Zork III, just finished this the other day. I am now going to try and finish the beyond zork, and zork zero.

Bought these games because I've had them as "abandonware" for years, but I'm probably not going to get near completing them. I'm seriously put off by talk of unwinnable states etc and I've a feeling the only way I'd manage is slavishly following a walkthrough, which is no fun for me. Were you following a walkthrough, or did you manage to work out a lot of it yourself?

50/50. I had solved some of the original puzzles and the rest of the adventure was done with a walkthrough. I just wanted to finish them quickly :)

Slavishly following a walkthrough (i.e., do what it says, do the next, and so on, until you finish) is no fun. But wandering around, having a good think and getting used to your surroundings, then checking a walkthrough when you get stuck (even if that is all the time) is still fun, I think.

I honestly don't have the patience to try every little trick or map out all the mazes using inventory items, and so on. But I did thoroughly explore the environment before consulting a walkthrough or map, so it feels like I gave the game a good go.

Hmmm, you guys are right that following a walkthrough to the letter is no fun. For me it's awesome that a few measly kilobytes worth of a game will have you scratching your head in frustration for days...

I'll admit I checked what I thought was my completed map against one online but, although I've only got 11 treasures, I'm loving every frustrating minute/hour/day! of it. Ahhh, kids these days have no idea :) ha ha!