Old, but I'll come back to it anyway since the thread was updated:
PC-Engine said:
Oh, I know. I just posted it because it had similar gameplay to Myst but better graphics/animation
Not really. One of the things I found most irritating about Myst were the brothers' books, where you got a bit of pixellated live-action thrown in--it was just too out of place. Thankfully it was pretty much only limited to the books. 7th Guest and 11th Hour had too much of that (and too much of it over pre-rendered backgrounds looking even more out-of-place)... overall, it made me think of those old games played on VCR's and the like.
Myst was also not so dark, confined mainly inside a building, or trying to "replicate" more than create. The areas and styles it presented were broader, and on the whole the art direction was much better. Certainly it has spots that look rather rancid by today's standards (as will all games that age), but at the time it very stand-out.
Now Riven and Exile...? Those started being far more shruggable, as they weren't notable improvements graphically, nor compared to their contemporaries as Myst was. Exile was frankly a yawn even to look at.
As far as animation goes, that's a big shrug for me. All I know is it was pretty obvious and out of place on both, and there's no real way for me to do direct comparisons now.