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.

2753 Posts

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Last year in June I picked up the Far Cry franchise pack for about $15. I had picked up Far Cry 2 on PS3 from a discount bin a few years earlier and really enjoyed that and decided that picking up the original Far Cry, Far Cry 2, Far Cry 3 + all DLC & Far Cry Blood Dragon for $15 was a good idea. I recently completed Far Cry 3(yeah yeah, I took my time) and wanted to talk a bit about my experience with the game.

Largely I enjoyed the game and if you are looking for a fun open world shooter with tons of stuff to do, you need to pickup Far Cry 3. One nice thing about getting it now on PC is the rock bottom price and the fact that it comes with all the DLC out of the gate. That said, I had a rough start with Far Cry 3 and you can read about that below.

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2130/great-rpg-shooter-cliched-narrative

I stand behind my first experience with the game and note that I think my reaction was somewhat intended by the designers. I didn't realize it at the time but Far Cry 3 is an interesting game that mixes in satire and a meta story that puts a light on gamers and gaming culture that really didn't work on me to start. I thought the game was simply rolling with tired "white man saves the natives" tropes because it would sell to it's primarily white gamer dude audience. Whereas I am sure the game did well with white guys because the main character was a white guy if you pay attention to what is happening Far Cry 3 writes a compelling story about a protagonist that actually changes over the course of the game. Often we play shooters that have us do things that have absolutely no lasting world or character impact. Far Cry 3 differs in that your actions change how the characters you are trying to save feel about you. You actions also change the world you inhabit in very interesting ways.

The core gameplay is fun when you are not thinking too much about what you are being led to do. I sort of look at Far Cry 3 as Skyrim with guns but that's not a perfect analogy. You need to explore new areas to reach your objectives and to do that you need to unlock cell towers and bases. This can get tedious but since the game took me a year to complete, I didn't feel that as much as someone that may have played it straight through. The gun unlock and upgrade system is fun and I enjoyed sinking skill points into my character and see him progress.

Overall I had fun playing Far Cry 3 but when the ending credits rolled I didn't feel like I had accomplished much. By the end of the game your friends and family seem to be fearful of you and what I accomplished I didn't really enjoy doing. I kind of wish there was the "leave the Island and call the authorities" button but if you did that, many of your friends and family would have died. That said, Far Cry 3 has you reflect on your actions so does it make sense morally to kill thousands of people to save 5 or 6? If this were real life then i'd say hell no but then again, it's just a video game so it doesn't matter. Far Cry 3 is a solid shooter Island romp that might leave you a bit uneasy with what you are led to do but it has more life than the protagonists soul by the end of the game.


Some new Fallout 4 gameplay surfaced and it looks great. Is anyone else going to pick this up in November when it launches? The footage is a mixture of scenes we already saw at E3 and some new stuff featuring power armor. Spoiler alert, you get into power armor as if it were some kind of mech robo-suit.

Todd Howard has been talking to press lately and I found this Telegraph article interesting on the games voice acting.

"A lot of games have voiced characters, but what they don’t want to give up is all the dialogue options. So for us a lot of it was logistical. The voice actors have been recording for 2 years, they’ve each done over 13,000 lines of dialogue. So to be able to do that makes the difference; you still have choice."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/11723096/Fallout-4-interview-Bethesdas-Todd-Howard-on-building-the-apocalypse.html

Are you looking forward to skipping* all this dialog too? Let me know in the comments.

* I kid, I kid.


Following in the vapor trails of our early 2015 release Starship Rubicon is now on Steam! It’s pretty exciting to be part of a game that is now available for people to play on Steam. Tick one off that bucket list!

This update is pretty massive in that it features an all new gravity gun, ship and level editor, mod tools and freshly baked Linux port. So you know, this seems like a great time to buy the game and everything so… why don’t you head over to Steam and get it?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/372030

If you bought Starship Rubicon through Cheerful Ghost/the Humble Widget, Itch.io or Desura we have already dropped a key on that site and it should be available very soon, because why buy it twice?

Recently you may have heard about some trouble on the PC game service Desura. Because of this we are recommending people not purchase the game on Desura. We have removed links to it from www.starshiprubicon.com and recommend people buy it from Steam or site direct via the Humble widget or Itch.io. We recommend people that bought the game on Desura to head over there and grab the Steam key and download the game files. We are both sad to see this happen to Desura as we love to support all the PC indie stores we possibly can!


Valve's SteamOS and Steam Machine Train is heading out of the station this November alongside their Steam Controller and lots of PC manufacturers are jumping on board. Corsair, makers of memory and other hardware has a new living room PC chassis called Bulldog that might be something worth checking out. It's a DIY kit that comes with a case, 600 watt power supply, hydro series liquid cooler & next gen motherboard featuring an Intel chipset starting at $399. This is aimed at people that want Steam in the living room but want the ability to upgrade the system over time. You'd need to add the RAM, hard drive and video card but after that you'd have a pretty slick setup.

