Riven the sequel to MYST Title: Riven the sequel to Myst Developer: Cyan Producer: Broderbund For: PC MSWord: Courier New Created: By: Ghidrah EMaul: Ghidrah_@hotmail.com If anyone wishes to use this guide on their site, I would like to know. I don't have a problem with its use by others on Gaming forums, FAQ sites, or being copied for personal use. I'd like to know if it's to be used on a site though, just so I could drop by to ensure it hasn't been altered. So please send me your sites URL. _____________________________________________________________________________ As with all my guides, find some legit trick I missed, I'll give you credit for it in the guide and an insert amendment to the guide where it will be used. As long as the trick, shortcut, etc., etc., can be validated by me without the use of any kind of cheat codes if (codes) exist for this PC version of the game. _____________________________________________________________________________ 1. JUNK 2. OPTIONS 3. BRIEFING 4. WALKTHROUGH 5. SOLUTIONS 6. NOTES OF INTEREST _____________________________________________________________________________ 1. JUNK Riven the 2nd story in the MYST saga finds Catherine the wife of Atrus marooned on her home age of Riven along with Ghen the father of Atrus. As it so happens Ghen wrote the age of Riven many "X" number of years before and may be responsible for the geological chaos that has been plaguing the age for many decades. 30 years earlier Ghen was trapped on Riven by his son Atrus. Apparently Ghen is an unstable megalomaniac who aspires to recreate the D'ni civilization at its glory. How Catherine is trapped on Riven I'm not sure, however Atrus is truly afraid of Ghen and refuses to set foot on Riven even to save his wife. Atrus hatches a desperate plan to bait Ghen with a prison book given to MF before being sent to possible doom. _____________________________________________________________________________ 2. OPTIONS Options are accessed once you're in game at the upper left corner of your monitor screen. Move the cursor up and left and click, File, Transitions and Options appear. Set transitions to fastest otherwise you might snap waiting for MF to move or turn around. In options check off everything above setup and that's about it for Riven. My Friend moves through Riven by clicking the left mouse button. To turn around or look about move the cursor to the left, right top or bottom of the screen and left click. Linking books and some parts of FMVs The start up sequence for a linking window event is quite dramatic as MF circles and soars down toward the link in point of the next age or a different part of a current age. Conversations between MF and others while informative can take up some considerable time also. It does get old after the 1st couple times. To speed things along you can tap the space bar and jump to the end of the event where you're able to take action. Be aware that some conversations will not jump forward to the end but only make a partial advance. _____________________________________________________________________________ 3. BRIEFING Like MYST before and all the games to follow you really need to keep a notepad for all things important and for things that may be important but you're just not sure about. If this is your 1st time through or it's been some considerable time since playing you don't know what is or isn't important till the fat lady sings. Some important information and items like clues, buttons and levers are hidden in the geology and landscaping. You really need to explore and check everything to acquire all the info needed to solve some of the puzzles. You need to read all books, journals and letters you find on Riven and write down anything that looks or might look interesting. Draw and or comment on, (on the notepad) any and all designs you see especially if they're spread out over all the islands. It can get to be a PITA running back and forth all over hell looking for something for verification. Like all Myst games the hand icon, (pointing finger) changes for pointing up, down or for turning around and unless there's something of interest to grab, (open hand) it stays with the pointing finger. _____________________________________________________________________________ 4. WALKTHROUGH Atrus As the game begins you as My Friend appear in front of Atrus who's sitting at a makeshift desk and writing. The surroundings appear to be the same as you're meeting during MYST and much later in End of Ages. If so then this is K'veer. Atrus begins speaking as he hands MF 2 books, one is a small journal the other a linking book which you are told is a prison book. He tells you what he needs you to do and what he'll do once you find Catherine and contact him. At that point Atrus closes the book he's been writing in then reopens it, turns it toward MF to show the linking window. Riven Temple and Dome Island The next thing you know MF appears inside a narrow structure and then a barred gate slams up locking MF in. After a few seconds a Rivenese appears from the right approaches and snatches the linking book from you. Shortly after that it looks like the indigene is knocked out by a sling shot to the head as he drops to the ground. In a moment he's dragged away by someone unseen then said someone returns releases MF from the cage then scurries off with the prison book. You are now free to move about the cabin ... thoroughly explore your surroundings. Ahead and to the left is a metallic cone shaped device; investigate and take notes of all aspects of it. Look up and take note of the huge honkin gold dome high up on the cliff. Nothing works on the cone so pack up and move on. You can walk further into the cleft but it stops and drops off down to the ocean; head back toward the link in point and continue past to the ledge. Take in the scenery, Ah! This is definitely a water world and I wish I had my snorkel and fins. If you're methodical in your exploration you'll find many points of interest. To the left is a set of stairs up, at the top and to the right a bridge spanning the distance between 2 islets. Once at the top you discover an opening to the left and that the stairs go back down to the other side of the isle. 1st Temple As you move into the anteroom on your left you'll discover a button on the wall before entering the golden temple. Explore the small temple there's much to be found the number 5 appears all over the place. At the far left corner of the room is a gated opening which leads to the humongous Gold dome. Return to the anteroom and try the button to see what it does. Boo each peephole as it rotates into position then exit the temple when the openings return to their original positions. Take the stairs down the opposite side of the isle, locate the shoddy wooden and locked door and figure out how to get by it. Once past the door, move to the top far end of the room to Boo the peep hole. With what you see from the cave and what you learned from the temple anteroom button test what do we know? 1. The temple has a rotating wall with 2 offset openings. 