Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Story Time with Cap'n Curry: Dragon Age: Origins

My wife and I have very different approaches to gaming in general. I favor tactics, strategy, and cunning: if I can defeat you before you know you've lost, that's a good victory; if I can defeat you before you know we're fighting that's a great one. One of my proudest adventures in Skyrim was clearing a cave full of bandits: not because I fought hard or against valiant foes, but because you could raise every bandit from the dead and there would still be no witnesses to the deed.

Beth, on the other hand, favors raw power and force. If there is nothing left of her opponent, that's a good victory; if there's nothing left of the battlefield that's a great one. She punishes... Read All My wife and I have very different approaches to gaming in general. I favor tactics, strategy, and cunning: if I can defeat you before you know you've lost, that's a good victory; if I can defeat you before you know we're fighting that's a great one. One of my proudest adventures in Skyrim was clearing a cave full of bandits: not because I fought hard or against valiant foes, but because you could raise every bandit from the dead and there would still be no witnesses to the deed.

Beth, on the other hand, favors raw power and force. If there is nothing left of her opponent, that's a good victory; if there's nothing left of the battlefield that's a great one. She punishes you for daring to face her in the most extreme manner possible; she never maims when she can kill and she never kills when she can obliterate.

I had played through Dragon Age Origins with my usual assassin-type build, and enjoyed it thoroughly, but was wondering how the game experience is different between classes. Beth came to a plot quest that I had been curious about since my own play-through, because I talked my way past it and I wondered what I had skipped.

Beth, upon meeting the fellow with whom I had dealt in treachery and deceit, immediately pissed him off then caved his head in to illustrate her point. When she was finished playing whack-a-mole with his minions, she went to the valley beyond, where a big dragon flew overhead, perched on a cliff, and roared like hell.

I hadn't anticipated a dragon actually showing up, and was super curious to see how the game would handle this - was this meant to be a fight, or was talking my way out of it just one of several ways to walk past this thing? I started looking for options, a way out, but Beth had already charted her course.

You see, she had found a gong.

She rang the dragon's goddamn dinner bell, pulled out her sledgehammer, and yelled "GET YOUR ASS DOWN OFF THAT CLIFF AND BRING IT, BITCH."

She lost that fight. And the next one. And the one after that. Realizing that Operation Dinnertime was probably the only tactic I'd get to see here, and since it seemed unlikely that the dragon would choke on the dwarf trying to swallow it whole, I went to my office to futz around. About an hour later, Beth came bopping in and proudly announced that she'd beaten the dragon. "Oh, wow!" I said. "How did you do it?"

She looked at me like I was nuts, and said "I hit it with my hammer until it died."

Humble Indie Bundle 11: THEY WILL NEVER STOP COMING!

"Humble Indie Bundle 11 features six top-notch indie games, just name your price. Pay what you want for the magical Mex-inspired action-platformer, Guacamelee! Gold Edition, the gorgeous action RPG, Dust: An Elysian Tail, the atmospheric puzzle-platformer, The Swapper and the blistering hardcore platformer, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, which includes a sweet digital comic. Pay more than the average price and you'll also unlock the mind-bending psychological exploration game, Antichamber, and the adrenaline-pumping heist game, Monaco: What's Yours is Mine."

For nothing else, you should buy this Bundle for Monaco. Monaco is a really fun top down Indie stealth game that... Read All

Irrational Games Will Close Shop Soon

In what has become my "bummer of the day" it seems Irrational Games, the company that brought us BioShock, BioShock Infinite and Freedom Force is closing down.

"We built Rapture and Columbia, the Von Braun and The Rickenbacker, the Freedom Fortress and some of the nastiest basements a SWAT team ever set foot into. We created Booker and Elizabeth, the Big Daddy and the Little Sister, MidWives and ManBot. In that time, Irrational has grown larger and more successful than we could have conceived when we began our three-person studio in a living room in Cambridge, MA. It’s been the defining project of my professional life.

Now Irrational Games is about to roll out the last... Read All

Chroma Announce Trailer

Completely reimagining the classic Arena FPS formula, Chroma infuses fast-paced PC shooter action with music-driven gameplay. Join the fight as a Fader, a musical icon of the future, and battle for control of the all-encompassing cultural feed known as The Signal. In Chroma, music is your weapon. Sound is your arsenal.

Music-driven FPS gameplay – Music matters. Chroma features innovative first-person shooter mechanics that tie the game’s soundtrack directly to combat, traversal, and more.

