Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Super Mario Bros. 3 Remix Review

RetroLiberty's Shauntendo64 reviews the Super Mario Brothers 3 hack, Super Mario Bros. 3 remix. This is a game that I am interested in playing as it mixes elements from Mario 2, 3, Super Mario World, Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Sunshine all on the Mario 3 engine. It's a great review and the ROM hack looks like one of the more creative fan versions of the game.

Heroes Of The Storm Beta Key Giveaway II

I guess Blizzard likes me because I have four more beta keys to giveaway. This time I am giving preference to long time Cheerful Ghost users. So if you want a key, hit me up in the comments and i'll send it your way!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/09/2015 at 04:06pm

This is a very fun MOBA! I recommend everyone check it out!

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/09/2015 at 06:24pm

More fun than LoL?!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/09/2015 at 07:29pm

I've actually never played LoL. But I've played Dota2 a ton. It's not quite as good as Dota2, but that could be because that was my first, or because I've put so much more time into it.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/09/2015 at 07:40pm

Right on. I should probably just try it. I'll queue it up tonight.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/09/2015 at 10:09pm

I've played LoL and DOTA2 one about as much as the other, and the hyper-elitism turned me off. I'm sure Heroes will get there as well, but the learning curve is a little better so you aren't kicked or ganged up on because you suck.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/09/2015 at 10:10pm

And that also goes into Greg's discussion about competitive games. DOTA2 and LoL go far past my competitiveness threshold, so I may not be the right person to ask about how Heroes compares.

rettisawesome wrote on 04/09/2015 at 10:41pm

I would play if there were any more keys. But no worries if not.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/09/2015 at 10:50pm

rettisawesome: sent.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/10/2015 at 06:09am

Started it up and played through several of the practice matches. It's a lot more simple than both DotA 2 and LoL, but I kinda like that. I could see sinking a few hundred hours into this ;). Tempted to pick up the Nexus Bundle...

scrypt Supporter wrote on 04/10/2015 at 03:28pm

Just changed my Battle.net ID to scrypt#1203, to make myself easier to find, for those who want to par-tay :squirrel:.

JaBo wrote on 04/10/2015 at 08:14pm

I'd probably play with rett if you have an extra key. I love MOBAs (like dota 2). I tried getting Tim to play dota2 with me. He tried once and we had some asshat with us that I quickly defriended after he went all rage mode... poor Timmy...

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/10/2015 at 08:34pm

JaBo: sent.

JaBo wrote on 04/10/2015 at 09:12pm

Awesome! Rett let's play!

rettisawesome wrote on 04/11/2015 at 06:42pm

Thank you much! Jason m down. I'll install asap

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Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Patch 2.2.0 Now Live

There have been quite a few notable changes, so please see the link below for details. Among the changes that I noticed were the addition of three new Treasure Goblins and the removal of health potions. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Treasure Goblins and hoping that they don't escape me since that has happened more frequently lately, perhaps due to playing at a higher level of difficulty. I'm not sure how the removal of health potions is going to work out, so I'm just going to have to play to figure that out.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/18642492/patch-220-now-live-4-7-2015

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/08/2015 at 10:12pm

I have not yet run into any of the new Treasure Goblins. I noticed, by viewing my profile, that I've actually spent a lot of hours playing this game. Yet, I still have not had a Treasure Goblin open a portal upon its death. Although, this always happens with a Rainbow Goblin.

When I created my Wizard, I noticed he had an opening cut-scene kind of thing that basically introduced him. I don't recall seeing this on my other characters, certainly not with any of the more recent ones I created. I think this might have had to do with the new patch perhaps resetting some configuration. I tried to see the one for the Witch Doctor I created, but even resetting his quests did not show it. I found out, with a Google search, that the game skips cut-scenes if you've already seen them, even if that option in the configuration is not set. Thus, to resolve that issue, you can edit the game's configuration file and reset them. I did this, but still did not see the opening for my Witch Doctor.

All classes received some reconfiguration (as usual) and so I'm thinking, after I finish with my Wizard, of creating a new character for each class. One of my other reasons for doing that is because when I first played, and after not playing for a while, I didn't use most of my skills. After playing more, I began to use them more often. So, I'd like to go back and test them out, since I usually select the new skills that are available upon leveling up. While I'm tempted to delete and replace my old characters, I still have extra character slots available, since I upgraded to the Collector's Edition, so I may hold off on deletion for now. If I create new characters, as I intend to do, I think I'm going to create female characters and go through Campaign mode to see (or hear) the difference, since I've only created male characters so far. I'm also thinking I may select the Enchantress as a follower for these new characters, since I pretty much always select the Templar as a follower. That all is just to change things and see and hear the variations.