2. The temple has at least 3 openings leading outside or to rooms at the cave's perimeter. 3. The walls of the temple have peepholes usable from the exterior side of the rotating wall only. 4. The 5 temple pillars have mechanical golden beetles that can be opened and looked into. What do we want to do? 1. Access the Gold Dome. 2. To see if there are any other hidden rooms around the temple. What do we need to do? 1. Use the anteroom button in conjunction with the cave opening via the 2nd set of stairs. (NOTE) As you discover what the temple has to offer ensure that you investigate all things thoroughly to achieve your goals and remember to take informative organized notes. I believe the golden beetles offer a history of Ghen on Riven. Start from the 1st beetle to the left as you enter the temple from the anteroom then move to your right to the next beetle after each viewing. Gold Dome Once you have access to the GD, explore and take notes. Do a close-up of the plaque on the railing, look somewhat familiar? Draw it out for any future reference. Take in the scenery once you're out the lower level of the dome. Lucky for us all the pipe junctions on Riven have little signs on them telling us what they belong to. Divert the steam flow on the pipe and continue along the walkway. At the beginning of the tunnel ahead you find an inactive button, then at the opposite end of the tunnel another pipe junction and lever. Pull the lever and take note of the railway system over the water and between the islands as you head back to the Temple. As you approach the dome opening leading to the bridge between the dome and temple take note of the lever on the right give it a try for GPs and take note of the results. 2nd Temple Click your way across the bridge to the next section of the island be observant as you move through the tunnel. Locate a door on the left, enter and poke at all the pokables one of them is important. Exit when done and continue to the next area which turns out to be another temple, (I guess). A huge cage, maybe it's the other end of the one in the cage room above. There's 2 big fish with tusks on either side of the cage. Exit to the big outside; there looks to be a transport station and a pedestal with a blue button on top, push it and wait. An odd looking shuttle pulls up to the platform and readies for loading. Once inside it'll be easy to figure out how to operate. Take a cool ride to your next stop. _____________________________________________________________________________ Forest and Village Island Once out of the shuttle take your time and thoroughly explore your surroundings. It's a bit camouflaged but certainly not invisible, there's a wooden-ish eyeball in the rock wall behind the shuttle stop, push on it and it rolls in place. Take note it makes chirp sounds and has a symbol painted on the back. Enter the cave and exit the opposite side. A set of stone stairs leads down and left and up and right, I'm taking the right path to a wooden bridge. To the left of the bridge is a huge inaccessible lever connected to an equally huge disk. I can't tell if it's embedded in the rock or not. You can see the GD and temple Isles which looks more like one island than 2 smaller ones. Cross the bridge, find that there has been some clear cutting of the local tree species and that the path forks left and right. The right side path forks again leading one to a forest gate and the other to a hole in the ground with a tram in it. The left path from the 1st "forking" leads to a tunnel, I think I'll take the forest gate since I'm close to it. There's a beetle on the gate post, poke it, watch and listen to it when it flies off. Enter the forest, move slowly, and take note of the huge sword stuck in the ground must have been left by a Titan. Just as you pass through the hole cut into the 1st tree you can see the sword up close, it looks more like a dagger from here. There's also a set of steps leading down to the dagger, which ends up at another eyeball. Push on it to hear an odd sound and see another curios symbol on the back. Continue on into the next tree to find another fork, go right and down another set of steps. There's a giant tusk fish totem attached to a tree on a sort of boggy mound. There's nothing to do here so head back to the tree fork. As you climb the steps you can see a rotating dome up high and in the distance. Once inside the tree go right, climb the steps to a gate and exit the area. Once out in the open you see an elevated cone shaped tower with a guard in it. The guard alerts someone somewhere with a siren and then disappears from view by ducking down or linking out, I can't tell. Head left and discover you're back at the clear cut area. Turn around and continue back onto the walkway and into the unexplored areas of the forest island. The wooden walkway snakes all over, in and out of a tunnel and then MF pops out into what looks like a flooded caldera. Once there the game takes over preventing MF from any actions while the locals clear out and go into hiding. Look all about as you move deeper into the caldera and take note of all the points of interest. A metal overhead walkway, a maypole looking thing a dock with a metal ladder down into the water and a stone cone shaped object in the water with a telescope looking thing sticking out of it. Oh and this is a good one ... "WATER HOLES" ... many of them, literally holes in the water with no apparent containment materials maintaining their shapes. Look up to the cliff face of the caldera there are many stilt supported balls attached to the walls and top of the caldera. Their look reminds me of "Abe's Odd World". Proceed to and climb the 1st of many ladders. There's a ball shaped structure close by, the 1st couple times I played through I ignored it. Then one time for the heck of it I use the door knocker and to my surprise an attractive woman peeked out via a peephole then quickly closed it never to return. Continue to climb and move forward eventually you end up on a mini mesa with what may be an Altar. A canopy covers a seat or statue of the tusked fish thing and there's what looks like a drum on either side of the statue. Most conspicuous in the area is the diving bell tram, (for lack of a better term) it has wheels, and there's a big lever to the left. You can get in and look about at the levers but they don't do anything. Lastly the large lever to the left of the tram, push or pull it to watch the bell lower down to the water level of the caldera. Once done I can't find anything else left to do here so head back to the clear cut area to investigate the hole in the ground. Once there drop down into the tram and pull the lever. Ready yourself for a cool ride above and below the water. (NOTE) Had I known the tram was going to take me off island I might not have gone for the ride, electing to stay on Forest Island to continue