Artistic license
From MYSTlore
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This page is written from an OOC point of view. Events and elements surrounding the Myst Universe are regarded as fictional.
During production of the Myst games, many decisions were made not based on amount of realism or on how 'true' the result would be to the actual storyline, but rather based on budgetary or technical limitations, or on whether something could be made to appear more appealing and effect-rich.
All of these decisions are considered un-canon to the storyline, and wrapped together under the term artistic license.
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[edit] Exemplary list of such changes
The following list is incomplete and only serves to give good examples of where, and why, sacrifices in realism were made.
[edit] Changes due to budgetary or technical limitations
- Myst Island, according to Cyan, was supposed to appear several times as large[1]. Making an Age that big, however, would have resulted in taking up more space (thus possibly violating the requirement to fit on one CD), and would have made navigation a lot more cumbersome (as it was optimized to have each node be a worthwhile view to look at, and as players would otherwise have wasted time looking for clues at completely meaningless places). Instead, the Age was compressed to be just about big enough to reasonably host all relevant elements. Unfortunately, this takes away from the realism; Ti'ana, Atrus and Catherine (and, at one point, also Sirrus and Achenar) were all supposed to have lived here, yet "living" elements, even just beds, a kitchen, etc. are rare to find.
- In most games, Ages are empty with a few exceptions, so linking panels generally don't have to show any moving objects. In Uru, however, Ages frequently host multiple people. Despite that, linking panels are static images. If a person were to run across the area seen in a panel, they should be seen running, but due to the static nature, they aren't.
[edit] Changes due to effect or appeal
- In several games, the linking panels show a fly-by of the Age. While this makes for a nice effect, it is not realistic: the purpose of the linking panels was only to signify where exactly one would end up, what the weather conditions there are like (including, for example, lighting, so the D'ni could know whether goggles would be a requirement), etc. In Uru, the panels are static images. This, however, isn't entirely accurate either, as the presence of other people is thus not visible in the panel, and probably should be. The static nature of Uru's linking panels is due to technical restrictions, and may be addressed later on.[Citation needed]
- In many cases regardless of which game, the image seen in the linking panel highlights elements of the Age that are central or visually appealing. The image should, instead, match the exact perspective the player sees after linking.
[edit] Changes for a more approachable storyline
- Trap books are considered entirely non-canon. When linking through such a book, one actually ends up at a prison Age, rather than a void. Also, the idea whereby "only one can be trapped at a time" is apparently a non-existent concept. Despite the ending of the game Riven, it is therefore an open question where Gehn actually ended up, or whether he found a way to escape.
[edit] Changes to hinder puzzle cheating
Occasionally, the avatar is unrealistically constrained in an attempt to keep the player from "cheating", in the sense of skipping over puzzles that should be solved before getting to a new area.
