Weird game to adapt to a movie, if you ask me. The whole thing about Myst was the mood and the tone, which would not be adaptable to a movie.
They’re gonna try, anyway.
Wow. I could not disagree more. Myst is the video game that is best-suited to be turned into a movie. What is it about the mood and tone that wouldn’t be adaptable to the screen? There are genres specifically dedicated to mystery, suspence, sci-fi and fantasy.
Wasn’t the original game pretty much an interactive movie, to begin with? I never played much of it, but from what I saw, it looked like it was mostly on rails anyway, with your only decisions amounting to how quickly to follow those rails.
I hope it stays faithful to the original boringness of the game.
I would like to pay to watch 30 minutes of trying to match tones between a keyboard and walking back to another place of the island.
Not really (or not more than any other non-sandbox game); there were a lot of puzzles to figure out, and you had a fair amount of choice in which puzzles to work on at any given time (though of course you had to finish them all to get to the end). Heck, there were even three different endings, though which was the “right” choice was pretty bleeding obvious.
As one of my favorite games of all time I’ll be first in line to see the movie. Compared to most video games this one is tailor made to become a feature length film. Myst generally was a very cinematic game and a big part of it’s appeal was it’s cinematography and sound design, two aspects that a good director could really harness in the film. The story is strong and the mystery element could be a very effective story telling tool. Getting the mood and tone of the game will be essential. If they try and turn it into a action film it won’t work. It should be more Memento and less Inception.
That said, the article gives me some concern. They seem to be favoring the novels, which I haven’t read, as the core of the source story. That could be a big issue if they stray too far from the premise of the initial game. In my opinion that’s the ideal story to tell. Have the main character drop into this mysterious world by accident, have him panicked and helpless, perhaps bookish and fearful, and have him explore the familiar island. Introduce the books and the pages, and have our hero trying to interpret the fragments to understand how and why he’s here. Allow the music to create urgency and anxiety. Perhaps replace the puzzles with booby traps in order to add an element of danger, but don’t spend much time at all on exposition and leave the audience as confused as the hero.
Making some derivative fantasy story about some mystical, ancient people who have magic powers will not be compelling. It’s been done too many times and the Myst franchise is not know for that aspect. Like I said, I haven’t read the books so I could be missing something excellent, but I want the movie to mimic the first game.
I’ve read the novels. They basically cover everything leading UP to the game. And at least in my opinion, they’re very good.
ETA: And Myst isn’t known for magic powers? Hello, teleporting books?
No, it’s not known for that. The teleporting books are one limited thing. None of the puzzles are magical and there’s no fantasy-esque magic spells or trinkets. The books aren’t the first thing people discuss when they talk about the games, it’s the puzzles, the setting and the mystery of the unknown. The books are little more than a story telling device.
I have to admit that I’m torn. On the one hand, I do think that Myst could make for a really cool movie if it was done right. The trouble is, it would have to be a very non-traditional movie to work IMO. It would have to be something a bit like Castaway or the beginning of Wall-E. I’m just afraid that no movie exec is going to spend money acquiring a movie license and then take the risk of doing something different.
Well, now it’s bottom of the barrel time. Studios are mining the utter crap in various media (Jonah Hex, Ghost Rider) to see if anything sticks. I suppose the success of Resident Evil has turned their greedy eyes to video games, and we’ll probably be seeing Diablo: The Movie soon.
Maybe the director’s cut will be three and a half minutes long.
Three and a half minutes of switch-flipping ACTION!!!
Ah, I missed this thread the first time through.
I don’t think the game-as-movie would work, because there are very few characters. I haven’t played the game in a long time. and I am unsure if I completed it. But isn’t the player the only character?
Indeed.
Okay, first a bit of background. I played the first three games, and of them the first was the only one I really cared for (and judging by how I’ve never seen Riven or Exile on any platform besides PC, I have some company here). IMO, the original presentation…you’re thrown into this exotic other world and have to discover your purpose and work toward it piece by piece…was near-perfect. I find the concept of an in-game hint system jarring, even if there are players who need it. If a puzzle is too tough for a reasonably intelligent person to dope out, make it easier. Even with its minor flaws, though, the designers really knocked it out of the park. Riven was too frickin’ hard, and Exile looked and played exactly like a game where you wandered around a tiny area not having the slightest idea what to do. (Plus it gave me motion sickness.)
I’m…intrigued by this. Surprisingly, I think it’s a viable idea. The elements for a good story are here: mystery, suspense, wonder, something important at stake, and of course breathtaking visuals.
This would work as an art house or festival film, where it could bring in viewers looking for something unusual and generate buzz without the need for a blockbuster opening weekend. If it shoots for box office numbers, it’s going to suck or fail. Possibly both.
And I agree that any Lord of the Rings Lite rehash of the D’ni is a bad idea. It’s going to get eaten alive.
I find the idea that this is going to be anything other than horrible laughable.
Yeah, I was very surprised at how good the novels were. Generally, books derived from video games are, well, shit.
If they only base it on the game, I can’t see it appealing to a general audience. There’s only one character, who has no one to talk to. The ending has the main character remain stranded on the island with very few answers.
However, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they turn out a killer soundtrack.
I’m with Rysto, I think the original game could make a very interesting movie if done right, but I have severe doubts that any movie exec looking to make a videogame license will take the risks involved in making an interesting movie. It’s the same way I feel about a Metroid movie. Those games are also mostly about isolation & exploration, just with occasional bits of action, but I just don’t see Hollywood being willing to leave well enough alone. If they made a movie of the original game, they’ll add a plucky sidekick, and a romantic interest, and the main character will end up fighting Sirrus or Achernar or some made-up henchman (saving Gehn and the brothers for future sequels), and be a mediocre Indiana Jones wannabe at best (like the Tomb Raider flicks).
Like DKW I didn’t care for the later games, but from what I remember of Riven and what I read about the later ones they seem like they’d be able to fit a more traditional movie plot formula much more easily than the original game.
But most of all, I think it should be the books. I only ever read the first two, the Book of Atrus and The Book of Ti’ana, but they were really good, and instead of derailing into some LotR-wannabe they kept up the mood and style of the original games, being more about intrigue and mystery than action or high fantasy. In D’ni the only real magic was the books, like the games anything else was steam-punk technology as I recall. This is most likely because the books were written by David Wingrove from drafts made by the Miller brothers (the series creators) themselves. Most importantly though, they keep the style while having casts of characters, with regular interaction and relationship storylines, making it much more accessible to the general audience and your average Hollywood creative.