Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

April Fools is upon us!

Time to see what kind of gaming April Fools jokes come around.

In the main video above, Guild Wars 2 is treating us to some really amusing airplane noises and sepia effects. At least it's amusing for the first 30 minutes or so.

In Diablo III's PTR, you can go big-head mode and slaughter demons with 500% more head!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqmyUhQmvyY

What else have you guys seen?

Take This Play Through of Retro Classic Legend of Zelda

I've been feeling pretty horribly recently after coming down with the flu for the second time this year. Having the flu is a miserable process during which you find out how much unfortunate material can come out of your nose. I've been spending quite a lot of time resting and have had a few hours of time to fill. I've wanted to replay some classic NES titles, something Travis inspired me to do after he started his recent series 80's reruns(looking forward to the next installment). I decided to not cut any corners and head back to the grand daddy NES classic The Legend of Zelda. I am not going to spend much time aggrandizing the game, we all know how awesome it is.... Read All I've been feeling pretty horribly recently after coming down with the flu for the second time this year. Having the flu is a miserable process during which you find out how much unfortunate material can come out of your nose. I've been spending quite a lot of time resting and have had a few hours of time to fill. I've wanted to replay some classic NES titles, something Travis inspired me to do after he started his recent series 80's reruns(looking forward to the next installment). I decided to not cut any corners and head back to the grand daddy NES classic The Legend of Zelda. I am not going to spend much time aggrandizing the game, we all know how awesome it is. Instead I want to talk a bit about how I play the game and how that process went this time around.

First things first, The Legend of Zelda can be completed quickly if you have a good guide or know what you are doing. I spent about 5 days of an hour here and there and I had it completed quickly. As someone that is now enjoying smaller games, The Legend of Zelda shines here. I don't believe Nintendo set out to create a short game but due to NES limitations the game isn't very long.

The Legend of Zelda is an open world game such that you can complete certain dungeons out of order and spend a lot of time in the overworld before you start dungeon one. My typical play through finds me collecting the blue candle, shield, blue ring, blue sword, bombs, arrow, letter and red potion and bait before I start the first dungeon. When I was young I used to go directly to dungeon two to get the silver boomerang as that was MUCH more useful than the wooden one you get in dungeon one. From there I'd nab the bracelet and keep going to each dungeon until I could nab the master sword.

One useful thing that helps out quite a bit is overpowering yourself by collecting a bunch of stuff when you have the ability to as opposed to a bit at a time. The game ramps up pretty quickly in dungeon 6 and at that point you can't get the master sword yet so the dungeon is just really hard. So do yourself a favor and get everything you can before you enter a dungeon, it will help considerably.

The Legend of Zelda contains some really interesting dungeon design. The first few dungeons are good at dropping you into the game and to my taste get a little samey during the middle runs until dungeon seven, eight and nine which are superb. Dungeon seven is a standout in that instead of giving you something entirely new as most of the dungeons did to that point, it combines many things you've already seen. It also takes the difficulty down and I found it a very nice change of pace. Dungeon 8 brings the difficulty back and enforces that you must kill room after room of blue knights, which are in my view the hardest enemy in Zelda until you get the red ring.

http://www.gamedynamo.com/images/galleries/photo/966/the-legend-of-zelda-nes-screenshots-09.JPG

The final level mixes things up even more by bringing maze like mechanics to bear. It also contains the red ring, something you should immediately try to get as it makes completing the rest of dungeon much simpler.

The Legend of Zelda is a great game but has a few design points I thought might not have worked as they may have intended or I haven't seen in any Zelda game since. For instance you can collect keys and those keys will work in all of the dungeons. You can also purchase keys in shops. The Legend of Zelda also has dungeons where you don't need to visit every room to collect the important items. What this has the effect of doing is giving you a glut of keys if you know which rooms are useless. For instance, after dungeon two I had about 6 keys. This meant that I had to spend little time collecting them in later dungeons, which is part of the Zelda puzzling mechanic. Later on you receive a magical key in dungeon 8 that allows you to unlock an infinite amount of locked doors. This is handy for dungeon nine and made it a much speedier process but practically speaking, you can get this behavior after dungeon two by hoarding keys.

One element I noticed this play through is how hard it is to hit enemies without taking damage yourself. I realized over time that one of the reason the boomerang exists isn't just to collect hard to reach items but make it so you can kill enemies without taking as much damage as you would otherwise. The stun first and sword attack is critical in this game as it isn't in later Zelda titles. For instance in The Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past the boomerang can be used to stun and it's useful but it's not as critical as it is in this game to stay alive.

If you have any thoughts about the Legend of Zelda or anything i've written about let me know in the comments.

