I've been looking up some of the other favorites people mentioned, and it seems that none I've seen are made for anything later than Windows XP!  What's up with that??

Originally Posted By homefire

I've been looking up some of the other favorites people mentioned, and it seems that none I've seen are made for anything later than Windows XP!  What's up with that??

Unfortunately, there haven't been many games of that sort in recent years. The best ones are generally older games. The best effort along those lines in the last couple years that I can think of was Slipspace: The Burmashave Analogy, a cross between Myst and Obsidian. Very enjoyable.

Anyway, a few of my favorites:

Obsidian: Bizarre but fascinating environments and original lateral thinking puzzles. Probably my favorite non-Myst Myst-like game.

Timelapse: Variety of interesting locations to visit, puzzles of all shapes and sizes.

Riddle of the Sphinx: A really big game world, chock full of puzzles. A good game for people who particularly like careful exploration.

Aura: Beautiful, occasionally awe inspiring worlds, intriguing puzzles. An unusual game in that quite a few people who don't like Myst-like games have really enjoyed it.

Shivers: Creepy old museum, stuffed with puzzles. A ton of fun.

The 7th Guest: Creepy old house, stuffed with puzzles. Also a ton of fun.

Originally Posted By Thaumaturge

I believe that both Myst (either the Masterpiece edition or RealMyst) and Riven are available from Good Old Games, if you're willing to re-buy them - those should work on modern operating systems, I imagine.  You may even find something else there that you like! ^_^

 

Otherwise, if you don't mind grimmer, more philosophical fare, you might perhaps look at some of this fellow's works, such as Last Rose in a Desert Garden, The Infinite Ocean or The Museum of Broken Memories (which should be found via his "games" section).

Thank you so much!  The prices are pretty cheap, so I might just do it.  I still don't understand why on Amazon, they don't seem to be compatible with Vista, yet on GOG they are.  Worries me just a bit!  Have you used this site and gotten along well with it?

Andromus, those sound positively yummy!  

Obsidian was released back in 97, so finding it might be a bit tricky, and even if you do find it, expect to pay about 15-20€ for it. I don't know how well it runs in Vista, but you could always run it in a virtual machine. 

Slip space can be found Here

Also, if you liked Myst, you have to try out Schizm: Mysterious journey. It is quite similar to Myst, as you explore a huge desolate world, and solve logical puzzles, with very little in the way of inventory-based puzzles (although there is a bit more of that than in Myst). The game is also really challenging, so it will last you a while. If you can, get the DVD version, though chances are that it will be a tad bit (as in 40-60&euro

The rhem series is also quite similar to Myst

http://www.rhem-game.com/

Originally Posted By homefire

Originally Posted By Thaumaturge

I believe that both Myst (either the Masterpiece edition or RealMyst) and Riven are available from Good Old Games, if you're willing to re-buy them - those should work on modern operating systems, I imagine.  You may even find something else there that you like! ^_^

 

Otherwise, if you don't mind grimmer, more philosophical fare, you might perhaps look at some of this fellow's works, such as Last Rose in a Desert Garden, The Infinite Ocean or The Museum of Broken Memories (which should be found via his "games" section).

 

on't worry - If I recall correctly, a part of the service that Good Old Games offers is making older games compatible with newer systems, and in general seem to work without trouble.  For example, some of the particularly old games even come with their own DosBox installation.

Thank you so much!  The prices are pretty cheap, so I might just do it.  I still don't understand why on Amazon, they don't seem to be compatible with Vista, yet on GOG they are.  Worries me just a bit!  Have you used this site and gotten along well with it?

Don't worry - I believe that a part of the service that Good Old Games offers is making older games work with more recent operating systems - even including DosBox in the installation of some of the older games!

As for my own experiences, I own a fair few games bought from them, and have thus far had at most minor troubles, I seem to recall; in general, the games seem to tend to work without trouble.

As a final inducement, I'll note that games bought from Good Old Games come free of DRM.

Overall, I very much recommend Good Old Games. ^_^

Homefire, if you haven't seen this yet, check it out:

http://www.justadventure.com/forums/posts.asp?t=12869

I don't think anyone has mentioned Alida which I am replaying. There are aspects of Alida (the opening for example) that remind me of the Myst games almost more than any other game. It is/was an amazing accomplishment for such a small development company.

