MORE: A dream fulfilled

[GPNMilano]

Until now, I haven't really addressed my views on MORE. I decided to sit down tonight and explain a vision I had of MOUL, a vision that I hope to see carry over to MORE.

The majority of us know what DIRT was. The original version of Uru. A single player, stand alone game in which you travel to D'ni via the Great Shaft and tunnels, and the culimination of your travels being the City of D'ni. Then DIRT became a multiplayer game and many things were revamped. Gone were the tunnels and the trip from the surface, and introduced were the Bahro and Yeesha and Relto. Some of us welcomed these new changes and storyline, others did not. I fell in the middle. I love the Bahro, and the storyline behind them. I Don't like Relto, or Yeesha's magical role as the Grower.

The dream i had of MOUL, and now for MORE, was a melding of the concept of DIRT, and the storyline of Uru. In this new Myst Online you once again start at the Cleft. You once more can follow Yeesha's path, but now are offered a second path. By the DRC. They have reopened the tunnels to D'ni, and now offer you the ability to travel to D'ni through the tunnels. This is done out of fear from the DRC that allowing explorers to keep following Yeesha, without offering a safer way into D'ni, would place them in endangerment from the Bahro civil war. That the freed Bahro, who are out for revenge for their imprisonment by the D'ni, will view any that follow a D'ni descendant as their enemy. Once you are given that choice, the game radically changes. Now you must make a choice, will you follow Yeesha or will you follow your own route into D'ni. If you follow Yeesha, through her journey, the game progresses just like Uru. If you follow the DRC's route through the tunnels, things make a dramatic shift. Upon entering the Tunnels via the caldera, you come upon a collapsed tunnel. But there is a linking book on a pedestal, that will take you to the otherside of the collapsed tunnel, the top of the Great Shaft. Once you use this book you can no longer get to Relto, and the Bahro doors won't work for you anymore. The savecloths will now just save your progress in an age. You don't have relto, you can't collect bahro pedestals and stones. Instead you travel down the shaft and tunnels, receiving your KI along the way. Upon reaching the end of this route, you are treated to a boat ride across the harbor. Once you travel underneath Kerath's arch your screen blacks out and the load bar starts. (No link sound you haven't linked) Once you've ended the load screen, you're now at the Ferry Terminal on the boat. From here you can visit the nexus, and access your neighborhood, or domicile. The domicile will be a simple room, with a tiny garden and balcony. This will be your home in D'ni if you've traveled this route. You can collect objects in the game just like Yeesha pages, only now they are installed in your home while your away by friendly little ResEngs. Each time you do, you receieve a ki message from the DRC informing you of the installation. In the city, hoods, and various D'ni areas like the Great Tree Pub, you will be able to access various ages. Upon linking through them another message is sent to your ki informing you that a linking book has been sent to your home courtesy of the DRC. (thus you will have a bookshelf just like Relto.)

Fan created ages will be available through a book in your domicile, and in relto. A secondary Nexus, UCC only. The Nexus age is thus fully explained. Each nexus is one room in a great machine built by the D'ni to store their linking books. The ultimate library age. Every linking book the D'ni had created was placed into this machine. Everytime someone linked to the Nexus they were sent to a room in the Nexus machine, (This would explain where Kadish got the idea for Ahnonay's spheres from. The Nexus rooms rotate everytime someone links into them. They are at the end spokes of one gigantic wheel. Each time someone links into a Nexus chamber, the wheel rotates so that an empty Nexus room deposits a new person into it. Then it rotates again. Removing the idea that the Nexus's are instanced. The only instanced areas in this game would be the ages. The city is only public, the D'ni areas are only public. If you link through a linking book in the public areas, you arrive at a public instance of an age. The only time you arrive at an instanced version of an age is when you link through from Relto or your Domicile.

This would cut down on instancing, and introduce a truly multiplayer aspect to URU. You can still play single player via relto or the domicile, but not D'ni areas.

Now, the reason I kept the Bahro around is quite simple. They introduce a new aspect to the D'ni. The darkest aspect of the D'ni. Their slavery of the Bahro that began on Garternay. This retcons the history of the art, but not completely. What we know of linking is that the ink is suppied via beetles. But where are these beetles? Where did Atrus get them to write his books? Where did Yeesha get hers etc. The idea behind this is that there were no beetles. That the highest of the highest of the Garternay government new the truth when the Art was developed. The ability to link was gained from The Bahro. That once they enslaved them, the Bahro's abilities to link became their own. The Tablet is what facilitated this. They used a bahro artifact, to enslave the only race capable of linking at will. From this they developed the Art of writing, the bahro taught them out to write ages, and they passed it off as their own. They created the Art because of their enslavement of the Bahro. In order to hide what they done, they passed off the ability to link to special ink from scarab beetles. But the truth was the Bahro taught them how to link during their enslavement, and kept them enslaved ever since. Up until Dr. Watson came along and gave the tablet back to them. Now that their freedom was returned, one faction of bahro demand justice for their slavery by the D'ni, and its followers. This A. Gives a unqiuge insight into the history of D'ni. THe reason for its fall is it became corrupted by the Art. B. Gives a storyline to follow besides the restoration of D'ni, it adds a level of tension to the game. Do we have a right to link, when the ability was taken by force from the Bahro so many years ago?