Music is your weapon – Unleash streams of sound and music with your arsenal and bring the musical landscape to life in battle! From deep wobbling bass to the crunch of an electric... Read All

FTL: Faster Than Light is Not So Fast When You're Out of Fuel

I've finally played FTL, probably less than 2 hours was spent. The tutorial was definitely helpful and easy. I didn't do the virus or spider missions, I knew from Cheerful Ghost that definitely shouldn't do the spider one. I made it to the third sector, but that is where I ran out of fuel. I obviously need to keep an eye on that and buy some when I can. I found out (via a Google Search) that I could attempt to jump, but choose to wait and use a distress signal. Unfortunately, an enemy ship (a Mantis one, I think) found me and started firing at me. They had great weapons, including a laser that penetrated my shields. Unfortunately, they took out my weapons and caused... Read All

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/18/2014 at 03:14pm

Playing on Easy and yes it's hard! I hate running out of missiles & getting blown up, but it's not too frustrating.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/18/2014 at 04:06pm

Yeah, FTL is difficult :D That said, it's one of the first Roge-likes I played that was way more fun than it was soul crushing :D

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/18/2014 at 05:32pm

Yeah, I saw your Roundtable about it, which was awesome by the way! I didn't know what a rogue-like was and I'm glad you explained that in the video. I've actually learned a lot during my stay here at Cheerful Ghost. =)

Travis Admin wrote on 02/19/2014 at 02:50am

Another roguelike that's worth checking out is Rogue Legacy. I actually forgot about this one during the RT.

It's a roguelike, sure, but unlike many (most?) roguelikes there's a bit of a narrative. Each time you die, the next time you play you're the offspring of the character that died before you. You can build upon what your ancestors have done, things they've bought, etc.

It's a little like MOBAs in the sense that every time you die you pass by a shop where you can upgrade yourself a bit. But you have to give up all your money to enter the castle, so spend it while you got it.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/19/2014 at 06:01am

Interesting! I saw that Jon was playing it earlier.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/19/2014 at 07:25am

Maybe I misread and he was playing Reus instead.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/19/2014 at 07:31am

Oh, Travis, that looks cool! No demo though.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/19/2014 at 03:48pm

I was playing Reus.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/20/2014 at 10:44pm

It sounds great!

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More FTL Advanced News Surfaces: Clones, Hacking & Battery

The FTL team released more information about the new expansion that is pretty interesting. It seems the game is getting several new subsystems like the Clone Bay, Hacking, Mind Control & Backup Battery. I find the Clone Bay an neat addition to the game as when you select it, it replaces the Med Bay. Apparently with the Clone Bay your crew is regenerated, thereby allowing you care less about death.

Overall the expansion is starting to look really awesome and I can't wait to check it out. Still no release date set and as soon as they have one, you will be the first to know.

http://www.ftlgame.com/?p=647

HD Re-releases (Like Final Fantasy X/X-2)

I found out recently that Final Fantasy X and X-2 are being re-released in HD next month (1 month & 1 day from now I believe). I want to know what your thoughts are on games that get re-released in HD. I think it's great that games are in HD and cool that some get re-released in HD, but I'm not sure I'm going to by any of them. Zelda: Wind Waker got the same treatment by Nintendo. While I'm sure I'll get a Wii U eventually (maybe next month for my son's 10th birthday), I'm not really interested in buying the HD re-releases, especially when I still own the original game. That applies to Kingdom Hearts, too. I did buy the Metroid Trilogy for the Wii and regret that... Read All I found out recently that Final Fantasy X and X-2 are being re-released in HD next month (1 month & 1 day from now I believe). I want to know what your thoughts are on games that get re-released in HD. I think it's great that games are in HD and cool that some get re-released in HD, but I'm not sure I'm going to by any of them. Zelda: Wind Waker got the same treatment by Nintendo. While I'm sure I'll get a Wii U eventually (maybe next month for my son's 10th birthday), I'm not really interested in buying the HD re-releases, especially when I still own the original game. That applies to Kingdom Hearts, too. I did buy the Metroid Trilogy for the Wii and regret that I traded in the Gamecube versions of those games that I had. I even saw an online graphic that showed how much better the originals looked compared to the new Wii version. I also had some disc reading issues with the trilogy and Other M (and Super Smash Bros. Melee). This is probably because I have one of the very first Wiis that were released, not the one that came with an updated disk drive.

I mentioned Kingdom Hearts, which is (as far as I can tell) the reason why I will buy a PS4 (for Kingdom Hearts 3). So far I see no reason to get one yet and am waiting on games I want (like KH3 and Final Fantasy). I wouldn't be caught dead thinking about getting an XBoxOne, even though I once again have the original XBox (the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer game is only for XBox). I really liked it back in the day when I had a PS2, Gamecube, and an original XBox. Even though I had the PS2 versions of Grand Theft Auto, I bought them for the XBox, which I loved because those games let you use the music you've stored on your XBox. I did trade in those games though when I gave away my first XBox. Now I only have Buffy for it and I'm fine with that. I also have the Gamecube version of the 2nd Buffy game.

