Cheerful Ghost Roundtable

That was really fun. Adam's comments were great! I think doing the live stream was a great idea.

About Fallout 4: People complaining about the graphics quality reminds me of when people whined about Wind Waker. I thought that was a great game and enjoyed the graphical difference. Fallout 4 may not have uber fantastic graphics, but it's style is very good, I think. To me, it looks a lot like Fallout 3, but better. As for bugs, I haven't seen very many, but I've seen at least a couple. Sometimes the weapon I'm carrying turns invisible along with my Pip-boy and I can't see either even though they're there. I've also seen things like the Ghoul glitch Travis mentioned. Still, I think Bethesda did a good job with it and the points you guys brought up (like not everyone having a "Greg-station") are excellent. Take, for instance, Ark Survival Evolved and look at that. The game is extremely graphically extensive and even PCs like mine have trouble with it, but it's also an Early Access game and not yet fully optimized. Back to Fallout 4, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm not sure I've really enjoyed it as much as you guys. It does seem more difficult, at least to me. I've also run into some issues (like being overwhelmed with the weapon choices and not being able to carry enough weight), which I think could be resolved once I'm more used to playing it. Still, I'd recommend it to fellow Fallout fans.

About the new Star Wars movie: I'm not planning on seeing it when it comes out. I'm sure I'll watch it eventually. So far, from what I've seen, it looks like it'll probably be really good. I also have low standards as I probably like the prequels more than most of you. I agree with Travis in that a light saber duel would still make me happy.

I'm glad you mentioned Jurassic World, since I just bought the Blu-Ray Jurassic Park collection to watch with my son. Jurassic World may not have been as extremely awesome as the original, but I thought it was cool enough to make me want to own it or watch it again. I was kind of disappointed with some of the JP sequels, though, especially the third movie.

Well, luckily it's easy to tell if something's better because the stats have a + or - next to them. I upgraded some armor, but only used the "Pocketed" mod which helps you carry more weight. I have bought and sold armor, too. I've started using more guns, but now I'm running out of ammo, so I should probably buy more when I can. Yeah, I'm glad I finally found a sniper rifle, which has been helpful. I also use the 10mm and shot gun, too. I've cleared the Corvega Factory a few times now since I've started a new game multiple times.

Steam says my Fallout 4 hours equals 48. My current save is for 10 hours and about 20 minutes. This is probably around the 4th new game I've started, so it wouldn't surprise me if I've only made it a bit over 10 hours into the game before starting over again. The good thing about this is that I feel like a bit of an expert when it comes to beginning. I don't die in the Vault or shortly after. Hahahahaha (I doubt anyone does.)

I'm aware of that museum only because Paul Soares Jr. has some Fallout 4 videos and he met an NPC that mentioned it. The game just recently told me that things get more dangerous the further south you get, which is where I was the last time I played. I have a lot of Fusion Cores some how (just less than 10 I think). Thanks for the tip. I've left my Power Armor at Sanctuary. I have found other pieces for it, but I haven't been using it.

Tim, there are other Final Fantasy games for the PSP you might want to check out. We may have talked about them long ago, I've forgotten. I refer to FFVII: Crisis Core and FFI and FFII. There's also Dissidia, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it and its sequel. I spent a lot of time playing the first one, though. Oh and there's also FFIV: The After Years, which I also have.

That's cool, Jon, that you have Kirby's Dream Land. I remember playing that on my Gameboy, too. I'm not sure if I still have the cart for it. Oh and there are some Final Fantasy games for the original Gameboy as well, but again I'm not sure I'd recommend them, though I have them.

I don't recall the original Gameboy having a wall charger. I do remember the Super Gameboy, the SNES cart that lets you play Gameboy games.

As for the new Star Wars trailer, I think it looks cool. I also wonder where Luke is. I think I read that he may be in hiding. Also, I liked the newer movies for the first three episodes. I'm not saying they're the best movies ever, but I liked them. I realize many people don't though.

You know what, I was referring to a different Final Fantasy game and didn't specify that. Final Fantasy Legends, I think is the series I really meant when talking about the Gameboy games. I didn't really like them, but I didn't give them much of a try. Weapons were used as consumables, I didn't like that.

As for Mystic Quest, I was disappointed with that one. It seemed to be too short. However FFII and III on the SNES are awesome! I do have those carts and their later ports. I paid about $50 or more for each of them (the SNES carts) maybe 15 years or so ago. I have no idea what happened to the SNES I used to have around that time, too, though I have a suspicion about how it disappeared.

