Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

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.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Beginning Overview

Overview

Pre-order bonus is cool!

Possibly recommended if you enjoyed the demo

Demo is beginning of game’s story

Play as Lighting, alone

Schemata are like outfits each with their own abilities and attributes

Pre-order bonus: Lightning Returns has been out for two days now, so I've had a couple of days to play. One of my favorite things about the game is that I got Cloud's Soldier 1st Class garb due to pre-ordering the game. It's very nice seeing Lightning in Cloud's uniform. What's cool, too, is that if I finish a battle in that garb, the Fanfare from Final Fantasy VII plays. It has a pretty powerful attack, which uses up a good bit of the ATB Gauge, I use it when I... Read All Overview

Pre-order bonus is cool!

Possibly recommended if you enjoyed the demo

Demo is beginning of game’s story

Play as Lighting, alone

Schemata are like outfits each with their own abilities and attributes

Pre-order bonus: Lightning Returns has been out for two days now, so I've had a couple of days to play. One of my favorite things about the game is that I got Cloud's Soldier 1st Class garb due to pre-ordering the game. It's very nice seeing Lightning in Cloud's uniform. What's cool, too, is that if I finish a battle in that garb, the Fanfare from Final Fantasy VII plays. It has a pretty powerful attack, which uses up a good bit of the ATB Gauge, I use it when I can. The ability seems to change if the enemy is staggered, which is also helpful.

Spoiler-free story intro: The game works as I described in my first writing of the demo version. Lightning slept for 500 years in crystal form and was awoken by God (Bhunivelze) to do his bidding, in return he'll bring Serah (Lightning's sister and Snow's fiancee) back. However, there's an enemy roaming about, who seems to be able to control the Chaos that's spreading and bears a striking resemblance to Serah. Lightning's task is to save as many souls as she can in the thirteen days before God awakens and destroys the current world and creates a new one. All the souls Lightning saves get reborn into the new world.

Time is definitely not on her side! The clock is ticking and some quests can only be completed at certain times of the day. Luckily, Hope has returned, but for some unknown reason is a boy (as he was in FFXIII) and not the man he was in FFXIII-2. He is aboard the Ark guiding Lightning through her quest. At 6AM (game time) every day, Lightning must return to the Ark, where time stands still, to deposit the souls she's saved. This helps grow the Yggdrasil tree on board and with enough souls, Lightning can have more days until the end of the world. Currently, it seems that the world will be destroyed before the thirteenth day as Chaos is consuming the world, leaving only a handful of areas to venture to.

The demo version of the game is the beginning of the game. Lightning crashes in on Snow during one of his banquets and they have a bit of a duel while monsters pour in from a nearby Chaos infusion. Snow fights against Lighting and the monsters, but something is weird about one of his hands, it apparently seems able to suck up the Chaos. Snow later disappears into the Chaos as Lightning chases him.

Lightning cannot save all the souls in the world and she must act quickly to save as many as she can. She must use time management and decide whether to spend a lot of time saving a few souls, or spend less time saving more. It's a conundrum and there are five significant souls for her to save, my best guess is that these are fellow FFXIII characters. I'm already aware of Snow and I believe Noel (from FFXIII-2) was following me in another area.

This is the first Final Fantasy game I can recall where there is no party, just a single character controlled by the player. So far, I'm enjoying the game. The music seems new, but a few bits are obviously recycled. There was one character playing a familiar FF song, a bit remixed and I'm still not sure what it is or where it's from, my guess is FFVII.

Schemata are kind of like outfits that Lightning has access to. She can only switch between three at one time. Each have their own abilities and features. It’s very similar to the dresses used by Yuna and her companions in FFX-2. The pre-order bonus I got of Cloud Strife is just one of these (so far it’s my favorite). Although I got ingredients for three schemata for pre-ordering, so far the Cloud one is the only one I've really used. I set it as default, so that's what I see Lightning running around the game wearing, it's pretty cool. You have room to create more as sub-schemata and change them out (outside of battle) as you please. You can customize each schema with a different garb, shield, weapon (the three main ingredients), accessories, and abilities. So far, I've only explored two different places. I haven't completed every quest I've accepted, but I'm working on it. It doesn't seem too difficult, but I have died a time or two. You are limited to the number of restoration potions you can carry (six at first), which grows as Lightning grows by completing quests.

