Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

The Switch Gets Two New Pokemon Games + New Pokeball Controller!

Game Freak, the developers of Pokemon dropped a 40 minute conference pre E3 where they talked about two new Pokemon games coming to the Nintendo Switch this year called Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! I encourage you to watch the full conference reveal above but some relevant clips from the Let's Go site to help explain things:

"Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! bring the experience of a classic Pokémon RPG to Nintendo Switch with gameplay that is easily approachable for newcomers to the series, but is also deep enough to keep veteran Trainers on their toes.

The games also have two-player simultaneous play, so you can... Read All

Not-Mew-Genics - But Blockchains in Games?

Blockchains in games sounds like an amazing idea. I kind of love the idea of Cryptokitties, but it does sound like a waste of money. In this video, blockchains are discussed as an actual game mechanic that could be amazing in some type of MMO game. It would obviously take a lot of work for the developer to put out enough content in the game for everyone, but it could work sort of the opposite of the Mordor games. Instead of the enemies growing based on killing you, your individual weapon would grow specific to what you do in the game. Check the youtube video out, it talks about it in more detail :)

(And you can skip ahead about 45 seconds to get to the actual video if... Read All

Fallout 76

Fallout 76 has been announced with a trailer (embedded). No other information has been provided. After watching the video, it sounds like it takes place in West Virginia, a neighboring state of mine. I would expect some serious irradiated wild life as WV's theme is "wild and wonderful." Let me know what you think and share any additional info you have.

News source: https://www.cnet.com/news/fallout-76-is-the-next-bethesda-adventure-in-the-post-apocalyptic-wasteland/

Travis Admin wrote on 05/30/2018 at 07:47pm

“Sources” claim that this is an online survival game.

https://kotaku.com/sources-fallout-76-is-an-online-survival-rpg-1826425333

So Greg, your Ark love might translate well to this. I’ll probably end up buying it because it’s Fallout and I love Fallout but I don’t really love the genre so... hopefully they can do something interesting with this to make me interested. But if I’m not that’s fine. It’s cool that they’re branching out to other genres but that’s kind of a wall that stops my hype train.

That’s assuming these sources are accurate (they seem to be).

Travis Admin wrote on 05/30/2018 at 07:56pm

Some lore: Vault 76 is a control vault in Virginia that wasn’t an experiment like the other vaults. It was scheduled to open 20 years after the bombs dropped, but based on the trailer it’s 5 years past that “reclamation day” and you appear to be the only one in the vault.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 08:05pm

Ah well see the reason I love Ark so much isn't because it's an online survival game, but because it's a crafting, taming creatures, survival game. I did the online stuff, some time after I played single player, but I ended up getting back into single player and I'm not sure if I'd do the online thing again. That said, if this is a strictly online game with other people, I probably won't get into it. I'm not strictly against playing games online w/ others, but I have a strong preference to play online with friends only (ie, you guys w/ Terraria). I did enjoy my online time w/ Ark and I got some new friends and had some fun, but there was a lot of babysitting (of creatures, especially newborns) and when it came to PVP and time for war, I left.

What I'm wondering is why it's not called Fallout 5. Perhaps that's because it's an online survival. So, maybe the next single player version of the game will be Fallout 5, granted I'd prefer that instead of online survival.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/30/2018 at 08:52pm

Yeah they wouldn’t call it Fallout 5 if it’s not the core game sequel. Kinda like New Vegas a few years back but even more different than that.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 10:50pm

Ah, ok. I didn't think of it like that. I'm so used to the Final Fantasy series and how almost always those numbers are not related.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:05am

If it's a survival game where you can run your own servers that might be fun. Reason why those are fun is that you can build up a server ALA Terraria with rules and stuff and kick off dipshits. I know a lot of the new survival games do that and I think Ark does too.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:21am

Agreed 100% Jon. That would drive it home for me.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:28am

Right. It's hard to play those games and build up a small hut while some "doin' it for the LOLs" guy snorting cheeto dust wrecks your house and kills you. I mean, that's not how I would define fun anyway.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:34am

Yup yup! You can have your own server w/ Ark. PixArk is the last game I ran as a server, only because some features are still missing in the single player game. I like to run TShock for Terraria, too, when I get to a point where I want to change the time (for fishing quests) and use warps. But yeah, those kind of people you mention, Jon, suck. I believe they're called "griefers" and "trolls." There's also those kids (and perhaps adults) w/ the "yo mama" jokes/insults and calling everyone some other bad things (I don't feel like repeating those).

Yeah, a Cheerful Ghost Fallout 76 server sounds great!

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/01/2018 at 03:39am

Check out this video. As long as there's a single player mode, I'll be happy to get it. https://youtu.be/8RgbeA4H0FY

Travis Admin wrote on 06/01/2018 at 09:39pm

That video makes me want to check out The Forest actually! And yeah there are a few ways they could do Fallout 76 right.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/11/2018 at 12:45am

Did you see this from the MS press conference? https://youtu.be/toS9OiU-y0k Wow 4 times bigger than Fallout 4?! My only gripe (regarding what we do officially know) is the setting. I live near WV and I really don't care to explore that area in a video game. Sure, it can be nice and quaint, but I'm not really down for that whole country scene. Still, it won't matter, I'll still most likely buy this game. Apparently XBox users can pre-order on the 15th. I don't know if I'll preorder, I think I'd like to see when it's going to be released. What do you guys think?