Humble Indie Bundle 14 Drops

The Humble Indie Bundle is back with it's 14th-ist Bundle yet! Featuring the Indie smash hits Pixel Piracy, UnEpic, Outlast, Torchlight II, La-Mulaa and Super Splatters. Pay more than the currently $10 average to unlock Shadow Warrior Special Edition and if you pay $40 you get a neat shirt, patch and scarf. I've always wanted a scarf.

As per normal all the Humble Indie Bundle games come with Linux, Mac and Windows ports DRM free as well as Steam Keys so you can unlock it over there.

I've been interested in trying Pixel Piracy, is this the right time to pull the trigger?

Legend of Dungeon: Legend Heroes

A free update recently dropped in the laps of all Legend of Dungeon fans. The game finally gets some cool new unlockable classes including pets! Getting more build diversity sounds like a good move as it will give the game even more replayability.

Adventures In Living Room Gaming Electric Boogaloo

http://www.androidentity.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/m2g-poster.jpg

If you follow the site you are aware that we are all pretty excited about Steam Machines and the Steam Link. I've mostly been tuning out the other stuff because, to date, nothing has seemed as compelling as buying a game in one place on Steam and playing it anywhere I want.

With that, last week I found out about the upcoming Nvidia Shield Console that is a $200 high powered Android TV device that supports in home streaming and Nvidia's new Grid service. Using Nvidia's in home PC streaming you can broadcast your Steam games to your Nvidia Shield console. Steam Machines and the Link do that too but what is interesting is the Shield console runs a full blown Android TV... Read All

New Open World Zelda Game Gets Delayed (Edited)

*Update 11/2019*
This post was written before the release of Breath of the Wild.

I just found out that The Legend of Zelda Wii U game is getting delayed. It looks as though it will not be released this year. While I am eagerly awaiting the release of the new Zelda game and I was excited to see some of it displayed at last year's E3, I feel that the reason behind the delay is justified (see quote below). It also appears that the game will not be shown at this year's E3, which I find disappointing.

Here is what Eiji Aonuma has said about the delay:

"Since I declared at the Game Awards in December that the game would launch in 2015, the directors and the many members of the... Read All *Update 11/2019*
This post was written before the release of Breath of the Wild.

I just found out that The Legend of Zelda Wii U game is getting delayed. It looks as though it will not be released this year. While I am eagerly awaiting the release of the new Zelda game and I was excited to see some of it displayed at last year's E3, I feel that the reason behind the delay is justified (see quote below). It also appears that the game will not be shown at this year's E3, which I find disappointing.

Here is what Eiji Aonuma has said about the delay:

"Since I declared at the Game Awards in December that the game would launch in 2015, the directors and the many members of the development team have been working hard developing the game," Aonuma said. "In these last three months, as the team has experienced first-hand the freedom of exploration that hasn't existed in any Zelda game to date, we have discovered several new possibilities for this game."

"As we have worked to turn these possibilities into reality, new ideas have continued to spring forth, and it now feels like we have the potential to create something that exceeds my own expectations," he added. "As I have watched our development progress, I have come to think that rather than work with meeting a specific schedule as our main objective, and releasing a game that reflects only what we can create within that scheduled time, I feel strongly that our focus should be to bring all these ideas to life in a way that will make Zelda on Wii U the best game it can possibly be."

"So I must apologize to all of you who were expecting the game by year's end, but we are no longer making a 2015 release our number one priority. Instead, our priority is to make it the ultimate and most complete Zelda game. I hope to use the added time to make a Zelda on Wii U that will reward you for your patience. So thank you for your continued support."

News source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/legend-of-zelda-wii-u-delayed-skipping-e3/1100-6426227/?utm_source=gamefaqs&utm_medium=partner&utm_content=news_module&utm_campaign=homepage

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/28/2015 at 02:33pm

"the ultimate and most complete Zelda game."

That's not going to come back and bite him in the ass.

Thanks for the heads-up @GregoPeck!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/28/2015 at 05:04pm

Let's hope not! Hahaha. You're welcome!

Nintendo has also recently announced development of mobile games. They've also announced that they're working on their next console, currently called "NX," though they didn't release any details about it.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/28/2015 at 10:30pm

This is super disappointing! But also makes me more excited for the game when it is released eventually :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/29/2015 at 02:03am

It's a good idea to take the time you need to create the game right. It's disappointing but it would be more so if the game launched badly.

Still wondering what kind of Zelda game this will be? I like the art direction and am curious what the gameplay and story will be like?

