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

http://theinstructionlimit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1080p_pixel_perfect.png
FEZ was one of the games that some consider to have started the new Indie gaming explosion. Originally launching on the XBox, it was later ported to PC and some time later Mac and Linux as part of the Humble Indie Bundle. In my opinion FEZ is an incredible game and one of my more moving experiences. FEZ designer Phil Fish dropped some news that FEZ 2 was being developed to only later scrap it and sort of disband his company in a sad snowball of events. It was a sad time to be a fan of FEZ as it seemed the future and present of the game wasn't very clear. But as it turns out FEZ is getting a fresh update from it's original developer Renaud Bédard.

"Since I shipped FEZ 1.11 I had little intention of making additional fixes or features to the game because I simply don’t have the time with a kid and a fulltime job… and working on FEZ is getting old after 9 years. So I did want to address problems that people have with the game, but I don’t want to do it for the rest of my life. I had spent enough time away from the game that I was somewhat enthusiastic about coming back to it, especially if it’s at my pace, and that it’s my last time doing so.

So I didn’t announce anything, I didn’t announce a date, and I slowly chipped away at making this humongous update to FEZ. It’s been in beta-testing with an army of fans, speedrunners and friends since late January 2016 and over 120 bugs have been reported and fixed.
"

You can read Renaud's full post below for a ton more details than I can cover here as well as the full changelog. FEZ 1.2 is out now on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux and is being well received by fans. As with any new development some new bugs are being found and it seems Renaud is looking in to fixing some of them. FEZ is a special game and it makes me happy for it to get fixes for some of these issues that should give it a much longer lifespan. I consider FEZ one of those games that really should always be accessable so I hope Renaud can come back from time to time and make sure it's playable on modern systems. It's really cool that Renaud was able to find time for this and I want to thank him and Ethan Lee for making this happen in their free time.

http://theinstructionlimit.com/fez-1-12
http://theinstructionlimit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Changelog.txt


http://blogs-images.forbes.com/insertcoin/files/2015/04/diablo-3.jpg
Diablo III launched in 2012 to some very mixed reviews. I enjoyed the initial game and story but like many dropped off after beating the main campaign a handful of times. In 2014 the Reaper of Souls expansion and the Loot 2.0 patch released that cut the Auction House and brought in a new era for the game many considered it's saving grace. I thought the Reaper of Souls expansion, new campaign and Crusader class was really great and I quickly looked forward to the next expansion.

According to fairly substantive rumors Blizzard did have a follow up to Reaper of Souls in development called "The King in the North." This expansion was scrapped and some of the content was wrapped up in free game updates in the form of the new Adventure only zones Ruins of Sescheron and Greyhollow Island. I am happy that content was released but I am still wondering what more Blizzard has planned for Diablo III? Will we get another proper expansion or maybe they will make a break for Diablo IV?

I'm not sure we will get a new expansion or full new game but Blizzard has dropped some hints on their official Twitter feed that may point to some big Diablo news to come from this years Blizzcon. When a Twitter user pined for some new Diablo news out of Blizzcon this was the response:

"@Coleslaw1989L: @Diablo I really hope this year Diablo gets a huge announcement at Blizzcon.... :("

"@Diablo @Coleslaw1989 BlizzCon will be really cool this year :-)"

That's a far cry from official news but it may hint at something new for Diablo. Personally i'd like another proper D3 expansion to wrap up the Leia's story that was undone in Diablo III. That said, Blizzard may be working on a new Diablo game as well so we will just have to see.

What would you want a new Diablo III expansion or a full blown new Diablo game? I know some of my friends are kind of done with Diablo entirely after the disappointment of Diablo III so hopefully Blizzard can bring back some goodwill to the franchise.

http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/Diablo_III:_The_King_in_the_North
http://www.diabloii.net/blog/comments/something-cool-diablo-blizzcon-2016


The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable is back after a short 4 month break! The reason for the show taking a hiatus was that I was busy being a new Dad! Scrypt, Travis and I blast our way through what we've been playing and what we've been watching such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Orange is the New Black, Hearthstone & a ton more. During our main show topics we talk about some great upcoming new Nintendo stuff such as the NES Classic, NX and Zelda Breath of the Wild. Coming off a rocky couple years Nintendo looks like they are going to have some really compelling stuff that we are all interested in playing. We cap off the Roundtable discussing the brand new Hello Games mega hit No Man's Sky. Travis and Scrypt talk about the game and how much they are enjoying it and we also chat about some of the games controversy and future features we'd like to see added.

As always, drop your thoughts on the show in the comments!


