Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Should The Legend of Zelda Franchise Feature Zelda?

In this recent episode of Game/Show Jamin asks "Why can't Link be a girl?" And whereas that's not a bad question, i'd rather flip it to ask why Zelda can't be the hero of a game named after her? She seems capable and I bet Link could use a vacation. Jamin asks the question if people may be turned off by Link being a female and as I thought about it I imagine some would be. That said those people are more rare these days and getting a great Zelda game featuring Zelda or Femlink would be too interesting to avoid.

I was talking about this the other day with friends and one of them mentioned Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon as a game that features Zelda as the main character. I... Read All

New To Me: The GDC 2012 Portal 2 Post Mortem

If you love Portal 2 and by some chance missed the writers of Portal 2, Chet and Erik do a post mortem of Portal 2 at GDC I highly recommend you watch it. They cover the original designs of what Portal 2 was supposed to be and how it became the game we all love. They give some hints at some secret mechanics of a future Valve title called "F Stop."

FTL Kestrel Adventures Is A Cool New FTL Fan Show

YouTuber Andrew Colunga recently created a new series of FTL cartoon shorts called FTL Kestrel Adventures. They mix up some original pixel art and in game FTL game captures to propel the story. It's a bit of a mixture of Machinima and original art, which is really neat to watch.

Episodes 1 and 2 are available to watch right now. Episode one is linked above, you can watch episode two by clicking below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7lZi-39UQ8

What Happened To Replayability In The Infinite Library Age?

Recently I completed the single player campaign for Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm again. When I was a young pup I used to replay games constantly. I'd speed run the original Mario Brothers (before I knew that was a thing) try and figure out how to complete the Legend of Zelda Link to the Past dark world dungeons in strange orders. When your video game library consisted of a handful of Super Nintendo and Nintendo titles, if you wanted to play games you played what you had. If I simply played games in Steam I haven't installed yet i'd be playing for years. Still, I love to head back and play games again. Last year I replayed Portal 2. I also reinstalled the original... Read All

rettisawesome wrote on 03/14/2015 at 06:21pm

Oh man. Romance of the three kingdoms is in my top 5 games. Although 8 is easily my favorite. I still play it.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/14/2015 at 06:39pm

I do love to try new games, but, with Steam for example, I tend to pick up anything cheap that looks potentially good. The intent to play these "gems" at some point is there, but it isn't as strong as the want to fall back into something I love to play.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/14/2015 at 06:55pm

Back when I was in college, I used to play Final Fantasy VIII about once a year. There are a few other games, like Final Fantasy X, that I played more frequently as well. In more recent years, I haven't really done that very often. I did replay a few Zelda games a few years ago, though.

Since you mentioned Red Alert, after playing Red Alert 3 a few months ago, I was thinking of replaying the entire series, but didn't. I used to often play the original C&C when it came out.

Lately, I seem to be jumping around to different games.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 03/14/2015 at 07:11pm

I usually have very limited play time and it's just easier for me to sit down and replay Final Fantasy Tactics, or Mega Man X, or Earthbound or something because I already know how to play and I know pretty much exactly how much I can get done in a certain amount of time. As my kids are getting older though it's getting easier to play, so I've been playing more new-ish games.

I have a couple games I plan to reply this year, like Kotor2 (with the restored content mod!) and the Majora's mask 3DS reissue, which I just started today. And of course we just played through Kotor1 as our games club.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/15/2015 at 04:35am

I have a few games on the replay circuit. The Portals and Half-Lives, The NES/SNES Mario games, Actraiser, most every id Software game, but yeah, replays are much more rare than they used to be.

dynamicInception wrote on 03/25/2015 at 12:57am

"And of course we just played through Kotor1 as our games club."

Aw man, I'm late to the party on this Games Club thing! I could have used the extra motivation to sit down and finally play KOTOR. Even got an original xbox recently...haha

dynamicInception wrote on 03/25/2015 at 01:05am

I find this age of the infinite library to be pretty overwhelming if I allow myself to think about it. The truth is, it's pretty near impossible for me to have all of the gaming experiences I would like to have in this lifetime. Even with the back catalog I've accumulated due to being an at-times-obsessive collector, I am well enough equipped to play great games non-stop for the next several years.

