Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Strange Clan

If you follow me on Twitter, no doubt you've seen how into cryptocurrency I've gotten. But I've withheld from talking about it in Cheerful Ghost because I didn't want to look like I was pushing something like an MLM, nor am I wanting to give financial advice lol.

But, now there's a game I can share about!

The Strange Clan is a fantasy game where players have unique NFT (non-fungible token, basically a unique digital asset that's saved "to the blockchain" to prove ownership) with which they can eventually farm, quest, explore, etc.

The game is pre-alpha currently, so there's nothing to try out yet, other than buying our characters, but the world is being built on Passage... Read All

Take This Wild "Documentary" Ride About RollerCoaster Tycoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon is one of the best sim games of all time. As such it has a huge cult following and because of that was the first request fans made of NoClip for their retro documentary series "Greatest Hits." It goes over a lot of the games history all the way to it's modern incarnations and would be perfect except they weren't able to land an interview with the series creator Chris Sawyer.

If you love RollerCoaster Tycoon and are itching to play it there is a great open source project Open RollerCoaster Tycoon that is one of the best ways to play it on PC, Mac or Linux. If you don't have a PC and are mostly on your Smartphone or Tablet, RollerCoaster Tycoon... Read All

MetalJesus Takes A Look At The MiSTer

The MiSTer is an open-source project that emulates consoles and various other retro hardware via FPGA. FPGA means that it's pretty original hardware accurate emulation and it's similar to RetroPIE in that it's open source meaning anyone can create a hardware kit on your own to play or sell. I've heard really good things how well MiSTer runs and as such wanted to share this review by everyones favorite Jesus made entirely of Metal.

TechSpot Explains Why Using "Ultra" Settings is "Dumb"

I found this great article by TechSpot today explaining why using "Ultra" settings (or the preset) is "dumb." I have to agree, although I'm one of those gamers that wants the best hardware to be able to easily run any game on that preset. However, this is an expensive and performance demanding preference. It's not based on logic, either. I have noticed great quality in games using only the "High" preset along with great performance. I've also noticed that the "Ultra" preset doesn't usually add anything noticeable, except for the huge performance hit.

That experience is exactly what TechSpot is referring to here. They've benchmarked the performance and quality of some... Read All I found this great article by TechSpot today explaining why using "Ultra" settings (or the preset) is "dumb." I have to agree, although I'm one of those gamers that wants the best hardware to be able to easily run any game on that preset. However, this is an expensive and performance demanding preference. It's not based on logic, either. I have noticed great quality in games using only the "High" preset along with great performance. I've also noticed that the "Ultra" preset doesn't usually add anything noticeable, except for the huge performance hit.

That experience is exactly what TechSpot is referring to here. They've benchmarked the performance and quality of some games using really good hardware. Their observations were pretty much what I just said, the quality of "Ultra" presets is usually negligible and comes with a big hit to performance. I really think this is a relevant topic here and I do strongly recommend reading the article. One of the games mentioned is DOOM Eternal and the game recommend that I don't use the highest preset, but the second highest and it was great.

Sometimes it's difficult to decide which settings to use in a game and presets are a great way to do that simply. GeForce Experience can also optionally "optimize" your settings, but I've found that while those settings are usually good, sometimes they are not. This makes me question the basis of the settings that GE chooses.

Take for example Ark: Survival Evolved. I let GE "optimize" my settings when I got my GTX 1660Ti (and other new hardware). However, I noticed the performance with those settings was unacceptable. It was pretty much using the "Epic" preset, which is the "Ultra" one for this game. Ark has been out for a while now and it's been very demanding on hardware since the beginning. This is just an example of a game where the highest preset comes with an unacceptable hit to performance while not really showing any greatly obvious quality improvement that you'd think would come as a result of the settings.

Let me know what you think about this topic. Are you one of the people that *must* have hardware good enough to run on "Ultra" presets? Or are you someone who values performance more and still enjoys good quality? Have you also noticed how "Ultra" presets don't always give really big and noticeable differences in quality, but significant performance hits?

https://www.techspot.com/article/2338-ultra-vs-high-settings/

I didn't want to leave this post w/out an image, so I uploaded a screenshot I took some time ago showing my settings for Ark. This was primarily to help me remember, since the game sometimes resets them.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 10/05/2021 at 07:59pm

I try to max out graphics. As long as framerate isn't horrible I am fine. 30 fps is all one needs.