Well, I've kind of gone off topic, but let's get back to the idea of HD re-releases and let me know what your thoughts on those are. Do you think they're worth getting, especially if you still own the original releases? I loved FFX & X-2, Kingdom Hearts, and Wind Waker. I still think each game is awesome, but I don't feel the need to go out and buy the HD versions.

Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake: Min-terview -w Justin Baldwin

Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake is the game that got me hooked on Kickstarter. From seeing the first few minutes of the video to looking at the lush game art, I was impressed. After seeing the game first hand at Portland Retro Gaming Expo, I can say that I can't wait to get my hands on the final product. I've been curious about the progress of the game for quite some time so I decided to ship over a few questions to Sleep Ninja Games. Justin Baldwin got back and as a special treat gave us two exclusive screen shots of the game in development. The first shot above is of the Village with the in game character Altus. The other screen grab is of The Apricot Acres and you... Read All

My Place (updated)

I'm not sure why, but before (in 1.2) I couldn't get Steam to capture a screenshot, so I windowed my game and used the Snipping Tool. Now it works and I thought I'd share my place, since Travis asked long ago. Feel free to notice my character. I found a Familiar Wig, Shirt, and Pants while exploring CGWorld3 and thought I'd equip them. These are the first vanity items I've used. The set makes my character look much more like him without armor. I don't know if that's a coincidence that the color of these items is either what my character has (without armor) or close. I've also experimented again with embedding the screenshot. I think it will work this time (if not I'll... Read All

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 04:53am

Success!!! I should get a new trophy for successfully embedding an image. I'm so proud! Hahahaha.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 04:55am

I just noticed! Look at my hotkey items list in the upper-left-hand corner, see the yellow? Ugly!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 06:01am

You can embed with a new post. You can pick image/video/sound.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 06:37am

I see that now, I ignored those icons before. Anyway, what I took from Jon was his Godly Possessed Hatchet (not a hammer). It's pretty cool. I was wrong when I previously said that Eater of Worlds was the only boss I haven't fought. So now I've defeated it and the Slime King. I'll have to look down the list to see what other bosses there are that I may have missed. I was surprised when EoW spawned after I blew up one Shadow Heart (or Orb), it's supposed to spawn after blowing up 3 of them. Ah well, I won anyway, so I'm not complaining. That Pumpking is a pain in the butt! I know I got it low on health once, but it defeated me and when I respawned and saw it again, it was back to full health. Bug?

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:05am

You probably popped into a world where we had already done two of them after the last EoW fight. It's by world, not player, so it was your first orb broken, but you broke the third. If that makes sense.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:06am

Oh and no, that's not a bug with the Pumpking. It was a different Pumpking that spawned. In later waves you fight multiple Pumpkings.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:18am

That is what I thought, about the broken orb. As for Pumpking, well that makes sense, sure, but I'm not sure why a new one would spawn after defeating me and not being defeated itself. I didn't notice this happening with Mourning Wood, for instance.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:25pm

Awesome, thanks for showing this and glad you are enjoying the CG server worlds we shared. It's kind of fun looking at the first ones and realizing how far we've all come as builders. On CGworld3 you should checkout the jungle and some of our bee areas. CGworld3 had a map that was damn near perfect as far as I was concerned.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:33pm

The Pumpking despawns when nobody is around to fight it. Then, when someone *is* around to fight it, it comes back. Mourning wood just acts like a normal enemy, but Pumpking acts like a boss, despawning once the fight is over.

It is really awesome seeing how far we've come. My first house was so bad.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/16/2014 at 02:28am

Thanks, Travis, that makes total sense actually! Yes, I'm thrilled to have three new worlds to explore! That has gotten me back into the game where as I reached a point to where I wasn't sure what else to do as I felt like I pretty much had everything I wanted or needed (yet still could not finish the Pumpkin Moon event). I'm amazed by what you guys did in each world. Yes, CGWorld3 is by the the absolute best and my favorite. The fact that the trap area helped me progress further into the Pumpkin Moon event is all the reason I need to believe that is the best one. They're all good, really, though. You guys put a LOT of work into it obviously! It's not wonder you all have spent so much time in the game, it's obvious you did. Another thing that really impressed me (other than your fabulous abodes) was that you have statues of armor and other wearable sets, including chests underneath each one that contains the materials. Ah, you guys are awesome! I'm so very glad I'm here and thankful that you've given me even more to enjoy!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/16/2014 at 04:55am

Yeah I put together the armory when I got to the point where I was ready for hard mode but not everyone was. I needed something to occupy my time :)

But it helped immensely. That level of crazy organization was almost necessary when you get so much stuff you forget where you left it.