As for Star Wars, one of the "teaser" trailers had Luke talking about how his parents had the force "and so do you." I don't know if he'll be in the movie, but it makes me think that he or Leia (did I spell that right?) had a kid (or more) and that's one of the main characters in the new movie. Seeing as how I wasn't disappointed with EpI-III, I probably won't be disappointed with VII either.

Mystic Quest was a simple adventure. I'm not saying it was bad, but after having experienced many of the other FF games at the time I played MQ, I expected more.

Thanks for the Luke confirmation!

Look at Travis, "with arms wide open!" LOL

I am currently playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Starbound is much better than when I first played it. That crystal boss was tough! Yes, the penguin is still there!

Games coming out in upcoming months I'll be playing: Fallout 4 and Starcraft II: LotV. I plan to start out with Fallout 4. Then I intend to play Starcraft II from the beginning and work my way towards the new expansion. Otherwise, I have no idea what else is coming out that I'd want to play

Years ago, I posted in a video games group on Facebook asking for suggestions on a game to play. Travis then told me about Terraria. After looking at the videos, I thought it didn't look too appealing, but once I jumped in, I was hooked! The updates keep us coming back, but there's so much greatness in the game. The game play, music, everything. What is there not to love about it? I haven't created everything in the game. I'm also not very creative with building, but it's cool to see what others come up with.

The Moon Lord was tough! I'm so glad Travis made that arena! I'm still not sure how I'll do that boss fight on my own. I imagine I'll copy over the arena Travis made. Duke is tough! I was so glad when I finally beat him. I was so intimidated by that boss! Fishing is cool! Yeah, those mine cart tracks were pretty much every where!

I usually progress through the different tiers of metal gear. However, on the new Expert Mode server, I got my first Ebonwood armor set and it looked awesome. Ultimately, I get Platinum, even if it didn't spawn in my world (I use silt and slush to get it if it's not there). Also, I pretty much almost always go with melee weapons.

I don't think I fought any of the Expert Mode bosses. So, I didn't get any of the special loot. Listening to you guys talk about Terraria is making me want to play again! I agree with us starting our new server on Expert Mode, especially since I haven't spent much time with it.

Yes, Travis gave me a copy and I greatly appreciate it! I bought a copy for my son recently. Honestly, it's because of Terraria that I got on here at Cheerful Ghost and "met" you awesome guys (I already knew Travis because we were college roommates)! I love this site!

I have the mobile version of Terraria, yes for my Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" tablet. It's good, but unfortunately the Kindle version is way behind every other version. I thought the touch controls were cool. I liked using my finger as a replacement for the mouse, but I thought it was harder to get used to switching the auto-cursor on and off on the PS3.

Soon, maybe we can talk about what's in store for Terraria's future.

Yes, Cheerful Ghost "drink and play!" I can get my favorite red wine, Riunite Lambrusco! =)

(This comment has been edited to fit the 3,000 character limit....you're welcome!)

For those concerned: everyone survived the fire, but my eyebrows look a little different now.

Great show, guys! Tim, I'm so glad you made the correction on Yogi vs Pooh. Jon, love the new digs (or at least the new office!). Travis, I'm convinced now that Hangouts has an arm fetish.

Oh, and Drink & Play?! Yes, yes, yes!!

Slightly unsettling! I guess Jon's plan is to drive people away from the site ;).

I figured it was penance for my Nintendo comments.

Jon's obviously a Star Wars fan. Travis, cool shirt! I see a whole stack of MtG cards next to you.

I'm not sure how I feel about this E3 compared to previous ones. I think (since I've been paying attention to them, which has been over 10 years now) it was definitely one of the best. I think Fallout 4 and FFVII Remake stole the show. That's about all I got out of E3 this year, which is still good enough for me.

Hahahahaha!!!!! I'm laughing my ass off, thanks Jon! You just mentioned my PC. As for Fallout 4, I think I'm going to get it for the PC. I don't recall if we've seen the system requirements yet, but my PC should be fine. Thanks for the mentions!

I think Jon's right about Nintendo, they're working on things they're not ready to talk about. Like the new Zelda game and the next console dubbed "NX."