This is the dream i have for MORE. A game, fueled by fan content and ages, but peppered with official Cyan content, and driven by a storyline of rebuilding the D'ni civilization, in opposition to a set of creatures who were deeply hurt by that civilization. And being protected by another side of that same set of creatures who have vowed to protect those that freed them.

Thoughts

[Jeffrey]

I really like that idea. The only problem I see with it is that it will not be allowed due to RAWA's rules of being able to write things and canon with the storyline. Although he did say we could make some places in the cavern so who knows. Also I think it should be an option to be able to do both paths. To be abel to have a Relto and through the tunnels and have a Domicille. I also like the idea of your own private place where you can collect D'ni artifacts (Domicille). Hopefully Cyan Worlds will allow this to happen, it would please alot of people I think, plus give the writes out there a really cool chance to develop an alternate game within Uru.

[GPNMilano]

I really like that idea. The only problem I see with it is that it will not be allowed due to RAWA's rules of being able to write things and canon with the storyline. Although he did say we could make some places in the cavern so who knows. Also I think it should be an option to be able to do both paths. To be abel to have a Relto and through the tunnels and have a Domicille. I also like the idea of your own private place where you can collect D'ni artifacts (Domicille). Hopefully Cyan Worlds will allow this to happen, it would please alot of people I think, plus give the writes out there a really cool chance to develop an alternate game within Uru.

Ideally, this would all be with Cyan's approval and help. Retooling the Great Shaft from Myst V, like it was done with Kveer in MOUL.

The reason I think that a player should only be available one path, is that techincally speaking they're already allowed both. You can have multiple avatars, this would give a reason for that. One avatar for whatever path you choose. No reason to have one avatar have both, when you can simply have two avatars, one with each if you prefer. Or multiple with just the one set path. The idea is to give players a choice. Just like Yeesha says in her speech, choices abound. There was no choice though, you could only follow her. This gives you that choice. And should follow most games that allow choice. once you make it you can't go back and unmake it, just like real life. You can deal with the aftermath of your choice, but never alter the fact that you made that choice.

[Jojon]

With Myst games, I've come to outright *expect* a third choice, not immediately proffered. :7

[Tweek]

My views on Uru can be found here : http://grey-skies.net/entertainment/gam ... -beginning

I'm very much in the camp these days that Uru should reboot and start small with DIRT, focus being on D'ni, the D'ni and not so much on churning out pretty, pretty, shiney, shiney Ages.

Not to mention it would give chance to fix a lot of story issues.

I'm a big fan of the Bahro, I think they rock, I also like Yeesha, she is an interesting character but we haven't had chance to really see that. Instead we just see her "skills" abused for the sake of gameplay mechanics, (GZ book in the Neighbourhood instead of going via the nexus book, which just seemed lazy to me)

[GPNMilano]

GZ book in the Neighbourhood instead of going via the nexus book, which just seemed lazy to me)

One of the things that greatly bothered me about MOUL was the increasing use of instances. I understand wanting to offer the option of playing alone. Which is why I think the ages themselves should have instanced variances, but things like the City should not. The city and hoods should always be public areas that anyone can reach. A city should be alive with life, not you being the only person there. That being said, things like the GZ book didn't really bother me so much. Yes it violated one of the rules of linking, that you can't link to a different place within that age. However those rules were rules made by the D'ni. As evidenced by the Bahro, these rules are in effect flawed. You can, its just the D'ni couldn't. To me it made natural sense that Yeesha could. She spent more time with the Bahro then anyone we know of so far. (With the possible exception of Esher.) So to learn that ability from them made sense. I kind of like the idea that the D'ni enslaved the Bahro to learn the Art, but even then resented them for their abilities that seemed beyond the capability of the D'ni. Because it brings up an interesting story element that if the Bahro had not been enslaved and mistreated by the D'ni, the bahro would have offered more of their knowledge to the D'ni, such as the ability to bend and even break some of the laws governing linking that the D'ni had embraced so whole heartedly.

[Chacal]

To be honest I'd be happy if we could go back in time and erase any mention of Mystical Yeesha and the Bahro.
For me Uru is about D'ni and Ages. I think a disproportionate amount of attention has been focused on a small part of D'ni history and society. This isn't Terahnee after all. I'd rather go back to exploring the unknown, as we used to do in Myst 1 to 4.

Also, it will surprise no one if I say that I'd rather drop the DRC entirely. They represent a form of authority in a world that doesn't need any. I don't think we need a single source of Story. Each Writer will provide a story for his Ages, and the story of D'ni itself has ended already.