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Nightdive Studios Brings An Incredible Port Of Doom 64!

Digital Foundry has another incredible review of Doom 64 up on YouTube and as with most of their coverage, you need to watch it. As the interview unfolds they bring in some really fun perspectives of the Nightdive developers working on this port. Nightdive studios doesn't just emulate these old games but ports them brining new features and enhancements to old games giving them a level of love and polish games like Doom 64 deserves.

"In a DF Retro exclusive, John Linneman talks with Nightdive Studios about the process of bringing the classic, totally original Nintendo 64 rendition of Doom over to the current-gen platforms. In this video, you'll see what made the... Read All

Finally and At Last: Terraria 1.4 Will Release May 16, 2020

Our long wait is at an end, folks. The final major update to Terraria will be with us on May 16.

This update has been in the works for quite some time now, and will bring with it quite a few new features, including new game modes Journey and Master, new weapons, new NPCs, new buildable objects, GOLFING, and so many others.

The wiki has a list of all confirmed new features for 1.4 and this likely isn't even all of them: https://terraria.gamepedia.com/Upcoming_features

Announcement tweet: https://twitter.com/Demilogic/status/1249728004827250693?s=19

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/13/2020 at 06:54pm

Wow! I last heard that they were speeding up work on it due to the global issue and that it would be out around the end of summer, but I don't think I expected it to be out on that date. I'm looking forward to playing the new content and I really hope we're doing another server.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/13/2020 at 06:55pm

❤️

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 04/13/2020 at 11:27pm

Wait, what's Terraria? 😉

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 04/14/2020 at 03:20am

Adam, I see you're new here.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 04/14/2020 at 09:41pm

Check out Chippy Gaming's new video and other videos he's posted about this update: https://youtu.be/A90cJ9nMr7A

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/01/2020 at 10:17pm

PYLONS https://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/expand-your-terraria-empire-pylons-town-building-and-npc-happiness.88128/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/01/2020 at 11:22pm

Mostly awesome! I mean, they're right about the basic spawn "town" build. This system seems to fit. I remember at the start trying to meet the right criteria for getting NPCs to move in, but this just fills that in a bit more. Now, it's not just getting about them to move in and stay, but makes it a bit more interesting by edging us to create more bases in different places. This adds to the beauty and livelihood of Terraria worlds and makes them less static. I think this could get some people to build some really cool places! I think this is pretty cool, although I'm not much of a builder, I build the basic boxes, but this could get me to add those boxes to other places. It's also cool to be able to teleport to places, granted you could set up teleport points using TEdit. This update is packed, I'm really looking forward to playing it again, although sad that this is supposed to be "the last" update. I wonder what's in the future for the game and devs, hopefully Terraria 2.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/08/2020 at 09:10am

Journey mode looks cool! https://youtu.be/M01jQ2XRqfE

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/08/2020 at 06:59pm

It does, I love how you can change enemy difficulty settings on the fly.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/09/2020 at 02:24am

The Bestiary and Zoologist NPC https://youtu.be/6ypdF4x0iu0

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Recommended Watching and Reading: Good Omens

“Armageddon is days away and we’ve lost the Antichrist,” says the demon Crowley, which sets up the basic premise of Good Omens. Good Omens was just a book written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman that I read about 20 years ago. Now, as of 2019, it’s a TV series on Amazon Prime Video, which contains only six episodes. I’m not familiar with the rest of the cast, but I’m aware of David Tennant, who once played The Doctor in Doctor Who. I really like him and he plays my definitively favorite character in this series, Crowley. Crowley dresses in black, has red hair, which is some times long, wears sun glasses, even at night, listens to Queen a lot, and drives a 90 year... Read All “Armageddon is days away and we’ve lost the Antichrist,” says the demon Crowley, which sets up the basic premise of Good Omens. Good Omens was just a book written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman that I read about 20 years ago. Now, as of 2019, it’s a TV series on Amazon Prime Video, which contains only six episodes. I’m not familiar with the rest of the cast, but I’m aware of David Tennant, who once played The Doctor in Doctor Who. I really like him and he plays my definitively favorite character in this series, Crowley. Crowley dresses in black, has red hair, which is some times long, wears sun glasses, even at night, listens to Queen a lot, and drives a 90 year old Bentley. His best friend is an angel named Aziraphale. They’re the only angel and demon that have been on Earth since the beginning (6,000 years ago), which you will see in the premier episode. Crowley has to deliver the baby Antichrist, but he and Aziraphale come up with a clever scheme to avoid the war between Heaven and Hell, which would ultimately be the end of the world. They love the world and don’t want to see it end.