exploring. ____________________________________________________________________________ Volcano Island When you reach the end of the ride MF is unceremoniously dumped out into a trough and then outside onto what looks like a chipper shredder. From your current position scan the surroundings for all items of interest. Caldera I'm pretty sure this place like the Forest Island is also a water filled caldera from a hopefully extinct volcano. To the right is a long pier running out to the center of the caldera's lake, at the end is a metal device. Further right is a large round metal building and further still up high is a structure built into the wall. Try the lever on the chipper and see that it doesn't work then climb down from the chipper and explore your surroundings. As you approach the pier take note of the blue burner flames coming from the bottom of the round building. Maybe it's a giant teapot? At the end of the pier is a manifold that provides, (steam, gas or pressurized air) or whatever to 3 different items. The chipper and the round building are 2 of the 3; the 3rd pipe runs over to the cliff then up and over or into it, I can't tell from here. I test the manifold by moving the lever over to the chipper pipe then test the chipper lever. The chipper works. Back at the manifold I switch it back to the original position then make my way to the round building. The door is locked but there are 3 levers and a wheel valve on the water side of the building. There's a glass view plate on the building and I can see water boiling inside, so maybe this thing is a teapot or a boiler. While standing at the levers if we look left we can see a ladder on the far cliff face leading up to the balcony. It's time to figure out what the levers and wheel do. After some testing it's clear that only one lever works, (the one that shuts off the burner). With the burner off the water stops boiling and you can get into the building, but you're stopped at the door by the water. MF doesn't swim, but we can see a round trapdoor or drain at the bottom of the boiler. If you look at the bottom of the teapot you can see huge pipes. We have one thing we can try, the lever on the lake, it powered the chipper maybe it'll do something for the boiler. So on our way to the manifold lets take a walk over to the far away ladder. The ladder turns out to be a waste of time, a locked manhole cover blocks access to the balcony above. But it also lets us know that there must be another access point to the cliff balcony, (that's the way things are in a Myst game). On our way to and from the ladder we saw a huge honkin pipe leading from the bottom of the boiler to, up and over the cliff wall. Once at the manifold flip the lever over to the boiler pipe then return to the boiler's levers and wheel for another test. Boiler What do we want to do? 1. Access the structure built into the caldera's cliff face. 2. Use the boiler as a means of access and or to power something. What do we know? 1. The manifold diverts power, (by steam, gas or air pressure) to 3 devices. 2. Access from the ladder to the balcony is blocked. 3. There's a big honkin pipe from the boiler to up and over the cliff face. 4. The bottom of the boiler has a trap or drain. 5. The right side pipe lever shuts off the burner. What do we need to do? 1. Manipulate the boiler. Balcony Once you are at the top of the volcanic cone follow the path over to the balcony. Once there drink in the scenery and take note of the distant walkway past the balcony. Unlock the ladder cover and then open the double doors. It's pretty dark but the walkway is obvious, follow it to the end. There's small metal dome, a lever to the left, some kibble in a small tray on the right and lastly above there's ducting, a fan and the fan grill is open. You can open the dome to find a pressure plate, it clamps shut wicked fast when pressed on. You can place some kibble on the plate without springing the trap but when you pull the lever NADA! Head back to the doors and balcony, hmm, now what? What do we know? 1. There's a fan past the double doors with an open grill. 2. There's a walkway further along the cliff face with no apparent access 3. There's a device below the fan that doesn't work. 4. We have one more position on the lake manifold. 5. Said manifold's valve and pipe pass into and or through the cliff face. What do we need to do? 1. Return to the manifold move the valve back to its original position 2. Return to the balcony and check everything again. Well switching the manifold valve allows the dome trap thing to work but I'm not sure what value it provides. Click on everything as you go back to the doors. Hey Moe look! You can't trust anything, the double doors are embedded in the walls to either side and you can't see their handles! So they like to hide things behind doors. When opened the right side provides access to the walkway seen from the balcony, the other hallway ends at a door that opens up to a room with another rotating dome. There are symbols on the exterior side of the dome but I can't tell what they are. Explore and discover a hole in the wall to the side of the dome, it looks like there's a lens in it. There's also a hole in the roof of the cave either by accident or design. Try the door as you exit the room and discover a tunnel to a small room with a lens thing in it. Look in it and see the symbols on the rotating dome. There's a button on the top of the lens that when pressed if it's in the down position it stops the dome from spinning. Out of all the symbols there's one solid yellow symbol, there's a couple of partially yellow ones but only one completely yellow. (NOTE) I'm guessing the dome stops when the button is down, I just began mad pressing and the thing eventually stopped spinning. Big cool thing happens when the dome stops, it opens up exposing a window showing a book and a sliding keypad. The keypad has 5 sections with 5 units per totaling 25 units. I have no idea what the code could be so for the lack of knowing what to do I'm going to start the dome back up and leave. Back at the double doors I get the idea to restart the boiler just in case it's important and one of those pipes running over the cone needs whatever the boiler provides. Once done with the boiler and back on the balcony head out for the walkway and stop to take in the view. Even as a game scene the view is relaxing. When satisfied continue on along the walkway. As you near the next building you'll begin to hear a hum eventually the hum will reveal itself to be a magneto. Pull the lever and the sound goes away. Take note of the cable that runs out from the magneto to the building and back toward the double doors then turns and enters the cliff face. What might that operate? Maybe it's the fan? Before you run back to the fan move to the building and try the door! It's locked but you can sort of see into the building. When you return to the fan look up, yup it's off. I can't see where the cable attaches to the fan but it must be the ticket. Climb up and