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With no clue what to do with that frog trap, I decide to explore the forest that I immediately abandoned in favor of taking a minecart ride.
Oh, hey. This beetle looks exactly like the ones I saw in the rotating room. I'm...not sure what the significance of that is, though.
Dang, this forest is pretty.
I stumble upon some sort of lizard idol. No matter how many times I click, though, I can't seem to interact with it.
I take the only remaining path up to a fork where there seems to be some sort of watchtower.
The path leads me to a village. As soon as I arrive, I see human-like figures run inside their homes. I guess they don't like visitors.
Looks like something can dock here.
I go up to the houses...
...and knock on the door. Either no one's home or they're ignoring me. Probably the latter.
Well, I think I know what's supposed to dock back at that platform.
I send the rail-sub down.
Now i just need to get to it. But first, let's take a look around at the rest of this area.
Some sort of altar maybe?
And a kiln/oven. I can't interact with either of them. Okay, then, time to find a way to that sub. This proves to be far more difficult than I initially imagine. You see, I can't get to it from where I currently am. After trying (and failing) to find an alternate path I've missed, I give up and start wandering around looking for other things to do. I eventually go back to that beach where the whaleseals are--which I first assumed was a dead end--and stumble upon a path I didn't see the first time.
It leads me back to the village.
There's another eyeball here embedded in a sandbox.
Again, I write down the symbol and sound (it sounds exactly like the beetle I saw earlier).
Turning the lever fills some of the sandbox with water. That shape's probably gonna be important later.
Continuing down this new path leads me straight to the sub.
The sub moves on a track that occasionally forks. I decide to record a map in my notebook so I don't get lost.
My first stop is that bouy-thing in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, I can't reach the ladder.
The next stop is a room that contains a bunch of switches the extend (or retract) all the ladders.
My final stop after completing my map is a house.
Correction: a school, by the looks of it.
This little device teaches you numbers. Each time you spin the shark thing, a random symbol appears on the front. The figure over the shark then lowers a certain number of increments.
Using this, I'm able to figure out the symbols from one to ten.
...that's gonna be trickier, though.
It seems someone (Ghen, I'm guessing) made a recording of himself. He's speaking in a language I don't understand, though.
Some sort of strange fruit?
Okay, so, there are symbols all around the classroom walls that are probably the Rivenite's alphabet. Just for the hell of it, I copy them down and try to translate with the assumption that it's a simple cipher for the English alphabet. Unfortunately, all I get is gibberish when I apply it to the chalkboard. I'm not sure if this is because I screwed up (highly likely) or because--even if the alphabet's sounds and order are identical to English--the language and words are still completely different.
+5
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
Heads up!
Didn't realize that there's a STEAM SALE for this.
Both Mysts (Real and Masterpiece), Riven, Myst 5, URU complete and 3 other Cyan games for $18
Note: These other 3 games are unavailable outside the bundle.
Now that we're pretty much done with the school, let's check out that buoy thing.
Looks like there's a pathway above and a rope switch down here.
Pulling on the rope calls down a trapeze bar. Unfortunately, it goes back up a few seconds later. Clicking on it does nothing. Clearly I'm still missing a part of this solution.
Grrrr. The shadow of the ladder that leads to the upper level of the buoy taunts me as I head back to the tram.
I can't think of anything else to do on this island, so let's go back to the main one and see if I can find something I missed.
Looking at these things again, I notice that the necklaces on their heads has the same symbol as the door knockers in the village.
I play with the rotating room a little and hey! Look at that!
I lower the grate and continue on to the gold dome that's been tantalizing me for a long time.
Is that...a generator?
I'm definitely copying THIS down.
I head down the stairs and outside.
Gee, I wonder if I should flip this switch...
The path goes on.
There's another pipe here where I can divert the steam power, so I do.
Looks like there should be a button here, but there isn't right now. Odd.
And that looks like a puzzle need of eventual solving.
Anyway, let's head back to the boiler island to see if I can make any more progress there.
On the way over I notice the rock those whale-things were sitting on kinda resembles an animal.
Hey! Looks like the trap worked!
Frog! FROG!!
Adorable.
Unfortunately, the frog leaps out of the trap. I try the trap multiple times, but the end result is always the same. And here is where I get stuck again. I get stuck so badly, in fact, that I am forced to look up hints, and the first one I find hits me with a heavy dose of deja vu. Because the "puzzle" it solves is the same one that completely stumped me the first time I played this game. It's also what I consider to be the biggest dick move in all of Riven.
Remember these doors I opened two updates ago? See how the open inward? Let's use our imaginations and pretend they open outward instead. What would happen? Well, they'd completely block off the sides of the balcony. So guess what they do to the inside.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I needed to close a pair of goddamn doors to reveal two new paths.
I hate this game sometimes.
Moving on before my rage consumes me...
Nice spinning dome.
There's something in that wall, but I'm too far away to tell exactly what it is.
That was a dead end, so let's try the other path.
Another building. Seems promising.
The instant I see this switch, I remember what comes next.
I flip it and head back to the frog trap.
The switch turned off the power, which stops the fan.
I Deus Ex my way into the new building.
Looks like Ghen's notes. He seems to be implying the eyeball carvings I've been finding weren't made by him or the villagers. Fascinating.
I've got the symbol, but since it's outside of its housing I can't get a proper sound. I decide to look at Ghen's notebook next, so here comes a huge dump of images.
Not only does Ghen confirm that Atrus exiled his own father to Riven, but he also reveals that Riven is actually Catherine's native Age. During his long exile, Ghen has been retrofitting Riven with D'ni technology powered by the Fissure, both in an attempt to make his life more comfortable and to power the linking books he's been writing. I love that this game takes time to justify the weird water-barrier phenomenon we saw in the village's lake. Turns out the water of Riven is saturated with bacteria that are able to form the water into shapes. Neat.
A spear for hunting frogs, maybe? Oh, yeah, that journal did mention those frogs were poisonous. I guess it's good I didn't successfully catch one, then.
The furnace hides the remains of a failed linking book. It's inactive, of course.
There's a bunch of stuff on this other table, but it seems largely pointless.
Except for this.
Exiting through this door unlocks it so we don't have to climb through a pipe again.
This path continues on to a back entrance to the generator dome. Since I already diverted power to this ladder, I'm able to lower it.
Yet another shortcut is complete.
This is gonna be an issue, though. I just need to find a switch to--
Oh. It's behind me.
Bingo.
This completes the seamless connection between Fissure island and boiler island. Remember that place where a button looked like it should be there? Let's go back.
Yep. It seems the panel that completes the shortcut is also part of an elevator.
This one's pretty obvious. Just stop it on the only symbol that's gold.
A linking book! Now I just need to enter the access code that was in Ghen's diary. But...wait. Hold on. There are only 25 notches here. I thought the combination was 5, 11, 13, 34, 40.
...oh! Look back at that image of the access code again. We know that a horizontal line represents 5. We also know that the symbol for 10 is 2 rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. So what if we rotate 5 counter-clockwise. We get the symbol for 1. It's a base 5 system. Which means what I assumed represented 34 was actually 19, and 40 is actually 20.
Success!
Oh man, this is gonna be great.
I just need to open it and...
...it's inactive? Dammit! Riven, you tease!
*sigh* Whatever. let's go back and try the other door. And also rifle through some more of Ghen's things.
That's a lot of eggs.
Shouldn't there be a tram here? I was sure I hit the button.
...
OH WAIT! I turned the power off!
There we go.
This update has gone on a little longer than usual, so I'll leave this new island for next time.
Okay, so I know I took screenshots of me actually getting to this point, but I'll be damned if I know where they went. It was a linear path leading to an elevator, so you aren't missing much other than pretty scenery.
You can see a little bit of how pretty it is from this shot, at least.
Anyway, each of those Tetris-y buttons corresponds to one of five islands (we've only been to four of them including this one, by the way). Pushing a button causes some water to come out of those spouts in the top and form topography.
I'm then able to go into this room and view bits and pieces of that topography. Why? WHO KNOWS! I'm making a map anyway. Which is pretty tedious, by the way.
Another spinning orb. As you'll see soon, the timing on this screenshot proved to be incredibly helpful.
As we saw from part 4, these things are usually upright and actually show the symbols head on. This one, however, is broken and tilted. I can still stop the orb pretty easily, but it's much harder to see which symbol is the gold one (which is really important). Thankfully, the screenshot I took is at a pretty good moment to show me what I need to write down.
Inactive again.
I get back in the tram and turn it around, but I don't leave.
Instead, I immediately exit the tram and head through the door on the other side of the station.
That...looks a little ominous.
Thankfully, it's waterproof.
I see a scholar coming down the same path I'm walking on. He bolts down a side path as soon as he sees me.
I'm probably not gonna catch up with him, so I ignore him and continue on.
Nice throne.
Turning the throne around lets me use the levers. The one of the left shows me an empty room. Exciting.
You'll see more detailed screenshots of the right lever once I come back here, but the important part for now is that one of the six buttons summons a whale-thing.
Anyway, the sidepath the scholar ran down leads to another tram.
The tram leads to another section of the village. Man, this island is getting complicated.
This game really loves elevators.
This one actually has two stops. Let's go to the highest one first.
Yep. Definitely back in the jungle/village.
And here's this island's sphere.
I'm not sure why I bother checking.
The remaining path leads here.
Which has yet another throne. Ghen has a really high opinion of himself, huh?
The left lever ascends the throne.