Travis Admin wrote on 06/11/2018 at 01:00am

We will find out more at tonight’s Bethesda conference. I’m skipping Westworld for it

Travis Admin wrote on 06/11/2018 at 01:08am

But no matter where it’s set it’s still post apocalyptic so I mean it’s not much different from West Virginia today amirite? Got ‘em!

I jest, West Virginia is beautiful and surprisingly progressive in the populous areas.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/11/2018 at 01:20am

Watching the pre show now. Can’t wait to find out what 76 is! Bethesda is playing it so well because we don’t really know. It’s such great marketing.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/11/2018 at 01:24am

People are thinking there is gonna be a new Elder Scrolls but at best that’s coming next year.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/11/2018 at 01:30am

Yeah, @Travis, WV is beautiful. Surprisingly progressive? That's new to me, but you said populous areas, which makes some sense. But yeah, you're right post-apocalyptic, won't really matter. It'll be cool, I'm sure, I'm just not a fan of the country, I'm tired of it really.

@Jon I don't believe we'll see another Elder Scrolls game for a while. I'd say maybe, just maybe, in about 5 or 10 years. The last I saw, they said that the technology isn't up to par with what they want to do. Who knows what that is, but it's definitely going to take some time.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/06/2018 at 03:10am

So, I've been watching some videos of people playing Fallout 76 and it looks more interesting than I originally thought. The people I've watched have rarely encountered other people, except for their friends of course. There's been little to no PVP in the videos I've seen. You can't even PVP until you're level 5 and apparently you won't take much damage at first, unless you fight back, then it's on, otherwise you're pretty much ok. There are quests that are easier to do with someone else and connecting with a friend seems to be kind of easy. I feel like the more of these videos I watch, the more tempted I am to get it.

I'd also like to note that it looks a lot like Fallout 4, except more familiar to me as I'm about 150 away from Charleston, WV. The WV border is only about a half hour away.

Have any of you watched your favorite YouTubers play this game? Has your mind changed as to whether or not you'll get into it?

If I didn't have Ark to keep me occupied thanks to the new DLC coming out tomorrow, I think I'd most likely buy 76. Even still, I may get it when I'm done with Ark's new DLC.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/06/2018 at 03:32am

I've been reading a lot about it on /r/fallout and the big issue seems to be that the revenge system to prevent trolling encourages it.

Basically, player A kills player B, player B can then take revenge and get tons of loot.

The issue is that, player C can stash all their stuff and take terrible gear and then go run in front of player D's shots, or annoy player D by standing in doorways to trap them, or any other number of things so that player D kills player C. Then, player C goes and gets better gear and easily gets revenge on player D, and gets all the gear player D is carrying.

There's still tweaking to do, but if they get it right I'm still open to buying it.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/06/2018 at 04:15am

Wow that seems like a lot of could happen whereas in the videos I've been watching nothing like that has happened. I did see in one video that showed a wanted person on the map though, so someone was killing players.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/06/2018 at 04:18am

I've also seen some of them server hopping. So, if you get on a serve and someone is doing something unfriendly, you can jump on to a different server. It's interesting. Mostly server hopping was used to grab Power Armor.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/08/2018 at 01:27pm

One problem I saw was that there seems to be no push to talk button. Instead it's open mic and you'll hear anyone on the server. At least, that's what it seems happened with one of my favorite YouTubers. Maybe open mic is more localized for the area or maybe it's on the whole map. Others that I watched didn't seem to have this problem, so I don't know what they did differently. I may figure it out eventually, because I think I've pretty much decided to get it. I just don't know if I want to pre-order it. Let me know if you (anyone here for that matter) decide to get it. It'd be cool to play with friends and I have a good headset to use.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/08/2018 at 02:38pm

Yeah there’s no push to talk which is a complaint I’ve read.

I am like 50/50 on whether I’m getting it but I won’t at launch because I’ll have a ton of RDR2 left.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/08/2018 at 10:07pm

Lucky! I don't have a console for RDR2 and I don't want one. I want it to come out on PC lol. I think I will get Fallout 76 though, eventually, maybe close to launch.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/09/2018 at 03:50am

> and I don't want one

I dunno man, the PS4 has so many amazing games now that are either exclusive to it, or exclusive to consoles.

I do bet that whenever the PS5 and Xbox ... Scarlet? Is that what they're calling it? Anyway, when the next gen comes out I bet Rockstar releases it for those and PC, the way they did RDR2

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/09/2018 at 05:12am

Yeah, but I heard that RDR2 performed better on the XBox One. I'm not sure I have money for a new console. I'd like to have a Switch, but can't afford one. Yeah I hope it comes to PC, but who knows. They didn't release the first one. I have it for PS3 and would love to have it on Steam.

Regarding Fallout 76, I'm feeling more confident about it and seriously thinking about it. If you get it, I hope you get it for PC so we can play together. :) Otherwise I might tough it out on my own. We'll see, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/09/2018 at 05:19am

Although I did buy a New 2DSXL recently along with Pokemon Ultra Moon, but that was somewhat with birthday money I had leftover. I'd probably have to save a bit for a new console, but then there's not a lot of console games I'm aware of that I'd want. Right now Vinny uses the PS3 for gaming, I use it for streaming (watching YouTube and Hulu). My hope with a new console is that streaming would be much better, because at times I can't connect to Hulu and YouTube has trouble loading videos (sometimes).