I don't know what Nintendo's infrastructure looks like, but I wouldn't think that the hardware and software divisions are subject to much overlap. Meaning, if the hardware engineers are working on the NX, what are the software devs working on? From what they showed at E3, primarily Star Fox and Yoshi's Wooly World. Most of the 3DS games shown, I believe, were 3rd party. They are probably working on Zelda, but I'll make a crazy prediction and say that it will probably release simultaneously on the Wii U and as a launch title for NX (the same way Twilight Princess did for GC and Wii). I'm betting that Zelda will be the last game they make for the Wii U.

My frustration with Nintendo stems from a desire for them to step away from peripheral gimmicks as a primary system interface, and get back to innovating on a software level. Not that there is anything wrong with them experimenting with control schemes or multiple screens, or whatever, but why build the whole system experience around it? What if they made the Wii U Game Pad a device with a cartridge slot that could play 3DS games through the console on your TV? Everyone that owns a 3DS would have had a reason to buy that controller, and everyone with a Wii U would have had a reason to check out DS games. The Pro Controller could have been the primary controller. Yada, yada, yada...

Scrypt, I don't really like some of the things you've said about Nintendo (don't take that personally by the way), but I think it's because I don't want to believe it. I don't want to see the death of perhaps the most awesome gaming company of the 80's and 90's. You've said a lot about Nintendo which shows me that you're not just casually coming up with Nintendo negativity. You seem to be aware of what's going on with them and while I hesitate to share your perspective, I think you have some good points.

As I said, I've been checking out E3 for over 10 years now. Usually, it's Nintendo that I focus on as none of the other presenters usually has what I'm interested in. This year was clearly different. I did follow (read) some of the news from Nintendo's E3 presence this year, but I didn't watch their presentation nor did I read very much. I admit, they didn't really have much of anything I'm interested in this year.

They did announce some new players in Smash Bros, which is pretty cool. Also, Hyrule Warriors is coming to the 3DS with new characters. That, I think, is interesting except that I spent a hell of a lot of hours playing the Wii U game, I doubt I get it for the 3DS. (Note: I have all of the Hyrule Warriors DLC except the last, which by the time of it's release, I was a bit tired of playing the game)

That would be an awesome feature, if the Wii U gamepad had a 3DS cartridge slot. For me, they're recent technological differences from the other two console manufacturers aren't "gimmicks." But, that's just my perspective and out of the big 3, Nintendo is definitely by far my #1.

Oh no! They used those puppets? They look like the ones in the Genesis video for "Land of Confusion," which I found extremely creepy when I saw it as a kid.

Oh and it's also interesting to note that after showing off a new Metroid game for the 3DS, Nintendo was faced with fan petitions to stop its production. Maybe a new Metroid game is in the works or on the planning table. Check out this story: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-responds-to-metroid-prime-federation-forc/1100-6428414/

While it's true that I've spent a lot of time watching the industry, I'm really only putting a puzzle together with pieces that I see that fit, nothing more. My perspective is likely different than yours, and that's cool. I don't have insider information, or anything like that, but for me, and I'd assume others, it's hard not to see the signs.

I guess I could make this clear, too: I don't think Nintendo is dying. Failing in the console space with the Wii U, definitely, but not dying. Nintendo will never die. They'll evolve into whatever crazy ideas that are coming out of the Big N shed, but they won't die. There was a post here on the site that asked the question of whether Nintendo was exploiting nostalgia with each release of a Zelda game. Exploit, or no, Nintendo has nostalgia in spades. They're like Disney at this point (and their E3 video all but directly says it), where they have successfully built their entire company around a core of instantly recognizable characters that can immediately transport us back to our childhood. It would take a lot for them to go under (or maybe just throwing a ton of money at another bum system, I don't know).

Ultimately, I feel like The Big 3 have been very dismissive of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mantra. If I was on Cheerful Ghost back when the PS3 was launching, you would have heard me join with others that criticized Sony for betraying the gamers that made the PS2 the best selling console of all time; for treating games as a subset of the Playstation experience, rather than it's bread and butter. While they did win with Blu-ray, they suffered because of those choices, and had to come around 180 degrees in their approach to games to compensate for the setback (some other bad things happened, too... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_PlayStation_Network_outage ). In the same way, Microsoft has had to come around (although they still have quite a ways to come) from where they've been the last few years, largely because of poor Xbox One sales (abysmal, outside of the US; selling barely more than the Wii U, globally). I hope Nintendo does the same with NX, and does it soon.

