Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

A good jumping off point.

As someone who's never written anything about video games before, i figured this game would be a good one to start with.

Final Fantasy VII has held title of my favorite video game for about twelve years now. When i got my first copy in 1999, i didn't know anything about it. in fact, I believe my father got it for me as a gift as a mistake, thinking it was another game that i had asked for. It was terribly exciting to me when i started playing it, as a six or seven year old, because it had bad words in it like "damn" and it made me feel very adult and grown up, so it peaked my interest. At the time, i didn't quite have the capacity to undertake a game as involved as... Read All As someone who's never written anything about video games before, i figured this game would be a good one to start with.

Final Fantasy VII has held title of my favorite video game for about twelve years now. When i got my first copy in 1999, i didn't know anything about it. in fact, I believe my father got it for me as a gift as a mistake, thinking it was another game that i had asked for. It was terribly exciting to me when i started playing it, as a six or seven year old, because it had bad words in it like "damn" and it made me feel very adult and grown up, so it peaked my interest. At the time, i didn't quite have the capacity to undertake a game as involved as this one, so i grew bored with it about halfway through the first disc and i set it aside.

A few years ago, i picked it back up again, hearing that it was gathering monetary value as a cult following game and that it might be worth some money. I was not too turned by it's value, but instead by it's refound popularity. i decided to give it another go and ended up playing through to the part where Cloud and Cid (and whomever else is in your party at the time) fight Palmer and his goons and take off on the Tiny Bronco, and got stuck at that spot due to an error in the disc. i held that spot for several months waiting to find a cheaper copy at my local used game store. I ended up getting a very nice black label copy for i believe $20, which was incredible since at the time it was going for $75-150 on ebay depending on it's condition. I took it home, popped it in the playstation, played through the battle several times (I was rusty), and jumped for joy when the Tiny Bronco flight scene played through without a hitch, and i continued the game. A few weeks later, finding little bits of down time here and there to play, i finally beat the game, and it was one of the most accomplished feelings i had ever had in my life. So, now that i've poured out my soul, i will talk about the game.

The game, in my humble opinion, holds its own today against modern video games as far as plot thickness and the ability to convey an extremely lengthy story while still being an action packed RPG. It has everything! Romance, comedy, suspense, confusion, even a twist! The sheer depth of this game still blows me away as something that came out on the original playstation platform. Yes, it had three discs, but it was hours of gameplay. i mean HOURS. the first time playing all the way through, i logged about 56 hours into this game. A ridiculous amount of time. (though it pales to the over 150 hours i have into Fallout 3 on my pc...) There's just so much going on in the story of this game, it's like an interactive television series, with all it's twists and turns, new characters, new areas, plot twists, good guys, bad guys, good guys who turn out to be bad guys but are still kinda on your side in the end, side quests, and for the most part, it's an open world game. Sure, you have to follow the story line, but you can go pretty much wherever you want.

I'm not terribly good at writing about things. You should just go play the game.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/01/2014 at 09:19pm

I think you're just fine at writing about things. And yes, Final Fantasy VII is an incredible game. I also loved VIII, which many people seem to dislike. It was different in quite a few ways, but I have probably put more hours into it than any game besides Elder Scrolls games, Fallout games, and Terraria.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/01/2014 at 10:52pm

Travis, who commented here before I did, was the one who introduced me to Final Fantasy VIII. I agree with him with regards to how much I love FFVIII. It is actually my favorite of the Final Fantasy games. Aside from the game play, it's probably also because it was the first one I was really introduced to and loved so much. Since he introduced me to FFVIII, I decided to play all of the others that I could. FFVII is definitely one of the greatest of the series and likely the most popular of the series. You're right, that the game is hard to find now, extremely popular, and worth a lot of money. I can't recall how many times I've played it, but I've played it plenty of times. I didn't play it until I went off to college even though I've had a demo of it from PC Gamer for a very long time. I remember when the PS3 came out, we were all hoping that Square was going to give us a Final Fantasy VII remake, after all they did tease us with a trailer. Sadly, the game has not yet been remade. Still, there's a movie out for it. If you really enjoyed the game I suggest you find a copy of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Even still, if you have a PSP, I recommend getting Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. It's basically a prequel and is a really great game. I must admit that I cried at the end of it, but found out that I'm not the only guy who felt so emotional at the end of it. There's also Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus for the PS2. That game is about Vincent Valentine (the guy that I decided to name my son after). It was a short game and I don't think it was well received, but I think I liked it, but I've only played it once or twice. Thanks for posting!

Travis Admin wrote on 07/02/2014 at 01:34am

Crisis Core is a reason to own a PSP. It's so good. Very different, but so much fun.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/02/2014 at 02:02am

Not only that, Travis, but many other of the Final Fantasy games were made for the PSP and are awesome! I have FF Tactics, FFI-III, Crisis Core, and FFIV: The After Years, although I played it more on the Wii and very little on the PSP.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/02/2014 at 03:19am

Yeah, IV on the PSP is basically the definitive version. I need to actually play it. It's sitting on my hard drive... er... I mean... game shelf, yeah, that's the ticket... just waiting to be played.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/02/2014 at 04:29am

The after years really interests me. Hope it comes to Steam at some point.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/02/2014 at 05:48pm

I remember this game blew my mind back in the day, such a deep and engaging story line. Always great to read about it!

