Myst - Invisible Cities

Written by Vetinari

So, for this post we are going to explore the spaceship age.

Actually the real name is Selenitic age, you know.

As already seen in the Mechanical age, we arrive in a place which is an exact correspondence of the one that we have just left (in this case the interior of the spaceship) but our surroundings are completely different.

Stepping out on a brand new world.

I expected this place to be a volcanic wasteland, based on Atrus's journal description of it, but instead we are just on another island, with some geothermal vents as the only feature giving away the idea of underground volcanic activity.

As well as all the mist (not myst) rising from the ground.

Going towards the island interior the first thing I notice is a door, with the same kind of five slider lock that was in the spaceship.

This one produces some sounds instead of notes, though.

Since I have no idea of what the correct combination is, I proceed further, and discover a stone structure.

That thing seems like a parabolic antenna.

Going on the left side of the structure, I pass over a small bridge and arrive at a copse of trees.

Nice ambience.

On a dais in the middle of the copse, there is a blue page, as well as a button with the symbol of dripping water.

I push the button just to be sure.

Going back and entering the stone structure itself, I find a similar contraption with the symbol of geothermal vents.

And in this part of the island I clearly hear the air coming out of the vents.

Going forward, a dismantled clock with another button and two clock hands as symbol.

And clockwork noises.

Then the path splits; on one side we go towards some stone pillars emerging from the sea, with a small pier at the end of which there is another button with the pillars symbol. A sort of wind chimes rattling is the sound emanating from this place.

Also, there's a red page.

Proceeding further along the other track, I see a small islet in the distance.

That seems something like what Nikola Tesla would have built for wireless energy transmission.

Then at the very end of the island there is a manhole going underground, with another button.

Is that a geyser?

Going down the ladder, we find ourselves in a dark underground corridor. Luckily, the light switch button is right beside us.

A service hatch.

This passage ends at another ladder, which, surprise, surprise, leads us to the islet with the communication tower that we just saw. At the base of the tower, there is a video display and five buttons with the same symbols that we noticed before near the other knobs on the main part of the island.

It seemed more like some kind of furnace from the outside.

The left and right buttons allow the view to be rotated, and each of the other five buttons can be pressed and lighted up. Also, when you rotate the view, the sounds coming from that part of the island can be seen.

The idea is very simple, i.e. rotate the various antennas (represented by the lighted symbols) in order for them to be aligned with the corresponding antenna on the main isle. You can understand which antenna is which by listening to the various sounds.

This is the easiest one to find.

When the antenna is more or less correctly aligned, one of the two arrows lights up in green, and you can go on to the next antenna.

Then, when all the antennas are correctly aligned, by pressing the button with the sum symbol at the bottom, the various sounds play in a certain order.

Since these sounds are also present on the five slider lock at the beginning, you can set the sliders to the correct combination and open the door.

We're crushing this one, baby!

I fully expected that inside the door there would be another Myst book to get back to the library and finish this age, but apparently I am too optimistic.

What betrayed expectations look like.

The stairs go down to a metal corridor, and at the end of this hallway there is a circular chamber with a strange contraption on it.

Is that a submarine?!?

Entering the vehicle, it seems that it has a very basic control panel, with four directional commands (forward, backward, left or right), a speaker, and some sort of display.

I guess that's not much different from using the directional arrows on a keyboard.

Pressing the forward button, the vehicle is thrust downwards and dropped on a rail (so, not a submarine I suppose), while the display shows the cardinal direction towards which your vehicle is pointing. Some of the directions seems to allow forward movement, while others are blocked by steel doors.

A blocked passage.

Going forward into one of the free passages, the vehicle moves to a different room, where there are different directions in which the movement is allowed.

Do you understand what this is?

It's a maze.

Yes, Myst has a damn maze.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't got anything against mazes, in principle. I spent my formative adventure game years playing Zak McKracken, so there's that.

Even if mazes are by far the most annoying puzzle that can be thrust upon an unsuspecting player, I reckon that it could still be salvaged in some way. It all depends on how the maze is implemented in the game. And in this case, I must say that Myst does this... rather splendidly, in fact!

Ha! You didn't expect that, did you?

This is actually a very good maze. The only thing that you have to notice is that every time you enter a room, the speaker emits some sound. (remember the “bip”, “whrup”, “swoosh” and “thunk” from the Mechanical age?)

That sound is your clue to which direction is the correct one. This is what I was talking about in the last post, since the directions and sounds are the same that are used for the rotation of the fortress ("bip" is north, etc.)

But wait, I hear you say, if you come to this age first, how are you supposed to know which sound is which, before getting lost in the labyrinth? This is where the puzzle implementation is really clever. The first few rooms have only one unblocked exit, so that is used to connect univocally one of the sounds to one of the directions. When the maze begins to have multiple choices, you already know (or should know) what the related sound means.

(Also, if you press the button on the speaker you can hear the sound again, which is a nice touch.)

The game progressively teaches you how to interpret these sounds, so that when, after a while, you hear two of these sounds together, you go "oh yes, this means I have to go in the diagonal direction between these two" - and that is exactly right.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

At the end of the maze you come to a stop at a lighted platform, where you can disembark. And there in the middle of a big metal chamber, there is the Myst linking book.

That's the terminal station.

And your satisfaction for solving this puzzle is only slightly ruined by the realization that you didn't take any of the red or blue pages in this world, and so you have to do it all again from the beginning, not once, but twice.

And the only thing that Sirrus and Achenar tell you after getting the pages to their books in the Myst library is that they want even more pages.

Man, I hate those guys.

Session Time: 1 hour 00 minutes

Total Time: 7 hours 40 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There’s a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!