jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Energies Define It All

Even the Ocean is the upcoming indie adventure game from the Analgesic Productions duo that brought us Anodyne. I was a huge fan of Anodyne when it dropped and have been eagerly anticipating Even the Ocean since I played it at PAX in 2014. Analgesic recently released an animated trailer showing off the game and you should check that out above. A few things that set Analgesic games from the rest is their unique art and musical style. Even The Ocean has progressed much since I first played it at PAX and I can't wait to try it out when it releases on PC and Mac this summer!

http://www.eventheocean.com/

Playing Through The New Doom And Having One Hell Of A Time

It seems that if you are a certain age gamer you grew up playing Doom. I remember downloading the shareware version off a BBS, playing it at night and have the sound and ambiance freak me out. The carnage and gameplay was incredible and I was hooked. I loved the shotgun and it was so satisfying reloading it and blowing demons away. I never did sit down and complete the entirety of the shareware version but I played the hell out of the game for many years. Later on as Doom became more popular I played it multiplayer with friends over our modems and on multi-node BBS's.

I also enjoyed Doom 2 and much later Doom 3. Whereas it's not very brave to say you like Doom 2, Doom 3 has a mixed reputation now yet I still stand by it. Doom 3 is a horror shooter that focuses on dark brooding gameplay and I find it very well done. I liked the more recent Doom 3 BFG Edition too but lamented that they made it easier and allowed you to turn on the flashlight while holding any gun. I felt the original Doom 3 making you choose between the flashlight or gun was a bold gameplay choice. You can either see in a dark room or shoot stuff. It created a ton of "oh shit" moments and again, was bummed Doom 3 BFG changed that.

When I heard iD was going to drop a new Doom game I was very excited. It looked like a proper return to form and some kind of retelling of the original Doom story. It looked like a departure from Doom 3, but I don't mind doing something different as we already have Doom 3.

Even though I didn't play it launch day, I have since remedied that and I can say that Doom is back and it's great. If you don't like violent shooters this game is a non-starter. Doom is so entirely comfortable being "that crazy insanely violent game" it takes that comfort to a new place. When I originally played Diablo 3 I was a bit shocked by some of the gore as certain areas can get very graphic and it was a bit surprising even to my 90's desensitized mind. Doom takes that gore and violence and kicks it into orbit. Don't get me wrong, the game isn't great because it's a bloody mess but it's unique in that it doesn't apologize for what it is and charges straight ahead chainsaws blazing.

Doom has been covered extensively as it has been very well received. If you are interested in a return to a simpler kind of shooter that focuses entirely on gameplay and intense combat, Doom is the game. I can't give a game much more praise than that I plan to complete it and that I look for more when iD gets around to it. And at this point I am curious what more plans iD has for more Doom content. The Season Pass seems 100% multiplayer focused something I am not interested in. Hopefully they take a page from the new Wolfenstein game and release a short game that is more of what people love. Hell they could go straight into new Doom 2 and I bet people would love it. I know I would.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/03/2016 at 03:09am

I love how all the game mechanics incentivize getting into the action. Low on health? Get closer and smash a demon's head in! Low on ammo? Get close and cut a guy in half with the chainsaw!

One thing I generally dislike about cover shooters is the "hide to heal" mechanic. It just feels wrong for some reason to me.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/03/2016 at 05:04am

I remember running a BBS. :)

I played Doom and Doom II. I don't think I played Doom III.

It's funny you mention the shotgun, because the Super Shotgun is my weapon of choice in the new game. I use it pretty much all the time. Yeah the BFG is awesome as are some of the other weapons, but I find myself sticking w/ the SS in most cases.

I'm not really into horror or shooter games. In fact, at first the new Doom didn't appeal to me. It looked like it had a bit too much blood and gore for my taste. Then, I watched some videos. I got this strong feeling that this was an awesome game and I should check it out. Luckily, I haven't been disappointed. I love it. Yeah, it is a bit bloody and such, but some how it doesn't bother me at all.

"Intense combat" is a great way to explain it. This game just seems to do everything extremely well. I'm playing it on Ultra settings and it's very sweet. It's quite flawless, except that it's crashed more than a few times. I also enjoy the story and the various secrets in each stage. I try to find them, but if I can't then I look it up on YouTube. I have no shame.