But then I remind myself to try to live in the moment, play whatever sounds most fun at the time, and just enjoy it. I've gotten an immense amount of pleasure from replaying Ocarina of Time with my fiance lately. Sometimes I'm aware of the fact that I could be spending that time on the GTAV campaign or finally starting Ni No Kuni, but it's still worth making time to replay the old favorites.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/25/2015 at 02:33am

"I find this age of the infinite library to be pretty overwhelming if I allow myself to think about it. The truth is, it's pretty near impossible for me to have all of the gaming experiences I would like to have in this lifetime."

I agree. As a completionist I would really like to play many games on my list but it's just not possible. Like you I sort of play what grabs me enough to make it through. I've been trying not to play through too many games at the same time as that seems to make it worse and I don't finish much of anything.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/25/2015 at 04:33pm

I don't remember the last game I finished because I have so many games. I suppose games like FTL and DoTA2 I've "Finished," but haven't unlocked hardly anything still.

Some games that I think would be fun to replay again:
1080 Snowboarding
Techmo Bowl
Moonwalker (the arcade version)
Final Fantasy II, III and VII
GoldenEye
NBA JAM
Maniac Mansion
The Oregon Trail
Super Castlevania
Contra III

scrypt Supporter wrote on 03/25/2015 at 05:13pm

These posts are great arguments in advocating shorter games. If the majority of games were the length of a Portal or Journey (and priced accordingly), it would be so much easier to cover a lot of ground, and still get that sense of satisfaction.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/26/2015 at 02:44am

"These posts are great arguments in advocating shorter games."

THIS to infinity. I think some games are WAY too long for myself, like Borderlands 2. That said many people love how long it is but I just kind of want it to be over. I just don't have the time for a 60 hour game and to get that kind of content games often make levels longer and add more fetch questing and the like. A real shining example of a game that was long but not too long was Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Portal 2. All killer and no filler.

Some other short games that were fun: Little Inferno, Hotline Miami, Fez & Ittle Dew(the best not Zelda Zelda game i've played yet).

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/26/2015 at 03:05am

I find myself on the other side of the spectrum here. I pretty much always prefer longer games. I'm not sure how long I've felt like that, but I can definitely see it in different parts of my gaming past. For instance, when I was playing Command & Conquer, I enjoyed the length of the game. Also, when Travis introduced me to Final Fantasy VIII and I became obsessed with Final Fantasy, I then really started enjoying longer games. I enjoyed that I could easily get maybe 60-100 hours in a good Final Fantasy game.

As for shorter games, I've often found myself disappointed that they were so short. Even Final Fantasy is guilty of disappointing me with a short game such as Dirge of Cerebus. Also, Mario games usually only take a couple or few days to finish and I think I had one Harry Potter game that also disappointed me after I completed it in such a short time. Also, my only complaint about Grand Theft Auto V was that it was too short, although still a great game. Sometimes I like short games, it just depends on what I'm doing, what I want to do, the game itself, and how much time I have or want to put into it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/26/2015 at 02:05pm

That makes sense Greg. I used to really love digging in to longer games like Neverwinter Nights and the Final Fantasy series too. Sometimes a longer game can hold my attention but that's really the exception these days and it's usually not a narrative driven game.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2015 at 03:58am

Damn, I thought GTAV was pretty long. I guess I thought it was the perfect length, really. Any longer and it would start to drag.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 03/27/2015 at 05:22pm

I feel like GTAV is pretty long, but then again I had to start over after my PS3 froze while saving and corrupted my save file. :P So I had to play through the first half of the game twice. It's kind of my fault for forgetting to save multiple save files.

rettisawesome wrote on 03/27/2015 at 10:09pm

I like long games. But I'm a freak. Short can be fun. And there is a place for them. I'm just into compelling story driven titles. I like immersive gameplay. And longer games do that better for me.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2015 at 10:11pm

I like both, pretty equally. I want a game to be exactly as long as it needs to be. I think Portal 2 was about as long as it should have been, and so was Skyrim (though to be fair, can you ever really say Skyrim is completed?)

Travis Admin wrote on 03/27/2015 at 10:16pm

And then you have some games where there's no clear end, like Minecraft and Terraria. MMOs as well. Those work because they keep you engaged, and fail if they don't.

