Cheerful Ghost: An Awesome Community For Gamers

Cheerful Ghost Game of the Year Nominations

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We got a new Star Wars movie (stay tuned for more from us about that) AND Cheerful Ghost Game of the Year award season is starting! And as always, we need your help to make it awesome.

This is the nomination thread, so drop your nominations in the comments. We will keep nominations open through Christmas. The categories are the same as last year:

Best AAA Game: This category is for the Call of Duties and the Fallouts, the big games with big publisher backing.

Best Indie Game: The games that go their own way, sometimes self-published.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update: Any addition to a game that had a very positive effect, from... Read All

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/19/2017 at 02:44pm

My nominations:

Best AAA Game:

Super Mario Odyssey: Perhaps my game of the decade, this game is just a masterpiece from beginning to end. It brings together Mario's history and new, wild mechanics to create something simultaneously nostalgic and fresh.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus: Expanding on the previous games with better and weightier plot, new mechanics, and a fresh coat of paint.

Horizon Zero Dawn: I'm ashamed to admit I haven't finished this because other games kept distracting me, but what I played was a beautiful and very unique game blending adventure, RPG, and stealth mechanics into a perfect stew.

Best Indie Game:

Cuphead: Beautiful art and insane difficulty combine for a very memorable game. Like Super Meat Boy, you can always see what you were supposed to do, so you never feel like the game is punishing you. There are no "THE GAME CHEATS!" moments.

Superflight: A small game developed by grad students as part of their curriculum, but the polish would suggest otherwise. Beautiful flight mechanics, crazy tricks, and a chill and relaxing experience. This one is a great game for decompressing at the end of the day.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update:

Diablo III's Necromancer pack: There's not much here aside from a new class to play, but wow, that class is fun. I felt that it perfectly achieved the game's goals of making you feel like a magical badass while also keeping the sense of a threat from the enemies.

No Man's Sky's Atlas Rises update: This is the biggest update yet, and wow, does it ever shine. One of the games biggest complaints was that it was as wide as the ocean and deep as a puddle. This update added significant depth, weight to your actions, new activities, new ship types, and even the first hints of multiplayer.

Best Mobile Game:

HQ Trivia: This is less of a video game than you'd expect on this list. It's a live game show, and you are a contestant, along with half a million others. Twelve questions and you're out after your first wrong answer. Whoever survives after round 12 splits the pot o' cash. My wife and I have had a ton of fun with this one.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/19/2017 at 06:44pm

Best AAA Game: Zelda Breath Of The Wild (that came out this year, right?)

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/19/2017 at 06:47pm

It did, yup!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/19/2017 at 07:15pm

+1 for Zelda BotW for Best AAA Game.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2017 at 07:58pm

+1 BotW AAA
I agree with Travis's DLC picks, too.

I'd like to put Ark for Indie game, because it just released. I'd also like to nominate the new DLC, Aberration.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 12/19/2017 at 08:35pm

Oh and I think Civ6 goes in there somewhere, too.

vdogmr25 wrote on 12/21/2017 at 08:59pm

Best AAA Game: Resident Evil 7. It's been a long time since Resident Evil actually scared me. Good times.

Best Indie Game: Pyre. Supergiant was once again able to make a game where all aspects of the game come together and support each other in the wonderful story of redemption, political intrigue, and fantasy sportsball. As with other indie darlings of this year, the art, music, and gameplay are spot on.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update: StarCraft 2 going free to play. SC2 has had a good boost in players with the addition before co-op mode, and between that and going free to play, I've been able to pull more friends into the game who were hesitant to pay for a game as daunting as StarCraft.

Best Mobile Game: Jackbox Party Pack 4. A stretch of the term "mobile," but this game is available for everything (even roku and apple tv), and each person plays using a mobile device. I take it with me to nearly every social gathering as there's a game for everyone in this, and is incredibly accessible. (Monster Seeking Monster is the best one)

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/21/2017 at 11:29pm

Triple A: Metroid: Samus Returns & StarFox II(i'm open to recategorizing this but where else would it go? ).

Indie Games: Thimbleweed Park & The End is Nigh.

Best DLC/Expansion/Update: Full Throttle Remastered, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, StarCraft Remastered & Hearthstone: Kobolds and Catacombs.

