Timogorgon3

Joined 01/23/2012
  Member

Fuzzy pickles!

59 Posts

The original Diablo is on Good Old Games!
Well, I did not see this coming, but the original Diablo is up for sale over at GoG.com, DRM free!
I missed Diablo during it's first run, is it worth looking into now?

Edit: It appears there are two versions available through GoG.

"Travelers looking for the authentic Diablo experience can play the game as it was in 1996, with period-appropriate 20 FPS SVGA graphics, and the ability to matchmaker through the classic version of Blizzard’s Battle.net® online-gaming service.
For those wanting something a bit more modern, Blizzard and GOG.COM have collaborated on an updated version of the game tuned for today’s gaming PCs, which includes out-of-the-box Windows 10 compatibility, a host of bug fixes and high-resolution support."
https://www.gog.com/game/diablo

Octopath Traveler Review.
Timogorgon gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Timogorgon gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
A love letter to the 16-bit era of JRPGs.

Octopath Traveler is a single player RPG developed by Square Enix and Aquire Corp. and released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. Set in the world of Orsterra the game follows 8 protagonists through their own personal stories which eventually intertwine and form a larger overarching plot. Each character has a unique job with unique combat abilities. Each protagonist also has a “Path Ability” which can be used outside of battle to help the party complete side quests, access secret items/paths, or recruit NPCs to help the party.

The first thing you probably notice about Octopath Traveler is its “HD-2D” (as dubbed by Square Enix) graphical style which combines traditional sprites with high definition effects and environments. The results are absolutely stunning. Octopath Traveler is a beautiful game. One of my only complaints is that the depth of field seems a little too shallow at times, obscuring some of the backgrounds. The 8 heroes are beautifully animated and the sprites for enemies are big and highly detailed.

Many Square Enix games are known for having amazing soundtracks and Octopath Traveler doesn’t disappoint. Composer Yasunori Nishiki doesn’t have many games under his belt, but if this game is any indication then his will be a career to pay attention too. (For an example, see: https://youtu.be/se4WxWXMBwE)

In terms of gameplay this is a very traditional JRPG with turn based battles and menu based combat. There are a few new twists to mix things up, such as each enemy having a defense (indicated by a shield with a number on it) that can be broken by attacking the enemy with weapons or elements they are weak to. Once their defense is broken the enemy is stunned for a turn and takes extra damage from all attacks during that round. Every turn your party members also gain a Boost Point which can be stored (up to 5) and used to boost the power of spells, abilities, or to attack multiple times in a row. These minor tweaks to an old formula keep the battles fresh and allow you to form strategies about when it’s best to burn through your boost points to quickly break an enemies defenses or store them up so you can drop massive amounts of damage when they’re weak.

Much like the JRPGs of yore this game is fairly difficult and there are times when you need to slow down and grind out a few levels before taking on the next boss or advancing to the next area. HP and MP are not restored between battles without items, using an ability or spell, or staying at an Inn. You will need to plan ahead and make sure you stock up on items whenever you’re about to leave a town. Characters level independently and only those in your group earn XP. So if you want to have a variety of characters available you’ll need to switch them out periodically. In time you will unlock the ability to assign each character a subjob based on one of the other protagonists, allowing you to mix-and-match their abilities.

JRPGs are also known for their plots and Octopath Traveler is no exception. Although I have yet to finish the storyline (I’m about 30 hours in) the plot so far is interesting and all the characters are likeable enough. The writing is acceptable for the most part. There is one area where all the characters speak in an exaggerated “Ye Olde English” that I found particularly annoying, but your mileage may vary. The voice acting is also hit and miss. Dialogue for the main story is fully voice acted, but side quests and minor plot areas only have an occasional gasp or “Ok!” which I could have done without.

If you are a fan of the genre then I would highly recommend giving Octopath Traveler a try. For one thing there is a demo available, so why not give it a go? If you’re new to RPGs and especially to JRPGs then there are more accessible titles you may want to try first. Overall I rate this game a Rad on the Ghost Scale.

Lightfield HYPER Edition: "Now this is Pod racing!"
Timogorgon gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Timogorgon gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Disclaimer: Lost in the Garden provided me a review copy of the game.

Good evening my fellow happy haunts!

I can’t say I’ve ever played a racer quite like Lightfield before. You’re ship can fly and you’re not restricted in what direction you can fly. However, you gain a significant speed boost by “snapping” to a surface. Your goal is to move from checkpoint to checkpoint while staying snapped to a surface as much as possible. The courses are designed so that there is no clear best path between the checkpoints leaving it up to the player to experiment and to keep improving on their lap times.

The game feel very fast and frenetic as you twist and turn through the courses. One second you’re snapped to the side of a building, then you release your grip so you can jump down to a tunnel below you (or is it “above” you? It’s hard to tell after a while). Most of the time this feels great, but that freedom does mean it’s pretty easy to get turned around or lost. Especially on a track you’re not familiar with.