The right lever closes the whole in the buoy. And...that's it. That's all this thing does.
Seriously.
Okay, let's go back to the first stop on the elevator and pull the lever. It...opens a mouth?
Oh. Clever.
I see a child on my way out. She studies me for a second before scampering away.
Okay, let's see where this buoy leads.
It's a good thing I'm not scared of heights.
Is that a prison cell?
And is that the same asshole who stole my trap book?
Before I do anything else, let's complete this shortcut.
I turn this wheel here...
Which opens up the door. Wait. Where'd he go? I saw the door open. There's no way he could have just gotten out without me seeing him.
Unless...
Ah ha! A secret passage.
It's really fucking dark in here.
A dead end? That's anticlimatic. But...wait a second. What's that pole on the left?
A light switch. Huh.
Now that the light's on, I can see yet another light.
You get the idea.
I reach the end and then turn around to see if I've missed anything. With the lights now on, I can see there's a combination door/switch. I can only go down one path at a time.
I come upon a large circle of stones with animal symbols on them. Here's where all those eyeballs finally come into play. And it's also where this playthrough gets a little messy. I managed to figure out what four of the animals I need are (frog, whale, pelican-seal and beetle), but I have no idea what the fourth one is. What this entails is wandering around Riven for a while trying desperately to figure out where I'm supposed to find the clue. I break down and check out Cyan's hint system. For the one I'm missing, it tells me to go back to the throne on the spike island. Okay, sure.
This time when I check the scope, it shows me a person. I have no idea who this person is, but at least there's some reason for this thing. I hit the button on the left and this time try using the switches all round the ring.
...are you kidding me? Well, there's my answer, I guess.
Oh, and here's what the right lever does, by the way. Each button corresponds to a pole that has a colored light installed on it. I make a note of which color corresponds to which eye symbol (except for the one in the 10 o'clock position, as that light pole is broken). With all the animal clues now in my possession, I just need to activate the tablets in the correct order. It goes...
Fish
Beetle
Frog (yes, that was the ultimate point of the frog trap; to find out what noise the 3 Sphere made)
Pelican-seal
Whale
With the puzzle complete, the water barrier moves aside, revealing...
Oh my God. It's an active linking book.
Hooooly shit.
On the next part, we'll finally explore the place that's on the cover on this damn game.
Also if anyone is reading this and ignored earlier that they should play these games even just for the little tram rides, you totally should because they are bitchin
Well, we're finally at the Age on the cover of the game box, but the only thing ahead of us is an ocean. So I have to go into this room behind me. Talk about anticlimactic.
I'm ambushed as soon as I enter the room. The poison dart puts me to sleep in seconds.
I briefly regain enough consciousness to see my captors rowing me out to what I assume is that giant tree.
When the poison wears off, I find myself in a barren room.
There's a door in front of me, but it's locked.
And the only thing behind me is this small hole in the wall.
As I turn back around, I hear someone entering the room.
She puts two books on the table.
I pick them up and start reading the first one, which turns out to be Catherine's journal. This thing is REALLY long. I needed 46 screenshots to capture it all, so I'm going to put it in a set of spoilers so those who don't care don't need to scroll forever.
*phew*
That was a lot of ctrl+c and ctrl+v.
Anyway, the gist of all that is that, at some point, Catherine decided to come back to her home Age of Riven. She was immediately sleepdarted and taken to the basecamp of a group of rebels calling themselves the Moiety.
Fun fact: if a culture is divided into two--and only two--groups, both groups are known as a moeity. The Rivenites are currently divided into those loyal to Catherine and those loyal to Ghen, with no middle ground, so it's a pretty apt name.
Turns out that Ghen had managed to convince the Rivenites that he was a god; but when Catherine and Atrus exiled him, many Rivenites began to see Ghen as a false god and the two lovers as the real gods. Catherine is pretty uncomfortable with her new status as a deity, but she takes advantage of it to figure out what the hell is going on with Riven and trying to find ways to fix everything. Turns out Ghen is kinda shitty at writing Ages, so anything he does either doesn't work or doesn't last. Riven is part of the latter category and is slowly ripping itself apart. Thirty years ago, before Catherine left, Riven consisted of one big island instead of five.
Also, Catherine determines that there's nothing wrong with the materials that Ghen is using to write his test Ages. He wouldn't have needed to build a massive power generator to stabilize his linking books if he would've just written them properly instead of shoveling the blame off to anything but his own failings. This implies not only that Riven is doomed but also that any Age Ghen creates as a new home for the Rivenites will almost certainly suffer the same fate eventually (if it works at all). It's likely that the only reason Tay (the Age we're stuck in right now) works is because Catherine got her hands on it and fixed anything Ghen got wrong. Though it seems Ghen barely cares about Riven or its people in the first place, since he's squeezing everything he can out of both of them solely to realize his dream of restoring D'ni.
With that infodumb out of the way--and the code to the Fissure hatch finally in my possesion--let's check out what that other book is.
Uh...is this what I think it is?
Holy shit. This is the D'ni book from Myst 1. The one Atrus was trapped in. Very clever. Ghen won't be able to resist trying it and get himself stuck.
The lady leaves something else on the table once I'm done reading.
Oh, good. A way back.
Okay, so, we've got the hatch code, but it's a bit too soon to break open the Fissure. First I need to trap Ghen and release Catherine from her prison. Unfortunately, Ghen is almost certainly in the Age he's using for his study, which means we'll somehow have to power those books. Which means there's obviously some place I missed. Thankfully, I'm able to remember one little detail: back at the huge generator, I diverted two steam pipes to bridges but only ended up using one bridge switch. So let's find the other one.
Up there, huh?
Oh, sure, of course the switch is on this side. So I have to go ALL the way around and rotate the other dome.
Ooooo, pretty.
Within seconds of reaching this puzzle, I realize what the map room was actually for and almost bang my head on my desk. I wasn't supposed to record the entire topography of each island. I was just supposed to note the position of the linking-book dome on each island. This means I'll have to go all the way back to the map island. To save myself some trouble, I create a save here and a separate save when I get to the map island so I won't have to deal with that specific bit of backtracking again.
On the plus side, going back here means a second chance to capture the pretty scenery.
I would kill a man for a RealRiven.
Okay, time to make a grid and record these fucking dome locations.
Done.
I reload my main save to instantly get back to the puzzle. It's now that I realize one other thing: I don't actually know what symbol belongs to the dome on the single-cube island. In fact, I've never even been to that island.
Thankfully, I'm 100% sure of the right colors and locations for the other domes, and I've got the location for the fifth one. So brute forcing it is almost certainly easier than trying to find an actual clue. (I just checked Cyan's Riven hint system, and guessing is, in fact, the only way to solve this puzzle.)
I guess right on my first try.
I sure do seem to get locked in various types of prisons a lot in this game.
Ghen comes back to meet me.
He gives me some spiel about how he's learned his lesson and regrets that he tried to kill his own son and he's totally a better person, honest. Catherine clearly has just let her god complex get to her and is lying about how shitty and mean poor ol' Ghen is.
He then takes the D'ni book. Yes, Ghen, go ahead. Open it.
Come on. Go in. I know you want to.
Suspicious, he tells me to go in first. I hesitate long enough for him to put the book away. He says I should take another look around the Ages to see all the good he's done, then press the little button in my cage to call him back when I'm ready to go in the book.
Then he leaves.
Right, well, let's go to this final island, shall we?
There's a puzzle inside this elevator, but I can't solve it yet.
Oh, hey, this is where Catherine's being kept prisoner.
She tells me what I already know: before I signal Atrus, I need to trap Ghen and free her.
So let's do just that. I signal for Ghen to return.
He does, and I go inside the book. See, Ghen? It's nice and comfy in here. Lots of awesome D'ni artifacts.
Yeah, man, you're gonna love it.
Sucker.
(I was originally gonna do this in one update, but it was over 4000 characters too long. So I'll spread it across two posts.)
Looks like Ghen was working on another linking book.
This switch unlocks the cage.
Heading downstairs, I find Ghen's bedroom.
I'm...not entirely sure who this is, but she must be pretty important to Ghen.
Another of Ghen's notebooks, which reveals him to be exactly the kind of dick he claims he isn't. Unlike Catherine's, this one isn't a goddamn novel. Still, I'll spoiler it out of courtesy.
It doesn't really tell us anything we didn't already know, but it does fill in some details.
And here's the final clue I'll have to write down. Clicking this thing plays five sounds, but only three of them are distinct. The combination I got was ratchet -> ding -> click -> ding -> ratchet.
The three buttons on the bottom of the device in Catherine's elevator play those sounds. So I just need to hit the switches in the order the toy gave me.
This opens the divider, allowing Catherine to get in the elevator with me.
She takes the D'ni book from me to make sure Ghen really is trapped there, and then tells me that I need to signal Atrus as quickly as I can. She says she'll make sure none of the villagers loyal to Ghen interrupt me and meet me at the Fissure later.
She breaks the elevator before rushing off to do whatever the hell she intends to do.
It seems part of her plan was ripping apart the linking book that would get me closest to the Fissure. Oh well.
I'll take the next closest dome instead, I guess.
I put in the lock combination and open the hatch.
And then I lower the telescope.
Before I sentence Riven to destruction, though, I take some time to look through the telescope. Man, that Fissure really is full of stars.
In order to prevent himself from accidentally doing what I'm about to do, it seems Ghen installed a safety latch.
I make it unsafe.
Oh, dang...
This is pretty intense.