I went ahead and bought the Season Pass along with the game, before trying it. Some how I knew I'd enjoy it. That said, I'm interested to see what ID and Bethesda add to the game in the future.

I agree with Travis, I like how health and ammo replenishment takes place.

Something else that's cool is that there are upgrades you can get for your weapons and character. You can participate in Rune Trials, found in various levels, which are challenges that give great rewards when you accomplish them. The challenges aren't extremely difficult, but can still be challenging. Once you get a Rune, you can equip (up to 3) it. Then you can unlock more of it's potential by completing other challenges. So, the game is full of challenges, not just getting Steam Achievements.

Right now I think I'm at the end or very close to it. From what I saw on Steam, Campaign mode isn't very long, but you can extend it by searching for secrets and completing various challenges.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/03/2016 at 05:43am

Oh a couple of things I forgot to mention. The soundtrack is awesome! I really love it. I'd like to get it if I can.

There are things that look and act like zombies, called "The Possessed". Don't waste your ammo on them. Use your pistol that has unlimited ammo or just go up to them and press "F" twice and you'll kill them.

One thing I don't like is how "F" is used to hit (melee) or do a Glory Kill and "G" is used for the chainsaw. I don't like it because I sometimes I hit the wrong key when trying to do a Glory Kill. I thought about switching it, but it's not too bad.

Earlier today, my game crashed for the 2nd and 3rd time. I had to turn off my PC to resume any functionality. I submitted 3 crash reports on Bethesda's support site. I also did some "Googling" and someone said turning V-Sync on helps. I also did a file verification on Steam, but nothing was wrong. I'm not sure if turning on V-Synch helped, because the game crashed a few more times after that. Although, those crashes just brought up the crash window and I didn't have to manually reboot my PC.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/04/2016 at 02:39am

> One thing I generally dislike about cover shooters is the "hide to heal" mechanic. It just feels wrong for some reason to me.

I think it's a mechanic that works well in some games but I also don't mind health packs. I definitely feel that the "oh shit" moments are quicker in Doom because of it's health mechanics and I really like it for that.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/04/2016 at 02:39am

> It's funny you mention the shotgun, because the Super Shotgun is my weapon of choice in the new game. I use it pretty much all the time. Yeah the BFG is awesome as are some of the other weapons, but I find myself sticking w/ the SS in most cases.

I haven't unlocked that stuff yet, but I am looking forward to it. The super shotgun in Doom 2 was incredible and I loved it but the first time I held the original Doom shotgun I was in love.

> I'm not really into horror or shooter games.

I am not into horror games at all. Well, truth be told I just haven't played many so it's possible i'd like them, I really don't know. I dug the horror aspect of Doom 3 though. Or maybe the "jump scares" and creepy parts. Loved that a lot it rode the line between serious and campy and I just eat that stuff up.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/04/2016 at 02:40am

> I also enjoy the story and the various secrets in each stage. I try to find them, but if I can't then I look it up on YouTube. I have no shame.

Nah, we have shame we just value our time. Look, I have no problem wanting to find the secret level right away so I can jump in and play the original Doom levels in this engine. I know some people love spending hours pouring over that shit and unlocking everything. I really don't frankly I wish they'd just have them all unlocked I could play right now. But, you know, they didn't do that so I have to unlock them, which is fine. I just use a guide. I can live with myself for that.

> Oh a couple of things I forgot to mention. The soundtrack is awesome! I really love it. I'd like to get it if I can.

It's a very well made score and works well in the game to a point. With that, I don't find that the music amps me up as much as the gameplay and sound engineering. In fact, I bet just playing the game with music turned off might be better for me so I am going to try that. At times I dig the crazy metal electronic thing the game is doing and some times I really don't. Again, I find the score useful and well created I just don't always agree with the choices for each song and it rings hollow to me often.

Again, talent is there it's just not 100% my thing for each song. That said, I listen to some crazy hard hitting rock and metal so it's not like I want them to swap in Enya. That said, seriously though I bet she could make a dark song that would work well in the game as nutty as that may sound.