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/21/2017 at 11:34pm

Actually drop Samus Returns from Triple A.

Best Mobile: Metroid: Samus Return & Stranger Things(I still need to write up my thoughts about this). I might have more games later too.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/22/2017 at 04:02am

Wait there's a Stranger Things game?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/22/2017 at 05:23am

What Travis said^^^

jdodson Admin wrote on 12/22/2017 at 07:48pm

Yep.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/22/2017 at 08:50pm

Ok, I downloaded the ST game.

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

Sign Up / Log In

DF Retro Looks Back At Donkey Kong Country

As the holiday seasons is upon us we all get closer to the reality that some of us may open a SNES Classic on Presents Day! If you want a SNES Classic and need the mythical Gift Elf to bring you one for Presents Day I recently watched a recent DF Retro video that you need to watch. DF Retro takes a pretty long look back at Donkey Kong Country and interviews quite a few developers that worked for Rare during the games development. Watching this video helped me shovel more coal into the SNES Classic Presents Day hype train and I hope you like it too!

The Last Jedi Releases Tomorrow - Be Careful Out There!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi releases tomorrow night and i'll be there in line with the rest of the nerds to take in director Rian Johnson's visual space fiesta. And because Star Wars is a big deal the trolls are out in force on social media spoiling things so I want to recommend that you take a break from Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and even some online games if you want to keep your first experience spoiler free.

As Cheerful Ghost tradition we will be doing a Star Wars Special episode where we talk about the Last Jedi and will make part of that spoiler free and then let everyone know when we switch to talking spoilers. We're recording the show this Sunday and hope to have... Read All

Grim Fandango Remastered Free On GOG For The Next 2 Days!

Grim Fandango Remastered is available for free on GOG right now for the next couple days and if you haven't played this LucasArts classic remastered by Double Fine, now is the best chance you will have DRM free!

"Something's rotten in the land of the dead, and you're being played for a sucker. Meet Manny Calavera, travel agent at the Department of Death. He sells luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. But there's trouble in paradise. Help Manny untangle himself from a conspiracy that threatens his very salvation.

One of the most acclaimed adventure games of all time is now back, better than ever. Grim Fandango's epic story of four years in... Read All

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Coming May 2018!

Street Fighter, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter III, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact & Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike are coming to Switch, PC, PS4 & XBox One May of 2018 making the 30th Anniversary Collection the best Street Fighter collection release ever. If you love Street Fighter and want to jump in to playing these classic games I can't think of a better way to do it unless you have them all in your collection already.

One awesome bonus of the new collection... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2017 at 03:30am

Holy cow, that's a lot of games. The lack of SF4 is very slightly surprising since that game has a bit of age on it and the player base has probably mostly moved on. It could get some new and old players revisiting it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/13/2017 at 04:43am

Yeah but SFIV is still new-ish and if it was included would give people nearly zero reason to get a new version.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2017 at 03:46pm

Yeah that’s why I said “slightly” surprising. I don’t personally think it would slow sales of SFV but Capcom might think so. SFIV is nearly ten years old now and SFV is where all the action is these days. I doubt many who were going to buy SFV would have their mind changed by getting SFIV in a pack of games.

But something I hadn’t thought of— you can already get SFIV on all those platforms. You can’t get the older ones yet. That may be the main consideration. If people want to get it after they play 1-3 and all their various forms, it’s there waiting for them.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/13/2017 at 05:04pm

Yeah that's a good point and hardcore SF fans will always get the new version. But I mean more casual Street Fighter fans if the 30th anniversary came with SF IV like i'd never buy another version again and I might not even with this one!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/13/2017 at 07:35pm

I played a lot of SFIV and it was fun but I just greatly prefer the old ones. I’m excited for this just because of getting them all in one go.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/14/2017 at 03:57am

Me too. Like the NES and SNES classic this is a great way to get all the older games fairly inexpensively compared to buying them all individually.

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

Sign Up / Log In

Episode 11: Stranger Things 2 Special

The power of Netflix shows keeps rolling and Stranger Things 2 is a fun testament to how great steaming shows can be. We talk about the new season, compare it to the first one and talk about where we’d like the show to go next.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/15/2017 at 08:27pm

No talk of Billy? What did you all think of him?

