MOHAWK: Riven: School Counting Game Winner Doesn't Reset

[dafioram]

scummVM: 1.10.0git-3747-g562da31 (July 8 2017) 64bit
Tester OS: Win7-64
Game: Riven DVD, Windows, English, 10th Anniversary/v1.2

When doing the counting game in the school the side that doesn't get eaten should also be raised to the top like the eaten one so that the game can reset, but it carries on from where it left off.

If you step back and re-approach it is reset again.

The current behavior is not buggy its just different from the original game.

Demo: ​https://streamable.com/lldcv
Youtuber: ​https://youtu.be/tdq9DED-s4I?t=986

[dafioram]

school

[dafioram]

I verified that this really was in the original: ​http://sendvid.com/k44kpymx

[macca8]

You are correct. In the original the opposite side does reset when a side gets eaten, however the whole process looks so unnatural! The little man simply appears at the top, no rewinding action or anything.

FWIW, I much prefer the variation that the team have built into the game (it's been there since I discovered ScummVM back in Nov 2014) where both sides remain independent. The movements are just so much more natural.

Sure, it may take a little longer to discover all the numbers, but Riven (and the Myst series in general) is all about using logic and patience to solve the game.

I vote against any change here.

[dafioram]

It definitively looks unnatural.

Logically, I think the counting game, in the fictional world of riven, would of actually been designed to reset both sides since this game is really a competition between two school kids and they would want the game to reset so that they or the next two kids could go again.

I would vote that the current behavior not be changed unless it is changed to have the other side be reset and have it look smooth (which is what the iOS youtube playthrough shows). Otherwise, other riven game players may report it as a bug (since it looks unnatural).

[dafioram]

I think it makes more sense to make this an enhancement rather than a defect.