Solution by Mike Marcelais: Version 1.0, November 1997
Thanks to Andrew Becker for helping with the image maps and Julie
Pickhardt for help with the HTML.
Introduction
Maps of the Realms
Riven
Tay
233'rd Age
Solution
Generator Island
Forest Island
Experiment Island
Generator Island
Experiment Island
Map Island
Forest Island
Tay
Generator Island
Age 233
Catherine's Island
Generator Island
Introduction
Riven, like Myst, is a very open game. The puzzles to be solved are
scattered around the world and are often integrated very naturally
into the environment. Often, there is a lot of area that you can
explore with access to lots of devices that seem like puzzles.
Usually, you cannot solve, or even decipher the meaning, of a device
when you first see it and many devices are places to provide
atmosphere to the game and are not part of any puzzle at all.
Part of the enjoyment of games like Riven is to walk around and take
in the local scenery. Enjoy the fruits of someone else's
imagination. Try to figure out what is important and relavant to
your situation. Overuse of walktrhoughs like this will ruin this
sense of discovery; lost in the rush to get through the game as
quickly as possible.
But enough about that. Here is a brief overview of how this solution
is organized. The maps section gives a line-drawing map of all of
the important locations in the game and all of the walkways that
link these locations. The solution section actually talks about the
different locations, what you need to accomplish in each location
(and sometimes why you need to accomplish it), and gives you the
order that you need to do stuff in. Because of the way the
`damaging' information in the maps is hidden in hyperlinks, the map
section is generally spoiler-free and can be used like a trail guide
is used in a National Park. The solution section is not so safe.
Maps
Riven (also known as the Fifth Age) is spread out over five islands.
Names I have asigned the islands are based on what I think is the
most important feature of the island. The major islands can also be
identified by the CD that the island is located on. There is also a
small section of the game set outside Riven, one part in Ghen' 233rd
Age and another part in Tay.
All of the maps share a common legend: Paths are indicated in either
red, green or black -- the different colors are used to represent
paths of differing altitudes. If two paths cross, they actually meet
if they are the same color, and pass over or under each other if
they are different colors. Where possible, black paths are above the
red paths but beneath the green paths.
Important locations are drawn with a number in a black circle.
Clicking on that circle will bring up a thumbnail view of that
location, to better orient yourself. The numbers are assigned
arbitrarily and are used in the solution section of the game to
describe locations more easily. Some locations may have paths of
different colors entering and leaving the location. Sometimes, it is
possible to go from one height to another in a location -- usually
visiting the section in question makes this obvious.
All shorelines (including the edges of islands) are drawn in blue,
often with a blue border (or solid area) to indicate the direction
that the water extends. Dashed black lines indicate borders between
the CDs. Paths which you travel along, but have no direct control
over (such as minecar paths) will be shown in purple.
Riven
You start the game at location 1.
Tay
The 233'rd Age
Solution
All numbers refer to map locations in the general maps. Location
numbers will always be written in arabic numbers (ie: 17) while all
other numbers will be written in english (ie: seventeen).
Don't be afraid to explore areas that are open. There are many areas
of the game that are accesable much earlier in the game then when
they are visited in this solution. As far as I can tell, it is
impossible to lose anything, break anything, or make a puzzle
unsolvable, nor is it possible to get stuck anywhere (physically)
and not be able to return to a location you have been previously.
There is one way to lose the game, but it is hard to do and not
possible until near the end of the game.
Part I: Generator Island
Generator Island is the island that you start the game on. Atrus
sends you here with a Prison book and his journal and tells you that
you need to trick Ghen into using the Prison book so that he can
imprison Ghen and rescue Catherine and all of the natives of Riven
from the world before it disintegrates. He sends you here (to
location 1) where you promply arrive in a cage. A native arrives,
talks in a strange language to you and takes the prison book. He is
then ambushed by a rebel who takes the book but frees you.
Start by heading up the stairs towards 3. (You can look over the
edge of the cliff to see the ambushed native if you like.) Ignore
the telescope at 2 since you can't do anything with it for a long
time. When you get to 3, you can look into the room at 4. This room
rotates: it has five entrances with two doorways. The button next to
the door rotates the room: click it four times so that the doorways
open to the entrances to your left and right. Then continue straight
along the path.