Zach_Foster Post Author wrote on 07/03/2014 at 12:16am

I have crisis core and i agree that if you didn't have a reason to own a PSP (which i already did), that game would be that reason. As a prequel i believe it exceeded my expectations. I also have Dirge of Cerberus, which was an off-base sequel to FFVII that followed the story line of Vincent, who was a lesser known almost secret character of FFVII, but ultimately one of the coolest characters in my opinion. The movie was pretty good, i do enjoy watching it. I also have a copy of FFVIII and a sealed copy of FFIX (i've never played it). FFVIII is alright, but i've not had enough hours into it to get a real feel for the game yet as i picked it up pretty recently.

I really appreciate that people are commenting on this. I found a flier for this site from my trip to PRGE last year and thought i'd give it a go if for no other reason than to compile a list of all of my games and consoles. Thank you for making this website!

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Mac Version & Achievements Coming To Terraria

Cenx, the Creative Director of Terraria just posted a teaser of a few new updates that may come to the game. They are working hard on new content to the game as well as Steam achievements and a Mac port.

"Again, there is always a chance for disaster. We are not promising or guaranteeing that we will release this. It is our intentions to do so but we will not release it unless it plays how it should."

Whereas it's not final and they might not ship the port at all, it's a good sign that they are working on it. Hopefully this paves the way for a SteamOS/Linux port which would pretty much be some of the most amazing news of the year.

... Read All

Blue_Element wrote on 06/30/2014 at 08:21pm

I am beyond excited for this, and I really hope everything works out. I have been able to play Terraria 1.2 using a wrapper, but it's kinda buggy/slow. And whenever there's an update, I have to open a trial version of a Windows emulator to login to Steam, update the game, and transfer the exe and content files in order to update the wrapper. It would be amazing to be able to play it natively.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/30/2014 at 08:23pm

I agree, the wrapper solution while getting the game to technically work, isn't awesome. Native ports are always the better solution, even if harder to do. I play quite a few games on my Mac and if I could Terraria from it? Awesome news.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/30/2014 at 09:25pm

I have a feeling this is also using a wrapper, just done by the official channels. Since the game was made in XNA, there's no native way to port it to Mac.

But yeah, I'd take a wrapper made by the devs behind the game over a wrapper someone posts on the forums any day. They work, and they work pretty well, but there are always problems.

Similar to Bastion-- It was done in XNA as well, and Ryan Gordon did that Linux port I believe, when it was in the humble bundle. It used a wrapper and it worked so amazingly.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/30/2014 at 10:01pm

"I have a feeling this is also using a wrapper, just done by the official channels. Since the game was made in XNA, there's no native way to port it to Mac."

This isn't technically true actually. That said, I have no idea what they are doing to port it BUT lots of games were written in XNA and later ported by... well I forget his name but he is the primary developer of the SDL bindings for C#. He ported Escape Goat 2 native as well as a bunch of others.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/30/2014 at 10:33pm

Well, hmm... I suppose wrapper may be the wrong word here. The only way of porting besides wineskin that I've heard of for Linux (maybe Mac) there's something called monogame that has to be used. It's not a wrapper in the same way wineskin is, but basically you run it through an interpretation layer, for lack of the proper term that eludes me, so you're compiling it through a "wrapper" that interprets the non-native code.

Now that I've written all that out (and I'll leave it there because it explains my thought process) this all just sounds like a third-party .net framework, full stop. :)

If there's another way of doing it I'd love to hear about it though, because that would be exciting!

Travis Admin wrote on 06/30/2014 at 10:38pm

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/192209/from_xna_to_monogame.php

That's what I was talking about. I just hadn't thought it through yet :)

Travis Admin wrote on 06/30/2014 at 10:44pm

OK, I just checked-- Escape Goat 2 was ported using monogame so we're talking about the same thing :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/30/2014 at 11:02pm

Awesome. Yeah, there are XNA -> Native translation layers for different platforms. I hope that's what they are using as it would make a possible Linux port way less strange than a Wine translation.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/01/2014 at 03:25am

monogame is almost definitely what they're using, which allows for Windows, Mac, Linux, a ton of consoles, iOS and Android, pretty much everything.

Also!
http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/an-update-on-things.154239/page-2#post-3100377

So yes, it looks like if the Mac port goes well, Linux is the next stop.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/01/2014 at 03:45am

Hot damn that's some of the best news in gaming this year. Totally incredible.

My list of reasons to use Windows just got a hell of a lot smaller. :godmode:

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Heroes of the Storm: Lets Play Diablo, Starcraft & Warcraft

A few weeks ago I was let in to Blizzard's latest game to make it to beta, Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard calls Heroes of the Storm a team brawler that at first glance seems to be yet another MOBA like DoTA or League of Legends. While the similarities abound there are some really huge differences and at the end of the day, for me, Heroes of the Storm is more my style.

