jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

It's Gets Dark In Tristram... Again!

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Last year the developers of Diablo celebrated it's big anniversary by adding a mode to the game where you could play it with pixelated graphics and take on a dungeon that felt eerily like the original game. Seems like Blizzard is bringing the even back starting now and ending on January 31st.

"Your journey begins on the trail of a group of mysterious cultists causing trouble in Sanctuary. As you hunt them down in Adventure Mode, you’ll uncover clues leading to a portal into Tristram’s past, and the terrifying darkness that took hold of the town so many years ago. . . .

Follow the clues and you’ll soon find yourself in a realm of glorious RetroVision™, where an all-too-familiar cathedral looms. Explore the depths and you’ll discover familiar enemies and iconic items, all brought to life in the Diablo III engine. Meanwhile, deep beneath the catacombs, the Dark Lord himself awaits any intrepid adventurer who dares to challenge him. . . .

What is a Diablo game without shiny new loot to call your own? Completing activities in the anniversary event yields unique transmogrification effects, achievements, portraits, pets, and more.

While some rewards are easy to find, others may have you scouring every nook or unlocking every achievement before you can get your hands on them. Can you earn them all? There’s only one way to find out!"

I missed this last year so I think I'm going to take a quick peek and see how it the event plays!

https://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/21361560

Digital Foundry Looks At The Best Video Cards & CPU's in 2017

I found the Digital Foundry YouTube channel this year and have been sharing many of their videos since. They did some end of year wrap up videos and two I wanted to highlight were the best CPU's of the year linked above and the PC Graphics Review below. The CPU video is pretty interesting as AMD and Intel have been locked in bitter competition making for a very wide and interesting selection but the GPU story isn't as compelling with the Nvidia 1080 leading the pack. It's a great card it's just that it's expensive and there aren't many great alternatives. Hopefully AMD or Intel can release something to give Nvidia a run for their chips but outside of that 2018 might be Nvidia's year again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrO7s2IrWSY&list=WL&index=31

Travis Admin wrote on 01/03/2018 at 04:24pm

As for that AMD and Intel bitter competition...
https://www.neowin.net/news/security-flaw-patch-for-intel-cpus-could-result-in-a-huge-performance-hit

For most desktop users it will be negligible but this may drive some change in the market

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/03/2018 at 11:55pm

I know when I read that I was really surprised. I wonder if this performance workload hit will effect gaming as much as it seems?

Travis Admin wrote on 01/04/2018 at 03:24am

It kinda depends on the game apparently. Depending on who you listen to, anyway. CPU intensive games that do a lot of asset swapping would be hit the hardest.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/04/2018 at 03:28am

Yikes. That's a lot of shooters if I understand how texture loading works. I'll talk to one of my game dev friends because I'm interested how much this might impact things.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/04/2018 at 03:32am

Here's something: http://www.pcgamer.com/serious-intel-cpu-design-flaw-may-require-a-windows-patch-but-probably-wont-affect-gaming-performance/

Travis Admin wrote on 01/04/2018 at 04:46am

Microsoft got the patch out for Windows 10 already, and here's some anecdotal evidence: GTAV with everything cranked, driving super fast in the rain and doing crazy stuff still stays at a steady 60fps and that one is pretty CPU intensive.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/04/2018 at 04:57am

Was the 60fps on your system? If so that's good news if that's what you got before the patch!

Travis Admin wrote on 01/04/2018 at 05:10am

And further anecdotal evidence, Wolf 2 is the same as ever.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/04/2018 at 05:11am

And yeah sorry I had this page open already and missed your question. Yes, it was my system. It's v-sync so I can't tell if there's a frame loss past that.

Travis Admin wrote on 01/04/2018 at 05:23am

No Man's Sky, which I know is CPU intensive, doesn't seem to suffer either.

This is all on a Skylake i5, and from what I've read Skylake and newer will probably see fewer issues.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/04/2018 at 05:26am

That’s awesome to hear.

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Got A New Nintendo Switch? Metal Jesus Reviews Switch Accessories

If you recently got a new Nintendo Switch for the holidays you might want to pick up a few accessories for it. One of my favorite gaming YouTubers Metal Jesus recently created a video showcasing the gear he has for his Switch where he outlines the good and the bad. Apparently the picking up an official Switch dock costs $99? That's a lot but it seems like that was the best option he found.

If you are a Switch owner what are some of the things you picked up for it?

Happy Presents Day – What Loot Did You Get From The Presents Elf?

Wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Presents Day! I hope the mythical Presents Day Elf brought you everyone you wanted and more and that you can bathe yourself in cookies and egg nog. Since it’s Presents Day some of us might have some fresh new video games we are all playing and other cool stuff so if you are interested in sharing what you got drop it in the comments!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/25/2017 at 04:57am

Wishing every one happy times with family and friends!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/25/2017 at 05:03am

Also just a comment on that video--- that kid went to give his parents money for that, that's awesome, what a sweet kid. But his brother, I worry about him. Had no interest in playing the NES and just kept pretending to shoot himself in the face with the light gun. We need a "where are they now" follow up.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/25/2017 at 05:07pm

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

It's not gaming related, but I'm now the proud owner of about $6 in both Bitcoin and Litecoin lol

Travis Admin wrote on 12/25/2017 at 11:03pm

That $6 will either be worth $50 or a few pennies in a few days depending on who you listen to.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/26/2017 at 01:56am

Exactly lol

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2017 at 05:14am

I got a SNES Classic but I knew I’d be getting that as I got it for myself

With that I also got Metroid Samus Returns special edition on 3DS and some music and movies.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/26/2017 at 06:29am

So far-- a Logitech MX Ergo trackball. It's been a while since I've done trackball over mouse, so this is taking some getting used to but it's great. Not for gaming, just for general computing. My wife and I were both drooling over it, and we both got the brilliant idea to buy it for each other.

vdogmr25 wrote on 12/26/2017 at 04:00pm

I was given XCom 2, Necrodancer, and Prey. Then I got the gift of throttling to 256KBs from my ISP. Only a few more days until I can play them.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2017 at 05:58pm

I got Super Mario Odyssey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Monopoly for the Switch and the book “Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made”.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2017 at 09:20pm

I got a $20 Gamestop gift card, so I used it to buy a $20 Steam card. :)

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/26/2017 at 11:35pm

Smart man!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/27/2017 at 06:20am

I used to do that with gamestop gift cards too, until I joined this console generation. I've enjoyed the brick-and-mortar experience of buying games again.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/27/2017 at 04:41pm

> I used to do that with gamestop gift cards too, until I joined this console generation. I've enjoyed the brick-and-mortar experience of buying games again.

After getting my 3DS and with collecting retro games I enjoy have the actual game too. Digital is really nice but having a box and a cart, even if super small is really nice.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/27/2017 at 04:58pm

Travis, I want to think that was an "I used to be an adventurer like you..." joke? If so, I loved it. If not, I want to live in my ignorant bliss!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/28/2017 at 02:38am

In that case I will not disenchant you ;)

Travis Admin wrote on 12/28/2017 at 02:39am

To add onto the thread: Breath of the Wild and a Google Home round out the awesome stuff this year!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/29/2017 at 12:11am

Ok, thanks to Amazon gift cards, I was able to finally buy the Razer Chroma keyboard I've been wanting. The keys light up and when Terraria updates, the key lights will reflect the biome I'm in. I'm excited! Also thanks to Steam gift card and a little extra money I bought South Park: The Stick of Truth and Fable Anniversary Edition (along w/ all DLC for both games).

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Head Back To Fallout Shelter For The Holidays!

Fallout Shelter has had specially themed holiday quests for sometime but this week I decided to get in on the special season update during this Christmas. It seems the game adds a couple quests to sate your dystopian wasteland cheer in "The Spirit of Taking" and "Santa's Helpers." Besides these new quests there is also a decorated tree outside your vault with twinkle lights that help set a more cheery mood. The quests are set just like the others but the quest dialog boxes are set in green and the dialog is set to a very Fallout Christmas vibe. For instance with Santa's Helpers at one point my people went into a raider area claiming to be Santa's Helpers where I could try and spread Christmas cheer using nice words and singing songs or by fighting. Since I try to be nice around the holidays we sang songs and that got us a good ending where we earned a special Science outfit. During the beginning of a couple quests you can win a Santa costume and an in game character that I took a screenshot of. Besides the cool Santa outfit you can also get some elf costumers and I decided to send Santa and his elves out to the wasteland on the infinite explore mode. Santa does well exploring the wasteland and as you can see I need to bring him in soon to cash in on his loot and give him new stimpacks for his next loot run.

https://bethesda.net/en/article/2yVJy2lIhKCmCekO6QOIE4/fallout-shelter-update-1-7-new-quests-features-and-bottle-and-cappy

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/24/2017 at 06:19am

I found someone wearing the same clothes as your guy, but he has a different name. I invited him to my vault (dialog option). I did a few quests, but am out of Quantum, so I have to wait for my team to make it to the next quest.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/24/2017 at 05:07pm

Nice to hear! I haven’t spent any Quantum and I’m currently sitting on 99 bottles.

I’ve also been hoarding lunchboxes and have 12.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/24/2017 at 09:10pm

Damn, why are you hoarding?

