[Luna Sevithiainen]

Originally Posted by Oscar

I could never get past that coloured gem puzzle in LoK1. Seriously, how are we supposed to know the order to put the gems on the altar when the game doesn't tell us and it is randomised each time? I worked it out only by trial and error, saving and restoring until I got to the 4th gem where none of them fit. They all burned up when I put them there, so the puzzle was impossible to pass.

As far as I know each of the stones was fixed, so you just need to have those 4 stones (as far as I noticed, they are not randomized). There is some logic behind which stone belongs to which slot as well:

Spoiler:

the stones represent the four seasons. The wizard (I'm afraid I forgot his name, but I mean the one with the dragon) should have told you about it when he mentioned the birthstones. I don't recall all he says about it, but it is something along the line of the stones representing the seasons, and have to be layed out in order, with summer coming first or something like that. So all you need is 4 stones to represent the seasons. And the colour of the stone is the link to which season it represent (maybe there are more hints, but I don't know any at the moment), so start with a colour that reminds you of summer, and so on. If none of the 4th gems fits, it just means you don't have that stone yet, and you'll have to search some more (note that not all gems lie in plain sight.

The puzzle is solvable, just quite of a hassle. Everytime I play it I do the same as you: bring every gem I can find to the altar and start trying things out. As said, I can make some educated guess (and by now I have some memory of which stone is which, but indeed, the game isn't too helpful with this. And that is not just this puzzle (a certain potion making puzzle comes to mind).

[Afterburn]

A great and underrated trilogy imo!
Book One was the very first adventure game I played back in the mid-nineties. Got stuck pretty soon in the game though when I was a little kid, but many years later I got Malcolm on his knees

I would personally rate Book 2 almost as high. Similar atmosphere, humour, gameplay,... The 3rd one got me less interested, and I didn't finish that one so far. One day...

Originally Posted by Oscar

They all burned up when I put them there, so the puzzle was impossible to pass.

If I remember correctly, those burned up stones could be found back randomly throughout Kyrandia, so saving and restoring the game was not absolutely necessary to get passed this puzzle (although it obviously is easier to do so).

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by Luna Sevithiainen

As far as I know each of the stones was fixed, so you just need to have those 4 stones (as far as I noticed, they are not randomized).

The first and fourth gems are always the same. The first is hidden and can only be found after you've brought Darm the quill. The fourth requires solving a puzzle. The other two are chosen at random among all the gems laying around.