through the conduit then drop down through the 2nd fan into the room you were just looking into. Ghen's workshop Nice room, big, open, a couple 3 work benches 2 doors and lots of glass for a light, breezy and cheery atmosphere; I gotta stop, I'm beginning to feel like Mary Poppins already. Have a close up look about the room, there's lots of interesting stuff but not much to touch. Eventually you'll come to a big ledger read it, all of it and take notes on all of the important stuff. The Journal On pages 3 and 4 Ghen writes of steam caps and a drawing of the lake manifold and how it's embedded in the caldera. So safe to say it's a geothermal vent that they connected up to the manifold. This caldera may not be so dormant. There are several references in the journal that warrant noting. Inspect the round ball on legs in the center of the room, it's an oven or something similar that he uses to burn linking books. So maybe the chipper shredder on the beach makes the pulp, the boiler cooks it to a mash then the grill acts as a sieve to remove the water. OK, all done in Pewee's playhouse; let's take a look out the door on the right, in short time you'll take note of another shuttle station, although there's no shuttle there. Head back into the building and out the left side door that you 1st approached the workshop from and head right. Not too far away from the building you enter and then quickly exit a tunnel to see the same big gold dome from the linking point into Riven. ____________________________________________________________________________ Golden Dome Before you beat feet to the dome stop and take a look around just at the tunnel opening, you can see 4 of the 5 islands. Take off to the other end of the walkway and pull the lever at the raised bridge to lower it for dome access. Once inside follow the only route available to you and exit the dome. Crap dead end, do a 180 and look a button a dull and un-shiny button "PUSH THE BUTTON!" An elevator from the lower walkway rises up to span the gap. So this button and the button on the lower level at the tunnel entrance may be unidirectional. As you make your way to the exterior of the upper temple section of the island you pass over the 3rd rotating dome. At the rock wall you'll find a lever pull it to raise the door. You've already been in this anteroom. The lever inside has been raised. Return to the gold dome and continue to the big wheel, click on it to extend the walkway to your 1st entry point into the dome. You now have a loop from the temple to the dome and back. Remember the lever at the entrance to the dome? Pull it to raise the bridge and retrace your steps to the back side of the temple. Begin pressing the button to gain access to the temple and then to the walkways raised bridge. Climb the walkway to the top of the dome to see what there is to see. Sooo, there's a button on the right and a giant press thing in the middle. It has some colored beads or marbles on the right side of the press's grid. Maybe these are the fire marbles mentioned in Ghen's workshop journal. I can't see where they might go at the moment so I'm heading back to the dome via the temple. Once in the main level of the dome head back to Volcano Island. Volcano Island shuttle Once you're back on Volcano Island head back to the shuttle station and see where it goes. As you pass through the workshop tap the blue lighted pedestal before you exit, the shuttle will be waiting. As you make you're way to the shuttle take note of the surrounding islands, it's one of the best views of Dome, Forest and Grid Islands. Hop into the shuttle and ride over to the Grid Island. ____________________________________________________________________________ Grid/map Island Hmm! The shuttle station cave has 2 doors one on either side of the shuttle bay. I wonder how we'll get over there. Anyway for now head out through the easy door to see what there is to see. Once outside take a look about you can see the Golden Dome Island to the right, Forest Island wide right and the volcanic Workshop Island dead ahead. Climb the stairs to the next level, take your time and check everything out as you go. Take note of the red area below the walkway, something's down there. Continue on to and up the stairs of the fortress like wall. The raised area contains 2 large pools, one on either side of the walkway and there are island like structures inside the 2 pool areas. Ahead and above your current position is another and even larger barrier wall that has what looks like a balcony and a large and strange looking object projecting from the wall. Continue moving forward till you locate and enter the elevator. Push the button and ride it up to the balcony level. Move out to the end of the balcony and take it all in. From this position you get an even better look at the 3 other islands. Look down and see a grid representation of the 5 islands. On the railing is a push pad which also shows a representation of the island group in block form like the railing plaque in the Golden Dome. Push one of the patterns and watch what happens, I'm pretty sure Ghen is using the microbial or bacterial organism water from the village and or possibly from the entire age. The water substance rises up from the island forming something. After trying the others the only thing I can say for "ALMOST" sure is that I think I see a dome structure on a couple of the islands. Maybe it's a topographical representation. So when you're done playing with the buttons do a 180 and move into the other area on this level. This may or may not be another caldera the outside layer looks man made but the inside looks natural. There's a big metal dome in the center of the pond or small lake and a ramp leading to it. It looks like a walkway surrounds the dome and I think I see and hear another rotating dome. As you enter the dome and climb the steps you'll see a pedestal. The pedestal has a lever and very small grid showing the currently accessed island representation from balcony area, (the small upper right island). 1 grid block is highlighted on the grid. Below the pedestal is a large a flat grid that is broken up into area with 25 squares in a 5X5 pattern. (NOTE) The ramp leading to the lake dome is only available if you have one of the balcony grid block push pads depressed to highlight one of the island representations. Click the highlighted grid square on the pedestal and watch a 3D representation of the small island rise up from the large flat grid below. Note that the grid lines remain and if you click the lever on the pedestal the small and large grids rotate for a possible clearer view of an object of interest like the small dome on the upper left hand corner of the grid. (NOTE) The last island I had accessed from the balcony before entering the lake dome was the single square island from the upper right hand corner of the island chain. I exit the dome for a minute and check out the rest of the area and find the 4th rotating dome. I move to it and sort of make out a circle with a horizontal line in it. From this position I can also see the lens that controls it on the back side of the lake dome. Move over to the lens, this lens is offset from the rotating dome and the yellow symbol can't be seen while the dome is rotating or stopped. Once the dome stops move to it and inspect, it has a keypad, and a view port and there's a linking book inside just like the volcanic isle dome. What do we want to do? 1. Get into the dome. 2. Use the linking book. What do we know? 1. The Domes have linking books in them. 2. The domes have keypads with 25 lines within 5 segments requiring codes. 