perhaps he couldn't, how did you put it? "get the buggy piece of **** to work" was due to the fact he was on a substandard POS PC instead of a real machine. as you can PLAINLY see, every single mac user here has reported flawless play. i think, considering these facts, that perhaps the company's only fault was trying to serve the game playable to both platforms on the same disk. they probably should have burned separate platter sets for each of the two major system archetypes, thereby alleviating some of the installer tensions. just a thought.
also, try some DECAF, gunga din. you CAN get your point across without flaming the board.
goon.
[NOTE] This was NOT posted by an Anonymous wimp.
As with most folks replying or posting in this thread, i have been a HUGE fan of the Myst series since its inception by Robyn and Rand Miller, the original Cyan team. So, of course, as each new chapter of this excellent series becomes available, I shell out another $50 bucks or more. On Exile, I splurged for the $67 Collector's Edition. Why? Because i could... and because I'm a completist.
I did not experience any of the aforementioned software or hardware problems upon installing the game, but that's probably because I'm not running a PC, rather, a 500 mhz G4 with 512 megs of RAM. I tried first the suggested easy install, which runs most of the animations / movies from the discs. Under this option, the video playback was unbelievably choppy. So much so, that I gave up after only the introductory movie. I then opted for the full install, which requires a massive 2.3 GIGS of hard drive space. As cumbersome as this is, it did at least eliminate the need for all that pesky CD swapping required in Riven.
Once I had completed the full install, the game ran beautifully throughout, from start to finish. Never once did I have a crash, hang, or any other such nonsense. Sad to be you, those on PC's. See, there IS something to be said for hardware standardization. I found the gameplay to be straightforward, although at times a tad simplistic, and beautifully rendered. Of all the Ages, I found only one fault that was glaring enough to be distracting from the overall gameplay, and that was the sorry animation for the oceans. Small pools and creeks looked great, but they used the same animations on larger bodies, i.e. everywhere else, and it looked obviously fake. The lighting effects, as well as the integration of full motion movies into the scenery left me feeling as if I were actually visiting these places. Gone were the fuzzy outlines and colorings of integrated movies in still frames. All that paired with the ability to scan 360 degrees at any location made this a much more enjoyable trip into the Myst universe.
As I mentioned earlier, I did find the gameplay to be a bit simplistic at times. I completed the game after only about 6 or 7 hours, whereas Riven and Myst took considerably longer to puzzle out. The Collector's Edition comes with the Prima guide for the game, which I read once I had finished play. Apparently, some of the puzzles were intended to be much harder than they actually were, with a couple leaving me confused as to why they even existed to begin with. (Namely, the gears puzzle beneath the elevator.)
Overall, while rendered well, I do not hold Myst III on par with previous Myst titles. I do not regret having spent the money I did for this title, however, I do believe M3 could have been much better. I left this game with a feeling of "That's it?" rather than "Wow, that's it!" For those of you still pondering whether or not to pick up this title, I suggest waiting until it hits the half price or bargain bins, then definitely adding it to your collection.
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perhaps he couldn't, how did you put it? "get the buggy piece of **** to work" was due to the fact he was on a substandard POS PC instead of a real machine. as you can PLAINLY see, every single mac user here has reported flawless play. i think, considering these facts, that perhaps the company's only fault was trying to serve the game playable to both platforms on the same disk. they probably should have burned separate platter sets for each of the two major system archetypes, thereby alleviating some of the installer tensions. just a thought. also, try some DECAF, gunga din. you CAN get your point across without flaming the board. goon. [NOTE] This was NOT posted by an Anonymous wimp.
As with most folks replying or posting in this thread, i have been a HUGE fan of the Myst series since its inception by Robyn and Rand Miller, the original Cyan team. So, of course, as each new chapter of this excellent series becomes available, I shell out another $50 bucks or more. On Exile, I splurged for the $67 Collector's Edition. Why? Because i could... and because I'm a completist. I did not experience any of the aforementioned software or hardware problems upon installing the game, but that's probably because I'm not running a PC, rather, a 500 mhz G4 with 512 megs of RAM. I tried first the suggested easy install, which runs most of the animations / movies from the discs. Under this option, the video playback was unbelievably choppy. So much so, that I gave up after only the introductory movie. I then opted for the full install, which requires a massive 2.3 GIGS of hard drive space. As cumbersome as this is, it did at least eliminate the need for all that pesky CD swapping required in Riven. Once I had completed the full install, the game ran beautifully throughout, from start to finish. Never once did I have a crash, hang, or any other such nonsense. Sad to be you, those on PC's. See, there IS something to be said for hardware standardization. I found the gameplay to be straightforward, although at times a tad simplistic, and beautifully rendered. Of all the Ages, I found only one fault that was glaring enough to be distracting from the overall gameplay, and that was the sorry animation for the oceans. Small pools and creeks looked great, but they used the same animations on larger bodies, i.e. everywhere else, and it looked obviously fake. The lighting effects, as well as the integration of full motion movies into the scenery left me feeling as if I were actually visiting these places. Gone were the fuzzy outlines and colorings of integrated movies in still frames. All that paired with the ability to scan 360 degrees at any location made this a much more enjoyable trip into the Myst universe. As I mentioned earlier, I did find the gameplay to be a bit simplistic at times. I completed the game after only about 6 or 7 hours, whereas Riven and Myst took considerably longer to puzzle out. The Collector's Edition comes with the Prima guide for the game, which I read once I had finished play. Apparently, some of the puzzles were intended to be much harder than they actually were, with a couple leaving me confused as to why they even existed to begin with. (Namely, the gears puzzle beneath the elevator.) Overall, while rendered well, I do not hold Myst III on par with previous Myst titles. I do not regret having spent the money I did for this title, however, I do believe M3 could have been much better. I left this game with a feeling of "That's it?" rather than "Wow, that's it!" For those of you still pondering whether or not to pick up this title, I suggest waiting until it hits the half price or bargain bins, then definitely adding it to your collection.