Requested: video game suggestions
Much to my surprise, I've actually finished my latest video game. (Much more common: that I play to the last boss-fight, decide that the fun parts of the game are all over, and put it aside to 'finish later'-- i.e., collect dust.) I also don't have a clue what I want to play next. Pray tell, gentle readers, any suggestions?
Some parameters:
- To help you get a sense of my tastes, my favorite game of all time is Riven. Hands down, no contest. After that, I have liked (in no particular order): the other Myst games, Thief and sequels, the Mario Sunshine and Galaxy, the Metroid games, Prince of Persia, Beyond Good and Evil, Psychonauts, Quake, Silent Hill, Final Fantasy X-2 and XII, Legend of Zelda (Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Windwaker), Mario Kart (Double Dash and Wii), Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Reqiuem, Pikmin, Okami, and many others that will undoubtedly occur to me right after I hit 'post.' If there is a common theme, it's that I like games with an immersive emotional 'feel' and that have amazing art to back it up.
- I have a Wii set up, so Wii games are optimal. I also have a PS2 I can pull out and hook up if the game is amazing enough.
- Whatever you are thinking of, I probably haven't played it. I don't care how popular it was or is, or how old it is. I don't pay attention to the video-game world until I need a new game to play, and so have never even heard of even the most important or influential games of recent years.
- In fact, the older the game, the better-- so long as I can still find it in the 'used game' bins. The older games are cheaper, after all.
- Important note: I can not play games that require me to kill humans. This 'hot button' has only gotten worse over time-- I used to be okay with games where I killed humans in self-defense, but not any more. If it looks like an ordinary living human being and the game wants me to kill it, I turn off the game and never play it again. I can't even play the Lego games (Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, etc.), as I get squicked out by the way defeated enemies crumble down into their individual Lego pieces.
- On a related note, I don't enjoy games that require me to murder sentient beings. This is slightly different, as I don't have any problem killing aliens / zombies / monsters / etc. that are trying to kill me. That's not murder, you see: that's self-defense. (I did like the Metroid games, after all.) But every so often I run across a game that says to me, "See that living thing over there, minding its own business and not bothering anybody? Go kill it." (See: Shadow of the Colossus.) This is totally a personal quirk, I know, but I don't enjoy that kind of set-up.
- I will be playing this at night, right before bed. So the ability to save at any time (or to be able to save frequently, at least) will be greatly appreciated. Not a deal-breaker in any sense, but would be a bonus.
Many thanks in advance.
Update: I knew I'd remember more games I've liked: Katamari Damancy and Zelda: Twilight Princess. Also, if you made a recommendation to me before but don't see that game on the above list, please feel free to recommend it again. The odds are actually that I never got around to trying it and have now forgotten all about it...

Of course I have no idea
Of course I have no idea personally, but I can send the 8bitlibrary folks (http://blog.8bitlibrary.com/) over here -- recommending video games is kind of what they do professionally, so they might know.
Sure!
I don't know them, but I'm up for it if they are.
i'm curious
here's one that is completely awesome and I think meets all your criteria: Portal.
Also: Plants vs Zombies.
I'm curious what else gets suggested.
Wow
Portal looks like it's designed to hit all my 'awesome!' buttons. Amy won't be able to watch me play it (it also looks like it's designed to hit all her 'motion-sickness' buttons) but that's apparently okay with her.
I've been enjoying the start
I've been enjoying the start to Portal.
Kat and I are playing Kingdom Hearts II with alternating controllers.
Super Mario Divorce Brothers Wii is very popular in our household, but can put some strain on a relationship when your wife picks you up and throws you into the lava for the nineteenth time in an evening, or overreacts to a purely accidental interruption of her carefully timed jump.
We liked Super Paper Mario too, and it had better plot and NPCs than NSMB Wii. Er. It had plot and NPCs, unlike NSMB Wii.
I've heard wonderful things about Cave Story, now available as WiiWare.
Back on the PC, I'm enjoying World of Goo: puzzles, emotional involvement, and very clear art direction. Some day I may pick up Fallout or Planescape: Torment to finish them---but both may fail your morality criteria. I don't know, since I haven't gotten very far in either, but they seem like the sort of setting where people kill other people.
Oh, and the Ratchet and Clank
Oh, and the Ratchet and Clank games are fun PS2 platforming shoot-em-ups. As far as I recall, you're shooting aggressive robots. It is possible to shoot the sheep, but, well, don't shoot the sheep.
It's a shame that you didn't
It's a shame that you didn't enjoy Shadow of the Colossus. That discomfort that you feel when you murder peaceful creatures that are minding their own business is intentional, and it is a crucial part of the experience. It gets more intense as the game progresses and the colossi become more difficult -- you feel happy when you defeat a difficult colossus, but then sad that it had to die, and then even more sad that you felt happy about it. The game is about solitude and desperation, and it is supposed to make you feel sad and uncomfortable. That aspect isn't particularly "fun", but I think the game as a whole is a great experience and a pretty good work of art.
I mostly play on my 360, so I can't give you many suggestions, but if you like RPGs and puzzle games, you should try Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (which is fun, but has neither emotion nor nice art). If you are open to buying a new system, the Xbox 360 Arcade ($150) comes with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, which is pretty fun (again, no emotion, just fun). That's also a good way to play Portal, which I will also highly recommend.
Road Blocks 2. Duh.
Road Blocks 2. Duh.