jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2759 Posts

So yeah, I have a huge weakness for Star Wars and as such want to own them all. If Disney relaunched the unedited original trilogy i'd buy them yet again so it's not a huge leap to get The Force Awakens on BluRay when it ships in April. Today Disney dropped information about that launch and The Force Awakens will be released first on digital April 1st and on BluRay on April 5th. For the digital platforms that support special features and barring a Target BluRay exclusive the digital and BluRay version seem to come with the same amount of special features. If you are interested in all the information on the release check the Disney link below.

http://www.starwars.com/news/its-true-all-of-it-star-wars-the-force-awakens-is-coming-home

Are you going to pick up the Force Awakens and if so how? Curious what you all plan to do. For me come April 5th i'll be grabbing the BluRay at Target for the extra 20 minutes of behind the scenes goodness.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcoqfRVW8AArVnY.jpg:large
One thing I have been wondering lately is when will the Doom beta come? If you're like me you pre-ordered Wolfenstein The New Order and noticed they promised access to the Doom beta. iD Software had a very limited multiplayer alpha and so far and scant news on an upcoming beta. This latest chapter in the new Doom franchise ships on May 13th so if they plan on letting us in to the beta soon would be good. At least I hope it comes soon because killing demons is a thing we all should do sooner.

As always when the beta news drops i'll post it here. Until then, check out the poll voting for the alternate game reversible cover art. The Twitter poll is below and I am personally rooting for the red styled mural B option which is in the lead. It's incredible and I embedded it above.

https://twitter.com/DOOM/status/705424052358418432

The red styled cover mural:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcoqfRVW8AArVnY.jpg:orig

Now for something much darker:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcoqIAVW0AAediE.jpg:orig


Many of us on Cheerful Ghost picked up the first Star Wars Bundle and it's less than a year later and the Star Wars Bundle II is out. Featuring Star Wars hits such as Star Wars Rebellion, X-Wing Alliance, X-Wing VS Tie Fighter, Galactic Battlegrounds Saga, X-Wing Special Edition, Tie Fighter Special Edition, Knights of the Old Republic & Knights of the Old Republic II. If you pay over $9.99 you will also unlock Empire at War Gold as well as the Lego Star Wars Complete Saga.

If you missed the first bundle and wanted access to some great Star Wars games or wanted to add Tie Fighter and X-Wing to you collection, now is the time.

https://www.humblebundle.com/star-wars


I'll be honest, my cultural understanding of Pokemon is pretty bleak. Back in the 90's I bought Pokemon Blue but returned it for religious reasons. As luck and time would have it, I dropped the religious part but have always wanted to head back and try everyone favorite Monster training simulator. Recently I picked up Pokemon Blue at a local retro game store and have really been enjoying my time with it.

When I played Pokemon Blue back in the 90's my first choice of Pokemon was Bulbasaur so I felt this time shouldn't be much different. I always liked Bulbasaur and after doing some research found this to be a very good starting pick. As the early game progressed I picked up Pidgey & Ratta but ditched Ratta later for Jigglypuff, Spearow, Nidorian Female and Geodude. I keep one slot open for catching a Pokemon I find interesting but I have no goal to collect them all. My current Pokemon roster and level is Fearow(21), Jigglypuff(20), Nidorina(20), Geodude(20) & Ivysaur(20). This is a really solid line up and currently haven't had too many issues taking down Pokemon trainers or Gym bosses. In the case of running up to a difficult Gym boss or trainer, grinding out some levels seems to solve the problem fairly quickly.

If you have an early Pokemon you recommend I get and it's available in Blue, let me know!

One aspect of pain in this particular version of Pokemon is the grind. You need to fight a lot and it can get very tedious. Whereas I own the original Pokemon Blue Gameboy kart I am emulating it. Recently a friend recommended I speed the game up to make grinding much easier and this has been a life saver. Since each Pokemon battle is relatively simple, speeding it up means you can blast through a couple levels in a minute or two.

According to the linked video above there is a ton of Pokemon games yet to try out and I plan on continuing with the franchise as long as it's fun. Some people have said the second generation of Pokemon is the best and that's what I plan on playing next. The color and gameplay enhancements of the second generation seem solid and I am really eager to try them out when I am done playing Pokemon Blue.

Pokemon Red and Blue were recently rereleased digitally on the 3DS and are still readily available on Gameboy at most retro game stores. If you are looking to start the Pokemon franchise or relive some memories what better time to than Pokemon 20?


Everyone has a handful of games that they love more than others. For me, one of those games is The Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening. It's an interesting game that builds on it's Super Nintendo predecessor Link to the Past and in many ways improves on it. The story is tighter, the gameplay is often tighter and the music and graphics are great. Link to the Past might have a better control scheme due to the extra buttons of the SNES controller but Link's Awakening has a more immersive story and tighter gameplay.