Man, Fallout Shelter makes me want to play Fallout 4 again. LOL

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/24/2017 at 11:23pm

Hoarding because there isn’t a reason I can see to open them. It’s just a random chance to get something in the game you could get otherwise so I don’t open them as late in as I am because I can craft mostly whatever I want or train someone to all 10’s.

It makes me want to play Fallout 4 too and since I haven’t actually beat it yet.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/25/2017 at 02:07am

Ah. I haven't really hoarded, I use all the lunchboxes, pet carriers, and such that I can. I use Quantum for quests. But yeah, the things you get are random. However, since there's a holiday event going on, you can now get those, too. That's actually how I acquired my Santa suit.

Maybe it's not so much that I want to play it (Fallout 4) again, but more so that since Fallout Shelter uses Fallout 4 music, it reminds me of that time when Fallout 4 came out. I remember the Thanksgiving at home I really enjoyed and playing Ark, too. It was quite a rough start for me though. I'm still blown away by the fact that it's outsold Skyrim. I thought Skyrim was much more popular.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/25/2017 at 04:47am

Skyrim might be more beloved than Fallout 4. Fallout 4 received more criticism than I think it was due because it simplified some of the dialog and RPG options. Since it wasn’t a clone of New Vegas some people were upset.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/25/2017 at 04:07pm

Hey Greg you’ll want to log into FS today as a special holiday bonus you get a couple pet carriers, lunchboxes and nuka bottles for free.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2017 at 04:44am

Sweet thanks for the head's up!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/26/2017 at 04:51am

Uh, wait, I didn't get that. How are you playing the game? I'm playing it on Steam.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2017 at 05:12am

Playing it on my iPhone. I wonder if it’s a mobile only bonus?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/26/2017 at 05:13am

I had to play for about 10 minutes before I got it. Maybe less.

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What If Donkey Kong Country 2 Was In HD?

What if scenarios are interesting and more so with a proof of concept. We've had modern Donkey Kong Country releases in HD such as Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on Wii U and Donkey Kong Returns on the Wii. YouTuber BlobVanDam created the video Bramble Blast that is a recreation of Donkey Kong Country 2 in full blown HD. Personally i'd buy a modern revisioning of the original SNES Donkey Kong Trilogy in HD which would have to be essentially a whole new set of games in the same upgrade style as Super Mario All Stars. I bet Switch owners wouldn't mind either.

Thoughts On The Mega Man Legacy Collection 3DS

jdodson gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

jdodson gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

After I picked up the NES Classic this year I played a lot of Mega Man 2. It’s the one i’ve played the most of as a kid too but never could actually beat it. After putting in the time to complete Mega Man 2 on the NES Classic I continued playing it to keep improving boss battle by boss battle. I still have yet to focus on the entire run but instead make sure certain parts are ironed out instead. For instance, right now, i’m focusing on completing the boss stages in a nearly perfect manner. Later on i’ll focus more on the Wiley stages and then glue them together.
The reason why I like focusing on the game this way is that hopefully micro focusing on aspects of the game can come together to allow me to complete the game without dying once. At least, that’s my goal and so far I’m a ways from that but it’s fun to keep playing the game and get better each time I play it.

In 2015 Capcom released the Mega Man Legacy Collection that includes Mega Man through Mega Man 6 making it a must have for Mega Man fans or people that want to get into the franchise. After playing a ton of Mega Man 2 I decided to get the Legacy Collection but I didn’t want to get it on Steam. In the end I decided to get it on 3DS and had to get it used as it seems that Capcom is no longer stocking fresh copies in stores or online, at least not at the time I wanted to buy it. The used copy arrived in great condition and included two mega man stickers and two codes to 3DS Mega Man skins that surprisingly enough, were not redeemed. Mega Man Legacy Collection includes all 6 original Mega Man games that you can play in “Mega Man” or “Rockman” mode. I’m not entirely sure what the di erence is here but it seems you can play the original US Mega Man or the other Japanese or EU version.

If you are interested in looking over the game concept art, manuals and box art that Capcom created for each regions Mega Man release Legacy Collection includes a Museum and Database mode that makes accessing all of that really easy. You can even zoom in to inspect the ne detail on the box art which is a feature I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Like a lot of remastered versions Legacy Collection also includes all of the music in a music player you can listen to as much as you want. Want to DJ a retro party? Hook up your 3DS to the sound system and mix it up over all 6 games. Or not... I really have no idea if people have retro game parties but it’s a thing you could do if you want.

Mega Man Legacy Collection is a nearly perfect release if not for one minor gripe I have. In the US the NES was presented in a 4x3 aspect ratio on all our CRT TV's. Nintendo games were sprite based and each pixel was a perfect square yet the Nintendo slightly stretched the image to use the full width of the TV. It’s one of those lovable aspects of the analog days and not a choice I actually fault Nintendo for as the image t the screen and never looked bad as a result. That said in the Mega Man Legacy Collection the default mode is pixel perfect meaning the 4x3 aspect ration is not preserved. The NES Classic and SNES Classic default to 4x3 mode but also provide a pixel perfect mode for people that want to play the games in that way. That said, not having the choice to play it in 4x3 is a bit of a bummer. Again, it’s not a huge deal but the game doesn’t look quite right to me but once I tuck in to a play session it’s not something I think about much.

