Driadon

I will preface this in that I am like Drew and haven't played many Zelda games, and have beaten even less of them. I've removed any I haven't at least played in some capacity.

1. Oracle of Ages (Beat)
2. Oracle of Seasons (Beat)
3. Link Between Worlds (On the last dungeon, but just never followed up with)
4. Links Awakening (Beat)
5. Orcarina (Got to the Shadow Temple)
6. Twilight Princess (I think I got half way through? I don't remember what dungeon I left off at, but I do remember putting in at least a good 20 hours into it)
7. Majora (Didn't get very far, first couple of dungeons.)
8. Zelda II (don't remember how far I got)
9. Phantom Hourglass (Beat, liked some neat gameplay aspects, HATED that dungeon you go back to over and over again, even with the shortcuts)
10. Zelda (Tried so many times on virtual console. Maybe if I had played this when I was more impressionable I'd have liked it more. No where close to beating)

Well, the original Endurance Run got me to try out Persona 4, which has since turned me into a giant SMT fan, so there's that. Same goes with Dave's Crusader Kings II QL and Paradox games. And, lastly, if it wasn't for Brad gushing about Nuts and Bolts, I don't think I ever would have bought it.

You don't really need to buy it day one. Hell, waiting a week to read multiple reviews is not a bad idea ever. The excitement to get something day one is still part of the marketing machine, and really should not be the focus. I can understand still being unsure about it still being a good purchasing idea or not if you're not sure just how short you'd be with the game's survival mechanics, But everyone who's opinions I can relate to have all said they really really like the pretty planets and just sort of turning their max/min gaming brain off to enjoy that. Had I not seen that in these reviews I'd probably just ignore that the game existed and moved on. But that's just me, but maybe will help narrow down if the game is for you? The other alternative is just hold off entirely until you can try it yourself later, or it goes on sale at a price that you're willing to risk putting down on it.

@sweep: You have been one of the few on the internet that has echoed this, and it is my feelings on the subject to a T. I sort of knew going in what I wanted out of No Man's Sky, but that may have been tainted with the whole I-have-a-rough-idea-what-a-dev-can-actually-do. That meant aspects like seeing other players in-game was a side thing I didn't care if was actually there or not; I just wanted to go look at pretty planets. Now, even with that said, and being completely sold on that idea alone, I still didn't--and never was going to--preorder anything. Hell I still haven't bought the game yet even though I still want to play it as all of the post-launch talk has reaffirmed that this is my kind of game. Buying into hype is all you're ever doing with a pre-order and at the end of the day you're fueling a marketing machine to do whatever it can to do this again.

My two cents on the issue are fairly simple: people need to think about marketing and be smart with their dollar. This doesn't excuse some of the many design decisions made for the game or the words that has come out from Sean about the game, but it does mean that I'm not angry about it because I wanted to see what the final product looked like before I spent money on it, even though I was sold on just the idea of land-on-planet-see-pretty-things-explore-planet-to-see-more-pretty-things. The games industry as a whole buys into this zeitgeist that they need to be up to date with the most recent things generally causes mass hysteria and over dramatized reactions either way, be it good or bad, which shouldn't be acceptable.

While I'm not sure where NMS goes in the terms of meta after the first 5-10 hours, I can say that that area in E:D is stronger. The political system and economy is much more of a thing in E:D even if its a cold menu system for much of it, where as NMS seems to arbitrarily assign in demand goods and race owned systems without much rhyme or reason. Ship simulation is pretty alright too. It may not be Newtonian Physics driven, but the little things matter: where power is being diverted, detailed scanners, where your weapons are mounted and how they track, ect. means that space combat has a depth that clearly NMS was never aiming for.
All this being said, NMS scratches an itch that E:D doesn't and that's exploration. Don't get me wrong, some aspects of Elite's exploration system is a breath of fresh air. Going from system to system is much much easier than all of the gathering that needs to be done to make a Warp Cell. BUT very often I will see celestial bodies and wish I could just land there, even if it is to take in a sight of a valley which you can't do in a majority of Elite unless you want to rover around a dead moon.

If you don't mind there being way less game and way more exploring (and lots of pretty and science) check out Space Engine. It's more of a model universe you can go around in freely. It includes whatever stellar bodies we are aware of and have classified, and then procedurally generates everything else which goes as far as more galaxies than I can count. It's also completely free.

If you want more of a game, I second Minecraft as a great intro. It's so very easy to get into, but with so many systems on systems that work rather well, it's rare to run out of things to do. Starbound is also in this same vein with more of a narrative and less options for hand-built contraptions.

@garris: The only aesthetic changes I've seen in mutitools are when you get a whole new one. Upgrades do not change it visually.

That screenshot and the video I've seen of the final version show some massive differences in scale. I want to say this happened on the Gamespot stream, but there was an indicator for a point that they got and landed a bit of a distance from, but walking towards it the counter said it would take 4 hours to reach on foot. The estimated average human speed is noted to be around 5 kilometers an hour. (or 3.1 miles an hour)
That indicator was not on the other side of the planet, it seemed pretty straight from the direction they were going, which already shows that that scale is not the same as they roughly calculated in that imgur post. That's not to say that the scale is 1:1 accurate either.

+1 for 80 Days. Great game.

If you like a Wizardry style classic dungeon crawler, the Wandroid games are pretty fantastic. Pocket Mortys is an excellent Pokemon clone with randomized dungeons. Magic: Puzzle Quest is the best Puzzle Quest game I've played in a while, mixing the card collecting and strategy of Magic while being fucking Puzzle Quest. For something a little heavier on the system Dark Meadow: The Pact is an Unreal engine game that mixes a creepy first person exploration adventure with a sort of crossbow shooting gallery/Punchout fighting system. I also have been playing Pokémon TCG Online recently which is much more forgiving that Hearthstone on when you get packs, it may not be as complex of a game but still scratches that itch. To add, these are all free (except 80 Days), some with in-game stuff you can buy and some ad supported.