Trap books vs Prison ages

[Hellish Fiend]

I came across the below comment in a Myst 4 Blind Let's Play that I'm watching. Can anyone corroborate any of this? If it's true, I have to admit, it's a bit disappointing, since I much prefer the mysterious one-man prison trap books vs the more mundane prison ages.

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"According to what I remember from a different Lets Play, this retcon was a long time coming, as in 1998, right around the time that Riven came out, one of the game designers was talking on message boards (now gone, but the message was preserved somewhere) that the games are "incomplete adaptations of real events as described in journals found by our historians".

It's the "Literary Agent Hypothesis", stating that the games are only adaptations of original works that we aren't privy to. Not exactly something I agree with, but the conceit is that they had to tell a story that was much more expansive than their technical limitations allowed, so they changed details of what "actually" happened to fit the limitations of their tech. Hence, what happened in the events that they adapted into the Myst game, wasn't actually how it happened in the game, but that the person described in the "journals" they used as a 'basis' for the Myst game actually didn't use the Red and Blue books to talk to Sirus or Achenar, but evidently read their journals in the four ages you can reach from Myst island, and pieced together how to find the page the brothers tore from the Myst linking book in D'ni.

Similarly, instead of it being a Prison Book that you trap Gehn in at the end of Riven, he'd merely get sent to a Prison Age, while the player used something to flip the lever and get out of the cage around the linking spot in Gehn's study.

Richard Watson (Rawa) talked about this just after Riven came out in 1997, so this sort of retcon was actually already in the lore as far back as that point. This was just the first time that a player experienced the retcon as part of a Myst game."

[Marck]

The earliest reference that I could find and deals with this topic is a letter from Richard A. Watson (RAWA, Cyan's "D'ni Historian"), dated September 10, 1998. Find a copy of the posting on this page, for example: http://archive.mystlibrary.org/dnidesk/rawalink98.html

[Hellish Fiend]

You're right, this excerpt right here tells us virtually everything we need to know:

"From: Richard A. Watson
To: Riven Spoiler Lyst
Subject: Re: Comments on Myst
Date: Thursday, September 10, 1998

.....

My stance for all of the above is "artistic license for gameplay reasons."

Sound doesn't travel through the books, and there is no way that Atrus could have actually seen you from D'ni or for the brothers to see out of their books, or for you to see out of the prison books.

.......

Just my opinion,

RAWA"

[Halloween Jack]

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

I came across the below comment in a Myst 4 Blind Let's Play...

Remember, too, that Myst 3 and 4 were developed by other game studios, with some input from Cyan.

Things that stray from observed Cyan game lore are often due to a lack of strict lore continuity observance by the studios that put those games together.

[Hellish Fiend]

Originally posted by Halloween Jack:

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

I came across the below comment in a Myst 4 Blind Let's Play...

Remember, too, that Myst 3 and 4 were developed by other game studios, with some input from Cyan.

Things that stray from observed Cyan game lore are often due to a lack of strict lore continuity observance by the studios that put those games together.

Thanks. This is really just about my pet preference for the mysterious, Twilight Zone-like trap books. Meaning, I wouldnt necessarily be upset one way or the other, but its good to know that Cyan never officially, as a studio, made the move over to prison ages. =)

[Halloween Jack]

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

... its good to know that Cyan never officially, as a studio, made the move over to prison ages. =)

Well, don't quote me, I'm no lore master, but it begs the question... Where do you put the bad actors and repeat offenders when the books fill up?

Prison ages are the next logical step...

[Hellish Fiend]

Yes, Prison ages absolutely make logical sense in the context of the D'ni-verse canon. But, someone mentioned the "Rule of Cool" in another thread recently, and along those lines, I think that the concept of Trap books continues a sort of chord progression of "Rule of Cool" that the linking panel started.

Look at it this way. Especially for those of us who played the original game back when it came out. We just touched a moving picture in a book and got transported to the place we saw. COOL! Within literally a few minutes, we're seeing another moving picture, except this one has a face in it that's talking back to us and asking for our help. COOL! This may be pseudo-lore or "artistic license" as RAWA put it, but it sure does strike that same chord of "Rule of Cool". Prison ages, by comparison, are a fairly mundane usage of the linking panel plot device.

But, I actually really liked Myst 4, so I dont complain too much. =)

[keybounce]

Originally posted by Halloween Jack:

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

... its good to know that Cyan never officially, as a studio, made the move over to prison ages. =)

Well, don't quote me, I'm no lore master, but it begs the question... Where do you put the bad actors and repeat offenders when the books fill up?

Well, if you're familiar with D&D cursed magic items that trap people, when you fill them up, each new person (party member) added releases some ancient (always evil :-) villain to defeat :)

[Hellish Fiend]

That's a good reference! Any D&D player worth their salt playing Myst for the first time would probably know right away to never touch the panel of one of those trap books, lest they unleash an unspeakable evil upon the world.