It is difficult to pick a favorite class because they all seem quite powerful and capable. I've enjoyed playing all of them. The reason I stated in this post that the Witch Doctor was among my favorites was because of his ability to summon companions, Zombie Dogs, and a Gargantuan. I found this to be very helpful. The Demon Hunter can summon a companion, too, which I enjoyed. The Wizard can also summon a Familiar.

Anyway, let me know if you're playing the game now that it has been patched again. Let me know if you've run into any of the new stuff. Also, feel free to leave your thoughts on the classes.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/09/2015 at 01:57am

This patch looks pretty good and it's nice to see them update it still. I created a new Demon Hunter and she seems fun but I had the level way to high for a brand new character.

Haven't seen any of the new treasure goblins but I did get lucky last year and opened a portal to the treasure goblin lair, which was really fun I hope you get that Greg.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/09/2015 at 02:50am

Yeah, I start out on Normal and increase it as I progress. If I notice I'm not really taking any damage, then that's a good indicator that I'm ready to increase the difficulty. My new Wizard is on Master or Expert now and I'm in Act II.

That's cool that you have a female character. In my event, I mentioned the trouble of naming characters, but the interesting thing is I think I have some good names for female characters, instead of the males. My (male) Witch Doctor is "TheDoctor," a Doctor Who reference, and my (male) Wizard is "TheWizard," a Black Sabbath reference. I'm thinking of naming a female Barbarian "Starbuck," in reference to the rebooted Battlestar Galactica or "Fang" from FFXIII. I also thought "Paine" from FFX-2 might be a good Barbarian, too. I think a female Witch Doctor could be named "Lulu" from FFX, but she would also make a good Wizard. "Yuna" from FFX might also be a good Wizard, or a Demon Hunter because of her gun usage in FFX-2. I'll decide when I get there, I guess. My first character, a male Barbarian, I named "GregoPeck." Then, I named my next one, a male Crusader, "Peck." After that, I named my male Demon Hunter, "Grego." Do you have the same issue, with naming new characters?

I remember you mentioning getting into that portal from a Treasure Goblin, I hope one opens for me some time. Just recently, with my new Wizard, I've run into two Rainbow Goblins, so with him I've visited Whimsydale twice already. I've run into maybe about five regular Treasure Goblins so far.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/09/2015 at 03:56am

I'm curious if anyone here has found Leoric's Signet. The only farming I've done in the game was to get the Herding Staff ingredients so I could go to Whimsyshire, which I was able to do successfully. I'm tempted to try to farm for LS, but not sure if I want to spend the time to try, though it may be worth it. If anyone got it, let me know if you farmed for it or got it randomly. If you farmed for it, feel free to tell me how you proceeded.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/09/2015 at 03:59am

I haven't, but it looks like a very cool ring.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/13/2015 at 12:43am

I decided to try to farm for Leoric's Signet, but was not successful, and I eventually gave up with good reason. Most of the farming strategies I came across mentioned getting 5 NV (Nephalem Valor) point stacks and using MP (Monster Power) 10. I found out that NV and MP were removed from the game (before I started playing), so that made those strategies useless. I then had trouble finding any more recent strategies for this (a year old or so). I then found out that farming for Legendaries is better to do in Nephalem Rifts, which I tried. During that, one time trial, I ran into one of the new Treasure Goblins, I think it was an Insufferable Miscreant. I also found out that Legendaries can drop at any time and can scale to the level of your character. So, it seems Leoric's Signet is no longer necessarily a level 14 ring.

Therefore, I gave up on my quest to find it and decided to continue playing the game with my Wizard. I want to finish Campaign mode with him and I've just recently made it to Act V. I believe I am playing on Torment 1 and it is difficult. Since my Crusader is level 47 (or so), I don't know if I completed Campaign Mode with him. So, I may do that with him or or create a new one.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/15/2015 at 11:45am

I think it's cool how I can still learn things about a game, even after having spent plenty of hours playing it. Yesterday, I finished Campaign Mode with my Wizard. Since I wasn't sure if I did that with my Crusader, I decided to delete the old one and re-create him. After I leveled up (to 2), I ended up hitting the "P" key for Paragon and found out that you can allocate those points right away. I thought you had to wait until you reached level 70 or 71 to do that. I guess that's only necessary if you haven't reached a Paragon level with any character before. I'm pretty sure they were effective right away because I ended up increasing the difficulty all the way to Torment 1, which is something I don't usually do in Act I.