That's always the problem I have early game. I don't want to put a ton of effort into organizing since I know I'm going to rebuild so I end up having like 8 chests full of crap that's impossible to sort through.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/16/2014 at 07:50am

LOL! Sounds like me, Travis. Not all of my chests are organized. I noticed the same with the CG worlds, so I organized a little bit (some people stackable things in separate slots, so I stacked what I could and moved items around in the way that I organize my chests, which is items going from left to right). So, I decided to go ahead a loot the CG worlds. I didn't really take much, yet I took a lot. I finally decided to put some things back as I really didn't need so many of one item. I did take the Hoverboard I found and reforged it so now it has +4 defense. I like it! I also took your Nightmare Before Christmas painting, created a new floor in my own place, and put it up. I wasn't going to, but decided to anyway. I also found out that I could sell all the bones I had in my own chests (I had one chest full of them), so I sold a bunch of them! Cobwebs aren't worth anything so I removed almost all of them from my chest and put them in a CG world. That's one thing I like about having these worlds, they are now mine and I can do as I want with them mwahahahahaha, so I can be as greedy as I want. Hahaha. As for structures and other things, I'm not making any changes. I explored the ground-level areas of CG1 and it makes me wonder if that one was a large world.

Also, do you guys remember finding any desert temples in any of these worlds? That would be cool. I plan to do more exploring, in part to see what you guys did underground. I did find some breakable pots, but otherwise I don't really need anything, so I probably won't do much mining (if any at all).

Travis Admin wrote on 02/16/2014 at 03:55pm

Cg world 3 was the only one we did after desert temples were added. There is one there but it's very small.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/16/2014 at 11:19pm

Cool, thanks! I'll have to check it out.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 01:38am

It's fine to "loot" the worlds as since they are copied on your system its not stealing :D

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:23am

Yeah, Jon. I felt bad for it and even hesitated, but it's true that they are now my worlds. I still think there are items I should back so that they are there and my "World 1" doesn't have such an absurd amount (like my Greater Health Potions). I definitely did not take everything as I don't need everything. I'm probably also not going to sell anything in those worlds as I don't really need the money. Money was only an issue at the beginning of the game when I didn't even have 1 gold, now I have about 24 platinum!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:36am

Yeah money used to be harder to come by. It's really not in the 1.2 update. It's much better now. I think we averaged about 1 plat after all was said in done after the first two worlds, but after world 3 Jon, WBS and I had at least 25 plat each I think.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:48am

Sweet. It took me a while to realize I could make platinum coins.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 04:54am

You can also auto-stack it in a chest/bank/safe/whatever and it will make them for you

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 05:21am

I don't think I ever realized that, Travis, thanks for the tip!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 01:35pm

I was wrong, I have almost 27 platinum coins. Mwhahahahaha!!! Well, I did recently sell a bunch of my stuff, mostly duplicates of things I had that I don't need. I also sold that annoying Jetpack. I saved the Butterfly Wings, but I'm loving this Hoverboard! It's quiet, it's blue, and can go vertically and horizontally. I also sold a bunch of my Blinkroot which I collected from my own world and don't need. Ialso deposited a lot of the things I took from the CG worlds and put them in CG3. The amount of things I had was insane and unnecessary. I started exploring underground on CGW3. It's cool to see where you guys (I can safely say that because I don't believe any ladies have played it or reported playing it with you guys) had mined and tunneled, but you didn't get everywhere. I'm really surprised to have found so many breakable pots. I also like finding underground chests because I've picked up some things I don't want or need (like Healing Potions, the weakest ones) and can store them as I go about getting more stuff.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 01:37pm

Oh, I forgot to ask an important question. Can Terraria run stand-alone without Steam? I'm giving this PC to my son when I get my new one and he wanted Terraria, but I don't want him to have Steam, although it might be safe since he's not going to have any credit card information to purchase anything (I don't want him to have Steam = I don't want him purchasing anything on Steam).

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 08:37pm

No, Terraria has to have Steam to run. At least legitimately. There have been some ways around it.

If you give him a Steam account you can use Steam family options to lock it down.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/17/2014 at 08:38pm

And yeah after I while I just stopped breaking pots. When you're mining for stuff it just fills up your inventory with useless stuff.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/18/2014 at 01:37am

Hm, that may be something I have to look into, Travis. I wouldn't mind if I had to buy Terraria, it's certainly worthy of my money! I've almost put in 200 hours! As for the pots, well I do agree with you, but they can also contain money, which I think is worth getting.

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Metal Jesus Compares Super Famicom & Super NES Cover Art

Metal Jesus compares the cover art from the Super Nintendo and Super Famicom games such as Mother 2, Phalanx, Super Metroid and Link to the Past. As always, YouTuber Metal Jesus brings the awesome and as such this video is well done and contains some interesting history about the games as well.

Metal Jesus Rocks.