Travis Admin wrote on 11/09/2018 at 05:08pm

It does perform a little better on the Xbox One but it’s not a huge jump and the PS4 exclusives like God of War and Spider-Man far make up for some minor deficiencies in one game :)

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/09/2018 at 09:20pm

There's also Kingdom Hearts and FFVII: Remake coming.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/10/2018 at 02:15am

Yep! This generation is full of great stuff.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/10/2018 at 06:19am

I decided to go ahead and pre-order Fallout 76. Apparently you can pre-load one of the console versions now (I think XBox) and PC and the other console pre-loads will be available later.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/14/2018 at 04:17am

I was foolish to think that I'd hold out. I won't be playing it soon (RDR2... won't... let... me... go) but I will have it as soon as my Amazon shipment comes in.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/14/2018 at 04:20am

> Amazon shipment comes in.

What version did you buy?

Travis Admin wrote on 11/14/2018 at 04:48am

I got the special edition but not the mega special edition with the power armor helmet. This one:

https://www.amazon.com/Fallout-76-Tricentennial-PC/dp/B07DN8YWLW/ref=sr_1_3_twi_gam_4?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1542170827&sr=1-3&keywords=fallout+76

Travis Admin wrote on 11/14/2018 at 04:55am

And yes Greg I got it on PC!

I'd prefer PS4 (until I get a 4k HDR monitor) but anyone I know who I'd want to play with would get it on PC probably so it made sense.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/14/2018 at 10:33pm

Yay! My name is GregoPeck on there. Unfortunately, it seems voice chat isn't working. I saw some people talking by an icon above their head, but couldn't hear them. Later I ran into a group that I could hear. I'm also sure no one could hear me. So, it seems a bit messed up at the moment.

I've been playing since yesterday, it actually went live before midnight.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/15/2018 at 02:36am

Pretty good review on RPS

https://youtu.be/OxH1QHmcyv4

Travis Admin wrote on 11/15/2018 at 02:37am

How is it so far for yo Greg?

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/15/2018 at 04:27am

Well, it performed really shitty at first. The game auto set my settings to Ultra and it took forever for shit to load in, so I changed it to High and it's performing better, although still sometimes things don't load in well. It'd be nice if voice chat worked, although some people may be relieved from the lack of open mic. Otherwise, it's cool and there's plenty to do. I think we're still playing with the beta version as we have not received a major update. There are definitely bugs that I hope get resolved soon.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/15/2018 at 04:52am

I've read that it's buggy as hell right now for everyone. Some missions unplayable, audio not working properly so someone on the other end of the map can hear your gunshots, lots of things. I heard there was a massive day-one update too so that's odd as well.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/15/2018 at 05:28am

I think the consoles got a day-one patch, but PC didn't. Some have said we got a small patch, but that's it. I'm looking forward to seeing Bethesda take care of bugs.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/15/2018 at 07:55am

I think I fixed my voice chat issue. I think it was a Windows 10 privacy setting that was causing me a problem. Eventually, I found someone that could hear me and I could hear her.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/16/2018 at 01:58am

Let me know what your name is when you get in so I can send you a friend request. Someone sent me one, but I have no idea who. The game does list people I've recently seen, but I didn't see where exactly that friend request came from. For us, it'll be easy once I know what your in-game name is.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/16/2018 at 03:40am

I sent you a friend request from panickedthumb so I’m probably not the one you didn’t recognize.

First impressions after a couple hours: this doesn’t have a narrative like the other Fallout games, and we knew that going in, but it definitely feels different and strange because of that. But Bethesda has always had a knack for environmental storytelling and it seems like they ramped it up for this game. Discovering the little stories left around every nook and cranny has been great.

The online aspect is interesting so far. I haven’t even connected a headset, I figured I’d just use text chat but hang on... they don’t have text chat. That’s an odd omission but they are “looking into” adding it. Push to talk is coming soon apparently. But I managed to communicate with rudimentary gestures with a couple players and we were working on the same missions so we kinda watched each other’s backs without any formal plan. The emergent gameplay was great here. I ran into one joker (I hesitate to say troll) who was blasting “Never Gonna Give You Up” over his headset and following people around “dancing” with emotes. It was way more funny than annoying.

The survival aspect is pretty well done. Imagine a Rust kind of system but way less strict. It’s more refined than the survival mode they added to Fallout 4 and a could imagine them learning some things for their next single player games.

Overall it’s not bad. It’ll take some time to really judge it but so far I’m not really put off by anything, which is unexpected for an online-only title.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/16/2018 at 03:44am

Oh and performance-wise, it’s noticeably prettier than Fallout 4 but runs better on my system. I have a buttery 60fps even in really asset-heavy areas. But I noticed that no matter how I set my video settings, the robot NPCs still stutter. I assume that’s because their movements are being calculated server-side so they’re the same for everyone but I don’t notice it with enemies or other players so that’s an odd thing worthy of mention.

jdodson Admin wrote on 11/16/2018 at 03:59am

Thanks for that write up Travis. I think you should turn some of it, or all of it, into a first impressions post. Mostly because I don't want it to be buried here and also because you're the first person i've heard say good things about Fallout 76.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/16/2018 at 04:17am

Ok well I didn't see the friend request anywhere nor did I see your name. I thought that's what you might use, I'll try to get you added/a request sent. It is like Fallout 4, except it's a survival game, meaning you have to eat and drink. The bad part of this is pretty much everything will give you rads, even after cooking/boiling it. There are also plenty of bugs. Right now you can't complete the Bureau of Tourism quest because you're supposed to repair something and the game doesn't give you a prompt to repair that device.

