It comes with Flight of the Amazon Queen and Beneath a Steel Sky, definitely worth playing. Also Sam and Max is the epitome of the modern interpretation of the genre, get season 1 on Steam.
Try http://sarien.net/ They've got some of the classic Sierra adventure games. Plus it's free and browser based. Be warned though it's kinda buggy sometimes.
Also some of these older games, if you´r not used to that genre or played them back then, they can be pretty fucking hard. Like Beneath a Steel Sky, i remember playing it when i was younger on Amiga, and it was a pretty tough game.
Yeah, a lot of old adventure games were too hard but it's fun to finally solve the puzzles. If you get stuck, I usually just turn the game off and do something else for awhile.
The Secret of Monkey Island is probably the best place to start, I think it's fairly easy compared to most adventure games too. Definately check out the few freeware adventure games you can download from the ScummVM website (Scroll down to Extras.)
edit: This was the first one I played when I was 12. It was hard (although I was only 12 so maybe not as hard as I remember). These were the pre-internet days, so there was no such thing as an FAQ when you got stuck. It took me while, but I got through it. Lots of trial and error, but a real sense of accomplishment when you figured it out.
The Monkey Island games are all great and tend to be a little on the easier I found for a starting point. But Day of the Tentacle was definately a personal favorite as well. The one I really need to play is Grim Fandango, I still never got around to finishing that game.
Telltles Sam & Max is a good place to start. I've just got into adventure games recently, and I started with Sam & Max series one, and I loved it. Sam & Max Episode 4 is available for free on steam (and I think telltales website too), so so you could probably check that out first to see if it's your thing. The classic LucasArts adventure games are great, but the dated graphics can be offputting to new people to the genre, so I'd suggest trying some of the newer games before venturing back into the archives.
Monkey Island, Sam and Max (Hit the Road), and Grim Fandango...? Well, since you mentioned these already, i'd say start off with these. My friend, there are so many adventures games that even i haven't played yet. (age 32). And believe me, i'm a fan of the genre. Alright, some suggestions:
Myst (1 to 5) (Cyan) Full Throttle (Lucas Arts) Amerzone, Syberia 1 and 2. (Microids) The Gabriel Knights series. (Sierra) The Zork series. (Infcom / Activision) Lands of Lore series. (Westwood)
Monkey Island and Grim Fandango are great places to start off. Generally any Lucas Arts adventure game is good for first timers as it's impossible to die in most of them, which is a contrast to Sierra adventure games in which you could accidentally kill yourself without realising.
I'd say Full Throttle and Grim Fandango are a good introduction. They're brilliant games (probably the pinnacle of the genre) and reasonably easy compared to some adventure games.
Personally, I always had a soft spot for the Police Quest and Quest for Glory games, but they're not for everybody, especially so many years later.
Everything from Lucas Arts is easy to play and a good intro (besides maybe the Dig, which is good to come back to a little later). On the tougher end of the spectrum are the Sierra games, which are tough and incorporate RPG elements, and in those you can and will die.
I think full throttle and sam and max are a good introduction. I'd steer clear of Grim Fandango and Day of the tentacle for a little while, they are intense!
Start with the Wallace and Gromit games, they're pretty challenging, but they also have a low learning curve. Then get Sam and Max season 1, and so on and so forth.
And don't forget The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition!
I'm a BIG Sierra fan. I would have to say that the most hilarious game that I've ever played is Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist. Highly recommended if you can track it down. Someone earlier mentioned King's Quest VI. That is by far the best King's Quest game and I recommend it highly as well. The Space Quest and Gabriel Knight series are both extraordinary as well.
You absolutely can't go wrong with Lucasarts. Day of the Tentacle is absolutely amazing. The whole premise for that game is damn genius that you'll be grinning ear to ear the entire time. I remember laughing so hard that I would be bawling when I first played it (This also happened throughout my entire playthrough of Freddy Pharkas). Sam & Max and the Monkey Island games are great as well. Anything by Tim Schafer is on the shortlist of best games ever, so keep that in mind.
Last one to recommend would probably be Westwood's Blade Runner. I only played through the game once myself, but apparently the game changed a bit each time you played it. For example, the first time you play through the game one particular will turn out to be a replicant but they may not be one the second playthrough. Blade Runner did a flawless job of capturing the look and feel of the movie and it should probably be played by everyone. No pressure though.
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