How do you feel about the Tears of Light sections? I always hear people rag on them, but I remember really enjoying them at the time…

I love the concept of escort missions (what more heroic thing is there to do than defend the defenseless is times of great danger?), but man are they rarely executed in a way that does anything more than fill you with rage towards the hapless, blundering fool you're trying to protect!

It's possible that there is a difference, but you're just so god damn good that you can't see it!

I had a similar reaction to you with the Captain Toad-3D World connection: narratively, it's fantastic, and having those bonus levels is a nice touch, but… most of them don't really offer you much to do. It's still pretty cool that they're in there, though!

I'll be playing Spirit Tracks, Shovel Knight, D&D, and maybe Xenoblade. Or maybe some other WiiU game…

As long as it's not eating my data, I can live with a constant connection! After my phone decided to download and install an Android system update on a 4G connection last week, I'm a little wary of accidental overages!

I'm probably going to have to check Fire Emblem: Heroes out… does it require a constant internet connection like Super Mario Run?

Congratulations! I imagine I'll be joining you in TMS completion later this afternoon!

Best Yoshi game since SMW2.

So this weekend, I am completely, definitely, 100%-legit going to finish Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I'm at the final battle! Tried it twice, did much better on the second attempt, and have a clear plan to beat it on the next attempt!

Impossible to listen to start-to-finish, but so conceptually perfect.

I'd say that, if you can manage it, you should try and start at the beginning of one of the two "trilogies," so you get a three-part narrative if you carry on with the games.

Oh, I don't doubt we'll get both the good cry and the better laugh in!

Thanks, man.

Curious Village is a bit rougher as a game qua game, and Azran Legacy lets the plot get a bit flabby*, but otherwise if you pick up any of the three remaining games I don't think it's likely to diminish your experience!

He was something else. I have a fantastic story about him that I'll share here some day (it's a D&D story, so it won't be a threadjack!) and that I'm going to share with his family and friends at a gathering we're planning for a month or two from now—it's not quite a "reminiscence in the immediate wake of loss" type…

Thanks: it's been tough. In a weird way, I feel almost selfish for taking this as hard as I have been, because so many people (his family, his closest friends, his myriad theatre students from the past 14 years) must be feeling such a more immediate loss.

At the time, I was less excited than I'd normally be, because while "more Mario Galaxy" certainly sounded like fun, it seemed like it would be, by necessity, less imaginative than the original and I'd been hoping for a whole new Mario game.

I'm going to try!

That's pretty much exactly how it felt.