This weekend, it's more Dark Souls for me. Might actually be able to wrap it up this weekend as well, though I'm remembering that the Prepare to Die edition included DLC so probably not. Honestly though, I'm pounding through it more out of some misguided sense of pride than because I think it's a good game. I'll be…

I loooooove Galaxy Trucker.

Most of it is just a nostalgia bomb, honestly. Just as Civ 4 and Civ 5 have people these days playing 20 hours in a weekend, we were doing the same thing with Civ 2, so we're sort of attached to it.

I'm surprised that that was a breaking point for you. I mean Necron is inexcusably bad, for sure. But I rank him low on the JRPG Craziness Scale since he's just a speedbump at the very end of the game. If he popped up at the tail end of Disc 3 and derailed the whole adventure I'd be right with you, but his impact on…

That's pretty much the same reason that you go to the moon in FF4. And in the FF5 the bad guy is a tree. Stuff was nuts.

Ironic? That's like the #1 thing I expect out of a comment thread for article on discrimination! :D

It's strangest to me because "pro-gaming" was already an established term. Apparently there were enough people involved who really wanted mainstream validation to push for a direct comparison to sports, which in my opinion just makes it sillier.

Dark Souls has great lore, I'll grant. But it has pretty much zero story. It's the equivalent of the DM coming to your D&D session with a 500 page binder of the world's history and no idea what to do for the actual session. Mordenkainen and Elminster and Drizzt and Robilar all went on pretty sweet adventures back in…

It's been years, so I have no idea. You're probably right on most if not all counts, but I honestly couldn't say.

My experience has been entirely the opposite - Humanity is an arbitrary thing. Chug a couple solid ones whenever you need to unhollow and kindle a fire, but it's pretty much an unnecessary bolted-on mechanic otherwise.

My experience with the complex-but-rewarding combat system was getting to the first boss (some kind of golem) and stringing together a 30-hit combo that dealt 5 damage. Needless to say my Vagrant Story playthrough did not last very long.

That's the gist as I understand it. As a caster, you may need some Str/Dex in order to use certain equipment (among their giant stat blocks they have ability prereqs), but that's about it. A little ways into the game you'll start getting access to weapons that scale off of casting stats. There are also options with…

I have to echo that. From what I've played so far, Dark Souls isn't so much hard as it is an incredible cheap shot artist.

Being partway through the game (just wrapped up O+S) I agree that they could've stood to throw a few more breadcrumbs out there. It's really cool to have some of the subtle details they do, but they're missing the big hook that makes me care enough to look for them.

Character development: Upgrade your primary attack stat (Str for big weapons, Dex for quick ones, or your spellcasting stat), Endurance, and Vitality. Never ever ever put a point in resistance.

There's something vaguely terrifying about seeing one of your comments show up in this for the first time.

I try to keep mine even a little simpler than that. "Favorites" is just for things that I'm currently playing, since it's always on top and means I'm less likely to get distracted. "zzz" is for things I have no intention of playing again, beaten or otherwise, since it'll sit low on the list. "To-Do" is for anything I…

As a huge FFT junkie, the script update was really disappointing to me because the game really needed an updated script… just not that one.

Just hold on until after the Grammys when we get the followup articles: "Hear This: Best Song Nominees You Remember Because You're A 90s Kid," featuring hits like the theme song from Armageddon.

In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing.