Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:37 pm Posts: 68
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I'm not the most qualified to answer these questions, since I will admit to having used strategy/hint guides for every Myst title save Exile, but I'll try to do my best with what I have.
Hardest: If I had attempted Riven without the guide, I might have gone for the perennial favorite of the Fire-Marble puzzle (though at least I forced myself to physically map it out, instead of using the pretty picture), but as-is, I'll probably go with the also-perennial-favorite of the majority of Spire. I must have had the "dense" setting in my brain turned on when I attempted it, since I think I missed about half of the clues scattered throughout the Age, and I had little to no idea what to do with the rest. (Then again, I generally fail rather hard at puzzles, and I almost consider them to be my least favorite part of the whole Myst experience.) So yeah, that was definitely an in-game-hint moment. The thing is, when I replayed the game, after knowing how everything was supposed to work, I was able to piece together the hints on my own without much trouble, and I enjoyed seeing how everything came together. Ah, hindsight...
Stupidest: One word: Ahnonay. I guess I should preface this by saying that I didn't get POTS for a rather long time after playing Uru Prime and To D'ni (and I wasn't around for the Prologue/UU), so I breezed through the walkthrough for it on GameFAQs to get an idea of what sort of Ages I'd find. One short glance at the walkthrough for Ahnonay, and I already knew that I hated it. To this day, POTS remains the only Myst game/expansion/major content release that I followed straight through from the walkthrough, without even the slightest attempt to work things out on my own. My apologies to fans of the Age, but being forced to make logical leaps some 50 times greater than I think I'm capable of making, having to sit through some 100-odd loading screens due to the insane amount of linking, and then having to do it all over again to get that accursed Relto page is not my idea of fun. Heck, after all of that, that 15-minute wait was a relief. Don't get me wrong; the Age was beautiful, and I probably would have been utterly blown away by its revelation if I hadn't spoiled myself on it, but as-is, I can't think about it without getting a bad taste in my mouth.
Craziest: Hmm...I guess this all depends on how you define crazy. If it's in a good way, then it's Amateria, hands-down, 'nuff said. If it's in a "holy-crap-this-is-nuts" way, it's probably most of Todelmer; even though I had to consult the walkthrough quite a few times on that particular Age (in fact, I started it out with a completely wrong assumption and spent a good hour accomplishing absolutely nothing), the end was just jaw-dropping. If it's in a "what-the-heck-was-Cyan/Ubisoft/Presto-thinking" way...I might have to go old-school and say the Myst rocketship. It's a rocket...lying on its side...with an organ inside. If it was Robyn who came up with that idea, I'd like to know what he ate the night before. 
_________________ Prepare for Descent...
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