Nitpicking on Garden Island

The Nits Oh m'gosh. Gehn's expert mix-'n-match writing style created a fine continuity problem here! As you arrive at Garden Island from Bookmaking Island on the maglev, you can get a good idea how far above the water line the station is. And when you take the golden box elevator to the lower level, you can see that it travels a considerable distance downward, and it's pretty obvious you should now be well below the outside water level. But when you go to the other maglev station, you are magically back above the water level! In case you're wondering, there are NO changes in elevation in the path between the two stations, other than the elevator. (If you want to know how Gehn writes books, read Myst: The Book of Atrus.) The most widely acknowledged nit in Riven is the fact that the maglev door stays open when you leave for Bookmaking Island. Of course, this is because you are able to get off on either side of the station. Cyan mentioned this nit on their website and say they've corrected it in the recently-released DVD version. Turbos on. Turbos off. The maglev to Jungle Island must have a hurry-up-if-the-user-has-to-get-away-fast sensor. When Gehn's scribe in the tunnel sees you he runs for the maglev and leaves. When the maglev turns the corner it moves fast. But when you ride it, it travels a lot slower around the corner. Bridge gone - no buttons pressed. Bridge OUT - NO buttons pressed! There's a really bad swapped-image error with the bridge to the map room. As you know, it's extended only when you have a button pressed on the plateau overlook. From the fire-marble dome side of the lagoon, the bridge is as it should be. But from the other side, it's visible when it shouldn't be and vise-versa. (I sincerely hope Cyan has fixed this and other similar programming errors in the DVD version.) Observations Gehn must have built a device that takes advantage of the fact that the Fifth Age must somehow have a connection to Earth (via the Star Fissure?). Apparently it's possible to receive certain old television signals with this device. If you've read Myst: The Book of Atrus, you know that when Atrus first visits Riven, he almost drowns in a pool "floating" above a fissure in a cave. That pool is most likely what is now the orange chamber where the gold box elevator is, before Gehn did his terraforming experiments.

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