> There are things that look and act like zombies, called "The Possessed". Don't waste your ammo on them. Use your pistol that has unlimited ammo or just go up to them and press "F" twice and you'll kill them.

Yep. I love swinging to kill them. That said, I haven't found ammo to be a problem but maybe it's harder to come by in later levels?

> One thing I don't like is how "F" is used to hit (melee) or do a Glory Kill and "G" is used for the chainsaw. I don't like it because I sometimes I hit the wrong key when trying to do a Glory Kill. I thought about switching it, but it's not too bad.

Totally agree, super awkward. I am getting more used to it but it wasn't intuitive for me either.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/04/2016 at 03:42am

I love the music. I found the full soundtrack on YouTube and have listened through it a couple of times. It makes me want to play.

Ammo really isn't a huge problem. I stuck mostly with that Super Shotgun and found plenty of ammo. Demons sometimes drop ammo, but you can always use the Chainsaw if you have enough gas.

Double jumping took some time for me to get used it. It felt odd at first, but I finally mastered it.

Anyway, I'm finished with the campaign. I haven't completed every achievement, but I got all the secrets. I finished all the Rune Trials and even the challenges to upgrade them. I did the same for weapons, upgraded all of them and completed their related Mastery challenges. I must admit, the old maps are hard! You're very limited when it comes to weapon and gear, plus you don't have Runes and everything else that really helps. I finally entered God mode and went through them. I think what makes them different is that they are in closed environments, hallways and such, while the new maps are wide open. I like the new stuff. This has been a really fun game to play.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/05/2016 at 06:17pm

> Ammo really isn't a huge problem.

Agreed. At least, hasn't been a problem yet. I welcome the impending ammo-pocalypse.

> Anyway, I'm finished with the campaign. I haven't completed every achievement, but I got all the secrets.

Congratulations on the accomplishment. I haven't been playing it due to the hot weather here. I need to knuckle down and kill some demons though. I miss it. :(

> I finally entered God mode and went through them.

I hadn't heard of this mode. Does it unlock when you beat the game? TELL ME MORE OF THIS GOD YOU SPEAK OF!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/05/2016 at 07:18pm

Type in "god" after hitting the tilde key (in game). Do it again to disable it. It's a console command.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/05/2016 at 07:38pm

Thanks. I'll try that. Too bad it's not IDDQD or IDKFA.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/06/2016 at 02:18am

Those work, too, but I just typed "god" in the console, but here are other console commands.

iddqd - Toggles God-mode (still damageable by hazards). Causes Health to drain slowly at all times on Nightmare Difficulty.
idkfa - Gives the Doom Marine fully upgraded Health, Armor, and Ammo Capacity, as well as all unlockable Weapons, Weapon Mods (all fully upgraded), Suit Mods, and all available Suit Mod slots.
idfa - Gives player fully upgraded Armor, Health, and Ammo Capacity.
idka - Gives player all Weapon Mods, Weapons, and Weapon Mods are all fully upgraded.
ida - Gives the Doom Marine all Suit Mods and all Suit Mod slots.
iddt - Reveal all Secrets, items, and any unexplored areas of the map.
idgk - Toggle Glory Kills only. Makes all enemies immune to firearms and normal weapons, requiring player to kill them with Glory Kill animations.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/06/2016 at 05:54am

I love that they are bringing back the old cheats. I just remembered those two from the original game and apparently they still work.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/06/2016 at 07:18am

I think it's cool what they've named some of the achievements. One is called "IPXSETUP.EXE" which you get by playing a multiplayer game. Another is called "Shareware" which you get by downloading and playing some Snap Maps.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/07/2016 at 01:19am

Hahaha IPX/SPX, goodbye Netware!

Travis Admin wrote on 06/07/2016 at 02:32am

I totally remember ipxsetup.exe back in the day. Wow. I kinda miss the novelty of playing online but... I really don't miss the headaches.

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Dusting Off The Wii For Donkey Kong Country Returns

Nintendo's Wii might be a system that no longer has any new games coming out on it but it has a robust back catalog of a few titles that are fantastic. If you haven't played Super Mario Galaxy you need to, it's one of the best modern 3D platformers i've played in quite some time. The Wii has a ton of other great first and third party games and recently I picked up Donkey Kong Country Returns. I've decided to head back and purchase Wii games I missed to help fill in my collection. As a huge fan of Donkey Kong Country on the Super Nintendo, this seemed like a no-brainer and the fact it's on everyones best of Wii lists helped.