Alida does not require regular installation to the operating system (ie. the Windows registry doesn't know it's there) so it can even be run entirely off a jump/flash drive and transferred from computer to computer. I briefly ran it from a flash drive on the only Vista-based computer I have and it ran fine (though I didn't play it all the way thru there). It is available on Amazon starting at around $12 (for a used game).

Fwiw: Another older game that particularly gave me that special Myst feeling was the original Aura (which has already been mentioned). Don't know if it runs under Vista or not.

Zork Nemesis [1997ish] is a classic in a similar vein as the Mysts games and an XP+ version is available at GOG cheap. For more recent point-n-clickers you might look at Barrow Hill, The Dark Fall series and Outcry, a person fav.

Originally Posted By tincup2

Zork Nemesis [1997ish] is a classic in a similar vein as the Mysts games and an XP+ version is available at GOG cheap. For more recent point-n-clickers you might look at Barrow Hill, The Dark Fall series and Outcry, a person fav.

Thank you so much, everyone, for all your helpful suggestions!  I'm starting to feel like I need to learn some things, though...  For starters, this:

Originally Posted By Thaumaturge

For example, some of the particularly old games even come with their own DosBox installation.

I never even knew such a thing was available!  To think of all those DOS games that I tossed, thinking I could never play them again!  

So is this how you all are playing Win 98 games, by some setup like this?  

(doing some thinking about setting this computer up as a game machine whenever my new laptop arrives...  

@SirDave: Has it been figured out whether the GOG ZM has solved the spinning issue?

Out of sheer curiosity I picked up the GOG reissue and found that it ran smoothly on my XPxp3 rig, but that it still panned a bit too fast. Not as fast as my original non-GOG edition would in XP, but fast enough that I play it using WinThrottle to slow things down a bit. On the plus side I also noticed no loss of ambient sounds that the original DOS version suffered from - another potential issue given GOG runs Nemesis in DosBox. Great game.

Bottom line is you may still need to tweak it with a slow-down app like WinThrottle, but not by a heavy factor. Maybe DosBox cycles can be adjusted but I didn't bother to try.

If my memory serves, Win Vista (and 7) has the option to run games in a virtual machine (though that might just be the more expensive versions of vista). If you still have your Win9X discs (or can find one for cheap on ebay, they pop up quite often), and Win Vista does not come with an option to run programs in a virtual machine by default, then you can just download this. It requires a bit of tweaking to run perfect, but it allows games made for Win9X to run more or less flawlessly in modern OSs. 

Also, you can get dosbox here.  Note that setting up dosbox games is usually quite straight forward, but not always. Here you can find a beginners tutorial. 

Both these programs are free, and work really well. I've used them for years now, in order to play classic games.

@ Tincup;  strangely my GOG versions the Zork games seem much, much better on the spinning issue than the originals are.  I don't need to use a slowdown app.  I'm running an i5,  and I use a gaming mouse.  Not even with my mouse set on one of the faster dpi's do I need a slowdown app.  It's all in the way you scroll.  You just mustn't expect a constant slow 360 degree rotation . You need to just move a 'screen' at a time, and then it's quite bearable.  The original of Zork Nemesis spins like a top for me, but it seems quite decent in the GOG version, without any further tweaking, tho I've seen that some people like to set the DOSbox speed down even more..

I agree with Lady Kestrel, only one favorite is very hard to do, but I have to say Pandora Directive, then and now.

Originally Posted By Fnord

If my memory serves, Win Vista (and 7) has the option to run games in a virtual machine (though that might just be the more expensive versions of vista). 

Originally Posted By homefire

It just dawned on me that I sort of hijacked this thread.  Sorry about that.  Should I start a new one to ask how I find out whether I can do this?  

 

Originally Posted By Fnord

If my memory serves, Win Vista (and 7) has the option to run games in a virtual machine (though that might just be the more expensive versions of vista). 

That sounds like a good idea, Homefire.  Why don't you start a thread asking on techniques for running older games, because there's quite a few options, and then they can all be adressed in that thread. 

Zork!! Epic before the word Epic existed.