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/01/2016 at 06:16am

I can't recall which roundtable it was, but Scrypt speculated that the game may end up being launched with the Nintendo NX. News has been released about a rumor that pretty much claims just that, so I'm impressed, Scrypt! The rumor states that both the game and the new console will be released at the end of the year. However, the game will also be launched for the Wii U. Check out this link for more details:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-nx-and-new-zelda-launching-this-year-newl/1100-6435145/

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/01/2016 at 06:58pm

Nintendo did the same thing with Twilight Princess, launching it for the Gamecube and with the system launch of the Wii. The biggest problem that seems to arise with this type of development, is catering to the older hardware and not maximizing the experience on the new. I'm sure it will do quite well, regardless. Especially if it's as open-world as they are hyping it to be. Imagining Link running around in a Hyrulean themed, Xenoblade-Chronicles-X-sized world, is enough to make any fan of the series giddy, and the Wii U seems to pull off that scope of game quite well.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/01/2016 at 07:46pm

Super disappointed by this. One of the main reasons I bought my Wii U was for the new Zelda game. Now it feels like I'm getting the second rate version if I don't get it on the NX.

(And scrolling up through the comments, I see that my initial response to the delay was "Super disappointing..." lol. Apparently I've been let down a lot by this game already :)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/01/2016 at 08:57pm

Yeah, Scrypt and Adam, that's exactly how I feel, too. I don't want the second-rate non-maximized version. I guess we'll just have to wait a while to see if that rumor is true.

jdodson Admin wrote on 03/01/2016 at 09:21pm

In some peoples opinion Twilight Princess on GameCube was better because of the traditional controller support. Hopefully the Wii U Zelda doesn't suffer for coming to the Wii U over NX. But I imagine there might be NX EXCLUSIVES, which would suck. Hard.

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SkyWind Mod Has A New Trailer

I was excited many months ago when WhiteBoySlim told me about Skywind. "It is a non-commercial, fan made modification for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that seeks to merge the amazing world of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with the enhanced graphics and capabilities of Skyrim's engine." (Source: SkyWind FAQ)

While I have played Morrowind and own two copies of the game, I have not yet completed it. It wasn't until I played Skyrim that I got into The Elder Scrolls series. I am excited about this project and am eagerly awaiting its release. While this mod was publicly available, it currently is not.

For more information, please visit the links below.

News source: ... Read All

rettisawesome wrote on 03/27/2015 at 10:06pm

I'm excited about skywind. But ultimately its gonna be the same thing as these other big mods. Its gonna fall through the cracks. Or never get completed. If you want the best morrowind experience currently you can download the MSGO 3.0 mod and get tamriel rebuilt. But still. I hear people getting excited for skywind for all the wrong reasons. I'm excited to see vvardenfell with this engine. But its not going to be morrowind. Its not going to be the game.

Its funny. My website just started a podcast about morrowind. Spawned largely due to hype over skywind. Which, don't get me wrong, I will play. But morrowind is still the best. And they aren't going to be able to recreate it just right.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/27/2015 at 11:13pm

I haven't checked out any mods for any TES game. I do realize Skywind won't exactly be Morrowind or even a visually upgraded version, but I'm still hoping it gets completed and looking forward to it. The only TES games I've played are Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim and I think Morrowind is the more difficult one. I ended up buying armor at the beginning and it lasted me for quite a while. I was hoping and expecting to find something better. I can't really recall which races I've played because I've tried a few different ones at least. Some of the quests need certain skills, which I thought made it more difficult. I imagine eventually I'll try again.

I'm glad to see you and others (in other posts) rave about Morrowind and therefore have a strong like for it. Unfortunately, I don't like it as much as Oblivion and Skyrim (both of which I love absolutely). Perhaps that's because I started out on Skyrim. When I play Morrowind it's like I'm looking backwards at an older game with dated graphics. It's kind of like my Diablo experience. I started with D3:Reaper of Souls. I found the D2 Battle Chest at KMart a year or more ago for about $2. I picked it up and tried to play it, but came across that same "dated" hurdle. Of course, I don't believe every game has to have awesome graphics like Skyrim and I know those older games were/are great for the time they were released.

rettisawesome wrote on 03/28/2015 at 06:24pm

Itbdoes feel dated at times. I would really suggest the MSGO 3.0 mod kit. It honestly makes morrowind look like skyrim on my computer. Although I can't run skyrim on much more then medium graphics. It will still feel a little clunky. And scripted compared to skyrim. But I feel it really brings the game up to speed. Made me enjoy it again. And I'm really a purist about these sorts of things. They make the pack very easy to download and install.

I do love skyrim and oblivion to death. But morrowind is a sandbox. That's the only reason I still play. Haha.

You shouldn't feel bad for looking back and not loving these games like they should. I mean d2 is great. But really the ones that rave have put 2k hours into it and probably still play. Lololol

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/28/2015 at 07:12pm

Ok, I'll have to check that out, hopefully I'll remember. Thank you very much for the mod suggestion. I'm running a year old Alienware PC, which I paid a lot for. So, I can play Skyrim on ultra settings.

