Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

LGR Builds An Incredibly Powerful PC!

I'm not sure this is video game news in a general sense but I found this LGR video to be entertaining and awe inspiring. Awe inspiring because it's really incredible how powerful computers are now and I felt like it was worth talking about. Yeah, yeah, we have blazingly capable computing devices in our pocket, the Nintendo Switch and any smartphone being chief among them but it still feels special to me when we hit certain computing milestones and somehow when I watched this LGR video it felt like one.

What are the specs on his latest PC?

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X Processor
MSI Creator TRX40 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 128GB (4 x 32GB) DDR4-3600 RAM
EVGA GeForce... Read All

Elder Scrolls Blades is Now on the Switch!

Blades released on iOS and Android in March of 2019 and was a pretty good Elder Scrolls game considering the free price. The game looks stunning on my iPhone XS Max and when Bethesda mentioned it would eventually come to consoles and PC I was excited. I played it starting at the beta and stopped a month or so after I started. Blades is a good phone RPG but it didn't have a lot to do and I felt the missions were all very similar.

Since I left Bethesda has been continuing work on Blades and recently they released it on the Nintendo Switch. Since Blades is an online game it seamlessly loads your account from the phone version to the Switch. Your progress, inventory and... Read All

Behold The Wonder of Terraria 1.4!

ChippyGaming has a fun new Terraria 1.4 gameplay video out showing some of the new game features and they look superb. The biggest standout are the updated graphics and polished UI improvements.

Dare I say this looks to be the biggest Terraria update yet? Glad this game made a zillion bucks so they can give it this final send off.

This has been shared in some comment threads but wanted to give it more visibility.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/11/2020 at 03:09am

That makes me want to play, particularly so I can more easily notice the difference.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/11/2020 at 02:34pm

Yeah I think Journey mode alone would have made this the biggest update yet.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/12/2020 at 12:40am

Saturday!!! Whoooot!!!!!!!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2020 at 02:04am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/13/2020 at 02:31am

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/15/2020 at 02:40am

https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/there-back-again-a-summary-of-journeys-end.87997/

Travis Admin wrote on 05/15/2020 at 03:05am

As Thanos said, this does bring a smile to my face.

This is easily the biggest update. Before this, the core game was still the same, but this changes things in such fundamental ways that it feels almost like a sequel.

Like just the NPC hotels we always made... those are now a very bad idea. But the pylons let us visit them wherever they are, and it makes sense to put them where they want to be. And that changes the game in enormous ways on its own.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/17/2020 at 09:56pm

Try using the seed 05162020 and go find the Moon Lord's legs. This is a mysterious seed and is the date of the update's release. Check it out and watch Chippy's video: https://youtu.be/6pltnm1Ax7o

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/18/2020 at 02:44am

Moon Lord's legs are great. Seems like they aren't too hard to find either.

Wonder what else is hidden in that map and if there are any other maps like that?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/19/2020 at 08:25pm

I started to wonder something and only did a little "Googling," but I'm not entirely sure I have my answer. What has my curiosity is why Re-Logic (and other devs) have (or continue to do) given us free content expansions/DLC. I read it could be kind of service to the community or fans. I think maybe new content would help increase sales, though I'm not sure by how much or for how long. I'm just not sure that it makes complete sense to me though. I'm certainly not complaining, but I'm sure devs want paid. Maybe they've made enough from sales to keep working on it. Perhaps each company (devs) has their own reason for this. What do you think? Again, I do think it's really nice and even great that devs continue to work on a game even after it's released and with such content. It certainly makes a game more playable (assuming the content is good).

Travis Admin wrote on 05/19/2020 at 08:42pm

They reached their highest concurrent player count on the release day of 1.4, so yeah I think the updates throughout the years have definitely helped their sales. I'm sure they would have made a fraction of their millions without the updates.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/25/2020 at 05:47pm

Jon, you wondered what other seeds might be available, there are two more. I think one is of particular interest to you ;)

https://terraria.gamepedia.com/Secret_world_seeds

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/25/2020 at 07:07pm

Hahahaha ❤️

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/25/2020 at 08:37pm

I like games w/ seeds, especially if I can find really good seeds. I haven't searched for one for Terraria, but I could describe what I want, but it might be difficult to get. Also, wow it's almost hard to fathom why people would want this game to be even harder.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/27/2020 at 03:22am

> Also, wow it's almost hard to fathom why people would want this game to be even harder.

