Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

If you're gonna play Saints Row, don't neglect SR2

I got SR2 with the Humble Deep Silver Bundle, and I'm really enjoying playing it concurrently with Saints Row the Third. While the Third is awesome and whacky, and self-aware and all in all a completely different game than SR2, I actually think that there are some things that 2 does a lot better than The Third.

For example, the setting is way more varied. From trailer-parks to suburbs to the big city to the college district to a beachy area... I don't get the same feeling of driving around a living city in 3. I don't know how the actual areas compare, but Stilwater's variety makes it seem like a much larger place than Steelport.

And really, you're going for a more... Read All

Really Cool Exercise in Atmospheric Story Telling

First of all, If you haven't played it, don't read about it, because there's not much to it, and the coolest thing about it is really putting together the pieces of the story yourself.
Just play it!

Even The Ocean, The Upcoming Game from Analgesic

I heard about Analgesic Production's first game Anodyne when it hit the Pirate Bay. When it made it to the popular Torrent site they dropped the price of the game to help promote it and the story of what happened broke in the gaming community. I picked up the Anodyne game+score bundle during the Pirate Bay promotion.

Anodyne is a fantastic game that really immersed me in its landscape and gameplay. To this day when I listen to the score on my iPhone I am immediately transported back into the game and its a really magical experience. When I read on Twitter that Sean and Jon of Analgesic Productions were working on a new game and it was taking shape I contacted them.... Read All

StarCrafts Season 2 Episode 15: Unstoppable

New Starcrafts video highlighting the Zerg Larva being somewhat OP. At least, on the creep. :D

The Firehose: Issac Rebirth, Starcraft Universe ++

Creepy new trailer released with news of The Binding of Issac Rebirth launching on Steam in 2014. The trailer is creepy, strange and neat all in one.

Starcraft Universe is a new fan created Starcraft II map that is essentially a Starcraft MMO. Blizzard highlights the new mod in a recent blog post and video tear down giving us all more reasons to play Stacraft 2 again.

http://us.battle.net//sc2/en/blog/8996231#best

PC Gamer creates a list of the top 25 shooters of all time. Unreal Tournament, BioShock, Wolfenstein, Counter-strike, Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands 2, Doom, Quake III & Half-life 2 all make the list and one spot they gave to Team Fortress 2.

... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 08/24/2013 at 01:54am

Oh holy hell, that trailer is disturbing.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/24/2013 at 04:26pm

Yeah, it is. When one bag head squirted tears it was somewhere between funny and creepy for me.

BR Supporter wrote on 08/24/2013 at 04:51pm

I think I'm going to have nightmares because of that. Moms foot was really creepy.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 08/26/2013 at 08:23pm

Well, that IS Isaac's projectile weapon. I am so looking forward to this. I've only beaten Mom once and have not been able to get back since.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/26/2013 at 08:26pm

@beansmyname you are one up one me, haven't made it to Mom yet.

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Destiny Mini Doc: Out Here in the Wild

"Delve deeper into the world of Destiny with the Bungie team to discover more ways to become legend on this new adventure."

Destiny looks beautiful and this documentary shows off how much time and polish Bungie has been spending on it. I am interested to see how the on the fly co-op works in the game as well as experience the lush visuals first hand.

Interview with FTL Composer Ben Prunty

In a world of impossibly difficult rogue-likes FTL ups the challenge but dares to be fun and unique. One large element in the mixture of FTL's awesomery is the score. From the opening track of Ben Prunty's "Space Cruise" to the more etherial "Engi," the score is important to building the overall feel of an open and lonely universe. I picked up an FTL bundle on Steam that included the score and was impressed with Ben's work.

I contacted Ben and he was kind enough to answer some questions I had about FTL and the other stuff he is up to right now. He just launched a pre-order for his new album "Curious Merchandise" and has two preview tracks "Fractal Wheel" and "Swamp... Read All

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Cinematic Drops

How long could peace in Sanctuary last after Diablo III? Apparently not too long as it turns out. Interested in a new D3 expansion but I am somewhat put off by some of the cinematic. To keep this post spoiler free i'll put my thoughts on it in the comments.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/reaper-of-souls/

UPDATE: I am collecting all the news bits of the expansion in the comments section and so far have collected some really interesting information about the new Crusader Class and the new "loot run" game mode. This expansion is starting to shape up to be very interesting.

hardeyez wrote on 08/21/2013 at 07:42pm

So new Act V, new class, "increased level cap" (wonder if that's base levels and how that interacts with the Paragon levels)... Sounds like a $20 add-on, not a ton of new stuff, and they still haven't shipped all the stuff they promised in base D3 :)

Travis Admin wrote on 08/21/2013 at 08:19pm

It's on base levels, new cap is 70. Paragon levels are now unlimited, account-based rather than character-based, and let you pick increases across all your characters. Like badass rank in Diablo 3.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/21/2013 at 11:55pm

Dig an idea for a new class. Its kind of a Barb but not a Barb. Interested to see how that plays out.

I hope Act V is big because if its about as long as act I I am not sure if adding one class and an Act means they deserve the $60 price. Not to say if the charged it I wouldn't buy it, but I am just not sure its a $60 expansion for what we know now which isn't much.

That said I have a beef with the trailer. Ok so there is a new kid on the block, the Reaper of Souls. Awesome, totally down, yay Death. I am so ready to send Death to his grave.

But Diablo's soulstone is still around? Diablo is still around? WTF? WHYYY? Ugh. Seriously. Didn't we kick that fucker into the dirt a zillion times? Then again, if he was really dead they'd have to call the game "Reaper of Souls III: The Reaper of Souls."

Minor gripe but yeah, I wonder if we will still be killing Diablo when we are 60?

