Travis | Cheerful Ghost

Half-Life: Alyx, Valve's New Flagship VR Game

No need to rub your eyes or clean your glasses, you are seeing that title correctly. Valve has announced that they'll be unveiling their new flagship VR game in the Half-Life universe this Thursday at 1PM EST/ 10AM PST.

There's not much more to be said as of yet, as we don't know a time frame, gameplay style, whether there'll be a non-VR option, whether it'll be Steam-exclusive or if PSVR will get it... we don't know much.

What we DO know is that Valve is actually making a new Half-Life game. I can't wait to find out more on Thursday!

Source: https://twitter.com/valvesoftware/status/1196566870360387584

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 70: The Rise of Skywalker Halloween Special

The final trailer for The Rise of Skywalker is out, and we have some opinions about it! We talk about our thoughts and predictions for the Skywalker Saga finale, as well as what we've been playing and watching this past month.

Paragon Points Coming to Tale of the White Wyvern Wednesday!

If you've been keeping up with Tale of the White Wyvern development and the happenings in-game, you know that the fifth wyvern kill is the "last" one, as in the one where you unlock all the game story, and the one where you need some intense grinding to win. And you may also know that a few have already hit that threshold and are working on their sixth time through. Well, if you're wondering what comes next on this journey, look no further: Paragon. Here's how it works:

After your fifth wyvern kill, the five repeat themselves. The 1st and 6th fight are the same, the 2nd and 7th, and so on. But every fifth wyvern kill will get you a paragon coin that you can spend whenever you like. (And not to worry-- if you've beaten the 5th already, you'll retroactively receive one).

Each time you spend one of these paragon coins, you will lose all of your charm and your dead card and be reset back to the starting point of 1 charm and 0 dead card punches. These are things that never reset by default when you start back at level 1, but in order to use these coins, you're cashing them in.

But it's worth it because you get some pretty great perks:

+1 to your player paragon points.

A permanent +5% boost to forest exp gain.

A permanent +5% boost to forest gold find.

A permanent +5% boost to your bank interest.

New titles, up to your third redemption:
- First redemption: Prestigious & Prestidigitonium
- Second redemption: Demigod & Demigoddess
- Third redemption: God & Goddess

These are additive, so on your second redemption you'll have +10% experience gain and gold find, for example.

To redeem these new coins, just pay a visit to Wrymdoor's favorite healer, Helga. She'll perform some secret magic and you'll be gaining experience and gold much faster! Just don't be surprised when Crugg acts like he doesn't know you anymore.

As I said above, you can redeem these whenever you like-- if you want to wait until you get into the later levels before losing your charm, you can do that. If you want to hoard your paragon coins you can do that too. The choice is yours.

We should have Paragon Coins in the game for you to redeem by Wednesday. Prepare yourself for speedy leveling!

If you haven't played Tale of the White Wyvern yet, head over to https://thewhitewyvern.com/ now to play for free!

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/29/2019 at 05:30am

Cool! I was wondering what would happen after that final kill, since I'm extremely close to accomplishing that now. I think losing all your charm is a bit of a small price to pay, yet it also kind of sucks. I think there shouldn't be any negative outcome for getting that final kill. Although perhaps it's kind of a balancing act so that players don't get too OP. Losing all your charm isn't too bad since we all seem to accumulate so much of it that at a certain point it no longer matters if you end up losing some of it in the forest. So this change kind of puts some polish on the charm stat, I think. When some of us stated how much charm we had, we were around 100-200+. I don't remember how much charm you need for that ultimate NPC interaction, but I'm guessing it's no where near that much. It doesn't take very long to accumulate enough charm to get to that point, but it's very easy to get so much charm that if you lose some in the forest, it's no big deal at all, other than a wasted forest fight.

Anyway, thanks again to you and Jon for making the game and continuing to develop it.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/29/2019 at 01:55pm

Thank you and everyone for continuing to play it!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/29/2019 at 03:56pm

And yeah, you’re right about the reasoning a bit.

Once you’ve gone through maybe 18 levels total or so, those lower-charm responses from
NPCs just become worthless, and your charm stat effectively doesn’t matter. This gives it meaning again, but definitely pays you for taking away your charm.

And you can always choose not to use this if you want to keep that charm, but you’ll lose out in the long run. It’s really a better deal for you than it is Helga. 😂

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/30/2019 at 03:40am

We are live! The 5+ crew should have a shiny coin in their inventories now.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/30/2019 at 09:52pm

Crugg acts like he doesn't know me!

But, I am swimming in gold, so I will just find someone I can pay to be my friend.

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 69: The Pumpkin Spiceasode! Reviewing ALL the Pumpkin Spice!

It's that time of year, folks. The scent of pumpkin spice is in the air. So we thought, what better time to try out all the pumpkin spice flavored things we could get our hands on and review them live? What could go wrong? Come experience the flavor of the season with us in this special episode!

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker - Final Trailer

The “final” trailer for Episode IX is out now. I say “final” in quotes because we will surely see more footage in TV spots and international variants.

But here we go, the last major US trailer, and we are about two months out from the film’s release.