Yeah. I don't get why furries but they are here and that's ok.

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Looking At Doom 3: BFG Edition

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.

After playing Doom 64 recently, I got Doom 3 BFG Edition on Steam. It was certainly different. The best description I’ve found is put simply in the embedded video as the original Doom games were action games, while Doom 3 is a "realistic" horror game. This made the game unappealing to me at first and is a bit still, but I see other parts of the game that make me think it’s not bad. I’m not a fan of horror games, but I’ve played a few Resident Evil games. It’s just not the kind of game I’m into.

Instead of running around killing already spawned in demons in a mostly open area like the original, Doom 3 leads you through a mostly linear path down corridors. Although all... Read All After playing Doom 64 recently, I got Doom 3 BFG Edition on Steam. It was certainly different. The best description I’ve found is put simply in the embedded video as the original Doom games were action games, while Doom 3 is a "realistic" horror game. This made the game unappealing to me at first and is a bit still, but I see other parts of the game that make me think it’s not bad. I’m not a fan of horror games, but I’ve played a few Resident Evil games. It’s just not the kind of game I’m into.

Instead of running around killing already spawned in demons in a mostly open area like the original, Doom 3 leads you through a mostly linear path down corridors. Although all Doom games can have you running in circles, confused about what you’ve missed, where you’re supposed to go, but there’s plenty of info on the web to help you find your way around when you get stuck. You’ll need to find PDAs to get security clearance to access some places. They may also contain some of the game’s lore, but not forcing you to listen to recorded audio. You’ll also collect some inventory items along the way, which are important for the task at hand. For instance, sometimes you’ll have to remove a power cell from one generator and place it in another.

There are some scary lighting effects going on, there is a lot of darkness, flashing lights, and you can’t always walk with your flashlight on, sometimes it has to charge. It can be hard to see enemies at times, but it’s best to look all around as much as possible. Usually monsters will spawn in with a noticeable sound and flash in an area. There are also plenty of “jump scares” and pieces of the environment falling out of place at times to scar you, too. It is a bit of a thrilling experience.

The demons all look different than we’re used to seeing them in the Doom series, you should take a look at them, if you’re a fan. Their design is definitely close to “realistic” horror. Some are difficult to recognize, while others are easily recognizable. Perhaps the scariest of them are the bosses, which can be “bullet sponges.” Some take strategy to defeat, while some just take enough fire power.

Console issue: I like cheating in these kinds of games (Doom in particular), it makes it more fun for me. I thought that I might turn on cheats eventually, but that moment never came. As soon as I started a new game, the game told me achievements were disabled because the console was being used. After some troubleshooting this seems to be an issue in the game and there’s a simple remedy for it. You just need to add “seta com_allowconsole 0“ (without quotes) to the “default.cfg” file that’s in the folder at “C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\DOOM 3 BFG Edition\base\” as noted by “IcyDeadPeople” here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/208200/discussions/0/828925849197513340. This resolved the issue for me, although it may have allowed me to get achievements even if I used console commands, but I never reached the point of deciding to cheat, so I never looked into those commands.

Technically, the game runs extremely well. Granted this could be expected with modern hardware and the game’s age, but I still can’t help but be impressed just how little time it takes to load. This version of the game also comes with the original Doom and Doom 2, however they’re a bit functionally different than the recent Doom Classic Complete Collection I recently wrote about here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4401/getting-the-doom-complete-collection-to-run-on-windows-10 That is because that version wouldn’t run on it’s own. Instead, I had to copy the .WAD files to a source port and play it that way, however that’s not necessary with the versions in this edition. These work well with no extra configuration needed. I find this impressive, but also confusing as to why the two versions don’t just simply work in the same way. Since this version of those games lets them run just fine, you can work on getting their achievements, too.

I should also note there is a source port for this, which seems to work more for Doom and Doom 2, although it does come with some extra features for Doom 3. It's called Doom 3: BFA Edition. I started out with this version, but it didn't really connect to Steam and I didn't find it necessary. In fact, I enjoyed the game(s) just fine without it.

It’s kind of hard to say whether I recommend this or not. If you’re into horror games and Doom, then you’ll probably be into this. It does have a “very positive” score on Steam. Personally, I think I like the action kind of Doom game better, like Doom (2016). If you’re a Doom fan, you should at least take a look at some video of it. I’ve embedded a video that talks about why it is a good game.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/02/2020 at 09:21pm

Doom 3 BFG Edition is an interesting port. I'd say in some ways it goes back on the original horror design that made the original so special creating a somewhat confused game, sort of.