I've approached a living room PC from the lower cost option but this seems to allow for a more powerful setup and run as much as the base cost+extra components. This is something i'll keep in mind as November gets closer.

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2015/june/what-is-bulldog-a-preview-guide-and-faq


Star Wars VII is coming this December and it may be one of the most anticipated films in recent memory. Many fans are wondering if JJ Abrams magic will infuse the films with life again. I remain fairly hopeful as I try and consume every bit of non-spoiler information I can get my hands on. JJ and crew were at San Diego Comic-Con a few days ago talking about the new film and there were more than a few surprises to learn. Watch the entire presentation above and then check out the Force Awakens behind the scenes clip they release right afterward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTNJ51ghzdY

It was amazing seeing the new principle cast along with the dark side additions. When Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford came out things got nuts. When JJ took everyone to a special Star Wars concert afterward they sealed it for one of the coolest Comic-Con panels ever. December can't come soon enough. Anyone planning on seeing it during a special midnight showing?


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Starship Rubicon is coming to Steam very soon, *cough* tomorrow *cough* and I wanted to let everyone know that we are happy with how the Linux port turned out. That said there are a zillion Linux variants out there and we wanted to drop some tips for people on how to get things running as smooth as possible.

SOUND

Linux has some problems with sound effects not playing and/or being at wonky volumes. Go figure. It uses OpenAL by default (I have not been able to get FreeAudio to work) but apparently needs the 32-bit drivers. On 64-bit Ubuntu, you should be able to get them with:

sudo apt-get install libopenal1:i386 libopenal-dev:i386

Other linux distros need to modify that command accordingly (https://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/diag/missinglibopenal has a good reference sheet). You may need to reboot following the install.)

We will keep this page updated with any Linux fixes that any people need to employ to keep the game running in the wild sea of distros.


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Blizzard sent a package to a few popular video game websites (not us, booo) teasing a new Hearthstone expansion coming July 22nd called "Agent Tournament." In the image linked above from Polygon the scroll reads:

"Well met, hero!

Champions are gathering from around the world to witness the next exciting thing Hearthstone has in store. News travels far and wide in search of brave new faces ready to answer the call to arms — are you one of them?

Muster for battle and mark July 22 on your calendar. The next bit of news won't come by carrier pigeon — thankfully, we have much better ways of communication now.

Victory awaits!
"

So what are you most excited for? A full new adventure or a new set of cards? Both? I started playing Hearthstone regularly after it dropped on Mobile so I have a ton of cards yet to get and I haven't even started opening Goblins and Gnomes packs yet. I unlocked all of Naxx and got the first tier of Blackrock so I don't "need" the new content but I bet other players are absolutely itching for more things to do.

What are you looking forward to coming out July 22nd?

http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/7/8909349/hearthstone-expansion-tease-hints-blizzard-pc-ios


Blizzard has been creating a slew of Hearthstone ads and the latest two featuring Annoy-o-Tron I particularly liked. Annoy-o-Tron, in my opinion, is one of the most effective ways to lock down the early game as it costs two to bring out and has divine shield plus taunt. When it comes out and I hear the familiar "HELLO, HELLO" I cringe.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/cards/12181-annoy-o-tron

This ad is particularly cringe worthy too, but that's the point entirely. When you start Hearthstone you get 100 dust and can craft, right away, two Annoy-o-Trons. I decided to craft the Ironbeak Owl instead which I use in damn near each of my decks and for two it can break near anything cool with Silence.

http://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Ironbeak_Owl

What do you think, what would you craft and what are your strategies to taking down the Annoy-a-Tron early game? An Ironbeak Owl seems to work well for me.

Here is the other ad for the curious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mGgwg9-zDU


Broforce is everyones favorite freedom acquisition simulator featuring mook murder and now with a whole new set of updates that would make Jean Claude Van Damme quit his Timecop job. This new update features the Brocketeer, Broheart, new Melee attacks & FLEXING!

So if you were looking for something patriotic to do on the 4th, why not flex on over to Broforce? 5 out 5 world despots don't want you to do it, so that's always a good reason to check it out.


Telltale Games is dipping into the Minecraft franchise to launch Story Mode. The trailer features the voice talent of Patton Oswalt, Cory Feldman & Billy West. I should start out by saying I thought Minecraft was neat, but I am not a very big fan. That said, this trailer failed to excite me but I wondered if it worked for Minecraft fans. Maybe Story Mode is what the Minecraft fans crave?

Let me know in the comments.