Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Minecraft gets a lot of love on this site (and rightfully

Minecraft gets a lot of love on this site (and rightfully so, that game is great) but I thought I'd bring up another, somewhat similar game. I picked up Terraria last summer during the insane Steam sales that were going on after a friend recommended it. I've heard some people call this game a Minecraft clone, and they do share similar themes, but really they are two very different games.

Terraria plays like a 2D action/RPG/platformer with a heavy emphasis on combat and crafting. While overall I like Minecraft better, there's a lot more "game" in Terraria. In Terraria as you build houses and meet certain criteria NPC's will move into your village. For example: Once you... Read All Minecraft gets a lot of love on this site (and rightfully so, that game is great) but I thought I'd bring up another, somewhat similar game. I picked up Terraria last summer during the insane Steam sales that were going on after a friend recommended it. I've heard some people call this game a Minecraft clone, and they do share similar themes, but really they are two very different games.

Terraria plays like a 2D action/RPG/platformer with a heavy emphasis on combat and crafting. While overall I like Minecraft better, there's a lot more "game" in Terraria. In Terraria as you build houses and meet certain criteria NPC's will move into your village. For example: Once you amass a certain amount of money a Merchant NPC will move into one of your houses. In addition to adding new NPC's to your village, you also have to defend it from monsters. Monsters spawn during day or night, but the enemies at night are stronger and more dangerous. Every once in awhile you'll also have a "blood moon" where waves of Zombies will invade your village and can even break through doors to get to you and your villagers. I've also read that after certain conditions are met you can have a Goblin army invade, but I've never had that happen yet.

There's also a fair amount of character progression. As you explore you'll find better armor and weapons as well as items that increase your health and magic reserves. You'll also find specialty items like a grappling hook which is basically the hook-shot from Zelda. Your character also persists between worlds unlike in Minecraft, so if you start a new world anything in your inventory carries over with you as well as your health/magic levels. You can also find a piggy-bank that can be used as a multi-world storage to transfer other items between your worlds which is a nice touch.

The crafting is very simple too. Whenever you open your inventory there is a list of all the items you can currently create with the items you have and if there's any crafting items near by (such as a work bench or furnace). Just click on the item you want to make and you're done!

There's also some pretty crazy boss battles. So far I've only fought one boss character and that was after I summoned him by accident. The boss, which was a giant flying eyeball, pretty thoroughly kicked my butt several times before i finally took him down.

The weakest parts of the game for me are the creative and exploration aspects. Because the game is 2D even the biggest most grand castles or houses feel, well, flat and kind of boring. Exploration is, well, I dunno why I didn't really like the exploration that much. There is a lot of stuff to find in the game and there's treasure everywhere. Navigating underground is kind of a pain until you find the hook-shot because it's pretty easy to get stuck in a hole or cavern that you have to dig/build your way out of. Also, enemies constantly respawn so you have to keep clearing them out while trying to look around and after awhile it can feel a little bit like a chore.

Overall the game is great though, and the graphics and gameplay give it a fun retro feel. I've never played it with anyone else, but like Minecraft you can set up a multiplayer server and play with friends. And last but not least, the game is also pretty cheap on Steam and I see it go on sale pretty often (I paid $10, I've seen it as low as $5 though). I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who liked Minecraft but didn't like the combat, or for anyone looking for a good retro action/RPG experience.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/19/2012 at 06:14pm

Ill pick this up on a Steam sale as it seems so awesome.

Have you played with people? Is it cool?

Timogorgon Member Post Author wrote on 05/20/2012 at 01:53am

I haven't played with people, but I can see how playing as a group would be fun. Especially during boss fights. It would also help while trying to mine resources. One guy could focus on keeping the mobs off the other while they mine. When I play on my own I'm constantly having to stop and kill mobs.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/24/2014 at 04:50am

