Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Trailer For The New Castlevania Anime On Netflix Is Out!

Netflix is spending a ton of money on original new content and one of the new shows that will be coming to the streaming service this July 7th is Castlevania. The new trailer doesn't pull any punches as it starts with someone putting a Castlevania game into an old Nintendo and then the Netflix logo and 8bit video morph into a few clips of the show. The animation style looks solid and I wasn't sure how i'd feel about a dark adult Castlevania but this looks like it could be pretty interesting.

What do you think of the new Castlevania trailer? Is this something you are going to watch when it drops on Netflix July 7th?

Didn't Get An NES Classic? John Riggs Reviews An NES Classic Bootleg.

For $20 this NES Classic bootleg is quite the deal and it comes with 500 games but is it any good? From the video I have serious doubts AND it doesn't even include The Legend of Zelda or at least I didn't see it when he scrolled through all 500 games.

My Continuing Adventures In Link Between Worlds

As i've said before, one of the main reasons I wanted a 3DS was to play Link Between Worlds, the direct sequel to A Link to the Past. I plan on writing on my journey through the game as it's quite good and think it might be interesting to read. Link to the Past isn't a very difficult game but it's fun, engrossing and a very tight and focused gameplay experience which is why it's always topped my list for one of the best games of all time. That said, Link to the Past is pretty easy if you play it in the right way and Link Between Worlds ups the ante some to make for a more interesting game. For instance, in traditional Zelda games death has no real effect on how you... Read All As i've said before, one of the main reasons I wanted a 3DS was to play Link Between Worlds, the direct sequel to A Link to the Past. I plan on writing on my journey through the game as it's quite good and think it might be interesting to read. Link to the Past isn't a very difficult game but it's fun, engrossing and a very tight and focused gameplay experience which is why it's always topped my list for one of the best games of all time. That said, Link to the Past is pretty easy if you play it in the right way and Link Between Worlds ups the ante some to make for a more interesting game. For instance, in traditional Zelda games death has no real effect on how you play the game. In fact starting with Link to the Past you can collect Fairies in bottles to bring you back to life each time you die. Effectively this means that if you have the maximum number of bottles and play the game reasonably well, death has no negative effect on gameplay. Link Between Worlds tries to change this with item rentals. At a certain early point in the game you meet a purple rabbit named Ravio that takes over the house you start in to rent and later sell you items. If you die in a dungeon Ravio takes you to the house again and removes your item rentals. It's an interesting mechanic where dying actually has some kind of downside and I think it's pretty cool. Even though you can store fairies to restore you back to life if you lost an item you need to complete a dungeon, you still have to go and get it. Later on in the early part of the game Ravio allows you the ability to buy items for 800 gold, which removes some of the negatives of dying but buying out all the items takes along time and I've only purchased a couple of them. Buying items is also different than the traditional Zelda way of finding them in dungeons which is a fresh take on how Zelda games work.

Recently I just gathered all three pendants and collected the Master Sword. This mirrors the original Link to the Past and I wonder what the Link Between Worlds equivalent of the Dark World is? Maybe it's the Dark World again? I'm not sure as I haven't read many spoilers about the game but when I find out i'll let you know.

James & Mike Play Alien Vs Predator Arcade & Talk About The Alien Franchise

I'm really excited to see the new Ridley Scott Alien: Covenant film and I don't think i'm the only one as there seems to be a lot of recent videos looking at the old Alien films and franchise games. In the video James and Mike of Cinemassacre play the old Alien VS Predator arcade game and talk about the Alien VS Predator film and other Alien nerdery. I'm going to watch Alien: Covenant with friends tomorrow and have really been enjoying the gaming commentary about these older franchise games and movie series retrospectives. If you are looking for a good Alien series retrospective before you head to the theater to watch the next Alien film Cinemassacre has a long... Read All

Cygnus Destroyer Takes Aliens Colonial Marines to Court!

Aliens Colonial Marines is the Gearbox and Sega 2013 smash failure that many view as one of the worst games of all time. Because of this and the release of the brand new Alien: Covenant film Cygnus Destroyer takes Aliens Colonial Marines to the Innocent Until Proven Guilty court. It's a solid review and I think his take is fair and now that all the hype of this game is over I think people can look at it again with a fresh perspective.