Heroes of the Storm is part of Blizzards latest push into the Free to Play game genre. Starting with Hearthstone and now Heroes of the Storm, free to play is a pretty big push. Heroes of the Storm takes a page from League of Legends in that there are a few heroes that randomly unlock for you to play from... Read All A few weeks ago I was let in to Blizzard's latest game to make it to beta, Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard calls Heroes of the Storm a team brawler that at first glance seems to be yet another MOBA like DoTA or League of Legends. While the similarities abound there are some really huge differences and at the end of the day, for me, Heroes of the Storm is more my style.

Heroes of the Storm is part of Blizzards latest push into the Free to Play game genre. Starting with Hearthstone and now Heroes of the Storm, free to play is a pretty big push. Heroes of the Storm takes a page from League of Legends in that there are a few heroes that randomly unlock for you to play from week to week and if you want to use them permanently you have to buy them. You can buy them straight up with money or earn in game gold to do it. As with League of Legends and DoTA 2, Heroes of the Storm allows you to purchase skins to give your Heroes a unique flavor. Heroes of the Storm takes it a step further and also allows you the ability to purchase in game mounts.

Whereas DoTA 2 or League of Legends allows you to only play on one map, Heroes of the Storm ships with 4. Each map has a unique flavor and different objective to give your team a winning advantage. On one pirate themed level, beyond pushing to destroy the enemy teams base, you can collect gold coins to give to a pirate and if you collect enough he will bombard the enemy base.

One of the things that has kept me away from embracing League of Legends or DoTA 2 is how flippin' hard the game is to learn. Blizzard has stripped down the gameplay of Heroes of the Storm to it's basics and forgoes any kind of in game item purchasing. All you have is your hero and with each level you make choices about what skills to focus on. I really like the simplified gameplay and as such had no problem figuring things out. As someone that loves playing video games but doesn't have a zillion hours to master it, Heroes of the Storm is great.

I was skeptical Blizzard could bring another MOBA to the table that offered anything new but after playing Heroes of the Storm I can say, this isn't DoTA 2 or League of Legends, this is very different and it's good.

Oh right, the game is also beautiful. After turning up everything to the max the game looks incredible. The game didn't suffer from much lag either, but all the matches I played were against bots so that may be why.

I think it goes without saying that as a pretty big Blizzard fan, playing a game with Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft characters in it all fighting together is pretty awesome. It's also pretty strange to have Jim Raynor deal a killing blow to Kerrigan and and then Diablo in the same game. Each of the different universes characters fit really well in the game and it didn't ever seem strange to have them together for a minute.

Heroes of the Storm seems really polished to me and I hope they unleash the beta to more players soon so you can check it out. If you have tried it out, i'd love to hear what you think of the game.

The Firehose: Mario Kart Toys & The History of Cheat Codes

It looks like Nintendo will be partnering with McDonalds to bring us Mario Kart 8 happy meal toys. Now I haven't set foot in a McDonalds in years but this might be thing that gets me to head back.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/06/mario_kart_8_toys_boosting_into_mcdonalds_happy_meals

Redbull has an interesting article on the history of the video game cheat code. Some of this information is well known and some isn't but it's still neat to see it laid out well.

http://www.redbull.com/en/games/stories/1331660993180/the-history-of-the-cheat-code

Various Website SEO Information You Might Find Boring

This post is pretty technical and if you are not interested in learning more about the specifics of web applications, pass it by.

Making a website like Cheerful Ghost isn't too hard but it does takes time. When I first launched it I was proud of it and over the last few years I have improved it. Two ways the site lacked at launch was in terms of SEO(Search Engine Optimization) and social site sharing. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is basically the art of engineering your website in such a way that it is more attractive to search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. The more search results you show up in the more people come to your site and the better your site... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/28/2014 at 11:54pm

Maybe you can forgive me for my proof-reading eye, but I just found an error; "we have seen a very significant jump in the pages Google google now holds.." Do you see "Google google?" Oh, there's another; "It's hard to say how significant right now..." Do you mean "how significant that is right now?" =)

Well, you've created an awesome website and I think you've done a wonderful job with it! I think it's cool, too, that you're sharing this kind of information with us. One phrase I saw often in this post was that "Google loves it." I'm glad for that, I love Google! I'm also glad to see that the site is attracting more positive attention.

Recently, you posted on Facebook about how the site is getting targeted by hackers. I thought about posting a video of the song, "It Wasn't Me," by Shaggy. Hahahaha. Anyway, I hope those hackers have laid off of their attempts to bring this great site down. Although, I'm into computer technology and many aspects of it, I don't really know what you could do to prevent hackers from messing up this site. I do wonder what the status of that is though, if you've thought about things you can do to make this site less susceptible to hackers.

