jdodson | Cheerful Ghost

Prison Architect 2.0 - After 5 Years And 11 Months Gets The Final Update

Introversion Games finally finished Prison Architect after 5 years and 11 months of active development. If you played this in an early form till now you can appreciate how much work they put into the game and it seems to have paid off as it's their most successful game to date. The final 2.0 update brings a sort of free form admin/debug/cheat mode where you can build anything and mess with nearly every game setting. 2.0 also comes with a bunch of new bug fixes and a couple more things they outlined in previous videos. Introversion does plan on fixing more Prison Architect bugs but they are focusing the majority of their attention to their next game.

It's really good to see the game finally wrap up and as a Prison Architect fan I am happy to see it get so much attention. If you haven't tried Prison Architect now is a pretty good time and it's available now on Steam for Linux, Mac and PC.

Faeria Is Now Free To Play & Drops New Single Player Mode

https://faeriapublic.s3.amazonaws.com/website/news/Announcements/2016/Aug24/banner-eredon_1092x496-.jpg

"It's been a long time coming, but we've finally made it. We've spent a large part of Early Access gearing up for this day.

While Early Access still continues, we are very excited to have reached this milestone and made the game available to everyone, everywhere - for free.

With the unleashing of Free-to-Play comes our first public iteration of the new single player experience. Most of the initial content is oriented toward new and casual players in order to provide a viable alternative to participating in multiplayer or competitive modes. You will now be able to challenge and play against characters in the Faeria universe, earning rewards and increasing your collection size in the process.

Keep in mind, this is just the beginning for our new single player mode. Today is the first of three major single player updates between now and our 1.0 full release, and we have much more planned by the end of the year: More characters, more interactions, more challenges, and even new types of challenges. Keep watching our news here for when they arrive."

Faeria is a fun new digital card game that mixes up the format to feature a hexagonal board you use to place land and summon creatures. It improves on some of the more popular digital card games out now and manages to have it's own unique style well worth checking out and since it's now free, why not?

https://faeria.com/news/patch-notes/77-faeria-is-now-free-to-play

Faeria is available on Mac and PC on Steam and will come soon to Linux, Android and iOS.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/31/2016 at 05:07am

I finally defeating some difficult foes in Solo mode. I tried so hard and eventually found some recommended card lists. Now I'm kind of locked out of solo mode because the next matches require at least level 13 and I'm only 12. So, I've tried the Pandora and Battle modes. It reminds me of Hearthstone in that I hate playing against other people. In Battle mode, you play w/ a deck you created against someone. In Pandora, you're given choices of cards and build your deck kind of on the fly. I did get one win out of six. The good news is that you still get exp and other rewards even if you lose. Also, every time I collect 100 gold, I buy a new booster pack, which is cool and actually easy to get. Even if you lose three straight matches in a row as I did earlier in Pandora, you still get some exp, gold, and a booster deck.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/31/2016 at 05:23am

So I just finally got to playing the new version of Faeria and it looks like Solo mode has changed. It's a bunch of quests you can go through and it looks like there is more than there was before. What they had before was a bunch of missions and some story you could complete in any order and that unlocked the basic cards.

Looks like there are puzzles and boss type quests. Do completing these boss type quests unlock cards Greg? Because I didn't unlock every card in the old solo mode yet.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/31/2016 at 05:38am

Completing those quests grants you exp, gold, and sometimes a booster pack. The Epic Quests can be very difficult. The Puzzle Quests are challenging, but kind of simple, too. I did, however, find a video that was made very recently (in the last 24 hours I think) that showed the solution to all of the puzzles. I got through most of them on my own, but eventually decided not to spend too much time trying to figure them out.

My strategy has evolved to rush. I like my yellow/desert deck. I've been creating plains towards my opponent, then I build deserts near them and their faeria wells. This has worked out in some instances, but not in all of them. I also have included some neutral cards to help me get started. This was after seeing deck recommendations on one of the main sites for the game. That site (link provided below) explained how each colored deck works. Yellow seems to be primarily rushing/aggro, while blue is about having control over the faeria wells along with some spells to help remove your threats, such as turning your opponent's creatures into 2/2 frogs.

https://boards.faeria.com/t/decklists-and-basic-deckbuilding-for-new-players/1217

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/31/2016 at 05:44am

Huh. Well the old Solo mode granted you entire card color sets for completing boss fights. Maybe with enough of solo mode completed you can do that again? Kind of sad if we have to just unlock all the cards through opening packs.