This week Blizzard released The Opera wing for the latest Hearthstone expansion One Night In Karazhan. One interesting card I've been waiting to play was also released this week called Moat Lurker. Moat Lurker is a very unique card in that its Battlecry is that it destroys a minion and it's deathrattle is that it re-summons it. On first blush this might seem like a very silly mechanic because why would you want to destroy a minion if it would just come back later? As it turns out this enables some very interesting game-play as you can use this to remove an enemy minion and then silence Moat Lurker OR you can destroy your own minion such as Sylvanas Windrunner to double her stealing effect. Toast also found out that you can copy the Deathrattle using Unearthed Raptor. So in some cases you can destroy one of your big minions near death with Moat Lurker and then copy it with Unearthed Raptor to get two copies. It's a pretty unlikely case, but it's possible which is one of the reasons why Moat Lurker is so powerful. I sort of look at Moat Lurker like a neutral version of priests Entomb but a bit less cool as Etomb puts the card in your deck and Moat Lurker re-summons it for your opponent.

Today I played a match that went into fatigue against a very fun control Shaman deck that featured Moat Lurker. In the end I had over 60+ shields and that combined with brawl and Elise Starseeker meant that I eventually won in fatigue. I really enjoy long running control V control matches as beyond them going super long I enjoy the patience and strategy of when to play certain cards and when to do a Warrior armor up "power pass."

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42063-moat-lurker


If you somehow missed BioShock, BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite they are all coming out soon in one remastered collection featuring some really impressive looking graphical updates you can see featured in the video embedded above. The trailer focuses more on the graphical updates to the original BioShock as I imagine there are few changes they made, if any, to BioShock Infinite.

As 2K mentioned before if you own any of the aforementioned games you will be able to upgrade on Steam for free on September 13th.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/8850/announcements/detail/606114300066920422


Still finishing up watching a handful of SGDQ 2016 run and I wanted to share this extremely interesting Donkey Kong Country run. Eazinn shows off some really crazy ability as he continuously uses extended barrel rolls to make jumps I didn't know were possible. I also didn't know from playing it originally but there are quite a few level warps in Donkey Kong Country that allow you to skip entire level sections.


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From Ubisoft Club on Twitter:

"Continue the #Ubi30 celebrations with Rayman Origins, available for free from August 17th on digital PC!"

https://twitter.com/UbisoftClub/status/763374386623737856

Ubisoft has already released Prince of Persia Sands of Time & the original Spinter Cell in celebration of their 30th anniversary. Seems fitting that one of the 7 games they release would be one of their more iconic franchises Rayman. Make sure to head over to the link below to secure your PC copy on UPlay on August 17th!

They have 4 more games to go and my money is on a FarCry game as well as an Assassins Creed game. What games do you think they will hand out later this year?

https://club.ubi.com/#!/en-US/ubi30


jdodson gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale
This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.
jdodson gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale
This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.
It's pretty obvious I am big fan of Blizzard games. I grew up playing Warcraft and StarCraft and I am currently nearly obsessed with Hearthstone. So when Blizzard adds new campaigns to StarCraft, one of my most favorite games, it's an instabuy. Before Legacy of the Void launched Blizzard let us know we were getting some new missions in the form of DLC. I was of mixed emotion as Legacy of the Void hadn't dropped yet and they were already talking DLC, something i'd wait to discuss after the formal expansion had dropped. That said I've really enjoyed Nova Covert Ops and recently completed playing the second set of missions.

How Is Nova Covert Ops Pack 2?

After completing the second 3 missions I can say that Blizzard is quickly building up the fun and story of Covert Ops to something really great. I don't want to give anything away but the ending of the latest 3 missions leaves you on a cliffhanger I can't wait to see resolved. I was wondering if they would keep the same high quality story telling that we've come to expect from StarCraft and minus a couple of odd moments, I found it to be pretty engaging. I enjoyed the cinematography and the in game engine cut scenes between each mission look incredible on my new nvidia graphics card.

Needless to say if you love StarCraft getting Nova Covert Ops is a must.

What is the Long Term Future of StarCraft II?

I might break this topic out into a larger post because I have the same question for other Blizzard games like Diablo III but.. where is the long term roadmap for StarCraft II? Originally they wanted to tell an epic story that spanned the Terran, Zerg and Protoss and it was wrapped up neatly in Legacy of the Void. They left some stuff on the table for future games and we are working some of that out now with Nova CovertOps but I'm not all sure when the StarCraft II train will come to an end? Don't get me wrong, I want more content and if they decided to do a bunch more DLC missions or another full expansion I'd totally get it. I'm just not sure what to expect or if StarCraft III is around the corner?

I also have the same question for Diablo III and I've heard rumors they scrapped a full expansion and released it piecemeal as patch updates as we've seen with certain zones such as Greyhallow Island and the Ruins of Sescheron. Again I might break this topic out into it's own post but it's just something I've been thinking about.

I Just Realized Nova's Suit Design Is Ridiculous

I really like Nova's character and personality, I just find her suit design to be kind of laughable. Here is an image to look at for reference.

http://s.pro-gmedia.com/videogamer/media/images/pub/large/nova_covert_ops.jpg

When I see her all I can think is "hubcab boobs." Now I'm not offended by this or that and her suit isn't rage inducing I just find it ridiculous. Like that's a suit that grants Nova invisibility right? So what d actually do? It's like someone asked the question "what if we put the bra on the outside, would that make invisibility work better?" If it's some kind of armor then it's really out of place at it leaves her mid section entirely unprotected. Again, i'm not saying we should censor anything or that I want to destroy games or whatever, I just think the outside space bra is odd.


