I agree with you. The actress for Catherine in Riven was everything she should have been: a sharp, eccentric, an almost wild firebrand and leader among the Rivenese people. She had agency and personality, despite being in a classic damsel in distress situation. This version of Catherine sounds like a 50 year old New England mother named Susan. I guess there is SOME justification for such a change, as she's supposed to be over a dozen years older at this point and her, and a lot of her spark seems to have transferred to Yeesha.
It was so disappointing to see Catherine go from a revolutionary hero with her own internal struggle but a clear sense of what she needed to do, to a meek housewife who can't choose between obeying her man and her Maternal Instincts(tm). Argh. I'm aware this is a mild exaggeration but it's...a very personal issue for me. I loved Riven-Catherine; even though you had to rescue her, she was a very strong character.
I do agree that she comes off poorly here compared to how cool she seemed in Riven (or even the degree to which she was left to imagination in Myst. Heck, even her minimal involvement in Myst III comes off better). Much as I like to find sympathy in deeply flawed, sometimes villainous characters (the 90s Sailor Moon anime has a lot of excellent examples, and Saavedro from Myst III is great too), and much as I can empathize with caring about ones' own children, I feel given the severity of Sirrus and Achenar's crimes and deceit that she should be grappling with the ethics of this herself, and not be so passively trusting. She _should_ be worried, but not about "a mother's loyalty to her husband versus her children"- she should be worried about whether it's safe or ethical to give her children any kind of freedom, and how best to go about it, the same as Atrus. Heck, it might make more sense if one of them was completely against it and only one parent was even contemplating it, since again, they are literally world-burning murderers, and so dishonest that they tricked both parents into being stranded, intending to leave both of _them_ for dead! I could more easily see a story where Cathrine thinks it's a horrible idea to free them at all, and Atrus, full of the doubts he expresses in his journal, is pressing on with experimenting with it anyway (or vice versa), but instead we have Cathrine being gung ho to free them but not feeling authoritative enough to do it herself, with only Atrus showing sensible caution. Kind of a letdown. I do find the story of Myst IV intriguing so far and it's environment atmosphere is just as excellent as I'd hope, but, between this different take (and very different voice) for Catherine and the retcon about prison books, I feel like it's set in an alternate universe from Myst and Riven, rather than those simply being 'more fictionalized accounts'. Obviously they're both fiction, and this is a setting with world-linking books (practically magic), so I feel like it's simpler to just imagine them as alternate realities within the same multiverse.
No, in Myst they were portrayed by Robyn and Rand Miller (yes, Rand Miller played both Atrus and Achenar in Myst). Here they're portrayed by Brian Wench and Guy Sprung.
Agree about Catherine's voice acting etc. In the previous games she clearly had a British accent but in this game she is obviously someone trying to sound British but getting the inflection of some words wrong.
The weird thing is Cyan had Rengin Altay voice Catherine in Riven and they brought her back as Yeesha in Uru and End of Ages. Had Ubisoft just used her for Myst IV this wouldn’t have been an issue.
In the journal reading at least, it sounds like her voice is lower, but in the memory of the back up power supply station when she's complaining to Atrus about their need for it, she sounds high pitched and just plain whiny.
This is absolutely unbelievable. Myst IV is my favourite game of the series, and I've played through it a number of times. I've watched an LP, though it wasn't yours yet, because I didn't want to risk spoiling anything about Uru and Myst V. How is it that I've NEVER found/known about this journal before?! I can't believe I missed this! This is just weird; finding out about it after all this time.
I've been watching some of your walkthrough vids; I have to say good work. :3 Making them both entertaining and informative. I admit I don't like Catherine's voice actor here much either, but I did like seeing her journal. The handwriting here is only slightly more legible than on Riven, but still rather similar. x3 It shows just what work was poured into this game and the others, the differences in handwriting for each journal.
Cathrine's voice seems fine, in fact it is very reminiscent of the Reverend Mother from Dune 2000. Perhaps having grown up on the Dune series has created biases towards that particular style of voice acting.
In both Riven and Myst III (granted they're both different actresses and we don't see them very often or for very long periods of time) I could tell that she had a slight accent, but this new actress just seems WAAAAY too British. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but Catherine came from Riven, this woman sounds like someone took her straight out of tea time. I don't like the aristocratic Catherine.
I personally like the acting of Sirrus and Achenar for the MOST part in Myst IV...however the characters are blown out of proportion a bit by how exaggerated and unnatural the acting is at some times, especially with Sirrus. If you can get over that though, it's pretty decent if definitely not amazing by any stretch of the imagination.
But is it truly possible to be too much of a ham when playing Sirrus? "Thank you, my friend... you FOOL! AHAHAHA!!". To say nothing of good ol' Achenar... they were both pretty wild and over the top in the original Myst, and that's just the way I like it.
It's not so much the voice for me, as it is the writing. Whoever wrote her parts completely missed the character we've seen in the previous games, and wrote an entirely different character.
I agree with you. The actress for Catherine in Riven was everything she should have been: a sharp, eccentric, an almost wild firebrand and leader among the Rivenese people. She had agency and personality, despite being in a classic damsel in distress situation. This version of Catherine sounds like a 50 year old New England mother named Susan. I guess there is SOME justification for such a change, as she's supposed to be over a dozen years older at this point and her, and a lot of her spark seems to have transferred to Yeesha.
It was so disappointing to see Catherine go from a revolutionary hero with her own internal struggle but a clear sense of what she needed to do, to a meek housewife who can't choose between obeying her man and her Maternal Instincts(tm). Argh. I'm aware this is a mild exaggeration but it's...a very personal issue for me. I loved Riven-Catherine; even though you had to rescue her, she was a very strong character.