The controls are very simple although I can’t imagine trying to play this without a controller. They feel nice and tight while snapped to a surface, but feel sluggish and floaty while flying. That could be an intentional design choice, but I found it a little frustrating at times when I’m trying to get back to a surface while my ship chugs along through the air.

Several people (including Travis) praised the soundtrack for the game. I’ll be honest and say I disagree. The music was ok at first but it wore on me pretty quick. It wasn’t long before I shut the music off completely and just loaded up my own soundtrack to play in the background.

There are several modes to play through including an “exploration” mode and a “Campaign” mode that serves as the games tutorial. I went through the first couple campaign courses but once I got the hang of the game I found it far more fun to just jump into some racing.

Overall, I very much enjoyed my time trying out the game and I plan to sink many more hours into shaving off precious seconds from my lap times. I give this game a solid Rad!

Happy Tabletop Day!
http://i.imgur.com/sRHV3tO.jpg
Happy Tabletop Day, everyone! In honor of today, I want to hear about your favorite tabletop games!

I'll start. One of my favorite games lately has been Betrayal at the House on the Hill. You and your other players are a trapped inside a haunted house and have to find a way out by exploring the manor and finding items and weapons to help you survive. There's a twist though, at some point one of the players will betray the group! Who that is and why they turn are randomly decided based on the Omens you find during the first half of the game.

One thing that's great about the game is that the play is very simple to learn. Most of the complexity comes from the cards you draw which all explain what they are and how they work.

If you like horror stories and board games, I cannot recommend this game enough!

Whiteboyslim is no longer Whiteboyslim: Different name, same great taste.
Wait a minute. Did you hear that? That, that sound?
Boom boom Boom!
That didn't come from the troglodytes. No, that, that came from something else.
The Timogorgon!

So I've been wanting to change my Cheerful Ghost and twitter handle for some time now. Whiteboyslim is a name I've used for a very, very long time. But as I'm getting older it's making less and less sense, not to mention identifying as "Whiteboy" seemed to have a lot less baggage back in the late 90's, early 00's.

After binging Stranger Things season two this last week with my wife I finally came up with a name that's fun, easy to remember, not already taken on twitter, and doesn't send you to weird places when you google it!
(Seriously. Like... I tried so many different names. Everything is taken!)

So Whiteboyslim has disappeared into the upside-down and Timogorgon is here to stay!

Mega Ran's new music video is all kinds of geeky goodness.
Rapper extraordinaire Mega Ran released this new video which mixes chip-tunes, hip-hop, and old school Gameboy graphics. If you haven't checked out Mega Ran before I highly recommend you look into his back catalog.

You can find more of his music on Spotify or on his website: http://megaran.com/

Stardew Valley 1.1 Beta Released
http://stardewvalleywiki.com/mediawiki/images/6/68/Main_Logo.png
There's a new update fresh off the farm! (Sorry not sorry for the pun.)

Earlier today ConcernedApe revealed that update 1.1 has entered beta to help clear out a few bugs before the full release. The change log looks pretty expansive with the big ticket items would be the new farm layouts themed after one of the in-game skills, two new marriage candidates, and a host of new buildings and warp items. The full change log as well as instructions on how to play the beta can be found here: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/1-1-beta-thread.124827/

I need Star Trek Bridge Crew
I had no idea I needed this in my life until now.

I might be biased due to my love of all things Star Trek, but this looks absolutely amazing. Unfortunately you need several VR headsets and computers powerful enough to use them with in order to play this so I doubt I will be playing this anytime soon. Still, this is pretty bad ass!

More details about the game here: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/06/star-trek-bridge-crew-vr-hands-on-video/

Cheerful Ghost Games Club?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/11/Kotorbox.jpg
(Note: There were some edits at the bottom of this post)
Experiment time!

With the recent Star Wars Humble Bundle Jon and I were discussing playing through The two Knights of the Old Republic games at the same time and discussing our play throughs as we go. Well, I got to thinking, what if I invited the rest of the CG community to participate too? Sort of like a book club, but for games! So here's the deal:

For the rest of the month of February I'm starting an event where we can all discuss our play-throughs in depth. If you've never played Kotor before you can pick it up on the cheap through https://www.humblebundle.com/ right now. Anyone is welcome to join!

Join the event here: http://cheerfulghost.com/WhiteboySlim/events/71/games-club-knights-of-the-old-republic
Pick up the game on Steam OR at: https://www.humblebundle.com/
Want it DRM free? Pick it up from www.gog.com!

Edit: Just to clarify a few things:
1) In my post I mentioned boy Kotor 1 and 2, but for now the discussion is focused solely on Kotor 1. If people really like this and we decide to move onto Kotor 2 maybe we'll do that through March. :)
2) You don't have to be actively playing through the game to participate. If you've played the game before and just want to join the discussion please feel free!

Grim Fandango Cake
http://i.imgur.com/xl271hF.jpg
This was too awesome for me not to share. A friend of mine baked this cake to commemorate the re-release of Grim Fandango. Personally I think more game releases should be celebrated with baked goods!