jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Coming Back to an Old Friend

When Lord of the Rings Online went free to play a few years ago I created an account and started my adventures through Middle Earth. I didn't know much about the game when I created an account so I picked a Dwarf Guardian. The game impressed me with its size and it ran really well on my underpowered hardware. I told a few of my friends about it and we started playing it together. Lord of the Rings Online was my first proper MMO experience and as such it has a special place in my heart. I picked a crafting tree where I can harvest Lumber, Ore and make armor. Right away I loved collecting wood and ore and refining it into lumber and ingots. I find crafting my own armor to be really awesome as well.

Recently I noticed Lord of the Rings Online was available in Steam so I downloaded it to see how the game had progressed. It sat idle for a long time as my Steam catalog grows at a rate faster than I can reasonably consume it. A day or so ago I headed back into Middle Earth to get my bearings on how the game had advanced in a few years. I noticed they tucked in some new graphics and quests I hadn't seen before. That said, the game is largely the same, just a few years worth of refinements mixed in.

Recently they released a Mac Beta client and I can say it works very well. If you are looking for a fun and accessible MMO you should check out LoTRO. The free to play aspect isn't annoying and I find myself more interested in kicking them a few bucks now than when I originally played. If you are interested in starting a character and want to play together join the Riddermark server.

Game Shop: Crash Bandicoot Walkthrough

New episode of Game Shop. Really starting to enjoy this show. The first few episodes didn't really hook me, but these later ones are.

Humble THQ Bundle

https://www.humblebundle.com/

"Seven legendary titles to rock your gaming library. The Humble THQ Bundle is here with a colossal onslaught of esteemed titles. Pay $1 or more for Steam keys for Company of Heroes (and its two full-blown expansions Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor), Darksiders, Metro 2033, and Red Faction: Armageddon. And if you pay over the average price you’ll also receive the extraordinary Saints Row: The Third!"

Where to begin. First off gratz to the Humble folks, this is a pretty cool next step for them. Its cool seeing the Bundle be able to keep doing Bundle after Bundle. They have tried some awesome stuff, the Android Bundle, The Author/Book Bundle, The Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight and the awesome normal bundles of course. That said I am wondering a few things about the Humble Bundle.

Did the Indie thing change? Not that they must be at all moments but it seems the last few bundles were "mainstream." Not that mainstream is bad, but it is called the Humble Indie Bundle. One other staple of the Bundles was that they were always playable on Windows, Mac and Linux. The THQ Bundle is Windows only as was Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight. Will the Indie Bundles remain cross-platform and not the mainstream ones?

That said, I am happy the Humble Bundle is continuing its trend of allowing people to buy awesome games and donate to charity. Oh and the THQ bundle is doing pretty well, they raised 1 million dollars in 5 hours!

Are you picking up this bundle?

BR Supporter wrote on 11/30/2012 at 04:42am

I picked up this bundle for metro and red faction. I already had everything else but who could pass up such a great deal. Sadly, you do not get giftable copies of the games you already own.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/30/2012 at 04:57am

Ah that makes sense. I think I will pick this up too at some point as I really don't need any new games for the time being.... So... many... games...

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/01/2012 at 12:59am

I just picked it up. Excited to crack open Metro 2033.

BR Supporter wrote on 12/01/2012 at 04:18am

Tried a bit of red faction Armageddon today. It was pretty fun but i haven't got all that far in it. I do hate the fact that there is very limited graphical changes. Made the game not run as well as it should be able to on my PC.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/01/2012 at 06:37am

I have a powerful rig and Metro 2033 is a slideshow with down resed graphics.

BR Supporter wrote on 12/01/2012 at 05:43pm

Mine is pretty crap. I can usually get games to play well if i can turn down the graphics though.

Will_Owens wrote on 12/03/2012 at 02:34pm

I got this mostly for Metro 2033. I hope it runs better than what you all are describing.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/03/2012 at 02:56pm

If you do let me know what you did to make it work well. Eventually I need to upgrade my video card but so far Metro 2033 was the only game that seemed to need it.

BR Supporter wrote on 12/03/2012 at 03:32pm

I was talking about red faction

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/03/2012 at 04:11pm

Right, I should have used the @will. That said, @br what settings are you running red faction with? At some point I am going to install that too.

