Act One: The Last Linking Book…
WARNING: This entry may contain spoilers to the plot of Myst V: End of Ages. If you intend to play this game, and don’t want the surprises to be ruined, don’t read this. Please.
Now that I’ve covered my ass, let’s begin talking about the game.
I poured sixty dollars out of my bank account and into purchasing this game on Friday of last week, and I beat it on Monday night. It made me swell with pride at my victory. If this was truly Cyan Worlds climactic last show, then fans of the Myst series can certainly sit pretty knowing they went out with the biggest bang of all.
The game opens with a cinematic - of sorts - featuring a lengthy letter written by Atrus to “The Stranger”. Atrus is getting old, and is constantly grieving. Over the loss of his sons, his father, his grandmother and his wife. Even his daughter Yeesha has left him to pursue some sort of cause to restore D’ni (which is the main premise for Uru). Atrus is weak, and alludes to his retiring to somewhere to spend the last moments of his life (a location which I instantly assumed to be Myst Island.)
The game begins with the Stranger somehow standing in K’veer. One thing I have started to dislike is the lack of logic in the Stranger’s appearances. In Myst, he had fallen into the Star Fissure, and discovered Atrus’ lost Myst book. In Riven, he returned to K’veer to see Atrus. In Myst III and Myst IV, the Stranger simply “appears” magically in Tomanha, without any reference to where he has been. In Myst V, the Stranger begins in K’Veer with no explanation whatsoever. The room is in the same state of disarray as a few decades earlier, when the Stranger had arrived at Atrus’ request to capture Gehn. On the table where Atrus once sat lies the Myst linking book that Atrus used when he destroyed the “trap books” of his sons. It is bound by leather straps, and there is no way to open it. This disappointed me, because it has been almost a decade in real life since I journeyed to that actual island of Myst. However, there was hope. I assumed that - based on the books appearance in the game - there would be a small possibility of linking there.
Journeying through the passageways of K’Veer resulted in my stumbling upon a large bubble surrounding four pedestals. Atop the pedestals was locked a cross-shaped tablet. After taking a look at it, Yeesha (now a good twenty years older than when I’d last seen her) appeared. She began to tell me of the quest I was about to undergo. It was a quest that her great-grandmother T’iana, her father Atrus and herself had already undergone. It was a quest to unlock the power of the tablet. A power she had apparently misused. She told me that when I acquired the tablet, I shouldn’t give it to her under any circumstances.
This was puzzling, since Yeesha has traditionally been the single SANE offspring of Atrus. But whatever. There was no time to explain further. She linked me away - ironically enough - to Earth. Or at least, I assume it was Earth. I believe the D’ni are from Earth, and that they merely lived below the surface somewhere - if Uru is any indication - in New Mexico. I was instantly greeted by Esher, a D’ni survivor who also wanted me to complete the quest for the tablet. Furthermore, he echoed Yeesha’s warnings that if I should acquire the tablet, I should not give it to Yeesha.
Esher lead me underground to the great shaft of the D’ni. It was through that shaft that Tiana discovered D’ni, and eventually led to its destruction. As you descended the shaft, there were four ages placed in side rooms that were important to my quest. Over time, I learned of the Bahro. They were mysterious black creatures that could turn invisible and link with the slightest though. They were extremely powerful. I witnessed their power in all of the four Ages. And the Ages certainly were varied, and breathtaking. In each Age was a slate that I could draw symbols on. These symbols would help me control the Bahro in many innovative ways.
Tahgira: This age was surprisingly small. It was used as a D’ni prison colony of sorts. My brother Jake - an expert on the Myst books - told me that T’iana was sent to a place like this once. Cyan Worlds certainly knows how to establish a state of unity. The age was coated in snow. Using the slate, I was able to control the Bahro into bringing out the sunlight and melting the snow.
Todelmer: This age was surprisingly vast. It was composed of giant rocky spires that jutted out of the surface of the moon. This moon I was on orbited around a large blue planet, which for all intents and purposes, looked like Uranus. The sky was full of strange star patterns and other space anomalies. It was used as a D’ni research centre. Their intent was to survey the sky and learn of space. Esher told me that they died off before they could finish their research. Here, I learned of a powerful symbol that commanded the Bahro to speed up time dramatically, causing the stars in the sky to shift, and the orbit of the planets to change. To watch this happen was quite breathtaking actually.
