I’m evil. I’m not finished with Myst III: Exile yet, and not even close to finishing. Just the same, I’ve broken down and started Myst IV: Revelation. I received a copy of it early from a friend who knows what an absolute fanatic I am about the game, and I did my best to resist its charms. I did great for maybe a day or two, but now I’ve cracked.

And I’m not sorry a bit. I thought the demo was beautiful, but comparing the limited nighttime visuals of the demo is like looking at a diamond in the dark. You can tell it’s clear and pristine, and you can see the smooth facets, and you can imagine how it really looks. But you have to shine light through it to catch it’s true essence. Forgive my waxing poetic, but it’s kind of like that. Walking around with leaves blowing in the air and birds flying around while water runs calmly in the canyon below… well, it was like a punch to my gut. A nice punch, maybe, but still a punch. It took all the air out of my lungs and it was a minute before I could recover. All I could think was “they’ve done it again, those geniuses.”

I’m not as far into it as I would like to be. I’m savoring it slowly to try to get the full flavor. Actually, that’s a nice way of saying I keep getting stuck, but we’ll let it slide. Between the chaos that makes up my currently demanding schedule and the pesky need for sleep (see my response on the Xbox.com interview for my opinion on sleep) I feel like I lack the ability to give it the quality time it deserves, but I hope I can remedy that situation soon enough. If I can give my full concentration over to what it’s trying to tell me, maybe the puzzles won’t hammer so loudly against my mental barriers. At least the music doesn’t aggravate my pitiful condition by repeating over and over. Thank you for that. I am forever grateful (and for the camera, which is the other greatest development ever).

- Jinx