BR Supporter wrote on 12/03/2012 at 08:45pm

Lowest settings it allows, which isn't much. It doesn't really look any different on any graphical settings. At least to me it doesn't. I got a very slight performance boost from lowering the graphics.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 12/04/2012 at 09:51pm

Picked this one up for Metro 2033 and Red Faction, as well. Ok. That and the SR3 soundtrack, so I'd own a legitimate copy of it.

Haven't seen the graphics issues you're describing in Metro 2033 and my current PC rig is a core i3 with an integrated Intel HD 3000. Of course, I had to set the graphics to low, resolution down to 1280x720 and it stutters a bit, but it's playable.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/05/2012 at 02:23am

Yeah I ran it in 720p, DirectX 9 and it was a pretty bad slide show. Ill check again, maybe I am doing something wrong.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 12/07/2012 at 10:52pm

Do you have a DirectX 10 option? I think that's what finally made it playable for me. I know Saint's Row was unplayable in DX9, but DX10 got me around 20 fps.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/07/2012 at 11:42pm

I was using DX9 and 11. Ill try 10 :D

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/12/2012 at 05:42am

Ok, good call @beanismyname I just tried DX10 and it works SO much better. So smooth, I might be able to upscale the resolution.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/12/2012 at 05:43am

Yep it can totally handle the higher resolution too. Strange DX9 and 11 both didn't work well.

Oh well, thanks for the tip!

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Skrillex Quest is a Fantastic Browser Game

http://www.skrillexquest.com/

Skrillex Quest is a gamevertisement featuring his latest single Summit. The game is styled after Zelda, Binding of Issac and Sword and Sworcery. Oh right and did I mention its totally awesome? I beat it a 15 minute sitting so its not too long. The premise is you are Player 1 and The Glitches are destroying your world. Its not entirely clear what you need to do but as you do stuff, you just kind of advance. One hint, try to collect as many Dead Princess Keys as you can.

The image is of my final score after my first play through. I imagine now that I know what to expect and what to do it would be easier a second time.

Dat Firehose: SimCity, Minecraft & Game Genie.

I have lots of little bits of gaming info that don't make sense in a larger post. Every week I will release them in a General Discussion post called "Dat Firehose." I will keep all the updates to two or less sentences and a link.

SimCity's creative director Ocean Quigley puts in his two cents about the new UI in the upcoming SimCity 2012:

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/11/27/simcity-creative-director-shows-off-more-of-games-interface/

FigurePrints is a company that takes your digital things in Minecraft, World of Warcraft and XBox Live and prints them out for you to own.

http://www.figureprints.com/minecraft/Default.aspx

Castle Into Darkness is a new Indie game that recently released an intro for free download. They are asking people to give it a spin and comment on it.

http://castleinthedarkness.mattkap.net/

Apparently there is a new Game Genie and it works with PS3 and DS.

http://thegamegenie.com/

Doom 3: BFG Edition source released on GitHub, an awesome code sharing site.

https://github.com/id-Software/DOOM-3-BFG

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 04:03am

Whoa... Game Genie. That said, I don't see any mention of it working for PC, just that you can transfer your saves to PC for editing.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2012 at 04:50am

Thats how it works, it edits game saves.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 04:11pm

Right, but it edits PS3 game saves, not PC game saves. It doesn't mention editing PC game saves anywhere on the site.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2012 at 04:45pm

Oh yeah, its for PS3 and DS. Correction made!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/28/2012 at 06:45pm

Isn't making 3D prints of Minecraft called "playing with Legos?" ;)

J/k, that's pretty cool.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 08:48pm

Adym, especially with this.

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-6021886-Minecraft-21102/dp/B007PVHMCG

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 11/28/2012 at 08:57pm

Ha!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2012 at 09:55pm

Hey, if it can be thought of there needs to be a company for it. Hard economic times and all that :D

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Nintendo Zappers "Shopped" in Movies

Nintendo Zappers Photoshopped into movies has been making the rounds on the intar-tubes and I felt it was worth sharing. Something seems awesome about seeing the Terminator holding out the classic orange plastic light gun.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Zappers/5951853

Let's Play: Super Star Wars

For today's Retro Tuesday radness I am sharing with your my latest Let's Play: Super Star Wars. I make it through four levels bulls-eying Wamprats and slaughtering Jawas. No, I didn't play as the Empire I was the farm boy from Tatooine.

