My Dad bought it like nearly 10 times cause it kept giving it away to his friends like a book so he’d end up rebuying it over and over to replay and eventually give away. if it were floppy based I imagine he would just copy it and hand out but since it was like the first major CD release he just bought it over and over.
And we also got the game a few more times as freebies from like buying a new PC or graphics/sound card/whatever. Christ we had so many damn copies of that game.
The CDs were coasters for sure, but the floppies were free extra storage once you formatted them. Was a handy service AOL provided for a while, distributing free storage.
I liked exploring it as a kid, but going back to it as an adult it kinda lost me with how gamey some of the puzzles were despite it trying to sell you on the idea that this is a lived in world. Like, who is going to design a door lock to correspond to some nearby whistling holes in the ground?
From what I’ve read, the sequel Rivan did a better job of making the puzzles feel more integrated into the world, but I only played that briefly as a kid and haven’t gotten around to trying it again.
Sorry for barging in through the door like a Jehovah’s Witness, but if you like these kinds of games you must try The Drifter. I finished it yesterday and it’s the best point-and-click I’ve ever played, may well have ruined the genre for me. It’s an adventure game that actually doesn’t use moon logic. A couple puzzles were a bit convoluted, but even those I felt like actually were based on some logic and made sense.
Plus it’s a great pulp story with phenomenal voice acting. Can’t recommend it enough. Well anyway, sorry for the interruption, I’ll move on to the next house. Thanks for your time.
I actually recently blasted through the first 3 chapters of The Telwynium by the same creator, and absolutely loved it (I’d say it was one of the best point’n’clicks I’d ever played, up there with Robin Hood from Sierra, which is the sole departure from them where the puzzles all make sense), so I’ll definitely be picking up the drifter at some point (and the steam release of the Telwynium which will have the 4th chapter).
Ah, good to hear. I checked out his other games on Steam and wishlisted Telwynium immediately after finishing The Drifter, but it will probably be some time before I play it. I like to switch things up genre-wise game to game. But I’m glad to hear it’s also quality, I’ll definitely pick it up at some point during some future sale.
Yes, Riven really improved on that aspect, by a lot. The puzzles feel incredibly natural and purposeful. Everything in Riven serves as world-building. Everything has a reason to exist. And the puzzles flow naturally together. It’s a game of discovery that rewards exploration. I’d absolutely recommend the recent remake.
I only got around to playing Myst when the VR version came out. Haven’t made the time to play through Riven too, but I heard it had a VR version too. It’s somewhere on The Pile.
I think that counts as a sale still.
PCs would buy bulk licenses or report back sale #s and pay some $ for the games they bundled and tossed in “for free” with the different computer bundles. They still kinda do that too, sometimes graphics cards or individual components even have “free” games or software.
So it still counted as a sale from their side. You just got it “free” as a bonus.
My PCs came with some phenomenal free disks over the years.
Wing Commander 2, Strike Commander (F-16 combat), Syndicate Plus, Ultima VII on a single CD was a really good one.
I think that same PC also had Magic Carpet on CD as well. I treasure all those games.
I still have my OG Doom on like a stack of 4? 3.5 Floppy Disks from our 386 Windows 3.1 PC.
People actually bought Myst?
As I recall everyone with that game got it for free(like included with a PC) and had no idea wtf to do in the game and it often was used as a coaster.
My Dad bought it like nearly 10 times cause it kept giving it away to his friends like a book so he’d end up rebuying it over and over to replay and eventually give away. if it were floppy based I imagine he would just copy it and hand out but since it was like the first major CD release he just bought it over and over.
And we also got the game a few more times as freebies from like buying a new PC or graphics/sound card/whatever. Christ we had so many damn copies of that game.
Gather 'round, young ones, while I relate the tales of the dark times when we had computers before myst…
(AOL CDs were coasters, though).
The CDs were coasters for sure, but the floppies were free extra storage once you formatted them. Was a handy service AOL provided for a while, distributing free storage.
I didn’t see too many of the floppies, but I grew up in a very rural area. I think I have a 1.x AOL floppy still in storage back in the US.
I liked exploring it as a kid, but going back to it as an adult it kinda lost me with how gamey some of the puzzles were despite it trying to sell you on the idea that this is a lived in world. Like, who is going to design a door lock to correspond to some nearby whistling holes in the ground?
From what I’ve read, the sequel Rivan did a better job of making the puzzles feel more integrated into the world, but I only played that briefly as a kid and haven’t gotten around to trying it again.
Sorry for barging in through the door like a Jehovah’s Witness, but if you like these kinds of games you must try The Drifter. I finished it yesterday and it’s the best point-and-click I’ve ever played, may well have ruined the genre for me. It’s an adventure game that actually doesn’t use moon logic. A couple puzzles were a bit convoluted, but even those I felt like actually were based on some logic and made sense.
Plus it’s a great pulp story with phenomenal voice acting. Can’t recommend it enough. Well anyway, sorry for the interruption, I’ll move on to the next house. Thanks for your time.
I actually recently blasted through the first 3 chapters of The Telwynium by the same creator, and absolutely loved it (I’d say it was one of the best point’n’clicks I’d ever played, up there with Robin Hood from Sierra, which is the sole departure from them where the puzzles all make sense), so I’ll definitely be picking up the drifter at some point (and the steam release of the Telwynium which will have the 4th chapter).
Ah, good to hear. I checked out his other games on Steam and wishlisted Telwynium immediately after finishing The Drifter, but it will probably be some time before I play it. I like to switch things up genre-wise game to game. But I’m glad to hear it’s also quality, I’ll definitely pick it up at some point during some future sale.
Yes, Riven really improved on that aspect, by a lot. The puzzles feel incredibly natural and purposeful. Everything in Riven serves as world-building. Everything has a reason to exist. And the puzzles flow naturally together. It’s a game of discovery that rewards exploration. I’d absolutely recommend the recent remake.
Give it a try, Riven has a very special place in my heart. It got a remake with VR option couple of years ago
I only got around to playing Myst when the VR version came out. Haven’t made the time to play through Riven too, but I heard it had a VR version too. It’s somewhere on The Pile.
Copies were in stores everywhere and based on the box art it seemed like a casual game with an interesting aesthetic.
I think that counts as a sale still. PCs would buy bulk licenses or report back sale #s and pay some $ for the games they bundled and tossed in “for free” with the different computer bundles. They still kinda do that too, sometimes graphics cards or individual components even have “free” games or software.
So it still counted as a sale from their side. You just got it “free” as a bonus.
My PCs came with some phenomenal free disks over the years.
Wing Commander 2, Strike Commander (F-16 combat), Syndicate Plus, Ultima VII on a single CD was a really good one. I think that same PC also had Magic Carpet on CD as well. I treasure all those games.
I still have my OG Doom on like a stack of 4? 3.5 Floppy Disks from our 386 Windows 3.1 PC.
Wouldn’t sales through pack-in games also count?
I bought the entire series and played most of them through happily. (Except for Myst V, mostly because of the darn tablet mechanics.)
it’s tough! I think you were just expected to spend a long time with the game, like months…