At 5 you arrive at a gate. You can get around the gate by clicking
underneath it. Enter to room and cross over to 8. At 8, there is a
steam switch with an icon of the telescope above it. You will see
many of these kinds of switches in the game: most devices in Riven
are steam powered. This switch directs the steam from the ground
beneath you to either the device (if the switches is lowered) or to
the vent above you. Flip the switch. Head back to the doorway and
pull the lever on the right. This opens up the gate that would block
access to 6. Then push the button twice to rotate the room so that
the openings are at 6 and 8. Cross the room to 6.
At 6, there is a door blocking access. Turn around and pull the
lever here. This opens the gate that blocks access to 7. Now, push
the button twice to rotate the room so that you can cross back to 3;
then at 3 push the button twice to allow access to 7. Then cross the
room to 7.
At 7, walk across the bridge and enter the large domed building
directly ahead at 9. This building is the main power generator for
all of the devices on Riven.
You can see pipes extending from this building to all of the other
islands on Riven. This is why I named this island the Generator
Island. Walk around the building and down the ramp until you get
back outside. Here, there are two more switches, both of which
control bridges, at 14 and 12 that you should flip. Then head back
down the path and return to the bridge at 3.
Cross the bridge and head down the cavern tunnel. On the left there
is a door that opens into 16. In 16, there is a chair which I never
figured out a use for, although I believe it to be a communication
device (based on several similar devices you will see later). If you
enter the room and turn back around, there is a porthole thing on
the left of the door. This displays a view of 17 and the lever
attached to the device opens and closes the door there. Open the
door. (The porthole on the right displays a view of 18.)
Return to the tunnel and head to 17. Head out the door to 18 where
there is a suspended tram station. Push the blue button to call the
car and hop on board. The controls are fairly easy to understand:
the lever that looks like it turns circularly will turn the car
around and the push lever in the middle causes the tram to move
forward. Enjoy the ride -- the animation here is very well done. You
arrive at the other end at 19.
Part II: Forest Island
You are now on Forest Island; so named for the forests that grow
(and in some places, used to grow) here. At 20, there is a small
marble in the stone that rotates. When rotated, you hear an animal
sound and also see a Riven numeral. These Riven numbers are
discussed in more detail when you arrive at 38 a little later in the
solution.
Head through the caves to 21, and turn right heading up the stairs.
(The button at 21 will call the tram if you find that it isn't at 19
when you need it.) Head through the gate when you get to 22. Off the
path in the jungle to your right, there is a path that leads to
another marble (at 23). There is a large Riven dagger stuck in the
ground here to let you know where this is.
Continuing along the path through 25 to 30, you will arrive at a
walkway where a sentry in a watchtower above you will sound an
alarm. When you go down the walkway to 43, you will see villagers
here flee from you as quickly as they can.
(I thought this, plus the language barrier, was a nice way of
minimizing interaction with others while avoiding the appearance of
a wasteland like Myst was.)
Continue along the walkway. At 41, there is a dock, but nothing
docked here. Near 39, you will start climbing ladders and walking
across elevated walks through the village. At 39, there is something
that looks very much like an altar or a shrine and a submarine. Pull
the lever next to the submarine and it will lower into the water
(down to location 40). Now return down through the walkways and go
to location 24.
At 24, there is a minecar. Jump into the minecar and pull the lever.
The car will go through earthen tunnels, under water, and through
elevated tracks all of the way to 44.
Part III: Experiment Island
You arrive in the central bay area of this island, so named because
Ghen does most of his experimenting on this island. You arrive at
location 44, but quickly slide down a chute to 45.
>From here, walk out to 46. There is a three way switch here that
controls the power to this island. Currently it is set to deliver
power to 50; move the switch to the middle setting so that power
goes to 47. Then return to the shore and go to 47.
At 47, flip the side lever to turn off the heat in the tank. This
will cause the water to stop boiling. Then turn the wheel to drain
the water away. Now, turn to your left and flip the small lever
there on the pair of pipes. This will cause power to flow to the
third control: the switch that raises and lowers the platform inside
the building. Go around and go inside (at 48). Go down the ladder
and crawl through the pipe. There will be several screens where it
is pitch blank, but eventually you will emerge at 49.
When you come out of the pipe, head down the path towards 50. On the
balcony, there is a ladder leading down. Open the hatch to the
ladder, since it can only be opened from this side. Then open the
pair of double doors and go through them. Now close the doors, since
the passages leading to 51 and 53 are blocked when the doors are
open. Head towards 53. Along the way, there will be a lever on the
right side of the path. Pull that lever, then return to 52.