Whoa! I'm so glad to see the first post about Terraria, after I posted so much about my game play of it! Hahahaha. I, also, have not played the game with others. I guess I'm pretty much a solo gamer (which didn't quite work out for me with FFXI, but....). Terraria is really a great game and I totally recommend it! I think at first I had some hesitation as to the 2D aspect of it and the fact that I had already played some of Minecraft, but Terraria really is a great game! Thank you for being (from what I can tell) the first to mention it. I must also thank Travis who gave me a gift copy of it. =)

jdodson Admin wrote on 01/24/2014 at 04:51am

The next time we run a server you should play with us Greg, the game really shines with friends.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 01/24/2014 at 05:01am

=) That would be awesome! I thought of that as I last fought the Wall of Flesh. I could imagine myself telling the other player to just "sit back and watch" as I slaughtered the WoF quite quickly. Hahahahahahahaha.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In

I would totally get the Skyrim gameboy version. Gameboy

I would totally get the Skyrim gameboy version. Gameboy might limit the size of the world.

Be interesting to see The Elder Scrolls in a mobile context.

I just want to say that when I first started playing this, I

I just want to say that when I first started playing this, I kept screaming, "I'M BATMAN!!" and, "SWEAR TO ME!!!" At 11 PM, that's a good way to piss off the neighbors.

I know in the midst of Diablo 3 excitement that Torchlight 2

I know in the midst of Diablo 3 excitement that Torchlight 2 is not in the forefront of gaming nor will it do as well as many AAA titles. Despite that, I'm looking forward TL2. I've played Diablo 2 and had trouble getting into it, but when I played Torchlight, I racked up tones of hours in-game and even got my dad hooked. Between the two of us, we've played about 250 hours in just Torchlight. We played other games at the time too, but this was something we really enjoyed. As to why I liked it more than Diablo, I think I just found myself enjoying the atmosphere more. The games play very similarly, but the atmosphere is very different. Enough about that.

So I've been... Read All I know in the midst of Diablo 3 excitement that Torchlight 2 is not in the forefront of gaming nor will it do as well as many AAA titles. Despite that, I'm looking forward TL2. I've played Diablo 2 and had trouble getting into it, but when I played Torchlight, I racked up tones of hours in-game and even got my dad hooked. Between the two of us, we've played about 250 hours in just Torchlight. We played other games at the time too, but this was something we really enjoyed. As to why I liked it more than Diablo, I think I just found myself enjoying the atmosphere more. The games play very similarly, but the atmosphere is very different. Enough about that.

So I've been playing the Torchlight 2 beta, and this is an improvement over the first in almost all areas. There's now 4 classes, as most probably have heard. I've been enjoying the Outlander who's like the Gunslinger from the first game, but instead of using traps and turrets, the Outlander has more direct attack abilities, such as different attacks with a glaive and special gun abilities. I haven't tried the other classes, but I am looking forward to seeing how some of these work. To add to it, there are more weapon types. As the Outlander, I've come across pistols, bows, crossbows, shotguns, cannons, and I think a few rifles too. The best way I can describe the game is that they've made everything broader.

The item system is the same with a few changes. The pet has a bigger inventory (or at least seems to be). I haven't encountered an enchanter in a town yet, but I've found a few in dungeons, and they're more specialized, like one enchanter will add ice enchantments. Also, there's a limit to enchantments you can put on an item making finding new items more important.

The graphics are improved by quite a bit. It's no Diablo in that regard, but it is a step up from before, particularly in the textures and polygons. The music is better, but not great. In the first game, I got annoyed with the music after a while, now I get kinda bored with it. It is very atmospheric to the game, but I find my self wanting something that ties into the game more than just something to be played in the background.

The story is a continuation from the first game. The Alchemist from the last game has grown corrupt with the power of ember and destroyed Torchlight. The goal for the player(s) is to stop him. I know the Gunslinger makes an appearance as an NPC who is there to guide and help along the quest. No sign of the warrior yet, but I expect him to show up at some point. In stead of dungeon crawling like last time, the world is more open. You go across surface territories completing quests and making trips to side dungeons. One thing I like a lot about this change is it allows for more side quests.

The biggest change is multiplayer. The TL2 beta supports up to 6 players over the internet, and the full game will feature LAN and single player, as well. All I can say is it runs well.

So cool stuff coming from this one. I'm excited for its release.

