History VideoGame / Riven

* GuideDangIt: Riven in general is seen as much harder (and, in some cases, more obtuse) than Myst, so there are several spots in the game that could qualify. The most well-known, however, is the notorious "Waffle Iron" puzzle, where the player must correctly place five coloured marbles on a [=25x25=] grid, with very little indication as to what the marbles or the grid represent. And yes, the colour of the marbles ''does'' matter, yielding a total of 93,850,000,000 combinations, according to the behind-the-scenes coffee-table-book "from Myst to Riven: the Creations and Inspirations".

* SceneryPorn: Duh. But compared to the original Myst this game still looks ''gorgeous''.

* SceneryPorn: Duh. But compared to the original Myst this game was ''gorgeous''.

* TreeTopTown: The village in the Moiety Age, situated in the middle of a giant tree, as seen on the cover art.

* AGodAmI - Most people who write linking books believe the Ages to which they link already exist, and they are simply providing a way to access them. Gehn, however, believes that the act of writing a linking book actually creates that Age out of whole cloth. Therefore, since he wrote Riven, he believes himself to be its god. The stained glass spyholes in the pentagonal "Gate Room" make this painfully clear.

%% Is it really, though? Since the Star Fissure is what connects all worlds, I'm under the impression that the crack is merely a portal to the Starry Expanse. And the notion of visible portals preclude the possibility of alien geometries.

** Using the prison book on Riven: [[spoiler: Gehn uses one of his minions to free the player from the book, then shoots them, monologuing while the player bleeds to death.]]

* GuideDangIt: Riven in general is seen as much harder (and, in some cases, more obtuse) than Myst, so there are several spots in the game that could qualify. The most well-known, however, is the notorious "Grid Puzzle", where the player must correctly place five coloured marbles on a [=25x25=] grid, with very little indication as to what the marbles or the grid represent. And yes, the colour of the marbles matters.

* AGodAmI - Most people who write linking books believe the Ages to which they link already exist, and they are simply providing a way to access them. Gehn, however, believes that the act of writing a linking book actually creates that Age out of whole cloth. Therefore, since he wrote Riven, he believes himself to be its god. The stained glass spyholes in the pentagonal room make this painfully clear.

* NothingIsScarier: Searching through Gehn's study, mainly if you're a first time player expecting Gehn to walk in any second, even still, snooping around the room gives up massive creepy vibes.

* {{Leitmotif}}: Gehn's appears primarily as a figure on the oboe and is teased throughout the entirety of the game. The full songs isn't heard until the player meets Gehn.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: A given, considering the original came on multiple disks, which the player had to swap mid-game whenever travelling to a different island. Or, in one case, the other half of the same island. This is obviously averted in the DVD-ROM, {{Steam}} and [[{{Website/GOGDotCom}} GoG.com]] releases.

* WellDoneSonGuy: There's a ''bit'' of dysfunction between Atrus and his father…
* WordsDoNotMakeTheMagic: Gehn tries to use the D'ni art of writing linking books without really understanding the full effects of the phrases that he uses to write them, resulting in links to unstable worlds. This causes the ever-looming threat of Riven falling apart during the player's attempt to rescue Catherine, as well as the conflict in the novel Myst: The Book of Atrus.

* ChekhovsGun: The telescope is one of the very first things you encounter. [[spoiler: Near the end of the game, you figure out how to open the latch underneath it and remove the safeties to break the glass underneath that, allowing you to escape from Riven and beat the game.]]

In the previous game, a man named Atrus is part of a splintered civilization called the "D'ni" (pronounced "Duh-NEE"), who have the ability to create portals to alternate realities within special books, simply by writing the description of the reality in the book. Atrus was trapped in a stone hall prison by his two twisted and evil sons, who in turn trapped themselves in separate ages (the name for these alternate realities) by accident. However, an unknown character only known later as "The Stranger" (that's you!) appeared on Atrus' home age of Myst. The Stranger pieced together the clues of what happened on the island of Myst, and rescued Atrus by freeing him from his stone prison.

But now Atrus's wife Catherine has been trapped on the age of Riven by their sons. What's worse is that the Age was created and is ruled over by Atrus' twisted and deluded father Gehn, who sees himself as a god, and who has now imprisoned Catherine.

* AGodAmI - Most people who write linking books believe the Ages to which they link already exist, and they are simply providing a way to access them. Gehn, however, believes that the act of writing a linking book actually creates that Age out of whole cloth. Therefore, since he wrote Riven, he believes himself to be its god.
* AllThereInTheManual - A lot of the backstory and character motivation is explained in The Book of Atrus, which is never fully explained in the game.
* ArcNumber: 5. Too many examples to list, but most notably the title (Riven has five letters, the full title has five words, the game comes on 5 discs, and the V is made prominent)
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: When you get a special hatch combination, access to a steam-powered activation lever, and lower a telescope too much, you can trigger this. [[spoiler:However, there is only ONE correct time when you're supposed to do it.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:The backstory has Gehn truly grieving the loss of his wife.]]

-->'''Gehn:''' I am no longer your father because you are no longer my son! [[spoiler:<Shoots Atrus>]]

* WellDoneSonGuy: There's a ''bit'' of dysfunction between Atrus and his father...

* IgnoredEpiphany: Gehn is obsessed with thinking the [[ArcNumber number 5]] is the key to making linking books... even though all the physical evidence and Gehn's own research points to ''six'' as the true number.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: A given, considering the original came on multiple disks, which the player had to swap mid-game whenever travelling to a different island. Or, in one case, the other half of the same island. This is obviously averted in the {{Steam}} and [[{{Website/GOGDotCom}} GoG.com]] releases.

In the previous game, a man named Atrus is part of a splintered civilization called the "D'ni" (pronounced "Duh-NEE"), who have the ability to create portals to alternate realities within special books, simply by writing the description of the reality in the book. Atrus was trapped in a stone hall prison by his two twisted and evil sons, who in turn trapped themselves in separate ages (the name for these alternate realities) by accident. However, an unknown character only known later as "The Stranger" (that's you!) appeared on Atrus' home age of Myst. The Stranger pieced together the clues of what happened on the lone island of Myst, and rescued Atrus by freeing him from his stone prison.

But now, Atrus's wife, Catherine, was trapped on another age, called "Riven", by their sons. It gets even worse that the Age was created, and is ruled over, by Atrus' twisted and deluded father "Gehn", who sees himself as a god, and who has also imprisoned Catherine.

The beginning of the game sees you meeting Atrus again after an unspecified amount of time. With this, he sends you to the age of Riven with a special book designed to capture Gehn, and the main mission to rescue Catherine.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:the backstory has Gehn truly grieving over the loss of his wife.]]

* ArcNumber - 5. Too many examples to list, but most notably the title (Riven has five letters, the full title has five words, the game comes on 5 discs, and the V is made prominent)
* [[spoiler:TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt- If you do anytime when you get a special hatch combination, access to a steam-powered activation lever, and lower a telescope too much, you can trigger the beginnings of this. However, there is only ONE correct time to do it.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes - [[spoiler:the backstory has Gehn truly grieving over the loss of his wife.]]
* IgnoredEpiphany - Gehn is obsessed with thinking the [[ArcNumber number 5]] is the key to making linking books... even though all the physical evidence and Gehn's own research points to ''six'' as the true number.
* NintendoHard - It's generally regarded to be the hardest in the series, with many clues to the few puzzles scattered across the game world, and integrated into it, rather than signposted as clues.
* SceneryPorn - Duh. But compared to the original Myst this game was ''gorgeous''.
* WellDoneSonGuy - There's a ''bit'' of dysfunction between Atrus and his father...