Interview with Rand Miller about MYST 5

I had the honor to write an interview with Rand Miller about the upcoming MYST 5 for http://www.gamesplanet.be/ .

The interview can be found via this direct link:
http://www.gamesplanet.be/index.php?main...;chk=5So507f20g

Good interview! I was particularly interested in his response to that final question.

Thanks for the heads up! You definitely covered some new ground.

So the new project is Latus? interesting

Susan

I still have a ways to go. I am presently immersed in MYST EXILE and it is fascinating. I love the puzzles and the environment. So, I have two more to go, MYST IV and MYST V. Then I guess I'll just have to settle for the URU, et seq. I have the three books and read them when they first came out. However, there didn't seem to be that much connection with MYST and RIVEN, which were the only ones that I had played at the time. Though I admit I don't remember much about the content of the books.

I am interested in anything that might come out of the MYSTies fertile minds, particularly since they believe 1st person exploration & puzzles (no action)is the way to go. Hmm. I wonder if Rand feels that he is getting too old to play Atrus or does Atrus age in the further sequels? I don't see how they could get bored with the flexibility offered by the "writing Ages" concept.

The first two books take place before Myst and Riven. The last book takes place after Exile.

Good gravy, JENNY100, what a quick reponse! Practically IM. I'll recheck the books, particularly the last book, after I finish EXILE.

Thank you kindly.

"perhaps the ending has not yet been written." So just maybe there's hope for the future.

But I am also eager to see what they can do with an entirely new story. I know they won't disappoint us!

I was curious about this statement: I haven't played that many action adventures -- would you say that this is true of action adventures?

It's easy to make a game longer/harder if they put 'action sequences' into the game.

To me that's more the RPG & Action Adventure gerne..

Becky,
I don't think that's true for all action/adventures. But I think adventures have the potential for more story development than games where adding action is a requirement. If the story is primarily told through cut scenes and through books/notes/computer terminals/conversations/whatever that are scattered throughout the game, there's not much reason why an adventure would have any advantage over an action/adventure regarding the content of the story because action/adventures can have these things too. If the story could be told through some feature that is unique to adventure games, or if the action in action/adventures takes your attention away from the story/characters/mood, then you could say adventure games were better for story. I think the pacing does affect the story. For some stories, adding action would mess up the pacing of the story and would be out of place.

Of course a lot of us don't enjoy action/stealth whether it makes sense in the context of the game's story or not. Most people don't play games for every aspect of "realism" that could be included, or characters would periodically have to find a bathroom or they would mess themselves (which I've never seen in an adventure or action/adventure game - and for good reason).

imho Even action/rpg games with a decent story component (FF series, Mario & Luigi, Zelda, Ratchet & Clank) seem to sandwich it between action levels. Its often the reward for beating a dungeon boss or clearing a level.


I definitely feel that adventure games can more easily include much more in the way of story-telling than an action-focussed game can.

Pure adventure games can remain story-focussed, though, of course, not all do. Some use puzzles as an equivalent to 'beating the dungeon.' IMO puzzles need to make sense in the story & environment in order to keep the story-teller immersion quality. I felt Riven, Darkfall 1, Syberia 1 & Broken Sword 1 did a very good job with this.

Course that's not the only adventure game approach that works. Most of the Zork games & all the Monkey Island games left the 'immersive realism' approach strictly alone & were hilarious fun anyway.

Susan