Keep up the good work and thanks again for an awesome website! =)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/30/2014 at 02:16am

Thanks Greg, an eye to editing isn't a bad thing.

I also don't think you are hacking us :D

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/30/2014 at 05:16am

=) I kind of hate pointing things out that I see because I'm afraid someone would take it personally or think that my intentions are to make one look stupid and myself smart. That's definitely not the case. I guess I feel like a natural proofreader. That said, Facebook is so damn annoying because people really seem to have no knowledge of the proper usage of the English language, including grammar and spelling. I think it's a bit ironic that many Americans will say, "you live in our country, you should speak our language," yet at the same time those people who say such things don't seem to have ever taken any elementary or remedial English courses in their life time. I recently saw a picture on Facebook of one person who had a sign that read something like, "you live in are country, speak English." Here in Virginia, a lot of people say "I seen," which gets on my nerves! Which reminds me of another Facebook post I read that said something like, "if you say 'I seen," then I assume you have never seen the inside of a book." HAHAHAHAHA. Anyway, I think typos and minor things such as I pointed out to you are just a part of the writing process. It happens and doesn't mean someone is stupid. Hahaha. After a while of posting on this site, I decided to re-read everything that I've written before posting so that what I've written makes sense and is free of error. I think it's just the part of me that's always been a writer.

Thanks again for an awesome website! Keep up the good work!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/30/2014 at 10:06pm

Yeah, no problem Greg!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/03/2014 at 05:37pm

I just had an idea that will perhaps change the way I create headings in my future posts. I noticed that the URL for my Fallout 3 post included the original heading I created. Neither the original heading nor the current heading contains the game's name and therefore is not reflected in the "friendly" URL. So I was thinking, what if the post's URL included the name of the game. Although, I also realize that it might be more simple for you if we included the name of the game in our headings, so you don't have to re-work the "friendly" URL. I think that will also help generate some results on a search engine.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/03/2014 at 07:37pm

Unless it makes sense to include it, I wouldn't add the game name to the post title. Again, unless it makes sense to add it.

Reason why is because I already add the game name to the HTML meta tags on the page. So Google Search, sharing on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ include it in the title(try it and see). ALSO we list the game name on the post page itself too.

Occasionally I put the post title in the header when it makes sense too(for interviews) but otherwise, i'd leave it out.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 07/03/2014 at 09:04pm

Ok, that's cool. I was just looking at the friendly URL.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/04/2014 at 04:33am

Right. I'd leave it our of the friendly URL as if we do it all the time it might give us a less awesome google SEO score.

Possibly.

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Terraria The Animated Series: Episode 1

This is going to be a terrible night.

The townsfolk stave off an eyeball invasion in the first episode of Terraria: The Animated Series, a fan project that isn't affiliated with Re-Logic but made by people who obviously love the game.

I was pretty impressed with the animation and humor of this. Especially the skeleton. I wish the arms dealer had been around, though, and I'm surprised the guide wasn't there just to die immediately.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/28/2014 at 06:01am

Yeah, the skeleton was pretty cool. The animation was really good. It looks like all the Minecraft parodies my son has watched. I've watch some of them, too, they're really cool.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/28/2014 at 04:50pm

Interesting.

Needless to say I __LOVE__ Terraria but I have mixed feelings about this. That said, it's good to see people doing interesting work with the universe.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/28/2014 at 10:16pm

Speaking of Terraria, I must not have played it on my new PC until after I purchased Fallout 3. As I was waiting for Fallout 3 to download, I thought I'd play Terraria. Although, I found difficulty in getting my download of Fallout 3 to continue as I played Terraria. I found a bit of a work around for that issue, yet it didn't quite work out. Anyway, I loaded up Terraria, created a new character, and a new world. Instantly I noticed how slow my character was moving in the game. I did a search with Google to find out how to resolve that issue. One of the links I found said that really low-end and high-end PCs have issues with Terraria, the game moves in slow-motion. It was suggested to turn Frame Skip on, but I think it already was on when I tried it. I believe turning Frame Skip off seemed to work better for me. Still, I didn't play for very long since I couldn't get Fallout 3 to continue downloading while playing Terraria, so I ended up spending some time with my Wii U instead. I also recently realized that Terraria was not "optimized" with GeForce Experience. I changed that, but haven't tried it out yet.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/29/2014 at 08:16pm

Steam will automatically stop any downloads you have going when you start a game, but you can alt-tab out of games and restart the download.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/29/2014 at 09:45pm

Yeah, that's the "fix" I mentioned, but I couldn't do it since the resume button didn't appear.

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Review For The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition Deluxe on PC

Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Review

Recommended

Different editions

Alchemy

Repair hammers

It's been less than a year since I first played Oblivion (Game of the Year Edition) on the PS3 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It exceeded my expectations. It's so great that I've been wanting to play it again.

Editions: When I searched in the Steam Store for Oblivion, I was surprised to find two versions of the game; a Game of the Year Edition and a Game of the Year Edition Deluxe version. Apparently the Deluxe version includes everything in the Game of the Year Edition plus a couple of extra quests and places you can live in.