You clearly know what you're talking about. I think you've analyzed things quite deeper than I have. I think you definitely have an educated perspective, which I obviously respect. That's actually something that I've been enjoying here recently, differing perspectives which penetrate the single minded fog. I'm sure when we were all young we loved Nintendo, perhaps above all else. While they're definitely no strangers to competition, they're still in the game and doing what they do. Whether or not that's been very successful could be debatable, but I think we all still have a childhood fondness for Nintendo. I think we'd all like to see them succeed, but it seems in more recent years we're a bit more divided regarding their success and perhaps that fan base of theirs has waned a bit.

I agree, as for Nintendo and E3 this year, they disappointed and left much to be desired. However, (for me at least) Fallout 4 and FFVII Remake stole the show. Even if that's all I get out of this year's E3, I'm still pretty happy about it.

Well, I don't know if I know what I'm talking about, but I'm glad to add a little spice to the conversation ;).

I'm with you on Fallout 4. All this Fallout Shelter playing is just a giant tease. I was in a Game$top earlier today, and I found myself looking wistfully at the Fallout 3 cases, wishing I could at least go there.

Sadly, I'm one of the "Android" people since my Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is Android based. So, I can't play Fallout Shelter yet. I've seen a few of my friends playing Fallout 3 and NV lately. I decided to get NV for the PC during the Steam Summer Sale. I have it on PS3 and went through it once. It had some slight issues, but nothing as bad as F3 did for the PS3.

Scrypt, you said you were a console guy, had all the consoles or were buying them. Does that mean all three? I remember when I had a GameCube, PS2, and an XBox. That was a pretty exciting time for gaming. That was the only generation of the XBox I've ever owned (I still have one), but I have since upgraded to the Wii and Wii U and PS3. I don't have a PS4, but I imagine that's the next system I buy, I just don't know when I might do that. I've noticed that at least one of the games I'd want for it (FF Type-0) is coming to PC. So, that makes me want to wait a bit. If FFVII Remake isn't a PC game (or at least at first) I'll most likely get a PS4 then.

@GregoPeck, in the recent past, I've had all the major systems of each generation, starting with the PS1 Generation. Prior to that, it was all Nintendo (NES, SNES). Before E3, I was mildly excited about getting an Xbox One this Fall. Now, I'm indifferent. I'll get one, but I'm no longer mildly excited :). The Wii U, while I've played a few games on it, I'm just not that keen on getting one, as I'm willing to bet that the NX will support backwards compatibility for the Wii U. I'll get the good games I missed out on at that time. Unless of course the Wii U drops to $199, then I might be tempted to pick one up. Otherwise, I just don't feel compelled to invest in that environment.

"For me, the PS3 was a great games machine but it evolved in the ways it needed to and that did come at the expense of gaming but for my use case, it was a good thing."

What happened during the development and promotion of the PS3 wasn't evolution as much as a direct marketing choice to push Blu-ray and an "entertainment console." Why? The PS2 barely played DVDs and it was the number one selling console of all time! The games didn't have to suffer, but Sony wanted it made very clear that the PS3 was not a game console, that it was rather an entertainment computer that could play games. It's like they took their prize, triple-crown winning horse and tried to mutate it into a cow because "people like steak!" It makes that much sense. Early adopters invested either because it was the cheapest Blu-ray player at the time, or because they were dedicated to the Sony brand and didn't mind blowing $600 just to play their PS2 and PS1 games again (sadly, I was in the latter camp, and I remember selling that system a year later because there were no games to play, and the future looked bleak).

"I am going to go out a bit and wager most people used it more for (Netflix streaming and video playback)."

Since there weren't any games to speak of in the first year, I'm sure you're right, that the systems were used (by the small amount of people that actually bought one) primarily for non-gaming entertainment purposes, in anticipation of the games. It took awhile, but Sony eventually came around, making the PS3 easier to develop for, offering free games with Playstation Plus, taking a knee and saying "Hey, we fucked up!" It helped, too, that Microsoft was slowly killing the XBox 360 with RROD, clumsy UI updates, advertisements on the dashboard, and general pig-headedness about "what gamers want." I blame it on J Allard's exodus. He was Steve Jobs for the Xbox. In the end, despite a few disasters, PS3 outsold XBox 360 globally, with almost the same sized games library (over 1000 games).

