We recently ought a Multimedia PC. I had heard how great MYST is and the PC came loaded w/Descent, which my son loves. So I was very pleased to see your August Strategy Plus with hnts for Descent and a MYST demo on the CD. When we got home and removed the CD, I was concerned because the back was scratched because it was not in a sleeve. It plays, but it skips and stutters in places. Maybe from the scratches? IE uses a cardboard sleeve, why doesn't Strategy Plus?
The MYST demo was a pain. First, even though I followed instructions explicitly and reset certain params from my system, I had a heck of a time getting it to play. I kept getting a 'call to Dynalink' error. With some persistence I was able to get past the error, but then found that each of the three selections on the main screen bombed out w/the same error. Eventually, I was able to bypass those and explore the library. (I really did want to see the demo, that is why I was so persistent.) I finally got in and found 2 books lying on stands that when opened revealed a black rectangle in the right hand page. When I clicked there, my old friend the Dynalink error knocked me out of the game again. Today I discovered the *.mov files on the CD and played them with the movie player. I now see where these fit into MYST and it was trying to access these each time I got the darn Dynalink error. I was really P.O.'d when the ".mov file" that corresponds to the Making of MYST box on the main screen told me (when I played it) that it wasn't available with THIS demo. How RUDE!!!
I've saved the WORST for LAST. Heirs to the Throne looks like a cool game. I thought it would make up for the sh---- experience with the MYST demo. I used WRITE to call up the Manual. Guess what, there are no page breaks after page 3. OK, not a big deal. I'll re-paginate the document and print it. Now I've started the game and it's password time, so I look on pagex for parx, linex, wordx. When I enter it, it fails. I try a couple of nearby possibilities, still no luck, and get bounced out of the game. I try again and again, each time it requires a Password from a different area. One turns out to be a page with 1 column of data down the middle of the page. There are no paragraphs with a second line. Bottom line, I never got into the game because the Manual is not laid out so I can find the passwords.
So what's the answer? - either the manual should contain page numbers, or the game program should have a "print manual" option to insure that margins, page breaks, etc. are all in the right place. How could anyone design such a complex, detailed game, then give you a manual that is not organized to MAKE SURE that you can find the passwords? Could it be that it got messed up going on the CD?
I was considering subscribing, but now I'm very reluctant. The very items you tout, playable demos and great free games, are the very items we had trouble with!