Noloben: An island age that Esher describes as “his age” and “the home of the Bahro”. In the centre of the island, he had built a small research lab for himself that was crucial to the islands many secrets. This age relied on many symbology puzzles, making me compare D’ni numbers to Bahro numbers. Because this age was featured in the demo, I beat it remarkably quickly. Using the slate of this Age, I was able to make it rain by harnessing the power of the Bahro.
Laki’ahn: The vertiable sports arena of the D’ni. Esher was quite passionate about this place as he described it. He was thrilled in his rememberance of the battles that had been fought in the arena. His excitement truly knew no bounds. By harnessing the power of the Bahro in this age, I was able to cause hurricane-esque winds to tear apart the landscape which was useful for powering the many wind devices on the island.
After beating these four ages, I unlocked the final cross-shaped tablet. Esher had told me to bring it to Myst island. He would keep it safe from Yeesha there. Indeed, Yeesha would never go to Myst island. She hates it. Hates what it represents. It was a prison for her brothers, and her father. In fact, if the Stranger hadn’t come along and saved her father from K’Veer and her mother from Riven, she would have never been born.
The tablet would be safe from Yeesha on Myst.
However, could Esher be trusted? There were times throughout the game where he seemed quite mad. I knew there was something sinister about him. He was using me. He’d tried the quest for the tablet and failed. He wanted to “mooch” off of my success.
There was just one problem. I desperately wanted to return to Myst. Even if it meant losing the game. So, I closed my eyes and pretended Esher was a good guy. I returned to K’Veer, and linked to Myst.
And boy did it look like shit.
In game, it had been nearly 40 years since the Stranger had been to Myst. The island was in disrepair. The forest had begun to thin. The bridge towards the clock tower was broken. The library was torn apart. However, it did present a bit of nostalgia. The marker switch by the docks - the one that contained the missing page from Atrus’ linking book - had its lever in the upward position. I pulled the switch to see if the cabinet would open, and instead the lever broke off in my hand. The boat at the docks had been overturned, and water was leaking into the area of the Stoneship linking book. It was likely that that Age had been destroyed. The gears that guarded the Mechanical Age had been rusted over, and the Clock Tower device to unlock it was broken. It was unaccessable. That power lines that led to the Selenitic Age were damaged from repeated lightning strikes. The book was missing. I didn’t even bother to check the Channelwood cabin. It seemed useless.
I entered the library. The fireplace was bricked up. The map of the island that controlled the tower rotation was torn down and lying on the floor. The scorch marks left behind when Atrus burnt the trap books were still on the shelves. Otherwise, the library was empty of everything old and familiar.
However, there was a new addition. A metallic pedestal in the middle of the room, shaped for the tablet. I placed it there, and as expected, Esher appeared and gloated over his new abilities with the tablet. He would control an army of Bahro, and recreate D’ni. He called my time with the tablet a “missed opportunity” - a terrible pun - and then he links away. And so, Myst - the place that was once a prison for Atrus, Achenar and Sirrus - has instead become a prison for me. And the game ended where it began.
Unfortunately.
I reloaded the game, and gave the tablet to Yeesha to see another failed ending. She took the tablet and disappeared. After this, I went to Myst again to see Esher’s reaction. He insulted me, and left me trapped on Myst.
So, I played the successful ending. I’d read Yeesha’s entries, describing the Bahro as slaves. I’d listened to Esher say that tablet controlled the Bahro. And in all the Ages, I’d seen what the Bahro do when you set a tablet down.
They take it.
So, I put the tablet on the ground, and the Bahro took it.
They became their own masters. They were free.
With their aid, Yeesha and I were linked to a new Age. Here, I met Atrus, who had grown quite old. After a short while, the Bahro arrived with Esher in tow, and he was taken away by them to be punished as they saw fit. Atrus told me that this new Age was Releeshan - the age I had saved in Myst III - and that this was the new home for the D’ni. A Bahro spread his wings - which they have, apparently - and picked me up. He carried me into the air, and I saw the fullness of Releeshan. It was the end.
But what an end.
Thanks Cyan Worlds for the memories. If it is in the cards, I truly hope you rebound from your financial losses.
