Agreed. Finding out slightly later that he was the surviving kid's largely deadbeat father was doubly depressing. This game knows how to tell a story!

Oh man, I was out of the loop this week - I've never played Earthbound or seen Twin Peaks. What am I doing with my life?!

My wife and I got a couple at an impossibly good sale - she's a thrifting queen, through and through. I think we must have paid $10/drive, and they were each 20GB or something.

Oh man, the island you're talking about, with the "gray rain," is such a bummer. It's the first sign that the story won't be universally whimsical, I suppose. On the plus side, it unlocks Haven, which is the best part of the game so far (in my opinion). All I want to do now is bring people to my village!

Uh-oh, mine's a stick drive…

Sounds like you and I are at the same place on DQ7. The only thing I wish is that the encounters were just slightly more challenging, but it's OK as-is. The game world and script are just so dog-gone pleasant, except of course when they get a bit heavy; dramatic/melancholy moments just pop-up, and aren't really…

This is an awesome write-up for the early hours of Witcher 3, and your experience largely matches mine. Two things drove me away from the game (for the time being): (1) I'm so mind-bogglingly bad at the combat that I lose about 75% of my encounters and, (2) the tone seems almost laughably dark. I get that the setting…

Having skimmed the preview trailer, I didn't feel like I had much more of a clue than before I saw it. I've heard it's like a first person Zelda game, but that's not what I took away from the clips I've seen. The good press alone probably makes it worth trying, if you can find it at a reasonable price.

Hooray for returning to XCX! I haven't played it since… February, as I got distracted by something else after putting in approximately 120 hours. I was on the final chapter, too! Funny enough, I've been reconsidering going back to it quite a bit throughout the year, and am probably going to pick it up again when I run…

The patches are definitely worth it, particularly if you have a spare (or cheaply bought) USB drive handy. Pop-in was one of my fears on XCX, and I found that the patches allowed the world to look extraordinarily well-populated.

It does!! Have you seen the GameXplain video where they talk to the guy who's been playing it for a week or so? He has almost exclusively good things to say about it. I'm glad that the staff seems to have thrown in any conceivable idea. Additionally, I was concerned at first seeing the samey settings of the island,…

Agreed. Having played the PS1 version and bounced off of it pretty rapidly (maybe after two islands - I know I saw Emberdale), I can safely say that the 3DS version is a significant improvement.

The original is what originally attracted me to the series, but I'd say it's more a proof of concept (a la Mario Kart SNES) than an excellent game in its own right - virtually every one that came after improved or evolved the style, while retaining the lovely visuals. TTYD's absence from the eShop remains quite a…

I'm a sucker for slow burns, so the relaxed pace really suits me (for reference, I may be the only person who loves the opening hours of Twilight Princess). As for the job system, I'm ten hours in and haven't found it yet - word is that it takes twenty hours to get there.

I'm looking forward to playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Phantom Hourglass, and Dragon Queat 7 3DS.

I'm playing Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, and it's awesome! It's like Majora's Mask, with less melancholy, filtered through a heavy '90s JRPG lens. The graphical overhaul on the 3DS is extraordinary, and I say that as someone who played the original for a while and didn't think it looked terrible;…

WOOOOHOOOOO Happy Birthday!

My miles on the stationary bike have been higher than usual lately, as I've felt the desire to bike on more evenings. Also, my kitchen sink got backed up and I spent hours this weekend toiling away at taking it apart to clean it out, putting it back together, repeating that process about ten times, and using a 25 foot…

Oh my goodness, I have a mildly delightful story to share related to never unpacking:

I'm right there with you. I mean, I don't make a habit of it, but they are definitely superior.