I took a swing at this lets play once before but was seriously clobbered in the Sand Crawler level to the point that it wasn't fun to watch. So I played it up a bit and came at it fresh with this much more interesting video. Ultimately my rustiness took hold and stopped the video inside the Sand Crawler.

I put Super Star Wars pretty high on my list for really good Star Wars games next to Tie Fighter, Yoda Stories and... not much else. I have heard the Bioware Knights of the old Republic games were superb but I have yet to take them for a spin.

I want to apologize to everyone because during the video I say I am a pretty big "Star Trek" fan when I meant to say "Star Wars." When someone realized it I immediately subjected myself to a self imposed force choke.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 04:07am

There are a ton of awesome Star Wars games. The Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series is a masterpiece. The Battlefront games are incredible, and yeah the KotOR games are supposed to be awesome. The Force Unleashed games were good mindless fun, but not much in the way of substance.

Overall I think I prefer Star Wars games to the movies themselves.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2012 at 04:47pm

I don't know, I love the films myself I don't think any game I have played is better than the films yet.

I still need to play a battlefront game.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 08:49pm

I loved 4-6, the prequel trilogy is a bit iffy. After playing Dark Forces/Jedi Knight, Kyle Katarn became my favorite Jedi, and I really hope he shows up in the new movies.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2012 at 09:56pm

I agree the originals are the best of the lot by a lightsabers margin. I saw you nabbed the Star Wars pack on Steam that has Dark Forces, I think I have a new goal for the Holiday or Summer sale.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 10:25pm

The reason I got that one, to be quite honest, was that I have almost all of those games in iso and burned CD format. I wanted to go legit.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 10:27pm

I will say that the original Dark Forces and Jedi Knight are probably a little hard to play these days. The graphics haven't aged well. If you jump in with Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, you'll get Quake 3 level graphics (on the Quake 3 engine, actually).

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2012 at 10:55pm

Quake 3 graphics are fine to me. I can even do Ocarina of Time but that actually does age well due to Nintendo's use of solid colors instead of bad textures.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/28/2012 at 11:14pm

Nintendo are the kings of graphics that age well.

I don't suppose Jedi Knight has aged *that* poorly: http://i2.listal.com/image/826134/600full-star-wars-jedi-knight%3A-dark-forces-ii-screenshot.jpg

Dark Forces is a little worse: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Dark_Forces_Gameplay.png

It's weird, first you had Dark Forces, then Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, then Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, at which point they just dropped Dark Forces altogether. That's not as confusing as what Squaresoft did with the Final Fantasy numbering in the US.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/28/2012 at 11:16pm

Yeah. Well, I have been playing the original Doom on PS3 (Doom 3: BFG) and I think the original Doom aged really well. That kind of looks similar to Dark Forces.

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Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight Winners Selected

Four games were selected for the Humble Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight event. Spacebase DF-9, Hack n' Slash, The White Birch, and Autonomous.

The game for the video I featured in this post above is the one I am most interested in, Spacebase DF-9. It seems in a way like Sim Tower in space, something that would be totally awesome. Regardless, all the games look really interesting and I wonder what will come from The White Birch and others.

I hope much rad-sauce comes from this and other companies follow suit. If you have a relationship to your customers why not make them part of your creative cycle?

The White Birch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mGjI80x_eo

Hack n' Slash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3KwSb74nBI

Autonomous:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbnz0J_ex1E

Now on My Christmas List: Hyrule Historia

Mark this down as things I just recently found out about that now alter my Christmas list. Hyrule Historia is an upcoming joint venture by Dark Horse Comics and Nintendo that outline the history of Hyrule and seem to tackle its history. Relevant snip from the Amazon product page:

"Dark Horse Books and Nintendo team up to bring you the limited collector's edition of The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, containing an unparalleled collection of historical information on The Legend of Zelda franchise. This handsome book contains never-before-seen concept art, the full history of Hyrule, the official chronology of the games, and much more! The limited edition of Hyrule Historia looks like it could have been pulled off the shelf of one of the sages in Hyrule. The faux-leather hardcover bears the symbol of the Gate of Time, debossed, on the cover, and gold gilded pages. The limited collector's edition of The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is perfect for the hardcore The Legend of Zelda fan!"

