King's Quest III is the game that really started the preposterously stupid puzzles and unfair bullshit that apexed with V, but it's also probably the best game in the series. There's a decent VGA-style fan remake that ditches the text input for point and click which improves the game a lot.
Main way to lose: have the sound turned on. Jesus.
Played at least the first 2 KQ games on the Apple //e and all it had was that crappy little built-in tweeter speaker and I don't think it was even an option to change the volume or turn the sound off and I still don't remember it being this annoying.
Same with the cat on the stairs. I work with someone who constantly trips over her cat, though she tells me the sound effects are nothing like the game.