Thanks for sharing that link, I tried when I started playing a couple weeks ago to find something like that and I didn't see anything.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/31/2016 at 05:47am

Well not ENTIRE color sets but quite a bit of the base cards for the colors.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/01/2016 at 02:51am

I just beat a Red Ogre matchup in Solo mode and unlocked 3 red cards. GLAD they kept this aspect of the game!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/01/2016 at 03:27am

:) Was it a regular match or Epic Quest? I liked the red cards, too, but that page I linked above said red has the weakest creatures, which didn't seem right to me. I suppose it's true, but they didn't seem weak to me. Many of them do indirect damage, like combat makes it deal damage to your opponent. Then, there's that what 6/9 one with Taunt. When I built a new red deck based on the above link's recommendation, I got Talum (the forest boss) down to 1 point, but he beat me. That was during an Epic Quest, it was definitely tough.

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Watch Hearthstone's "Pull Up a Chair" Played By Video Games Live on YouTube in 360 Viewing Mode

At this years Gamescom 2016 Video Games Live performed a cut from the Hearthstone score called "Pull Up a Chair." It was recorded in VR and you can watch the performance in 360 degree view on YouTube. Even if you don't have VR you can move the video around and watch the performance from any angle you can making for a really interesting experience.

If someone is able to watch this with some VR glasses i'd be interested in hearing how that turned out.

It's Been 20 Years Since Valve Was Founded

I remember there was a time when the thought of buying a game on Steam seemed crazy. Why wouldn't you want the actual game install disc? What if the servers went down or if you weren't online? Buying a game on Steam seemed crazy and I stuck to purchasing games in a box. The thing that finally got me to actually use Steam was the second Humble Bundle. I much preferred the DRM free downloads for the games but since I had those Steam keys lying around I decided to redeem them. It was really nice just downloading the games and playing them from Steam and I ended up buying the Binding of Issac on Steam, then another game then another and now nearly all my modern game purchases are digital sales, many through Steam.

Yesterday Valve turned 20. Valve pioneered the PC game digital landscape and also brought us an incredible assortment of games in that time such as Half-Life, Portal, Half-Life 2, Left for Dead, DoTA 2, Portal 2 and CounterStrike. Valve has been hard at work over the last year but it's releases are mostly support the Steam ecosystem such as SteamOS, Source 2, Steam Machines, the Steam Controller, Steam Link and the new HTC Vive VR. Valve has had a pretty regular drumbeat of releasing one game per year since 2007 but skipped 2014, 2015 and so far nothing has been announced for 2016. We may be seeing a new era of Valve in a company that no longer releases many games but I think we can all admit that Steam and it's associated lineup is pretty important to gaming.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/26/2016 at 01:59pm

Next year will be 10 years since any Half-Life, and 2018 will be 20 years since the first. 10+20=30. These numbers are in base 10. 30/10=3. HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED.

But seriously, either 10 years after Episode Two or 20 years after the first game was released would be a great time to reintroduce it. I've often wondered if a new game in the series would just be a disappointment, but we've had a major time gap now and I think the time might be right if they plan on doing it. It's still something people know about but it won't carry much baggage from the previous entries.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/27/2016 at 11:13pm

Honestly... I am over Half-Life 3. Like, yeah, i'm not really interested in it anymore. If it came out i'd certainly play it but I am not longer emotionally on the hook for this game at all. I think I just need to let it go. It helps.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/31/2016 at 10:31pm

They have The Lab on SteamVR...

Travis Admin wrote on 09/01/2016 at 02:26am

The Lab looks fun, but I don't follow.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 09/01/2016 at 04:15am

"Valve has had a pretty regular drumbeat of releasing one game per year since 2007 but skipped 2014, 2015 and so far nothing has been announced for 2016." They released The Lab this year.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/01/2016 at 03:28pm

Ah ah, I see.

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FEZ Gets Huge Final 1.2 Update

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

Will Blizzard Release The Details Of A New Diablo Game At Blizzcon?

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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

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/24/2016 at 02:16pm

I'm not sure which I'd choose, an expansion or a new game. I think I'd be happy with either, they both have advantages and disadvantages. An expansion would be more familiar and would probably cost less. However, a new game *might* be better overall, containing who knows what that's new. I don't think I was at all disappointed with D3, so I can't really imagine being disappointed with a new Diablo game.

Please keep us up to date. When is Blizzcon?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2016 at 02:30pm

Looks to be in November https://blizzcon.com/en-us/event-info

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/24/2016 at 02:36pm

Want to create an event for it? :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2016 at 03:06pm

Sure.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/24/2016 at 03:15pm

I'd prefer another expansion before a new game. I'd like to see Diablo III get some more years before Diablo IV.

