This is sort of a reply to the two threads about coolest, hardest, weirdest, craziest etc Myst puzzles, because I can't really separate the various -ests into one topic or the other.

Best - Riven. All of it. Every puzzle was part of the larger puzzle, and integral to how things worked in the game. Maddening, sometimes, because if you didn't realize you needed something there were things that couldn't be reset, like the domes.

Gosh-wow coolest - Amateria is the stand-out here. First that magical moment when I realized all three ball puzzles were actually part of one big rolling ball puzzle. Then the "ooooh!" when I got it right and the ball formed around me and took me on the ride. Voltaic's hang glider ride is a close second, here.

"You're supposed to suspend my disbelief, not kill it" - Spire. It's hauntingly beautiful, but I'm supposed to believe someone lived here for 20 years? While all the Myst games have a tendency to stretch my ability to suspend disbelief, Spire was WAY past the limits. It's just as well Sirrus was a genius, because otherwise there'd be nothing there but a forlorn skeleton.

Worst - Serenia and the Dream puzzles. While there's some semi-sorta logic in the turn the fuzzy clouds white puzzle that gives you the key to solving that door puzzle, the whole sort the conversation puzzles are just egregious. Although I must admit to a certain amount of satisfaction watching Sirrus's 'soul' get splatted.

Weirdest - The tree age in Exile. I don't care what Atrus meant it for, it still seems like it was written by someone on some heavy recreational medication. It has its fun bits, but it's still... well, weird.

Hardest - Kadish Tolesa. By a very large margin. That was one warped mind behind those puzzles.

Easiest - "Opening" the Mechanical age on Myst Island. I still liked the puzzle, but I think it's probably the simplest puzzle in the series.

Puzzle style I liked best - the ones that can be solved by observation and deduction - where you can work out how something works by doing something with it and observing the results. Most of the Amateria puzzles are like this.

Puzzles I liked least - The ones that didn't seem to have any point except to make life difficult. The hydrophobic, slow-motion, no-jump fireflies, for instance, and the baskety things. I was cursing the game while I tried to solve that section.

Katreeny

Well I gotta agree with Riven. I loved Riven. It was, and still is, my favourite game. You can trully tell that it is a labor of love with that game, which is why the puzzles and atmosphere just work so well together.

The dream puzzle was rather...esoteric. But that's what happens when you hand it over to a bunch of frenchies (it was frenchies, wasn't it? Or was it those damn canadians? )

As as for the tree puzzle in Exile...well...to be honest it was down right stunted and rather ridiculous. Not only was it under the influence of living creatures, but there was no possible way to reset it. I mean, don't get me wrong, the concept was great - a huge tree age with its own ecosystem and all, but poor Saavedro (played by my favourite actor ever) must have had to lug that stupid manta ray all the way back to the top when he wanted to test it out.

_________________
"To take what is best from the past and move on."
-Atrus

katreeny wrote:

"You're supposed to suspend my disbelief, not kill it" - Spire. It's hauntingly beautiful, but I'm supposed to believe someone lived here for 20 years? While all the Myst games have a tendency to stretch my ability to suspend disbelief, Spire was WAY past the limits. It's just as well Sirrus was a genius, because otherwise there'd be nothing there but a forlorn skeleton.

Gotta disagree with you there. Sirrus's journal makes it clear that there was sufficient food and water -- Atrus had made sure of that. It's the stuff he managed to build with almost no tools or raw materials other than rocks that stretches my suspension of disbelief.