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/05/2021 at 08:30pm

Depending on the game, I won't settle for much less than 60. LOL That's for modern games, but some games are locked at 30 and I usually find that acceptable. More FPS makes me happy, even though I realize it's not all that great and sometimes irrelevant. I think GE helps "optimize" your settings for 30FPS, not 60. The Ark settings it gave me pretty much limited me to around 30 FPS and it wasn't acceptable, performance was still bad. Once I switched to the "high" preset, performance greatly improved along w/ my FPS. I'm still using a 60hz monitor, though I really want to upgrade. I also don't like screen tearing, so I use VSync. I am very interested in GSync especially, though FreeSync is gaining popularity and compatibility.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/07/2021 at 01:54pm

I’ve noticed the ultra settings providing noticeable quality on some games but not others. Though I usually tweak every setting to see how much benefit vs performance hit I get for each one.

Though when you’re zoned into a game I think it’s far less important.

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/07/2021 at 07:01pm

Cool! Thanks for your input, Travis! I usually see if GE can "optimize" settings for a game (which it cannot do for all games) and see how that goes. I like the games that auto-detect and put me at the highest settings LOL. I've done most of my tweaking w/ Ark, as shown in my embedded screen shot. I was tweaking it years ago and I continued to tweak it even until recently.

Travis Admin wrote on 10/08/2021 at 08:42pm

I’ve found GeForce experience to be a good starting point but sometimes it gets things way wrong. Where some times it puts me in a very poorly running situation, sometimes it tries to make me play things at settings that are nowhere near as advanced as I could use without a performance hit.

I do like the option as a starting point quite a bit though.

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/08/2021 at 09:35pm

Agreed! I have the same experience.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/09/2021 at 04:40am

Someday I may have a PC with the ability to run max graphics on. That said, it feels like I do with the Series X but I know compared to some PC's out there it's not as powerful.

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/09/2021 at 08:04am

I haven't been keeping up, but my perception is that this console is pretty good. They're remaking GTA 5 and Skyrim for both consoles and PC. I seem to remember some games performing much better on the new generation than last. I think Cyberpunk was one example. I'm not too surprised and I think it's good that they've reached this point. They seem to be on par with PC now. I don't know if they have Ray Tracing and DLSS though.

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Free Guy Is A Must See Movie And Is Streaming Now

Check out the embedded trailer. I don't want to say too much, because I don't want to give away spoilers. Guy, played by Ryan Reynolds, is pretty much the main character but there are other recognizable actors in it as well. The ones I noticed were Taika Waititi and I recognized the voice cameo by Hugh Jackman. You might recognize it, too. It sounds like him, but you don't see his face. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was actually the bank robber in the trailer that Guy shoots. You don't see his face, either.

What if life were a video game? Guy found glasses that opened his eyes and he began to see video game things such as health pickups, money, and missions. If you like... Read All

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Switch Tech Review

Seems like I'm posting a few Digital Foundry videos this morning. With that, has anyone picked up and played Skyward Sword on Switch yet? I've heard the controls are a mixed bag but overall the game is quite good. I didn't get this game on the Wii but am curious if it's worth coming back to on Switch?

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 09/27/2021 at 08:24pm

So, I haven't watched the video, but I thought I'd add my two cents in, since you kind of asked for it. I had the game for the Wii and really enjoyed it. I remember the last time I played it, though it was probably 5 or more years ago and was the second time I played it.

My only concern is that I have no idea how you're supposed to play it without the Wii controller, because it relied on that heavily and IMO it worked out well. Clearly they must have found some way around this, though. This may have been pointed out in the video.

I'm surprised that of all people you, Jon, haven't played this. Well, you said you didn't get it on the Wii, but you didn't say you didn't get it on the Wii U, so I could be wrong that you "haven't played this." I don't think I got it for the Wii U, but I could again be wrong, but I definitely had it for the Wii.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/04/2021 at 03:12am

> I'm surprised that of all people you, Jon, haven't played this.

It came out at the end of the Wii cycle and I was very focused on the PlayStation 3. Kind of like now. I was pretty focused on the Switch and now I’m mostly playing my Series X.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/04/2021 at 07:55am

Ah, I understand, I've gone through similar phases. I'm currently strictly focused on the PC and have been for a while. I'm interested in the Switch, but don't have one at the moment. I'm only slightly interested in the new console generation, but not very. When it comes to them, I'm more interested in when their exclusives will come to PC, if at all.