Atrus links in just in time and rushes to me.
He asks me where Catherine is.
Fortunately for my silent self, he thinks to look behind him.
They both thank me for a job well done.
He sends Catherine away.
Then he wishes me luck on finding my home Age before he uses the book...
...which he purposefully dangles over the Fissure (do you like that image artifacting?).
Well, damn.
I suppose Atrus thinks that--since the Myst book got into my hands by falling in the Fissure--this is actually my best chance at getting back home.
Still kinda sucks, though.
I mean, it's pretty and all.
But I may be falling for quite a while.
And nothing but stars will get boring as hell.
Just in case you were wondering who we all have to thank for this bullshit, it's Rand Miller.
A linking book! Now I just need to enter the access code that was in Ghen's diary. But...wait. Hold on. There are only 25 notches here. I thought the combination was 5, 11, 13, 34, 40.
...oh! Look back at that image of the access code again. We know that a horizontal line represents 5. We also know that the symbol for 10 is 2 rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. So what if we rotate 5 counter-clockwise. We get the symbol for 1. It's a base 5 system. Which means what I assumed represented 34 was actually 19, and 40 is actually 20.
A linking book! Now I just need to enter the access code that was in Ghen's diary. But...wait. Hold on. There are only 25 notches here. I thought the combination was 5, 11, 13, 34, 40.
...oh! Look back at that image of the access code again. We know that a horizontal line represents 5. We also know that the symbol for 10 is 2 rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. So what if we rotate 5 counter-clockwise. We get the symbol for 1. It's a base 5 system. Which means what I assumed represented 34 was actually 19, and 40 is actually 20.
Welcome to Myst 3! As I've mentioned a few times before, this is my overall favorite Myst game (though Riven remains my favorite from a purely aesthetic and narrative perspective) due to a very nice balance of reasonable puzzle difficulty, beautiful environments and an interesting story. It's not really the best game at anything, but it's pretty damn good at everything. Of course, there are some Myst fans who poo-poo the game for being "too easy," but I don't really care to pay attention to them.
Anyway! Let's get this show on the road.
Appropriately, the game immediately begins with me staring at a vista. But wait, who's talking to me?
Catherine? What the hell? Didn't I fall down the Fissure at the end of Riven.
Well, yes, I did. And just like Atrus predicted, I wound up back on Earth just like the Myst book did when it fell down the Fissure. At some point, Atrus and Catherine decided to make a new home for themselves on Earth near the Cleft (the former entrance to D'ni) called Tomahna. It's here that Atrus works tirelessly on Releeshahn, an Age that he hopes will finally give the D'ni a proper home.
Speaking of Atrus, he wants to see me. I'm apparently schedule to explore Releeshahn with him so he can show off what he's accomplished.
He's busy getting everything ready for our departure, though, so wander around his study for a bit.
Atrus suspects someone's been breaking into his home. That sounds ominous. Though after all he's been through, it could just be paranoia.
Family photos.
Huh. I wonder what book this is. It seems to be incomplete.
A glass case and a padlock on the book itself. Yeah, Atrus isn't taking chances anymore.
It was kind hard to miss, dude.
Fun fact: Rand Millar, one of the founders of Cyan, has played Atrus since the start of the series.
Oh, cool. A journal. Which I'll immediately forget about.
As Atrus goes to get his keys, I hear a sound behind me.
Uh...is that guy supposed to be here?
He takes the light orb and chucks it at Atrus.
Atrus! Dude! Have you ever thought of using lightbulbs? I mean, seriously!
The glass case isn't particularly strong, though, so the attacker is able to easily break through it and just pick up the book.
He then uses a linking book to run away.
Being the brave person I am--possibly to a fault--I waste no time going in after him. I, uh, hope Atrus doesn't burn to death while I'm away.
I arrive in the first proper Age to see the attacker running like hell.
Get back here, asshole!
You ruined a perfectly nice drape!
Unfortunately, he's smart enough to lock the door behind him.
I can see him wandering around in there, but there's not much I can do right now.
Time to explore and see if I can find another way in.
This is as good a time as any to mention that the navigation style in Exile is a bit different from the others. It's still basically a slideshow, but you've got a lot more viewing freedom. Each "slide" is a 360-degree panorama, so you can move your mouse around to look literally everywhere around you. Not only does this make the experience more immersive, but it also makes navigation a lot less of a pain in the ass, since it's much easier to keep your bearings when you transition to the next slide.
Speaking of which, finding stuff that's on the ground is slightly easier thanks to this new control scheme.
This puzzle's pretty obvious: manipulate the bridge to move the ball off to the far right side.
I'll, uh, just skip over the many, many steps it took me to finally figure out the right sequence.
A giant hole in the floor, huh? I know just the thing.
When life gives you giant balls, make a giant ball floor.
Unfortunately, all it leads to is a combination lock I don't have the solution for yet.
I take off down a new path.
Oh yeah, I saw one of these things when I first arrived. They have mirrors inside them so that, typically, if you look at it through one end, you'll get a view of whatever's at an angle to where you're pointing.
Like so. These are also the only two ends you can see through. It's clearly supposed to be some sort of light/laser puzzle, but I don't know where the light source is yet. So for now I just rotate them so the working ends are pointing in the right directions.
That's a rather inconveniently located door.
It's a...sound-amplifying plant?
Riiiiight. Moving on.
Finally I come across something that's not a mirror.
This switch here opens the gate.
And a nearby button opens this one.
Uh...that's...strange...
This little orb causes some sort of electro-magnetic anti-gravity field.
And if you attach a plant root to the wires, the plant does not seem to enjoy it much.
Oh man, an elevator!
I love elevators!
...seriously? Is your eyesight going, or do you actually have no idea who your target was?
He brings up some weird metal cage.
Dangit. The tapering on this door prevents me from opening the lock.
I head back down and discover I can actually activate the elevator from outside. Neat.
This allows me to get at the mechanisms. Though what I'm supposed to do with them is still a mystery.
I do, however, find a notebook in this room. Let's take a look.
tl;dr A guy named Saavedro had his family and entire Age destroyed by Sirrus and Achenar. He initially intended to take his rage out on them; but now that they're nowhere to be found, he's decided to punish Atrus for their sins instead.
This is gonna be important later, by the way.
Anyway, I modify the elevator mechanisms like the journal shows me to.
This actually makes the entire elevator rotate before it heads up.
Which means I can now enter the inner chamber.
Unfortunately, there was a linking book in that cage. Saavedro manages to link out before I can do anything.
And the entire thing resets. Because of course it does.
The button on the right activates a light show.
Which plays back a recording from Atrus. This place is apparently a hub world that links to other Ages that were meant to test Sirrus and Achenar's abilities. This explains why the Ages in Exile have a very artificial and "game-y" feel to them: it's because the Ages are literally games that Atrus made make sure his sons were ready to be taught his secrets.
Obviously this type of teaching didn't work out too well, but hindsight is 20/20.
Saavedro has taken it upon himself to record over much of Atrus' message. Looks like I'm gonna have to go through the same trials the brothers did.
These light projectors serve another purpose: giving me solutions to the locks in this Age. Notice the bird symbol?
I need to use the various camera controls to line up the symbol on the screen with its counterpart in the world. Doing so gives me the proper position to place the orbs in on the three devices scattered in this Age that look exactly like the one I saw earlier.
With all that recorded, I use the switch to drop the elevator.
This allows me to finally open the lock.
I wander around a bit more and eventually find the light source I'm looking for. Just turn this wheel a bit and...
@Stilts the mystery book in Atrus' study is, I'm pretty sure, a dead Riven linking book
I figured as much judging from the Rivenese number on the cover.
Atrus likely intends to try and restore Riven after he finishes up Releeshahn.
Unlikely. Riven's problems are in the very core of it's writing, because Gehn was too ham fisted in his creation. Atrus's efforts were only bandages and stitches meant to keep the age alive long enough to evacuate the residents.
For all intents and purposes, the Riven we knew is gone forever.
Might as well go ahead and line up these lights properly.
That must be the end. Now I just need to get to it.
...oh. Of course it wouldn't be that simple. Go ahead and load up the Benny Hill music on Youtube and imagine me running around J'nanin writing down the order of the light poles.
Okay, the proper button order is: yellow -> blue -> green -> red -> yellow -> purple -> red
Thankfully, I'm able to check the symbol for this lock without needing to head back outside.
I input the code and...
We find our first linking book in this hub world: Voltaic.
That's...a lot of water. Before we get going, let's check out that first journal we got.
Apparently, Atrus was actually intending on, as Saavedro would say, "taking his own class" in an attempt to inspire the writing of Releeshahn. Whether he actually had a chance to do so or not is unclear. Also, I do love the idea that even Atrus doesn't like Selentic.
The nearby door is locked. It appears unpowered.
At least the J'nanin book is easy to get to.
A nice view, but not much to do here.
The path splits here.
I head right.
I find more pages from Saavedro's journal on the floor.
Looks like, for a time there, Saavedro wasn't exactly in his right mind. Well, he's not in a great state now, but at least his perceptions are working properly. Probably.
A door. It's locked, of course. This is starting to feel like a Silent Hill game.
Those symbols are probably important, but I have no idea what they represent yet.
The ladder leads to dam controls, which I use to move the floodgate.
Another unpowered door.
With the water blocked from this area, I can head down here.
Raising this piston locks it into place with the platform above.
I'm not sure what else to do here, so I head down the path I ignored a while back.
None of the controls here do anything. I probably need to activate something else first.
