Author: Tweek

Myst V End of Ages E3 Trailer Available

A Myst V: End of Ages E3 Trailer has been released it contains some major spoilage but is worth the viewing.

Can down load it in .mov format here: Myst V End of Ages Trailer

Richard Watson had this to say about the trailer;

I think we’ve been down this road several times before.

And I’m reasonably sure that I’ve typed this precise phrase before:

I’ve given up trying to understand the people in marketing.

What they seem to like and what I like don’t even seem to be in the
same universe.

Disclaimers:

* We (Cyan) did not make the trailer.
* If we had made it, it would have been different.
* Some of our input was disregarded.
* Our technology was not used to make the trailer.
* The footage in the trailer was not captured from the game itself.

On May 12, 2005, at 8:59 PM, Joseph Davies wrote:

> About the only complaint I have about what I see in that trailer is
> the 10-years-old CG human.

Yeah, I didn’t even recognize that guy. He was loosely based on a
character in the game, but I believe that our real-time 3D characters
look better than their pre-rendered guy.

If you’ve kept up on the articles that have been written, you’ll
already have read the comments about our characters. One article
explained: “the facial animations were filmed and superimposed on the
polygonal models. Consequently, the effect seems expressive and
lifelike, even at this early stage.”

Obviously, they didn’t use our technology for the CG guy in the trailer.

> It reminds me of the attempts of the late Sierra or Ultima 9 at CG
> humans. I mean, surely we’ve been spoiled by some awesome stuff in
> recent years, but still I think this only reinforces your assertion.
> If you can’t make it look terrific in pre-rendered CG, then why not go
> live-action?

Unlike the trailer, nothing in the game is pre-rendered. The game is
completely done in real-time 3D. Live-action simply would not work
well.

> Oh well, I’m sure it won’t detract terribly from my enjoyment of the
> game, but I’m concerned that the dated CG will hinder sales.

It is very unfortunate that this trailer will give people the wrong
impression of what the characters in the game will be like.
When you see the actual character in the game itself, I think you’ll
agree that he bears very little resemblance to what was shown in the
trailer.

But never fear: I’ve been assured that 95% of people who see the
trailer are going to love it the way it is.

So there are only a few of us who don’t like it, and we’re just
entirely too picky, I guess.

To each his/her own.

RAWA

PS – _Everyone_ knows that the Bahro have blue eyes…

Myst Fan Plays Myst V: End of Ages

Myst Community member Eleri had the oppertunity to play Myst V on a trip to CyanWorlds HQ.

After information had been passed out on various gaming sites Eleri gave her view on the game on her show “Radio Free D’ni”

Eleri’s Myst V: End of Ages Preview

I’ve had the great privilege to not once, but twice, focus test End of Ages for Cyan. And now that the press releases have started flying, I can share some of my impressions with you.

The first thing that comes to mind is that these screen shots you’re seeing, just don’t convey the real impact of the worlds. Even if you’re the type to whoosh from one puzzle to the next, don’t. Walk around, enjoy the scenery, and take in the sheer majesty of what’s been created. There’s so many jaw dropping graphics I thought my chin would bruise.

I told them that if they didn’t win any graphics awards for EoA, there was no justice in the world. And I meant it. Wheew.

That graphic excellence extends to the characters, too. Clothing swishes and moves appropriately, movements are echoed by shadows and reflected in pools, and facial expressions are clear and appropriate. However they’re doing the facial animations, it’s working.

Speaking of the characters, it’s a pity the D’ni don’t have therapists. Just saying. Oh, and toothalopes are cool. You’ll know em when you see em.

The interface does take a bit of getting used to, but having both FPS and point and click controls makes the game accessible to a wide range of people. They’re even working on a third option that is somewhere in-between, so we’ll see if that happens.

The puzzles range from relatively basic to “where’s my notepad I gotta write all this down” hard. After one particularly DOH! moment, I had to turn around and ask the watchers how long they’d been chuckling at us missing the obvious. Probably had been driving them crazy.

There’s something wildly surreal about knowing Rand is peeking over your shoulder while you’re playing. Oh, and when I made a comment about D’ni language, and then realized RAWA was watching. Wow, I felt like a dork.

Being the good Myst geek I am, there were a few things I just had to do, like look out a window in K’veer to see what I could see. Interesting. I can find it on a map now, *evil laugh*.

I am not sure how far I got into the game, (and I was told I was missing some key things) so I can’t give you any estimates of overall length of game play. I suspect it’ll be much like any Myst game, and some people will wizz through in hours, and others will take weeks.

Even having played for several hours, I don’t feel that playing the final release of the game has been spoiled for me. It just racked up the anticipation! I was asked if I had any burning questions, having seen the game, and I couldn’t think of any! Oh, stop groaning at me. Any burning questions I have, will either be answered by playing, in which case I don’t want the answers now, or will still be there when I’m done.

Blade and I spent the rest of our vacation talking history and storyline implications and theory. (and kvetching that I forgot to bring the Myst Reader to look stuff up!) So even though this is the End of Ages, the ending can’t be written, cause us fans will keep on digging.

I did mention that people were starting to get excited about Latus, and Rand’s face lit up like a kid in a candy store. No information was forthcoming though. Sorry.

You can listen to the show here: Report Broadcast