It bears repeating that the original Donkey Kong Country on Super Nintendo was hard. I did a recent replay & review of the game and I noted that...

"The biggest problem the game suffers from is that it gets it's difficulty simply by making certain levels so hard you need to memorize them to complete them. For instance, there is a minecart level that is so hard, i'd argue the majority of it is impossible to complete without completely memorizing where everything is located. This reliance on memorization was pretty common for old games but doesn't make it any less cheap. I would say a good platformer can be challenging but not so brutal you simply just need to burn it into your muscle memory to complete it."

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2470/criticisms-for-a-classic-game-donkey-kong-country

Donkey Kong Country Returns understands it's roots and is both challenging yet fair. I'd say, at least to the part i've played, it never seems crazy difficult but it is a platformer that will challenge you. Like all good games it slowly works in more and more difficulty and doesn't seem overwhelming. During one level Donkey Kong gets in a rocket and needs to ride it while avoiding cannon balls from a pirate ship. The level is nuts and keeps layering things requiring your to memorize how the level plays out. Luckily Donkey Kong Country understands this and places extra lives and bananas throughout the level so if you collect them don't run out of lives and have to start over.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is available on the Wii, Wii U and 3DS and if you have any of those systems and are looking for a challenging platformer banana revenge story, this game is worth looking into.

Cygnus Destroyer Reviews Some Classic Retro X-Men Games Hyping The Apocalypse

So far i've thought the X-Men films have been pretty good. I still haven't seen X-Men Apocalypse yet and so far i've heard mixed reviews about it. Days of Future Past and the Rogue Cut were great films so I have high hopes for Apocalypse. To help with the X-Men fever in the air, Cygnus Destroyer has released a retro review of some of lesser known X-Men games.

Also, not many people can pull off pretending kitchen butter knives are Wolverine claws but Ezero does it with such conviction you really have to admire his style! He should take the place of Hugh Jackman whom will retire the claws after the upcoming Old Man Logan standalone Wolverine film. A sad day for sure but Ezero could pull off the sideburns and scowl.

Moonlighter - Dream The Shopkeeping Dream In This RPG Kickstarter

Back this on Kickstarter!

Moonlighter is an upcoming RPG on Kickstarter that focuses on the story from the perspective of a typical NPC.

"Moonlighter is a action RPG game with rogue-lite elements about Will, an adventurous shopkeeper, that secretly dreams of becoming a hero.

To earn the daily bread, he needs to venture into the dungeons near his town, defeat strange enemies and obtain loot to be sold at his shop.

Wisely managing the gold from those sales is the only way he’ll get strong enough to risk into deeper gates and, maybe, open the sealed one.

Moonlighter has endless randomly generated dungeons, a myriad of cool and expensive items, many weapons, dozens of weird enemies, five incredibly tough bosses and gold... tones of gold! "

Moonlighter is seeking 40k in funding and is well on the way with 15k raised in it's first day. No release date is set right now but they are planning on launching the game on PC, PS4, XBox One, Mac and Linux.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/digitalsun/moonlighter

Taking A Second Look At Card Hunter

Card Hunter is a uniquely nerdy game that lit up the online card game scene back in 2011. Launching originally as a browser exclusive, Card Hunter was a popular game with users on Cheerful Ghost when it was in early beta. Since it's launch it has received a ton of new updates and has been ported to Steam with a traditional PC and Mac client. Since Card Hunter is a free game I decided to give it another shot on Steam and if you either haven't yet tried it at all or haven't played it recently, you really should.

Card Hunter reminds me of a digital version of the old adventure board game classic Hero Quest. Hero Quest is an amazing board game I played in High School that is simple enough to understand yet deep enough to make you feel like you are adventuring through a fantasy world. Hero Quest is also one of the best Milton Bradley games i've ever played and it's a crime it was never re-released. People have compared Card Hunter to Hearthstone or Magic The Gathering and I don't find that an accurate comparison. I would say as Hearthstone(digital) is to Magic the Gathering(physical game), Card Hunter is to games like Hero Quest or Dungeons and Dragons Wrath of Ashardalon.