The Purify Effect

Blizzard released the latest adventure for Hearthstone this week on the heels of a pretty large community mishap. There are nine playable classes in Hearthstone and the Priest class has been suffering for quite some time in terms of it being competitive. There are no high ranking Priest decks being played and the general community feeling is the class is very underpowered compared to the others. As blizzard was releasing the information on the new adventure cards the community reacted very strongly to a new Priest card many felt was the worst card in Hearthstone, Purify. I'll link to the card below with a video Kripparian made that discusses the card.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/42061-purify
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cucw9HNp4KA

After Blizzard saw the absolutely intense community backlash they apologized and removed the card from Arena play. Ben Brode, lead Hearthstone designer promised Priest would get more attention in upcoming expansions and now that the Adventure has finally released the community backlash seems to have died down. The Purify card is still being released in the adventure and will show up in constructed play, but Blizzard has removed it from showing up in Arena.

I think it's important to note the community run up to the Adventure launch because I don't I've seen the community rally around something quite like this. It's also nice to see Blizzard let us know Priest is getting some attention. As with previous adventures Blizzard is releasing One Night in Karazhan one tier at a time and this week we all got to play the latest wing this week.

The Prologue Price Is Right

One Night in Karazhan differs from other Adventures in that Blizzard is making the prologue available to everyone for free. The prologue mission is an introduction mission that introduces the story and characters. It's a fun mission where you play as young Medivh preparing for a party as he is visited by a demon prince that wants to attend. Medivh comes with his own deck, which is an overpowered Mage masterpiece that is well balanced to the overpowered Demon deck you are playing against. If you can combo out the right cards you can destroy your opponent with some insane damage combos making for a really epic battle.

The Parlor Kicks Off The Adventure

The Parlor is a fun first wing to Karazhan but by the time I completed it I wanted more. The first wing cards you unlock have already changed the Hearthstone meta game but I expect many more changes to come with the rest of the cards unlocked. The Legendary you get for completing the first wing is Moroes which is a 1/1 for 3 that has permanent stealth and at the end of your turn summons a 1/1 steward. It's a fun effect that can combo well with Paladin and I am trying to work it into some of my existing decks.

More Nights in Karazhan Plz Blizz

So far I really like the adventure and hopefully the rest turns out to just as good story and gameplay wise as the first tier. Blizzard is saving some of the better cards for later so when those tiers drop it will be interesting to see the new decks that use them.


Many of you may not know about a new "living board" card game on Steam called Faeria. Faeria enters a market dominated by Hearthstone and Magic and seems to effortlessly drop itself in the middle to make a very rich and unique experience. Faeria improves on the formula that Magic The Gathering started and Hearthstone enhanced digitally while weaving in a unique game board. In Faeria you start out with mana and a handful of cards and can make choices to play land, gain mana or draw a card. You start the game with a deck of 30 cards and 20 life and the goal is to defeat the opponent by reducing their life to 0. You need to summon minions, use spells and other tricks to gain board control and defeating your opponent requires you to use strategic land and minion placement.

Faeria Is For Players Frustrated With The Hearthstone Grind

Faeria improves on Hearthstone's free to play grind by doing two things. Firstly it's easier to grind your daily quests for gold. Many of the quests are play to win, which means regardless of if you win or lose you can get usually get your daily gold. Also, you can skip the grind entirely and pay $50 to unlock the entire card set. So either play the game for free to win gold to open packs OR simply pay $50 to unlock all the current set of all cards. I really like this model as I don't honestly mind grinding to open packs and so far, haven't found that to be a bad way to go. Sure lots of people have better decks but I am winning a bit less than half the time and sometimes I have the enemy down to a couple health before they eek out a win. I'm OK with these odds as I've only played about 5 hours and I still haven't unlocked all the basic cards in story mode yet. I imagine i'll get better over time as I unlock more so the free to play grind seems to work for me.

Faeria Ditches RNG In Favor of Mostly Pure Strategy

With any card game you have the random element of drawing the right cards at first but if you play Hearthstone you know it's much more random than getting the right cards. Faeria drops all the random elements from individual card mechanics and features a very strategic experience. The game seems more like a refined game of chess than the often frantic and hilariously frenzied Hearthstone matches I've played. I really like both styles of games but if you want to play a game that's more strategic Faeria is for you.

How Do I Play Faeria?

Currently you have to buy into Faeria early access for $25 but if you wait till August 24th the game will go free to play for everyone. Currently Faeria is on Windows and Mac but the developers have plans to bring the game to Linux, XBOne, iOS, PS4 and Android.

If you are looking for a new digital card game and find the typical grind to be no fun at all Faeria might be something you should try .

https://www.faeria.com/