Continuing the Cheerful Ghost community interviews, this one featuring @vdogmr25! I want to thank him for taking the time to to do the interview with me! If anyone has any follow up questions, toss them in the comments!
jdodson: You recently posted on Cheerful Ghost that you are having issues with your PC, what have you been playing while your PC is out of commision?
vdogmr25: I just picked up FTL for my Macbook, and that's been fun to play in between classes. I was hesitant because I thought it looked too simple, but the simplicity makes it awesome. I've also been pounding through Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Pokemon White, and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.
jdodson: I was looking through your Cheerful Ghost game list and saw you played Baldur’s Gate. Wonder what your thoughts on this game looking back on it now?
vdogmr25: What stuck with me about Baldur's Gate was how tight the story side of the game was. Everything was well told, and characters and "characters," like Lilarcor from the second game, made the game amazing. Thinking about the graphics, controls, and sound, makes me want to try the recent enhanced version to see the game with a little more modern tech behind it. Those parts of the game were good for the time it was made, but an update couldn't hurt.
jdodson: What's a game that you started playing this year that you really have enjoyed?
vdogmr25: Penny Arcade's On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness has been a lot of fun. I grabbed all three parts during the last Steam Christmas sale, and I really like that it's something of a choose your own adventure PA comic. It's also nice that it's a solid RPG I can run on my MacBook during my shift in the lab. Haven't gotten to part three yet, and I'm looking forward to the change in art style in that one.
jdodson: What are the games that top out your list stopping at 5?
vdogmr25: Oh geez, that's kinda tough. Okami and Majora's Mask come to mind immediately. Majora's Mask is dark, difficult, and amazing and Okami is like Zelda game, but in an art style that forces a continuous eye-gasm. Bastion, in my opinion, is probably one of the best games ever in terms of aesthetic and story telling, and that coming together makes me cry every time I play through it. The Civilization series is phenomenal. My dad and I have been playing since 3 was released, and we've been keeping up fairly well with it. As much as I love the game, though, if I'm gonna play, I'm gonna play with someone, and I'm gonna play completely through. Sadly, that can take several hours, and between other games and only small windows of schedule overlap, my dad and I haven't gotten to play for a while. Starcraft should probably be up here too. I don't play it as passionately as the other games. What makes it stand out is that out of all the games I see in my list and think, "I should play that again," Starcraft is pretty much the only one I actually play again. Something about the campaign keeps bringing me back.
jdodson: I also see you have Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast in your list as well. This is an interesting bit of DLC as it ups the graphics the game is capable of and inserts a pretty cool level in the game. Did you play this after you played Half-life 2 and also, what did you think of it?
vdogmr25: Well, my first foray into HL2 and Steam was with the Orange Box. Lost Coast downloaded before HL2 did, so I jumped in on that first. I knew it was more of a tech demo and didn't pertain much to the story, so I thought I'd play it while I waited for the game itself to download. When I booted it up, I stared at the water for about 5 minutes. I didn't have much in the way of next-gen consoles and games with cutting edge graphics at the time, so this BLEW MY MIND. I'd be looking through the world, and getting angry that people were shooting at me during my sight-seeing. When I started Half-Life 2, I was a little disappointed, due to my expectations with Lost Coast, but I knew it was a tech demo and that HL2 had more to process in terms of sheer volume than Lost Coast.
jdodson: According to Steam you have played the hell out of Torchlight to the tune of 251 hours. First off, congratulations about that and second off, what kept you coming back to the game so many times?
vdogmr25: I'll be completely honest, that isn't all me. My dad and I shared my account for Torchlight so we wouldn't have to buy two copies. About 100 hours of that is me, and the rest is my dad. That's the reason we kept going back to it too. It's something we both enjoy, and that pushes us to play the heck out of it. Both of us enjoy dungeon crawlers, and we used to play Bard's Tale on the NES together. It gives us something to converse over, even when we aren't technically in the same game. I wish I could be in TL2 with him now, but, again, computer troubles, so it'll have to wait.
jdodson: As I have been typing up this interview over the last few days I have been thinking about a few games. Right now I am thinking about Sword & Sworcery as I am creating a post talking about a S&S remix album. Wondering what your thoughts are about the game and how it sat with you?