Recommendation: If you play and like the demo, you'll probably like the game. I think it's pretty cool and so far I'm not disappointed. I may even decide to play the other FFXIII games again. I know in the first one, I wanted to unlock the PS3 theme for Fang, but that required crafting everything. I also believe there were some areas I didn't unlock in FFXIII-2.

Update 11/2019: It's been quite a while. I don't recall how much I played this game or how far I made it. I don't think I made it very far though. I'm not sure what happened, whether it was that I didn't like it or that I decided to play another game. I tried replaying the FFXIII games almost a year ago and just found myself a bit disappointed in them. I can't quite explain this. On my last play through of FFXIII, I did get near the end, but then the game beat the crap out of me and I gave up. Otherwise, I couldn't "get into" the FFXIII games as a whole.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 03:26am

I really liked FF XIII, but a lot of people had some legitimate complaints about it. What do you think about the progression of the series, especially taking into account what FF XIII brought to the table? I haven't played XIII-2 but I've heard it fixed a few of the complaints while adding a few more.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:28am

What complaints? I'm not familiar with any specifically. I don't really have my own complaints, but some of the music was very depressing, considering what I was going through when I was playing the other two games in the series. I remember fighting a Giant Cactaur and losing badly.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:55pm

It's linear, there are no towns, you only get to do any kind of free roam more than halfway through the game, so on. Those are the gist of the complaints people had.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 05:00pm

Oh yeah, I forgot all about those complaints. I think that if that's what the majority of the complaints were then it must have been a great game. LOL In other words, I see those complaints as pretty petty. I think FFXIII-2 was less linear, actually that's true since you travel through time, whether it be to the past or future that you unlock by accomplishing some task in one of the three time zones (past, present, and future).

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 08:05pm

I'll admit I'm one of those people who really did not like FFXIII. The only parts of the game I enjoyed in my 4 or so hours with the game was loading up the opening cut-scene after buying my new HDTV and the cut-scene where Lightning punches Snow, because seriously, F that guy. The story didn't grab my attention, I found the characters* all boring or, worse, annoying. And once people started telling me that the game doesn't really "get good" until 20+ hours in, I just said screw it, I'm out. Because I disliked the first game I completely ignored the sequels (this is the third or fourth game in the series now?)

On a side note, why on earth is Square rereleasing, HDing, or updating pretty much every Final Fantasy game except the one everyone is asking for? Where is FF7HD?!

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 09:54pm

why on earth is Square rereleasing, HDing, or updating pretty much every Final Fantasy game except the one everyone is asking for?

AMEN! That PS3 tech demo had everyone drooling and practically begging for it.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 12:47am

I understand, Tim. I didn't like it as much as previous Final Fantasy games, I'm not sure why other than some of the depressing music. Oh, this new game is the third.

That is true and funny, about the re-releases. I just noticed today that the HD release of FFX and X-2 is coming out next month. I'm not sure I'll get it. I loved both games (even though most people hated the sequel), but I've played them enough and still have the originals and my PS2. Oh, and I believe I still have that tech demo for FFVII on my PS3.

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Game/Show: Are Angry Fans Hurting Gaming?

"The internet has been an amazing place for fandoms. Fanboys and fangirls can celebrate their love of a game, connect with other fans, and even reach out to creators. We now have the ability for greater levels of participation, but can this power turn ugly? Some fans spew anger and hatred when disappointed with a videogame, often directing their ire at the creators themselves. Is there a danger with this sort of behavior?"

Are angry fanboys hurting the gaming industry? Well... yeah, absolutely. In fact we did an entire episode of The Cheerful Ghost Roundtable about "The Internet Hate Factory."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-IwC9j1U8g

So watch Game/Show, then watch the... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 03:29am

Yes.

I think it's that simple.

I haven't watched the video yet, but I think I can answer already.

The internet is amazing but people use it to complain quite a bit and it's a sea of negativity. That's to be expected and people should complain when there are problems that need complaining about, but overall it isn't as constructive as it should be. Anonymity adds a buffer that people can hide behind to criticize and be jerks without it being attached to themselves. I've been making an effort recently to distance myself from "panickedthumb" and use my real name where possible/feasible/safe so that I don't say anything on the internet that I wouldn't want attached to my real name for that very reason, actually.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 10:56pm

I think that's a really good idea. "jdodson" isn't hard to parse out to my real name, but I like using it because its my unix/linux username and I kind of like associating with that level of nerd.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/15/2014 at 07:26am

Why did I read it as "Are Angry Birds Fans Hurting Gaming?" LOL! Still, he has a great point and I can't help but to agree with him. I can't recall the name of the developer that was mentioned in this video and in one of your roundtable videos, but it is sad that angry gamers can get a developer so upset. Is this also why Flappy Birds was removed from app stores today? That developer said that he couldn't "take it anymore," though I'm not sure what specifically he was referring to.

