? Or maybe one poster was right in suggesting that it was some corporate boss who decided that "Ages" were in reality virtual spirit realms - as opposed to simple fantasy - so why not make an in-your-face statement by creating "puzzles" that are virtual representations of various "religious" experiences. Yuck.

We can start with the new-age music. For the first time, I've decided to go back into the game settings and turn the music frequency down or even off. It's just annoying.

Then we have the cute-sy bubbles, most of which pop but some that allow themselves to be carefully carried . . . and then they pop. Then there's the even cute-sier (neologism) pollen puffs, floating, oh, so gently, on the breeze. I love the concept of the fire-dripping flowers, but not so I can offer a drop to a spirit.

But then, there's the PEOPLE! They tried with the costumes and makeup to create a culture. But as usual with amateur theatricals, their costumes look like costumes - not clothing, not ceremonial robes, just . . . costumes. But a culture is not conveyed visually alone. Most of the voices were just short of "California Valley Girl" in their intonation and inflections - a distinctive slurred sing-song. They screamed "contemporary teenager" with every vowel they uttered.

I got far enough to be assigned my "guide" and decided to chuck it all and just go to Spire, which I hadn't seen yet. What a relief! Back to a deserted world that is mine, all mine to explore at my leisure.

Thanks for letting me get that out of my system.

quote:

Originally posted by LynComeLately:
Then we have the cute-sy bubbles, most of which pop but some that allow themselves to be carefully carried . . . and then they pop. Then there's the even cute-sier (neologism) pollen puffs, floating, oh, so gently, on the breeze. I love the concept of the fire-dripping flowers, but not so I can offer a drop to a spirit.

You can't give anything to the guides until you're assigned to one of them.

Yes, I know. Figured that out before I got outta there. Rant still applies.

I loved Serenia. Sorry it was so disappointing for you. Yours is actually the first major complaint I've seen on it, and I was quite active on a variety of Myst forums back when this game came out.

Really? Do a search for it; I bet you can find the ones I read here and at other locations.

I didn't say no complaints, I said no major ones. Certainly not as strong as yours.

I think I only gathered into one long rant several issues that have been pointed out by others. <looks back at own and others>

Yup. I may have embellished a bit, but every point has been covered - albeit individually, not all together - by other discussion board participants, here or elsewhere.

Mwa ha-ha-ha! ... and you must go back to complete the game!

quote:

Originally posted by LynComeLately:
I think I only gathered into one long rant several issues that have been pointed out by others. <looks back at own and others>

Yup. I may have embellished a bit, but every point has been covered - albeit individually, not all together - by other discussion board participants, here or elsewhere.

That's pretty much what I just said. I saw complaints, but none as strong as yours. You were basically complaining about almost everything in Serenia, while most others only had a few gripes (which is pretty common in all games; I have yet to find one that didn't produce a variety of gripes).

Just because person 1 gripes about A and person 2 gripes about B and person 3 gripes about C and you gripe about ABC doesn't mean that everyone else had the same rant as you. Do you see what I mean?

wstrohm, you didn't have to rub it in. Trust me, I'm dreading it . . . and I haven't even seen/heard "Dream" yet.

See, Arien. I didn't even cover everything yet.

Lol, I have a feeling you still have more to complain about then.

Why bother to finish if you dislike it so much? If I find a game (book, movie, etc.) irritates me to the point that it's not enjoyable, I just don't even waste any more time with it.

OCD - have to finish.

Lol, well I guess I can understand that.

Whew! And you thought my rant was "strong" ?

Listen to this brutal comment I happened to run into while reading about Spire. The subject here is Serenia and that it was written by Katherine:

"Atrus can't honestly say his father didn't try to warn him not to marry that woman. Serenia looks to me as an attempt to approach the afterlife by a soulless creature. Gehn might have been a bloody aristocratic, but he never wrote something so horrific as that."

Lyn,

Don't quite get that. Is "Katherine" saying Atrus erred in marrying Catherine because they begat Sirrus, a "soulless creature" who is using Serenia to [spoiler]??

Well, I took it to mean that Catherine wrote Serenia and tried to make it according to "her" idea of heaven - heaven as imagined by someone who didn't even really believe that there is such a thing but was trying to imitate the idea. (Prior to the comment I quoted there had been some discussion of Serenia and its place "IC." The concept of a hippy "heaven" was mentioned also.)

Well, that person is certainly entitled to their opinion, but I can't agree with it at all.

It is mentioned in BoA, Uru and a trailer for realMYST that Catherine writes dreams.

So, Serenia is just one of them.

Do there's a dream within a dream?

Edit: "So (not Do), there's a dream within a dream?"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LynComeLately,

I wasn't saying I disagreed with the fact that she writes dreams. I was disagreeing with their negative opinion of Serenia, specifically the description of "horrific".