This elevator doesn't work, either. Surely I can't be stuck already. Even Riven took me longer to get stumped. Maybe there' just something super obvious I'm missing. I go back to the dam and look closer at my surroundings.
Oh, yeah, that'll do it. I just needed to reach out this window and open these panels to make the water-powered engine actually work.
Which powers this door.
Activating this viewscreen shows another message Saavedro left for Atrus. Apparently, when Sirrus and Achenar were kids, Atrus took them to Narayan to see how Saavedro's civilization lived in balance with its Age. After the field trip, Atrus left with his sons and never came back.
Sirrus and Achenar, however, did. And Narayan was never the same.
As if to hammer home the point, Exile crashes on me once the message is finished.
Okay, let's continue from where the game so rudely crashed on me.
That is a large tank of...water, maybe?
There are five of these little puzzles all around the tank. The obvious solution is to make all the circuits line up. The strips on the very top and very bottom are stationary. The three pairs in the middle can be moved left or right by using the buttons on either side.
Remembering my Riven numbers, I start with 1.
When I succeed, the shutter closes.
...as do all the others? I guess I only needed to complete one puzzle to solve the whole thing. A little disappointing, honestly.
These symbols are finally lit up. One place still isn't receiving power, though.
The door way back at the start is clearly powered now, but it's still locked. Huh.
Let's try that elevator near the balloon ship, then.
It leads to a lever...
That opens an iris...
That immediately closes. Clearly I'm missing something.
I head to ship dock and find a ladder leading up.
It leads to a hatch, which has some more journal pages nearby.
Well, that confirms where that painting of a woman back in that little hut in J'nanin came from.
Anyway, let's open the hatch.
It leads to a rather precarious bridge.
Don't look down, don't look down, don't look--
Actually, that's a pretty nice view.
Voltaic: Age of Hatches
Oh, hey, we're back at that locked door next to the branching paths.
There's some sort of machinery in here. For some reason I didn't screencap as many things as I thought I did during this segment, including the little device you can just barely see the top of at the bottom of this screen. I'll give a more detailed explanation in a bit. For now just know that I used it to lower a pathway.
Okay, so, the device is a circle with a line through it. The rod with the red handle is what you use to manipulate the device. If I move it through either of the half-circle sections, it'll make a gear turn. If I move it through the dividing line, I'll move the gear from one side to the other.
Moving the gear to between the big gear on the far left and the platform and then turning it makes the platform move up and the gate to the right open up and let lava rush in.
Yeah, you heard me right. Lava.
Since I can only turn the gear in one direction once, the idea is to then move it to the other side so I can turn it the other direction and still make the platform move further up.
For some reason I didn't get a shot of the panel that activates the fan. Sorry about that.
I then need to move the platform back down so I can get the hell out of there. And then move it back up so the lava comes back in to provide heat.
I did all that so I could finally use these steam pipes over by the balloon ship.
The obvious goal here is to make the pressure gauge line up with the red line. Doing that, however, is a little tricky. Basically, there are actually three levels of pipes. Since the elevator you're standing on is also powered by steam, you need to have the pressure gauge in the red section in order to have enough power to reach the uppermost level. If it's in the yellow, you can only access the second level. And if it's in the blue, the first level is all you get. This is important because you need to manipulate the pressure from all three levels.
So the trick is to close all of the valves on the first two levels to give you enough power to reach the third. After closing every valve on every level, you can count the number of notches it'll take to reach the red line: 41. Level 3 valves only represent 1 notch, whereas the second and first represent 4 and 10 notches, respectively. Therefore, I need to open three level 3 valves, two level 2 valves and three level 1 valves.
Ta-da.
I then turn this wheel to divert the steam to the ship.
This fills the balloon and makes it move.
Using that lever now lets the ship pass through.
Let's go for a ride.
My first stop: another lever. It's effects this time, however, are quite a bit more dramatic.
Okay. I'm impressed.
I head back into the ship to get up to the floating building.
I can finally open this stupid door.
Code symbol #1: obtained.
Thankfully, there's a panel here the opens up to reveal a conveniently-placed J'nanin book.
Next time, we'll travel to the plant Age.
+4
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
I can't wait till you get to the hexagon platform age.
I think the first time I finished that Age I actually said "Whhheeeeee!" at the end.
Stilts, I would say that you're just flying through these games, but I guess I do remember Exile being a little easier than the first two. And I'm a little confused as to whether or not you've beaten any of these before? You talk about Riven being brutally hard in your first post as though from experience, but your posts about Riven include your thought process on solving the puzzles, including your mistakes. Were you just talking about its reputation?
Either way, it's a great lp. Good luck with edanna, I hated that age!
Stilts, I would say that you're just flying through these games, but I guess I do remember Exile being a little easier than the first two. And I'm a little confused as to whether or not you've beaten any of these before? You talk about Riven being brutally hard in your first post as though from experience, but your posts about Riven include your thought process on solving the puzzles, including your mistakes. Were you just talking about its reputation?
Either way, it's a great lp. Good luck with edanna, I hated that age!
I've beaten Mysts 1-3 before. In the case of Exile, I've beaten it two or three times already. My first time through, Riven was brutally hard. The thing about Myst games, though, is remembering even a tiny bit about how the puzzles work can make things much easier.
Also, I suppose now is as good a time as any to note how many times I've used a hint system for each game.
Myst 1 = 2 (1 navigational, 1 puzzle)
Riven = 3 (2 navigational, 1 puzzle)
Myst 3 = 1 (1 navigational [I'll mention the reason for this one in the next update])
So far, I've found that the hardest things about Myst games are the occasional pixel hunts you have to do.
I want to head to Edanna next, but to do that I actually need to get to the door to the linking book room. This plant obviously has something to do with it, but any of the sounds I point it at don't seem to do anything. However, this view does let me see something I've missed on the bottom of the lake.
A little hut and a plant.
Clicking on the hut's bulb makes a tiny rodent peek out.
Clicking on the plant makes it open up.
This lets the rodent pass over to the other side.
So I learned two things: the rodent is called a squee, and its chrips make those red bulbs expand. So I just need to point the boombox plant at the squee and...
Voila.
I now have a bridge.
I enter the code and...nothing happens? I must have it slightly incorrect. I go back to the telescope and adjust the picture a little.
This combination ends up working for me.
As you'll soon find out, there's a reason Eldanna has a bird on the cover.
I do like the aesthetics of Eldanna. It's a bigass tree that's basically a biosphere. Unfortunately, the aesthetics are also part of why this Age is annoying.
I guess we'll do a lot more aiming of plants in this Age.
Nice view up here.
These plants are elevators.
They move fast enough that I'm genuinely surprised I don't fall off.
Another telescope flower gives me a nice view of the bird, who will be our friend through this whole age.
Below its nest is a linking book.
Hmm...this must be what "powers" the elevators.
As I move along the path, the bird suddenly leaves its nest and flies off to God knows where.
A large ball containing water. The membrane looks fairly thin, but I can't pierce it with just my finger.
These fan-like plants block light.
I can push their bulb to extend or collapse them.
It's hiding a J'nanin book, but I'm not in a hurry to get back.
This plant concentrates and directs sunlight. I focus it on the membrane.
The membrane breaks, filling the basin with water and bringing life to the elevator. Time to go for a ride.
This basin contains a cute little electro-jelly-ray. Or something. I'll just call him glowfish.
Activating this membrane sucks everything out of the basin. Including glowfish.
More journal pages.
You may have noticed I'm not really explaining the route I'm taking here. That's partly because this Age is fairly linear. However, it's also because this Age can get pretty confusing thanks to the organic look of the paths. It's easily one of the most difficult Ages to navigate out of any Myst game I've played so far.
This leaf bridge is retracted.
But this one can be extended by shining some light on it.
I can then use the trapeze to swing to another platform.
I reset this trap...
And then bait it. But I don't actually want to catch anything.
I just wnat to scare it a little. So I move the bait over a little.
Sure enough, a squee comes out and starts nibbling.
I activate the trap, which scares the hell out of it.
It retreats to the log, which snaps and falls down. So how the heck did it support MY weight?
Whatever. With that obstruction gone, I can swing all the way to the opposite side.
Like so.
I go ahead and activate the shortcut.
While I'm down here, I hear something that sounds like the bird crying out and then immediately getting swallowed by something.
Oh. A giant pitcher plant. That'll do it. New objective: save the bird.
I transfer the glowfish again.
And then take a moment to look at this record of Sirrus and Achenar's ego-stroking.
I'm guessing these plants are meant to divert sunlight.
I take the left path down and transfer the glowfish for the final time.
This device contains the exact same message I saw in Voltaic.
My path is blocked by this leaf.
The sunlight isn't strong enought of pierce the membrane.
But I can at least extend that leaf bridge.
Ahah. So maybe light strength isn't the issue so much as light color. I direct this thing at the membrane.
And this reflector flower gets aimed at the converter flower.
Success!
The glowfish's electricity shocks the pitcher plant's roots enough to make it free my feathered friend.
Who's a good glowfish? You are! Oh yes you are!
I take the last unexplored path and find more journal pages.
It seems Saavedro and Atrus were once good friends. Such a shame.
Another trapeze, but this one just goes down.
Now that's a big flower.
Shining light on the stalks makes them extend. I'm guessing that's important.
Right, so, see this path? I spent a good five minutes wandering around the bottom floor of this tree without even realizing this path existed. I had to open up a hint guide because I was hopelessly stuck.
