[Venkman]

Hard to say, because my walkthrough/hint policy throughout my adventure gaming history has been inconsistent at best. Conquests of Camelot I spent a significant amount of time with in 1994...it was the first Sierra game since Mixed-Up Mother Goose and Black Cauldron that I ever owned, and it was the only game I had access to for a good month or two, a situation with never arose again. I can't imagine how many hours I spent with that game...it's quite possibly 40+. No access to hints except for writing snail mail to Sierra - which I did for Fatima's symbol test, and had to wait weeks for the answer, still trying to figure it out in the meantime.

So is it the hardest game? No, especially since I only needed one hint total despite it being my first major adventure game. But it is the game that had me dedicated to it for the longest.

Actual hardest if I tried without a walkthrough would be Riven or Myst I guess, but I never gave either of those much of a chance without one.

Easiest might be Leisure Suit Larry 5, not counting Telltale.

Incidentally, I didn't find the Babel Fish puzzle to be even mildly difficult.

[gatherer3]

Missing: Since January (something like that) is easily the hardest game I've ever played. I did learn a lot, though. Hagia Sophia puzzle, anyone? Good point about the pre/post internet game play. I recall having to sit through those pay per hint lines for Laura Bow.

[Weare6]

MYST series.....
These are the toughest by a long shot.
Thrown into an alien world, isolated and alone to
explore a world you know nothing about. AWESOME!
Easiest.... well that could mean many these days.
I'll have to think....mmmmmm

[harald]

The hardest games (puzzle-wise) I've played are probably Discworld, Riven and Woodruff and the Schnibble.

As for easiest, I'm not sure. I've breezed through many of the more recent games, such as Sam & Max Season 3 or the Blackwell games. Phantasmagoria and Bad Mojo are two more dated examples.

[Tracer]

Well, if we´re talking about adventure games, the list is long.
The main problem is that, since we have the internet, most of us won´t even bother to lose a little bit of time solving a puzzle, and would go directly for a walkthrough.

I remember finishing Full Throttle,Blade Runner, and Quest for Glory without a walkthrough, because i didn´t have internet at that time. Then i became lazy and downloaded the walkthroughs for many games. Nowadays i´m so lazy i don´t even use a walkthrough. If i´m stuck, i stop playing, and maybe return to the game later on.

Anyway, Full Throttle and Blade Runner were pretty easy...
I managed to finish like 70% of Myst III without help, but there were a lot of puzzles near the end that were too difficult.

The games i mentioned above, plus Dracula Resurrection,Dracula:The Last Sanctuary, Return to Mysterious Island, Shadow of Destiny, were all pretty easy...

Grim Fandango, Black Dahlia, Legend of Kyrandia, Machinarium, Noir: a Shadowy Thriller, The Omega Stone, Ripper, and the Mysts, were tough games, if i can remember correctly...

[Dara100]

All the first adventure games were hard for me because I didn't have internet then and the idea that people would actually give you a hint was unheard of. I have to say though that those games - Myst, Riven, Hitchhiker's GTG, the Zorks, the Sierra games - were the most satisfying because they actually required pondering. It was great suddenly realizing what the solution to a problem was. I guess that's why to this day I resist using walkthroughs as long as i can. Life is more complicated now so I do peek occasionally because I don't have forever to play games.

The easiest are some of the "hidden object" flash games. Sometimes I wonder how anyone not in grade school gets any fun out of them.

[Captain Blondebeard]

Originally Posted by harald

The hardest games (puzzle-wise) I've played are probably Discworld, Riven and Woodruff and the Schnibble.

As for easiest, I'm not sure. I've breezed through many of the more recent games, such as Sam & Max Season 3 or the Blackwell games. Phantasmagoria and Bad Mojo are two more dated examples.

Good call on Discworld.

[lipsum]

I tend to agree with some comments here, regarding the aforementioned "myst" series. The games are pure eye candy, but the plot has to be painstakingly assembled, and the clues to the puzzles are sometimes more obscure than the puzzles themselves.

The easiest game I played would be "Drawn". The concept is quite simple: take this item and place it where it belongs, then continue upwards. This is the only game in recent memory I didn't have to resort to a walkthrough at one point or another.