Myst V: End of Ages Limited Edition

THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER IT DOES NOT HAVE CREEPY ANIMATIONS AT ALL

Moving to 3D was absolutely necessary for the series in 2005, after the failed experiments with the interface in the last two games. And whatever people might say today, it was absolutely cool at the time. The graphics were great and still keep up. Most of the time. They take a serious dive in the fourth age, probably due to time constraints in development. However, most of the experiment was a success: The environments work, movement is smooth and, even if people claim the opposite, there are very few bugs: You can skip parts of the game by doodeling on the plate, but you're not supposed to do that. The symbols you can draw on it are always clearly labeled. Sometimes the slate disappears but can be brought back by opening the main menu. I fell through the floor in a clipping issue once, but could walk back out. That was all! That's really good for a game of 2005 and I played the old retail version. Also, the music is way better than in Myst IV. A breath of fresh air, really. Much more controversial than the graphics I find the puzzle choices. It was not such a good idea to base them all around a central mechanic. This makes them rather easy as you always have a clear goal and the developers had to throw elements in to obfuscate the player with useless information and devices. Still, this is the easiest game of the series after Myst. You will get stuck, but the solution is always: You're thinking to complicated, take the easiest solution possible. The worst part of the game is the story and atmosphere, I'm afraid. It starts out with this great, bleak air of doom and dispair but is unable to build up on it. You much fewer journals than in all the other games and all are only written by Yeesha, making it hard to get an interesting view of the background. I especially disliked the ending, it's just not worthy of being the final act of this epic storyline. It comes out of the blue and is just too happy.

After the graphiscs of myst 2/3/4, it's hard to go to myst 5 which looks like half life 1. The puzzles are not too hard like myst 4 but mainly based on tablets. A new concept not easy to understand at beginning and a bit repetitive when understood.

As with many of you, I have been playing Myst since the beginning and loved the series more than any other game. But it has to be said, that this is the worst I have played. From the very start I was frustrated by the controls, it cannot decide if it is Myst or Uru. Most Myst players enjoy the reading of the books and journals, so to have characters pop up constantly is rather annoying to say the least. I am not sure I will be able to finish this game, as it is rather uncomfortable to play.

I've always, from day one, loved the entire Myst saga: an adventure style game, full of puzzles and riddles that all have logical solutions, presented in a wonderful 3D fantasy environment. I know for certain that I own Myst, Riven, Exile and URU on CD/DVD/whichever. But I can't be certain about Revelation, and I *know* that I didn't have End of Ages prior to buying it here on GoG. And yet, after having played for only a few hours, some of the puzzles seem familiar. Anyway, I love the atmosphere of all the Myst titles, and I would be crushed to ever find out that the saga ended before my life did. I find the 'interface/menu' that appears BEFORE actually starting the game somewhat disturbing and unprofessional/un-GoG-like. And it doesn't look at all like what one would expect from Sierra OR Ubisoft. But let's just overlook that. I just hope I don't need to see that too often. The good thing is that the entire saga is available here now. Great stuff, GoG. Thank you!