Spoiler-free Breath of the Wild Wii U Review

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Review

Recommended

Open-world

Available for Wii U and Switch

amiibo functionality

Long game

I’ve been looking forward to Breath of the Wild for years now, although it didn’t have an official title for a while. I was expecting a new Zelda game for the Wii U. We even had video of it and learned that it would be an open world game. I remember seeing Link in mid-air with time nearly frozen, in which he shoots an enemy with an arrow. I thought that looked cool. The game got delayed and a bit of an evolution by the end of it’s development. That evolution was the Switch.

I was interested in the Switch, but more more interested in BotW. I decided to buy the Wii U version of... Read All

Are Some Apps And Games The New Nicotine?

http://media-hearth.cursecdn.com/avatars/284/56/635943064776665933.jpeg

A month ago after the launch of the latest Hearthstone expansion I decided to stop playing. It seemed like the right thing to do after playing it nearly every day for four years but I wondered if it would be hard to walk away from a game I played for so long? Come to find out it wasn't hard at all. Occasionally I check the Hearthstone community for interesting developments and there are some but for the most part I am just missing out on a new meta card cycle and new bag of community salt that comes from such a high profile game.

One of the reasons why I thought it might be hard to step away from a game i've played for almost four years is because of the sunk cost and... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/18/2017 at 05:33am

I saw that clip of Bill Maher as he just recently posted it. I kind of agree with his analysis, but I don't know that it's quite comparable to nicotine. I do play Words With Friends daily and I have other games I play. Gaming takes up a majority of my time, but I don't dare call it an addiction. I also watch stuff on YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix.

I'm surprised you decided to stop playing Hearthstone. You're the most enthusiastic Hearthstone gamer I know. I can compare my own relevant experience though. I've played Ark quite a lot in the last two years, in single player mode, on a server, and with mods. I took some breaks, sure, but there's always more to come back to since development is still on-going. I haven't played it much lately, which means there's plenty of "new" stuff for me. It seems like with two more patches all the creatures will be released. They're almost done with this stage of development, which has gotten extended.

I used to spend more time on Facebook and even played more apps, but I stopped. I got unhappy with my newsfeed and decided to ignore it and that's worked out for me. I'd be fine without it, but it provides and easy way to be in touch with many.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/19/2017 at 03:13am

> I saw that clip of Bill Maher as he just recently posted it. I kind of agree with his analysis, but I don't know that it's quite comparable to nicotine.

It's not a perfect analogy but I think for some people it's a good one. If you look at the habits of people now lots of us are buried in our phones and less responsive to people. I'm not saying smartphones are bad, I think they are one of the coolest inventions of all time but they allow us the ability to be connected 24/7 and I think that comes with a real world cost. For instance, I put my phone down when i'm with my son and am spending time watching him because I find that if I have my phone I spend more time doing that than playing with him. He is 11 months old now and I don't want to miss much as he is so sweet and if I was really hooked on Hearthstone or something else that would really take away from time with him.

> I'm surprised you decided to stop playing Hearthstone. You're the most enthusiastic Hearthstone gamer I know.

Yeah, it's a great game and if I had to make a top 50 list it would be on it! I love gaming but I think it's a good thing to see what other games are out there and see if I could play something else for a time. I still plan on coming back to Hearthstone at some point but it's good to just step away for no other reason than I can and it's been a nice change.

> I used to spend more time on Facebook and even played more apps, but I stopped. I got unhappy with my newsfeed and decided to ignore it and that's worked out for me. I'd be fine without it, but it provides and easy way to be in touch with many.

I used to check Facebook more times a day than I could count. Hundreds maybe. In the end I found the discussions to largely be toxic, the information I was taking in to not be useful and I didn't find the time I spent there to be something I was happy with. I now just go there to share baby pictures (because people asked me to) and that's about it. Funny thing is I thought that not logging in for a week would mean I wouldn't know what was happening in the world but I still read news sites so I still understand current events. I just miss people telling me what they think about it because i'm not reading that anymore.

I think in the end I like being able to focus my time in ways I think is useful and so far it's worked out pretty well. I also like talking about this kind of thing because I like thinking about it. Is the time we spend most of our lives on really how we want to live? Maybe for everyone it is, but i've found that thinking about it and figuring out where you want to be can inform the choices you make and that can have a useful outcome on your life.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/19/2017 at 03:46am

>It's not a perfect analogy but I think for some people it's a good one. If you look at the habits of people now lots of us are buried in our phones and less responsive to people. I'm not saying smartphones are bad, I think they are one of the coolest inventions of all time but they allow us the ability to be connected 24/7 and I think that comes with a real world cost. For instance, I put my phone down when i'm with my son and am spending time watching him because I find that if I have my phone I spend more time doing that than playing with him. He is 11 months old now and I don't want to miss much as he is so sweet and if I was really hooked on Hearthstone or something else that would really take away from time with him.