vdogmr25: S&S was absolutely stunning. Everything about this game felt tight and well made. It may have been different for the mobile version, but the PC version was glorious. It's funny you brought up the music in particular, as that was the main point of immersion for me. I've tried playing the game with the sound off and found myself feeling completely detached from the experience. When I'd boot it up later with the sound on, the music completely pulled me into the world. What also got me was how the game was lightly memetic. There's little bits and pieces of internet speak in this game, and it strangely enough helped me feel more connected to the game, but maybe that's because I spend too much time online. As a sidenote, Dogfella is the best character.
jdodson: Any thoughts to getting into making games yourself?
vdogmr25: I would say I'm attached to the glamour of making games. It's a dream of mine, but when I look at what it takes to be good at it like time and resources, I'm not sure it's for me. It's something I've been trying to sort through quickly because I'm graduating this year, but there's just a lot of uncertainty around the idea for me. There are other coding jobs I know I wouldn't mind having, but at the same time, if I don't follow through with game making, I wonder if it would be the wrong choice.
jdodson: If you could add one thing to Cheerful Ghost what would it be?
vdogmr25: If there was a way to increase the Steam functionality with the site, I would be ok with it. Sirdan1013 recently made a steam group, so finding a way to integrate group information to the site like currently online members and the games they are playing could be cool.
jdodson: If you could force any game to be made, what game would that be? Genie and a lamp kind of thing here!
vdogmr25: Six Days in Fallujah. The idea of a tactical shooter based on an actual event that (hopefully) describes said event accurately and maybe even challenge the concept of the American War Machine would be fantastic. I enjoyed Spec Ops: The Line a ton because of the way it turn the US mentality on war on its head a bit, and I think more games need to do that.
jdodson: I am watching Judge Dredd right now with Carl Urban and he just shot a dude in the mouth with a kind of flaming bullet. The persons head started burning from the inside. Needless to say the bad-guy died. Why is Judge Dredd so angry?
vdogmr25: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was cancelled shortly before the events of the film, leaving his soul empty, and slowly building a general feeling of rage.
http://cheerfulghost.com/vdogmr25
jdodson: You recently posted on Cheerful Ghost that you are having issues with your PC, what have you been playing while your PC is out of commision?
vdogmr25: I just picked up FTL for my Macbook, and that's been fun to play in between classes. I was hesitant because I thought it looked too simple, but the simplicity makes it awesome. I've also been pounding through Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Pokemon White, and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.
jdodson: I was looking through your Cheerful Ghost game list and saw you played Baldur’s Gate. Wonder what your thoughts on this game looking back on it now?
vdogmr25: What stuck with me about Baldur's Gate was how tight the story side of the game was. Everything was well told, and characters and "characters," like Lilarcor from the second game, made the game amazing. Thinking about the graphics, controls, and sound, makes me want to try the recent enhanced version to see the game with a little more modern tech behind it. Those parts of the game were good for the time it was made, but an update couldn't hurt.
jdodson: What's a game that you started playing this year that you really have enjoyed?
vdogmr25: Penny Arcade's On the Rain-slick Precipice of Darkness has been a lot of fun. I grabbed all three parts during the last Steam Christmas sale, and I really like that it's something of a choose your own adventure PA comic. It's also nice that it's a solid RPG I can run on my MacBook during my shift in the lab. Haven't gotten to part three yet, and I'm looking forward to the change in art style in that one.
jdodson: What are the games that top out your list stopping at 5?
vdogmr25: Oh geez, that's kinda tough. Okami and Majora's Mask come to mind immediately. Majora's Mask is dark, difficult, and amazing and Okami is like Zelda game, but in an art style that forces a continuous eye-gasm. Bastion, in my opinion, is probably one of the best games ever in terms of aesthetic and story telling, and that coming together makes me cry every time I play through it. The Civilization series is phenomenal. My dad and I have been playing since 3 was released, and we've been keeping up fairly well with it. As much as I love the game, though, if I'm gonna play, I'm gonna play with someone, and I'm gonna play completely through. Sadly, that can take several hours, and between other games and only small windows of schedule overlap, my dad and I haven't gotten to play for a while. Starcraft should probably be up here too. I don't play it as passionately as the other games. What makes it stand out is that out of all the games I see in my list and think, "I should play that again," Starcraft is pretty much the only one I actually play again. Something about the campaign keeps bringing me back.