Extending the fans blocks the light, which closes this plant.
I can actually crawl inside the tube that connects the two blue plants. And there are journal pages here for some reason.
Pleasant.
I can shoot out spores, but I'm guessing I need to open the flower before they do anything.
So let's open the first plant back up.
I can then shoot out these spores to make the bugs in this area fly away to the second blue flower.
Turns out light + bugs is what opens these things.
The spores signal Mr. Bird to come pick me up.
Wheeeee!
I'm slightly worried that my new friend might try to feed me to its young. So I ditch the flower as quickly as possible.
Which brings me to the code and the J'nanin book I saw way back at the very beginning.
Okay folks. Next time, we get to play with a bunch of giant balls. It'll be fun!
+1
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
I know that there was a mural or two painted by crazy guy in Ball Age, but I coulda sworn that there were some in the other ages as well. Did you miss them?
I liked how they kinda told part of the story as well.
Exile takes place in an enormous edutainment complex that Atrus built for his kids by linking to other worlds. No wonder they turned out so terrible after being spoiled like that. He should have just bought them some video games instead.
Posts
ineedmayo.com Eidolon Journal Updated
It's finally time for Stilts Plays Riven: Part 3
With no clue what to do with that frog trap, I decide to explore the forest that I immediately abandoned in favor of taking a minecart ride.
Oh, hey. This beetle looks exactly like the ones I saw in the rotating room. I'm...not sure what the significance of that is, though.
Dang, this forest is pretty.
I stumble upon some sort of lizard idol. No matter how many times I click, though, I can't seem to interact with it.
I take the only remaining path up to a fork where there seems to be some sort of watchtower.
The path leads me to a village. As soon as I arrive, I see human-like figures run inside their homes. I guess they don't like visitors.
Looks like something can dock here.
I go up to the houses...
...and knock on the door. Either no one's home or they're ignoring me. Probably the latter.
Well, I think I know what's supposed to dock back at that platform.
I send the rail-sub down.
Now i just need to get to it. But first, let's take a look around at the rest of this area.
Some sort of altar maybe?
And a kiln/oven. I can't interact with either of them. Okay, then, time to find a way to that sub. This proves to be far more difficult than I initially imagine. You see, I can't get to it from where I currently am. After trying (and failing) to find an alternate path I've missed, I give up and start wandering around looking for other things to do. I eventually go back to that beach where the whaleseals are--which I first assumed was a dead end--and stumble upon a path I didn't see the first time.
It leads me back to the village.
There's another eyeball here embedded in a sandbox.
Again, I write down the symbol and sound (it sounds exactly like the beetle I saw earlier).
Turning the lever fills some of the sandbox with water. That shape's probably gonna be important later.
Continuing down this new path leads me straight to the sub.
The sub moves on a track that occasionally forks. I decide to record a map in my notebook so I don't get lost.
My first stop is that bouy-thing in the middle of the lake. Unfortunately, I can't reach the ladder.
The next stop is a room that contains a bunch of switches the extend (or retract) all the ladders.
My final stop after completing my map is a house.
Correction: a school, by the looks of it.
This little device teaches you numbers. Each time you spin the shark thing, a random symbol appears on the front. The figure over the shark then lowers a certain number of increments.
Using this, I'm able to figure out the symbols from one to ten.
...that's gonna be trickier, though.
It seems someone (Ghen, I'm guessing) made a recording of himself. He's speaking in a language I don't understand, though.
Some sort of strange fruit?
Okay, so, there are symbols all around the classroom walls that are probably the Rivenite's alphabet. Just for the hell of it, I copy them down and try to translate with the assumption that it's a simple cipher for the English alphabet. Unfortunately, all I get is gibberish when I apply it to the chalkboard. I'm not sure if this is because I screwed up (highly likely) or because--even if the alphabet's sounds and order are identical to English--the language and words are still completely different.
Didn't realize that there's a STEAM SALE for this.
Both Mysts (Real and Masterpiece), Riven, Myst 5, URU complete and 3 other Cyan games for $18
Note: These other 3 games are unavailable outside the bundle.
The MYST creed.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
Let's see how many screenshots I took.
...110?
Oh.
Huh.
I, uh, think I'll update tomorrow.
(To be honest, though, a good 20 of those are just the pages of Ghen's notebook.)
Now that we're pretty much done with the school, let's check out that buoy thing.
Looks like there's a pathway above and a rope switch down here.
Pulling on the rope calls down a trapeze bar. Unfortunately, it goes back up a few seconds later. Clicking on it does nothing. Clearly I'm still missing a part of this solution.
Grrrr. The shadow of the ladder that leads to the upper level of the buoy taunts me as I head back to the tram.
I can't think of anything else to do on this island, so let's go back to the main one and see if I can find something I missed.
Looking at these things again, I notice that the necklaces on their heads has the same symbol as the door knockers in the village.
I play with the rotating room a little and hey! Look at that!
I lower the grate and continue on to the gold dome that's been tantalizing me for a long time.
Is that...a generator?
I'm definitely copying THIS down.
I head down the stairs and outside.
Gee, I wonder if I should flip this switch...
The path goes on.
There's another pipe here where I can divert the steam power, so I do.
Looks like there should be a button here, but there isn't right now. Odd.
And that looks like a puzzle need of eventual solving.
Anyway, let's head back to the boiler island to see if I can make any more progress there.
On the way over I notice the rock those whale-things were sitting on kinda resembles an animal.
Hey! Looks like the trap worked!
Frog! FROG!!
Adorable.
Unfortunately, the frog leaps out of the trap. I try the trap multiple times, but the end result is always the same. And here is where I get stuck again. I get stuck so badly, in fact, that I am forced to look up hints, and the first one I find hits me with a heavy dose of deja vu. Because the "puzzle" it solves is the same one that completely stumped me the first time I played this game. It's also what I consider to be the biggest dick move in all of Riven.
Remember these doors I opened two updates ago? See how the open inward? Let's use our imaginations and pretend they open outward instead. What would happen? Well, they'd completely block off the sides of the balcony. So guess what they do to the inside.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I needed to close a pair of goddamn doors to reveal two new paths.
I hate this game sometimes.
Moving on before my rage consumes me...
Nice spinning dome.
There's something in that wall, but I'm too far away to tell exactly what it is.
That was a dead end, so let's try the other path.
Another building. Seems promising.
The instant I see this switch, I remember what comes next.
I flip it and head back to the frog trap.
The switch turned off the power, which stops the fan.
I Deus Ex my way into the new building.
Looks like Ghen's notes. He seems to be implying the eyeball carvings I've been finding weren't made by him or the villagers. Fascinating.
I've got the symbol, but since it's outside of its housing I can't get a proper sound. I decide to look at Ghen's notebook next, so here comes a huge dump of images.
Not only does Ghen confirm that Atrus exiled his own father to Riven, but he also reveals that Riven is actually Catherine's native Age. During his long exile, Ghen has been retrofitting Riven with D'ni technology powered by the Fissure, both in an attempt to make his life more comfortable and to power the linking books he's been writing. I love that this game takes time to justify the weird water-barrier phenomenon we saw in the village's lake. Turns out the water of Riven is saturated with bacteria that are able to form the water into shapes. Neat.
A spear for hunting frogs, maybe? Oh, yeah, that journal did mention those frogs were poisonous. I guess it's good I didn't successfully catch one, then.
The furnace hides the remains of a failed linking book. It's inactive, of course.
There's a bunch of stuff on this other table, but it seems largely pointless.
Except for this.
Exiting through this door unlocks it so we don't have to climb through a pipe again.
This path continues on to a back entrance to the generator dome. Since I already diverted power to this ladder, I'm able to lower it.
Yet another shortcut is complete.
This is gonna be an issue, though. I just need to find a switch to--
Oh. It's behind me.
Bingo.
This completes the seamless connection between Fissure island and boiler island. Remember that place where a button looked like it should be there? Let's go back.
Yep. It seems the panel that completes the shortcut is also part of an elevator.
This one's pretty obvious. Just stop it on the only symbol that's gold.
A linking book! Now I just need to enter the access code that was in Ghen's diary. But...wait. Hold on. There are only 25 notches here. I thought the combination was 5, 11, 13, 34, 40.
...oh! Look back at that image of the access code again. We know that a horizontal line represents 5. We also know that the symbol for 10 is 2 rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. So what if we rotate 5 counter-clockwise. We get the symbol for 1. It's a base 5 system. Which means what I assumed represented 34 was actually 19, and 40 is actually 20.
Success!
Oh man, this is gonna be great.
I just need to open it and...
...it's inactive? Dammit! Riven, you tease!
*sigh* Whatever. let's go back and try the other door. And also rifle through some more of Ghen's things.
That's a lot of eggs.
Shouldn't there be a tram here? I was sure I hit the button.
...
OH WAIT! I turned the power off!
There we go.
This update has gone on a little longer than usual, so I'll leave this new island for next time.
Okay, so I know I took screenshots of me actually getting to this point, but I'll be damned if I know where they went. It was a linear path leading to an elevator, so you aren't missing much other than pretty scenery.
You can see a little bit of how pretty it is from this shot, at least.
Anyway, each of those Tetris-y buttons corresponds to one of five islands (we've only been to four of them including this one, by the way). Pushing a button causes some water to come out of those spouts in the top and form topography.
I'm then able to go into this room and view bits and pieces of that topography. Why? WHO KNOWS! I'm making a map anyway. Which is pretty tedious, by the way.