3. There's information in Ghen's ledger that might prove useful regarding the dome. 4. We don't know what the symbols mean in Ghen's journal but suspect they may be numbers. What do we need to do? 1. Find out what numbers the symbols represent. 2. Insert the D'ni number code from Ghen's book onto the dome's keypad. What do we know? 1. The answer to the pass code is somewhere else on the age of Riven. Move to the dome's lens and restart the dome. Now we're back to dealing with the lake dome and the island grids below the balcony. What do we want to do? 1. Figure out what the grids in the lake dome are for 2. Figure out what the grid islands below the balcony are for. What do we know? 1. The island grid represents the islands on Riven. 2. The push pad on the balcony forces the microbial water species above the grid islands as a 3D representation of the island topography. 3. The flat grid in the lake dome also creates a close up 3D representation of an accessed island. 4. The lake dome's flat grid and the pedestal grid can be rotated by the pedestal lever. 5. When testing the grids on the "Single" block/square isle representation we could see what may be one of the rotating domes. What do we need to do? 1. Test the rest of the island grids, look for domes and log their locations with coordinates. 2. Identify the islands. Once complete there's nothing left to do on the upper part of the island, although observations suggest there's a lower level to the island. Head back to the shuttle station for some brain work. Once back in the shuttle station you realize you can't send an unmanned shuttle away and there's no obvious access to the 2nd shuttle station door from your current position. I entered the shuttle and turned it around and for no other reason than curiosity I tried to turn to look at the door figuring I would be prevented from doing so, it let me turn and the freakin door was open. (NOTE) In the 1st 2 shuttle rides I turned the shuttle around and tried to exit it to explore the opposite side of the station before leaving the island. The game prevented me from turning to the door. Later after some brain work on Grid Island, I realized that the 1st 2 stations didn't have a blue shuttle call button on both sides of the station as on the Volcano to Grid Island station. Even though you can see both call buttons as you enter the Grid Island station it didn't sink in. 3 clicks past the stations 2nd doorway is a lever just past the lever is a water pool. Pull the lever and an elevator rises up from the water. Get in, push the button and ride the box down. A narrow glassed in hallway with what looks like roiling magma on the outside of the glass wall leads to a sort of tunnel where some guy is standing or waiting or I don't know, in any case he books right, (your left) in an attempt to flee the area. Follow him/her only to discover that Elvis is leaving the building. When the game frees MF return to the tunnel and continue to and up the stairs to a large room with a throne thingy at the tippity top. Climb in and begin playing with the buttons and levers to figure out what it does. The 2 levers and button are pretty much one of the easiest things in the game to figure out. Ensure you get and log all the info you can out of the devices before leaving the room, most of it is quite valuable. We also get a full on view of the tusked fish which looks more like a whale than a fish, so from here on it's "Tusky the Whale". When done exit to the 2nd shuttle station and take off to the next island. ____________________________________________________________________________ Forest Island Exit to the wooden elevator pull the lever and ride it up. When Otis stops click the lever in the small room and explore. We've traipsed out of a totem of Tusky the Whale's" mouth and returned to Forest Island. (NOTE) Don't go far or the mouth will close forcing you to restart from some inconvenient spot or make the run all the way around again to the elevator. Head back inside Tusky to the lift lever note the scratches, there's another level above this one. Pull it and ride up into the trees. Once outside explore, locate and note all points of interest. Continue around the dome and up the stairs. Another tower guard sounds the alarm once MF is spotted. When free continue to the metal structure and enter. Play with the levers to figure out what they do, not difficult. Oh yeah! The Forest Island village area definitely appears to be built on and in a caldera. Hey Moe! The right lever makes the floor on the maypole close up. There also appears to be a big metal door to the right of the maypole on the same level as the elevated walkway. Return to the tree and ride Otis down to forest floor level. There's only one place we haven't been to on forest Island and that's the beach. Don't forget the tanning butter and blankets and watch out for sand crabs ... they're pinchy! As you wend your way back to the clear cut area of Forest Island you meet up with a lil cutie beauty tiny hiney Rivenese that runs away big time when she gets a glimpse of MF. Once you're back at the clear cut cross the bridge and make your way down to the beach. As you approach the beach you'll discover some big dark things lolling on some boulders in a tidal pool. They kind of look like giant long necked pinnipeds but with elongated toothy beaks/bills/muzzles whatever. They're shy and make a honking sound when disturbed. Eyeball the area thoroughly before moving on. The Village Leave the beach, continue along the path and through the tunnel till you end up outside again. There's another guard tower but this one is empty. Climb down the ladder on the right to the round stone thing on the ground, it kind of looks like a kiddy pool. In the pool is another eyeball with the #2 on the back the sound is from a flying beetle. There's a valve on the pool that partially fills the pool with water. The silhouette is also of the bug. When done take the ladder down to water level and follow the walkway to the diving bell tram thing. Get in start it and familiarize yourself with the levers and buttons. There's a big lever on the right, a left to right sliding lever on the console and a swing lever above the sliding lever. The big lever moves the bell forward, the sliding lever makes the bell move forward to the right or left and the swing lever make the bell spin 