The show is funny and may not be suitable for all (especially serious) audiences, but I think it’s great. I love the intro (https://youtu.be/BsrPO8qslBE)! I think it’s funny how Aziraphale is really the only “good” angel, all the others are mean-spirited (to put it nicely) and want Armageddon so that they can be the victors of the war against the forces of Hell. They even team up near the end, slightly, because all is not going according to plan and both sides need to push a bit to get Armageddon going, in the wake of the intervention of Aziraphale and Crowley.

I’ve only read the book once and that was 20 years ago, so my memory of it has faded quite a lot. I’m not even sure if I still have it. But, I really did enjoy this show, very much and recommend it. If you like British comedy, David Tennant, or other stars of the show, you might like this one. It’s short, but free for Prime members, so go check it out! I love the trailer I've embedded here!

If you want to discuss it here, feel free to. I’d prefer not to spoil everything here though.

Travis Admin wrote on 04/13/2020 at 02:01pm

Absolutely great book, and the series is a worthy adaptation. Tennant and Sheen are perfect and captivating, and the supporting cast fill things out so well, especially Jon Hamm as Gabriel (but that's cheating because Jon Hamm is always great) and Adria Arjona as Anathema Device.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/13/2020 at 03:57pm

I'm glad you agree and that you recommended the book to me. I was aware of the show last year, I'm not sure why I waited until now to watch it, I guess I kind of forgot about it until I saw it on an Amazon box in my room recently.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/13/2020 at 08:15pm

I noticed the guard at the air base reading a book by Neil Gaiman. It turns out it's called "American Gods" and has a show, too. Have you read or seen this, Travis?

Travis Admin wrote on 04/14/2020 at 03:22am

Read? No, I haven't. It's on my shame list of books I need to read but haven't.

Seen? YES! It's amazing, if not as good as Good Omens. The first season is better than the second. I feel like it needs to come to a conclusion, because season 2 felt like it was dragging its feet.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/14/2020 at 03:45am

Cool, I'll look into it, I might start watching it (assuming that I can).

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/14/2020 at 04:23am

I just watched a trailer for it and was glad to see Ian McShane. He was in an episode of Game and Thrones, but also in all John Wick movies, I like him. I saw one other actor I recognized. I just did some digging and I'm pretty sure his name is Peter Stormare. He's in a lot of movies I've seen/ He plays Satan in Constantine and is in Lost World: Jurassic Park and Fargo. The trailer looks a bit bloody for my taste, but I might give it a try.

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What Are You Playing During Quarantine?

Hope all of you are having a safe quarantine. With that I was curious what everyone was up to while we are all locked away in our houses. Since I have a 4 year old most of my weekend time is spent with him but I have been making time to play some Super Nintendo Classic and focusing on Earthbound and Star Fox. I nearly beat Star Fox yesterday but Andross shut me down on my last life.

"Dude Is Satan in this Game?" Jack Black Plays Doom Eternal

Jack Black: Dude it's getting biblical talk about the mark of the beast!
Sammy Black: It's about hell.
Jack Black: Dude is Satan in this game?
Sammy Black: Uh, not exactly Satan.
Jack: No spoilers.
Jack: Sumpin' tells me we gonna battle Satan!

It's a Jack Black playing Doom Eternal. Just click the button already.

The Outer Worlds: From Concept to Creation - Documentary

If you come to Cheerful Ghost from time to time you have noticed that share all manner of video game videos and documentaries. One documentary channel on YouTube I quite enjoy is Noclip, a YouTube channel that creates excellent video game documentaries constantly. Their latest deep look is at Obsidians latest Triple A hit The Outer Worlds. It's a fun peek at one of the coolest takes on the Fallout formula and well worth a click.

"In the first video exploring the design of The Outer Worlds, we sit down with Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky to discuss how a team of fewer than 75 developers collaborated to create their sci-fi RPG."

Sharing Some Doom Stuff!

I’ve seen some videos lately about Doom and wanted to share them, so I’m writing this post. The first (embedded) video is from the YouTube channel called Today I Found Out. Simon, the host, explains the origin of the game, including how it got it’s name. I think the video is worth watching, even funny at times, so I thought I’d share it.

