ORIGINALLY POSTED HERE: https://cultclassiccornervideogames.wordpress.com/2022/06/13/a-look-back-at-the-various-ports-of-myst/
NOTE: This has been slightly edited from the original but the contents are 99% the same.
Surprisingly, this is the second port of Myst to one of the DS handhelds. And you would think that it would be at least better than the first one, right? Nope. Somehow it's much, much worse.
You would think of all places that would be perfect for a port of the original Myst, the 3DS would be in the top 5 of that list, but somehow the 3DS versions is possibly the worst version of Myst. Or should I say, realMyst.
That's right, instead of just porting the original version of Myst to the 3DS, this version instead replaces all of the images from that version with screenshots from the original realMyst from 2001 replicating the stills from the original game. At least someone had the same thought that I did when I played the PSP port in that just shoving the new content from the 2000 version of realMyst didn't match up to the older content, which was both pre-rendered and 7 years old at that point. The one advantage to this is that Rime is finally consistent with the rest of the game, at least in this version. And that is the one compliment that I'm going to give the game.
For the more observant, this means that since it's using images the game can't even take advantage of the 3D that the 3DS was made with. Which is extra frustrating since the original realMyst was sold on the fact that it was using real time 3D. What's the point of using realMyst as a basis if you can't use the fact that it's running in real time to your advantage? Plus certain images are now misaligned when you open up things like draws and doors or change something in the environment. Clearly the developers didn't have the time or means to take the pictures in the game properly.
And on top of that, instead of suing the images on the bottom screen where it would have made sense since that screen is where you interact with the game, the still images are now on the top of the screen, with the menus on the bottom screen. The entire game is clicking still images and is where you're going to be spending most of your time, why would you ever put where most of the gameplay is going to be on the top screen? If I had to take a guess, this was probably done because the top screen of the 3DS is much nicer than the original DS screen and the development team probably wanted to take advantage of that to make the clearer, which would have been a problem if they had just ported the original game. Or if they had made their own engine and recreated realMyst to take advantage of the hardware. But again, I don't think the team had the time or money to do so.
Thankfully it comes with all of the features from the original DS port, including the maps for each age, the notebook, and the in-game camera that lets you take screenshots if you need or want to remember something. But how you get to Rime is still the same as the PSP port and original DS port. What's the point of using realMyst as you're base when you're still going to just drop you in front of the new book and not use to opportunity to give the game new gameplay?
But none of that come even close to being the worst part of this port of Myst. If it was just Myst with still images of realMyst instead using the still images from the original and having the still screens on the top, it would have at least been competent, even it not optimal.
But the worst thing about this version are the controls.
This version of Myst tries to make up for the fact that you can’t directly interact with each screen in this version by having a cursor. To control the cursor you have to use the Circle Pad. You can’t even use the D-Pad, it’s the Circle Pad or nothing. If that wasn’t bad enough, the moment that you let go of the Circle Pad, the cursor snaps back to the center of the screen instead of just leaving the cursor wherever you have it last on the screen. Which means that you have to spend a lot time holding it in place to interact with something or move it around with small movements if you have to move anything.
How do you even mess up Myst this badly? Literally the entire game is pointing and clicking on still images. It’s the most simple concept for a game that it could have been ported to almost anything that had the ability to run it. I’ve played flash games on Newgrounds more competent than this done by complete amateurs. Someone in their first game development class with no previous experience could do a better job. I can’t believe just how badly this version of Myst ended up. This deserves some kind of award for just how awful it is.
And this is on top of other various issues too, like how the sound is out of sync with the videos, and the game having a glitch that could cause your save to become corrupt, having to start the entire game over again.
And the game comes with various other issues too, like how the sound is out of sync with the videos, and the game has a glitch that could cause your save to become corrupt. But all of those seem so trivial for a version of a game that is frustrating to play even if they didn’t exist.
The 3DS version of Myst might be one of the worst ports of any game and one of the worst games on the 3DS.
And to top it all off, the homebrew community for the DS and 3DS can run ScummVM, a program which lets you run Myst: Masterpiece Edition on the handheld flawless, and significantly better than both the DS and 3DS ports. When a bunch of hobbyists could easily create something that not only lets you play a much better version of Myst on the console, and for free (sans the cost of the SD Card needed to hold the game), along with dozens if not hundreds of other games that the ScummVM emulator supports, a lot of them absolute classics, it's an extra bad look for something that should have been a slam dunk, especially if I'm paying for it.