Anyway, This is a good game and I'm sure they did a good job adapting the controls.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 10/09/2021 at 04:39am

> Anyway, This is a good game and I'm sure they did a good job adapting the controls.

I've heard mixed things about it. Apparently it's possible to control the game with a normal controller but very difficult. You have to still be precise with the sword swinging which isn't the easiest on a thumbstick.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/09/2021 at 08:06am

Ah yeah, the motion controls were a big part of it, that's why I was concerned. It was really fun on the Wii.

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Super Star Wars Trilogy on SNES - A Gaming Renaissance For A Classic Franchise

I played Super Star Wars on the Super Nintendo a lot. A lot. It's one of the most fun Star Wars video games I've played and it's notoriously "Nintendo hard." I never really thought about it as a youth but when I come back to it now I do. If you practice at it you can beat it start to finish in one life, which I could do, but it takes a lot of effort to develop that. That all said, Super Star Wars and the subsequent two games are an example of fantastic Star Wars video games in a very crowded space. Lately, the quality of Star Wars games has gone up but it wasn't always so.

Hawkeye Is A Christmas Show?

I didn't expect to be excited about a Hawkeye show. I generally am not a fan of the character.

But, I *love* that this is leaning heavily into the Christmas theme! I hope the show keeps that vibe throughout!

Also, "Rogers: The Musical"? YES PLEASE

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 09/13/2021 at 05:01pm

Kinda getting Die Hard feels from this 😀

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/13/2021 at 05:21pm

Yup. Looks good.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 09/13/2021 at 05:34pm

Ew, I don't like Christmas. It's the most *not* wonderful time of the year, IMO. Adam's right about his Die Hard comment. I haven't dived into the Marvel comics, so I didn't know who Kate was until I played Marvel's Avengers. She also goes by "Hawkeye." I thought she was Clint's daughter, but she's simply a fan. They have an interesting relationship, though, or at least I think it's interesting. I like Kate in the game and she looks cool here, too.

I had to pause to see because the clip goes by so quickly, but I noticed a woman in red with black hair and a wine glass at a dinner table. She is Vera Farmiga and was in Godzilla: King of the Monsters. I really like her because she looks like someone I know (there's a bit more to it than that, but I'm just going to keep it simple here).

Thanks for sharing! Now I'm going to go have a Christmas barf.

AdamPFarnsworth Post Author wrote on 09/13/2021 at 05:51pm

Lol! Christmas is my favorite time of year, but if it's not yours, I'm really sorry about how long the season lasts!

One minor detail I saw I the trailer that's probably nothing, but in the Rogers musical, it looks like Loki is wearing a mask, and I want it to me a nod to The Mask with Jim Carrey lol

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 09/13/2021 at 06:05pm

Yeah, sorry to crap on your favorite time, I meant no offense to you. I guess that's part of why I didn't get into it and decided against saying what I wanted to. Funny, too, how I said your comment about Die Hard was right, but I thought Jon posted this, I later realized you did. So many details, so little I've paid attention to.

I only saw Cap in that musical, everything went by so fast. The Mask was awesome!!!! In fact, it was "smokin'!"

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/16/2021 at 03:09am

> Now I'm going to go have a Christmas barf.

After how many candy cane cookies?

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 09/16/2021 at 03:34am

LOL Well I do like the fruity ones.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 09/16/2021 at 08:25am

Oh! How could I forget! I do love Nightmare Before Christmas! Also, to be fair to Christmas, there isn't a holiday that I like.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/17/2021 at 02:35am

Greg you strike me as someone who would enjoy Halloween :)

And yeah this is interesting. Definitely not what I was expecting from Hawkeye but I'm glad the tone feels very different.

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/19/2021 at 09:49pm

> Also, to be fair to Christmas, there isn't a holiday that I like.

Tonight a Ghost of Christmas past will come to visit you...

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 09/20/2021 at 02:54am

Well it better be a Cheerful Ghost or I'm calling the Ghostbusters!

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/20/2021 at 11:19pm

👻

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A Spoiler-Free Review of Middle-Earth Shadow of War

GregoPeck gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

GregoPeck gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. In a way it’s cool, because I felt like the game play was much more fun and addictive than I expected. Unfortunately, enough time passed and I became bored with it. It’s still a great game and I highly recommend it, but in the end I feel “blah” about it. I guess I burned out on it. I’ll let you know about game play mechanics, what I liked, and what I didn’t like along with problems I ran into.