I’ve also been watching some videos on the YouTube channel called Gaming Bolt. They’ve gone over the lore of Doom and some of the creatures. If you like the game, you should check these out as well: https://www.youtube.com/user/GamingBoltLive/search?query=doom

I also want to make you aware of Doom the Rogue-Like game. I found out about... Read All

Minecraft: Dungeons A Beta Look

Minecraft: Dungeons recently released a closed beta version. People could sign up at https://dungeons.minecraft.net/ to join, but since it’s a closed beta, not everyone who signed up will receive a key. From what I’ve read, it also seems that keys were sent out and no more would be given, so if you didn’t get one to start with, you’ll probably not be able to join in the beta. That’s ok though as the game is going to be released on May 26, 2020. There are two editions already available for pre-order including the $20 Standard Edition and the $30 Hero Edition. The latter, “includes a Hero Cape, two player skins, and a chicken pet usable only within Minecraft Dungeons.... Read All Minecraft: Dungeons recently released a closed beta version. People could sign up at https://dungeons.minecraft.net/ to join, but since it’s a closed beta, not everyone who signed up will receive a key. From what I’ve read, it also seems that keys were sent out and no more would be given, so if you didn’t get one to start with, you’ll probably not be able to join in the beta. That’s ok though as the game is going to be released on May 26, 2020. There are two editions already available for pre-order including the $20 Standard Edition and the $30 Hero Edition. The latter, “includes a Hero Cape, two player skins, and a chicken pet usable only within Minecraft Dungeons. It also includes two DLC packs, when they become available” according to the Minecraft: Dungeons website. I plan to get the latter as I like the game and feel like even the extra special edition is still relatively cheap and a good bargain value that can’t quite be denied.

Minecraft: Dungeons is basically a Minecraft version of Diablo or other similar RPG dungeon crawler games. The player or players traverse dungeons fighting enemies along the way to reach the end goal. There is of course a story tied to this. Combat is quite simple, just point and click (on the PC). You can use a melee weapon such as a sword or sickles, but you can also use a bow with arrows. Basically, by default on PC, you click the left mouse button to attack with the sword and then click the right one to shoot an arrow. There are also other items you can use, with the 1-3 keys on PC, called artifacts. These give different power ups. One of them summons a wolf, which will fight with you. It can die, but can be summoned again after a cool down period. There’s only one piece of armor, but there are different kinds of it that are more appropriate for what kind of character you’re playing as. Some armor will boost ranged attacks, while some will boost melee attacks, and more. You don’t really chose a class type as you would in Diablo, it’s pretty much the armor piece that takes that role.

While playing, you’ll run into many familiar pieces of Minecraft including enemies like zombies, skeletons, chicken jockies, and illagers. Enemies can drop goodies like food, which are used instantly for regeneration, but they can also drop potions, which give different kinds of buffs. For instance, there’s a swiftness potion and a shadow essence potion. You’ll notice that spiders actually act differently in that they’ll shoot web at you, which will make you stick in place for a few seconds. Some enemies, like zombies and skeletons have armored versions and some can even be enchanted. Some times a TNT block will be dropped and you can use it, with the right-mouse button on the PC. It will light a radius around it, so you know the range of the area of affect and can try to avoid it. Some arrows can also explode on enemies.

There are many levels of difficulty, but you’ll start with the default one and advance from there. The higher the difficulty, the harder the enemies and the better rewards you’ll get for completion. You can die in the game, but it seems you get three lives. Right now, in the beta, there are only three mission areas available, but they’re all procedurally generated. Tied with the difficulty scale, this creates a great level of replayability. Each mission area has secrets, like chests or mini-dungeons you can find. When finishing a mission, you’ll get a screen that shows you how much you healed, your ranged accuracy, secrets chests found, etc. You’ll also get a chest that contains some loot. Along the way, you’ll also collect emeralds, which you can trade to a villager or stationary travelling villager at your camp for armor, weapons, and artifacts. While on a mission, you can, by default on PC, press Tab to reveal a map overlay, which will stay on your screen and help guide you around, so you can try to check every area. I find this to be a little distracting, though. I think perhaps if the overlay were at the top corner of the screen or lighter then it would be better.

One other point to note is that you can play multiplayer. It’s up to four players. The game will be available on Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4.

So far Minecraft: Dungeons looks fun and enjoyable. There are a couple of YouTube channels I subscribe to and was able to watch the game being played and it seems as those content creators were enjoying the game very much. I anticipate that it will be a popular game, since it’s Minecraft and fun and enjoyable, as I mentioned, but also because it will be so widely available for a good price.

Let me know what you think about the game if you’ve seen anything about it or have beta access. Is this something you’ll pre-order or get a launch? Which edition would you get? Let me know in the comments!

And thank you, Jon, for giving me a code, I greatly appreciate it!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/05/2020 at 11:29pm

I might write some first thoughts on this but from a high level Minecraft Dungeons is incredibly well polished and brings a very focused simplicity to the Diablo game genre.