So, I've started playing Oblivion and have only spent about 3 hours in the game... Read All Review

Recommended

Different editions

Alchemy

Repair hammers

It's been less than a year since I first played Oblivion (Game of the Year Edition) on the PS3 and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It exceeded my expectations. It's so great that I've been wanting to play it again.

Editions: When I searched in the Steam Store for Oblivion, I was surprised to find two versions of the game; a Game of the Year Edition and a Game of the Year Edition Deluxe version. Apparently the Deluxe version includes everything in the Game of the Year Edition plus a couple of extra quests and places you can live in.

So, I've started playing Oblivion and have only spent about 3 hours in the game (according to Steam). I have decided to play Oblivion the same way I did originally. For this game that means I'm an Imperial warrior that uses warhammers. One of the things that's new is that the Deluxe version has given me a few places to live. I have already visited each of them and began making one of them my home by storing some stuff in a chest there.

Alchemy: Another thing I've done differently is that I'm working on Alchemy, which I think I completely ignored the first time I played the game. I have started to use ingredients that I find to create some potions, even though the only potions I'm using are the ones that restore my health. Alchemy in Oblivion is different than in Skyrim. In Skyrim, you cannot see the effects of an ingredient until you eat it or use it. Oblivion, however, tells you what the effects are and seems to only allow you to combine ingredients that have the same effects.

Now that I have finished the very beginning of the game, I'm thinking I must have not fully explored that area when I first played it. This time around, I believe I've explored more thoroughly and found a lot of stuff. I came out of the sewers with a warhammer, which was the kind of weapon I used mostly when I first played the game, although I don't remember getting one so early before. Also, I have not yet died. When I first played, I found it difficult and I think I died a few times. I think that's because I was just beginning to play the game and wasn't as familiar with it as I am now.

Repair hammers: When it comes to my preference between Skyrim and Oblivion, I think both games have their differences, which makes them unique. I enjoyed not having to use repair hammers in Skyrim, but after a while I got used to having to do so in Oblivion. Eventually your Armorer skill increases and repair hammers don't break after being used. The only other Elder Scrolls game I've played is Morrowind, but I haven't finished it. I tried to play it again recently, but I didn't spend very much time with it.

So, I want to throw some questions to those of you who have played any version of Oblivion. Were you aware of the Deluxe version? I also wonder if you've had a similar experience with the game and find yourself loving it.

Update 11/2019
The last time I tried to play the game again was over a year ago. I remember being very fond of Oblivion, I really loved it. But now it seems too difficult. I’m not sure why that is. Apparently, you can change the level of difficulty, I must have missed that some where or forgot that you could do that. I remember being inside an Oblivion gate was tough, even the beginning was tough right before you go through the first portal. After that, I found myself helpless against a group of vampires.

Travis Admin wrote on 06/28/2014 at 02:57pm

Basically, the PS3 version got shit on. With the exception of Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, no DLC came to it. It's why I eventually bought it for 360 after having played it on PS3.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/28/2014 at 04:46pm

Oblivion is a lot of fun and had a pretty good ps3 port(I have it). Wish I could have continued with it as I had quite a bit of fun and it was my first experience with a Bethesda game.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/28/2014 at 08:11pm

Travis, I noticed you have it on Steam, too. Does the XBox version include everything that's in the Deluxe edition? I'm beginning to realize that it really must not bother us to buy a game multiple times to play it on different consoles or the PC. We must be serious gamers (I think that's an understatement). I'm also thinking that if I had an awesome PC like I do now back when some of these games came out and I had a Steam account, I might have saved some money by not getting the console versions of these games. Honestly, having this PC is getting me away from console gaming. I'm really glad that I finally have a PC that can play the latest games flawlessly. I'm also really glad that I have a Steam account. I should also once again say that I'm really glad to be an active member here at Cheerful Ghost. You guys have really had a big influence in my gaming life. So, thanks again for creating and maintaining an awesome website! =)

Travis Admin wrote on 06/29/2014 at 08:13pm

The Deluxe edition is only available on PC, and the GotY edition of Oblivion on Xbox 360 is the same as the PS3 version, but the extras that come in the Deluxe edition are all available as DLC on 360.

And then I bought it on PC for the mods. Oh, the mods.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/29/2014 at 09:52pm

Ah. Hahaha. In my Google searches about the differences between the two PC versions and information about the Data Files, I saw things about mods. Apparently, if you want to use mods, you'll find them in the Data Files section. I still haven't used any mods. What kind of mods did you end up using for Oblivion?