Basically, if the game engages you for 8 hours and finishes, it's just as good as a game that engages you for 100 hours and finishes.

There's certainly an argument to be made for total entertainment for your money. Is it more valuable to buy Skyrim for $60 when you get hundreds of hours out of it or Bioshock Infinite for $60 when you get about 12ish?

Honestly I don't want games to be put into that kind of equation. The question is whether the game experience is worth $60 to you. If you're satisfied, it did a good job, regardless of length.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/27/2015 at 10:58pm

I wonder how many hours I spent on GTAV. I could most definitely check some time. I just thought the story mode was kind of short, or at least I expected it to be longer.

Yeah, Skyrim, I don't know how many hours I spent on the PS3 version, but I've apparently played the PC version for 108 hours. That really surprises me because I thought I spent less time on it than I had on the PS3. To me, for a game like Skyrim (and Final Fantasy), that's really damn good!

Terraria on the other hand, says I've played for 375 hours, which is AMAZING! Yet, I'm sure some of you have probably spent more playing it. I'm really surprised by that number. I also know for sure it's going to jump much higher in June when 1.3 is released. I'm not sure how much time I spent with Minecraft.

I pretty much agree with you about the game experience and price, it's all up to the player.

rettisawesome wrote on 03/28/2015 at 06:28pm

1200 hours on dota2.
1100 on morrowind.
400 oblivion.
200 fall out 3
125 skyrim.

And I can guarantee you add up all my runs of Kotor its up there with skyrim or fall out.

Like I said though. I'm obsessive.

rettisawesome wrote on 03/28/2015 at 06:29pm

Lol. Most hours on the free one. Haha

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/28/2015 at 06:57pm

Wow, that's quite impressive!
49 minutes Dota 2
141 hours Oblivion (I'm surprised, although I also played it on the PS3, though not sure how long even though I completed the game and the majority of the quests, so my PS3 hours are probably close to my PC hours.)
71 hours Fallout 3

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/29/2015 at 01:58am

"Honestly I don't want games to be put into that kind of equation. The question is whether the game experience is worth $60 to you. If you're satisfied, it did a good job, regardless of length."

Ultimately I agree with you Travis. If you love what you are playing then the cost is fine. With that, I have been spending less money on certain things than I used to because of the pretty high enjoyment I get out of video games and how much they cost. For instance, I used to go to the movies to the see the latest films. Over the last 5 years this has waned to only seeing a handful a films per year in the theater. When you add up the costs of tickets(because I bring my partner) and maybe buying some popcorn you can get to something close to $30 or more. Or I could buy the Star Wars Bundle for $15. In the end if you like what you spent money on then super, but I am getting to the point where I want to skip the theater entirely and just nab the Bluray or rent it.

So i'd say the money part is important but at the the end of the day if you love it, it was a good idea.

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Gabe Newell Talks About the PC, Steam Machines at GDC

Gabe Newell was on hand at GDC to talk about all the things Valve was talking about. If you wanted information about the PC, Steam Machines, Online Gaming and the Source 2 engine you should check it out. Come for the Valve information stay for the puns at the end of the video.

Goombas Fishing And Other Fine Art

Imgur is a great photo sharing site that has quite a lot of video game related content. Recently I found these photos of some cool art with a retro gaming twist. I love seeing those Goombas fishing but I don't want cheep cheep to take the bait. Flip the boat cheep, flip the boat.

http://imgur.com/a/q2Ur6

Blizzard Giving Away The Lost Vikings & Rock N Roll Racing

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/The_Lost_Vikings_SNES_cover.jpg

Blizzard has been making games for a long time as as such has amassed a catalog of classic games. They have been releasing their old Super Nintendo Games a bit at a time available for free on PC for download. They recently added The Lost Vikings & Rock N Roll Racing to the list of classic games available on Battle.net. While they were at it they also added a Mac port of Backthrone, a title previously made available. The SNES ports of all three titles are superb and Blizzard also took the time to re-translate the menus so that the in game text reflects the new PC keyboard control scheme.