In case you didn’t read my review of Shadow of Mordor (link at bottom) or if you’re unfamiliar with the basic game play of this series, I’ll give a friendly introduction. These games take place in the... Read All

The Matrix Resurrections Trailer!

The trailer for The Matrix Resurrections is finally out and the movie will be released in theaters and HBO Max on 12/22/21. The trailer says "this Christmas" and my first thought was that is a bad idea, because Spider-Man: No Way Home comes out on Christmas and I wouldn't bet on anything getting as much attention. That's not to say The Matrix is bad, it's great in fact, but...well I'm sure you understand.

So, Neo and Trinity are back, but they don't know each other. Neo (Thomas) is seeing a therapist played by Neil Patrick Harris, because he's having weird dreams and thinks he's crazy. Jada Pinkett Smith returns as Niobe, who you might remember in the sequels. It... Read All The trailer for The Matrix Resurrections is finally out and the movie will be released in theaters and HBO Max on 12/22/21. The trailer says "this Christmas" and my first thought was that is a bad idea, because Spider-Man: No Way Home comes out on Christmas and I wouldn't bet on anything getting as much attention. That's not to say The Matrix is bad, it's great in fact, but...well I'm sure you understand.

So, Neo and Trinity are back, but they don't know each other. Neo (Thomas) is seeing a therapist played by Neil Patrick Harris, because he's having weird dreams and thinks he's crazy. Jada Pinkett Smith returns as Niobe, who you might remember in the sequels. It *looks* like Morpheus is back, but is played by another guy. It looks like this might be a younger version of himself (according to the link below). Hugo Weaving will also not return and I'm disappointed both actors will not be returning.

I found a link with some more details, especially about the actors. You can check it out here:
https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a29498105/the-matrix-4-cast-release-date-plot-trailer-keanu-reeves-news/

I'm looking forward to seeing it, I've loved The Matrix movies since they came out. I'm also extremely fond of The Animatrix and if you haven't seen it, but are a fan of The Matrix, you should. As it sounds, it's anime Matrix stories. Some aren't really relevant to the overall story, but a few of them are significantly related. IMHO the best ones give us the backstory of how the Matrix was created and it's very interesting and disturbing. I loved the soundtrack as well.

I'm glad it seems this is coming to HBO Max the same day as theaters. The one great thing about COVID is that it created a significant boost to streaming services like HBO Max and Disney+. Those services have started showing movies when they release and I really love it. I think it's incredibly responsible, especially since we're currently dealing with the more contagious Delta variant and even vaccinated people are getting sick (but not mortally so). I prefer to watch something in the privacy of my own room. I did go see Shang-Chi, so obviously I've decided to go anyway, since not all movies I want to watch are streamed right away.

Let me know what you think about this. Are you a fan of The Matrix? What did you think of the trilogy? Have you seen The Animatrix? I've got a little more to say, but I might wait and put it in the comments.

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/11/2021 at 01:01am

> Let me know what you think about this.

Looks like a visually and stylistically fresh take on The Matrix. It's not too modern, but modern enough. I'm going to see this for sure.

That said, I have no idea what this is beyond The Matrix again?

> Are you a fan of The Matrix?

Yeah, very much. Re-watched the trilogy a few months ago.

> What did you think of the trilogy?

The first movie is a massive cultural milestone. It has a bit of "90's goof" but I love camp so it's awesome. I used to really _HATE_ the sequels but recently I've come around on that and find them to be pretty good. I agree with some recent takes on the sequels, they should be viewed as one complete film as they were shot back to back and really are.

> Have you seen The Animatrix?

Many times. I'd rate it the second best Matrix movie.

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/11/2021 at 02:02am

I think it looks "modern," but maybe I don't understand your definition. Yeah, this does seem like "The Matrix again." Remember (spoilers!) Neo formed a truce with the machines and gave up his body. We see images of that in this trailer. It also seems as though someone is watching The Matrix via screen projection.

I don't know about "90's goof," I never felt that, but I really enjoyed it. I didn't hate the sequels, but it seems sequels never live up to the original. The movies are a true sequential trilogy, though.

I'm massively impressed you've seen and loved The Animatrix! I don't know of anyone else that has seen it.

One thing I wanted to note is that I love Neil Patrick Harris's glasses (obviously, because they're blue!). However, I came to believe they're specifically blue. This wasn't some random color the costume designers chose, they're blue as in "blue pill." I think that's real fitting (and an original thought). The blue pills make a seriously obvious come back, but we do later get to see the choice to be made again (red vs. blue).