For instance, in the original game you had to pick whether you had a flashlight in your hand to see in very dark areas or a gun. That made the horror hype WAY more felt and real. I remember playing this game with the lights off and it was, and is a great experience. Doom 3 BFG Edition allows you do tape a light on your gun and also makes the game WAY less dark which kind of makes it ... i'd say a confused sort of game. It's sort of horror, but not really and it takes away some of the choice elements that made the first edition special.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/02/2020 at 09:53pm

Yeah, I read about that. I think I like that the flashlight can work with weapons in BFG Edition. I'm not sure if I'd like it in the original, though it would have made the game a bit more scary, sure. What's sad is that now that I've played it, I'm going back to playing Doom (2016) and wishing I had that flashlight. Even replaying original Doom and Doom 2 I would sometimes hit "F" to turn on my flashlight, although I didn't have one of course.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/05/2020 at 03:40am

🤩

I think that Doom 3 did a lot right and also went for something unique. The series in in different territory now and most people seem to like that a lot, which I appreciate, but I really enjoy Doom 3 even though you can't right click to aim (prob my biggest issue with it if I have one).

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/05/2020 at 04:20am

That's a surprise. I feel a bit neutral about it. At first it was mostly negative and I wasn't even sure that I really wanted to complete it, but I did and it's not a horrible game, but it's not a favorite. Doom 64 impressed me much more, actually. Those were the only two Doom games I've never played that I played recently. Seeing that we seem to lack a review for DOOM (2016), I might write one up as I finished completing it only for the second time, though I loved it.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/10/2020 at 04:01pm

At the time Doom 3 was an incredible visual feat that stood out in a very sparse PC game landscape. Not like now where it's a VERY crowded shooter market and Doom 2016 hit and makes it look somewhat pale in comparison.

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Recommended: Doom 64

Azurephile gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Azurephile gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

I’ve recently taken a trip back into the 90’s by getting some gaming nostalgia. Recently, I got the Doom Classic Complete collection, which contains Doom, Final Doom, Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and the Master Levels for Doom II. I write a post about getting it to run as it was actually a bit difficult to play right away and without a source port. Having copies of the games on Steam is quite helpful, because it gives you the .WAD files you’ll need to use with a source port. If you’d like, you can check out my post about that here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4401/getting-the-doom-complete-collection-to-run-on-windows-10

As for Doom 64, I never played this... Read All I’ve recently taken a trip back into the 90’s by getting some gaming nostalgia. Recently, I got the Doom Classic Complete collection, which contains Doom, Final Doom, Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and the Master Levels for Doom II. I write a post about getting it to run as it was actually a bit difficult to play right away and without a source port. Having copies of the games on Steam is quite helpful, because it gives you the .WAD files you’ll need to use with a source port. If you’d like, you can check out my post about that here: https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/4401/getting-the-doom-complete-collection-to-run-on-windows-10

As for Doom 64, I never played this when it originally came out, even though I still have my N64. I wish I had gotten this game back then. I don't know why or how I ignored it, after all I played the Doom and Quake games during high school. This looks and feels much like the Doom and Quake games, although it’s unique and possibly not what you’d expect for a N64 game. Granted, everything in the game looks different from the original, it’s still wonderful. The game controls beautifully with a mouse and keyboard with no need to use a source port. Although, you can check out Doom 64 EX, if you’re interested. The embedded video goes into some detail about porting EX and making it as close to the original game as possible. For just $5 on Steam, this is a must own if you’re a fan of the series!

There are ways in which this iteration of Doom surpasses the original, especially when it comes to keyboard and mouse controls. I also really appreciate the excellent distinction between yellow and red keys, in the original games these colors looked way too similar, yellow looked more orange. Perhaps the one thing that this game does not match the original is when it comes to music. This game doesn’t exactly have music as the original did, instead it’s more of a scary ambiance, which is still nice, but it’s not the awesome rock riffs we’re used to.

