A mystery thats Myst for me. Excellent graphics etc. people buying it like no tomorrow (the 1. one i bought too)
heck even the *serious media* reported about the game without the usual highlights *kill, murder*.
So it must be a great game. A game that for me is like watching an aquarium without fish.
Thats only my opinion. Everyone should experience the game once and make his/her own decision.

I'm an adventure game fan but I found this series pretty boring. Also it tends to require you keep notes and such with an actual pen and paper, which... well fuck that, frankly.

Opinions vary though, of course.

I did originally think it was the entire series, but that was mostly based on my failure to closely examine the contents of the bundle.

Depends. Some people like render-adventures, others don't. I found Myst to be very, very boring. And Riven too. Don't expect a classic point-and-click adventure. It's more like on of these 'hidden object flash games' that you can play on any online flash gaming site. You have pre-rendered pictures in which you search for things and puzzles. And you have some 'puzzle' mini-games. That's it. I never understood why Myst was such a success at the time. But there are people who are avid fans of the series and others, like me, who don't like it at all. Hard to say in what category you will fall unless you know it yourself.

Myst is an amazing series.

I really really have to strongly disagree with the comparison with "hidden object" games. Myst is far from that. It's a game that requires attention, patience and effort. Pen and paper is mandatory. There is no inventory and you do not talk to people (more or less) - it's about getting your bearings together in strange worlds. What many fail to realise is that Myst is the perfect example of meaningful interaction. Everything you examine and interact with in Myst gives you a piece of the overarching story puzzle, that in turn gives you the ability to actually finish the game. The original game does this, and Riven ups the ante on a ludicrous scale.

It's a shame Myst III and IV are not on GOG yet, but that's because legal rights. :(

Why not get realMyst and try it out? It's easier to get into since it's full 3D. If you like it, you can always buy the rest later.

Ah, what the hell, I went for it. Black Mages have always been known to be trustworthy, after all.

Broken Sword pretty much introduced me to the adventure genre, so I have more nostalgia going there, but Myst might be my favourite series. It's really something else, the world and the puzzles always felt so 'organic' to me, they usually make sense in the end and give great satisfaction once it all falls into place and comes together (Riven is the pinnacle, but I can see how it can easily become overwhelming).
The atmosphere in the various ages I found really enthralling, pretty much every game in the series had me sucked in. And despite what many will say, the storyline told through journals and exploration is again 'organically' connected to the gameplay and lends to an interesting narrative to keep you going, and focusing on the Atrus family throughout the series, it's easy to get quite involved in the saga. Combined with the background stories (more so in the books if You can be bothered) create a quite in depth universe.

But I'm a sucker for adventures in general, so might not the best adviser. Definitely try out a demo to at least get a feel of the thing.
Edit: 20 minute ninja, hope You'll enjoy it then!

Awesome man, I know you'll like it! Who knows, maybe someday you'll want to play URU online...

On a more serious note - I too grew up playing consoles and Myst absolutely baffled me. None of the puzzles made any sense to me at all. In fact - my situation is exactly the same as yours.

I had experience with one pseudo-adventure game before: ShadowRun on the SNES. But that was it.

The problem is that Ubi don't own them outright. Cyan owns the Myst IP and also owns all the games they made themselves (the ones that are on GOG). Ubi owns 3 and 4, but not the IP, so they can't sell them. Cyan and Ubi would have to agree on a deal for them to be sold again and... for whatever reason, they haven't.

Cool! let us know what you think...

Yeah... where Myst at least separated things equally between separate ages, Riven it's just all there, huge, confusing and beautiful. I love the whole series, but Riven holds a particularly dear place in my heart.
Hooray! Hope you enjoy them. Not sure what to advise to start with since you have two versions of the first game... RealMyst would probably be a gentler introduction to the series, but then Riven might be jarring to you (and that would be a shame given that it's the best one IMO). Masterpiece Edition might be a more difficult introduction, but then hopefully by the time you get to Riven you'll be used to it and better able to be immersed.

LOL..yeah, definitely need the pen & paper. To the OP and others interested in these, I say at a good price go for it. I now have them all, and although I haven't played all of them, I find playing them a nice change of pace now and then. I like playing them when I am feeling a little stressed, and perhaps a bit burnt from other gaming genres, and want to just chill. Not as exciting as perhaps the more modern adventure games, but they definitely give the brain a good workout, and help divert your thoughts from whatever may be stressing you out, at least IMO. As SV states, opinions vary. That's mine, and that, and couple bucks will buy you a coffee at the deli

To me, that was the best part. I still have my old Myst journal from when I was playing with my uncle. We'd write down what we noticed, compare notes and figure out puzzles. Loads of fun.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but unless the game in question has great dialog (Monkey Island and Broken Sword are good example) or an interesting story (The Longest Journey and Gabriel Knight), I don't like modern adventure games that much. The puzzles seems more like "exhaust every intem combinaison and dialog option" and the solution sometimes doesn't make sense or is incredibly obscure. It went to a point where I grew tired of adventure games in general.