Thanks for posting this reply, because I just posted my Shadow of War review and it looks like it pushed this down. I wanted this to have the attention, because I'm sure others here want to see this, too.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/11/2021 at 05:25am

I really loved the first matrix. I thought the other two were fun, but don’t remember much from them. I have watched some of the animatrix if not all.

This trailer slaps and kind of makes me want to see it in the theater.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/12/2021 at 05:06pm

I agree with everything Will has said here lol. Loved the first, the sequels were fun, but not great, and I'm familiar with the Animatrix, but still need to sit down and watch all of it.

And the trailer looks amazing. I have a feeling we're going to go into the movie thinking it's soft reboot, and they're going to subvert expectations very satisfyingly. 😀

Travis Admin wrote on 09/12/2021 at 06:08pm

I never disliked the Matrix sequels but they weren’t what I expected at the time. My rewatches were always better than the first time seeing them in theaters.

The Matrix was my favorite film for a while, it was the first DVD I bought when I got a DVD rom for my PC.

In a lot of ways I think the animatrix and the video game between Reloaded and Revelations are required to really feel like you have a full understanding of what the whole world is all about, which is great for people who dive into all of that but not for those who didn’t. For example I only found out this week that Morpheus is canonically dead because of the events of the Matrix Online, and the Wachowski sisters consider that fully part of canon.

Though it seems like in this revision of the Matrix, Yahya’s character is a new Morpheus.

Anyway yes I am super into this trailer and I hope covid has died down enough by late December so I can see this in theaters. But either way I’m watching it many times I’m sure.

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/12/2021 at 06:46pm

Yay, Travis finally spoke up! I was waiting for that! :) I remember when we were college roommates. In my memory, I still have an image of seeing that Matrix DVD and I remember us watching it, maybe at least once. I don't recall if I saw it in theaters, but I think maybe so. I had already graduated high school by the time it came out and was in community college.

I don't recall a "Matrix Online" though I've recently seen that it existed. I think the one I was familiar with was Enter the Matrix, which I'm sure I saw in the database here. I think I remember it came out on all three consoles at the time; GameCube, XBox, and PS2 (I still have all three). I specifically remember seeing it for the GameCube. I don't recall if I played it though. I may have played a little bit of it, but not enough to get any story out of it. I seem to remember Niobe.

That's odd that Morpheus is canonically dead, because of the the events of The Matrix Online. I guess that's a bit of the Matrix lore I missed out on. And yes, it's been confirmed Yahya is indeed playing a younger version of Morpheus, if his style wasn't obvious enough. He confirmed it on Twitter.

Once again, New Rockstars (on YouTube) has a great trailer breakdown and analysis.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/13/2021 at 03:25am

Yeah I played Enter the Matrix back in the day and loved it. Gameplay was… basically just ok but the story was great. You remember correctly, Niobe was a big part.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/13/2021 at 03:25am

Thinking about playing it again if I can get it to run on modern hardware

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/13/2021 at 07:22am

Cool, man! I was about to ask about "modern hardware," but I decided to Google my question, I didn't know it's also a PC game. I'm just not sure where to buy it, I don't see it on Steam, not that that's the only place to buy games...

Travis Admin wrote on 09/14/2021 at 03:04pm

I think it was only sold physically and then basically forgotten. I still have my discs from back in the day

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/14/2021 at 03:47pm

I have Enter the Matrix on the original Xbox. My guess is Atari didn't keep the license so they no longer can release it.

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/14/2021 at 04:14pm

Oh, cool! I have an XBox, but the only game I have for it is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/14/2021 at 08:23pm

Looks like it averages around $6 used in box: https://www.pricecharting.com/game/xbox/enter-the-matrix

GregoPeck Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/14/2021 at 09:31pm

That sounds good! There's a site I've never heard of before, too!

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The Strange Clan

Take This Wild "Documentary" Ride About RollerCoaster Tycoon

MetalJesus Takes A Look At The MiSTer

TechSpot Explains Why Using "Ultra" Settings is "Dumb"

Free Guy Is A Must See Movie And Is Streaming Now

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Switch Tech Review

Super Star Wars Trilogy on SNES - A Gaming Renaissance For A Classic Franchise

Hawkeye Is A Christmas Show?

A Spoiler-Free Review of Middle-Earth Shadow of War

The Matrix Resurrections Trailer!

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