I plan on continuing with the Mega Man series as i’ve really only played Mega Man 2 and 3. The original is included but i’ve heard it’s not quite as good as Mega Man 2 yet I plan on playing it and talking about it. I usually play through games at a snails pace so expect to hear from me in regard to the remaining Legacy Collection games over the entirety of 2018.

DF Retro Looks Back At Donkey Kong Country

As the holiday seasons is upon us we all get closer to the reality that some of us may open a SNES Classic on Presents Day! If you want a SNES Classic and need the mythical Gift Elf to bring you one for Presents Day I recently watched a recent DF Retro video that you need to watch. DF Retro takes a pretty long look back at Donkey Kong Country and interviews quite a few developers that worked for Rare during the games development. Watching this video helped me shovel more coal into the SNES Classic Presents Day hype train and I hope you like it too!

The Last Jedi Releases Tomorrow - Be Careful Out There!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi releases tomorrow night and i'll be there in line with the rest of the nerds to take in director Rian Johnson's visual space fiesta. And because Star Wars is a big deal the trolls are out in force on social media spoiling things so I want to recommend that you take a break from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and even some online games if you want to keep your first experience spoiler free.

As Cheerful Ghost tradition we will be doing a Star Wars Special episode where we talk about the Last Jedi and will make part of that spoiler free and then let everyone know when we switch to talking spoilers. We're recording the show this Sunday and hope to have it out soon after that so if you are seeing it this weekend or early next week so look out for that episode!

Also feel free to drop in the comments when and where you plan on seeing the movie. I'll be checking it out tomorrow evening at a local Regal theater with a whole bunch of friends. It wasn't possible to get opening night tickets of reserved seating so i'll show up a couple hours early to stand in line to make sure our seats don't suck.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/14/2017 at 04:14am

I’m a victim. It seems like Twitter has been ok and you’d hope people on Facebook wouldn’t troll their own friends but stay clear of Reddit. There have been people sending private messages to massive amounts of people with spoilers.

I play HQ Trivia and just kinda tune out the chat on it, but tonight I glanced down at just the wrong time and saw a big juicy spoiler.

It wasn’t a bad one. I don’t think it’ll take away from my enjoyment of it. But still come on people, have some decency.

I’m going Saturday night. Reserved seats so we can roll in right at 7:30 and be fine. My wife and I are going with a friend who hasn’t seen any trailers or any advertisement at all except for a still of Rey with a lightsaber so it should be an interesting perspective.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/14/2017 at 04:15am

(But pleas don’t take my experience with Twitter to be an endorsement. There are still trolls about.)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/14/2017 at 06:33pm

Can't wait to see it tonight!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/15/2017 at 01:18am

One of Katie’s friends got a spoiler on LinkedIn. Nothing is safe.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/17/2017 at 02:59am

Just got back from the movie with Vinny.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/17/2017 at 03:12am

Awesome! We're going to record our review Sunday night and hopefully will have it out early next week!

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Grim Fandango Remastered Free On GOG For The Next 2 Days!

Grim Fandango Remastered is available for free on GOG right now for the next couple days and if you haven't played this LucasArts classic remastered by Double Fine, now is the best chance you will have DRM free!

"Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.

One of the most acclaimed adventure games of all time is now back, better than ever. Grim Fandango's epic story of four years in the life (or death) of Manny Calavera, travel agent to the dead, has been remastered to look, sound, and control even better than when it won GameSpot's Game of the Year award upon its original launch. Grim Fandango still stands as a classic of the genre, with unforgettable characters and unique combination of film noir and Mexican folklore. "

Head over to GOG to claim Grim Fandango Remastered before Dec. 14, 2 PM UTC!

https://www.gog.com/

jdodson1

2753 Posts

It's Gets Dark In Tristram... Again!

Digital Foundry Looks At The Best Video Cards & CPU's in 2017

Got A New Nintendo Switch? Metal Jesus Reviews Switch Accessories

Happy Presents Day – What Loot Did You Get From The Presents Elf?

Head Back To Fallout Shelter For The Holidays!

What If Donkey Kong Country 2 Was In HD?

Thoughts On The Mega Man Legacy Collection 3DS

DF Retro Looks Back At Donkey Kong Country

The Last Jedi Releases Tomorrow - Be Careful Out There!

Grim Fandango Remastered Free On GOG For The Next 2 Days!