I thought voice chat wasn't working, but it does. I think it might have been due to Window 10's privacy settings, I had to change it to allow all programs access to my mic. Finally, I found a couple of girls that could hear me. I also later found some other guys that I could talk to, too.

The game does look good and it's not bad, but there are definitely things that need to be fixed. And yet we still have no patch. :(

Feel free to write up something, Travis, I support what Jon's said to you. It's complicated, but I'm not sure I'm in a great position to write a great review, maybe I just need some more time with it.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/16/2018 at 04:21am

Ok, I did a friend search for your name, found you and now it says "friend added." It's shown me that you're offline. I don't think the Bethesda launcher has a friends list, like Steam, so I'd know when you're on and playing. Hopefully, I'll get on sometime when you're on and I can find you and help you out. I feel kinda deep in the game, there are still some things I need to do, but that all can take a backseat. :)

Travis Admin wrote on 11/16/2018 at 04:50am

You say “and yet we have no patch” but we kinda do. It was a day one patch, but it looks like the PC version is actually at a higher point release than consoles.

It’s a patch, it just doesn’t fix everything, and there’s still a lot to fix.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/16/2018 at 05:17am

Right. I guess I feel like I've run into things that clearly require patching, but haven't been patched yet. Also, the lack of a push-to-talk button....well my headset has a push-to-mute button, so yeah lol. I noticed on the "auto" voice chat setting, that you won't hear people unless they're close, which seems to be the same as the "area" setting. If you can hear them, you can probably see them. One girl could hear me, but I couldn't hear her and I think her teammate said it was because her voice chat was set to "team." So, I think that setting mutes you to everyone except your team.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/16/2018 at 04:34pm

I think auto will set you to team chat if you’re on a team, or area if not.

And yeah I plan on writing something up when I have a few more hours in. It’s still too early even for a first impressions post

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 11/16/2018 at 10:49pm

I could write something...for starters, I wasn't even convinced about buying it until I watched YouTubers play the beta. Even then I was still a bit hesitant, too afraid of the PVP stuff, but it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. I don't often see other players, although I can see them on my map.

Travis Admin wrote on 11/17/2018 at 06:30am

Posted: https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/3941/fallout-76-first-impressions-after-a-few-hours

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Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is Here!

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection finally dropped today to, mostly, great reviews. The game collects 12 classic games which translates to be about $3.50 per game which is an incredible value. Maybe you might not play each game for 8000 hours but dropping in on a few just to understand the journey the franchise has taken seems more than interesting to me. The 30th Anniversary Collection is now out on PS4, XBox One, Switch and Steam and the Switch and Steam reviews seem a bit mixed. The complaint of the Switch version is that the switch controller doesn't flawlessly execute all of the combos and the PC version is getting swamped with reviews complaining to not... Read All

Mega Man 11 Is "Blue Bombing" It's Way To Launch October 2nd!

I'm not gonna lie, I prefer the old school pixel art of the classic Mega Man games. With that, they do need to bring Mega Man to a more modern audience so i'm trying to give the new art style a chance. Mega Man 11 looks to bring the classic 2D gameplay to modern systems with a more anime style that brings back a ton of classic 2D characterization. I don't love it but the style is growing on me and I bet after playing it a bit I might like it quite a bit. It was also announced today with the trailer featured above that Mega Man 11 is coming to consoles and PC October 2nd. For anyone planning on getting Mega Man 11 at launch or beyond what system do you think you will... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/30/2018 at 04:16am

Whoa! Another Switch game that's also coming to PC! I had no idea it was coming out on PC. Thanks for the info!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 04:33am

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/30/2018 at 04:58am

That game looks beautiful, doesn't it?!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 02:37pm

Yeah, the style is growing on me. That said, I think the original pixel style of Mega Man 2 should be in a museum.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 06/14/2018 at 02:45am

Looks like Mega Man 11 is pretty good!

https://kotaku.com/mega-man-11-is-exactly-what-i-hoped-it-would-be-1826794039

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Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 25: "Solo: A Star Wars Story" Review, Part 1

EXPECT SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS OF THIS POST

Solo: A Star Wars Story is the new Lucasfilm prequel featuring everyone’s favorite Corellian smuggler Han Solo. Solo had a somewhat troubled production when Lucasfilm replaced the original directors Lord and Miller with veteran director Ron Howard. We’re now living in a world where we get a new Star Wars movie per year, is this a good thing or has Lucasfilm succumbed to the darkside?

We'll be back next month with Part 2 of our review after things have had some time to settle in our minds. In part 2, we'll tell you where Solo fits into our Star Wars rankings and give our Ghost Scale rating.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/29/2018 at 10:44pm

As with much, i'm going to say that if you want to partake in the comments here to expect spoilers.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 10:59pm

Yep, thanks Jon. I updated the post with that warning as well.

