There was an annoying unwinable situation (just about the only unwinable dead end in the whole series AFAIK) in the second one involving a Wild Boar but I don't remember a goat in the first one - was it in Ireland?

Yep:

http://www.steve-ince.co.uk/blog/2006/10/infamous-goat-puzzle.html

Had to consult a walkthrough for that puzzle.

Oh dear, the goat puzzle.

To this day, I think that Broken Sword 1 is one of the best adventures I ever played. It's a timeless classic. And it's almost perfect - except for the goat puzzle.
Maybe it would have just been a little easier if George would have given some hints what to do after the third time he failed.

ugh... now I'm worried. I'm just about to start the Broken Sword series :(

I really liked Tex Murphy's "entertainment" mode versus "gamer" mode with one very serious caveat... they promised extra gameplay and more puzzles in the gamer mode which IMHO is a punishment to anyone picking entertainment mode... and in an adventure game... I would imagine many people would prefer entertainment mode, but with access to the whole story.

Seems like middle ground could be had. I just wanted gamer mode but without timers on the puzzles. (and not at the expense of missing content).

I'm not sure its wise to try and force re-playability on adventure games. I play for the story. Sure I'll play it again... a few years from now when I don't remember what happened. Trying to offer a different story then won't have any sort of noticeable effect for me.

The goat puzlle is really stupid, but at least there is no way that it can break the game. Don't let it discourage you from playing Broken Sword.

I'm not ;) But this is just in from BS5:

" Do you want to see the return of the infamous goat? If we reach this target, you can!"

Wonder if they would get more money if they said they would leave it out? :p