I also wanted to replay the class since I know I initially hesitated to use class skills (1-4) and wanted to play again to see the progression of those skills. Also, when I created some of my characters, I'm sure I was thrown straight into the game without seeing their intro cut-scenes. Since I edited some settings in the configuration file, it seems that I get to see these when creating a new character. So, I may end up creating more new characters to do all of that.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/18/2015 at 05:03am

So, I've gone through a few difficulty changes with my Crusader. A few times I realized my character wasn't equipped or ready for some of the higher difficulty levels (like Torment II and III). Fighting Belial sucked once he changed to his final form. That was the only time he really hurt me and that made me die a few times, so I lowered the difficulty from Torment I to Expert, which made that battle winnable. It wasn't just that I died a few times, but also because when you die you have to start the whole battle again, which became a nuisance. After the battle, I raised the difficulty back to Torment I and went to the next Act. My Crusader is currently level 67. My Paragon level is 99.

Jon, I found a really awesome Legendary Belt for the Crusader that is really cool, you should check it out (link below). It's orange ability says, "Punish gains the effect of every rune." I didn't know that ability existed and wow is it helpful!
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/angel-hair-braid

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/18/2015 at 05:39am

Yeah, the games highest difficulties require you to get some really epic gear. I've found some nice stuff but it's not that great. I need to spend more time grinding out some better stuff.

With that, have you noticed loot dropping at better rates than before the patch? A friend thought it did and I hadn't tried the new patch yet.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/18/2015 at 06:15am

I'm not sure about that, the loot drop rates after the patch. I know that gets better with harder difficulty levels, but that's as far as I've noticed. I still want Leoric's Signet and the game has failed to deliver it to me. It has given me a Stolen Ring (link below), but disappointed me by giving me another one or two of them. I was also disappointed because when I was playing through with my Wizard, it kept giving me Legendary maces, so I have a few of those as well.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/stolen-ring

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/25/2015 at 04:20am

I finally got Leoric's Signet. It did actually drop in Act II by one of those Deceiving serpents. I finished with my Crusader (which really is an awesome class) and created a new, female, Barbarian and I found it with her. I also have two Liquid Rainbows, which means I've found three total in the game. I farmed for the first one to make the Herding Staff so I could visit Whimsyshire. They don't stack (Liquid Rainbow), which sucks because my chest is full. I decided not to sell Legendary items and I have bought all the slots available for the chest. I wish I could buy more. That doesn't mean all of my slots are full of Legendaries. My first slot is filled with gems, crafting materials, and some pieces of equipment since I ran out of room in the others. I also wish I had more character slots. I did get more when I upgraded to the Collector's Edition, but I don't think there's room enough to have one male and one female for each class.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/25/2015 at 02:09pm

That's great Greg. I kind of want to head back to Sanctuary after seeing everyone play the new patch.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/29/2015 at 10:08pm

I'll finish the game with my female Barbarian very soon and I'll probably start another female character (going down the list, which will probably be a Crusader). I may continue playing even more by creating new female characters to hear their dialog. There are still a few items I'm looking for like Cain's set pieces. I know there are also Keywardens that could drop keys needed for Uber boss fights or the Infernal Machine. Anyway, I thought I'd mention that I have two Legendary potions. I had to "research" how to use them. It's easy, just drag the Legendary potion to your health potion slot on the bar that contains that and your skills. Keep it in your inventory, though. They work like potions, but have added effects for a limited time, depending on which it is. The one I'm using adds armor. The other one I have gives you the ability to break through champion monster created walls, which I think isn't as great as the armor bonus.

http://www.diablowiki.net/Legendary_Health_Potions

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/30/2015 at 12:12am

Oh and BTW, my absolute favorite music in the entire game is the ending credits of Reaper of Souls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEmxhpLeeb0

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/01/2015 at 01:41am

That's a really good song. From all the recent Blizzard scores I have enjoyed the Reaper score the most.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/02/2015 at 12:21am