And as an aside, sorry for my sick-sounding self. I must have gotten whatever Tim had. From across the country.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/30/2018 at 07:52pm

So Solo met my expectations, which is: it is fun, but nothing mind blowing. To me, Han and Chewie are the least interesting characters in the movie. All the other characters were great and saved the movie for me.

I really hope Lucasfilm rethinks their strategy of basing these "Star Wars Story" movies on existing characters. I think it makes it harder to care for the characters when you know where they end up. If they use existing characters and make the movies prequels, they better have a very strong character arc (which Solo did not have for Han). Otherwise I would like to see the characters in a non-prequel setting. For example: for the Boba Fett movie, set it after Return of the Jedi. Maybe have it set up like an Unforgiven movie. I think that would be cool.

As far as more Star Wars releases per year, it doesn't sound like they are going to do that after Solo under-performed.

As for the two Star Wars Story movies, Rogue One was the better film IMHO.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 07:58pm

They’d have to retcon Boba dying in RotJ for that to work. But I could get behind someone finding his armor near the sarlaac pit and taking over his name and contributing his legacy. That would be awesome.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 07:58pm

*continuing

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/30/2018 at 08:06pm

We don't know that Boba died in RotJ. He went into the Sarlacc for sure, but it takes "over a thousand years" for a Sarlacc to digest someone.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 09:00pm

Unless he managed to take off his armor while inside the sarlaac and escape, he’s dead. Jaws eventually dug into the pit and killed the sarlaac and took a lot of stuff from its stomach, including that armor.

That’s according to Aftermath, and LucasFilm’s new canon policy is there’s only one canon, no levels of canon, and every story decision is approved based on whether it violates anything previously done.

So they have some wiggle room for Boba surviving (like a suuuuuper low chance) but he wouldn’t have the armor. Or there would need to be some crazy exposition for it to work.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/30/2018 at 10:04pm

Ah, so it was covered in a novel? I am failing at being a star wars nerd. :)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 10:49pm

Hahaha nah, it’s hard to keep up with all of it. My wife has done a better job of it than I have.

But yeah it’s been covered just by the armor moving around a bit. But I mean technically there’s still no body. Probably LucasFilm being coy with us.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/30/2018 at 10:56pm

Travis, will you write up a Travis' Notes version of Star Wars so we have all the info? :)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/30/2018 at 11:50pm

I already did: https://starwars.wikia.com

;)

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:03am

> I really hope Lucasfilm rethinks their strategy of basing these "Star Wars Story" movies on existing characters. I think it makes it harder to care for the characters when you know where they end up. If they use existing characters and make the movies prequels, they better have a very strong character arc (which Solo did not have for Han).

I'm not sure I disagree with anything you said. With that, my guess is that they are doing these (and i've talked about this before in comments) prequel films while they rev up the new films POST Episode 9. They have Rian Johnson and the Thrones brothers (whatever their names are) for those movies but while they are getting those going and the TV shows and other new movies they want to mine stuff and the past seems like a temporarally safe choice.

> As far as more Star Wars releases per year, it doesn't sound like they are going to do that after Solo under-performed.

Marvel did it. I bet Lucasfilm can get the formula right too.

> As for the two Star Wars Story movies, Rogue One was the better film IMHO.

The more I think about where Solo lands the more i'm not sure. I know it's better than most of the prequels but i'm not sure about where it sits with Rogue One? I hope to see it again before part 2.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:31am

Also wanted to link to a YouTube video I watched recently called "What We Want From a Star Wars Movie?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeUGLUYYYNQ It's a great breakdown and covers why some people might not have appreciated aspects of The Last Jedi.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:35am

I'm really not sure where I'd put Solo in terms of better or worse than Rogue One. Rogue One was SO good in my opinion but I do get the issues people had with it.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/31/2018 at 03:45am

We all know we really want a Jar Jar Binks movie.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 04:01am

I'd honestly go opening night if there was one.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/31/2018 at 05:03am

“Mesa want your money: A Jar Jar Binks Story”

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:41pm

I would totally go to that and try to avoid all spoilers. I would want to experience the train wreck

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/31/2018 at 05:42pm

I've heard some fun speculation that the Solo/Boba Fett/Obi Wan movies could be a quasi-Darth Maul/Crimson Dawn trilogy. From what I've read and seen, Darth Maul and Obi Wan have a pretty extensive history in the animated shows, so an Obi Wan movie with Darth Maul in it might have to be a retelling of the animated story (so it's probably not likely). It would also be fun for Han and Chewie to be minor characters in the Boba Fett movie.

(I've still not seen Solo, but I've seen a lot of reactions and breakdowns. And I heard a podcast on it too Here's a really in-depth, fun breakdown of all the references and details in Solo: https://youtu.be/fKLHggsywpo )

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/31/2018 at 06:05pm

Interesting chat with Ron Howard about Maul here: http://www.slashfilm.com/solo-reveal-explained/

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 10:54pm

I meant to post that here last night Will. I love how he just didn't know who was going to fill that role, but Jonathan Kasdan wrote it so that it would lean toward Maul.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 11:04pm

There's something that Jon and I talked about in the episode that I've been thinking about. Jon thought it was out of character for Han to give Enfys the loot instead of taking it himself. I mostly agreed but upon further thought, I think it makes sense. And my wife thought this was too obvious to even talk about it so... maybe we're slow :D

So in A New Hope, Han is only in it for the money, until he shows up to help in the crucial moment of the Death Star battle to help.