One thing I’ve always loved about these games was being able to cheat. Gaming can be fun and challenging, separately or in balance, but for me I have more fun when I’m able to ease and relax without much of a challenge. I did try the game out without cheats, but I knew I’d reach a point where I’d enable them. The only downside is that this disables your ability to get achievements on that save file, but I’m ok with that, there seems to only be 10 of them anyway and I already got one. Doom 64 has the ability to save and load games, but it also uses a password system. You can look online for passwords to input into the game. One of them will open a “features” option on the main menu and you can select the cheats you want to use or you can press ` to access the debug screen and type them in such as “noclip” (without quotes). I believe I read that you have to get all three keys in level 32 without cheating to unlock “feature” in the main menu without having to input a password, but it really looks tough to do. There are also other passwords that will bring you to different levels or just do different things. You can check the guides section on Steam or you can also refer to IGN’s N64 cheat guide here: https://www.ign.com/wikis/n64-cheats/Doom_64_Cheats

I really do give this a strong recommendation. I can’t stress enough how even a base price of $5 for this game is extremely and surprisingly low. I think it’s worth a bit more at least, but this just adds it to the list of great games that are at or under $5. Do yourself a favor, if you like the Doom and Quake games and haven’t checked this out, do so, I don’t think you’d regret it.

Also, credit to Jon for posting about this before I even played it.

https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/4395/nightdive-studios-brings-an-incredible-port-of-doom-64

If you’ve played this, feel free to share your thoughts about this, too. If you haven’t let me know why or if you’re interested now.

The Evercade is a New Retro Handheld That Looks to Offer Something Special!

The Evercade is an upcoming retro handheld that improves on the sea of off brand handhelds in that it supports officially licensed retro collections you can purchase on collectable game carts. Evercade also worked with many prominent emulation developers to bring an extremely similar experience to the original hardware. DF Retro examines the system and gives it a solid review score comparing it to original and best of breed recreation hardware.

The Evercade price point seems solid at $80 for the main unit or $100 for the base unit and three pack in game collections and $20 for each game collection. For quite some time I've hoped we'd get a brand new retro system that... Read All

The Final Super Mario Maker 2 Update Gets A World Creator!

Looks like Super Mario Maker 2 is getting its last big free update and it’s incredible. Folks thought we’d get a new Super Mario 2 theme and they didn’t quite add that but we did get a SMB2 mushroom which looks to add those mechanics to the game.

“ A free update to Super Mario Maker 2 for the Nintendo Switch system adds a new World Maker mode, as well as a host of new content and features on April 22.

In World Maker mode, multiple courses created by a user can be tied together on a path from the starting point on a world map to the end castle. The look of the world map can also be customized. Up to eight worlds containing a total of up to 40 courses can be combined,... Read All

Getting the Doom Classic Complete Collection to Run on Windows 10

I just recently picked up the “Doom Classic Complete” collection for less than $5 and I came across something I thought I’d share. First of all, this collection contains Ultimate and Final Doom, Doom II, and the Master Levels for Doom II. I recently re-discovered a CD I have for Ultimate Doom, but the game wouldn’t run the way I wanted it to. However, I made a discovery then and ran into the issue again with my recent purchase of this collection, so I thought I’d share my tip.

As a PC gamer, I’ve gotten used to playing games with a keyboard and a mouse. WASD keys move forward, left, back, and right. The mouse looks up, down, left, and right. I can’t recall how I played... Read All

The Rise of Virtual Sports and ESports

I used to play a lot of fantasy sports. You'd generally pick a team of players (football, basketball, baseball, etc) from all the guys playing that day, and then as they compile stats (points/rebounds/steals/etc in basketball, passing yards/catches/touchdowns in football, just to name a few), you get a cumulative point total for your team.

But now there aren't any sports being played...
at least no sports being played by humans.

In the video above you'll see 2 virtual NBA games being simulated by a Playstation. No one is playing the characters, it's just a simulation. (My wife thinks this is the dumbest thing ever lol) On the various fantasy sports apps, before the... Read All I used to play a lot of fantasy sports. You'd generally pick a team of players (football, basketball, baseball, etc) from all the guys playing that day, and then as they compile stats (points/rebounds/steals/etc in basketball, passing yards/catches/touchdowns in football, just to name a few), you get a cumulative point total for your team.

But now there aren't any sports being played...
at least no sports being played by humans.