Tungsten wrote on 05/17/2012 at 01:35am

i played a bit of the first one. It was a lot of fun. Honestly, if D3 didn't just come out I probably would pick it up... bad timing I guess. Knowing me I'll pick it up on Steam Sale some time.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/17/2012 at 04:14pm

Cool. I liked Torchligt quite a bit! Since it supports 6 player multi and LAN play it is offering some features above Diablo 3.

I think for the best launch possible they should wait a few months because launching it so close after D3 won't be a great idea strategically.

Oh, does it allow fishing still? Did they add crafting?

vdogmr25 Post Author wrote on 05/19/2012 at 06:38pm

Fishing is still there, and I haven't found much in the way of crafting yet.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/19/2012 at 06:47pm

Ok, that makes sense.

Tungsten wrote on 05/19/2012 at 11:29pm

I loved making the dog run errands. That was a great idea that more game makers should steal.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In

I sit here at work dreaming about Diablo 3. This is the

I sit here at work dreaming about Diablo 3. This is the first time in a very long time that I have agonized over waiting for a game and it doesn't disappoint me. I simply can not wait to go home and play more.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/16/2012 at 10:35pm

I totally agree as I sit here listening to the soundtrack as I work. Nerd++

Tungsten wrote on 05/17/2012 at 01:35am

By dreaming of Diablo... do you mean your life just pauses some times and when it starts moving again you are mortally wounded? And you talk to people and it takes them 20s to respond?

Sorry, just feeling a little bitter.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/17/2012 at 01:58am

I think we all are.

Servers down again!

Tungsten wrote on 05/17/2012 at 10:09am

Don't get me wrong, when the game is playable, it's excellent. Hopefully all of these bugs will be gone soon and we can just play and forget this whole mess.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/17/2012 at 02:09pm

I hope so too. Played last night and all was fine save I got booted when they rebooted the servers and was back in 30m later.

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In

As I type this I cant get into Diablo 3. I moved from a

As I type this I can't get into Diablo 3. I moved from a state where I was understanding of Blizzard to making the choice to make Diablo 3 a multiplayer game to thinking, maybe they bit off a bit more than they should have with Diablo 3. Perhaps its too much for them to handle because Ive spent more time thinking about outages than playing Diablo 3. Currently at 9.30PDT they are undergoing emergency maintenance:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149005198#1

I hope they clean these issues up pretty soon. That said, when I was in game it was flawless and smooth. Its just the hours of downtime that is a problem. After all this clears up, expect more detailed posts... Read All

Tungsten wrote on 05/16/2012 at 09:57am

I was able to play for about an hour last night. It was fun, but here and there it was laggy (I think this was because I was still downloading some of the last patch). The most obnoxious point was when the game lagged out... and then I was dead. I can only imagine if it had been a hardcore character that I had worked on for a while, the fury that would be rising through my soul.

Other than that, I was happy.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/16/2012 at 04:54pm

Whats you character?

Ben_Dodson wrote on 05/16/2012 at 08:17pm

I was excited to have the Battle.net integration. Great way to see friends and get groups together. However, I got Diablo3 for its solo playability as well. With the many delays, set backs, beta work and so on this was probably one of the worst launches from Blizzard since The Burning Crusade hit WoW and it took about a week to play the game.

Yes I am pleased with the aspects of the game but making it dependent on Battle.net to play. I don't think so anymore. Let my computer check in with Battle.net. This is not and MMO or anything that NEEDS it.

Oh well. It won't change so lets play.

Tungsten wrote on 05/16/2012 at 09:48pm

I'm playing Monk right now. I'm up to level 5. It's been fun, but I'm really just opening up what the class can do. We'll see what happens when I unlock mantras and start playing cooperatively.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/16/2012 at 10:01pm

Ben: I agree, play indeed! If they sorted out the issues then I am fine. Worked great this morning.

Tungsten: Monk is great. Healing, auras and it kIcks ass? Really started to gel for me in beta around level 10.

Tungsten wrote on 05/17/2012 at 01:38am

I'm agreeing with your statement: they aimed too high. They wanted this game where they could not only control the copies of the game (DRM and so on), but they also want to control things like item drops and level layout. (just speculation) I'm not sure what it is that is supposed to be coming from the battle.net connection, but it is greatly lagging my game and completely driving me crazy.