I do agree that she comes off poorly here compared to how cool she seemed in Riven (or even the degree to which she was left to imagination in Myst. Heck, even her minimal involvement in Myst III comes off better). Much as I like to find sympathy in deeply flawed, sometimes villainous characters (the 90s Sailor Moon anime has a lot of excellent examples, and Saavedro from Myst III is great too), and much as I can empathize with caring about ones' own children, I feel given the severity of Sirrus and Achenar's crimes and deceit that she should be grappling with the ethics of this herself, and not be so passively trusting.
She _should_ be worried, but not about "a mother's loyalty to her husband versus her children"- she should be worried about whether it's safe or ethical to give her children any kind of freedom, and how best to go about it, the same as Atrus. Heck, it might make more sense if one of them was completely against it and only one parent was even contemplating it, since again, they are literally world-burning murderers, and so dishonest that they tricked both parents into being stranded, intending to leave both of _them_ for dead! I could more easily see a story where Cathrine thinks it's a horrible idea to free them at all, and Atrus, full of the doubts he expresses in his journal, is pressing on with experimenting with it anyway (or vice versa), but instead we have Cathrine being gung ho to free them but not feeling authoritative enough to do it herself, with only Atrus showing sensible caution. Kind of a letdown.
I do find the story of Myst IV intriguing so far and it's environment atmosphere is just as excellent as I'd hope, but, between this different take (and very different voice) for Catherine and the retcon about prison books, I feel like it's set in an alternate universe from Myst and Riven, rather than those simply being 'more fictionalized accounts'. Obviously they're both fiction, and this is a setting with world-linking books (practically magic), so I feel like it's simpler to just imagine them as alternate realities within the same multiverse.
No, in Myst they were portrayed by Robyn and Rand Miller (yes, Rand Miller played both Atrus and Achenar in Myst).
Here they're portrayed by Brian Wench and Guy Sprung.
Agree about Catherine's voice acting etc. In the previous games she clearly had a British accent but in this game she is obviously someone trying to sound British but getting the inflection of some words wrong.
The weird thing is Cyan had Rengin Altay voice Catherine in Riven and they brought her back as Yeesha in Uru and End of Ages. Had Ubisoft just used her for Myst IV this wouldn’t have been an issue.
In the journal reading at least, it sounds like her voice is lower, but in the memory of the back up power supply station when she's complaining to Atrus about their need for it, she sounds high pitched and just plain whiny.
Say what you want about Catherine's voice, I'm glad it's here because one thing that did NOT change about Catherine from Riven is her handwriting.
This is absolutely unbelievable. Myst IV is my favourite game of the series, and I've played through it a number of times. I've watched an LP, though it wasn't yours yet, because I didn't want to risk spoiling anything about Uru and Myst V.
How is it that I've NEVER found/known about this journal before?! I can't believe I missed this! This is just weird; finding out about it after all this time.
I miss Riven Catherine. :(
anyone notice that most of Atrus + Catherine's journals have recycled text from Myst and Riven? I'm enough of a geek to see that.
THAT WOULD'VE BEEN AWESOME!
Silly, but awesome. :-)
Dilandau3000 What would have been awesome? The comment you are replying to is missing...
I've been watching some of your walkthrough vids; I have to say good work. :3 Making them both entertaining and informative. I admit I don't like Catherine's voice actor here much either, but I did like seeing her journal. The handwriting here is only slightly more legible than on Riven, but still rather similar. x3 It shows just what work was poured into this game and the others, the differences in handwriting for each journal.
Cathrine's voice seems fine, in fact it is very reminiscent of the Reverend Mother from Dune 2000. Perhaps having grown up on the Dune series has created biases towards that particular style of voice acting.
She sounds kind of elderly as well.
In both Riven and Myst III (granted they're both different actresses and we don't see them very often or for very long periods of time) I could tell that she had a slight accent, but this new actress just seems WAAAAY too British. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but Catherine came from Riven, this woman sounds like someone took her straight out of tea time. I don't like the aristocratic Catherine.
I liked the idea of Catherine being eccentric and creating these mind boggling impossible ages that just blow Atrus away by how imaginative they are.
Yeah, Catharines voice here does not really fit...
I agree with you. The voice acting is soooo lame for Catherine. Really disinterested.
I personally like the acting of Sirrus and Achenar for the MOST part in Myst IV...however the characters are blown out of proportion a bit by how exaggerated and unnatural the acting is at some times, especially with Sirrus.
If you can get over that though, it's pretty decent if definitely not amazing by any stretch of the imagination.
But is it truly possible to be too much of a ham when playing Sirrus? "Thank you, my friend... you FOOL! AHAHAHA!!". To say nothing of good ol' Achenar... they were both pretty wild and over the top in the original Myst, and that's just the way I like it.
Ah! Her voice is....unbearable!
Btw: I played the German version. And I have to say: Her german voice is really okay!
Not really, imo. Sirrus in particular is way over the top.
I also don't like the voice of Catherine... The one from Riven was just great!
You were disappointed with the acting, I see.
That makes two of us. :)
well, it is my opinion to.
Yeah, her voice definitely doesn't fit her character.
It's not so much the voice for me, as it is the writing. Whoever wrote her parts completely missed the character we've seen in the previous games, and wrote an entirely different character.
I like that their acting is poor and over the top... because they're lying to you anyway... perhaps they are just unconvincing liars. =)
The voice sucks and the handwriting is different too, I think.
Everything is wrong with Catherine! Her handwriting was illegible in Riven, and now her voice is just plain terrible. Ugh.
Voice acting in videogames should be banned.
Mama mia!