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:

No Man's Sky Intro

  • 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 Island by Cyan

  • 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.

    Myst - Selenitic Age Map
    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. Myst - Selenitic Age Map

  • 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.
    Myst - Channelwood Age Map
    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).
    Myst - Channelwood Local Map

  • 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.

    Myst - Mechanical Age Map
    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!

    Myst - Stoneship Age Map
    Image from http://myst.donotknow.com/

    Myst - Stoneship Solved

No Man's Sky - Helpful Tools

No Mans Sky - Refiner Listing

  • 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.

    Ultima I - starting SE map

  • 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.

    Ultima I - Southwest corner 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:

    Ultima I - Northern Territory map

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.
    Zork - House in the middle of the woods
    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.
    Zork - Under the house and into a maze
    Map merged with Infocom download
  • The ending to this game is past the Atlantis room (top of previous map), courtesy of Infocom: Zork - past the Atlantis room
  • 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.

    Zork II map - Wizard of Frobozz

  • And we would be remiss if we didn't mention Zork III - the Dungeon Master. Have you played all three?

    Zork III map - The Dungeon Master


Contact Me

Feel free to contact me at patrickesty@hotmail.com with any suggestions or questions. Give me a day or even a week, depending if you end up in the junk-mail folder :-)

Orlando, FL   32812
USA

My cell: 407-956-7581