180 degrees. So pull the big lever and go for a ride. I suggest exploring every avenue offered to see where they go. Pillbox After checking all possible rail lanes as you move around the caldera you'll eventually end up at the only other extended platform in the caldera. This leads you to a ladder which empties out into a pillbox like room 40 to 50 feet above the lake. Take a look out the window at all the objects of interest; the only other extended platform is the one you used to climb down into the bell. At the back of the pillbox is a series of 5 levers, 2 of them are up and 3 are down. See the pattern? You only need the ones you'll use but it's faster to flip all levers up. When done exit the room for the bell, turn it around and return to the main tram track. The maypole is closer but I head for the unexplored building in the caldera. At the stop move the slide to the left and big lever forward then exit the bell when you come to a stop. A small building appears to have been built out of the caldera wall, nice entry door. It's a meeting house or maybe school room, although I'm leaning toward meeting house. There's a small cage with a crank, turn it and a hologram of an elderly man appears and begins to speak, I think its pre-recorded, he doesn't acknowledge MF standing before the cage viewer thing. To the side of the room is what looks like a Rivenese version of hangman where the loser gets eaten by a shark or whale. With each spin a D'ni number appears on the base and the hanging person gets lowered down in increments equal to the number shown and eventually into the waiting maw of the fish thing. (NOTE) For those lacking knowledge of the D'ni number system it behooves you to take note. It ranges up to the #9 only but will be sufficient for this game. Exit to the bell when done, the only place of interest left in the caldera is the maypole, so turn that puppy around and head to the maypole. When there climb out and explore the area. Pull the cable and a 2nd cable with a larger T Bar lowers from the top of the maypole; grab on for a ride to the top. Once there explore, you'll find the large metal door that looks like it belong to a prison cell and it happens to hold at least one prisoner. With a bit more exploration you'll find the lock, unlock it and yell out, "Fly and be free my lowly and subjugated Rivenese friend!" only to discover the guy is missing from the cell when you make your way to the door. There's no magic here folks, thoroughly inspect the room to find his method of escape. Don't fret as you make your way along the long and dark passageway there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Other than that there ain't no mo to do there, but to take your time on the way back to the area behind the cell, you don't want to miss anything, it can be enlightening. If you do miss anything head back once you get to the trick cell door to the tunnel. Again take your time and inspect everything. This new place in the off tunnel looks like a mini stone henge temple thingy. Each one of the stones has an image of one of Riven's fauna. It looks like there's an altar at the back of the temple but you can't get by the stones to access it. OK folks it's time to don your pointed aluminum foil alien influence prevention cap, this is going to require some brainwork. What do we want to do? 1. Figure out what the stones and temple are for. 2. Find out if anything in the temple can further our goals. What do we know? 1. This place is hidden from the people or from Ghen. 2. The stones have animal symbols on them 3. After looking at all the images, we can say we've seen representations of some of them on the island. 4. Up to this point in the story we can say we've heard the sounds some of the animals make. 5. We've taken note of 5 of the different species on Riven. 6. We've found numbered objects on Forest and Volcano Islands. 7. The stones can be lowered in place possibly for a selection process What do we need to do? 1. Figure out how to use the information we've collected so far in the game to solve this puzzle. Once the stone puzzle has been solved move to the altar and proceed with the story. Yeesh! That's a big tree ... ball ... thing. Located in the center of yet another lake, it has lights emanating from openings or windows or something. If and when you turn around you see that you've linked outside of another temple maybe, maybe not. Take a step into the room to see what there is to see. At the back of the room there's a truly weird statue wearing a stately robe and holding a linking book. It appears to have what may be feathers surrounding it, I don't know. The head is covered with what reminds me of a cartoon mosquito head. Get a close up on the statue to see if there's anything to examine closer. The game takes over as MF approaches the statue. MF is then startled from behind and darted as he/she spins about to face unknown adversaries. MF is sedated and then taken to the big tree. Eventually MF revives and you regain control. Move about the room, over to the door you can see ball like structures that are I guess inside the tree, they remind me of wasp nests. Move to the back of the room and look out the opening, in the distance you can see the walkway you landed on when you linked into this age or another part of the Riven age I'm not sure which. Once you move back to the center of the room near the table and bowl a beautiful young woman enters. She speaks Rivenese to MF, places the prison book and a ledger written by Catherine on the table and then leaves the room. I'm thinking I'm supposed to read the ledger, it's pretty long but you need to read it. So the yummy honey is named Nelah and when you're done reading the entire ledger or pretend to read the ledger Nelah returns with another linking book but this one has a sort of plate sitting over the linking window. The link site is back at the stone henge temple, so start with the linking! Make your way through the cell and outside to the walkway. Follow the walkway to the ladder and then down to lake level. (NOTE) We've added info and detail to Ghen and Catherine in relation to their actions and dilemmas on Riven. We've visited 4 of the 5 islands and as far as I can tell done all there is to do on 3 of them. We still have some unfinished business on Temple/Dome Island and we haven't seen the symbol on the rotating dome there. So let's head back to the shuttle station and ride back to Dome Island. As you approach the opening of the cave at the shuttle station side of Forest Island you're in for a treat, the opening of the cave is in the shape of a frog which goes nicely with the sound made by the eyeball there. Enter the shuttle and ride back to Dome/Temples Island. ____________________________________________________________________________ Dome/Temples Island Exit the shuttle and head for the lower temple. As the door rises you see that the big cage thing is glowing and the image of the elderly man seen from the village meeting house cage is looking out over the temple. He stares out into the temple for a bit then blinks out as the door rises. Maybe he sees MF this time? Make your way back to and through the upper temple and into the golden dome. Golden Dome Once inside the dome, it's ponder time. What do we want to do? 1. Decipher the key code symbols with the hangman game. 2. Discover the 5th rotating dome symbol. 