I have read the manual that came with the game, downloaded the "cryptic" at best strategy guide and been to the website. Can someone give me a sense for where I can learn about the basic objectives of the game?

Thanks

Peter

Do you mean the goal and purpose? If so, try to explore a bit first. Once you talk to Yeesha, she will tell you the purpose of the quest. The journal pages will also help. Also, if you haven't played other games in the Myst series, you might want to start with them first to get some backround info about Yeesha and D'ni. Hope this helps you.
Happy New Year!

PeterLehman,
THe basic objective is to solve the puzzles in the game to reach the end of the game. This is strictly adventure and no shoot,em ups or die'n.
Look around and touch things to see what they do or what happens.
There is a forum here under tips hints and spoilers that might help
hope this helps a little, if you need more help just ask some one will be glad to steer you along

Peter --

Part of the magic of the Myst series is that their main purpose is to tell a story. The fact that we get to solve fiendish puzzles along the way is cool too, but the story has been the reason for being all along.

The challenging bit is that the story is never simply told to us outright. We have to discover it little by little, meaning that the first part of the game can be a real challenge as we start to coax a story out of nothing. With some experience in the Myst games, you develop a feel for what you have to do. For example, very few interactive elements are included in the games that don't have a specific purpose. If you see a door that obviously leads somewhere, you can assume that you'll need to open that door, or unlock it first so it WILL open. And you can assume that everything you need to know to open that door is given to you somewhere in the environment, via inscriptions, journals, dialogs, maps, etc. Once you start to get the hang of the Myst formula, it's rather addictive.

I will admit that the Myst series won't appeal to all gamers. The in-game puzzles are mostly built around observation and deduction, not reflexes and quick trigger fingers... although there were some dexterity puzzles in Uru and Myst IV that drew a lot of criticism because they were not only different from past Myst titles, but in many cases they were just plain beastly to solve, even when you knew what you had to do. Fortunately, Myst V makes up for that and reverts to the old-style puzzles for the most part.

Best of luck! The Myst games really are amazing, and I hope you get pulled in just like the rest of us.