In the video above you'll see 2 virtual NBA games being simulated by a Playstation. No one is playing the characters, it's just a simulation. (My wife thinks this is the dumbest thing ever lol) On the various fantasy sports apps, before the games, you can choose lineups, just as if they were real games, and then watch along and root for "your" players. The website https://www.awesemo.com/ has been running both NBA and NFL simulations, and I've found it really fun to watch along with. And really, I don't see much of a difference in passively watching real players play games, or simulated players play games (my wife strongly disagrees and thinks this is the dumbest thing ever lol)

I'm not really into NASCAR, but today I stumbled upon eNASCAR/iRacing, and I might become a full-time fan. Actual NASCAR drivers race virtually against each other, using realistic multi-monitor simulators on their computers. The graphics of the simulation look really, really good.
Here's an example of what a race looks like (this was on FOX, and had real racing commentators) https://youtu.be/g75HghckIyY?t=474
And here's an example of what their racing setups look like: https://youtu.be/nHDH0pL_qBM

There are a ton more Esports/Virtual Sports out there. I've seen Virtual Golf (sometimes there are simulated players like Happy Gilmore and Shooter McGavin lol), Virtual Baseball in addition to various Virtual basketball and football simulations. And fantasy apps are venturing into Reality TV as well. You can create a "team" of players for the show Survivor, and you get points for things like Wins Immunity/Cries on camera/Catches Seafood.

And of course League of Legends has had fantasy sports for years now. Here's a post Jon wrote back in 2014 https://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/2043/league-of-legends-gets-the-fantasy-football-treatment

Almost all the Virtual/ESports contests are free to enter, and many allow multiple entries, so you can try different lineups and see how they score. It's a fun thing to fill the time with, and occasionally you can win 5-10 cents lol. My favorite app is FanDuel, which you can download from any app store, or go to this website https://www.fanduel.com/

Update To Tale of the White Wyvern Fight Run Mechanics

We have been wanting to change the fight run mechanics for quite some time, and recently had time to simplify how it works. Before these changes, the fight run mechanic was needlessly complicated and allowed you to run away essentially every time. Iif the run attempt was unsuccessful, you could just try again without consequence, so with enough patience in spamming run, at some point you'd run away and suffer no ill consequence of hitting it a bunch of times.

We just pushed up a change to the fight run mechanic in that you have a random 1 in 4 chance to successfully run. If your run attempt fails, you take half the incoming damage or at least one damage from the enemy.... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/19/2020 at 07:45pm

https://youtu.be/7FPELc1wEvk

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/19/2020 at 08:55pm

HA, thanks Greg!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/19/2020 at 09:03pm

I think this is a great mechanic! I've recently been playing FF3, and I love the run away animation. That's how I'm going to imagine running away in Wyvern now!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/20/2020 at 05:54am

Wow! I just realized you attached this video!

Also at you guys looking like gang members with your faces covered.

jaelte wrote on 04/21/2020 at 05:54am

Looks like Run had been working more-or-less how I thought it did *and* what I encountered was not a bug, but a change. Thanks for pointing me to this!
Also, folks weren't playing Mage? It's always felt like the strongest to me due the sheer number of battles I win due to being able to use a single Magic Missile. I almost always start Mage and switch to Rogue late so I can blast the Wyvern from the shadows. I never use Teleport or Healing, though, so it's nice that those may get to be decent options now.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/21/2020 at 06:56am

Yeah, sorry we kind of buried this update. Maybe it would help if we had something in the news section to let us know of changes like this.

Wow people play as a Mage? I always felt like the Rogue was the best, because a wyvern can't hit what it cannot see. As soon as I learned about Invisibility, I never went back to another class.

jaelte wrote on 04/21/2020 at 07:38pm

I like the Disappear ability specifically for Wyvern and now Fish fights, but I died so... many... times in the forest as a Rogue and that was when running away was essentially free. There aren't nearly enough uses of Disappear to use for every Angry Rich Boss or Xenomorph in a given day.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/21/2020 at 10:14pm

I haven't had much trouble in the forest, very rarely I have. https://youtu.be/nYSDC3cHoZs

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 04/22/2020 at 03:20am

One feature Travis and I are working on now is how to let people know in Wyvern about updates and changes to the game... in the game. Folks don't read Cheerful Ghost daily, but for folks that do play the game daily why not just alert you in game? So yeah, we're sorting that out now as something we'd like before we release 1.0 among a few other things.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/22/2020 at 04:29am

Yeah, I thought about that most recently. Perhaps if we had a town crier or some way a CG post about the game could find it's way into the daily news of the game. Perhaps it could stay there for a period of time to give players enough time to be aware of it.

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