If this area has power, the device at 52 can be used. You can open
the steel sphere to reveal a bear-trap like mechanism. Drag a piece
of food from the dish on the right and put it in the center of the
trap. Use the lever to lower the sphere into the water far below.
After a few minutes, you will hear the trap snap shut. Raise the
trap back up and open it and you will have a frog.
However, this is completely unnecessary. If you look up, there is a
ventilation shaft. The switch you pulled near 53 turns off the fan
blades so that you can crawl safely through the vent and into 54.
When you arrive, you will see that 54 is Ghen' laboratory. The most
important thing in this library is the journal laying on the desk
beneath the vent. Inside, you will find the access code to the
linking book domes. It will look like five symbols, inside squares
in a row.
The code is different every game, so you have to copy down those
symbols (or skip ahead to the section on Riven numbers and just note
down the numbers).
Now, go to the door with the blue button and open it. This leads
back out to 53.
Now head across the long bridge back towards the Generator Island.
Right before you get to the end of the bridge, there is a section
raised up. Use the lever there to lower the bridge so you can
re-enter the generator.
Part IV: Generator Island
Head inside the building and follow the catwalk around to 10. The
wheel here, when turned, will extend the catwalk across to connect
with 9. Now, go to 13. A section of the walkway is missing here.
Turn around and push the button -- this will raise the walkway and
allow you to cross over to 6. The lever here will open the door.
Return to location 9 and face out towards 7. To your right is a
lever. Pull the lever and this raises the stairs up. This causes the
stairs to go from 7 up to 11 instead of to 9. However, you don"t
know what to do at 11 yet, so lets leave. Return to 53 via the
bridge.
Part V: Experiment Island
Head into the building at 54 and exit out the other door to 55.
There is another tram car. (If the car is't here, you can call it by
pushing the blue button back at 54.) Get in the tram and take it
across to 56.
Part VI: Map Island
At 56, take the left exit from the tram car and head out the door to
62 and up the stairs to 61. Here, there is a button that will raise
you up to the next level. From here, you can look back towards 56
and see a map of the Riven islands. Pushing one of the buttons on
the keypad will cause water to form on one of the land masses
corresponding to its topographical shape.
You can continue around to 60 if you like; this shows the location
of another of the linking spheres. When you are done looking around,
head back down to 56 via 62, go through the tram until you are on
the other platform and head down the passage to 57.
At 57, pull the lever to call the elevator. Inside, push the button
to descend. When you exit, you will surprise Ghen in the passageway
and he will run to 59. If you follow him, you can see him leave in
the tram. Don't follow him, but head back to 58 instead.
There is a chair here which offers a view of the undersea life. The
left dial offers a view of the underwater area (by pushing the right
button) and a view of Catherine's cell (by pushing the left button).
The right dial allows you to turn on various undersea lights. This
allows you to associate each of the colors with each of the Riven
symbols for that color. Note that the purple light is burned out.
Alas. Now, return to 59 and take the tram across to the Forest Isle
at 29.
Part VII: Forest Island
At 29, take the corridor to 28. This is an elevator. You are
currently on the ground floor. The middle floor leads to a secret
exit through the mouth of a fish at 27. The button to call the tram
is also located here. Taking the elevator all of the way to the top
leads to the treetop walkway. This is where you want to go.
Once up here, head past the linking dome at 47 to the building at
48. Sit in the chair in this building. The lever on the left will
raise the chair up to a very high altitude and let you get a view of
the entire village. If you look down, you will see this teepee like
structure. The lever on the right will close and open the floor of
this structure. Leave the floor closed. Now lower the chair and head
back towards the elevator. Take the middle exit, down through 27,
and make your way across the island to 21 continuing down the stairs
to 35.
At 35, there are a pair of beached seal like creatures. Around the
backside of the rocks where they are sitting is another marble.
Continue along the passage to 34, there is a pool with another
marble in it. If you turn the dial on the bottom-right of the pool,
water will flow into the pool to make the silhouette of an animal.
Continue down the ladders to get to 40. The sub that you lowered
from 39 should be here. The controls in the sub are identical to
those of the tram, except that the go level is to the right and
there is a slider along the bottom of the controls. This slider
determines whether you will go left or right when you get to a
junction.
