The Lindsay Brothers

Author: shanelindsay

Myst

Extraordinary Adventure
65

There are many reasons to love Myst, not least of which is that there is hardly any mist in the game. Myst, I presume, is short for “Mystery,” because you’re trying to solve one during the game. You begin life on a strange, mysterious island that is full of strange, mysterious contraptions and surprisingly devoid of people. Your job is to visit each of these contraptions, learn how they work, make them work in concert with each other, and get yourself teleported off this rock.

In that regard, it's a lot like middle management

Adventure purists probably are fuming that a video game about a mysterious island made the list, but Jules Verne’s classic adventure novel Mysterious Island did not. As if Jules Verne doesn’t get enough respect or something. Nevertheless, Myst is a groundbreaking piece of work, that actually relies on the power of your brain rather than the speed of your thumbs.

The interface was so simple as to be pure genius. You point at something. You click. Either something happens or not. There is no inventory to collect, no experience points to earn, no ammo rounds to keep track of. You do not have to worry about dodging Goombas and Koopas and Dodongos. Your only weapon is logic.

Spock beat Myst in 5.2 seconds, and would have been faster if not for his half-human blood.

This kind of simplistic gameplay put more focus on story and atmosphere, and it is indeed an enthralling environment. The machines and puzzles are very Mission: Impossible meets steampunk, with a little magic thrown in for good measure. But everything is relentlessly logical. Once you’ve got it all figured out, you know how the island functions, and that puts you two steps ahead of LOST’s creative team.

The only downside is, it’s not much for replayability (unless you’ve been away from the game for 10 years and forgotten how it works). Now that I know how to operate the spinning dome, it’s not much fun for me to sit there clicking levers. But on the first time through, it’s completely obsorbing.

Player's Hint: The forest is connected to the dome, which has something to do with the mountain, which involves the lighthouse. Good luck.

There’s a version of Myst for iPhone now, which blows me away, since I remember when it required 48 CD-ROMS and an NSA supercomputer to run. It’s sequel, Riven, is even more awesome, and I highly recommend the entire series. It’s way better than that Jules Verne crap.

Next up, #64…

April 8, 2011
The Tales of Alvin Maker

Extraordinary Adventure
71

There are several good reasons and one major reason for including this series by Orson Scott Card on our list of the 100 Most Extraordinary Adventures. That reason is that it turns my hometown into a magical fantasyland of adventure and mystery.

This is probably not a big deal for those of you who grew up in major metropolitan areas like Chicago, New York, or Boise. But I come from a small town in Indiana, and it is quite a strange thing to be reading an alternate history fantasy novel and suddenly have it veer into your back yard.

Gandalf was probably a little surprised to find himself in Indiana

The Tales of Alvin Maker is a 6-volume set from a guy who is probably most famous for science fiction, but can write strong fantasy stuff when he has a mind to. The books take place in the early 19^th century, in the wilderness of America populated with pioneers, Indians, and of couse supernatural beings.

Alvin is a young man tinged with such power, who interacts with some of history’s greater and lesser figures as the landscape shifts and changes around him. America is in a time of transition. Settlers are gradually moving West, bringing “civilization” with them as they go and driving out the natives.

I had read the first book in the series and enjoyed it without being aware of its location. It appeared to me as merely “someplace in the wilderness,” and thought nothing of the fact that young Alvin (merely a boy in the first book) has his powers weakened by the presence of water. Covered bridges play a prominent role in the story, and for some reason I never drew the connection between that and the Covered Bridge Festival in southern Indiana that my family and I attended several times when I was a kid.

Water was also Bruce Willis's kryptonite in Unbreakable

The second book, Red Prophet, was what really hit me over the head. In it, the Indian warrior Ta Kumseh and his brother The Prophet battle William Henry Harrison for the future of the Red Man. Though Card plays very liberally with the history, this is essentially what my hometown is famous for.