I was wrong about the character slots I have available. I have one male character for each class (so that makes 6, I believe). I also have one female Barbarian and now one female Crusader. So that makes 8 characters and I have 7 more slots available. So, yeah, I have plenty. I don't know why I thought I didn't have enough. LOL

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Criticisms For a Classic Game - Donkey Kong Country

With the Cheerful Ghost Games Club playing Half-life 2, my recent play through of The Legend of Zelda and now Donkey Kong Country I have been having a good time just playing through the classics. It's been really fun but as i've been reliving these games and often times I noticed things I hadn't before. With Donkey Kong Country and my recently play through of it may have tainted my perspective on what I used to think was a perfectly constructed game. Don't get me wrong, the play control, music and tone of the game are still unmatched but the game has some pretty huge glaring issues I never noticed before.

The biggest problem the game suffers from is that it gets it's... Read All

Game/Show Talks About Speedrunning

I thought this recent episode of Game/Show was well worth sharing as it covers an arena of gaming I mostly just watch with awe. A good speedrun is pretty magical and it's been a joy to see how quickly people can complete games like Ocarina of Time, which seems to be the current speedrun gold standard.

"Speedrunning! The competitive genre of choice recently that’s popping up on Reddit, Twitch, Youtube, and basically anywhere you can watch video. Recently popularized by people like Cosmo through his run of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, speedrunning is becoming the next big thing (and possible foil) to most games’ competitive scenes. Instead of doing your best to... Read All

Terraria 1.3 Hype Train Continues w Steamworks Integration

A new Terraria 1.3 trailer was released today that is no joke. The video shows off people joining a game using Steams match making service. Before, you had to set up a server if you want to play a quick game with your friends. From there it's a frenzied battle on what looks to be a Martian themed event.

Terraria 1.3 looks like it will be the biggest update ever, which is impressive considering how massive 1.2 was.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/02/2015 at 02:12am

Wow! And the new music was playing, too! The background also shows flying saucers! This update is going to be fantastic, I can't wait!!!

Travis Admin wrote on 04/02/2015 at 07:59pm

I think we still definitely should go for a dedicated server, but this is great for quick joins and stuff, so you don't HAVE to do that. Like if you just want to show me something in your world, it's much easier.

This is awesome. I can't believe how much has come out for this game since release. It's almost a different game!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/01/2015 at 05:02pm

Bee lovers, check out the new Bees Knees weapon showcased by ChippyGaming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU_jd3qb1aU

It's May already and June is right next door. I'm hoping soon we'll have an official released date for 1.3.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/02/2015 at 08:29pm

The bee stuff was one of my favorite parts of 1.2 so seeing that we will be getting more bee stuff is great.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/03/2015 at 05:00am

Yeah and it looks like they're getting their own biome! =)

Travis Admin wrote on 05/03/2015 at 06:59am

Where did you see that? There was already the beehive sub-biome in 1.2 but I haven't seen anything about a full biome.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/03/2015 at 07:05am

Ok, I was slightly confused. In the Chippy Gaming video (at almost a minute into it), James says, "every world has about 3 to 4 bee biomes..." I saw the video and heard that and was thinking the bees were getting a much larger biome. I believe I was mistaken. So yes, they have their own sub-biomes and I'm sure that is what he meant.

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April Fools is upon us!

Time to see what kind of gaming April Fools jokes come around.

In the main video above, Guild Wars 2 is treating us to some really amusing airplane noises and sepia effects. At least it's amusing for the first 30 minutes or so.

In Diablo III's PTR, you can go big-head mode and slaughter demons with 500% more head!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqmyUhQmvyY

What else have you guys seen?

Take This Play Through of Retro Classic Legend of Zelda

I've been feeling pretty horribly recently after coming down with the flu for the second time this year. Having the flu is a miserable process during which you find out how much unfortunate material can come out of your nose. I've been spending quite a lot of time resting and have had a few hours of time to fill. I've wanted to replay some classic NES titles, something Travis inspired me to do after he started his recent series 80's reruns(looking forward to the next installment). I decided to not cut any corners and head back to the grand daddy NES classic The Legend of Zelda. I am not going to spend much time aggrandizing the game, we all know how awesome it is.... Read All I've been feeling pretty horribly recently after coming down with the flu for the second time this year. Having the flu is a miserable process during which you find out how much unfortunate material can come out of your nose. I've been spending quite a lot of time resting and have had a few hours of time to fill. I've wanted to replay some classic NES titles, something Travis inspired me to do after he started his recent series 80's reruns(looking forward to the next installment). I decided to not cut any corners and head back to the grand daddy NES classic The Legend of Zelda. I am not going to spend much time aggrandizing the game, we all know how awesome it is. Instead I want to talk a bit about how I play the game and how that process went this time around.