I totally agree with Travis, the Internet provides anonymity and people do tend to complain a lot and it is most definitely "a sea of negativity." Just look at your Facebook newsfeed, especially whenever something "controversial" is posted. Even though anonymity doesn't exist as much there, people will still comment negatively on a post you made instead of just ignoring it and scrolling through the rest of their newsfeed.

I also agree with Travis about distancing himself from his online alias, although that's not something I've put any thought into. At first (during the BBS years), I went by "Cobain" (yes, an obvious reference). I then later changed my alias a bit over the years to various ones, one that last a long time was some version of "Cupid De Locke" (The Smashing Pumpkins song) like QpiDeLocke. However, now I use "GregoPeck" as I've been called "Gregory Peck" or "Peck" for short and at college, I was nicknamed "Grego."

That's cool about yours, Jon. Mine is similar too as I sometimes use gawoodruff (adding my middle initial after the first to differentiate from my Dad who is also named "Greg").

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:28pm

As far as I am concerned, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the best album of all time.

Dates me some I suppose :D

Travis Admin wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:36pm

Ah, Mellon Collie. Such a damn good album. I wouldn't call it the best of all time, but it's by far my favorite SP album. That's mostly because I don't care for their other work much, but I could listen to Mellon Collie on repeat for days. If Billy Corgan's voice were different, I would probably agree that it's the best album ever, honestly. I've just never cared for it.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/16/2014 at 02:21am

Yes, MCIS was fantastic! What else I loved is that the released all the singles in a box set, which contained more songs (some very good covers, in fact, like "You're All I've Got Tonight"). It probably is my favorite album by them, although Gish and Siamese Dream are right up there with it. I listened to their latest one a few times and liked it.

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Terraria Gets A Massive 1.2.3 Update

I haven't had much time to process the entirety of the 1.2.3 update but at first blush, it looks like the game just got Nerfed. I don't mind adding more progressing or making things a little less easy to get, but some of the changes in this patch hit me "in the feels."

Here are a few changes that I am not entirely in love with:

* Chlorophyte is slightly more rare and grows slower.
* Golden shower debuff time was reduced to 10 seconds..
* Golden shower now only penetrates 5 targets.
* Golden Shower now does slightly less damage.
* Lowered the damage of Chlorophyte Bullets.

Some changes I like:

* Plantera bulb's don't spawn until all 3 mech bosses are defeated.
* You cannot... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 03:23am

Mmm yeah, overall this feels like a downgrade without some extra stuff to fill the gaps. The bee gun damage is definitely welcome, but the nerfs to chlorophyte hurt quite a bit. It was already rare as hell on a multiplayer server (granted, it would probably be a little abundant for single-player worlds), and golden shower is a lot less effective. I mean that was a go-to spell for me, and many others. I guess that's why it got nerfed though, you don't want a go-to spell that everyone uses. I would have preferred to see some buffs to bring the other spells up to the utility of golden shower though. Life crystals no longer spawning in the dungeon is a little disappointing, though I was generally at max life by then. The mana potion debuff that decreases magic damage is a big hit. That one hurts hard.

But yeah, I'm glad the mech bosses are tougher. And some of the non-balance changes are fan-damn-tastic...

The infinite wiring would have come in quite handy on our last world.

Little things like stackable buckets are a life-saver too for filling up massive pools.

Ore stacking to 999 is a GODSEND. OMG this is amazing.

Saplings on all grass types is handy. That makes farming jungle trees far easier

Replaced Tree 9's graphics? Good, that tree was a slacker. I have no idea what I'm talking about.

The upside-down slopes are awesome. That was one thing I wanted with the slopes added in the last update. Not a huge thing, but it will help for some of the creative builds people do.

More common pyramids are great, since I only ever saw one of those in the few worlds I made last update. I wish living trees were more common as well.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:44am

NO!!!!!!! They changed my Golden Shower!! That was my pride and joy the last time I played! I'm looking through some of these changes, not really understanding why some of the things changed, not liking that my Golden Shower has been negatively affected. I agree with Travis about the ore stacking! Oh, my Terra Blade is upgraded!!! Oh, they fixed the Queen Bee bug! I've never fought her without that bug appearing, I found it really helpful. I'm not sure why they removed Life Crystals from the Dungeon, but I know that by the time I made it there, I didn't need them anymore.

