Adventure Gamers - Forums

Karlok - 28 June 2024 09:14 AM

Veovis - 28 June 2024 03:26 AM

Played the Riven Remake for about an hour yesterday. The initial feeling is the same as with the Myst 2021. Beautiful but something is lost in translation. And the changes they have made so far feels pretty random.

I’m trying to reserve judgement for now. Not easy. I had been looking forward to the 3D maglev rides but the aren’t any better or more beautiful. I don’t get why they moved the room where you open the gate to the maglev, but that might become clear later. One thing I liked: you can get much closer to the sunners, who imo are uglier than in the original game. One thing I disliked very much: the “moyety device” that I haven’t found any use for yet, maybe to discover the animal symbols that have been removed from their old spot.

I don’t get that one either. I know that isn’t actually the case, but somehow the change of location of Gehn’s “hologram device” felt like something AI could have come up with if given the command to “physically change things around a bit”. Like a spot in the world has literally been lifted from one place and randomly put somewhere else. I felt the same way with the new solution to getting through the wooden door on the side of the rotating room. Doesn’t make more sense than the original solution imo. Actually both solutions are quite bad.

I’ll also try to reserve judgment though. It’s still early in the game. The remake definitely feels “new” in a way that has the potential to be challenging in a good way. Good thing they have promised rain this weekend in the area where I live!

Edit: One more negative having to do with the graphics. I think the spots where the islands meet the sea look pretty bad. And there are something in the water that took a while to even recognize as rifts or chasms in the water. So cheap looking. Is this because of the VR thing I wonder?

Veovis - 28 June 2024 09:32 AM

I’ll also try to reserve judgment though. It’s still early in the game. The remake definitely feels “new” in a way that has the potential to be challenging in a good way. Good thing they have promised rain this weekend in the area where I live!

I played a couple of hours more this weekend and I find the game definitely challenging. Lots of changes. In the environment but also in the documents and diaries. Some puzzles are only slightly different but I came across a completely new one. Took me quite a while to understand what I had to do because I was stuck in my expectation of the old puzzle.

Edit: One more negative having to do with the graphics. I think the spots where the islands meet the sea look pretty bad. And there are something in the water that took a while to even recognize as rifts or chasms in the water. So cheap looking. Is this because of the VR thing I wonder?

I think that’s intentional. For 2 reasons: Riven is a man-made world and the weird rifts are signs that it’s falling apart. I noticed the same but smaller “tears” in the Riven fabric somewhere else (not in the water). And Gehn mentions them in his diary.

I like the new 3D Riven. Even though the atmosphere without the FMV is not as good.

How about you, have you made progress and what’s your opinion?

PS: Not saying it’s “better” than the original Riven. It is not.

Karlok - 30 June 2024 02:01 PM

How about you, have you made progress and what’s your opinion?

PS: Not saying it’s “better” than the original Riven. It is not.

I’ve played it for 4-5 hours and I like it. A lot more changes in the environments and of the puzzles than I had anticipated. This is definitely not Riven as we know (and love) it, but a reimagining of the game. One difference is that the game steers the player towards a specific route through the game compared with the original, which was more or less open to explore in any order from the beginning. Even though I haven’t yet solved any of the main puzzles the way we gather clues seems simpler and less abstract compared with the original.

So far I think Cyan has made a good job of making Riven accessible for newcomers to the series. As a fan of the Myst series I find it interesting but definitely not as good as the original. But I enjoy playing it a lot.

Edit: The game works badly with a controller. I play it in a kind of hybrid way, where I use the controller for movement and the mouse for looking/action.

Also, I have made some use of the camera/notebook function. Not sure if this should be considered cheating, since notetaking was such an integral part of the original. One thing I’m on the fence about is whether or not the notebook should have been made accessible directly from within the game. Any thoughts on this?

I think you both have convinced me to buy the new Riven and give it a try. The trick is to NOT compare its quality to the original, because this will probably lead to many disappointments (especially to a hardcore fan like me), but more to enjoy it as a reimagining of the original. I am very willing to do that.

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I’m now almost 8 hours into the game and spent the last hour or so in the game being stuck, possibly at the same spot as Karlok (at least I’ve reached that spot and need to understand how to progress further). I’ve either missed something major, probably on Djungle Island, or it’s “only” that I don’t understand a specific clue. Or possibly both. I will have to go through all of the open areas of the game again and see if I find something to move things forward. Would hate having to resort to using hints!

Despite (or maybe because of) the serious stuckness, I’m loving this remake more and more!

I’m playing the GOG-version and don’t recall having seen a single achievement notification. Good thing!

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I quickly got unstuck when I began playing again yesterday. I think the difficulty is just right so far. What threw me off for a bit was that I hadn’t found the Rivenese symbol for a certain thing connected to another certain thing. Still haven’t, but I finally realized I had what I needed to solve the puzzle anyway, without having to resort to force-solving. Hard but fair.

I admire Cyan for not watering the game down too much and/or putting a hint-button in there.