Another spinning orb. As you'll see soon, the timing on this screenshot proved to be incredibly helpful.
As we saw from part 4, these things are usually upright and actually show the symbols head on. This one, however, is broken and tilted. I can still stop the orb pretty easily, but it's much harder to see which symbol is the gold one (which is really important). Thankfully, the screenshot I took is at a pretty good moment to show me what I need to write down.
Inactive again.
I get back in the tram and turn it around, but I don't leave.
Instead, I immediately exit the tram and head through the door on the other side of the station.
That...looks a little ominous.
Thankfully, it's waterproof.
I see a scholar coming down the same path I'm walking on. He bolts down a side path as soon as he sees me.
I'm probably not gonna catch up with him, so I ignore him and continue on.
Nice throne.
Turning the throne around lets me use the levers. The one of the left shows me an empty room. Exciting.
You'll see more detailed screenshots of the right lever once I come back here, but the important part for now is that one of the six buttons summons a whale-thing.
Anyway, the sidepath the scholar ran down leads to another tram.
The tram leads to another section of the village. Man, this island is getting complicated.
This game really loves elevators.
This one actually has two stops. Let's go to the highest one first.
Yep. Definitely back in the jungle/village.
And here's this island's sphere.
I'm not sure why I bother checking.
The remaining path leads here.
Which has yet another throne. Ghen has a really high opinion of himself, huh?
The left lever ascends the throne.
The right lever closes the whole in the buoy. And...that's it. That's all this thing does.
Seriously.
Okay, let's go back to the first stop on the elevator and pull the lever. It...opens a mouth?
Oh. Clever.
I see a child on my way out. She studies me for a second before scampering away.
Okay, let's see where this buoy leads.
It's a good thing I'm not scared of heights.
Is that a prison cell?
And is that the same asshole who stole my trap book?
Before I do anything else, let's complete this shortcut.
I turn this wheel here...
Which opens up the door. Wait. Where'd he go? I saw the door open. There's no way he could have just gotten out without me seeing him.
Unless...
Ah ha! A secret passage.
It's really fucking dark in here.
A dead end? That's anticlimatic. But...wait a second. What's that pole on the left?
A light switch. Huh.
Now that the light's on, I can see yet another light.
You get the idea.
I reach the end and then turn around to see if I've missed anything. With the lights now on, I can see there's a combination door/switch. I can only go down one path at a time.
I come upon a large circle of stones with animal symbols on them. Here's where all those eyeballs finally come into play. And it's also where this playthrough gets a little messy. I managed to figure out what four of the animals I need are (frog, whale, pelican-seal and beetle), but I have no idea what the fourth one is. What this entails is wandering around Riven for a while trying desperately to figure out where I'm supposed to find the clue. I break down and check out Cyan's hint system. For the one I'm missing, it tells me to go back to the throne on the spike island. Okay, sure.
This time when I check the scope, it shows me a person. I have no idea who this person is, but at least there's some reason for this thing. I hit the button on the left and this time try using the switches all round the ring.
...are you kidding me? Well, there's my answer, I guess.
Oh, and here's what the right lever does, by the way. Each button corresponds to a pole that has a colored light installed on it. I make a note of which color corresponds to which eye symbol (except for the one in the 10 o'clock position, as that light pole is broken). With all the animal clues now in my possession, I just need to activate the tablets in the correct order. It goes...
Fish
Beetle
Frog (yes, that was the ultimate point of the frog trap; to find out what noise the 3 Sphere made)
Pelican-seal
Whale
With the puzzle complete, the water barrier moves aside, revealing...
Oh my God. It's an active linking book.
Hooooly shit.
On the next part, we'll finally explore the place that's on the cover on this damn game.
Also if anyone is reading this and ignored earlier that they should play these games even just for the little tram rides, you totally should because they are bitchin
the puzzles are okay too, i guess
ineedmayo.com Eidolon Journal Updated
I may go back in to record them and upload them to Youtube for part of my end-of-game bonus material.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
Well, we're finally at the Age on the cover of the game box, but the only thing ahead of us is an ocean. So I have to go into this room behind me. Talk about anticlimactic.
I'm ambushed as soon as I enter the room. The poison dart puts me to sleep in seconds.
I briefly regain enough consciousness to see my captors rowing me out to what I assume is that giant tree.
When the poison wears off, I find myself in a barren room.
There's a door in front of me, but it's locked.
And the only thing behind me is this small hole in the wall.
As I turn back around, I hear someone entering the room.
She puts two books on the table.
I pick them up and start reading the first one, which turns out to be Catherine's journal. This thing is REALLY long. I needed 46 screenshots to capture it all, so I'm going to put it in a set of spoilers so those who don't care don't need to scroll forever.
*phew*
That was a lot of ctrl+c and ctrl+v.
Anyway, the gist of all that is that, at some point, Catherine decided to come back to her home Age of Riven. She was immediately sleepdarted and taken to the basecamp of a group of rebels calling themselves the Moiety.
Also, Catherine determines that there's nothing wrong with the materials that Ghen is using to write his test Ages. He wouldn't have needed to build a massive power generator to stabilize his linking books if he would've just written them properly instead of shoveling the blame off to anything but his own failings. This implies not only that Riven is doomed but also that any Age Ghen creates as a new home for the Rivenites will almost certainly suffer the same fate eventually (if it works at all). It's likely that the only reason Tay (the Age we're stuck in right now) works is because Catherine got her hands on it and fixed anything Ghen got wrong. Though it seems Ghen barely cares about Riven or its people in the first place, since he's squeezing everything he can out of both of them solely to realize his dream of restoring D'ni.
With that infodumb out of the way--and the code to the Fissure hatch finally in my possesion--let's check out what that other book is.
Uh...is this what I think it is?
Holy shit. This is the D'ni book from Myst 1. The one Atrus was trapped in. Very clever. Ghen won't be able to resist trying it and get himself stuck.
The lady leaves something else on the table once I'm done reading.
Oh, good. A way back.
Okay, so, we've got the hatch code, but it's a bit too soon to break open the Fissure. First I need to trap Ghen and release Catherine from her prison. Unfortunately, Ghen is almost certainly in the Age he's using for his study, which means we'll somehow have to power those books. Which means there's obviously some place I missed. Thankfully, I'm able to remember one little detail: back at the huge generator, I diverted two steam pipes to bridges but only ended up using one bridge switch. So let's find the other one.
Up there, huh?
Oh, sure, of course the switch is on this side. So I have to go ALL the way around and rotate the other dome.
Ooooo, pretty.
Within seconds of reaching this puzzle, I realize what the map room was actually for and almost bang my head on my desk. I wasn't supposed to record the entire topography of each island. I was just supposed to note the position of the linking-book dome on each island. This means I'll have to go all the way back to the map island. To save myself some trouble, I create a save here and a separate save when I get to the map island so I won't have to deal with that specific bit of backtracking again.
On the plus side, going back here means a second chance to capture the pretty scenery.
I would kill a man for a RealRiven.
Okay, time to make a grid and record these fucking dome locations.
Done.
I reload my main save to instantly get back to the puzzle. It's now that I realize one other thing: I don't actually know what symbol belongs to the dome on the single-cube island. In fact, I've never even been to that island.
Thankfully, I'm 100% sure of the right colors and locations for the other domes, and I've got the location for the fifth one. So brute forcing it is almost certainly easier than trying to find an actual clue. (I just checked Cyan's Riven hint system, and guessing is, in fact, the only way to solve this puzzle.)
I guess right on my first try.
I sure do seem to get locked in various types of prisons a lot in this game.
Ghen comes back to meet me.
He gives me some spiel about how he's learned his lesson and regrets that he tried to kill his own son and he's totally a better person, honest. Catherine clearly has just let her god complex get to her and is lying about how shitty and mean poor ol' Ghen is.
He then takes the D'ni book. Yes, Ghen, go ahead. Open it.
Come on. Go in. I know you want to.
Suspicious, he tells me to go in first. I hesitate long enough for him to put the book away. He says I should take another look around the Ages to see all the good he's done, then press the little button in my cage to call him back when I'm ready to go in the book.
Then he leaves.
Right, well, let's go to this final island, shall we?
There's a puzzle inside this elevator, but I can't solve it yet.
Oh, hey, this is where Catherine's being kept prisoner.
She tells me what I already know: before I signal Atrus, I need to trap Ghen and free her.
So let's do just that. I signal for Ghen to return.
He does, and I go inside the book. See, Ghen? It's nice and comfy in here. Lots of awesome D'ni artifacts.
Yeah, man, you're gonna love it.
Sucker.
(I was originally gonna do this in one update, but it was over 4000 characters too long. So I'll spread it across two posts.)
Looks like Ghen was working on another linking book.
This switch unlocks the cage.
Heading downstairs, I find Ghen's bedroom.
I'm...not entirely sure who this is, but she must be pretty important to Ghen.
Another of Ghen's notebooks, which reveals him to be exactly the kind of dick he claims he isn't. Unlike Catherine's, this one isn't a goddamn novel. Still, I'll spoiler it out of courtesy.
And here's the final clue I'll have to write down. Clicking this thing plays five sounds, but only three of them are distinct. The combination I got was ratchet -> ding -> click -> ding -> ratchet.
The three buttons on the bottom of the device in Catherine's elevator play those sounds. So I just need to hit the switches in the order the toy gave me.
This opens the divider, allowing Catherine to get in the elevator with me.