Travis Admin wrote on 02/14/2014 at 04:56pm

You heard it here first, Greg loves golden showers.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 05:00pm

Only the magic one! LOL

Timogorgon Member wrote on 02/14/2014 at 07:37pm

Yeah this update was kind of a mixed bag. That magic potion debuff seems kind of harsh and unnecessary. :\ And why oh why did they nerf my golden shower! The lowered damage... yeah ok I can kind of understand that but capping how many enemies it pierces will really hurt when trying to do the Pumpkin/frost moon events. The unlimited wiring and increased stack limits is awesome though! They also nerfed the heart lantern and campfire regen buffs, which kind of sucks.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/14/2014 at 10:50pm

Right. It seems Red wanted the game to be a bit harder. Maybe enough people will chime in and he will undo a few of the Nerfs. Whats interesting is I saw a beta version of these changes and it was WAY more Nerfs than what they rolled with, that set of changes would have really crapped up the game.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/15/2014 at 01:18am

Considering I haven't finished the Pumpkin and Frost Moon events, this "nerf" to the Golden Shower is disappointing. I'll probably have to try it out and see how badly it's been "nerfed." The strategy I was using the last time I tried the Pumpkin Moon event included using the Golden Shower, Nimbus Rod, and Staff of the Frost Hydra. This may be what I need to do to finish the event.

Travis, I'm apparently not the only one. LOL

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:45am

So I've played a little bit of 1.2.3 and I thought I'd share my first impressions. First of all, I realized that I needed to reforge my Golden Shower as it had a -10% knockback debuff on it. Now it consumes less mana, it might be stronger, too, I'm trying to recall the buffs it got after the reforge. The menu has changed a bit, as for most of it, I don't mind, but having my selected slot highlighted in yellow is not a change I like. I don't think there's a setting to change the color and it's real not of much concern, I just think it's ugly. It seems my character sprite (if you want to call it that) has changed, too, but I noticed that you can select whether or not accessories are visible, maybe that's why my character looks uglier. I think I noticed a performance change, in that the game seemed to load quicker. Even the large world you created for the server didn't take very long to load, so I'm impressed with that. I also noticed a video setting where you can change the quality, one setting was called "Trippy." LOL I also realized that the Golden Shower isn't my pride and joy (well, it was for the few times I've used it), it's the Spectre Staff that's my pride and joy.

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Story Time with Cap'n Curry - Halo 2

My experience as an Xbox player was atypical, to say the least. I was months behind on game releases, and tended to play single-player games, so when some of my coworkers invited me to join them for a few rounds of Halo 2 online, I was slightly concerned that I'd repeat my performance of the original Halo (see http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1872).

But, since it was competitive, and nobody could *actually* see my screen, I figured that while "competent" might be a bit of a stretch I might be able to avoid becoming a legend. What I didn't realize is that I had gotten good enough at the Xbox family of FPS's that I could play on my tactical strengths, and I became a... Read All

Outerlands: An Episodic Documentary About Video Games

Back this on Kickstarter!

Full disclosure, I came to know about the Outerlands Kickstarter very recently. As such, if you are looking to back it on Kickstarter you should do it soon as from when this post drops they have 63 hours left. That said, Outerlands is an episodic documentary series brought to you by the people that created the One Up Show, Co-Op and several great documentaries about awesome classic games such as Street Fighter and The Last of Us.

The Outerlands Kickstarter provides some really great options that allow you just get access to the films themselves and upgrade for more insider access as well. You can even pony up to get the whole works on BluRay.

Watch All The 2014 Steam Developer Days Videos Now

Valve has released the set of Steam Developer Days videos on YouTube and you can watch them right now. Gabe kicks things off and tore right into a quick Q&A. I am currently watching the "Steam Machines in 2014 - Opening up the Living Room." It's a really great presentation with Alienware and Intel taking the stage talking about what they are doing to bring Steam to the living room.

Overall there are 27 talks that should keep you in Valve bliss for quite some time. If you are interested in watching the Steam Developer Days videos come back and let me know what you think!

hardeyez wrote on 02/13/2014 at 10:05pm

here's the link to the playlist of the videos http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLckFgM6dUP2hc4iy-IdKFtqR9TeZWMPjm It was surprisingly difficult to figure out (if you start with a youtube search of steam dev days... not a lot, then hit valve's channel and you just see a teaser... It's actually the "Steamworks Development" channel...