Tungsten wrote on 05/17/2012 at 01:40am

How are the other classes different from the beta? The monks skills are all upside down right now, and I'm liking most of them (although they moved the dash up to the number keys from the RMB. It was my favorite skill in the beta and I want it easier to use)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/17/2012 at 02:00am

From what I know about the Barb can't jump into other areas anymore. Barb used to be able to jump over distances or caverns as a skill, that is nerfed.

Beyond that I really dont' know, I am playing Witch Doctor and I didn't play it before in beta.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 03/10/2014 at 09:57pm

Ha! Error 37!

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In

Ive been playing portal maps and mods for a while. I am

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/577830..

I've been playing portal maps and mods for a while. I am happy to attempt to contribute some of my own puzzles with the release of Portal 2's Perpetual Testing Initiative. I've completed two maps so far and am enjoying the process. It's a unique kind of puzzle itself trying to create these puzzles: making the map intuitive enough, making sure the player can't get stuck, watching for unintended solutions, etc. It's a lot of trial and error, but I'm enjoying it. Please let me know what you think of my first two efforts. Thanks!

"Flying is Easy..." http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=71983192

Description: "This is my first map. It should be relatively... Read All

Totally worth 99 cents. Nice weapons, fun armor, and Ive

Totally worth 99 cents. Nice weapons, fun armor, and I've actually become a little strategic in how I'm swiping/sword-fighting. Excellent graphics, even for my fading mid-40s eyeballs. I'm not a hardcore gamer, so some of the actual advantages and disadvantages of mastering objects and leveling up took a while to figure out, but it was worth it.

Three UFIA and a knuckle (out of five).

Its 12.29am Tuesday May 15th and Battle.net is down for

Its 12.29am Tuesday May 15th and Battle.net is down for maintenance. Error 37, servers are busy abounds and people are mad complaining right now. One of my friends said his pal connected and tried retrieving the character list and it was so slow.

Apparently the amount of traffic is DDoSing the battle.net servers. But its a good kind of DDoS because they are all paying customers. Going to stay up a little longer to see how bad this get? This feels like people won't be playing for another few hours, but I have absolutely no idea how many people are trying to play? A few million? I guess that would cause some issues but doesn't Blizzard have 10 million WoW players?

Oh a tip... Read All

Here we are on the eve of the Diablo 3 launch. I am not

http://hellyeahcomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/HellYeah_AtTheGates_en1.jpg

Here we are on the eve of the Diablo 3 launch. I am not sure I have anticipated a launch quite as eagerly as this one. I kept hitting the refresh on my Amazon package track and was really excited it moved 30 miles. Yeah, its like that for me.

If all goes well I may head to 12p line at a Best Buy with a friend that wants to pick it up tonight. Ill take pictures and all that, hopefully there is a nerd rush and someone mistakes the event for a Pretty Petz 2 launch. "Wait, you mean this isn't Catz 4 Back in Mittens launch line? OH MAN!" Or maybe thats what I will say.... Hmmmm.

Anyways, as always here is a few Diablo 3 news bits for your consumption. Don't joy puke early,... Read All

Tungsten wrote on 05/15/2012 at 01:23am

I apparently have a corrupted MPQ... again... It seems to be a common problem though.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/15/2012 at 01:36am

Doh! Totally totally sucks.

Tungsten wrote on 05/15/2012 at 01:47am

I have an operating theory on how to get it to work...

I delete the corrupted file and it tries to re-download it. It inevitably tells me that it is corrupted again, but it gets further in the download. Maybe when it finishes the download...

We'll see. I'm also operating anti-virus free (don't worry, it'll be back on before anyone reads this) and I deleted a my Battle.net folder.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/15/2012 at 02:03am

Heres for hoping.

Tungsten wrote on 05/15/2012 at 02:33am

FIXED IT!!! Still can't slay any demons tonight or tomorrow, but here's hoping this weekend is filled with the blood of my enemies.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/15/2012 at 02:34am

For the Horde! Oh wait....

If you want to join this conversation you need to sign in.

Sign Up / Log In