One quick note I want to make about Alchemy in Oblivion. Each ingredient has four effects and right away you're able to see the first effect. In order to see the other effects, you have to create some potions and get your Alchemy skill leveled up more. Since I've been collecting ingredients and using them to create potions, I've managed to get my Alchemy skill high enough to let me see the second effect of each ingredient.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/02/2014 at 09:49pm

After about 30 hours into the game and at about level 20 or so, I've decided to start the game over from the beginning. There were a few things I wanted to do differently. One of the things I wanted to do was spend more points in Intelligence to increase my total Magicka so that I could use higher level healing spells. I also wanted to loot more so that I could have enough gold to purchase a house in Skingrad while the NPC was still alive. While I played the game on the PS3, this character had died due to a bug. Even if he does die, I can use console commands here on the PC to bring him back to life. Another change was that I wanted to spend less gold on furnishing Deepscorn Hollow (one of the places you get a deed to thanks to the Deluxe edition) and save it for my place in Skingrad.

I made my decision last night after looking at a recommended quest timing guide (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Quest_Timing). Although I'm probably not going to follow that guide completely, I've already started out by doing the Zero Visibility quest right after I left the sewers at the very beginning. This gave me a free bed and storage space.

I was also thinking of doing the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests earlier in the game instead of later as I had done on the PS3. I wanted to kind of line those quests up along with the Knights of the Nine add-on so that I could more easily get rid of infamy.

Although I did not even consider quest timing while playing Morrowind or Skyrim, I see how helpful it can be in Oblivion. Since I love the game so much, I don't mind starting over and keeping the quest timing guide in mind. One other, insignificant, difference I've made is that I have blue hair. I was able to do that on the PS3 and some how missed doing it on the PC, but I've now corrected that. You've already noticed that I pretty much play characters very similarly in most of my games. If I can change colors of hair, eyes, clothes, or whatever, I choose blue, just because I love blue. =)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/02/2014 at 09:50pm

I might not worry about the quest timing guide's suggestions for allies. While they didn't bother me so much in Skyrim and actually served the simple purpose of being able to carry things, helping me loot more, I find that in Oblivion they just get in my way and I accidentally attack them, which sometimes causes them to turn against me.

Oh and I wanted to make a slight correction to something I said earlier. I said that I didn't remember coming out of the sewers with a warhammer, but doing the quest again proved that to be incorrect. It is lying in the middle of a small room and easily visible, so I'm sure I had it when I left the sewers the very first time I played the game.

I am curious as to when Steam's summer sale will be over. I believe that I will buy the Game of the Year Edition of Morrowind on Steam next. Even though I have the game, I don't own the add-on disks, so there may be an advantage to getting it from Steam. Although I can get the game running on my computer by running it as an administrator or in compatibility mode, I'm not sure how it will behave by getting it on Steam. With or without taking advantage of the summer sale, I'm sure the game is now very cheap.

Oh and the only issue I've had with Oblivion thus far is that it sometimes (or often) crashes upon exit. While this really isn't a problem, I did look for a solution and apparently the fix is to get a mod. At the moment, I'm not interested in getting any mods, although I am interested in knowing what mods you got for it, Travis.

(This comment post of mine ran over 3,000 characters, so I've separated it into two comments. This isn't the first time I've written too much for a comment post. Hahaha)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 08/07/2016 at 03:56pm

Care to recommend some mods? I didn't see a Workshop link on Steam, but I did find a post with a link to http://www.nexusmods.com/. There's a lot there. I'm not sure what I'm particularly interested in. Something to make it look better would be cool, although I never thought that it looked bad. I saw a higher encumbrance mod, which could be helpful as well. Perhaps something that removes the level cap would be interesting, too.

Travis Admin wrote on 08/08/2016 at 03:37am

Wow, two year necro post!

I only ever really messed with graphical mods. Darnified UI is great for making the menu and UI a bit better. Oblivion Character Overhaul makes the characters look ... well, less like Oblivion characters :D.

I have always hated how you level in Oblivion, so if you want to mess with that, see this reddit thread for different pros/cons of the different mods.

https://www.reddit.com/r/oblivion/comments/kj97b/best_leveling_mod_for_oblivion/

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Fallout 3 PS3 vs. PC

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/22370/header.jpg?t=1383348134

This section contains information about bugs, crashes, and issues along with some possible fixes.
I played and enjoyed Fallout 3 on the PS3, but I ran into some severe issues with it. The game crashed frequently and it ran at a lazy snail's pace, especially when I was playing the DLC quests. I also ran into bugs, like a teleporter not working on Mothership Zeta. Although in that particularly mission, I was able to resolve the issue, but with the other issues I had with the PS3 version I was not able to complete some of the DLC. Since I got a new computer months ago, I thought I'd play the game on the PC, thinking the PC version would be more stable. I was kind of right... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/30/2014 at 03:49am

That's not awesome to hear the game suffers on PC. Fallout 3 was one of my most beloved games of the last few years and I had a really great experience with it on the PS3. I know people really suffered from a ton of glitches with it, but it was mostly smooth sailing for me. Occasionally it would lock up, but that's common on a console.