Nothing says childhood like ugly, violent racism

I went to William Henry Harrison High School. Battle Ground was one of the elementary schools in my area, and the actual battle of Tippecanoe was fought only a few miles from my house. Prophet’s Rock is a short distance away, and for many years one of the great tourist attractions was an outdoor amphitheater production of “Tecumseh.” The French Fort Ouiatenon stood nearby, and every year we would go to the Feast of the Hunter’s Moon.

For some reason, the most popular picture of the warrior Tecumseh is of a great dandy.

I stumbled across this series much later in life, and to the best of my knowledge, Orson Scott Card is from North Carolina. I had no idea when I completed Book 1 that an entire reimagining of my local history was in store for Book 2, but it was one of the most surreal and awesome reading experiences of my life.

Even awesomer in comic book form

The series stretches on for 6 books, and I admit that it sputters out a little towards the end, but there are some great ideas contained in it. The magic is referred to as “knacks,” and the Indians, Blacks, and White Men all have different styles of powers. It has been a long time since Book 6, The Crystal City, was published. But since the number 7 is so powerful within the stories, it seems likely that we will eventually see a final novel concluding the series.

Next up, #70…

February 17, 2011
Journey to the Center of the Earth

Extraordinary Adventure
73

Journey to the Center of the Earth features several key elements of extraordinary adventure that have already shown up in previous entries on our list. They are by name: Cryptology, Jules Verne, Dinosaurs, and Brendan Frasier.

We mainly care about the first three. Brendan Frasier is mentioned only because he has an uncanny ability to star in very average 3-D special effects movies, in which gets to grin goofily. Such is the case with the latest film adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic story. And the less said about it, the better.

The only 3-D movie where objects run away from you

The movie is, of course, based on a book. The idea here is that Professor such-and-such has found secret ventilation shafts leading down into the planet core. When you think about it, it’s remarkable how many professors turn out to be the heroes of big adventure tales. When I think back on my professors, the most adventurous thing any of them ever did was grade on a curve. I only had one or two that went off to find dinosaurs on weekends.

The planet core is also the fastest way to the Naboo

When I was a kid, I had an irrational fear that we would someday run out of oil, iron, or other natural resources found within our planet. This is before I realized just how deep the planet really is. If it were a Tootsie pop, it would take 14 quadrillion licks to reach the center. And your tongue would be very sandy.

I can't be sure, but I think he's watching a 3-D Brendan Frasier movie

The radius of the earth is about 4000 miles. That doesn’t seem like much compared to the 238,000 miles to the moon (which Verne thought we could reach by firing a really large cannon). But when you consider that the ocean is at most 7 miles deep, it’s a an eye opener.

It’s so deep that Verne invented an entire ocean inside the earth. It is into this ocean that Gandalf fell while battling the Balrog. It is also where the first testing of the Genesis device was performed, before Khan stole it. And it is also where dinosaurs live.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the center of the earth.

Seriously, dinosaurs must have ninja-like powers of secrecy. Somehow they have managed to hide out from the entire human civilization, either underground, on lost islands, or sometimes in Japan. If the Freemasons and the dinosaurs ever got together, just think of all the secret knowledge that could be consolidated.

Excuse me one moment while I write down my idea for "DinoMason: Keeper of the Grail"

The only reason any of this is possible is because the good professor decoded an Icelandic rune that helped him find secret volcanic shafts leading to the core. I don’t know about you, but that sounds a heckuva lot better than the plot to Furry Vengeance.

While on their journey, the professor and his ragtag band of explorers make many wondrous discoveries, chronicle some wide and varied flora and fauna, and generally get themselves trapped somewhere after the giant electric mushrooms but before the bottomless pit.

Through some rather irresponsible use of gunpowder, they blast a hole in the wall, allowing the underground water to escape. They ride the waves on a makeshift raft up through a chimney, which deposits them in Italy. They then order pizza. All in all, a pretty good day.

Up next, #72!

February 3, 2011