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 02:04am

Gameplay trailer for the Crusader. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGp5dkJdi0w

Looks fun.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 02:08am

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/08/21/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-announced/

"Crusaders wield shields and flails, and are described as “mid-range melee” warriors, specialising in shield bashing and smiting. Diablo 2′s Fist of the Heavens holy lightning strike returns and Crusaders can follow up with Falling Sword, a teleporting drop attack that turns the Paladin’s heavily armoured body into an artillery strike. Paladins were all about support, Crusaders have replaced their benevolent auras with AOE zones that help co-op partners and injure enemies at the same time."

AND

"Blizzard are rebalancing loot drops in a big way to try and make more drops relevant to your character. There will be fewer common (white) drops, and they can be melted down into a new crafting reagent to stop them being completely useless past level 10. Rare drops will be reduced but there’s a high chance of a “smart drop.” These items will feature stats tuned to your character. More legendary items will drop, and they’ll come with new interesting new effects. Blizzard’s examples included a weapon that spawned an instant treasure goblin when equipped, and a staff that adds a chance to spawn hydras from dead bodies.

They’re also adding a new artisan: The Mystic. She can transmogrify items, letting you transfer desirable stats onto items you like the look of, preserving your warrior’s sense of style. They can also enchant items, which lets you re-roll one affix for an item you own. Enchant your Barbarian’s sword and there’s a chance that pointless +100 intelligence stat will flip into a +100 strength stat, for example. It’s another system designed to give players a way to make powerful but unusable items relevant."

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 02:09am

AND HOLY SHIT THE COOLEST FEATURE FROM THAT PC GAMER ARTICLE:

"Finally, Reaper of Souls will add a new game mode called Loot Run. This lets you and a few friends run an completely randomised 15-20 minute dungeon. Assets, layout, lighting, weather, monsters, loot and the end boss are all randomised. It’s designed to offer a fresh and profitable dose of Diablo 3 in a manageable chunk of time."

Travis Admin wrote on 08/22/2013 at 03:03pm

I had intended on writing up a post on all this last night, but I worked til 11PM. You've covered it all and yeah, I'm super excited about all of this. I can't freakin' wait.

hardeyez wrote on 08/22/2013 at 08:13pm

Yeah, loot run is killer... I spent a ridiculous amount of time with the Diablo 1 demo and a trainer that some group made which just respawned random dungeons with random monsters or a mix you picked. It was crazy having 50 Butchers yelling "Fresh Meat" at once and swarming you...

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/22/2013 at 08:50pm

Hahaha, yeah that would be awesome. Hopefully they put some rad stuff at the end of each run.

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Plants vs. Zombies 2 Is A Scary Amount Of Fun

Plants vs. Zombies 2 is what I have been playing since it was launched last week. It's free to play and available on iPhone and iPad and I seriously recommend you play it.

this game is challenging

One of my biggest complaints with the original Plants vs. Zombies was that it was a bit too easy. If you figured out a pretty good build you could use that all the way to the end without much change required. You would get new plants and often it made sense to chose a new one over an old one, but often times you could use the same build all the way to end.

PvZ 2 is much more challenging and I love it. I've lost a few matches already and have had to adapt my strategy to win.... Read All Plants vs. Zombies 2 is what I have been playing since it was launched last week. It's free to play and available on iPhone and iPad and I seriously recommend you play it.

this game is challenging

One of my biggest complaints with the original Plants vs. Zombies was that it was a bit too easy. If you figured out a pretty good build you could use that all the way to the end without much change required. You would get new plants and often it made sense to chose a new one over an old one, but often times you could use the same build all the way to end.

PvZ 2 is much more challenging and I love it. I've lost a few matches already and have had to adapt my strategy to win. Certain missions have you accomplish certain tasks, like protect a particular plant, only play with a certain plant build or start the game with a fixed amount of sun and stand your ground. I love the new play modes and how hard they are and have spent all my time unlocking each level and beating it one at a time.

free to play isn't annoying or hamfisted

One of the elements of Plants vs. Zombies 2 I was very nervous about was the free to play element. I was worried EA would dump out a stupid Facebook game or game very similar to the mobile free to play crapware. So far, my fears are entirely unfounded as the free to play element is present but not required to win or have fun. If you want, you can buy gold to toss on power ups or boosts and unlock plants. Or you could just go through each mission and unlock them yourself.

crazy dave and time machine are fun

I really like that they brought back Crazy Dave from the first game. They introduced a new character in a sentient time machine that not only serves to take you back in time but also a sort of NPC that propels you through the stories and levels. For some reason the time periods you go back to have Zombie infestations and they game doesn't quite explain why but it doesn't matter, the Zombies need killin'.

I am really interested to how this game evolves over time. It seems EA set up PvZ 2 as a game that can be updated with new levels after launch and I hope this gives PvZ a long life. I happily paid for the original Plants vs. Zombies on my PC and later my iPhone because it was so much fun. I kind of feel bad that I am getting so much enjoyment from PvZ 2 and it hasn't cost me a dime yet. If I make it to the end of the game and haven't purchased anything I may just do it to sort of vote for the game with my wallet.

All that said, Plants vs. Zombies 2 is well worth your time and available for the ridiculously low price of free.

Try Guild Wars 2 Free This Weekend

I have been wanting to try Guild Wars 2 for some time and this weekend i'll get my chance. Guild Wars 2 will be free this weekend starting this coming Friday @ 12:01 AM and ending at 11:59 PM PDT on Sunday.

If you are thinking of checking the game out, let me know and we can try and create characters on the same server. I created an event for people to join so if you are thinking about checking it out, join the event and add it to your calendar!

Register for the free here:

https://register.guildwars2.com/trial?cid=7:5:HomepageBanner:Static:1292x444:Global:40:4:

Join the CG event here:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/events/38