That said, I still want to head back in the Capitol wasteland at some point and at least it's possible to get the game running well enough to enjoy it.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/30/2014 at 05:05am

I enjoyed it, too, but I believe I had more issues with it than any other game I've played. I had some similar issues with the New Vegas DLC, but not as serious nor as often. While I was unable to get through a lot of Fallout 3's DLC on the PS3, I was able to get through all of NV's DLC. I can only recall maybe a could of issues with Skyrim on the PS3. There was one quest I wasn't able to complete, but it wasn't part of the main quest. Also, when I first fought the end boss he was invincible. Luckily, getting around that issue was easy, you just had to let him finish speaking before attacking him. I saw other "glitchy" kind of things, but they were a bit minor. As for Oblivion, I wasn't able to purchase a property in Skingrad because the guy I was supposed to see about it died. The game showed his location, but his body couldn't be found. I'm hoping that I don't have that same issue on the PC, although having one less property isn't a major issue.

All that said, I've had issues with my PS3 for quite a while now. It often shuts off on it's own even not long after turning it on. It apparently has to do with the heat sink gel drying up or something similar. I can't even think now what we call that stuff. I could send it back to Sony for a price and they'll send me back a refurbished console. The issue is probably due to how old my PS3 is and also that for a time I had it standing vertically instead of horizontally. I have done some research and I found things that can be done to resolve the issue, but those fixes are only temporary.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/30/2014 at 10:05pm

Opening it up and vaccuming it out might help. I am certain that would void the warranty though, but if something was obvious you could see it. One time I had a CPU heatsink fall off. Kind of explained why everything sucked on the PC for a awhile. :D

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/01/2014 at 02:01am

Well the warranty has expired. I have vacuumed the vents, but that didn't seem to change anything. The PC I was using before this was had fan issues, not the CPU heat sink fan, but the case fans. Some of those fans died and I had to replace them. I built that PC. I think it supported about three case fans, although I think the case only came with two. I know it still gets hot. As for this PC, I didn't build it. It features a liquid cooling system. I haven't kept an eye on it's temperature though, so I honestly don't know how hot or cool it is inside. With the old PC, I was using some Windows Gadgets along with Speed Fan to tell me what the temperature inside was like. I could also feel the heat that was coming out of the fans. Ah, I so very much love my new PC! =)

Oh hey, how's that new GPU working out for you? Have you tried playing Terraria with it yet? If so, did you notice any difference? Remember, in another post, I said that I found that high-end and low-end PCs suffer from a slow motion glitch. I also read something about the game running off of your refresh rate or something similar. I think it's interesting that the "fix" for this issue was to turn on Frame Skip, yet I found that it worked better if I turned Frame Skip off.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/01/2014 at 04:29am

The GPU is working out great actually. Wheresa I didn't get to max out all my games like I wanted, I really enjoy how much I can push the games I have to look so much better. Overall it was a great upgrade and I can keep with my current PC, which is still pretty awesome.

I just tried Terraria and frame skip off seems to be a much smoother experience. Spend a few hours starting a new level and messing around, it was fun.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/01/2014 at 05:00am

=) I'm glad it's working out for you. Yes, I saw that you were playing Terraria, I figured you were testing it out. It surprises me that people suggested turning frame skip on, but it works better when it's off. I still want to play Terraria again. I'm still waiting for a Starbound update. Even though I enjoyed the game the first time I played it, I got very disappointed in that the only thing that got me to explore new worlds in new sectors was so that I could get better materials to make better weapons and armor. I'm hoping that the change in game progression will fix that a bit, although the real fix would probably be to add more quests and give players more reason to visit other planets. That's one thing that I like about Terraria, there's much more to do than to just mine for better materials.

Zach_Foster wrote on 07/03/2014 at 12:29am

I played this game primarily on PC, as when it came out the only console i had was a dusty old PS2 and i also ran into quite a lot of issues, but they seemed to keep up with the updates pretty well while the game was really active. The only time i ever had real issues i was very glad i was playing on a PC because you can... umm... well, make the game do what you want, with scripting it a bit. perhaps unethical, but if you're only using it to hop over walls and doors that are supposed to open that dont, i don't regard it as cheating. Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas brought me literally hundreds of hours of entertainment and i am entirely glad they exist.

I never got too much into the Elder Scrolls games. I played Morrowind at a friends house and couldn't get into it. not my kind of fantasy game i suppose. However, i do enjoy Skyrim every once in a while and i'm glad to see theyre making such beautiful progress with the series.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/03/2014 at 03:55am

Awesome, thanks for the comment, Zach! I think a bit of what you're talking about with regards to making games do what you want could be considered mods or cheating. I don't really think those are extremely unethical, perhaps some what, but developers seem to support and allow some mods. I'm not sure how many hours I've spent on Fallout and New Vegas, but I enjoyed them. I doubt that I will play New Vegas on the PC as I played it on the PS3 with very few issues. Still, I might some day.

I think Morrowind is kind of hard to get into, so I can agree with you there. Skyrim, on the other hand, is awesome. Oblivion is the one that comes in between the two and out of the three I believe Oblivion and Skyrim are the best. That said, I think if you like Skyrim, you'll like Oblivion.

