K’Veer
After listening to Atrus’s opening speech (see sidebar), you will appear in K’veer, which we have seen in several Myst games before, but never in so much detail.The first thing you will see are several odd-looking creatures who scatter on your appearance, and simply vanish—as if linking away. These are the Bahro, and you will be seeing a lot more of them.
The first thing I would advise doing before proceeding is selecting the controls—click on the tools menu in the top right corner (to freeze the screen and move the mouse freely, try right-clicking) and set the preferences according to your system. I would advise turning Subtitles on (under Audio) and also using the second control option—Classic Plus. But it is up to you, and you can easily switch between these control modes using 1, 2 or 3 on the keyboard. Try them out now.
Now explore the room and you will find a locked copy of a linking book to Myst Island—maybe you can somehow find a way to open it? But not yet.
Only one of the doors from this room has a handle on it; from the position of the screen-shot above, it is the first door on the left. Turn the door-handle and exit the room, then continue along the corridors and halls until you find a small turning to the left, and a camera and journal on the floor. Pick these up.
The camera is not as sophisticated as the one in Myst IV: Revelation: it is really a saving device. Clicking the ball which appears in the top right corner of the screen will save the game at the current location; you can the select these locations using the journal. But don’t try taking a photograph to capture important information—instead of using a piece of paper—because you can’t enlarge the image in the journal, and you will only end up frustrated.
Walk along the corridor and you enter the great hall. The large glowing sphere is known as the Keep, and, as Esher will later tell you, is in several worlds at once. Notice the way in which the colours keep shifting, showing you the images of several different Ages. In the screen-shot below, you can also see (if you squint!) a couple of the Bahro perched high up in the rafters. Again, they scatter as you approach.
When you enter the keep, you can see an blue ethereal Tablet supported by four pedestals; yet when you move your hand over it (don’t click it just yet) it seems to look solid.
When you touch the Tablet it becomes solid. Actually being able to remove the Tablet is the principle aim of the game. Turn around and exit the Keep now. You will be met by Yeesha, who seems somewhat troubled (read the speech here). She will send you on the quest to collect the four Slates, one for each pedestal, which will ultimately release the Tablet.
She will also tell you not to give her the Tablet when you have it. If you missed anything she said, the blue book in the top right corner of the screen keeps a record of everything that anyone says to during the course of the game, so that you can check back later. At the end of the speech, Yeehsa will (somehow) link you to the start of the game proper: the Cleft, and the entrance to the Great Shaft which leads to D’ni.
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