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/13/2014 at 10:57pm

I've been watching them on and off today as work allows and I'm finding the controller video to be incredibly intersting. They're walking through the design process and talking about how the design evolved.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/13/2014 at 10:57pm

interesting* that is

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/13/2014 at 11:15pm

I agree, they are really great. I think I'll watch them all sooner or later.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/14/2014 at 08:33pm

Just finished the Getting Started with Linux Game Development talk, and totally learned a lot. And I don't even program (nor use Linux) :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/15/2014 at 02:26pm

Finished up the Evolution of Consoles, Steam Features and a few
Talks on OpenGL and optimizing for Intel and AMD.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/17/2014 at 09:26pm

Almost done with Community and Communication in Games-As-Services, and I'm really happy to hear about how much Valve values it's players input. They're actively looking for users to talk about the game, and using what they learn from users to improve their games.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/17/2014 at 11:10pm

Valve apparently has the attitude that people that pay them for things deserve attention. Who knew :D

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/17/2014 at 11:50pm

I wish Autodesk felt the same way ;)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/18/2014 at 03:08am

I wish all companies did man. Frankly customers make them rich but I don't think they understand that entirely.

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The Anti-Katamari

http://2a34166a1c224507ff54-79590be14f37a3e58649da10f58ee927.r67.cf1.rackcdn.com/games/full/12316/1378743606.png

When a boulder holds a grudge, no one survives. Bowl your way down the mountain and destroy everything in your path. Crush villages, cars, yetis, golden cows, crush everything!

- CRUSH legions of outrageous mortals, beasts and buildings
- SMASH through over 60 nail-biting goals
- OBLITERATE your high score with boosts and upgrades
- DEMOLISH goals to unlock over 70 new destroyable objects
- DOMINATE your friends via Facebook and Game Center
- MASTER multiple control schemes: tilt, tap or joystick
- ROCK OUT to the hottest yodeling soundtrack of the year

WEAR your finest lederhosen with renewed pride and REVEL in the century’s most yodel-tastic (and FREE) gaming sensation!

Such... Read All

Portal 2: This Fantastic Game Is "Still Alive"!

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/portal2.300.04.lg.jpg

I just completed Portal 2 after playing it over a few sessions this weekend. For quite some time i've wanted to relive some Valve classics and on a lark, I decided to pop in my PS3 disc and give it a spin. From the start, Portal 2 is an engrossing dystopian tale where you wake up after countless years to a Aperture Science facility in ruins. Featuring a talented voice cast consisting of Ellen McLain as GlaDOS, Stephen Merchant as Wheatley and J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson the game is full of amazing moments and great character pieces.

I figured the game would look a bit dated on the Playstation 3 but Valve's look for Portal 2 is beautiful in 720p. For comparison I... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 02/09/2014 at 08:49pm

Valve's games don't age. That's one thing you have to give them. Half Life 1 still holds up to the gameplay test even if the graphics are a little dated. I still have a much fun with it now as I ever did. I'm thrilled with the Black Mesa remake, because the improved graphics may make it more approachable.

More on your topic though, Portal 2 could have been longer but it was so much fun. I played it once in about two days and immediately started another game.

After the first one I was a little worries the second wouldn't live up to the first, but it couldn't have been a better sequel.

Now I want to play it again. :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/09/2014 at 08:54pm

I really enjoyed the length and think other games could do well to riff that. It's simple and can be completed I. A few sittings. They could have added some more puzzles I suppose but I really loved it as is.

To put it a different way, Portal 2 is all killer and no filler. I am thinking of writing another post talking a bit about it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/09/2014 at 11:26pm

If you interested in picking it up, check out the first Single player challenge time I just set. :D

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Game/Show: Does Legend of Zelda Exploit Nostalgia?

"The Legend of Zelda has been massively popular for over 30 years running. People LOVE the series, creating fan art, cosplay, and diligently purchasing each new release in the series. But does this Zelda series exploit our feelings of nostalgia? We remember playing as kids, and the music, world, and even sounds bring back warm fuzzy feelings. Are the creators riding that success and using our childhood memories to their own gain?"

I would say that the Zelda series is absolutely aiming for nostalgia. That said, like Jamin states, Nostalgia isn't a bad thing. Personally i'd like the Zelda franchise to take a bit of a different direction occasionally BUT then they release... Read All