She takes the D'ni book from me to make sure Ghen really is trapped there, and then tells me that I need to signal Atrus as quickly as I can. She says she'll make sure none of the villagers loyal to Ghen interrupt me and meet me at the Fissure later.
She breaks the elevator before rushing off to do whatever the hell she intends to do.
It seems part of her plan was ripping apart the linking book that would get me closest to the Fissure. Oh well.
I'll take the next closest dome instead, I guess.
I put in the lock combination and open the hatch.
And then I lower the telescope.
Before I sentence Riven to destruction, though, I take some time to look through the telescope. Man, that Fissure really is full of stars.
In order to prevent himself from accidentally doing what I'm about to do, it seems Ghen installed a safety latch.
I make it unsafe.
Oh, dang...
This is pretty intense.
Atrus links in just in time and rushes to me.
He asks me where Catherine is.
Fortunately for my silent self, he thinks to look behind him.
They both thank me for a job well done.
He sends Catherine away.
Then he wishes me luck on finding my home Age before he uses the book...
...which he purposefully dangles over the Fissure (do you like that image artifacting?).
Well, damn.
I suppose Atrus thinks that--since the Myst book got into my hands by falling in the Fissure--this is actually my best chance at getting back home.
Still kinda sucks, though.
I mean, it's pretty and all.
But I may be falling for quite a while.
And nothing but stars will get boring as hell.
Just in case you were wondering who we all have to thank for this bullshit, it's Rand Miller.
I love your game, dude.
But seriously.
Fuck you.
ineedmayo.com Eidolon Journal Updated
My notes: page 1 and page 2
Tram rides
The good ending
My favorite music tracks
I'm really eager to start Myst 3, so I may get the first update for it up tonight.
what the fuck
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
PSN/Steam/NNID: SyphonBlue | BNet: SyphonBlue#1126
The real Riven starts here.
Mmmmmmm, yes, that's a good title card.
Welcome to Myst 3! As I've mentioned a few times before, this is my overall favorite Myst game (though Riven remains my favorite from a purely aesthetic and narrative perspective) due to a very nice balance of reasonable puzzle difficulty, beautiful environments and an interesting story. It's not really the best game at anything, but it's pretty damn good at everything. Of course, there are some Myst fans who poo-poo the game for being "too easy," but I don't really care to pay attention to them.
Anyway! Let's get this show on the road.
Appropriately, the game immediately begins with me staring at a vista. But wait, who's talking to me?
Catherine? What the hell? Didn't I fall down the Fissure at the end of Riven.
Well, yes, I did. And just like Atrus predicted, I wound up back on Earth just like the Myst book did when it fell down the Fissure. At some point, Atrus and Catherine decided to make a new home for themselves on Earth near the Cleft (the former entrance to D'ni) called Tomahna. It's here that Atrus works tirelessly on Releeshahn, an Age that he hopes will finally give the D'ni a proper home.
Speaking of Atrus, he wants to see me. I'm apparently schedule to explore Releeshahn with him so he can show off what he's accomplished.
He's busy getting everything ready for our departure, though, so wander around his study for a bit.
Atrus suspects someone's been breaking into his home. That sounds ominous. Though after all he's been through, it could just be paranoia.
Family photos.
Huh. I wonder what book this is. It seems to be incomplete.
A glass case and a padlock on the book itself. Yeah, Atrus isn't taking chances anymore.
It was kind hard to miss, dude.
Fun fact: Rand Millar, one of the founders of Cyan, has played Atrus since the start of the series.
Oh, cool. A journal. Which I'll immediately forget about.
As Atrus goes to get his keys, I hear a sound behind me.
Uh...is that guy supposed to be here?
He takes the light orb and chucks it at Atrus.
Atrus! Dude! Have you ever thought of using lightbulbs? I mean, seriously!
The glass case isn't particularly strong, though, so the attacker is able to easily break through it and just pick up the book.
He then uses a linking book to run away.
Being the brave person I am--possibly to a fault--I waste no time going in after him. I, uh, hope Atrus doesn't burn to death while I'm away.
I arrive in the first proper Age to see the attacker running like hell.
Get back here, asshole!
You ruined a perfectly nice drape!
Unfortunately, he's smart enough to lock the door behind him.
I can see him wandering around in there, but there's not much I can do right now.
Time to explore and see if I can find another way in.
This is as good a time as any to mention that the navigation style in Exile is a bit different from the others. It's still basically a slideshow, but you've got a lot more viewing freedom. Each "slide" is a 360-degree panorama, so you can move your mouse around to look literally everywhere around you. Not only does this make the experience more immersive, but it also makes navigation a lot less of a pain in the ass, since it's much easier to keep your bearings when you transition to the next slide.
Speaking of which, finding stuff that's on the ground is slightly easier thanks to this new control scheme.
This puzzle's pretty obvious: manipulate the bridge to move the ball off to the far right side.
I'll, uh, just skip over the many, many steps it took me to finally figure out the right sequence.
A giant hole in the floor, huh? I know just the thing.
When life gives you giant balls, make a giant ball floor.
Unfortunately, all it leads to is a combination lock I don't have the solution for yet.
I take off down a new path.
Oh yeah, I saw one of these things when I first arrived. They have mirrors inside them so that, typically, if you look at it through one end, you'll get a view of whatever's at an angle to where you're pointing.
Like so. These are also the only two ends you can see through. It's clearly supposed to be some sort of light/laser puzzle, but I don't know where the light source is yet. So for now I just rotate them so the working ends are pointing in the right directions.
That's a rather inconveniently located door.
It's a...sound-amplifying plant?
Riiiiight. Moving on.
Finally I come across something that's not a mirror.
This switch here opens the gate.
And a nearby button opens this one.
Uh...that's...strange...
This little orb causes some sort of electro-magnetic anti-gravity field.
And if you attach a plant root to the wires, the plant does not seem to enjoy it much.
Oh man, an elevator!
I love elevators!
...seriously? Is your eyesight going, or do you actually have no idea who your target was?
He brings up some weird metal cage.
Dangit. The tapering on this door prevents me from opening the lock.
I head back down and discover I can actually activate the elevator from outside. Neat.
This allows me to get at the mechanisms. Though what I'm supposed to do with them is still a mystery.
I do, however, find a notebook in this room. Let's take a look.
This is gonna be important later, by the way.
Anyway, I modify the elevator mechanisms like the journal shows me to.
This actually makes the entire elevator rotate before it heads up.
Which means I can now enter the inner chamber.
Unfortunately, there was a linking book in that cage. Saavedro manages to link out before I can do anything.
And the entire thing resets. Because of course it does.
The button on the right activates a light show.
Which plays back a recording from Atrus. This place is apparently a hub world that links to other Ages that were meant to test Sirrus and Achenar's abilities. This explains why the Ages in Exile have a very artificial and "game-y" feel to them: it's because the Ages are literally games that Atrus made make sure his sons were ready to be taught his secrets.
Obviously this type of teaching didn't work out too well, but hindsight is 20/20.
Saavedro has taken it upon himself to record over much of Atrus' message. Looks like I'm gonna have to go through the same trials the brothers did.
These light projectors serve another purpose: giving me solutions to the locks in this Age. Notice the bird symbol?
I need to use the various camera controls to line up the symbol on the screen with its counterpart in the world. Doing so gives me the proper position to place the orbs in on the three devices scattered in this Age that look exactly like the one I saw earlier.
With all that recorded, I use the switch to drop the elevator.
This allows me to finally open the lock.
I wander around a bit more and eventually find the light source I'm looking for. Just turn this wheel a bit and...
Bingo. Next time, I'll visit the first Test Age.
Something along the lines of "After him! Don't worry about me, get Releeshahn!"
So the dude's probably fine.
ineedmayo.com Eidolon Journal Updated
There's a lot to love about Exile, but it's so painful to watch it unfold.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
I figured as much judging from the Rivenese number on the cover.
Atrus likely intends to try and restore Riven after he finishes up Releeshahn.
Unlikely. Riven's problems are in the very core of it's writing, because Gehn was too ham fisted in his creation. Atrus's efforts were only bandages and stitches meant to keep the age alive long enough to evacuate the residents.
For all intents and purposes, the Riven we knew is gone forever.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
Might as well go ahead and line up these lights properly.
That must be the end. Now I just need to get to it.
...oh. Of course it wouldn't be that simple. Go ahead and load up the Benny Hill music on Youtube and imagine me running around J'nanin writing down the order of the light poles.
Okay, the proper button order is: yellow -> blue -> green -> red -> yellow -> purple -> red
Thankfully, I'm able to check the symbol for this lock without needing to head back outside.
I input the code and...
We find our first linking book in this hub world: Voltaic.
That's...a lot of water. Before we get going, let's check out that first journal we got.
The nearby door is locked. It appears unpowered.
At least the J'nanin book is easy to get to.
A nice view, but not much to do here.
The path splits here.
I head right.
I find more pages from Saavedro's journal on the floor.
Looks like, for a time there, Saavedro wasn't exactly in his right mind. Well, he's not in a great state now, but at least his perceptions are working properly. Probably.
A door. It's locked, of course. This is starting to feel like a Silent Hill game.
Those symbols are probably important, but I have no idea what they represent yet.
The ladder leads to dam controls, which I use to move the floodgate.
Another unpowered door.
With the water blocked from this area, I can head down here.
Raising this piston locks it into place with the platform above.
I'm not sure what else to do here, so I head down the path I ignored a while back.
None of the controls here do anything. I probably need to activate something else first.
