Myst is a game people either seem to love or hate. I never got it, and it seemed like the dullest game ever, but I know enough Myst-fans to understand that it did something very well. I just don't understand what.

I don't think age has anything to do with it, though. I have the same bored-out-of-my-mind reaction to newer Myst-like games, but a visit to any adventure game site shows that there's a lot of people who love them. So the love or hate thing seems to be true for the entire subgenre, not just Myst.

Myst... guh.
Important for lots of technical and historical reasons, but I Could. Not. Stand. It.

Having already played, say, Ultima Underworld and Doom, I wanted 3D environments that you could actually move around in. Myst's chunky navigation bugged me. I mean, sure you're just clicking between static screens, but it grated that "turn left" meant "turn left some arbitrary developer chosen angle."

As to the puzzles themselves, I like puzzles, so I stuck it out until the very near end. At which point the CD I was borrow refused to play due to scratching, but I'm not holding that against the game.

The presentation overall was better than, say, 7th Guest at least.

Its a adventure game. Like zork. If you don't like exploring and puzzles you aren't going to like it. Enough people did like it so they kept making them.

It was written in Hypercard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperCard

I still use the skills Myst taught me, like every time I have to reprogram a watch but the manual has gone missing. I remember at first I just felt like "there aren't any hints to these puzzles, so I don't know where to begin", but after I got over the idea that I have to have my hand held through videogame puzzles and that these might involve me figuring things out on my own, that they might take genuine figuring-out, that's when I started really getting into it, and the satisfaction of solving a Myst puzzle all on your own is pretty well near unparalleled on the list of 'satisfying things to have accomplished in a video game'. My only regret is that I never stuck with it long enough to find that one last page!

Some people like fighting games, some people like RPGs, some people like RTS games, some people like FPS games. Myst is an adventure game, and if you don't like adventure games, you won't like Myst.

Adventure games take patience and careful thought to win, instead of quick-wits and reflexes. Most games these days focus on the reflexes part of the spectrum, so it's no surprise that many console video gamers would not like Myst.

(P.S. I like it.)

I loved the Myst series of adventure games, which are focused on problem and puzzle solving, beautiful scenes, not quick reflexes and gun shooting. IT is all a matter of preference and taste. I have played all of the Myst series, and am looking for recommendations for new adventure games which are equivalent in difficulty in the classic adventure style. Thanks MA