jdodson: I also see you have Half-Life 2: The Lost Coast in your list as well. This is an interesting bit of DLC as it ups the graphics the game is capable of and inserts a pretty cool level in the game. Did you play this after you played Half-life 2 and also, what did you think of it?
vdogmr25: Well, my first foray into HL2 and Steam was with the Orange Box. Lost Coast downloaded before HL2 did, so I jumped in on that first. I knew it was more of a tech demo and didn't pertain much to the story, so I thought I'd play it while I waited for the game itself to download. When I booted it up, I stared at the water for about 5 minutes. I didn't have much in the way of next-gen consoles and games with cutting edge graphics at the time, so this BLEW MY MIND. I'd be looking through the world, and getting angry that people were shooting at me during my sight-seeing. When I started Half-Life 2, I was a little disappointed, due to my expectations with Lost Coast, but I knew it was a tech demo and that HL2 had more to process in terms of sheer volume than Lost Coast.
jdodson: According to Steam you have played the hell out of Torchlight to the tune of 251 hours. First off, congratulations about that and second off, what kept you coming back to the game so many times?
vdogmr25: I'll be completely honest, that isn't all me. My dad and I shared my account for Torchlight so we wouldn't have to buy two copies. About 100 hours of that is me, and the rest is my dad. That's the reason we kept going back to it too. It's something we both enjoy, and that pushes us to play the heck out of it. Both of us enjoy dungeon crawlers, and we used to play Bard's Tale on the NES together. It gives us something to converse over, even when we aren't technically in the same game. I wish I could be in TL2 with him now, but, again, computer troubles, so it'll have to wait.
jdodson: As I have been typing up this interview over the last few days I have been thinking about a few games. Right now I am thinking about Sword & Sworcery as I am creating a post talking about a S&S remix album. Wondering what your thoughts are about the game and how it sat with you?
vdogmr25: S&S was absolutely stunning. Everything about this game felt tight and well made. It may have been different for the mobile version, but the PC version was glorious. It's funny you brought up the music in particular, as that was the main point of immersion for me. I've tried playing the game with the sound off and found myself feeling completely detached from the experience. When I'd boot it up later with the sound on, the music completely pulled me into the world. What also got me was how the game was lightly memetic. There's little bits and pieces of internet speak in this game, and it strangely enough helped me feel more connected to the game, but maybe that's because I spend too much time online. As a sidenote, Dogfella is the best character.
jdodson: Any thoughts to getting into making games yourself?
vdogmr25: I would say I'm attached to the glamour of making games. It's a dream of mine, but when I look at what it takes to be good at it like time and resources, I'm not sure it's for me. It's something I've been trying to sort through quickly because I'm graduating this year, but there's just a lot of uncertainty around the idea for me. There are other coding jobs I know I wouldn't mind having, but at the same time, if I don't follow through with game making, I wonder if it would be the wrong choice.
jdodson: If you could add one thing to Cheerful Ghost what would it be?
vdogmr25: If there was a way to increase the Steam functionality with the site, I would be ok with it. Sirdan1013 recently made a steam group, so finding a way to integrate group information to the site like currently online members and the games they are playing could be cool.
jdodson: If you could force any game to be made, what game would that be? Genie and a lamp kind of thing here!
vdogmr25: Six Days in Fallujah. The idea of a tactical shooter based on an actual event that (hopefully) describes said event accurately and maybe even challenge the concept of the American War Machine would be fantastic. I enjoyed Spec Ops: The Line a ton because of the way it turn the US mentality on war on its head a bit, and I think more games need to do that.
jdodson: I am watching Judge Dredd right now with Carl Urban and he just shot a dude in the mouth with a kind of flaming bullet. The persons head started burning from the inside. Needless to say the bad-guy died. Why is Judge Dredd so angry?
vdogmr25: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was cancelled shortly before the events of the film, leaving his soul empty, and slowly building a general feeling of rage.
http://cheerfulghost.com/vdogmr25
