Stuck on Prison Island

[Rebel Poet]

I went to prison island as my first destination, right after doing the rotating room.
I've exhausted everything i can do on Prison Island (I think, which was very little really) and would like to depart.

But the dome has closed behind me. There's another 'spinny symbol' thing, but I'm unsure what symbol to use. Have i missed anything?

[Just Chill]

No you didn't.
Normally you would get 5 symbols and some codes for these from a ripped out page in Gehn's lab, so you just went a bit too early to the prison island.

Later when you get the viewing glass you need to get back there for retreiving a specific animal code number.

Let's make it quick:
https://www.godisageek.com/wp-content/uploads/Riven-Walkthrough-Part-5c.jpg
^^

[FuzzyJuzzy]

I thought you refunded the game after your outrage at the door hinge puzzle...

[Rebel Poet]

Originally posted by FuzzyJuzzy:

I thought you refunded the game after your outrage at the door hinge puzzle...

I did. But I gave it another try (also, the bundle was cheaper than the game on its own...). The explanation of the daggers pointing to helpful things was fair enough for me to proceed, but I still stand by my opinion that it's too easily glanced over. (there's an entire reddit post on this as well).

See, the thing is that I had just finished Myst a couple of days prior to Riven's release.
Whilst Myst also did not have any highlighting, it was always very apparent to me what could and could not be interacted with so I guess I was conditioned for 'obvious' interactables (Myst really isn't a puzzle game though, it's hardly a challenge).

I just needed more confirmation that this isn't my game; I went to the prison island not realizing that you need to commit the symbol for said island to memory (apparently...) or else you'd be stuck there.

The very fact that there is possibility of ending up there (and not realizing you were required to remember the symbol on the dome, because...why should you?) with no apparent way back other than brute forcing the spinny clicky thing just cemented my opinion on the game.

[shredasaur88]

Try using the eye telescope like before. You just have to hit it at a different point, when the eye is half closed and not fully open.

[Just Chill]

Originally posted by Rebel Poet:

Originally posted by FuzzyJuzzy:

I thought you refunded the game after your outrage at the door hinge puzzle...

I did.

Well... Steam still doesn't show you owning it.

[Hellish Fiend]

The game rewards observation. I mentioned to someone else in a similar thread how you actually have two really good opportunities to make note of the eye symbol for the prison's spinning dome. First, when youre lining up the bridge in the starry expanse, and second, inside the airlock when it's closing to let you out.

Maybe youre right and its not your type of game, but patient observation solves literally 90+% of the puzzles in this game, whether youve played the original, or not.

I hope youre able to manage to enjoy it!

[jjemb]

Hellish Fiend, I agree, but it's a good point that if you miss those clues, and are on Prison Island, you are effectively softlocked without the viewing glass. That doesn't have much to do with patience, I don't think.

[Hellish Fiend]

Originally posted by jjemb:

Hellish Fiend, I agree, but it's a good point that if you miss those clues, and are on Prison Island, you are effectively softlocked without the viewing glass. That doesn't have much to do with patience, I don't think.

I understand why people might look at it this way, but the truth is that this is not even close to being softlocked. There are literally only a handful of practical places where you can press the button on that device, as you only have to be somewhat close to the correct symbol to trigger it and open the dome. You can get in there simply by clicking it repeatedly until you happen to click it in the right place. This was the main method of getting into these domes in the original game since you could click the button so rapidly that it was faster than trying to line up the symbol before pressing.

[tech_hutch]

You had to use the correct eye symbol to unlock whichever dome you used to get in the Expanse to begin with, so shouldn't that have been a hint that knowing the right one is important? I noticed that too, tho, that Prison Island would be easy to get stuck on. If you have the lens, there's a marking below the correct symbol on the dome. If not, I guess the only thing to do is to look it up online or reload an earlier save, which isn't great.

[FhqwhTODD]

Originally posted by tech_hutch:

If you have the lens, there's a marking below the correct symbol on the dome. If not, I guess the only thing to do is to look it up online or reload an earlier save, which isn't great.

You can always just bruteforce it. Was way faster for me than anything else. It's honestly very easy to complete the whole game opening the domes with just randomly trying positions to stop the dome.

[Henry]

Originally posted by Gottkaiser Fhqwhgod:

Originally posted by tech_hutch:

If you have the lens, there's a marking below the correct symbol on the dome. If not, I guess the only thing to do is to look it up online or reload an earlier save, which isn't great.

You can always just bruteforce it. Was way faster for me than anything else. It's honestly very easy to complete the whole game opening the domes with just randomly trying positions to stop the dome.

This. In the original the correct symbol flashed gold, but not here. Though if you know the possible ones, it shouldn’t take long.
At this point we’re just beating a dead horse though, OP likely looked it up by now ;). Cheers

[m88]

Same situation as OP.

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

I understand why people might look at it this way, but the truth is that this is not even close to being softlocked. There are literally only a handful of practical places where you can press the button on that device, as you only have to be somewhat close to the correct symbol to trigger it and open the dome. You can get in there simply by clicking it repeatedly until you happen to click it in the right place. This was the main method of getting into these domes in the original game since you could click the button so rapidly that it was faster than trying to line up the symbol before pressing.

You shouldn't have to bruteforce your way out of any situation in well-designed puzzle games. If I enter a room and the only way out is a digipad but its code is written in a previous room I cannot access anymore, then it's a game design oversight. The situation here is pretty similar. I don't know the correct eye symbol to get out of the prison island and have no possible way to get this knowledge now that the dome is closed and rotating. I just assumed I missed a clue somewhere else on the island, but apparently I didn't. My problem is just that I purchased a botched game. Pretty disappointing.

[Hellish Fiend]

Your post is dripping with cynicism and contrarianism, just in case you hadnt noticed. Given that as I type this, your status currently shows as "in-game", I'm assuming you havent given up on it yet. I understand how it can be disappointing for certain design choices not to align with your expectations, but dwelling on that makes it difficult to enjoy just about anything. In all fairness, as stated earlier in the thread, you have to miss multiple opportunities to make note of the symbol for that dome to end up in that situation. You mistakenly assumed the game would conveniently place information where you would expect it to be, and for devices to behave the way you would expect them to behave. Is it really good game design if everything is exactly how you would expect it to be, so that you can just blaze through it without being proactive in your observations? I dont really think so.

Ultimately it helps to try to approach it narratively instead of from a game design standpoint. Try shaking your fist at Gehn (or even Atrus), rather than at Cyan. Try to stay within the game world as much as you can. That's the way Riven was meant to be played.

[FhqwhTODD]

Originally posted by m88:

You shouldn't have to bruteforce your way out of any situation in well-designed puzzle games.

You don't have to. SOMEHOW you got into another dome without bruteforcing it.
The correct symbol is marked, you just have to see it. If you got into a dome without seeing the marking you bruteforced it / you did not use the intended way to get the correct symbol.

[Apollo 13]

WELCOME TO THE WORLDS OF RIVEN . Enjoy.