From the start of the game you are tasked with finding all the instruments of the Sirens to wake the slumbering Wind Fish. I am not going to spoil anything but the ending is a bittersweet wrap up that you don't experience much in gaming. Another odd aspect to Link's Awakening is that the game only references Zelda, she isn't in the game at all. It's a nice change of pace from the "Save the princess" motif that seems to be present in most Zelda titles as this game could ditch the Zelda title entirely.

Link's Awakening also features something that is a now staple of modern Zelda titles in that you start with one item and trade it forward until you find something very important for later in the game as seen later in Ocarina of time and others.

Link's Awakening is still a solid game and it may very well be my nostalgia blinders talking but I believe i'll keep coming back and playing this game every couple years as I have done. If you are looking for a short Zelda game with enough gameplay to keep you playing dust off an old Gameboy kart and give this one a try.

I created a new Let's Play video embedded above playing through the first dungeon from the start of the game. At some point I plan on replaying the entire game as a series of Let's Play videos but until then, the first dungeon will have to hold us all over.


Stardew Valley is out today on Steam and GOG on PC to superb reviews.

"AmnesiacJack - Have you played Harvest Moon but wish it was done better? Tired of not owning a console for Rune Factory? Well now the PC has it's own farming darlin and honestly it feels like we got the best deal out of the three series. You'll be doing your self a big diservice if you purchase another farming game instead of this one."

"christopher.blue - Very fun Farming/Country Life Sim. Hunt slimes, raise crops or just have a thousand free range goats..."

"Vega - This game exceeded my expectations. I've been waiting to play this game for so long, but I had recently re-found it while browsing the internet trying to find games similar to the Harvest Moon franchise."

This was one of my most anticipated games and out now! I plan on picking this up soon and letting you all know what I think. Drop your thoughts in the comments on when you are going to play it and what you think.

Chucklefish has also released a Wiki that covers quite a bit about the game itself, so peep it out if you are interested.

http://stardewvalleywiki.com/Stardew_Valley_Wiki

http://store.steampowered.com/app/413150/
https://www.gog.com/game/stardew_valley


The latest Episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable is out and newer than ever! We start things off talking about what we've been playing and watching like Rocket League, Hearthstone, Pokemon and Sherlock. We then move right in to talking about the new Fallout 4 DLC and Star Wars. This episode is a bit shorter to keep things interesting and we are including more TV and movie discussion. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Also, our next episode will be all about Fallout 4 so drop any questions or comments you have about the game here as scrypt will read them in the next episode for us to discuss.

Show Notes:

http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/2806/fallout-4-s-first-three-add-ons-announced

http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/2807/helpful-and-interesting-info-for-your-fallout-4-playthrough

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2790/link-learning-manbos-mambo


This new comparison video shows off just how well the new Twilight Princess HD will look on the Wii U. Nintendo isn't just bringing the game to the Wii U in HD but also adding some new features as well.

Twilight Princess HD drops March 4th on the Wii U and if you want to know of some more features coming to the game checkout the Cheerful Ghost article.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2774/the-legend-of-zelda-hd-on-wii-u-launches-march-4th-with-amiibo-support



https://bethesda.net/data/images/event/78/DOOM_Cacodemon_Plus_730x411.jpg
Twitter user Unreal389 asked the official Doom twitter handle about how much time the new Doom single player mission would take to complete. Since I can't stop cramming my brain with new Doom news, the tweet is below.

"@Unreal389 The difficulty level plays a factor, but folks playing at the office average 13+ hours in the campaign"

https://twitter.com/DOOM/status/697883390821982208

13+ hours seems like a reasonable amount of time for the single player campaign. I plan on spending as much or more time building levels in Snapmap and i'll also give multiplayer a try.

Bethesda has been keeping the new Doom hype train going and recently dropped more information about the single player campaign.

"This is where the show really begins. Martin seems to be everywhere at once. He mantles to an upper deck and hits one demon with some plasma fire. He drops to a lower level and uses his modded Rocket Launcher to detonate some heavy ordnance behind a heaving Hell Knight. Out comes the Chaingun for some rapid peppering of multiple enemies. He staggers one demon, then another, then rushes forward to Glory Kill the first and immediately dispatches the second with an explosive burst from his modded Combat Shotgun. And, as he earlier promised to show us, he’s flick-switching – id’s in-house term for the instinctual and nearly instantaneous swapping of weapons that players can pull off once they learn their way around the weapon wheel. A quick tap, a quick flick… and the weapon wheel never even appears. “It makes you feel super slick when you’re doing it,” Martin smiles. “You’re just flick-switching between weapons and you’re like…” Martin pauses to make some rapid-fire pew-pew-pew sound effects. We get the point.

But Martin isn’t just showboating for us. He’s also demonstrating something we haven’t yet seen in action: the player progression system. While id wasn’t ready to reveal the mechanics behind this system, they wanted to give us a taste of how players can customize their abilities to fit their play style.
"

https://bethesda.net/#en/events/game/inside-dooms-brutally-fast-single-player-campaign/2016/02/17/78

New Doom will drop May 13th on PC, XBox One and Playstation 4. Let me know in the comments which platform you plan on playing it on.