Honestly, I can't say which I love more, Skyrim or Oblivion. Those games were love at first play for me. I can agree with you about Morrowind being a sandbox, since it has a construction set. Skyrim seems to fit that as well since you can craft houses. It seems to me that Morrowind was a bit more open-world and therefore the completion of quests seemed more open. Skyrim and Oblivion seemed to have more of a story to them and were more focused on those main quests, even though you could still run away from the main quest line and do others.

Thanks for understanding my point of view on those older games. I'm sure I probably would have appreciated them (Morrowind, Diablo 2, and others) if I had played them closer to their release dates. I'm also aware that Morrowind came out on the original XBox, which I have, so that is tempting to try. Many years ago a friend gave me set of CDs that came with something he got. Morrowind was included in that set (along with the construction set), but I didn't play it for a long time (less than 100 hours I'm sure). It was still a bit dated when I received it, I think. I did decide to get the game on Steam because I was missing the expansion packs.

Morrowind is kind of funny, in a way, because of one of the attribute that increases by jumping. So, when I play the game, I tend to jump all the time until that skill is maxed. Hahaha. I also spent a lot of time on the wiki researching how to complete many of the quests.

What is your favorite kind of character to play in Morrowind (race/class). I pretty much go with some kind of warrior type. However, it seems that this isn't a great idea in Morrowind because many of the quests seem to require magical skills. Since playing Oblivion, I've decided to play Imperial characters. Although, my first Skyrim character, on the PS3, was a Nord. My second, on the PC, was an Imperial and I therefore played the game differently than I had on the PS3 (meaning I allied with a different side).

I'm glad we're having this conversation and I hope others join in. Thanks for the comments!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/30/2015 at 04:58am

I just got MSGO 3.0 installed and the game looks so much better! Thanks!

rettisawesome wrote on 03/30/2015 at 05:32pm

Yes! Glad to hear it man. If you ever want to talk morrowind or have questions. Let me know.

As far as your question about what type of character I play. I've always been partial to argonians in every game. And find myself playing them a lot. But in morrowind I have done every race. Every class for every race. And of course there are going to be some that work better than others just because of a races inherent skill bonuses.
But if I'm want to make a BAMF character I usually find myself going dark elf. Cuz their skills encourage a balanced character with weaopon and armor skills. As well as magic. And magic in morrowind is where a lot of the fun comes in. With spell creation and item enchanting. And potion making. There is no limit to the things you can do. And it makes things very fun once you figure it out. And you can try things just because.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 03/30/2015 at 08:26pm

That sounds like a good idea, going with a Dark Elf. I've tried that race before in Morrowind. It seems like a good one since many of the quests in the game require magic. That was an issue I ran into a few times. Since I got the mod installed and tested, I'll jump back in and play as much of it as I can.

rettisawesome wrote on 03/31/2015 at 05:04am

i did complete most of the game the first time without any magic. however, it does make things sometimes easier, and more direct. but in my experience there is always a way without magic.

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Fortnite Update - A Fun Team Based Building Shooter

It's been a long time since Fortnite was unveiled by Cliffy B at PAX. Since then Cliffy has left Epic and started his own game company, Epic released Unreal 4 engine for free and Unreal Tournament is getting a reboot. Fortnite has remained in pretty active development but I haven't heard very much about it from others or the press. As I was reading about Fortnite I watched the video above showing off game play, construction and basic game mechanics. In Fortnite (or one mode of it) your team builds up a base to survive the oncoming hordes of invaders. Some of your team members gather resources while others build the base to hold up to the invasion. After watching the... Read All

Broken Age Act 2 Drops April 28th

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/brokenage/images/9/9c/BossaNostra.jpg

Double Fine is releasing the second and final act of Broken Age on April 28th. Most of us have followed this game from it's record breaking Kickstarter to it's act one launch to it's eventual final chapter in April. I picked up Broken Age as a Slacker Backer during one of the Amnesia Fortnight events. I wanted to wait until the game was fully released to start playing it so hopefully i'll have the time to start it up when April 28th comes round.

Curious if anyone has played this and what they think of act one so far(please no spoilers).

http://steamcommunity.com/app/232790/discussions/0/618457398956845716/

At GameStorm 2015 & Interview With Debra Stansbury

After the gamemaster was finished explaining the rules for March of the Ants I was ready to build my colony. As a young kid I couldn’t get enough of SimAnt so it seemed like March of the Ants was something i’d enjoy. Created by Portland locals Ryan Swisher and Tim Eisner, March of the Ants was successfully Kickstarted to it’s currently released state of strategic game goodness. The joy of playing a locally crafted board game run by the people that had a hand in developing it is one of the reasons why attending GameStorm is a unique experience. Plus it doesn’t hurt if you can take down a rogue centipede or uncouth spider. If you are looking to play new games in early... Read All