In Empire, we aren't entirely sure what's happened in the intervening years but Han is about to leave to save his own ass until he finds out Luke is in trouble and he risks his life to save Luke.

Han isn't a rogue scoundrel who only looks out for himself, even in the beginning of when we knew him. He's a good person who had terrible experiences and has made himself INTO a rogue scoundrel to get by. But when it comes down to it he does what's right.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/01/2018 at 01:07am

Yeah as I was thinking about the movie more the night I came back from the theater the more it made sense that they might make this The Maul Trilogy. Should be fun!

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/01/2018 at 02:41am

I just saw the movie so now I can partake in spoiler comments! Wow there's a lot to read about here. It took me a while, but I finally recognized Emilia Clarke, "Daenerys!" Wow that was difficult to place, since she's a brunette in this movie. I also thought that L3 was played by Gwendoline Christie, Captain Phasma, but I was wrong.

I thought it was a cool movie, some of it was beautiful (like when they escaped the maelstrom. I noticed the lack of a Star Wars theme music in the beginning, which didn't occur until Hans and Chewie were in the Falcon.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/01/2018 at 02:47am

Hans, the German smuggler.

;)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/01/2018 at 03:06am

I also recognized Ron Howard's brother, so wasn't surprised to see Ron's name in the credits. I also saw the guy from the movie Willow, I believe. Oh and the main villain, he was Vision in the Marvel movies!

I also thought it was cool that Han knew Chewie's language. That was interesting. I mean he never talked to Chewie in his native language before, so that was really cool! Seeing Darth Maul surprised me, the ending twist was a surprise for me, but I guess I'm just gullible and twists in movies actually surprise me.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/01/2018 at 03:07am

Crap, I said "Hans" my bad! I made that mistake before.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/01/2018 at 10:00pm

Seeing Han speak Wookie was horrible! I have to disagree with you on that one Greg!

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/02/2018 at 04:13am

I would be somewhere in the middle of cool and horrible on this one. I kinda always thought of Shyriiwook as something that non-Wookiees couldn't speak, just like how humans can't purr. We can kinda approximate it but we don't have the right throat structure for it. Apparently, though, according to a canon reference book it's possible, just really hard on the throat if you aren't a Wookiee.

It was still cheesy to see it though.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/02/2018 at 04:46am

So, I'm getting the impression that I liked it more than you guys. That doesn't quite surprise me as I clearly like the prequels more than you guys. Is this correct? Did you guys not like it very much?

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/02/2018 at 06:04am

If you've heard the episode, Jon and I really liked it, and my opinion has stayed pretty consistent since things have gelled in my mind over the last week. My wife and I were planning on a second watch this past Monday but we both got some kind of virus that's worse than a cold. Bubonic chest cold? Yeah Bubonic chest cold.

I've never seen a movie where every single thing worked for me though, and maybe only one or two where nothing worked for me. And I have a spectrum of gripes. Nothing in Solo was really problematic for me, just minor nits. Hearing Shyriiwook spoken by a human was one of those nits but it did get a chuckle out of me if I'm honest. It just seemed out of place.

But yeah I plan on seeing it again at least once before it gets out of theaters and I can't wait for the home release.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/02/2018 at 02:14pm

I’m sick right now too and my voice is pretty trashed.

I liked Solo quite a bit. The Han speaking Wookie was a fun cheese moment and I’m glad it’s there. It reminded me of Luke drinking milk straight from the sea cow. That said, I think I liked the sea cow scene more it was just so much fun.

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/02/2018 at 02:14pm

#notmyluke

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/02/2018 at 08:32pm

Solo was fun and I enjoyed it despite my problems with it. It was probably up there with the prequels for me, which I like.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/02/2018 at 10:27pm

Will, what does your ranking list look like? We talked about that a bit in the last episode comments

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/03/2018 at 12:37am

I haven’t thought of rank in a long time. This will take some thought.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/03/2018 at 12:52am

It seems I got the wrong impression, you guys do like it, even if you have some issues w/ it. @Will_Ball, that's cool that you like the prequels, too. I think maybe I'm not too picky, but I liked seeing how Darth Vader came to be.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 06/03/2018 at 01:43am

I like many things about the prequels. The only one that I would say I struggle to like is AotC. But there’s a lot of crap in there.

Greg I realized that you weren’t in the discussion on the last episode either, care to share your list?

I posted my (updated) list, along with Katie’s and my friend Hari’s (because he has a different take on it than I might, having grown up with the prequels), here:

https://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/3712/cheerful-ghost-radio-episode-24-the-killing-snoke

And of course listen for Jon’s and Tim’s.

I still don’t know where I’d put Solo.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/03/2018 at 05:30am

I don't really care to make a list. LOL

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/03/2018 at 01:41pm

Aw. Everyone needs a Star Wars List.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/03/2018 at 04:47pm

My Star Wars list:

Star Wars
Everything else

😄

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/03/2018 at 06:28pm

Wills list:

1. Ewoks an Endor Adventure
2. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
3. The Holiday Special
4. Solo: A Star Wars Story

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 06/04/2018 at 05:04am

Ok, I still think my first list is the most accurate one, but here is where I stand as of right now:

6
5
4
7
8
Rogue One
Solo
3
1
2

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/04/2018 at 05:45am

Just heard a discussion about a different movie (Infinity War) and one of the guys made the point that *all* movies have plot holes/nits. It's bad if it takes you out of the movie, but if it's something you realize days later, then it's not that big of a deal.

