I agree, and also suggest the C64 version. It’s not just for nostalgia reasons, but it feels like it captures the original personalities intended by the artists.
Even though it’s one of my favorites, it can be frustratingly hard at times! There’s no shame in using a hint guide sometimes.
I’d say, it is meant to be read before playing the game. You get an idea about the Zak universe and some minor hints among red herings. It’s a tabloid, so it doesn’t take its accuracy too seriously with actual ingame settings either.
It is probably the hint book you want to avoid for quite a while. Both are part of the GOG download.
That’s not the way the game is meant to be played. You can save your game anytime for a reason. Save your game just before you start flying. Have a blank page, fly as many flights you can and write down the connections and pricings. If bankrupt, load the savegame and repeat as necessary until you have a full plan. That’s the way most players probably did it back in the days.
Yes, that´s a way to draw the flight plan yourself. I also didn´t have a flightplan back in the day and I don´t think I ever ran out of money. The important thing to remember is that Annie hardly needs to fly at all, you should never really need her outside of London and Cairo.
I have no way of telling. Both Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken are a lot harder than Monkey Island though, and there are a few dead ends and ways to die.
There are also a few mazes.
You need to undestand the world and what you need to do. You can´t talk with anyone so there is not many occasion where you can get hints.
It´s really old school with all it´s trappings. Not in anyway unfair, though. But if you want a challenge, you will get it.
Also remember when you read the newspaper, you don´t get direct hints from it. Just ideas you can use on other occasions. Like the newspaper tells a story about something that happened with a thing, and in the game you will do something similar but with another thing.