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/05/2020 at 11:30pm

I’m fairly certain I’ll pick this up on Switch.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/06/2020 at 01:44am

Yeah, I agree. It did have some issues, but they have been patched AFIK. The game used to freeze or lock up, but I'm not sure if it still does that. You're absolutely right about "focused simplicity to the Diablo game genre," that's quite exactly what it is. It's a simplified version of a game like Diablo, but it's Minecraft and fun. I think I'll pre-order the Hero Edition next month as that's when it gets released.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 04/06/2020 at 05:07pm

You guys got into the closed beta? My son has been wanting to play this!

jdodson Admin wrote on 04/07/2020 at 02:23am

Greg did you get more invitations? Curious if people I invited get invitations to share 😀

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/07/2020 at 05:32am

No, I just got the link you provided, nothing from Mojang. I'd be happy to share if I got some.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 04/10/2020 at 04:30am

Check out this video from IGN "4 Things We're Loving About Minecraft Dungeons" for a quick look at the game and some of what I've described. You'll find the video at https://youtu.be/5P8aO9xVJ68 One of the main reasons I wanted to share this with you is so that you can see what I saying about how there are no classes in the game, it just depends on the gear you have and use. You can always switch gear.

I didn't see the Redstone level that was described, it's not available for me. I also didn't see every mob that you see in the video. I think it's a great game and I do strongly recommend it. I'm looking forward to pre-ordering it and it's release next month.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/12/2020 at 09:03am

So, I decided to get the game and my experience with it turned upside down. I enjoyed the beta and was looking forward to more, but the game itself is a different story. Really, there's no difference between the two, just that the beta had limited dungeons to explore, less content. But, I had fun in the beta, not so much with the full release of the game. From what I see on the Internet, people are liking it or finding it to be very easy, that is not an experience I am able to share. This is a case where the Internet makes me feel bad, because I'm pretty much not "good" at the game. I find it a little more difficult than I want it to be. I find the loot drops to be much more random than I want them to be. I also find myself unsure exactly how to use everything or what everything does. I often would like to get a better weapon, like a better sword, but I have to spend thousands or hundreds of thousands of emeralds just to get one that isn't as "good." It's so much easier to get exactly what you don't want than it is to get what you want. There are power level stats, which seem arbitrary and meaningless. It's a confusing system (see link at bottom for more detail). The dungeons have power levels based on difficulty and the game suggests you be a certain power level to take on that dungeon at that difficulty. The game will show you a green arrow pointing up that tells you one piece of equipment is more powerful than another with a red arrow pointing down, but if you look at the stats, you may find that one weapon does more damage than another. I don't know, it's just confusing. I'll share a link below that offers some tips. You may want to search the source for more of their articles as I have. Maybe, if I didn't play this game alone I'd enjoy it better, I'm not sure. I hate to say that my feelings for this game have drastically changed, but I'm an honest person. I'm conflicted in that I think it's not just a hack-and-slash and I think that's great and yet, I kind of want it to be that. It does seem smart, though, throwing you a curve ball every now and then. Not every enemy or boss can be defeated in the same way, so it takes strategy or simply knowledge of an enemy's attack. I'm not saying don't get this game. You might have a different experience than me. I'm just sharing my honest experience, to follow up with this post.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/minecraft-dungeons-beginners-guide-9-essential-tip/1100-6477683/

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Tale of the White Wyvern Season 2 Starts Today, Plus Some Neat New Member Benefits

Tale of the White Wyvern Season 2: The Plot Quickens starts today! This one is going to be intense, and loads of fun. It's all about bonuses to increase the pace of the game. Here's what we have in store for this season:

50 Forest Fights per day, before other bonuses like partnership, bard songs, and washing your hands

5 PvP fights per day

10 fishing turns per day

You can eat up to 3 fish per day

+70% gold find and experience gain!

500 starting gold

This season will be over on June 1, so get in there and enjoy all those bonuses!

In addition, members can now head over to their user preferences for a new feature: user flair. This let you style up your name with some... Read All

Help Fight COVID-19 With One of the Best Humble 100% Charity Bundles

The COVID-19 pandemic is in full swing and most of us are housebound doing what we can. If you are finding yourself with a bit more free time to play some games and the want to donate to charities that can help fight COVID-19 The Humble Bundle is here!

"This special one-week bundle features $1,071 worth of games and ebooks for just $30. 100% of the proceeds from your bundle purchase go to support organizations responding to COVID-19. For example, delivering protective gear to safeguard healthcare workers and providing medical care to infected patients."

The charities you will be supporting are Doctors without Borders, Partners in Health, Direct Relief and International... Read All