It seems Blizzard is starting with porting it's earliest titles and moving... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/10/2015 at 01:52am

Thanks for sharing! I don't think I've played any of those games, but I'm going to install them. I haven't played WoW either, even though I believe I could play it for free until my character reaches level 20. I'm currently playing (and loving) Hearthstone. I have unlocked a mount, which you get by getting an achievement in Hearthstone. I believe it is available after you win 3 games in "Play" mode (which is when you play against real people, not the AI).

Travis Admin wrote on 03/10/2015 at 01:54am

They did this a while ago didn't they? I think someone wrote about one of them here.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/10/2015 at 01:57am

Actually, I think I have played Rock N Roll Racing before, a very long time ago. Thanks again for the links.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/10/2015 at 02:00am

Travis: They released Blackthorne awhile ago and I wrote about that. Rock N Roll Racing & The Lost Vikings are new + the Blackthrone Mac port.

Travis Admin wrote on 03/10/2015 at 03:02am

I say that because I've played The Lost Vikings on my PC a few months ago.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/05/03/blizzard-releases-the-lost-vikings-rock-n-roll-racing-blackthorne-for-free/

Looks like they've been around a while now.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/10/2015 at 03:03am

Yeah, for sure. I don't see an article filed under those games so ITS NEWS TO ME!

Travis Admin wrote on 03/10/2015 at 03:49am

But also, Mac port!

I was stoked to see Blizzard on the Vulkan support list. It doesn't guarantee anything, but Vulkan is getting a lot of Linux love. I hope they eventually branch out to Linux.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/10/2015 at 03:50am

That would be awesome.

rettisawesome wrote on 03/12/2015 at 10:55pm

In case anyone was wondering rock n roll racing is one of the best games ever. Do not let the name fool you. I sunk many hours into it when it was new. And I still have a ROM of it on my laptop so that I have something fun to play when on trips. Etc. Multiplayer was also legit. One of the first games I played that really impressed upon me the ideas I have about resource management, upgrading , and winning no matter how many people you have to hurt.

rettisawesome wrote on 03/12/2015 at 10:56pm

By laptop I should have said netbook. My small, not powerful laptop. Haha

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 03/13/2015 at 04:19am

I think I know of potentially one reason Blizzard is releasing these old games for free. To give these old characters some new visibility. They recently brought back The Lost Vikings as a Heroes of the Storm character(thats right, just one character). I've heard it's a really cool character to play as because you switch up the Viking you play as on the fly.

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes/the-lost-vikings/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 03/13/2015 at 09:07pm

If you look on the list of heroes you'll also see E.T.C. I think Rock N Roll Racing is his game. While it says "coming soon," I was able to play as him last night.

http://us.battle.net/heroes/en/heroes/

Travis Admin wrote on 03/14/2015 at 05:30am

That's a very good point. They need more characters to choose from. Is the murlock playable yet? :D

jaelte wrote on 03/14/2015 at 05:59pm

Oh man, I played the hell out of The Lost Vikings back in the day. And I definitely remember hours of fun with friends playing Rock 'n' Roll Racing (Olaf is in another time zone!). Thank you for post this; I hadn't known about it either.

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Nab Syndicate 1993 For Free on Origin

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/Syndicate_screenshot.png

Do you have free time but lack games to play? Do you love going back to classic retro titles? You are in luck as EA is now giving away Syndicate 1993 to everyone on Origin.

https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house

Cheerful Ghost at Gamestorm 2015

The folk that put on the local Portland game convention Gamestorm invited me this year. So if you are going to the event or are planning on being in the area, let me know so we can hangout for a bit. I am also bringing a limited amount of the new Cheerful Ghost stickers so make sure to let me know you want one and i'll make sure you get it. I'll be at the con Saturday(March 21st) walking around interviewing various people involved with the convention and playing a few games if I can.

Gamestorm is a great local con that focuses on board games, table top RPGs, LARPs, collectible card games & miniatures. It's a pretty popular con in Portland and I like it because it... Read All

New Unreal Tournament Video + Early Alpha Thoughts

Last year Epic announced it was creating a new Unreal Tournament game and they were going to be doing things a bit different. Instead of creating a retail copy like in past iterations, the new Unreal Tournament would be released for free and developed in the open with the community. Recently at GDC they showed off a build of Unreal Tournament running on SteamOS/Linux and after seeing how well it was running in 4K I decided to see how well it would run on my PC.

