Jewels of the Oracle

In 1993 there was a game called Myst that became something of a sensation.  A puzzle and adventure game, it dropped you on an island full of mystery and left you there.  I remember that I wanted to like Myst, but I just couldn't get into it.  I wanted to dive into puzzles, and Myst was a world where you had to figure out just what the puzzles were.  I didn't have that kind of patience.  Thankfully, Jewels of the Oracle arrived on the scene in 1995 and gave me exactly what I was looking for.

The game places you in an underground cavern exploring ancient ruins that are the doorway to a civilization that predates all modern ones.  The caverns are dark and their contents are old, yet ornate and beautiful at the same time.  It makes you feel like Indiana Jones.  The objective is to solve a series of individual puzzles, each associated with one of the primary values of the civilization.  Doing so will properly prepare you for life amongst them and open the doorway to the city.

Jewels of the Oracle is a beautiful game for its time, and the sound effects excellent.  Especially noteworthy is the music.  There are unique tracks for each challenge, and they are all engrossing and atmospheric, with an ancient-world sound to them.  They can get your blood pumping or fill you with a sense of foreboding as you tackle each new puzzle.

The puzzles themselves are well-designed.  Some are renditions of classic logic puzzles that have been around for a long time, while others are more original.  Some are relatively simple to figure out, others are not only real head-scratchers but contain clues that you can discover here and there throughout the caverns.  If you see etchings or symbols on the walls, take note: they might make sense when you enter the proper room.

Providing guidance is the city oracle, a stone face that speaks to you and sends you on your way as you enter the cavern.  It will offer hints, if asked for, during gameplay.  Sometimes the hints are useful, sometimes they're almost as hard to figure out as the puzzles and sometimes they're more general statements of wisdom than actual hints.  But his dark voice and slow, archaic speech help draw you in to the environment.

Solving some of the puzzles makes you feel positively brilliant.  In my case, however, there was one task I never completed, and so I found myself barred from the city.  There is no time limit or way to lose the game, but after spending hours on "The Assembly of the Planners" I eventually gave it up.  This is a classic "fit the pieces into the mold" puzzle, and I have never been good at them.  It finally occurred to me, after studying the puzzle for some time, that it is possible to solve it by completing only half of the puzzle and then mirroring he other half, as it is completely symmetrical.  This effectively cut my work in half, yet still I found myself caught in a web of frustration.  I still think about returning to the game someday and finally completing that blasted puzzle.

The game received a sequel in 1997 titled Gems of Darkness (released in some areas as Jewels II: The Ultimate Challenge), but despite a strong reception for the first title and gaining excellent reviews, this second title did not receive as wide a distribution and failed to make much impact.  Pity.