For me stranger things 2 is stranger things' aliens. You got more monsters, seemed more heavy on the action, plus Paul Reiser.

ST2 was on par with the 1st season for me. I definitely like the demogorgon better than smoke monster, but ST2 had some better character dynamics. I really liked Dustin & Steve in season 2, they were my favorite.

I also liked that they are expanding the show outside of Hawkins. 11 having her yoda like moment with 8 was a lot of fun. I can't wait to see if they introduce other numbered kids with powers. What powers should they have, if they do?

Speaking of numbered kids, was 11's mom, the first one with powers? Did she get them naturally, or were they from some sort of experiment?

If you all haven't watched Beyond Stranger Things, I would suggest you do so. There is a lot of good talk about the show in that show.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 12/16/2017 at 06:55am

Minor spoilers in this comment...

I didn't think much at all about Billy. I had to look him up to remember that there was even a character named Billy :D

With the exception of one or two scenes he was just character development for Max, which is fine. He clearly has issues that they may tackle in season 3. In fact I hope they do. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Max smack him down toward the end though.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/16/2017 at 05:22pm

I thought Billy was kind of one note until the end. He could have used a little bit more character development.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 12/18/2017 at 10:02pm

Billy was basically "what if Steve was a maniac." I liked him as a character. He definitely upped the ante as a wildcard human threat, especially the way he specifically targetted certain members of the party. I appreciate that they showed some of his motivation, why he was so aggressive, giving us moments to sympathize with him. I'm glad they didn't overuse him.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 12/20/2017 at 04:43am

Billy was just ok. Although his scene with Karen was gold.

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

Sign Up / Log In

Hearthstone Kobolds & Catacombs Expansion Is Out + Dungeon Run Mode!

The new Hearthstone Kobolds & Catacombs expansion is out today and for just logging in you will get 3 K&C card packs. If you kill a Dungeon Run boss you get another card pack and then another if you kill 5 and then another if you kill 10. Kobolds and Catacombs is a normal 150+ card expansion that adds Legendary weapons to each class and as an added bonus you get a free weapon for just logging in. It seems like Blizzard is setting the pace with expansions with a free random set Legendary and about 6 packs of cards.

I've played quite a few dungeon runs tonight and I think it's a really amazing single player expansion mode. You don't need any cards in your... Read All

Sid Meier's Civilization VI Fantastic Review

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

Turn-based strategy game with free demo and tutorial

Multiple ways to win

Months ago I began to watch one of my friends playing Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution on their Xbox. It looked interesting, so I thought I’d see what’s available for the PC. I noticed that the latest Civilization for PC was VI, so I set my sights on it, I eventually got the Digital Deluxe Edition for half price.

During this time Civ3 became free, so I thought getting a free Civilization game would be a good way to play the game and decide if I wanted to buy it. Civ3 offered no tutorial, so I was lost. However, I realized that Civ6 is the first of the series to offer a... Read All Review

Recommended

Turn-based strategy game with free demo and tutorial

Multiple ways to win

Months ago I began to watch one of my friends playing Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution on their Xbox. It looked interesting, so I thought I’d see what’s available for the PC. I noticed that the latest Civilization for PC was VI, so I set my sights on it, I eventually got the Digital Deluxe Edition for half price.

During this time Civ3 became free, so I thought getting a free Civilization game would be a good way to play the game and decide if I wanted to buy it. Civ3 offered no tutorial, so I was lost. However, I realized that Civ6 is the first of the series to offer a tutorial. Luckily, I found out that the game also has a free demo.

So, I tried out the demo. I started with the tutorial, but ran into a few problems. One of the worst things about the tutorial is that you cannot save your game. So, you either have to keep playing or lose your progress. I also thought I ran into a glitch, but I found my way around it. My next problem was that the amount of turns in the game was running out. This happens at 2050, but the game didn’t end. It continued and I built a massive force and thought I took over my opponent, but the game continued. I may not have completed the final objective (a Domination Victory) in time.