Follow the tracks to location 33. Climb the stairs here and you will
get to a room that has five levers. These levers control whether the
docking rings are extended or not. If the rings are not extended,
then the you cannot get to that dock with your sub. You will want to
raise all of the levers. Now return to the sub.
Take the sub to 38. This is a schoolhouse. Along the walls are the
letters of the Riven alphabet. The important thing here is just to
the left of the door. It is a nifty game: there are two men dangling
from ropes and a shark waiting below to eat them. Every time you
turn the crank, a random number is spun in the window below and the
man whose turn it is drops that many notches on the rope. First one
to twenty loses.
This game lets you learn Riven numbers. You can easily pick up the
values of the first ten numbers.
Now, notice that the multiples of five are just the values one
through four rotated by ninety degrees. Riven numbers are base five:
The first digit is placed in a square normally, the second digit is
placed at right angles to that number. Subsequent digits are placed
in new squares to the left. To read the numbers, you take the
rotated number, multiply it by five, and then add it to the
non-rotated number. See the example for seventeen above. If you have
more than one digit, then you multiply the left total by twenty-five
and add it to the right total. For example, Ghen's world he called:
The left value is nine, the right value is eight. The total is
(9*25+8) which is two hundred thirty-three. Now that you know Riven
numbers, you can translate the numbers you found in Ghen's journal.
Anyway, now that you can count, return to the sub and head to 42.
When you exit the sub, walk into the teepee area and pull the handle
on the far side. This will lower a bar down to the ground. You can
step into the middle of the area and grab the bar and ride up to the
top. Once up here, use the button to the right of the door to open
the cell. Once inside the cell at 32, lift up the drain in the floor
and click there. This will raise a hidden switch that opens a secret
door in the wall. Go through this door.
The passageway you enter is completely dark. Eventually, you will
get to a seaview at 36. There is a light here that you can turn on
by clicking it. As you walk back along the passage, there are more
lights that you can turn on -- they were hidden by the darkness.
Turn around again and you will see the side door that leads to 37
this time down. Head towards 37.
37 contains a circle of stones that need to be lowered in exactly
the right order. Each of the marbles that you saw earlier in the
game were associated with one of the animals depicted on the stones.
The number of the back of the marble determines the order to push
the tablets in. Here are the pictures of the five stones that you
need to push:
These stones are located in the following locations: Facing the exit
door, the 6th stone from the left, the 1st stone from the left; turn
to the right, 2nd stone from the left, turn to the right, 7th stone
from the left, 4th stone from the left. This will open a shelf
straight ahead that contains a linking book. Use the book to link to
Tay.
Part VIII: Tay
You arrive in Tay at 64. This is the cover picture for the Riven
box, in case you hadn't noticed. There doesn't seem to be anything
to do here, so return to the linking boot at 63. You will be
ambushed and imprisoned by the rebels here. They will take you to a
room at 65 where you will meet someone that brings you back the
prison book and Catherine's journal. The important piece of
information in the journal is the combination to the telescope that
you saw back at the start of the game in location 2. It is a series
of five Riven numbers and the combination is different every game.
After you have taken the journal, your captor returns with a linking
book to return to to 37.
(Side note: Now that you have the combination to the telescope, you
can go to it and break the fissure. Doing so before you have
captured Ghen will cause Atrus to be summoned and captured and Ghen
will escape Riven.)
When you have returned to 37, head towards location 4. Note that to
get through the secret door at 32 you will have to lift the lever on
the right side of the screen. You can also exit this upper area by
going towards 43 where you can lower a ladder to have permanent
access between the upper and lower levels of the village area.
Part IX: Generator Island
You are now back in the rotating room at 4. Rotate the room so that
an exit towards 7 is available. You should have raised the stairs by
now (using the lever at 9) so you have access to the generator's
roof at 11 now. Head up to 11.
At 11, head towards the device in the center of the dome. There is a
grid, twenty-five holes square and six marbles along the right side.
The grid is divided up into five regions that are the same regions
depicted on the Map Island map. What you need to do is locate the
five linking domes; use the Map Island map to determine where on the
grid the dome is located; determine what the color of the dome is by
using the viewfinder located near each dome and then place the
marble for that dome in the grid.