I agree with you. I always see people on their phones, driving, walking, standing, sitting, etc. The Internet is hype. LOL I don't spend much time on my phone unless I'm not at home. Then it still depends. If I'm out of Pokeballs and not near a Pokestop, then there's not much reason for me to play Pokemon Go. Haha.

>I used to check Facebook more times a day than I could count. Hundreds maybe. In the end I found the discussions to largely be toxic, the information I was taking in to not be useful and I didn't find the time I spent there to be something I was happy with. I now just go there to share baby pictures (because people asked me to) and that's about it. Funny thing is I thought that not logging in for a week would mean I wouldn't know what was happening in the world but I still read news sites so I still understand current events. I just miss people telling me what they think about it because i'm not reading that anymore

Yes, my experience is similar, it's too toxic and negative. I also "get my news" from a wide variety of other sources, much of which I read or watch on YouTube.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/20/2017 at 03:48am

> The Internet is hype.

Truest statement ever.

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Starting Out Link Between Worlds: The Follow Up To One Of The Greatest Games Of All Time

In 2013 Nintendo released the follow up to The Legend of Zelda A Link To The Past on the 3DS called The Legend of Zelda Link Between Worlds. It's a direct Zelda sequel, something we don't often get and is set some millennia after the original events of Link to the Past. Like many games in the Zelda timeline, there are new direct descendants of Link and Zelda called... Link and Zelda and some of the original characters from Link to the Past appear that seem to never age, like the Elder Sahasrahla. The game features nearly the exact same overworld map as Link to the Past and goes into pretty good detail to recreate it just as we all remember but change certain details... Read All In 2013 Nintendo released the follow up to The Legend of Zelda A Link To The Past on the 3DS called The Legend of Zelda Link Between Worlds. It's a direct Zelda sequel, something we don't often get and is set some millennia after the original events of Link to the Past. Like many games in the Zelda timeline, there are new direct descendants of Link and Zelda called... Link and Zelda and some of the original characters from Link to the Past appear that seem to never age, like the Elder Sahasrahla. The game features nearly the exact same overworld map as Link to the Past and goes into pretty good detail to recreate it just as we all remember but change certain details that would change if a couple hundred years passed since the original. Thing is though, it's not entirely clear from playing the game just how long have passed since the original events of the Link to the Past but it's so long that the original LTTP events is a kind of legend they tell each other and it doesn't seem to be on everyones mind until things happen that mirror the events in those legends.

And again, one good part of Link Between Worlds so far is how it ... Links... with the original Link to the Past. The game begins similarly to the original LTTP except this time you work for a Blacksmith and need to deliver a sword to one of the guards of Hyrule. Much like with LTTP you are thrown directly in to the game and need to stop the bad guy that isn't working for Ganon but you know.... more than likely totally working for Ganon. Hell he might BE Ganon but you know... no word on that yet.

Everything from the games top down style to the music and sound effects are directly influenced by the original Link to the Past. And since I consider Link to the Past to be one of the best games of all time, I think they made a good choice here. I'm only about an hour in but so far the games pacing, music and story are really well considered and are a "Nintendo top notch effort."

One of my hopes is that the vast catalog of 3DS, Wii & Wii U games get ported to the Switch so they can be enjoyed by a much larger audience but barring that, Link Between Worlds might be a reason to get a new 2DS or 3DS to play it alone. I mean, if you consider Link to the Past to be one of the best games of all time then why not play it's sequel? So far it's great but even if it doesn't live up to the original game in terms of greatness and I imagine it can't just hanging out in the world in a new way is well worth the time.

What Are You Playing Right Now?

Curious what everyone is playing right now? I'm playing two games starting with Fallout Shelter. I loaded it up on my iPhone for a recent trip and have been super hooked on it after experiencing most of the updates i've only read about. The addition of quests make the game feel like a proper Fallout game plus the addition of Mr Handy and other quest rewards like Bottle and Cappy really kick it up since I first played it when it launched.

I'm Preying right now with Besthesda/Arcane Studios new shooter Prey. So far i'm about 30 minutes in and there is no tie in to the original Prey, which was something they said previously. It seems like a mashup of System Shock, Portal... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/12/2017 at 04:45am

How is Prey? I don't know anything about it, perhaps I should watch that video.

