[MdaG]

Since I've played through Myst 4 I've come to the conclusion that I'm not sure what really transpired while "I" was uncouncious in Tomahna in the first part of the game. From various flashbacks I know that someone (presumably Sirrus) chased Yeesha into the fireplace of Tomahna, where she then closed the hatch and fled into Haven. I know she was in Haven due to the flashback in the nara chamber where she trips. Close to the chamber in Haven there is a crystal yielding a flashback showing that Sirrus and Achenar fought each other. There is also some dirt in Tomahna that yields a flashback where you can hear Yeesha pleading iirc about some key to a door leading to a linking book for Serenia.

I don't think I've gotten enough information to piece together what exacly transpired during my "nap". There are some leaps I've had to make for the story to make sense. Here's what I think happened:

* = logical leap (I'm guessing here)

1. Sirrus discovers the frequency to destroy Nara.
2. Sirrus breaks free and links to Tomahna.
3. Sirrus attacks me with a sonic bomb and knocks me unconcious. *
4. Sirrus goes after Yeesha.
5. Yeesha flees into the fireplace and into Haven.
6. Yeesha somehow gets through the bars or the object space in the Nara chamber of Haven. *
7. Sirrus destroys the Nara chamber with a sonic bomb and goes after Yeesha. *
8. Achenar finds Yeesha and Sirrus close to the chamber and goes to help her. *
9. Sirrus and Achenar fight each other. Sirrus somehow wins.
10. Sirrus drags Yeesha back into Tomahna and forces her to show him the way to Serenia.
11. I wake up and start exploring.
12. Achenar wakes up and goes to Tomahna and then to Serenia. (How does he know they went to Serenia?)

Am I close?

[Kurufinwe]

Well, that's how I understood it.

[MdaG]

I don't like having to guess what happened *

[Kurufinwe]

Well, it is a reflection-oriented game, isn't it?

More seriously:

(6) is confirmed by a flashback when you look at the "dumbwaiter" in the nara chamber in Haven.
(7) is confirmed by the fact that one of Sirrus's crystals can be found among the broken nara in this chamber.

Which leaves only (3) and (8) to deduce. And I think the designers did mean that to be some sort of puzzle; it's certainly far easier and more interesting than the one with the bathysphere, and I therefore would not call it unfair.

[MdaG]

bathysphere?

[Kurufinwe]

That underwater pearl harvester on Serenia (the one you use to empty that bloody pool at the end of the game).
Well, I think that was how it was called in the game (possibly in the hints).

[MdaG]

Oh that! I LIKED the bathysphere puzzle, it was fair and logical once you figured out that you had to stop the flow (and how) of water to get to the underwater door. Man reading the map of the waterflows was no piece of cake, bleh!

Which leaves only (3) and (8) to deduce. And I think the designers did mean that to be some sort of puzzle; it's certainly far easier and more interesting than the one with the bathysphere, and I therefore would not call it unfair.

Btw, what did you mean that it was intended as a puzzle?

[pleto4_ryan]

Sirrus drags Yeesha back into Tomahna and forces her to show him the way to Serenia.

And then he imprisones her in the dream; where you have to help Yeesha in the dream-world (towards the end) to get her free from Sirrius' mind?
Haven't played the game, had seen this on a magazine.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by MdaG

Man reading the map of the waterflows was no piece of cake, bleh!

I never did figure out how to. Whenever I get to that part of the game I just play around with all those mechanisms until I notice that the water level has gone down a little. How is it meant to be done?

[Kwiksnax]

Originally Posted by MdaG

3. Sirrus attacks me with a sonic bomb and knocks me unconcious.

I don't think Sirrus intentionally attacked the player, in fact I don't think Sirrus was even aware that the player was on Tomahna at the time. I think he used the bomb to destroy the outer security mechanism of the underground linking chamber (the one with the Spire and Haven linking books) in order to gain free access to Tomahna. Go down to the chamber and you can see the huge outter door has been blown off its hinges. I think the player was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got knocked out by the bomb's blast.

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by MdaG

Btw, what did you mean that it was intended as a puzzle?

I meant just that. That understanding what was going on was a puzzle that you have to solve (a bit like a murder mystery, if you will); only that the game doesn't depend on your solving the puzzle (well, it sort of does, actually, since you have to choose the right lever in the end). I like games in which the story has actually some use, instead of just sitting there beside the puzzles (a flaw far too common in Myst games and Myst-clones).

Oh, and I hated the part with the waterways. I mean, why should I have to figure out a badly designed map, when I could just follow the water, if the game had allowed me to, instead of only letting me follow rather useless predetermined paths. That's a typical case of a puzzle made much harder not because it really is hard, but because the design of the game makes it hard (i.e. something that would be easily achieved in real life, but that the game design and/or interface makes artificially hard). I hate that sort of things.

Originally Posted by Kwiksnax

I don't think Sirrus intentionally attacked the player, in fact I don't think Sirrus was even aware that the player was on Tomahna at the time. I think he used the bomb to destroy the outer security mechanism of the underground linking chamber (the one with the Spire and Haven linking books) in order to gain free access to Tomahna. Go down to the chamber and you can see the huge outter door has been blown off its hinges. I think the player was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and got knocked out by the bomb's blast.

Yes, that's also what I thought.

[MdaG]

Ok, I never did figure out how the sonic bombs "worked". Only that they shook matter into pieces. Sirrus must've found a universal frequency that works on all kinds of materials...

[MoriartyL]

Am I the only one who finds it odd that Sirrus' exit route must be recreated by the player? What kind of an explosion has temporary effects?!

[MdaG]

What do you mean? His escape route was through the Nara chamber, wasn't it? The whole point of going into Spire is to find that color amulet... (which for some odd reason is left on the elevator )

[MoriartyL]

You have to set off an explosion to get into the elevator. The flashbacks indicate that Sirrus did the same. But if he's already blown it up, then why is there no damage when you get there?

[MdaG]

There was something on top of the elevator. Some kind of debris which I think is from the area around the Nara chamber. I don't think Sirrus used to bomb to use the elevator I think the elevator was "down" when Sirrus broke out and some debris from the blast ended up on it... *another logic leap*

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by MdaG

There was something on top of the elevator. Some kind of debris which I think is from the area around the Nara chamber. I don't think Sirrus used to bomb to use the elevator I think the elevator was "down" when Sirrus broke out and some debris from the blast ended up on it... *another logic leap*

Uh huh. Well, I certainly don't play Myst for the story, anyway. You didn't say how you managed to read that map.

[MdaG]

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

Uh huh. Well, I certainly don't play Myst for the story, anyway. You didn't say how you managed to read that map.

I didn't I ended up doing some trial and error until I got it right. There aren't that many combinations so I went for it.