[Nuclear1]

Just rediscovered these a couple days ago...used to play them a lot when I was 14 or so.  In fact, just finished Myst and installing Riven as we speak.

[Det. Bullock]

I completed the first three (Myst, Riven and Myst III) an they were very good, the third one in particular.
I started the fourth one a year ago but I had no time to play it back then.
I remember that the graphics were spectacular, it's a pity I couldn't dedicate much time to it.

[Lukeskywalkie]

4's levels and puzzles are actually my favorite, right up until the end.  This is in my top 3 favorite game series (and the only puzzle entry on the list).  I love the concept, and the characters.  The developers were a little ahead of their time on Uru, though, and myst V suffers for it.  I suggest you stop playing the series after 4 - it has a fine resolution. 5 will only depress you (unless you've never cared for Atrus or Catherine, and REALLY like David Ogden Stiers).

Riven still has the best-realized world I've seen in a video game...and it uses still pictures and low-fi music!  It also integrated puzzles better than any other adventure title before or since.

great series.

[CP5670]

What are these games like? The first Myst was supposed to be revolutionary for its time and was the top selling PC game for a decade, but I've heard that people now look back at it and wonder how anyone could have played it.

[Det. Bullock]

What are these games like? The first Myst was supposed to be revolutionary for its time and was the top selling PC game for a decade, but I've heard that people now look back at it and wonder how anyone could have played it.

The plot of the first Myst is simple:
After reading a mysterious book the protagonist is trapped in surreal artificial miniworlds (the "Ages") and must solve several puzzles to unlock them and solve the mystery about them and Atrus, their creator.
The game is in first person and procedes trough still images, of course in the third and fourth game this has been upgraded to 360° stills, often with several animations.
I suggest you to take notes, it helps a lot in solving the puzzles.

[Ransom]

What are these games like? The first Myst was supposed to be revolutionary for its time and was the top selling PC game for a decade, but I've heard that people now look back at it and wonder how anyone could have played it.

That's a result of the first two games' unapologetic obscurity. Puzzles tend toward the incomprehensible and hints are vague at best. Riven especially. That said, most mechanisms the player is asked to solve operate on a crazy kind of internal logic, and deciphering that logic can be incredibly satisfying. I also got a nerdy pleasure out of scribbling notes and sketches on a scrap of paper while I was playing. It does help.

I disagree about avoiding End of Ages. I found its puzzles to be some of the most enjoyable.

Exile has the best story of the series, I think.

[Topgun]

What are these games like? The first Myst was supposed to be revolutionary for its time and was the top selling PC game for a decade, but I've heard that people now look back at it and wonder how anyone could have played it.

its very hard.
and lots of reading, lots and lots of reading.

[Det. Bullock]

What are these games like? The first Myst was supposed to be revolutionary for its time and was the top selling PC game for a decade, but I've heard that people now look back at it and wonder how anyone could have played it.

its very hard.
and lots of reading, lots and lots of reading.

It's not so hard, of the ones I played only Riven was particulary tricky.

[Lukeskywalkie]

The Fire Marble Dome puzzle haunts my dreams.

[Nuclear1]

The Fire Marble Dome puzzle haunts my dreams.

This is the most evil puzzle ever conceived.

Or, for a tone-deaf person like me, the rocket ship puzzle from the original Myst.

[NGTM-1R]

Or, for a tone-deaf person like me, the rocket ship puzzle from the original Myst.

Only one person in my family could complete that, and none of us are exactly tone-deaf...

[StarSlayer]

I'd nominate Presto Studios' Journeyman Project series for point and click adventure awesomeness.   Your an agent of the Temporal Security Agency charged with protecting the timeline and in later games investigating the past.  The visuals, music and storylines still kick ass even today.  And hey some men at arms drop a cow on you if your slow scaling the keep of the Chateau Gaillard.

[Ace]

Journeyman 1 and 2 are great, especially 2. 3 feels a bit like a fan-fiction conclusion

[Mongoose]

Glad to see some fellow Myst fans. The series has been one of my personal favorites ever since I first played the original Myst, as much for the fantastic world-building capabilities of the Miller brothers as for the gameplay themselves.  While not nearly as expansive, the world of Myst is akin to Tolkien's Middle-Earth in its thousands of years of established history, detailed portrayals of a full-fledged culture, and even an invented language.  The whole central concept of writing words in a book to "create" fantastic new worlds is utterly fascinating to me.  And as they're portrayed in the games, those worlds wind up being utterly beautiful places to wander around in.  Exile was probably my personal favorite of the series, though Riven is definitely its pinnacle from a world-design standpoint.  As I mentioned in the topic about it, I'm active in the latest (and free!) incarnation of Myst Online, and I'd be happy to help out anyone considering giving it a try.

[CP5670]

That's a result of the first two games' unapologetic obscurity. Puzzles tend toward the incomprehensible and hints are vague at best.

That reminds me of Inca, one of the strangest games I've ever played. It has similarly obscure puzzles, although they are very easy and can often be solved by random clicking; you just never figure out what you did to solve them.

I'd nominate Presto Studios' Journeyman Project series for point and click adventure awesomeness.   Your an agent of the Temporal Security Agency charged with protecting the timeline and in later games investigating the past.  The visuals, music and storylines still kick ass even today.  And hey some men at arms drop a cow on you if your slow scaling the keep of the Chateau Gaillard.

I played Journeyman 1 last year for the first time. The premise of the story is very cool, but the game is extremely short and there is little to do in it other than just clicking through scenes. It ultimately doesn't feel like much of a game, and is more in line with those "interactive multimedia" titles that came up with the advent of CDs around the early 90s. I've heard that the later games are genuine adventure games though and would like to try them at some point, as the game universe certainly has potential.

[Flipside]

I remember a game called Snowball, which was a text adventure boasting over 9000 'locations', most of those locations, it should be noted, were corridors with groups of coloured lights to identfy which deck/section of the spaceship you were on you were currently occupying. It's a pity, because I seem to recall the company that produced it, Level 9 I think it was called, also produced some very respectable adventures.

[Det. Bullock]

The Fire Marble Dome puzzle haunts my dreams.

This is the most evil puzzle ever conceived.

Or, for a tone-deaf person like me, the rocket ship puzzle from the original Myst.

It took me more time to solve that tone-based puzzle than to solve a whole Age.

[Nuclear1]

I played Journeyman 1 last year for the first time. The premise of the story is very cool, but the game is extremely short and there is little to do in it other than just clicking through scenes. It ultimately doesn't feel like much of a game, and is more in line with those "interactive multimedia" titles that came up with the advent of CDs around the early 90s. I've heard that the later games are genuine adventure games though and would like to try them at some point, as the game universe certainly has potential.

JP3 remains one of my favorite adventure games ever.  I mean, looking back, Ace has a point, but it's still a highly-enjoyable game.  Puzzles aren't overly-difficult, but challenging enough to be rewarding at the end of the day.

[BrotherBryon]

I still have Myst around here some where, it's been a long time since I played it though might have to dig it up. Any one else remember 7th Guest, another great puzzle game from way back when.

[Lukeskywalkie]

Oh yeah, loved 7th guest.  Lost the discs a long time ago, but it's next on my amazon search.  The music shows its age, now, as does the chroma key work, but it had some great puzzles and themes.  7th guest was gothic before gothic was gothic.