I'm playing Twilight Princess HD right now so that I can get a stronger Wolf Link in Breath of the Wild via my amiibo. I'm working on getting through the Cave of Ordeals and I'm near the end of the game. I'm also playing Fallout Shelter on Steam and Pokemon Go.

vdogmr25 wrote on 05/12/2017 at 06:44pm

Prey looks super good! I can't wait to try it.

I finally bought Overwatch, and that's been fun. I love my Junkrat. Started replaying the Mass Effect Trilogy on Twitch. It amazes me how dated and stiff the first one seems in just a few years. Just finished Until Dawn for the first time. I thought it was really fun until my favorite character died in the last 3 minutes of the game. Still a bit salty about it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/12/2017 at 11:08pm

I need to get the Mass Effect series, I've never played it. I have ME2, it came free on Origin.

I finished Twilight Princess HD, without finishing the Cave of Ordeals. I did, however, manage to get my data uploaded to my Wolf Link amiibo, so soon I'm going to jump into BotW with a better Wolf Link.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/12/2017 at 11:14pm

Not too much at the moment. I took a break from FFXV for awhile, but recently jumped back in to try the timed quests that started back up this month.

I've also dusted off my PSP and been playing Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together. It's a fun and surprisingly challenging tactics game in the same vein as Final Fantasy Tactics. The game hits that sweet spot of being challenging without being frustrating.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/13/2017 at 04:42am

I am about 85 hours into Breath of the Wild. Still enjoying it quite a bit. I think this is the most that I have put into a game.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/13/2017 at 03:37pm

Playing Prey but I haven't felt up to it lately, crazy deep-head allergies are not great for sitting at a PC for extended periods of time. But that's re-awakened Mario Run for me. The balance changes they've made to the Toad Rally have really helped.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/13/2017 at 06:55pm

*growls at Travis's Mario Run Mii*
Seriously, the only Toad Rally I can never seem to win is against Travis lol (your Mii is unmistakable)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2017 at 08:32pm

> How is Prey? I don't know anything about it, perhaps I should watch that video.

It's a good shooter that seems to be fairly interesting. I'm not very far in so I can't give a super complete view of the game but if you love really polished sc-fi single player shooters this one is well worth looking into.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/13/2017 at 11:02pm

Eat it Farnsworth!

Lol. I love the airship runs.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/14/2017 at 04:54pm

It seems the only games I'm playing lately are Rocket League and Dirty Bomb. Dirty Bomb is a fairly standard FPS in the style of TF2, or maybe even Overwatch but not so over the top. The fact that it's free to play is awesome, but what's really cool is that it's very much skill/class based, without any 'pay to win' bs.

I did sample the Prey demo on PS4, and it was absolutely amazing. So fun, and I look forward to picking it up soon (probably on PS4). It has this really cool way of feeling like the best first-person sci-fi games of the past, while still feeling fresh and new.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/14/2017 at 08:23pm

A few days ago, I decided to replay Fallout: New Vegas. I've finished it on the PS3, but I got it on Steam last year. Playing quite a bit of Fallout Shelter on Steam made me want to play another Fallout game again. I may hold off on Breath of the Wild for a little bit longer.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 05/14/2017 at 09:33pm

Fallout: New Vegas is one of those at the top of my Wall of Shame (such a tall wall...). Not that I ever finished any of the other Fallouts, but I really enjoyed the time I spent in 3. Next on the list, though, is going to have to be Darksiders 2, especially with the recent reveal that #3 will be coming soon. Too many great games.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/18/2017 at 12:18am

After playing Fallout New Vegas, my enthusiasm dwindled. So, I'm back to playing Breath of the Wild. I'm not too far in, I just got spoilers from "the old man" and Impa. I'm glad that I get to use my Wolf Link amiibo, he really helps!

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Cygnus Destroyers Top 10 Disney Games!

If one had to list their top Disney games of now and the past Ducktales & Kingdom Hearts and the like would no doubt come up for most people. Cygnus Destroyer drops his top 10 Disney Games video on us as he celebrates the recent release of the Disney Afternoon Collection. His top Disney game is The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, something I haven't thought about in quite some time. The Magical Quest is an incredible game and one I rented quite a few times as a kid. It's not something I ever owned back then but it's an incredible Super Nintendo Game that is a best of breed Capcom platformer.

Disney games...they're among the best licensed tie-ins ever produced... Read All