Indian Apples? I've actually never heard of that, and I've got some pretty racist / old-timey relatives. Maybe it's a regionalism.

That is one of the weird things that you run into as time moves on - a growing awareness that, had you done thing x or thing y differently, it may have made some positive impact, or caused a negative situation not to have occurred. As @Lupin Addams said earlier, there's no way that you could have known what trajectory…

I think you've hit the nail on the head, and I'd like to offer another example in support of it - Anor Londo in Dark Souls. That is an area that is apparently beautiful, and apparently well-ordered (if still deadly), but which becomes quite sad and terrifying once the veil is lifted from the player's perception. Once…

I'd like to take a quick, simplistic, day-late stab at the popularity of Lovecraft, though I'm not sure it's any more apt than the excellent responses that drifted in over the last 24 hours:

Wow, this is a really cool bit of insight and perspective that I'd not considered before. You are spot-on! Thanks for sharing.

That's interesting! I'm only halfway through, so my opinion may change entirely. Overall, I've been enjoying tighter games in the past couple of years, so I've similarly preferred Link's Awakening and Oracle of Ages to the more expansive Link To The Past; I think that may play a role. I also really enjoy the actual…

That's fair - it's a super-weird game. For some reason, it's clicked very well with me. I've actually enjoyed it even more than Wind Waker, though I'll admit that Wind Waker is much more ambitious. I may be crazy.

That's a great run! Of the remainder (and at this point I've played almost all of them in the past two years), I'd strongly recommend Majora's Mask, Minish Cap, and Phantom Hourglass if you haven't played them already.

Strangely, I think Oracle of Ages actually managed to pull off the time travel thing a bit more effectively, but they're both pretty great games. Are you going for the full Zelda run before Breath of the Wild, and - if so - how many more to you have to complete?

These options remind me of Bravely Default/Second, where once you've played a game that gives you control over random encounter rates, it's quite hard to go back!

8 hours later, I'll add my two cents: I've been playing Kirby games since the original NES and GB versions, and Rainbow Curse is easily my favorite. As a couple of critical caveats, I haven't played Epic Yarn (DrFlimFlam would be disgusted) or Planet Robobot. Rainbow Curse is just challenging enough in its central…

Gotta go with a classic - the dog hallway in the Resident Evil Remake. It manages to go through three stages: (1) the player expects zombie dogs, having played the original game, but (2) none appear as you walk the hallway, then (3) on your next traversal two dogs leap through the windows to attack. That's some…

Resident Evil 4 is one of those games that you're always kind of expecting to have a critical re-appraisal, or to think about and realize you didn't like it, but nope - it still remains one of the most playable games of the past thirty years. I remember getting it and playing it at the time, and unlike certain games,…

The Witness has easily entered my Top 10 games, having played through much of it over the past two weeks. If my mind wasn't so exhausted after doing some heavy mental lifting at work recently, I'd probably be done by now. It's just perfect, absolutely perfect. I'm not sure there's any other game that makes you feel…

My home's board game night was last weekend, when 6 of us played Pandemic, Chronology, Just Dance, and Mario Kart 8. It was spectacular - Pandemic was especially thrilling, as it's the first time that I've played the game and not lost!

Ugh, this is one of the problems when the 8th falls pretty far away from a WAYPTW thread. I actually woke up this morning, though "Oh boy, the 8th must be coming up - time for more Mario Kart," and was rather disappointed when I checked the date. I'll put a reminder into my phone for next month, as I've really enjoyed…

Each month that goes by makes me think more fondly of my time with Transistor. I might have to play it again some time soon - if only there were fewer new game experiences for me to enjoy, haha.

This is sort of an odd technical question, but do you happen to know why the Fallout Shelter would not run on my newly purchased Android phone? It's in the Android store, and the phone can play all mobile games with ease, but I'm told by the digital storefront that it won't work on my specific phone. The phone is…

I remembered it being great, and indeed still recalled the highlights, but had forgotten how extensive and consistent the soundtrack is. I'll confess that I was a bit disappointed by the Shovel Knight soundtrack, having heard ahead of time that it was reminiscent of Mega Man. Shovel Knight's a great game (and in terms…

This weekend I'll be playing The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Hyrule Warriors Legends, and Hyper Light Drifter. I would be playing The Witness, but my brain is so tired due to the intellectual aspects of my job increasing significantly in recent weeks. In some ways, this is a good problem to have, as a…