That could probably be applied to a lot of the Solo discussion. Sounds like people mostly enjoyed the movie, but there were minor issues (but like Travis says, you can say that about every movie), but nothing bad enough to take you out of the movie :)

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/04/2018 at 05:47am

(Also, I listened to the podcast halfway through, and listened to others, then originally commented here, then eventually listened to the rest of the podcast and realized the Maul Trilogy was discussed by Jon and Travis lol. I don't think this is the only place I've heard about it, but now at least realize I wasn't contributing anything new to the discussion about that lol)

jdodson Admin wrote on 06/05/2018 at 03:48am

> Just heard a discussion about a different movie (Infinity War) and one of the guys made the point that *all* movies have plot holes/nits. It's bad if it takes you out of the movie, but if it's something you realize days later, then it's not that big of a deal.

That's true. I think though, movie pendantry is becoming a hot take arms race. Like I love talking about it to have a fun nerd moment with friends but I think it's a becoming new wave cynicism that's taking over fandom and becoming really toxic. What amount of nits makes a movie bad? I don't really know, but I know when people can't seem to let things go. Like I've seen lots of movies I didn't like and I can't remember them at the moment because I stopped caring a long time ago. Ok I thought of a bad movie I didn't enjoy, Spiceworld! Can't remember anything about it, but I remember not watching all of it and not much else.

> (Also, I listened to the podcast halfway through, and listened to others, then originally commented here, then eventually listened to the rest of the podcast and realized the Maul Trilogy was discussed by Jon and Travis lol. I don't think this is the only place I've heard about it, but now at least realize I wasn't contributing anything new to the discussion about that lol)

Yeah, i'm sure lots of people had that idea too. Thing is when it turns out to not be true, i'm not going to create a Twitter account attacking whatever director that didn't reward my fandom in the way I wanted them to. PLACATE ME STAR WARS OR I'LL NEVER STOP HATE TWEETEREREASDFASDFASDFASDFASDF

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My Favorite Mods for Ark: Survival Evolved

My favorite mods:

Structures Plus

StackMeMore

Ark Advance

TameXL

Taming Gun

Egg N Poop Collector/Incubator

Kibble Vending Machine

Awesome Teleporters

Awesome Spyglass

Builder's Helmet

I recently watched a video by one of my favorite YouTubers, xBCrafted (embedded in post). This video was about his top five must-have mods for Ark: Survival Evolved. I left a comment for him, but I also thought I’d write a post here about my favorite mods for Ark. Here we go!

Ark is absolutely my most favorite modern day game. I’ve actually played it way more than I’ve played any other game EVER. I’ve already clocked nearly 2,700 hours! So, I know Ark! One of the great things about this... Read All

Batman: The Arkham Series

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.

Review

Recommended

Open-world

Simple combos (attacks) including use of gadgets

Familiar characters

Slight RPG elements

Auto-saves, never lose much progress

Different levels of difficulty and plenty of challenges

I haven’t had very many reasons to get a PS4, but I’m really loving the fact that some of the games I wanted to play have come to Steam. Batman: Arkham Knight is one of those games. I had played the Arkham series before on the PS3 and really enjoyed them. Arkham Knight was very similar, yet very different. This was the first time you could actually drive the Batmobile around. It was an exciting addition that made the game feel a little more like GTA. The... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:32am

I have Arkham Asylum and the next game in my Steam library and I haven't played much more than the original demo on the PS3, which I enjoyed. This is partly why I've limited myself to 5 game purchases this year because I have so many amazing games in my backlog yet to play.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:37am

The Arkham games are all great. Origins is definitely the weak link, but it was also outsourced and doesn't have the same voice actors. It's still fun though.

I felt like Arkham Knight really put too much focus on Batmobile combat and the Riddler trophies were just .... there were way too many to be fun to collect them. But still, it's probably my number two behind Arkham City.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:37am

LOL Well you can't go wrong w/ the Arkham series! I think I mentioned in my post that Arkham Asylum is "ok" in my opinion, but the series gets better, especially w/ Arkham City and Arkham Knight.

I understand, I have games that I either haven't played or haven't played much because I don't want to. I want something specific, I think, something deeply engaging, something to capture my heart, like Ark, Minecraft, and Terraria have done. Being a full-time gamer, it really sucks when you have no idea what to play.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 02:41am

Travis, I agree with you about Origins. I did play it thrice, I think. I'm just not a fan of Christmas and this one was based on Christmas Eve. I liked being able to fast travel. I really loved Arkham Knight though, I don't quite agree w/ you there. I don't recall the trophies very much at the moment. I think I already wrote a review here for Arkham Knight, but I recently played the other three again, so I thought I'd write a review for the series. I also wanted to leave positive reviews for them on Steam, since I recently bought them (for a second time) on Steam (first time was on PS3).

