Game Favorites & Maps
This page is a list of my favorite 80's RPG (role playing games) games of Myst & Riven (by Cyan), Ultima (by Lord British, now part of EA Sports), and Zork (by Infocom).
Summary of Game Favorites:
- Myst & Riven were developed by
Cyan, Inc. by Ryan and Robyn Miller in the 90's, and can
be found as downloadable games for either XBox or Playstation
as well as the Steam platform.
- No Man's Sky was developed by
Hello Games founder Sean Murray in 2008,
released worlwide between 2016-2020 to various
platforms such as Playstation and Windows. It is
one of the most immersive and artistic games, (and
therefore peaceful and enjoyable), that I know.
- Puzzles - sometimes you have to just
get off of the computer and your iPhone (like when you're
on a cruise ship or a tropical island), so I have a list
of favorite "analog" puzzles.
- Ultima was developed by Richard
Garriott, aka Lord British, in the late 70's to 80's
and is downloadable by
EA Sports to a local workstation. This is a
blast from the past, but Ultima VI has put a permanent
mark on me.
- The Zork Anthology was developed by
Infocom in the early 80's by Dave Lebling and Marc Blank.
Here is some interesting
Zork literature from Infocom.
- Myst starts on an island where
access to other lands are found by solving various
puzzles and finding other "travel books" to touch.
- Riven was the sequal followed by
quite a few others, but I did not capture any maps
yet as I haven't had time to replay the game. This
is for a future project.
- Meanwhile, as I restarted Myst, I found the first
puzzle to solve was the rocket ship (bottom right)--
this ship brings you to the following map below.
This age seemed to be a very "in progress" land, an age that seems very quiet, but have your speakers on as you need to use your sense of "tone" to solve some audio puzzles.
Image from http://myst.donotknow.com/
After solving "audio" puzzles, you have to line up your central device to a "visual target". This was one of the more entertaining of the puzzles by far.
- After you solve the puzzles on the solitary island,
you are brought back to the main island. The next
puzzle I was able to conquer was the "tree" (where
you have to go through the cabin in the woods with
the safe, matches, and fire). Should you find the
hidden tree entrance (behind the cabin), a book will
bring you the Channelwood Age shown below.
Image from http://myst.donotknow.com/
Not sure if this ground-map helps. To get back to the main Myst island, solve all audio/visual puzzles and a return-book will be presented (I think on the third level).
- Back to the island again, my next stop was figuring
out the "clock" at the end of the island. I believe
the hint was found in the "puddle" or "image room"
where you want to talk to Catherine via the lost
leaflet found on the ground. After this is solved,
you get to the clock and find passage to the
Mechanical Age, shown below.
Image from http://myst.donotknow.com/
- Lastly, the hardest to achieve for some reason, after
solving the puzzle in the middle of the island to raise the
sail boat, you get access to the Stoneship Age, shown in
the following map below. Good luck on the ending!
Image from http://myst.donotknow.com/
No Man's Sky - Helpful Tools
- No Mans Sky - is an immersive problem-solver game (if I were to give it a label). To help me, I've created a Refiner Listing as it is key to progressing in the game.
- There is a ton of content out there so just hit your Google.com search and see just how popular it is.
Favorite Puzzles - Logic, etc.
- Logic Puzzles are my favorite "downtime" and hands-on activity. They seem to center me and get me to "super focus". To assist in playing, I've created a Logic Puzzle Grid Builder you can print out to help solve them.
Ultima Maps
- Ultima was developed by
Lord British (Richard Garriott) in the late 70's/80's
and is now owned and downloadable by
Electronic
Arts to a local workstation. See more information
on the
history of the ultima series.
- The journey finds you on this corner of the map (SE)
near the castle of Lord British and a town of Paws.
- Should you venture directly west (or across the ocean
to the east since the world is really not flat),
you are found in this SW corner of the Ultima I map.
- This game is really a game of "many deaths", even
if you are careful, early levels have low hit points
where you eventually learn to survive by exiting
dungeons early, healing, and making sure you have
enough food to carry and eat. After a while, you
find transportation (with enough coins) to hire a
frigate or even some space-age travel vehicles! This
will get you to the northern maps shown here:
Zork Maps
- This an other full maps can be found at: https://www.vaultofculture.com
- It all starts in a clearing in the middle of a forest
(map below) where if you travel south you find an
abandoned house.
Map portion created by David Ardito and David Lebling (1981) - After you solve the mystery of getting into and
past the cellar (lower left), you are presented with
a maze on the left and a short passage towards the
great dam.
Map merged with Infocom download - The ending to this game is past the Atlantis room (top
of previous map), courtesy of Infocom:
- It's been so long since I did this game, I had completely
forgotten where it ended, only that I had died a few times
(once by a nasty thief) where I walked around like a ghost
and couldn't manipulate anything.
- Should you encouter Zork II - the Wizard of Frobozz, the
map is less complex but the game is just as dangerous.
- And we would be remiss if we didn't mention Zork III -
the Dungeon Master. Have you played all three?
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