In Card Hunter you make your way through adventures that earn you loot and treasure. Treasure can be sold and loot can be used to upgrade your characters abilities. Like other freemium games, Card Hunter has a fair amount of stuff available for free or you can pay to access more features. The game doesn't seem pay to win and I didn't find anything impossibly difficult to beat with the stuff I could find grinding through dungeons.

At a certain point the difficulty ramps up and you need to spend a fair amount of time considering the best way to beat certain levels. I really enjoy that Card Hunter requires you to learn better strategy than simply upgrading your armor and weapons to complete levels. Don't get me wrong, upgrades are nice but I found that a better strategy was more help than better weapon or armor.

Since it's a browser game you don't need a power house gaming rig to play this on PC, Mac or any ol' web browser. If you are looking for a table-top inspired game that you can pickup and play for free Card Hunter is something you should try.

Build This Double Old God Deck For Double The Fun

Kripp has published a couple of his decks after Whispers of the Old Gods launched and I wanted to share one I really enjoy playing with. I made quite a few changes to this deck to combat aggro and zoo in that I replaced Sap, Thalnos & Xaril with Eviscerate and Beckoner of Evil(I also don't currently own Xaril, or else I'd run her in my deck). I also replaced Loot Hoarder with Undercity Huckster as they trade a bit better with early game at 2/2 and get you the draw you need off your opponent instead of drawing from your deck.

This is a very fun deck to play if you have the cards for it and since it contains two old Golds that raises the win conditions considerably. The downsides to this deck are, at times, few answers to aggro but this deck is very sold against Mid and Control. I did fairly well with this deck in a recent local bracketed ladder and I remember one match where dropping N'Zoth after C'Thun sealed the win as my opponent didn't expect me to be running double Old Gods.

How To Capture Game Footage For Let's Play Videos

Metal Jesus is a retro game YouTuber I follow and he published a video some time ago I felt was really important to anyone looking at creating gameplay videos. He goes over all of the methods he uses to capture gameplay footage on old analog video port consoles, modern HDMI based consoles and PC's.

Didn't We All Want To Play The New Doom In The Old Doom?

Doom modders are bringing back the gameplay, maps and guns from the new Doom to the... original 1993 version. I love these sorts of demakes and in this case it's a demake of a reboot to get back to the roots of the original which is now becoming the reboot.... or something. Regardless these kinds of projects make the amazing aspects of the mod community shine.

http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=52164&sid=67e87677ed8187c5c703bb0b130bbf0e

Game Giveaways Are Now Live!

Travis and I haven't been resting after we launched a new site revamp a couple weeks back and this evening we are launching a cool new top level feature called Giveaways. Giveaways are game contests that we will be running every now and again any registered Cheerful Ghost user can enter or run. If you see a game you want to win, click to join and you will be entered in the contest to be randomly selected to win!

It's also great in that anyone on the site can create a game giveaway for (mostly) and kind of digital game. If you have a few bundle keys or extra copies laying around your Steam inventory you can create a Giveaway contest! Giveaways work in conjunction with another new feature, which is game key gifting. Everyone has had(for a few months now) an option in your drop down menu to manage your game keys. This interface was created for you to add spare Steam, Humble, Origin, Uplay or Itch keys to gift to other Cheerful Ghost users. One nice aspect of key gifting here is that you can see when they opened it and if they haven't opened it in 4 days, you can take it back!

When you create a new Giveaway you can select one or many of the keys on your account for the Giveaway OR optionally select that the game is in your personal Steam inventory. When the Giveaway is over we randomly hand out keys to the winners OR if it's a Steam Inventory Giveaway we tell you the winners and you do the game gifting through Steam.

Cheerful Ghost has run some amazing game contests over the years starting with our Borderlands 2 giveaway through many now classic titles such as Terraria. I am looking forward to running lots of great Giveaways on the site and i'd also love to see yours too.

Travis and I are running two Giveaways right now so head over to the section, check them out and enter! I am running a contest for Sword & Sworcery and Travis is handing out a 3 copies of E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy.

jdodson1

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