It occurs to me, given the format about, that I was probably supposed to just list one. Oh well, I stand by the list and hope it turns some folks on to these games (as I was reminded of a few items to add to my Steam wishlist by others here!).

It's definitely happened to me. JRPGs were the genre that engaged me throughout middle school, high school, and college, while Western RPGs picked up the slack after I graduated some years ago. Then, suddenly, the appeal dissipated. Virtually all of them felt like they were basic, unengaging systems wrapped around a…

I liked The Witness because it created a language all its own. 2016 was a year of games encouraging players to meet them halfway rather than gently easing players into their worlds; Dark Souls 3 continued its commitment to opaque mechanics and lore, XCOM 2 upended the few player-friendly trappings of its predecessor…

Definitely one of my favorite Pokedex entries!

If I had an iOS device, I'd be playing this game RIGHT NOW.

I'd actually argue that, overall, the cost for mobile games is unreasonably low given the commitment of companies to programming them. I always go back to Kingdom Rush on this, but each of those games would easily be worth $10 and yet often carry a price tag of $1-3, if memory serves. This devalues the game market…

Another quick amusing aside (I'm full of these at the moment, apparently): the Pokedex entry for Primeape in Sun is strangely chilling - it describes Primeape as being liable to die from its own anger, but that reports indicate that its face is finally peaceful in death. WTF Game Freak?

I genuinely had no idea that those were the backstories - sometimes I feel like I just kind of coast by, skimming only the surface of the Pokemon world. Also, on a related note, holy crap: I just got my first Shiny Pokemon last night after twenty years of playing the games. I forgot to mention it over in WAYPTW. It's…

Hahaha, Quilfish! I love it. Good call on Cradily too - I had actually forgotten that Pokemon.

It could strike down all of your psychic enemies, at least.

Twin Needle! Use Twin Needle!

Whahahat?! Finneon's great - s/he's like a prettier Goldeen. That said, now that you mention it, Dunsparce is at least amusing. Once you contextualize it as a fat snake, it gets a lot more entertaining. On a related note, I stand by my opinion that Garbodar (or whatever its name is) is the worst Pokemon.

Congrats, your comment made me laugh out loud in my chilly, desolate office.

Man, that was the most exciting (if disappointing) climax to your story possible. We were all rooting for your discount victory too! Oh well, this is 2016 after all.

You can "demo" it with a free play of the first four levels, then the remainder of the game costs a flat $10 USD.

How lame would it be if that occurred, though. Like, out of all the Pokemon, the one that zapped into the real world was Dunsparce. I mean, it's conceptually appealing in the abstract, but you'd be more impressed if virtually any other monster appeared, right?

I've always enjoyed reading your posts, particularly for your links, so thank you oodles for the time you've put into this sub-column.

Wow, I missed Venerable Monk's comment in that board game thread and I'm really grateful it was highlighted here - very inspiring commentary. I've been struggling to engage with works depicting oppressive regimes for similar reasons, and dreading the days ahead.

Heck yeah! I played 3D World at the tail end of 2014, and mistakenly thought that there wasn't much of a point playing 3D Land after having played its "superior" console cousin. As I discovered when I bought it a month or two ago, I was completely wrong! They're similar, but 3D Land is its own super-compelling…

Side-note: Is Keyboard Geniuses on hiatus? We didn't have one last week, but I was hoping to see one this week given the wealth of quality content on Gameological Society.