Now off to meet Gehn!

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Ok, I’ve finished Riven Remake. It’s a a brilliant game, possibly from an objective, non-nostalgic prespective a better game than the original. The recreation of Riven in 3D is fabulous, and not once did I feel the areas I know from the original were different than I imagined them when playing the original with its slide-show style presentation. I enjoyed the new areas and small changes to the environments as well, but I’m on the fence a bit here, since they make Riven no longer be, well, Riven. It’s a revised world to some extent. The puzzles too have been heavily revised and it was great fun solving them. I’d say the remake is a bit easier than the original, but it’s still a challenging game.

On the negative side is of course the 3D models. And I think all things Ghen has put the islands of Riven through with his experiments look too “clean” and “sophisticated”. In the original there’s more “grit” and signs of “brute force” wherever he’d been manipulating the world. Especially noticable with the rotating globes imo. Takes away a bit from the menacing feel and tone of the game.

Just began Riven Remake. Sure, Atrus was….. atrocious (pun intended), but the 3d models are such a small part of the overall world. I am literally a free puppy running in Riven, sniffing every corner of it!! Perhaps it has a little bit less menacing tone then the original, but so far (far=rjust made it to the Jungle Island) I love it. My enthusiasm is beyond limits rn.
I like they kept the original sound effects/music as well. They were instant classics.

EDIT: I kinda liked how they made the rotating room puzzle necessary to move forward in the early game, just by moving the throne room with the lever to open the door to the Maglev after it!

EDIT 2: I also liked the early introduction of the D’ni numerical system! Even if it is just the 1-10 numbers! I wonder if the schoolhouse toy will be available in this version too!

EDIT 3: WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT INSIDE THE SPINNING DOME???? This version is full of surprises and I am very happy to play it!!!

EDIT 4: I can already notice the differences regarding the notorious Animal Puzzle. It took me about 6 months to realize that the first one should be the fish because it makes no sound AND can be seen through a lens inside Gehn’s Laboratory in the original. I wonder how much time it will take me this time to figure it out. 

Just entered Gehn’s Laboratory in Boiler Island, ready to see if my nemesis (aka Gehn’s handwriting) is still there as terrible as ever. I hope not.

Things I liked thus far:
- The graphics are just as gorgeous as they were back when I first played Riven. The world gives me vibes that I havent felt since back then.
- There were some nice changes, like making the rotating room puzzle mandatory and having access to the scoolhouse available at all times (contrary to the original when you could miss it and, well, get stuck for an eternity).
- Some excellent new additions, like the spinning domes leading to an entire new world/puzzle and the Moiety nummerical system.
- Thank God the D’ni numerical system remained the same. It was something I trully feared.

Things I didnt like thus far:
- The 3d models are awful. Gehn’s lackey was a bit better than Atrus, but FMV is the FAR superior option.
- The Magnifying Glass tech. Not only it can make people exploring Riven literally with a giant glass in front of them (thus missing the entire gorgeous Riven experience), I fear that its implementation in riddles is kinda… mediocre imho. And that leads us to….
- The Animal Puzzle. The removal of animal sounds, the totems, the “in your face” implementation of the Magnifying Glass compared to the much more subtle use of animal visuals of the original (Cave entrance in the shape of a rock, puddle in the shape of a beetle, Shadow of a rock in the shape of a fish, etc) makes it much easier to solve imho. I havent yet found all clues (as usual, one eludes me. I hope the solution is not the same as in the original), but so far it is much easier and much more straightforward. And I dont think I like that. The implementation of the Moiety numerical system is what I mostly liked here.
- While there are plenty of live animals around, from Sunners to beetles to butterflies, I miss the small hints of the original that there were actually villagers around trying to hide from your view. But that might change later on.

Are these cons enough to ruin my experience? NO!! A thousand times NO!!!! It is one of the, if not THE most beautiful game I have played, I am completely immersed into the world and, while I am not ready yet to say that it is better than the original, it is up there, reaaaallly close!!!!

EDIT: Thank you, my 3.5 years old gaming laptop for being able to run this thing. You were a monster back then when I bought you, you have yet to meet your equal, running almost everything at maximum settings, but Riven almost made you lose. Almost. Takes about 3mins to load, but you got there. At normal settings.

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The Wahrk Elevator can’t open from the Jungle Island in the remake!!
       
It would have saved me so much time!!!

EDIT:
On the other side, I just realized how the star fissure with the spinning domes works as an interconnected shortcut and in all honesty, it is….. ingenious. And furthermore, making mandatory to visit Prison Island for the last piece of the Animal Puzzle (plus talking to Cathereine for the first time)? Chef’s kiss!!

I do have to note though how our entire plan would have failed if Gehn had remembered to just….raise the bridge from the Prison Island entrance through the Star Fissure.

On my way to Plateau Island and suddenly I fear the Marble Puzzle much more than the Animal one.

It is worth noting that I havent been stuck once in the game. YET.