NOTE: This has been slightly edited from the original but the contents are 99% the same.
Surprisingly, this is the second port of Myst to one of the DS handhelds. And you would think that it would be at least better than the first one, right? Nope. Somehow it's much, much worse.
You would think of all places that would be perfect for a port of the original Myst, the 3DS would be in the top 5 of that list, but somehow the 3DS versions is possibly the worst version of Myst. Or should I say, realMyst.
That's right, instead of just porting the original version of Myst to the 3DS, this version instead replaces all of the images from that version with screenshots from the original realMyst from 2001 replicating the stills from the original game. At least someone had the same thought that I did when I played the PSP port in that just shoving the new content from the 2000 version of realMyst didn't match up to the older content, which was both pre-rendered and 7 years old at that point. The one advantage to this is that Rime is finally consistent with the rest of the game, at least in this version. And that is the one compliment that I'm going to give the game.
For the more observant, this means that since it's using images the game can't even take advantage of the 3D that the 3DS was made with. Which is extra frustrating since the original realMyst was sold on the fact that it was using real time 3D. What's the point of using realMyst as a basis if you can't use the fact that it's running in real time to your advantage? Plus certain images are now misaligned when you open up things like draws and doors or change something in the environment. Clearly the developers didn't have the time or means to take the pictures in the game properly.
And on top of that, instead of suing the images on the bottom screen where it would have made sense since that screen is where you interact with the game, the still images are now on the top of the screen, with the menus on the bottom screen. The entire game is clicking still images and is where you're going to be spending most of your time, why would you ever put where most of the gameplay is going to be on the top screen? If I had to take a guess, this was probably done because the top screen of the 3DS is much nicer than the original DS screen and the development team probably wanted to take advantage of that to make the clearer, which would have been a problem if they had just ported the original game. Or if they had made their own engine and recreated realMyst to take advantage of the hardware. But again, I don't think the team had the time or money to do so.
Thankfully it comes with all of the features from the original DS port, including the maps for each age, the notebook, and the in-game camera that lets you take screenshots if you need or want to remember something. But how you get to Rime is still the same as the PSP port and original DS port. What's the point of using realMyst as you're base when you're still going to just drop you in front of the new book and not use to opportunity to give the game new gameplay?
But none of that come even close to being the worst part of this port of Myst. If it was just Myst with still images of realMyst instead using the still images from the original and having the still screens on the top, it would have at least been competent, even it not optimal.
But the worst thing about this version are the controls.
This version of Myst tries to make up for the fact that you can’t directly interact with each screen in this version by having a cursor. To control the cursor you have to use the Circle Pad. You can’t even use the D-Pad, it’s the Circle Pad or nothing. If that wasn’t bad enough, the moment that you let go of the Circle Pad, the cursor snaps back to the center of the screen instead of just leaving the cursor wherever you have it last on the screen. Which means that you have to spend a lot time holding it in place to interact with something or move it around with small movements if you have to move anything.
How do you even mess up Myst this badly? Literally the entire game is pointing and clicking on still images. It’s the most simple concept for a game that it could have been ported to almost anything that had the ability to run it. I’ve played flash games on Newgrounds more competent than this done by complete amateurs. Someone in their first game development class with no previous experience could do a better job. I can’t believe just how badly this version of Myst ended up. This deserves some kind of award for just how awful it is.
And this is on top of other various issues too, like how the sound is out of sync with the videos, and the game having a glitch that could cause your save to become corrupt, having to start the entire game over again.
And the game comes with various other issues too, like how the sound is out of sync with the videos, and the game has a glitch that could cause your save to become corrupt. But all of those seem so trivial for a version of a game that is frustrating to play even if they didn’t exist.
The 3DS version of Myst might be one of the worst ports of any game and one of the worst games on the 3DS.
And to top it all off, the homebrew community for the DS and 3DS can run ScummVM, a program which lets you run Myst: Masterpiece Edition on the handheld flawless, and significantly better than both the DS and 3DS ports. When a bunch of hobbyists could easily create something that not only lets you play a much better version of Myst on the console, and for free (sans the cost of the SD Card needed to hold the game), along with dozens if not hundreds of other games that the ScummVM emulator supports, a lot of them absolute classics, it's an extra bad look for something that should have been a slam dunk, especially if I'm paying for it.