Come to find out, you can download and install the latest pre-alpha build of Unreal Tournament on Mac and Windows right now by heading over to the site and registering. Sign up is simple and one thing you will... Read All Last year Epic announced it was creating a new Unreal Tournament game and they were going to be doing things a bit different. Instead of creating a retail copy like in past iterations, the new Unreal Tournament would be released for free and developed in the open with the community. Recently at GDC they showed off a build of Unreal Tournament running on SteamOS/Linux and after seeing how well it was running in 4K I decided to see how well it would run on my PC.

Come to find out, you can download and install the latest pre-alpha build of Unreal Tournament on Mac and Windows right now by heading over to the site and registering. Sign up is simple and one thing you will notice after you download the app is that Epic is building a games launcher similar to Steam or Battle.net. The launcher comes with the things you normally have like a friends list, list of games and news feed. The launcher worked well for me but seemed like it was missing some polish that other launchers have. I add the Epic Games Launcher to the list of game store/launchers I have beyond Steam, Battle.net, Uplay, Origin and now Epic.

The game ran pretty poorly on my Mac even at 720p. It ran at pretty low settings and it still wasn't great so I didn't spend much time playing the game there. I imagine they are nearly 100% focused on the Windows/PC market and as the game marches out of Alpha things on the Mac should get better.

After installing it on my PC the game ran like a dream. The game runs with a very high frame rate and was buttery smooth at 1080p. I maxed out the resolution on my monitor(2560x1600) and lost some frames but everything still looked good. The game started suffering when I increased my settings but I can always drop resolution to adjust.

The game feels like a refresh to the old Unreal Tournament we all love. Focusing on Deathmatch and Capture the Flag is essential for any Unreal Tournament game and those modes are done well. They are somewhat light on modifiers compared to the old games but those should come with time. The games art is also fairly light at the moment and lacks the rich textures of UT2004 and UTBlack but even with more simplified graphics, the game looks great.

I played a few bot & online matches and had fun. When I was playing there were 400 others playing too so it's a pretty active game for early alpha. I also got my ass handed to me so if you are looking for the challenge of the old Unreal Tournament this game has it.

Epic is a company like any other so one thing I was wondering about was how they are going to make money from the game releasing it for free. They have said they won't do micro transactions or the like so unless this game is charitable, some kind of money making plan is in order. In the Epic Games Launcher they have an Unreal market where players can create all manner of helmets & skins to sell. Epic takes a cut of the sale and this is how they plan to fund the game. It's a pretty solid model that works well for Valve & Blizzard and I hope Epic can make the game work with it.

If you are looking to test out the new Unreal Tournament early alpha you can head over to the site, register and download the launcher. As the game continues to advance I'll keep you all posted. I am happy to see Epic come back and give Unreal Tournament some love and hope this version lives up to the legacy of it's past.

http://www.unrealtournament.com/

Travis Admin wrote on 03/06/2015 at 04:50am

I didn't realize it was out either, and I was coming to post this myself earlier. I'm in the process of downloading it to Mac and PC as we speak. My Mac technically meets the system requirements but I bet the Intel graphics are going to make it unplayable. I'm going to try it, at least! Borderlands 2 does well, as do some other new games, so why not?

rettisawesome wrote on 03/06/2015 at 04:03pm

omg. UT is the best LAN party game ever. many hour of CtF and of course CAR BALL! (google it if you must)
this looks amazing. not sure if my comp is up to the task. but imma try anyways. good find!

Travis Admin wrote on 03/07/2015 at 05:38am

Your computer is up to the task, I'd almost bet on it.

I just played around with my Mac and PC, and my Mac has fairly meager specs for gaming, with Intel integrated graphics. It autodetects your hardware at first launch, and while it didn't look pretty, it was very smooth.

My gaming PC is much better, though. I could hike all the graphics settings to high (but not epic) and get smooth fps.

This feels just like the original UT with some polish. The controls handle beautifully, and my favorite weapon, the flak cannon, is still as satisfying and chaotic as ever. The bot AI is also still as dumb as ever. Maybe dumber. But this is an alpha, and that can change.

Overall it's definitely worth a look.

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