Or just look at the diagram below for the proper placement of the
gems. Using text mode coordinates, assuming that the lower-left
corner is (0,0), then the red marble goes at (8,8), the orange at
(5,3), the green at (15,24), the blue at (21,24) and the purple at
(1,21). Now head back, pull the lever down and push the white
button. You know you've done it right if you hear a drilling like
sound after pushing the white button. This now gives power to all of
the linking book domes.
Now, return to the inside of the dome (via location 6), head to the
lower level of the dome and exit (heading towards 14) and go to
location 13. Push the button against the wall and the floor will
descend to the lowest level. This will allow you to get to the
linking book dome at 15.
To use the linking book domes. Nearby each dome is a dome viewer.
For the dome at 15, the viewer is right in front of the dome. For
other domes, it is always nearby. (The dome at 51 deserves special
mention; the viewer is hidden in a passage that is blocked when the
door to the room containing the dome is open.) To get access to the
dome, you need to hit the button on the viewer just before the dome'
color symbol appears. You can always tell what that symbol is by
watching the pictures in the viewer. There is always a short pause
on the dome's color symbol and it is always highlighted. You will
have to anticipate the symbol some. Now, head to the dome and set
the five sliders to the five numbers that you found in Ghen's
journal and push the button. Then use the book to link.
You can push the button at the base of the bookstand to exit the
dome.
Go into the dome at 40 and link to Age 233; where Ghen is hiding.
Part X: Age 233
You arrive here, at location 66, in a cage. (Side note: locations 66
through 76 are all in this room.) Turn around until you see a button
just outside the cage.
This button is located in the direction of 75. This will call Ghen
to the chamber. He gives you a long speech about how he has changed;
takes the prison book from you when he notices that you have
recovered it; is about to use it when he gets suspicious and then
asks that you go first.
If you remember from reading Atrus's journal, the prison book is a
one man prison; if a second person uses the book, then the first is
released. So go ahead and enter the prison book. Ghen will quickly
follow releasing you from the prison and entrapping himself in. You
are now free to explore the room.
Locations 67 through 71 are linking books that link to the following
locations (respectively): 60, 25, 57, 15, and 51. Location 72 is a
generator for making power to these linking books. The slider turns
it on and off. The power is on if the red window below the lever
glows. 73 is a writing table with Ghen's newest book. 74 is a
doorway leading outside. Unfortunately, there is no way to open it.
75 is a lever that opens the cage. 76 is a stairwell that descends
down to Ghen's bedroom at 77. Take that stairwell down.
Inside his bedroom, on the nightstand, is Ghen's personal journal.
More importantly, next to the journal is a sphere that when clicked
will play five tones that are either `dings', `cranks' (like a
wrench), or `clanks' and this combination is different every game.
Make a note of the tones that you hear from the device.
Return to 69 and link through that book. (The linking book has but
one square on the cover.)
Part XI: Catherine's Island
You arrive at Catherin's Island, at 78. Head down the path to the
building where there is an elevator. The device against the back
wall is the lock for the cage.
Click on the pedals to duplicate the five tones that the device at
77 made and flip the lever. This will open the cage. You will rise
up to the top level where Catherine will greet you and congradulate
you. She will tell you to return to the telescope and open the
fissure.
Head back to the linking globe at 57, link back to Ghen's world and
then link to 15 using the book at 70 (the book with five squares on
the cover).
Part XII: Generator Island
Head to location 2. Look at the left leg of the telescope. There is
a device in the support that prevents the telescope from dropping
beneath a certain level. Remove that support. Then click on the
cover in the center of the telescope. Key in the combination from
Catherine's journal (numbering the buttons from one to five, left to
right), then click on the handle to open the cover. Now look at the
button on the right side of the telescope railing. Twist the handle
around the button until it is pointing down, and then push the
button until the telescope breaks through the glass covering the
fissure.
The fissure breaks, Catherine and Atrus are reunited, and in a fit
of madness, they throw you into the fissure. (It makes much more
sense when you watch the ending.)
Riven: The Sequel to Myst solution Copyright c 1997 by Mike
Marcelais. All commercial rights reserved. This document may be
distributed, so long as no content is changed and no fee is charged.
All screen captures are from the game and are copyright c 1997 by
Cyan and Red Orb, used without permission.
If you have any suggestions, additions, or corrections, send me a
note at michmarc@microsoft.com. Contributions will be appreciated
and credited.