This elevator doesn't work, either. Surely I can't be stuck already. Even Riven took me longer to get stumped. Maybe there' just something super obvious I'm missing. I go back to the dam and look closer at my surroundings.
Oh, yeah, that'll do it. I just needed to reach out this window and open these panels to make the water-powered engine actually work.
Which powers this door.
Activating this viewscreen shows another message Saavedro left for Atrus. Apparently, when Sirrus and Achenar were kids, Atrus took them to Narayan to see how Saavedro's civilization lived in balance with its Age. After the field trip, Atrus left with his sons and never came back.
Sirrus and Achenar, however, did. And Narayan was never the same.
As if to hammer home the point, Exile crashes on me once the message is finished.
I, uh, guess that'll be it for today.
Okay, let's continue from where the game so rudely crashed on me.
That is a large tank of...water, maybe?
There are five of these little puzzles all around the tank. The obvious solution is to make all the circuits line up. The strips on the very top and very bottom are stationary. The three pairs in the middle can be moved left or right by using the buttons on either side.
Remembering my Riven numbers, I start with 1.
When I succeed, the shutter closes.
...as do all the others? I guess I only needed to complete one puzzle to solve the whole thing. A little disappointing, honestly.
These symbols are finally lit up. One place still isn't receiving power, though.
The door way back at the start is clearly powered now, but it's still locked. Huh.
Let's try that elevator near the balloon ship, then.
It leads to a lever...
That opens an iris...
That immediately closes. Clearly I'm missing something.
I head to ship dock and find a ladder leading up.
It leads to a hatch, which has some more journal pages nearby.
Well, that confirms where that painting of a woman back in that little hut in J'nanin came from.
Anyway, let's open the hatch.
It leads to a rather precarious bridge.
Don't look down, don't look down, don't look--
Actually, that's a pretty nice view.
Voltaic: Age of Hatches
Oh, hey, we're back at that locked door next to the branching paths.
There's some sort of machinery in here. For some reason I didn't screencap as many things as I thought I did during this segment, including the little device you can just barely see the top of at the bottom of this screen. I'll give a more detailed explanation in a bit. For now just know that I used it to lower a pathway.
Okay, so, the device is a circle with a line through it. The rod with the red handle is what you use to manipulate the device. If I move it through either of the half-circle sections, it'll make a gear turn. If I move it through the dividing line, I'll move the gear from one side to the other.
Moving the gear to between the big gear on the far left and the platform and then turning it makes the platform move up and the gate to the right open up and let lava rush in.
Yeah, you heard me right. Lava.
Since I can only turn the gear in one direction once, the idea is to then move it to the other side so I can turn it the other direction and still make the platform move further up.
For some reason I didn't get a shot of the panel that activates the fan. Sorry about that.
I then need to move the platform back down so I can get the hell out of there. And then move it back up so the lava comes back in to provide heat.
I did all that so I could finally use these steam pipes over by the balloon ship.
The obvious goal here is to make the pressure gauge line up with the red line. Doing that, however, is a little tricky. Basically, there are actually three levels of pipes. Since the elevator you're standing on is also powered by steam, you need to have the pressure gauge in the red section in order to have enough power to reach the uppermost level. If it's in the yellow, you can only access the second level. And if it's in the blue, the first level is all you get. This is important because you need to manipulate the pressure from all three levels.
So the trick is to close all of the valves on the first two levels to give you enough power to reach the third. After closing every valve on every level, you can count the number of notches it'll take to reach the red line: 41. Level 3 valves only represent 1 notch, whereas the second and first represent 4 and 10 notches, respectively. Therefore, I need to open three level 3 valves, two level 2 valves and three level 1 valves.
Ta-da.
I then turn this wheel to divert the steam to the ship.
This fills the balloon and makes it move.
Using that lever now lets the ship pass through.
Let's go for a ride.
My first stop: another lever. It's effects this time, however, are quite a bit more dramatic.
Okay. I'm impressed.
I head back into the ship to get up to the floating building.
I can finally open this stupid door.
Code symbol #1: obtained.
Thankfully, there's a panel here the opens up to reveal a conveniently-placed J'nanin book.
Next time, we'll travel to the plant Age.
I think the first time I finished that Age I actually said "Whhheeeeee!" at the end.
Either way, it's a great lp. Good luck with edanna, I hated that age!
Balls Age is the best age.
I've beaten Mysts 1-3 before. In the case of Exile, I've beaten it two or three times already. My first time through, Riven was brutally hard. The thing about Myst games, though, is remembering even a tiny bit about how the puzzles work can make things much easier.
Also, I suppose now is as good a time as any to note how many times I've used a hint system for each game.
Myst 1 = 2 (1 navigational, 1 puzzle)
Riven = 3 (2 navigational, 1 puzzle)
Myst 3 = 1 (1 navigational [I'll mention the reason for this one in the next update])
So far, I've found that the hardest things about Myst games are the occasional pixel hunts you have to do.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
I want to head to Edanna next, but to do that I actually need to get to the door to the linking book room. This plant obviously has something to do with it, but any of the sounds I point it at don't seem to do anything. However, this view does let me see something I've missed on the bottom of the lake.
A little hut and a plant.
Clicking on the hut's bulb makes a tiny rodent peek out.
Clicking on the plant makes it open up.
This lets the rodent pass over to the other side.
So I learned two things: the rodent is called a squee, and its chrips make those red bulbs expand. So I just need to point the boombox plant at the squee and...
Voila.
I now have a bridge.
I enter the code and...nothing happens? I must have it slightly incorrect. I go back to the telescope and adjust the picture a little.
This combination ends up working for me.
As you'll soon find out, there's a reason Eldanna has a bird on the cover.
I do like the aesthetics of Eldanna. It's a bigass tree that's basically a biosphere. Unfortunately, the aesthetics are also part of why this Age is annoying.
I guess we'll do a lot more aiming of plants in this Age.
Nice view up here.
These plants are elevators.
They move fast enough that I'm genuinely surprised I don't fall off.
Another telescope flower gives me a nice view of the bird, who will be our friend through this whole age.
Below its nest is a linking book.
Hmm...this must be what "powers" the elevators.
As I move along the path, the bird suddenly leaves its nest and flies off to God knows where.
A large ball containing water. The membrane looks fairly thin, but I can't pierce it with just my finger.
These fan-like plants block light.
I can push their bulb to extend or collapse them.
It's hiding a J'nanin book, but I'm not in a hurry to get back.
This plant concentrates and directs sunlight. I focus it on the membrane.
The membrane breaks, filling the basin with water and bringing life to the elevator. Time to go for a ride.
This basin contains a cute little electro-jelly-ray. Or something. I'll just call him glowfish.
Activating this membrane sucks everything out of the basin. Including glowfish.
More journal pages.
You may have noticed I'm not really explaining the route I'm taking here. That's partly because this Age is fairly linear. However, it's also because this Age can get pretty confusing thanks to the organic look of the paths. It's easily one of the most difficult Ages to navigate out of any Myst game I've played so far.
This leaf bridge is retracted.
But this one can be extended by shining some light on it.
I can then use the trapeze to swing to another platform.
I reset this trap...
And then bait it. But I don't actually want to catch anything.
I just wnat to scare it a little. So I move the bait over a little.
Sure enough, a squee comes out and starts nibbling.
I activate the trap, which scares the hell out of it.
It retreats to the log, which snaps and falls down. So how the heck did it support MY weight?
Whatever. With that obstruction gone, I can swing all the way to the opposite side.
Like so.
I go ahead and activate the shortcut.
While I'm down here, I hear something that sounds like the bird crying out and then immediately getting swallowed by something.
Oh. A giant pitcher plant. That'll do it. New objective: save the bird.
I transfer the glowfish again.
And then take a moment to look at this record of Sirrus and Achenar's ego-stroking.
I'm guessing these plants are meant to divert sunlight.
I take the left path down and transfer the glowfish for the final time.
This device contains the exact same message I saw in Voltaic.
My path is blocked by this leaf.
The sunlight isn't strong enought of pierce the membrane.
But I can at least extend that leaf bridge.
Ahah. So maybe light strength isn't the issue so much as light color. I direct this thing at the membrane.
And this reflector flower gets aimed at the converter flower.
Success!
The glowfish's electricity shocks the pitcher plant's roots enough to make it free my feathered friend.
Who's a good glowfish? You are! Oh yes you are!
I take the last unexplored path and find more journal pages.
It seems Saavedro and Atrus were once good friends. Such a shame.
Another trapeze, but this one just goes down.
Now that's a big flower.
Shining light on the stalks makes them extend. I'm guessing that's important.
Right, so, see this path? I spent a good five minutes wandering around the bottom floor of this tree without even realizing this path existed. I had to open up a hint guide because I was hopelessly stuck.
Extending the fans blocks the light, which closes this plant.
I can actually crawl inside the tube that connects the two blue plants. And there are journal pages here for some reason.
Pleasant.
I can shoot out spores, but I'm guessing I need to open the flower before they do anything.
So let's open the first plant back up.
I can then shoot out these spores to make the bugs in this area fly away to the second blue flower.
Turns out light + bugs is what opens these things.
The spores signal Mr. Bird to come pick me up.
Wheeeee!
I'm slightly worried that my new friend might try to feed me to its young. So I ditch the flower as quickly as possible.
Which brings me to the code and the J'nanin book I saw way back at the very beginning.
Okay folks. Next time, we get to play with a bunch of giant balls. It'll be fun!
I liked how they kinda told part of the story as well.