Yea, I think I feel the same way. There's always a sense of triumph in returning to an area in Dark Souls. What once seemed impossible is now easily turned aside. As I think about it, maybe the charms of this Zelda game are not so different from the charms of any Zelda game. They're fun to replay after you've given…

Yea, how come people never talk about how *fun* those games are, rather than how *hard* they are?

I'm really enjoying myself with the mindless wandering, but I also know myself all too fucking well. Is this mindless wandering truly sustainable? Or will I hit a point when I'm kind of done with the game and grinding through the actual plot seems like a chore. Hard to know if this game will truly break my usual open…

With BOTW, It's weird to think that this is a game you can only play for the first time once. So much of the fun of the game is the sense of discovery. Wandering into some region and having literally no idea what you will find there. I wonder if that will fade on subsequent playthroughs or if it will transform the…

Playing Breath of the Wild naturally. I'm kind of stuck because things are really busy for me and I can only play half an hour of it a day right now. It's surprising that, for a game that I can play 4 hours in a sitting, playing in short 30 minute spurts is still satisfying. I just boot it up, take a look around where…

I haven't encountered those yet. That's too bad. Given the way the rest of the game is structured, I would much prefer that they let me break the puzzle (or decide to persist with it even though I could break it) than ensure that I had the same experience as everyone else.

The player’s freedom to face Ganon any time you want is a great example of one of Breath of the Wild’s best features: the ability to get in over your head. BOTW is so focused on freedom that they give you the ability to get into all kinds of situations that you probably shouldn’t. That creates a profound trickle down…

Just green turtles who are no longer youths, but have not yet reached adulthood and who are also ninjas.

NONE SHALL OUTSNARK

Link's Awakening may be a contender as well. It's overall weirdness and quirkiness give it more of a Japanese gaming flavor (contrasting with the earnestness of A Link to the Past). Also, anything set on an island just inherently evokes the Japanese archipelago (this works in Wind Waker, as well).

Yes, but there is a constant tension between who is the roadrunner and who is the coyote.

I'm not too proud to admit that I have difficulty telling telling teenage mutant ninja turtles apart when they're not wearing their masks.

The "Review in Progress" model is so excellent. It totally transforms how I engage in reviews. It give more time for the reviewer to dig deeper into the game, which is great. And it gives us more time to actually play a game and have something meaningful to say as the reviews come around. I imagine it's nice for the…

It almost qualifies as a cruel trick. But certainly, the game was interested in exploring boundaries and experimenting. It almost seems like they're trying to throw as many neat ideas as they can in there, and it leave the game a bit incoherent for the player (previous rules don't necessarily follow into later rules).

Well yea, maybe this is why I have, in the past, instinctively placed the Zelda games in a western context. But as I reflect, there are a whole lot of blondes in Japanese games in general.

You can also drop the boxes from a high height, which is my favorite way to take care of them. Honestly the physics in this game are a joy. Does anyone else get the "Half-Life 2" buzz when using some of these tools?

Random thought, but I wonder if Breath of the Wild is the most Japanese of Zelda games? For some reason, the diversity of flashy swords, the emphasis on bow combat, the preponderance of mountains, and NPCs give me a sense of (my own interpretation of) medieval Japan. Many since this Zelda is more RPG-ish than previous…

Well shoot, I guess I should pay more attention to the random shit they stuff in game boxes. But I guess it's actually been a couple of years since I bought a physical 3DS game anyhow.

I do too. Although I'm starting to feel like I spend way too much time doing that. Like, sometimes I only have an hour to play the game and I realize that I spent the whole time climbing a mountain range just because.

I haven't played it yet, but Prison Architect is certainly the next strategy game I plan to play. It promises a different experience from anything I have played before.