This book will solve many mysteries as its been somewhat of a unknown to how the games fit in with the history of Hyrule. I have read many articles and watched videos but always felt it a bit odd as Nintendo hasn't really officially talked about it much.

You can pre-order the book on Amazon here:
http://goo.gl/bT4ig

Wanted to share with you a Angry Video Game Nerd segment he did on the Zelda timeline. It was originally not something he originally wanted to release, but later did and I am glad because its quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHIP9UtkQDQ

Is this something you might pickup or have you moved on from the Zelda games?

Had Me At Steam Sale

I figured I would hold off on getting any new games this Steam sale. That was until I saw Torchlight II for $9.99 and Dragon Age Origins for $8.99 and... well... I picked them up.

Cool thing about Torchlight 2 is that my character from the demo holds over to the real game. Torchlight 2 is pretty fun and offers a challenge on Normal mode from the start. With a proper Single Player, LAN and Online Multiplayer it sends itself into a different zone than I have become used to with Diablo III. That said, I picked the Bezerker expecting a fairly normal Tank class. I am still pretty low level and already the class is different that I expected. I am only a few levels into the class but already he seems like a Tank/Mage class with some shape shifting elements.

Wanted to pickup Dragon Age Origins for a long time now as I heard it was fantastic. Figured $9 was a good price to give it a spin.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 11/26/2012 at 06:41pm

Torchlight 2 is my all time favorite Diablo-like, bar none. I'm not specifically a fan of the genre, however, so take that with a grain of salt.

I'm sort of alone in really disliking Dragon Age Origins. Modern Bioware has great companions and dialog but garbage play, in my experience.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/26/2012 at 07:41pm

Torchlight 2 is very well done. It gets high marks being well priced and easy to play even compared to Diablo 3.

I have heard good things about DAO. I really loved Neverwinter Nights and its expansions, hoping this is similar. How much of DAO did you play? Was it on PC or console?

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 11/27/2012 at 03:33am

I don't think your alone in disliking it Gary. I too own DAO but, felt like it was lackluster in gameplay. It had interesting characters and story which made me force my way through it. It wasn't really enjoyable through the whole thing. I think a lot of people overlooked the basic combat because of the characters and it being a new IP. New IP's are rare to come by and it's always better if they at least get a second shot. Although with DAO2 they did a terrible job.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/27/2012 at 03:50am

Yeah, I didn't hear awesome things about DA 2. It seems to have gotten the "EA Treatment."

Jacob_Richardson wrote on 11/27/2012 at 08:54am

Well they tried to improve the gameplay. It was as bad as Gary makes it out to be. However they didn't do a good job and they made the story lackluster as well. So it lost the only good thing it did have going for it.

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 11/30/2012 at 04:44pm

I played about 2/3 of Dragon Age Origins and about 2/5s of Neverwinter Nights. I made the mistake with NN of doing the main campaign, which takes so long to ramp up. The first area where you're visiting the different quarters of the city is unending and bland, I thought.

This is coming from being a huge fan of the Baldur's Gate games. The combat there is interesting and tactical, without resorting to MMOery like in DA:O. To each his own, however. It's got a good story, interesting lore and wonderful voice acting.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 11/30/2012 at 06:59pm

I felt most of the NWN campaign to be bland but I completed it all. I think what kept me playing was the gameplay and settings. The expansions were better, Hordes of Underdark being the best.

You planning on picking up the new Baldur's HD Remake?

Gary_Butterfield wrote on 11/30/2012 at 08:06pm

Depends on what is added. I'm in a wait and see holding pattern.

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jdodson1

2746 Posts

Coming Back to an Old Friend

Game Shop: Crash Bandicoot Walkthrough

Humble THQ Bundle

Skrillex Quest is a Fantastic Browser Game

Dat Firehose: SimCity, Minecraft & Game Genie.

Nintendo Zappers "Shopped" in Movies

Let's Play: Super Star Wars

Double Fine Amnesia Fortnight Winners Selected

Now on My Christmas List: Hyrule Historia

Had Me At Steam Sale