Tickets are available now, and I’ve already got seats for the Friday of release.

There’s a lot to unpack here, but I’ll get the discussion started with three things:

1. The scene of the new crew in the Falcon is something I’ve been wanting since TFA.

2. That arrangement of the main theme was sublime.

3. Threepio, you ok?

So go forth, watch it, and tell us what you think!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/22/2019 at 02:30am

Real quick fourth thing: I think I spotted the Ghost, right next to the Falcon in the scene with all the ships.

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/22/2019 at 02:33am

AND if you didn't watch the Rebels show (like me) then here's what The Ghost is. https://www.starwars.com/databank/the-ghost

I'm getting Disney+ so when that happens I'll prob watch it to know first hand

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/22/2019 at 02:34am

Yeah thanks I should have pointed that out 😂

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/22/2019 at 04:04am

Holy crap, yes!

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/22/2019 at 04:47am

Thoughts: I don't think this was better than the teaser they released during D23. I'm curious about the Emperor stuff and how Kylo and Rey interact as they look like they are more working together than not. That said, in general, i'm not sure what i'm rooting for. I'm not sure what's going on at all and I don't know how this is even set up. Like things are happening and the Emperor, but I don't quite understand any of it and maybe that's a good thing because spoilers. I mean, clearly The Resistance is gathering and there's gonna be a big shootout at the end but I'm not sure what the point is? Maybe I just had some bad food and the grump is setting in, but didn't we have that in Jedi, like the Death Star fight scene and big space battle? Literally this fight is on the same Death Star in water with the Emperor in a chair and Lando is flying around outside 🤣WHAT'S AT THE END FORCE GHOSTS SMILING AT OUR HEROES? 🤣

Ok, i'll tune the cynicism down a tad to say that i'm gonna pre-order this and i'm gonna watch it and my expectation is it's gonna be great and I bet it will be. That said, this trailer isn't getting me there and in the end that's fine because lowering my expectations a bit seems like a good strategy to have a good time watching it.

PS I love you Star Wars, this trailer is neat, it just didn't work for as well as the last D23 teaser, in my opinion that's one of the best cut trailers of all time and they didn't quite get to that with this one.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/22/2019 at 04:58am

I think this trailer got me even more interested in the Emperor's part in this movie. It seems he comes face to face with Rey, although we don't see him directly, so maybe he has some other form. We see Kylo and Rey fight each other, but we also see them fighting together. Maybe they're tied together some how beyond just Light vs. Dark sides of the Force.

I want to see this for sure, but I don't think I'm going to do anything extra ordinary to watch it. I'll probably go in December, probably with my son at out local movie place. The local place isn't as bad as it used to be, they got new seats!

I've watched plenty of theories about this whole thing like how the Emperor returns, how that's possible, who are Rey's parents, who is Rey, etc.

I just feel like this movie is going to be pretty bad ass (that's a good thing). Like holy crap, where did that Star Destroyer come from? Has it been sitting in the sea this whole time? Whoa, dude!

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/22/2019 at 05:21am

> Like holy crap, where did that Star Destroyer come from? Has it been sitting in the sea this whole time? Whoa, dude!

I FOR ONE WELCOME OUR NEW SUBMARINE STAR DESTROYER OVERLORDS 🤣

That said, it was a totally bad ass shot!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 10/22/2019 at 05:21am

Not enough lens flares. You have failed me Jar Jar Abrams.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/22/2019 at 02:23pm

I dunno man, the D23 teaser was more a celebration of the saga than a teaser for episode IX. It was neat but forgettable. In fact the dark Rey tease is basically all I can remember. And maybe Rey and Kylo fighting outside the DS? I can’t remember if that was in that one or the one before. Or both. But I wanted more from that. I know it was just a teaser but still. This one has built my hype more than any of the other ones honestly.

I mean yeah there’s going to be a big space fleet battle but it wouldn’t feel like Star Wars without a space battle and this is the last one so it’s gotta be huge.

I will say, though, that I’m still not sure about bringing back DS2 and Palpatine. People say that The Force Awakens kinda undoes the work of the original trilogy and this tears it down even more. BUT I’m withholding judgment on it until I see it, the explanation could be incredible.

And JJ has said this will close out the story of all nine movies but we’ve only gotten hints of the OT plot leaking in, I wonder what the prequel influences and plot threads will be.

But yeah I LOVE that at this point we still can’t really piece together any plot. We have no clue what’s going to happen and that’s pretty fantastic. And kinda rare for modern movies

jdodson Admin wrote on 10/22/2019 at 03:26pm

Oh darn, I mentioned the wrong trailer. I meant the original TEASER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adzYW5DZoWs

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/22/2019 at 03:53pm

Ok yeah that one was absolutely incredible.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 10/22/2019 at 05:19pm

This has been my favorite trailer. None of the others has gotten me as excited for the movie as this one had. I can't wait to see how this movie unfolds!