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Cheerful Ghost Roundtable S4 E5: The Longest Break In Recorded History Goes To...

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!

Disguised Toast Explains How Moat Lurker Works

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

jaelte wrote on 08/22/2016 at 04:18am

What they didn't show is if Moat Lurker's Deathrattle would re-summon a minion after an Unearthed Raptor that copied the Deathrattle dies and does so. Would there be multiple copies of the originally-destroyed minion?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2016 at 03:17pm

Huh. I think there would be as it seems Unearthed Raptor is the only card that seems to copy it fully.

JaBo wrote on 08/26/2016 at 05:53am

Ya, when I saw this card, I immediately thought of using it so preserve one of my near death guys. Like banking a Ysera, then board wiping and getting it back fresh.

Or if your opp is playing warrior and you know they want to brawl you soon. Just gotta be careful it doesn't get silenced.

Rogue seems legit tho. Destroy, shadowstep, destroy, shadowstep

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/27/2016 at 11:12pm

Totally. I haven't seen Moatlurker in play much which is surprising. I am going to put it in a deck soon though, I just love the mechanics so much I want to try it out.

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Check Out The New Graphical Updates In the BioShock Remastered Collection

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

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/18/2016 at 04:31am

Oh man, watching the video brings up good memories of the first game. I never tried the sequels.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/18/2016 at 04:34am

> I never tried the sequels.

I seriously recommend BioShock Infinite. Maybe it suffers some to the end compared the absolutely amazing pacing of the start to middle but I found the whole experience to be well worth it. The two DLC expansions were great too and they really seemed to just be a continuation of the story of Infinite anyway.

Maxxiumus_Prime wrote on 08/18/2016 at 12:33pm

Bioshock 2 wasn't received well. The story is okay, but the gunplay was better than the first. Infinite found a great medium (I should hope so after the Dev hell it was in for so long). Personally, Infinite was my favorite. I love Booker and his story. I love the way they implemented everything and successfully incorporated the huge plot twist/reveal. I like how they ended it, and I loved how the DLC's tied the entire series together, back to the first game.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/18/2016 at 03:35pm

I might wait for the price to drop on the bundle. I know you are getting a lot for $59.99, but it still seems like a lot. Plus I have a ton of other games to play.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/18/2016 at 04:12pm

If you have them on PC you will get the upgrades for free, so that might help.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/19/2016 at 03:17am

> I might wait for the price to drop on the bundle. I know you are getting a lot for $59.99, but it still seems like a lot. Plus I have a ton of other games to play.

Like Travis said, you get some amount of this free if you already own the games previously. PLUS the price for this will go down considerably over time, like with all games. I'm waiting on lots of games to drop price before I buy them. Pretty sure that's how i'll buy most of my games from here on out. Bundles or huge savings unless it's a game I need to have on launch which seems to be becoming less and less.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/19/2016 at 04:53pm

> Bundles or huge savings unless it's a game I need to have on launch which seems to be becoming less and less.

I am in the same boat. To me gaming has reached a point where a lot of games made today will still feel fresh tomorrow.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/19/2016 at 05:02pm

> ... a lot of games made today will still feel fresh tomorrow.

And more stable, etc. I bet by the time I get around to playing No Man's Sky mostly all the issues will be worked out

Travis Admin wrote on 08/20/2016 at 02:18pm

I finally actually checked out the comparison video. It's nothing groundbreaking but it's quite nice. Everything just looks a bit sharper and has better lighting. I imagine they're using the console footage on Bioshock for comparison. It looked lower res in the comparison video, but you could run it in 1080p on PC.

Still, I'm looking forward to seeing the shiny coat of paint!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 08/22/2016 at 04:17pm

This definitely makes me want to revisit the Bioshock universe! It'll be a good excuse to actually play through Bioshock 2.

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SGDQ Donkey Kong Country Speedrun by Eazinn in a Blistering 36:10

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.

jdodson1

2753 Posts

Prison Architect 2.0 - After 5 Years And 11 Months Gets The Final Update

Faeria Is Now Free To Play & Drops New Single Player Mode

Watch Hearthstone's "Pull Up a Chair" Played By Video Games Live on YouTube in 360 Viewing Mode

It's Been 20 Years Since Valve Was Founded

FEZ Gets Huge Final 1.2 Update

Will Blizzard Release The Details Of A New Diablo Game At Blizzcon?

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable S4 E5: The Longest Break In Recorded History Goes To...

Disguised Toast Explains How Moat Lurker Works

Check Out The New Graphical Updates In the BioShock Remastered Collection

SGDQ Donkey Kong Country Speedrun by Eazinn in a Blistering 36:10