Wow that's pretty cool, Scrypt! I like my Wii U. I spent a LOT of time playing Hyrule Warriors, which was pretty much excellent in my opinion. I also played some Mario games and Smash Bros. My son uses it to play those and other games, too. He also uses it to watch YouTube sometimes when not using the Kindle for that. It wouldn't surprise me if the NX is backwards compatible at least with the Wii U or perhaps the Wii, too. I think their library is pretty big when you look at it in the store, at least. As someone who's talked about FPS games, I thought Splatoon would interest you. My son has played the demo. I think when it comes down to it all, it's about what games a system has that we want to play and what we're into.

I thought the PS2 was outstanding! I still have one. There were times I wanted to buy a hard drive for it so I could play FFXI and other games. I used it a lot for CDs, DVDs, and games. I was disappointed that the PS3 went from being backwards compatible (and crappy at that) to not so. I'm glad that I can still play my PS1 games on it, though. My issue with it is my system, which is a bit old and shuts off on its own at times. I've enjoyed some Blu-Ray movies on it, although I haven't bought very many of them. I've enjoyed a good bit of games on it. I've also enjoyed being able to stream media to it from my PC. I've been using that feature a lot more lately than anything else.

Retroblazer is the Wolfenstein/Doom clone I was thinking of: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=375199095

Nintendo doesn't have a paid subscription service. They do have a service that you can sign up for and to access some things, you may need to log into that service. They are currently working on changing it a bit, though, there has been some news of it recently. They frequently have sales going on, which I can see from a notification on the game pad (the Home button lights up blue).

Other than sales, Nintendo has other promotions which people can participate in and receive digital download codes. When the new Smash Bros. games came out, one of the bonus rewards of registering both games at Nintendo's site was that I could get Mewtwo for free when they released him as a character in the new games. The games were out for quite a while before that DLC was released and Nintendo emailed me the codes to download that DLC for both systems.

I think it's cool to see Nintendo in a Humble Bundle. I did see news of this before, but I'm not familiar with any of the games included. I'd like to see more Nintendo Bundles, though. HB seems to be a great way to buy video games!

I would, but my computer is 2000 miles away. If you guys have a God Mode event without me, I'll cry bitter tears.

(Just kidding. I'd be crying anyway, because of the whales.)

I haven't finished watching the video yet, but I thought I'd answer Scrypt's question to the audience. On my old PC, I was trying to use a PS3 controller and that was with Morrowind. I tried XPadder or some other program, which actually worked when it emulated as an XBox 360 controller. I did finally get it working, though it took a bit of a process. When I got in the game, it didn't quite work out as I had hoped, so I stopped trying to use the PS3 controller on my PC. Last year, I bought a new Alienware PC and instead of trying to use a PS3 controller, I decided to buy a USB XBox 360 controller. That has worked out extremely well! I plug it in and it gets recognized. Recently, I've used it playing GTAV and I really enjoy it. I didn't have to do any configuration whatsoever for it to work, the game instantly recognized that I was playing with it. So, when the game was telling me how to use the controls, it showed the XBox 360 buttons. I did try the game with the keyboard and mouse, but thought the controller would make everything a bit simpler and give me more fluid movement. Thanks goes to Jon and Travis for their recommendation on getting that controller for my PC.

As for the Steam controller, I agree with a few things you guys said. I think the buttons being under the D-Pad area on the right might be odd, especially to someone who's used to having those buttons above. I'm not sure how it's going to work and I imagine for some games it might do well. Personally, I'm happy with my current set up and don't anticipate getting a Steam controller.

Thanks for the reply, @GregoPeck. The convenience of the XBox 360 controller is certainly a good thing. I'm thankful, since, in general, I prefer playing games with a controller. I thought Sony had mentioned driver support for PC for the DualShock 4 at some point, but that could have been a dream I had.

From what I've read about the Steam controller, it seems that the games will have to support it in order to get that same type of native recognition. Otherwise, you'll have to do some button-mapping to get the games to work. I don't anticipate the controller to natively support most Steam games. I'm sure Valve will have some user-contributed database of layout options that you can download from, but then you'll probably still have to do some tweaking to suit you're needs. Native SteamOS games won't have this problem. Developers are probably already being encouraged to patch their existing offerings with Steam Controller support.

I think the Alienware Steam Machine is at the top because the list looks like it's in alphabetical order. That $5,000 one is seriously awesome (hardware wise). 8TB SSD, that sounds awesome! Still, I spent less than that on my Alienware PC and it's superb, so I don't expect to be buying another PC or even a Steam Machine for a very long time.

It is possible that my Ozarka was fermented. Unlikely, but possible!