I quit Myst IV because I couldn't figure out the dream pattern with the ancestors and I wasn't getting the color wheel pattern right either. I quit Myst V because of the slate. I'm no artist and drawing with a slate and mouse is just as hard for me as drawing with a pencil and paper!

Drawing the symbols in Myst V doesn't have to be perfect. Try and keep the proportions of the various pieces of the drawing and the distances between them about right. Once the drawing is recognized by the Bahro, your drawing will appear in the lower portion of the slate. Whenever you need to use it again, you don't have to draw it again; just click on the drawing on the slate, and it will always work.

I was also stopped by the dream puzzles in Myst IV; if you need hints or a walkthrough, this is a good one.

*shakes head in dismay* that was one of the reasons why I quit Myst V. I have a hard time with proportions and distances of where the drawing should be on the slate, and I can never close the circles properly. I had a hard time with the heat symbol and the third one. I couldn't even draw the second again right for the Bahro to take it up to the slate holder on top of the ice. I've been to the website for the walkthrough, and even though it's great, the dream puzzle was just confusing for me, which is why I quit the game, and I doubt I'll go back to those two games, because Myst IV had too many hard puzzles(spider chair and mangree puzzle), and I was disappointed with Myst V, because I was expecting puzzles, not a slate, thanks to the Myst V trailer games.

I think everyone has had at least some trouble with some of those symbols. You are not alone. And the Myst IV puzzles were, I thought, XTRMLY hard. I even have done all of them now, and I still cannot repeat the solutions easily.

I also had trouble with the Myst IV puzzles - I knew in my head how to solve them, but couldn't get my fingers to move right. So I had my hubby do a couple of them for me.