Zach_Foster wrote on 07/03/2014 at 04:07am

I don't like to consider it modding or cheating when all you're doing is patching yourself through a glitch. for example there was a part in the PC version where after you rescue all the kids and take them back to little lamplight, you're supposed to talk to the mayor and he opens the gate for you to come in, but after you go back the mayor isn't up on the stand where you can focus on him and talk, he's on the ground behind the gate and the only way i found to fix it was to go in and place my character on the other side of the wall. from there you have the chat, he opens the gate, and you pretend nothing happened.

I was the only one i knew who played New Vegas and truly enjoyed it. I feel like it was a great game, but i felt like it was just a really long expansion pack because they were released to closely together and they were virtually the same game.

I'd give oblivion a try, it had a huge following and all my friends played it. I was just so put off by morrowind i didn't bother with it. The only reason why i ended up playing skyrim is because i bought a used copy for my little brother and had to test it out first and it sucked me in for a few hours... haha!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 07/03/2014 at 06:18am

I didn't have issues with Little Lamplight. I did rescue the kids from Paradise Falls (I think that was the place) because I killed the Slavers instead of working with them (that is when I played the PC version).

I liked New Vegas. I liked how the actor who plays Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the voice of the computer in the game. The one thing I didn't like about it was that you don't get to choose a new perk every level, it's every other level. Eventually, that wasn't such a big issue for me.

Yeah, I don't think Morrowind is as great as Oblivion and Skyrim. I'm not sure what lead me to play Skyrim, but I enjoyed it. Jon would agree with you about the first few hours. Oblivion really exceeded my expectations. I'm currently playing it on the PC even though I played it on the PS3 for the first time last Fall.

Zach_Foster wrote on 07/14/2014 at 01:30am

Thought i'd share that Fallout 3 and New Vegas are both on sale for less than five bucks on Xbox Live with Gold right now!

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/14/2014 at 01:33am

That's a great deal. I want to play Fallout 3 again in a bit, I have it on PS3 but I am thinking of playing it on PC.

Zach_Foster wrote on 07/14/2014 at 01:41am

After hearing all my friends complain about how many unresolved problems and glitches they had with the games on their consoles, i'm all about telling people to play them on PC. As i said earlier, i don't really consider it cheating when all you're doing is pushing yourself through a problem that the game company can't or won't fix.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/14/2014 at 04:25am

I agree. If a bugged out game won't allow you to progress, clipping or other cheats are a totally viable solution.

I've walked away from console games because I couldn't fix a save or the like. Totally sucks to abandon progress like that.

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Shovel Knight review: I dig it.

Get it? Dig? Yeah, that was low-hanging fruit.

When I first saw Shovel Knight on Kickstarter, there was just some concept art, basic gameplay info, and a little gameplay available to view, but I was hooked. I backed it early and have been waiting patiently ever since. Yacht Club games has regularly shared information and trailers with us, only making the wait harder.

Well, the wait is over. Today, June 26, Shovel Knight is out! Yacht Club Games was kind enough to share review copies with us a few days early so we could share our thoughts on release.

If you're familiar with the difficult platformers on the NES, this fits right in. The only thing missing from the... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Roundtable: S2 E9 Steam Summer Sale & E3 2014

In this thrilling episode of the Cheerful Ghost Roundtable we talk about the 2014 Steam Summer Sale, E3 and PC gaming. We start everything fresh talking a bit about what we are drinking and what we've been playing.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/26/2014 at 04:16pm

a.k.a. The Tim found the sound effects episode. :P

I promise not to abuse my power in future episodes.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/26/2014 at 05:44pm

They actually worked out pretty well. I'll just put a permanent ban on any fart sounds or anything else that resembles something you'd hear from a 90s radio soundboard.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/26/2014 at 07:47pm

Yeah, Tim, I thought it was a brave and victorious move. You've taken us to a new level. Like, we could be ready for endorsements and shit. I wish you would have jumped in sooner, when I was drowning in my own beverage ;).

Timogorgon Member wrote on 06/26/2014 at 09:53pm

I'd hate to steal the lime light from you during your special moment. :P

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/26/2014 at 10:46pm

Such a special moment :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/27/2014 at 04:46pm

That wizard came from the moon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlOYatDYC40

scrypt Supporter wrote on 06/27/2014 at 07:47pm

"That wizard came from the moon."

That's why it's so difficult to work as an artist, with someone looking over your shoulder, or in this case, show a small sample of your unfinished project. You have to expect that the viewer/player will go off the rails from time to time, and lose a bit of perspective. I'm glad that Bungie took it in stride :).

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/27/2014 at 08:32pm

Absolutely

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/28/2014 at 04:51pm

I honestly don't understand, that line sounded fine. A bit one note, but it wasn't the worst thing i've ever heard in video game voice acting by far.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/28/2014 at 06:43pm

I think it was more the content on fhe line, mixed with the context of the scene, plus the flat delivery (without filters and effects) that made the community have a WTF moment hearing that. It definitely wasn't terrible, but this is PETER DINKLAGE!!!!111

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