Oh and I do recommend using a controller, though I don't know how they play w/ KB/M, I just felt that the controller was just right.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 03:01am

You seemed to agree with me before! :)

https://cheerfulghost.com/GregoPeck/posts/3548/arkham-knight

Travis Admin wrote on 05/31/2018 at 03:02am

Again I adore the game, those two things I mention are minor.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 05/31/2018 at 03:19am

Ah, so I did. I just don't remember them very well because I haven't played it since I wrote that. In general (across all games in the series) the Riddler "trophies" were sometimes fun, cool, and sometimes frustrating. Arkham Asylum was cool, because it contained maps that just brought up that "?" on the map, but didn't tell you exactly how to find it. Arkham City did a really good job w/ them (I think). I wasn't so impressed w/ the one for Arkham Origins. Yeah I like the series and have very few complaints about it.

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Do You Need To Run PC Games At Max Settings?

Some PC Gamers spent a lot of money on super powerful PC's. Upgrading a PC like a tricked out roadster is a pretty cool hobby and one reason why you'd want to do this is to be able to run PC game settings at high settings to get as much visual and gameplay fidelity out of them as you can. But do you really need to run games at max settings and if you did would they actually look better? In many cases the answer is yes but not every setting works that way and DigitalFoundry made a video explaining why.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/28/2018 at 12:14am

There are some settings where I legitimately can’t see any difference by turning them on and off, but I can get big performance boosts by turning them off.

I heavily customize video settings to get the best visuals while maintaining performance, but I don’t really bother upgrading parts until I can’t play a game I want. I can play on low-mid settings and be just fine. They still usually look better than games from 5 years ago.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/28/2018 at 01:44am

As a lifelong budget gamer, I've never really been able to afford a top of the line PC to run the highest settings on anything new. :P
I've learned to live with playing new games at medium settings and enjoying when I can bump older games up to higher settings.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/28/2018 at 02:13am

Oh hell yeah, of course! I've your not playing at 10k, what's the point? Everything looks ugly w/ less than that! Gotta have max resolution and 1 million frames per second! Hahaha I was being silly. I like to run on max settings, so long as my PC can handle it. I don't do 4k and high FPS, because my monitor is not capable. I like to see what GeForce Experience recommends and if I decide to, I'll adjust settings to fit my desire.

I started having to play Ark with low settings, because it couldn't do SLI (a key feature of my original GPU). But, I decided to upgrade and now I can run most things on high settings.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/28/2018 at 09:41pm

High settings when I can, but graphics have gotten so good, that I think even lower settings look good too. IMHO we are to the point that you don't really need to upgrade every 2 years. But, maybe I am old. :)

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 05:15am

My PC is almost 5 years old @Will_Ball. I have, however, replaced the GPU. I was able to customize my order and selected a GTX 690, so that's what it came with. Unfortunately, since the GPU is 2 GPUs in one, at least one of my favorite games wasn't able to take advantage of it fully, so I replaced it with a GTX 980Ti (Classified Edition aka overclocked). So, obviously I haven't followed the every two year cycle that you mention. I believe I picked really good hardware and that's why it's lasted so long (along w/ the GPU change). The only thing I'd want to change about it now is adding an SSD hard drive instead of this standard old school hard drive (what do they call them?).

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 08:48pm

I have a good gaming laptop with a pretty solid card somewhat like Greg has. For the PC games I play it works well and depending on the game I can run at reasonable setttings. If I were wanting to run everything at 120 FPS at 4K I’d be running a much beefier PC but the portability of the laptop is really nice.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 08:49pm

Right now the most visually intense game I’ve been playing in my PC is Hearthstone and Binding if Issac so I’m able to max those out well

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:10pm

Yeah, as for me I'm perfectly ok with 59-60FPS. I'd have to upgrade my monitor if I want to go higher. I haven't seen the necessity to do that though.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:17pm

My monitor caps at 60FPS too which has been fine for me so far. When I get another one I’ll see if it can do 120hz

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:23pm

59fps?! How can you handle not getting a perfect 60 Greg? :)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:41pm

Recently i've been looking at high def curved displays for computing and some of those look really great. Some have the same deal mine has which is a 60 FPS cap, which isn't a huge deal but I would like to go to 120hz if it's possible. I have a pretty large Dell Ultrasharp which I consider one of the best tech investments I've ever made. I bought it well before the 4k craze and it sits at 2560x1600.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 05/29/2018 at 09:58pm

LOL @Will_Ball I hardly notice unless my frames get really low. I do also have screen tearing at times, so I pretty much always use Vsync.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/29/2018 at 10:15pm

I love Adaptive V-Sync. It turns on V-sync at higher fps and turns it off below that, so you don't tank at low framerates.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 06/01/2018 at 05:09am

Check this out! Apparently Ark is the new Crysis! You kind of can't run Ark on maximum settings even with the best hardware. https://www.pcgamer.com/ark-survival-evolved-is-the-new-crysis-of-pc-hardware/
Watch the benchmarks in action! https://youtu.be/fNbvWbFfeNw

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Unreal 20 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective

Recently Unreal passed it's 20 year birthday and GOG was giving it away for free. During that giveaway I shared a behind the scenes making of Unreal video that focused on the original single player game and what later became Unreal Tournament. LGR made an Unreal 20 Year Retrospective video that goes much more into detail about the Unreal base game alongside some of it's great and not so great parts. It also talks about the Unreal multiplayer and expansions you can get as part of Unreal Gold edition.