3. Use the linking book inside the dome. 4. Use the giant press on top of the Golden dome. What do we know? 1. The Golden Dome is a power manifold for the rotating domes. 2. The rotating domes are linking points for the islands of Riven. 3. The rotating dome symbols can be seen and the dome's rotation stopped with the dome lens. 4. The rotating domes are locked and can only be opened with a key code. 5. The key code symbols for the rotating domes found in Ghen's journal are numeric. 6. The hangman game in the Village meeting house helps decode key code symbols under the number 9. 7. The colored fire marbles are a power source and represent the 6 islands of Riven. 8. The giant press on top of the Golden Dome harnesses Fire Marble energy and acts as a power source conduit for the linking books in the rotating domes. What do we need to do? 1. Get the final dome symbol via the lens, stop the rotating dome and test the key code. 2. Verify the linking book in the dome is inactive. 3. Complete the organization of all pertinent data regarding the rotating domes, symbols, colors and coordinates. 4. Gain access to the giant press at the top of the Golden Dome. 5. Place the Fire marbles accordingly and then engage the giant press. Turn back to the entrance of the Golden Dome and pull the lever. Once complete head left and down into the dome and then outside to the lift. Try the button at the elevator, it does work, ride it down. Make your way to the rotating dome and look into the lens for the symbol then write it down. Stop the dome and test the key code. When satisfied with the results restart the dome and return to the original entry point at upper level of the Golden Dome. Continue around the walkway to the next exit on the right and back to the upper temple. Zip to and enter the back side of the upper temple, Push the button enough times to gain access to the temple so that you can access the original entry point of the temple. Press the button enough times to gain access to the raised walkway. Head for the top of the dome, locate a large device that looks like a giant press. Again, before the press and to the right is a button that probably operates the press. The press has a large square grid that is sectioned off into the same grid patterns of the 5 islands on Grid Island. To the right of the grid are the 6 colored Fire Marbles. Now for the nitty gritty, we have to figure out what to do with the press. What do we want to do? 1. Figure out where the colored beads are placed. 2. Operate the giant press. 3. Find Ghen. 4. Find Catherine. What do we know? 1. The grid on the press is broken up into shapes representing the 5 islands 2. 5 of the 6 lights, (one light is out), seen from the viewing throne on Grid Island can be matched to 5 of the 6 eye symbols. 3. Each of the 5 islands have rotating domes, 4 verified on islands known as Dome, Forest, Volcano and Grid islands, the 5th dome is shown in representation on an island we haven't been to yet. 4. The domes are linking points from the islands to Ghen's hidden island/age, (Ghen's ledger). 5. 4 of the 5 domes can be matched to 4 of the 6 eye symbols, (forest, grid, dome and volcano domes). The 5th dome is either of the 2 remaining symbols. 6. 3 of the 5 domes can be matched to 3 of the 6 colored lights. 7. The 6 colored Fire marbles are considered a power source, (Ghen's ledger) 8. We have visual representations of 5 islands and grid coordinates of 5 island domes. What do we suspect? 1. The eye symbols represent 6 islands and at least 5 rotating domes 2. The colored lights represent 5 of 6 possible islands and their fire marble power sources. What do we need to do? 1. Organize all the data above 2. Use the organized data to operate the press. Once you have successfully engaged the press all 5 of the linking books in the rotating domes will now be powered. There're 3 entries, (pgs 7, 10 and 12) from Ghen's ledger that collaborate regarding the previous statement. The GD's rotating dome is closest so head for it. Use the dome lens to stop the dome then the dome key code to open it up. Once in touch the linking window and link to Ghen's island. ____________________________________________________________________________ Ghen's Island You link into a metal cage at the center of a round room. There are linking books on pedestals just outside the cage but they don't work. There is also a button on the cage that you can click and it does work. Push the button and in short time Ghen will show up. Ghen will speak for some time giving you his version of his time on Riven and his interactions with the Rivenese and Catherine since her return. Ghen takes the prison book from MF but hesitates in using it then offers it to MF 1st as a test. Then he offers to give MF time to think about the offer and to use the linking books around the cage to explore before taking him up on the offer. Ghen turns on a furnace/boiler thing that lights up the pedestals holding the linking books then exits the room. As you looked about the room after linking in you may have noticed a linking book to the one island you haven't been to yet. You may also remember Ghen requesting MF not to assist Catherine in any way. I'd say easy guess is the last island is Catherine's prison island. Lastly Ghen said the call button would reset as MF linked out. So you must link to somewhere and back to call Ghen into the building. Link out to the last island to see what you can see. ____________________________________________________________________________ Catherine's Prison age Once in the 5th rotating dome tap the floor button to open the thing up. Have a look about. It appears to be a small rocky tor, maybe it was the remnants of a solidified magma chamber and Ghen sliced the top off to use as a bed for the building. Make your way up and into the building to a circle on the floor and some metal bars. On the wall behind the bars is a device with 3 buttons and a sliding lever, try the buttons, they produce sounds for whatever reason. Just above and to the right there's a lever, pull it and ride to the upper level of the building. Just after arriving Catherine appears in the doorway and speaks to you giving a bit of info as aid and warning then walks away. Pull the lever and return to the dome for your link back to Ghen's place. This is where you verify the 5th dome to the color blue and the correct eye symbol. ____________________________________________________________________________ Ghen's Island Once you're back in the cage you have some thinking to do. If you've kept clear notes on your finds and conversations you'll be good to