First things first, The Legend of Zelda can be completed quickly if you have a good guide or know what you are doing. I spent about 5 days of an hour here and there and I had it completed quickly. As someone that is now enjoying smaller games, The Legend of Zelda shines here. I don't believe Nintendo set out to create a short game but due to NES limitations the game isn't very long.

The Legend of Zelda is an open world game such that you can complete certain dungeons out of order and spend a lot of time in the overworld before you start dungeon one. My typical play through finds me collecting the blue candle, shield, blue ring, blue sword, bombs, arrow, letter and red potion and bait before I start the first dungeon. When I was young I used to go directly to dungeon two to get the silver boomerang as that was MUCH more useful than the wooden one you get in dungeon one. From there I'd nab the bracelet and keep going to each dungeon until I could nab the master sword.

One useful thing that helps out quite a bit is overpowering yourself by collecting a bunch of stuff when you have the ability to as opposed to a bit at a time. The game ramps up pretty quickly in dungeon 6 and at that point you can't get the master sword yet so the dungeon is just really hard. So do yourself a favor and get everything you can before you enter a dungeon, it will help considerably.

The Legend of Zelda contains some really interesting dungeon design. The first few dungeons are good at dropping you into the game and to my taste get a little samey during the middle runs until dungeon seven, eight and nine which are superb. Dungeon seven is a standout in that instead of giving you something entirely new as most of the dungeons did to that point, it combines many things you've already seen. It also takes the difficulty down and I found it a very nice change of pace. Dungeon 8 brings the difficulty back and enforces that you must kill room after room of blue knights, which are in my view the hardest enemy in Zelda until you get the red ring.

http://www.gamedynamo.com/images/galleries/photo/966/the-legend-of-zelda-nes-screenshots-09.JPG

The final level mixes things up even more by bringing maze like mechanics to bear. It also contains the red ring, something you should immediately try to get as it makes completing the rest of dungeon much simpler.

The Legend of Zelda is a great game but has a few design points I thought might not have worked as they may have intended or I haven't seen in any Zelda game since. For instance you can collect keys and those keys will work in all of the dungeons. You can also purchase keys in shops. The Legend of Zelda also has dungeons where you don't need to visit every room to collect the important items. What this has the effect of doing is giving you a glut of keys if you know which rooms are useless. For instance, after dungeon two I had about 6 keys. This meant that I had to spend little time collecting them in later dungeons, which is part of the Zelda puzzling mechanic. Later on you receive a magical key in dungeon 8 that allows you to unlock an infinite amount of locked doors. This is handy for dungeon nine and made it a much speedier process but practically speaking, you can get this behavior after dungeon two by hoarding keys.

One element I noticed this play through is how hard it is to hit enemies without taking damage yourself. I realized over time that one of the reason the boomerang exists isn't just to collect hard to reach items but make it so you can kill enemies without taking as much damage as you would otherwise. The stun first and sword attack is critical in this game as it isn't in later Zelda titles. For instance in The Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past the boomerang can be used to stun and it's useful but it's not as critical as it is in this game to stay alive.

If you have any thoughts about the Legend of Zelda or anything i've written about let me know in the comments.

Humble Indie Bundle 14 Drops

The Humble Indie Bundle is back with it's 14th-ist Bundle yet! Featuring the Indie smash hits Pixel Piracy, UnEpic, Outlast, Torchlight II, La-Mulaa and Super Splatters. Pay more than the currently $10 average to unlock Shadow Warrior Special Edition and if you pay $40 you get a neat shirt, patch and scarf. I've always wanted a scarf.

As per normal all the Humble Indie Bundle games come with Linux, Mac and Windows ports DRM free as well as Steam Keys so you can unlock it over there.

I've been interested in trying Pixel Piracy, is this the right time to pull the trigger?

Legend of Dungeon: Legend Heroes

A free update recently dropped in the laps of all Legend of Dungeon fans. The game finally gets some cool new unlockable classes including pets! Getting more build diversity sounds like a good move as it will give the game even more replayability.