OK, after my usual dig in and play it style for the last week I was at a point very close to ending MYST V. AND THEN IT HAPPENED!

I have 3 of the 4 tablets. I was in the arena with the platform pillar thing and I started experimenting. Trying to figure out how to make the thing work and so forth. Well, I was able to lower it all the way down, retrieve the symbol on the tablet stand and then go through the motions of transporting to the stand once I raised it again. Unfortunately, when the platform lowered all the way back down IT DISAPPEARED! Yes you read right, IT'S GONE! And so is every bit of game play I have put into this game sans walk through. The last "snap-shot" saved game I had was all the way back to the ice planet. In other words approximately the very beginning of the GAME!

Here is a link to a screen shot I took of what I am calling The Void

You see, while in "the void" you can not move in either direction. In other words I am effectively trapped. Nothing I do; restarting, resaving, etc., etc., etc. allows me to leave this predicament. I feel like just hanging the game up and calling it quits. I take tons of notes and yes I can go back through again, but look at how close I came!

I know I'm usually pretty mild mannered, but I am just so angry. I used to be a software analyst prior to moving to the business side of I/T and one of my tasks was software testing. In the "Making Of" DVD that comes with the special edition Rand says something to the effect that the game was "extensively tested so that a quality product could be released to the public" (paraphrase) - Extensively tested my you know what! Did they just use the walkthrough on a couple different machines and say "Oh, OK, it's ready" Did they think that maybe, just maybe someone may try a bunch of different combinations and do unorthodox maneuvers because they were not using the walkthrough!?! Apparently NOT! I have come across 5 different glitches so far, all the previous MYST games played without a hitch. I get the feeling that this game was developed by a company that was in its death throws and knew it so they just pushed forward and spit it out.

OK, I'm done. I apologize if I ruined the game for anyone, but I had set my expectations very high for this game due to my respect for Cyan and they failed on several levels.

Hey Trail --

Sorry, but I am still laughing at the title of your thread!

I haven't gotten as far as you, so I'm trying to read this without REALLY reading it, if you know what I mean.

I don't know what to say. I did experience the occasional "clipping" type of glitch in RealMyst and Uru, so my experience with the Myst games has not been absolutely glitch-free.

Perhaps someone who is near you in the game could give you a saved game so you don't have to replay virtually the whole thing?

I loved your void picture!

Thanks for tolerating my rant Becky...As you know it is a very difficult task to get me really angry. I still have the greatest respect for Cyan and their work. Myst V does have some wonderful graphics and character development albeit a bit on the maudlin side.

It's definitely a must play, just because it is the last (as far as we know of the MYST series), I just had to find an outlet for my frustration over coming so far and then having to start all over again. Being who I am, I will in fact eventually go back through the game because I don't want to leave behind the feeling of accomplishment that had built up (as with every game I play) during this session.

Obsessed with adventure games? I plead guilty as charged. Why else would I get so emotionally twisted over a glitch? I need to get another hobby

Look on the bright side T.M. I couldn't even get the demo to run so decided to wait and see. You've made it a lot farther than me. The only other modern game I've had any problems with is Broken Sword 3, though I've managed to avoid a few stinkers by waiting on reviews.

Albert

Hello Trail_Mystic. Welcome to my Myst V world! I also am having major problems with this game. My computer rebooted in the middle of the "heat" puzzle on the frozen lake and I lost all my saved games and had to start from the beginning! Not a fun thing! I hope it doesn't happen to me as I get close to the end of the game.

When I played URU and the Shell I also lost all my saved games (they were corrupted) so I had to start over in that game as well.

Hi,
Uru didn't have separate save games - but Myst V does. If you lost all your previous saves in Myst V (all the pictures in your journal were gone) - you may want to report that. I had not seen that happen, though I don't spend much time in the the Ubisoft tech forums.

On the Ubisoft Myst V forums, I've been recommending that people "save, save, save". I haven't experienced any game crashes myself though I did experience a freeze or two. Stopping and starting the game put me back to where I was in the game, but I also had lots of saves to fall back on.

There is at one "bug" that I know about, though it doesn't cause a game crash or freeze, nothing like that. If you are creative and experimental with drawing on the slate (kind of a fun thing to do) you may experience what I would call a bug, though it doesn't cause the game to crash. Depending on something you input on the slate, you might be further along in the game than you should be. It's not hard to figure out that something isn't right when that happens - all of a sudden you are done with an age, and it's pretty clear you didn't solve all the puzzles.

So yes, save at judicious points in the game.

Hey mszv, hope the MBA program is going well for you!

I absolutely agree; save, save, save. You think I would have learned that from previous game play experience, but being an emotional sort I tend to get very involved in the game and forget that need. For me these games are escapism and I let myself trust that the developers know that. I guess it's a life lesson as well....

Well, fun is fun and nothing in life that is rewarding comes without cost. Time to pull up my boot straps and jump back into the game...

Trail -- it sounds as though you'd been playing the game non-stop for hours.

mszv When my computer rebooted by itself my saved game files were all corrupted. When I went to new game where it lists player 1 etc., in the box next to player 1 it said corrupted.

Just not back into that void, TM!

It's not just me then. I stood in the void for ages trying to get out.

I had however saved about an hour earlier at the start of Laki'ahn so didn't have too much to do (didn't spend ages pulling levers trying to open the cage) but it was still annoying.

Going to post a query on the ubisoft support pages right now.

That's usually how I play games. I don't get a chance to play as often as I like due to my rather time consuming job. I end up scheduling in game playing into my calendar and it has to be at least 6-12 hours at a crack. Anything less and I don't get the same enjoyment out of them. It's not uncommon for me to schedule an extra day or two of vacation for just game play if time has been extra tight Gotta have it!

Trail-mystic,
I notice on your picture of the void the edge of the slate at the bottom.
You couldn't click on it & go back to a previous pedestal? Maybe the one that you took the slate from?
I guess I was very lucky, the only problem I had with my XP was over steering when I tried to move it different directions but, I got use to it.
Jtiffin

Well guys..i sure hated to hear of the problems you've had w/this game...i have not had but one 'freeze' , but now have had in Noloben some little fine dark lines running thru once in a while...my Nvidia is all up to date, so i don't know what is up..but i save, save, save...but i guess the down side to that is carpal tunnel turning the pages gettin to the back of the journal where you want to re-load!!! but at least not like Uru and go make a pot of tea while it is loading!!! ahhaa

jtiffin,
If that function exists with the slates I would very much like to hear about it. During the game play I never came across the ability to do that unless I'm at the pedestal itself...