go in a shot. If you haven't and can't find or remember you'll need to do some reading, there are 2 instances where you're given the information you need to make a clear decision on your course of action. Once you have it right go ahead and call Ghen. Exploring Ghen's place Explore the room, the entry door is locked, there's a lever on the knee wall that opens the linking cage and a ladder leading down into the lower level of Ghen's living quarters. Climb down and explore find the ledger and read it. Look into everything. A curious small globe looking thing on the table that makes noise like something we've recently heard. Over to the window there's a viewer that may be of Ghen's late wife. You now have all you need to free Catherine; return to the upper level, locate the linking book to Catherine and link out. ____________________________________________________________________________ Prison Island Once there beat feet to the elevator and use what you learned at Ghen's place to free Catherine. The bars will spin away and the elevator will rise without using the pull bar. Catherine will give MF instructions and a short explanation of her intentions then leave. When free to move head back to the dome and link to Ghen's. (NOTE) The sequence of sounds produced by the globe change each new game just like the telescope and rotating dome solutions. ____________________________________________________________________________ Ghen's Island Crap, back in the cage. Not to worry, locate the Golden Dome Island and link to it. You'll have to adjust a bit Catherine has used the lift; it needs to be lowered to use. Once on Dome Island make your way back to the cage at Riven's main linking in point. Locate the telescope and open it. For a refresher there is a lever on the right with a button at its center, a keypad on the fissure cover and a somewhat hidden stop on the left. Flip the stop, press in the correct key code and raise the cover. Use the lever and button to lower the telescope into and through the glass view port. Once you do this the fissure opens and chaos begins. Atrus will link into the cage and question you. Catherine will arrive shortly, they'll link out and MF will jump into the fissure ending the game. _____________________________________________________________________________ 5. SOLUTIONS Temple Isle Temple puzzle 1. Push anteroom button 4 times, exit, down 2nd set of stairs, enter cave, enter temple pull steam pipe lever to metallic cone. 2. Pull left lever up, push button twice, enter temple to next room, pull lever up push button twice. 3. Enter anteroom, push button twice head for Gold Dome. _____________________________________________________________________________ Volcano Island Boiler Puzzle 1. Click manifold lever at end of pier to boiler pipe, return to boiler. 2. At boiler pull right pipe lever to kill flame. 3. Click left pipe lever to divert flow to right fork. 4. Click wheel to empty boiler of water. 5. Pull vertical lever on boiler wall to raise floor. 6. Access pipe at bottom of boiler. Trap About 30 to 40 seconds after the trap sets down wherever it sets down it springs shut trapping a frog. If you haul the trap back up and open it the frog will chirp and hop off the trap. _____________________________________________________________________________ Grid Island Throne symbols Once in the throne push the button on the right side of the chair, it'll swing the chair around to face the water. Pull the right side lever to lower the viewer. The viewer has a series of eye symbols and each symbol can be accessed by the viewer. When a symbol is accessed the viewer shows an underwater area of Riven. Each symbol represents an area at, on or near one of the 6 islands on Riven. Each area has a colored light although one of the lights is not working. Forest = Red, Volcano = Purple, Grid = Orange, Dome = Green, Prison = Blue, Ghen's = Yellow. Forest = circle, 1/2 open horizontal eye, vertical pupil, Volcano = circle, vertical pupil, Grid = circle, horizontal pupil, Dome = circle, dot pupil, Prison = circle, 1/2 open vertical eye, dot pupil, Ghen's = circle, 1/2 open horizontal eye, dot pupil. ____________________________________________________________________________ Forest Island Village Hidden Temple Stone Puzzle The 5 eyeballs found on Forest Island and in Ghen's Workshop on Volcano Island have the numbers 1 through 5 on them. Each eyeball minus the one found at the workshop also makes a sound when the eyeball is rolled in the wall depression it sits in. Each sound is associated with an animal found on or around the Riven Islands. 3 of the 5 eyeballs have a representation of the animal in question at or near the eyeball, the remaining 2 must be found at other locations. The number on each ball represents the order it must be applied to the temple stones to activate the altar area and expose the linking book. #1 Triangle fish, from Village Lake #2 Beetle village pool #3 Frog, Forest Island shuttle station #4 Pinnipeds forest paths. #5 Tusked Whale Forest Island beach Locate each animal in order on the stones and click. If you err, raise the stones and start again. _____________________________________________________________________________ Grid Island Dome Search Puzzle 1. Press one of the push pad island representations on the balcony railing. 2. Return to the lake dome and press one of the 1 to 11 island grid blocks for a 3D grid representation of that section of the island. 3. Each island block is broken down into a 5X5 grid, 5 rows and 5 columns. 4. Search the grid for a rotating linking dome, if no dome is found access each block in the island grid until one is found. 4. Once a dome is found log the row and column coordinates for the island grid block and the coordinates for the dome within the grid block. 5. Repeat items 1 through 4 for a different island representation. Grid Island Throne Viewer Island Eye symbol/color Match Each eye symbol is matched with a rotating dome, color, island and fire marble. _____________________________________________________________________________ Dome Island Golden Dome Puzzle The data will be organized thusly, Island, color, block coordinates, (row/column), grid coordinates, (row/column) eye. Forest Island, Red, 2/1, 2/4, 1/2 open horizontal vertical iris Volcano Island, Purple, 1/1, 4/2, full open vertical iris Grid Island, Orange, 3/2, 2/1, full open horizontal iris Dome Island, Green, 1/2, 1/1, full open dot iris Prison Island, Blue, 1/2, 1/2 open vertical dot iris Set the colored beads in the in their proper coordinates then pull the lever on the right down. The press will contact and engage the grid. Push white button, if you have correctly placed all 5 beads the press will shake violently along with a loud boom. If you see and hear nothing raise the press and recheck all bead positions. _____________________________________________________________________________ 6. NOTES OF INTEREST You don't have to keep the domes spinning to complete the game