The Myst Ages From Best to Worst!

[xbolt]

I'll put in a list too if I may, although I think I'll only make it a top ten, otherwise we'll be here all day.

<snip>

At first, I was very confused about your mysterious symbols. And then I was like: "OHHHHHH...."

Riven is my favorite. In fact, it's probably my favorite world from any game ever.

[jameverywhere]

My favorite ages? I think I will pick one from each game rather than try to rate them in some kind of order, other than the first one...

D'ni: I would probably rate D'ni at the top of the list, too. Buried deep into the rock, illuminated by a great orange lake, it is alien and mysterious even as it resides on the very Earth we live on... the atmosphere and feeling of D'ni, how its people had to burrow into the rock and make the inhospitable, hospitable... it brings a lot of aspects of D'ni culture to light, and why they wrote the worlds they did, and where their creativity came from, and what drove them. Being able to explore this in the Uru expansion pack was a dream come true for me.

Channelwood: This was always my favorite age. It seemed like a warm age--most places with that kind of a frog chorus are warm, even muggy, places, like Louisiana for example. Of all the ages you can link to from Myst, it seemed the most lived-in, like you could pick up where the old inhabitants left off. I always imagined that there was food and fresh water in those stoppered clay vessels scattered around everywhere, and some wine still good left in Sirrus' room there, so that a traveler would be able to survive by returning to Channelwood periodically to stock up. (There was, like, nothing in the way of food on the other ages, even Myst, and the only other fresh water would be from the spring on Selenetic or the rain in Stoneship. And I guess a small wine cellar in Mechanical). After you beat the game Myst and Atrus basically gifts all his worlds to you, I always imagined that I would take up Channelwood as my primary residence...

Riven: There's not much I can add to when it comes to Riven. The age is so beautiful that even when I am trucking back and forth between islands on the various trams, etc., I never skip the animations between each location. It has a warm and tropical feel to it, like Hawaii or another polynesian island, and the fact that it is clearly inhabited makes it less lonely and isolating than the other ages of the D'ni--even though the villagers flee from you and ignore you.

J'anin: I want to live in the little stained glass house on the lake. So. Bad.

Haven: It was enough to turn an absolute madman into someone with actual compassion and humanity. Need I say more?

Gahreesen: Something about the enormity of the age really spoke to me as a kid. I always thought it would be really cool to be in the Guild of Maintainers, if I were D'ni (but of course IRL I am kinda disabled so I would have to be in a more sedentary guild...). I also liked reading about the great and terrifying creatures that supposedly lived on that world as well, and staring out over the water and being glad I was in the stone fortress and not out there between the trees.

Laki'ahn: For the most part I liked all the ages in Myst V, despite exposition-man showing up every two seconds to lecture you as you explore them. IF it was for pure aesthetics I would choose Direbo, but Laki'ahn had the greatest sense of history to it, unsavory as it might have been. There was nothing left of the prisoners on Taghira and the lab on Noloben was suspiciously empty for having been someone's sole residence for like 100 years or however long it was. Laki'ahn also had life to it, creatures that still lived there, unlike the inhospitable and cold locations on Todelmer.

[Echo Dragon Wolf]

I pretty much completely agree with your list here are my personal favorite ages:

- Riven
I like Riven so much because of its size, its distinctive style, its haunting isolation, and its attention to detail. Exploring it is amazing, with so many amazing visuals and important objects. Everything in the age, from the architecture to the ocean and the Black Moiety knives, has an almost creepy, tribal style. They give a certain mood, of a strange world that is both literally and figuratively being torn apart. The music echoes this, a haunting, watching, tribal sound that makes you feel like someone is just waiting for you to make a mistake... there are subtle things you don't notice, like the importance of the number five, or the sacrificial whark contraption and the toy in the schoolhouse that shows how ingrained this ritual is into the inhabitants of Riven. The things on Gehn's desk are so fun to look at, showing the strange water and many other studies of Gehn. Everything about Riven has a certain feel, and is probably the most immersive age in the entire series.

- 223'd Age (I think thats what its called)
This age is so visually amazing, with its dramatic lighting and strange double-mountains. There isn't much to know about the age, other than its windy, (and if you do know about the age, I'd love to hear about it!) but it seems to capture the essence of the game (Riven).

- Haven
Haven is just amazing, with such a rich atmosphere. The broken, wind-torn ship, embedded upright in the ground, surrounded by constant gusts of sand and dust, and lined by fang-like rocks that signify the harsh nature of the age as massive waves crash in the distant... it's just beautiful. But it also has a harsh brutish nature that seems to say, "kill and eat, or be killed and eaten." The only complaint I have about Haven is Achnear. He just seems so... calm, sane, and rational, the opposite of the Achnear I know from Myst. He didn't even laugh once, as far as I can remember!

- Spire
Spire is just so cool, for many reasons. It's one of the most amazing looking ages of any game in my opinion, and has awesome science. The contraptions of Sirius's desk are great (almost as good as the things on Gehn's desk), and the devices he has are just cool. The entire age almost describes Sirius's true identity, dark, calculating, scientific.

- Narayan
Narayan is (as the OP said) possibly one of the most creative age of all the games. The visuals of the age are so unique, with its lattice trees above the clouded ocean. By the way, my favorite part was when Saavedro smiled creepily and twirled his hammer around .

There are other ages I love, of course, but this list is pretty long already... so anyways, those are some of my favorites.

[Andross]

- Riven
I like Riven so much because of its size, its distinctive style, its haunting isolation, and its attention to detail. Exploring it is amazing, with so many amazing visuals and important objects. Everything in the age, from the architecture to the ocean and the Black Moiety knives, has an almost creepy, tribal style. They give a certain mood, of a strange world that is both literally and figuratively being torn apart. The music echoes this, a haunting, watching, tribal sound that makes you feel like someone is just waiting for you to make a mistake... there are subtle things you don't notice, like the importance of the number five, or the sacrificial whark contraption and the toy in the schoolhouse that shows how ingrained this ritual is into the inhabitants of Riven. The things on Gehn's desk are so fun to look at, showing the strange water and many other studies of Gehn. Everything about Riven has a certain feel, and is probably the most immersive age in the entire series.

Totally agree with all of that!