If you’re not familiar with the game series, Civilization is a turn based strategy game. The game focuses on managing a civilization, kind of like Sim City. There are many ways to play and thus many ways to win. You can work towards amassing an army, conquering other nations, and achieving a Domination Victory. You can also work towards science and eventually launch into space achieving a Science Victory. You can also work towards religion, including getting into religious wars, and achieving a Religious Victory. You can also work towards culture, generating tourism, and achieving a Culture Victory. The final way to win is with a Score Victory, when no other victory has been achieved and thus victory depends on who has the highest score.

The game reflects real world civilizations including modern and historic. There are many to play, each with their unique bonuses. I find the real world modern and historical aspects of the game to be extremely appealing.

There are a variety of ways to manage your civilization. The AI provides some suggestions, including an adviser. During turns you can research civics like policies, and science like technologies. You can trigger eureka moments which boost research. This is done by completing certain conditions, for instance killing an enemy with a Slinger boosts the research towards Archer. When that’s complete, you can pay in-game gold to upgrade the unit or build new ones. Units also receive experience and get promotions, which includes offensive and defensive bonus trees.

I’ve only barely scratched the surface of things here, this game is deep. There is a bit of a learning curve for new players, but it's fun. While it doesn’t cover everything, it helps you get started. You will learn a lot as you play and the game includes Civilopedia, basically the game’s detailed manual. However, I’ve found an excellent “Tutorial for Complete Beginners” on YouTube (https://youtu.be/pczrASkYGSo).

Improve Your Life At The Enrichment Center of Bridge Constructor Portal

I honestly didn't think we'd get more games in the Portal universe but it looks like December 20th Bridge Constructor Portal is going to see me happily wrong. The developers of Bridge Constructor look to have licensed the Portal franchise from Valve and if the trailer is an indication the games looks like it fits well into that universe. But what's the game?

"Enter the Aperture Science Enrichment Center and experience Bridge Constructor Portal – the unique merging of the classic Portal and Bridge Constructor games. As a new employee in the Aperture Science test lab, it's your job to build bridges, ramps, slides, and other constructions in 60 test chambers and get the... Read All

Chipping Away At My Backlog With The Adventures of Link

jdodson gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

jdodson gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

For the most part i've decided to stop buying a lot of new games and focus on playing through my backlog for the next year. It's still something i'm working out the final details on (how many games to limit myself to purchase next year, if any at all) and what games i'll play in some kind of order. Now that I have a son my time is limited and i'd like to spend it the best I can and since I have games i've never played now seems like a good time to do that. One such game is Zelda II: The Adventure of Link a game that before I picked got it with the NES Classic I've never owned before. I've played it a handful of times and always thought it was an interesting game in... Read All

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/06/2017 at 05:09pm

Ganon is so mean. I agree with you that Zelda 2 is probably the hardest of the bunch.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/06/2017 at 09:13pm

> I agree with you that Zelda 2 is probably the hardest of the bunch.

Harder than Breath of the Wild? I haven't played that one so I can't say on that point for sure but you have.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/07/2017 at 04:37am

Breath of the Wild has breadth, but not as hard as Zelda 2.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 12/07/2017 at 05:24pm

I'm going to agree with Will here. Breath is hardish, but Zelda 2 is HARD. Still a really fun change from the normal style Zelda games.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/08/2017 at 02:04am

Wow that's good to know. I've heard so many say Breath of the Wild is hard I figured I'd have a tough time with it but Zelda II is something I can do just fine so now i'm less concerned.

Travis Admin wrote on 12/08/2017 at 04:45am

And BotW even got a hard mode as part of an expansion. If the base difficulty is hard already, that's nigh masochistic.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/08/2017 at 05:33pm

Jon, you need BotW and a switch. It should be your gaming purchase of 2018!

Travis Admin wrote on 12/08/2017 at 05:56pm

Will how much time did you put into BotW? I don’t need to ask if it was amazing, I know the answer. But I’ve seen people say there may be hundreds of hours of content there

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 12/08/2017 at 08:49pm

100+ hours. I beat it too. I want to revisit it soon. I see they just released more DLC.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 12/09/2017 at 03:23pm

Yeah they just released the motorcycle DLC. Will I plan on getting one I’m just not sure when. 2018 seems like a good year for one but we’ll see how playing through some other games goes first. I’m making a list of games I want to play in 2018 from my back catalog!

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

Sign Up / Log In