I have theories about what's going to happen, but I don't want to spoil anything, in case I'm right. But I think this movie will fit in nicely with all 8 previous movies (yes, even the prequels!)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/22/2019 at 06:40pm

I hope it does. I’m honestly hoping the “Skywalker” in the title is Anakin ... somehow. In some magical way that doesn’t feel hamfisted.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/23/2019 at 10:20pm

Trailer breakdown https://youtu.be/odyP6GqyzEs

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Revenge of the Bird King is Practically Free for Switch Players

This game is weird.

You're a humanoid bird. Guns grow from plants. Out of ammo? Just plant a gun. That's pretty much your intro.

Right now, Revenge of the Bird King is NINE CENTS on the Switch. You probably have enough Nintendo coins on your account to buy it with those right now.

Beyond being weird, this is a fun game. The platforming is tricky but satisfying, though it does have its cheap moments. For nine cents you can't lose.

The Outer Worlds Launch Trailer

The Outer Worlds will be with us in just a few days, and we've gotten a final launch trailer to tempt us.

As if I needed tempting. A new Obsidian RPG? Yes, please. In space? Even better.

I don't think this trailer really sells what the game is about, but it may set the mood pretty well. There are some gameplay videos out there that give you more of a feel of the flow of the game, like this one from Kotaku: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9xOtElr6mw

But even if I hadn't known what kind of game this is already, the trailer would have grabbed me. While it's clear they're trying to borrow some of Gearbox's trailer tricks for this, the game seems to have a voice of its own.

My backlog of new games is growing so it'll probably be a while before I get to this one, but I'm looking forward to my time with it. If you aren't waiting like me, you can grab this one on October 25.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/19/2019 at 08:34pm

That really is a good trailer! If I'm correct, it's going to be an EGS exclusive for a while. Steam says it'll be available next year.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 10/19/2019 at 11:20pm

EGS and Microsoft’s Windows Store

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/20/2019 at 12:31am

So, I just read a bit of an article that says this game is coming to Steam one year after it releases on other platforms (EGS & Windows Store). This is starting to get annoying. A new game comes out and I have to wait a whole year after it actually releases before I can play it on Steam or buy it from another platform. Damn.

I also want to repeat that this is a really good trailer! I was really impressed by it. I can't say that about the Red Dead Redemption 2 PC trailer that just released. I guess part of it was that this trailer is so good and humorous. This game does remind me of Borderlands. I also kind of felt like "oh another shooter," but then I decided I had to keep in mind that this is probably Fallout: New Vegas (some what) in space.

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/22/2019 at 07:49pm

Here's a review https://youtu.be/4B6t9U1pRok

GregoPeck Super Member wrote on 10/25/2019 at 08:32pm

A Gameranx Before You Buy (Good) Review https://youtu.be/4f4d6E22aRI

I like how colorful the game looks. It seems as though it doesn't take 100 hours to finish the game, which I find kind of disappointing (I want good RPGs to be long). But, this seems to be a good game. I'm also really impressed that it's a single player game! I recently thought about that (single player games) as revolutionary (LOL), because too many games now are multiplayer or pretty much require multiple people to complete. I mostly play alone and don't want to play games with strangers. But, that's a gaming rant for another time, some where else, or just for myself. This will probably be the last review I share. I wasn't "sold" on the game at first, but since the release and seeing these reviews, I think it's something I want to check out.

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The Analogue Pocket Wants My $200, Will Probably Get It

Analogue, creators of various retro goodness, have announced their next offering: the Analogue Pocket.

Out of the box, the Analogue Pocket can play all the original run of Gameboy and Gameboy Color games, and has an audio sequencer as well.

With some adapters, you can also play other handheld titles from the Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket, and Atari Lynx.

Taking a note from the PSP and the Nintendo Switch, you'll also be able to buy a separate dock that connects to your TV and USB/Bluetooth controllers for playing your portable games in a non-portable fashion, if that's your thing.

This isn't a portable emulator-- Analogue have engineered their own chips to play these games. And ... just look at it. That's a beautiful piece of hardware.

I'm going to spend the time between now and when this releases trying to tell myself that I don't need it.

https://www.analogue.co/pocket/

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 68: Sayonara Dragon Link

We love to check in every month or so about what we've been playing and watching. It had been a while, though, so we devoted almost the entire episode to it! And we check in on Jon's playthrough of Link's Awakening on the Switch to see how he liked the end.

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 67: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening For Nintendo Switch

We've returned to Koholint Island after 26 years for this review of the new Nintendo Switch remake of The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening. This is one of our most anticipated games in a while, and we're stoked to finally have our hands on it. Warning: this one gets surprisingly philosophical for a few minutes, and may be worth a listen just for that.

Travis4

544 Posts

Half-Life: Alyx, Valve's New Flagship VR Game

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 70: The Rise of Skywalker Halloween Special

Paragon Points Coming to Tale of the White Wyvern Wednesday!

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 69: The Pumpkin Spiceasode! Reviewing ALL the Pumpkin Spice!

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker - Final Trailer

Revenge of the Bird King is Practically Free for Switch Players

The Outer Worlds Launch Trailer

The Analogue Pocket Wants My $200, Will Probably Get It

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 68: Sayonara Dragon Link

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 67: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening For Nintendo Switch

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