Today's Notes 8/3/21: It's Been 20 Years

Good morning everybody,

Last night's stream did indeed end up seeing my start up Chrono Cross, but the question was... which version? See I have the original release with the SquareSoft logo, then there was the Greatest Hits version that has the SquareEnix logo.... but in the end I went with the PlayStation Network 'PSOne Classic' digital version. Why? Well mostly because I did not want to delete anything off of my PS1 memory cards, but also I wanted a fresh play-through, and if I used the save files on my memory cards, that would've been going with a New Game+... plus with the odds being I'm going to pair Lupin The 3rd: Treasure of the Sorcerer King with Star Trek Online again this week for Thursday, I figure making use of the different console would be better. Also the PS3's disc drives kind of 'sticks' a bit... 

Anyway playing Chrono Cross for the first time in a long time didn't mean I forgot how the melody for the a lot of the music went, hell I damn near was able to vocalize (poorly) the entire opening theme... and I will say the music for Chrono Cross still holds up... as does the writing as characters have different accents and ways of speaking, which is just a nightmare for me since I'll be reading the dialog out loud for the majority of stuff. The game play mechanics didn't take long for me to remember how to play, and I was able to mostly remember how to recruit some early party members and I wanted to make sure I had certain people in my party early, namely Leena... which meant we didn't add Kid to the team until a bit further into the stream, also of the trio of Guile, Nikki and Pierre... the one I went with was Nikki because I remember his team up with Mikki to be pretty cool.

As far as how far we got, it did take the entire stream but we did make it into Viper Manor and reach the save point in the barracks, so that means tonight's stream is going to see quite a few boss battles. Along the way we did start a few side quests, such as getting the Bellflower for Glenn and Riddle, finding the first two parts for Skelly, nabbing the Big Egg from the Dodo Nest.

Since this was a PS1 game, that meant there were no achievements, but we do have a list of clips for you to check out.

• Chrono Cross: I Think I Remember The Battle Mechanics
• Chrono Cross: Foreshadowing 
• Chrono Cross: We Get A Chest In Return... Eventually
• Chrono Cross: First Boss - Mama Komodo 
• Chrono Cross: Insert Dramatic Cut Scene Here
• Chrono Cross: Kid
• Chrono Cross: Boss Fight - Karsh Solt & Peppor 
• Chrono Cross: Get The Big Egg!
• Chrono Cross: Defeat The Dodo 
• Chrono Cross: Boss Fight - Solt & Peppor
• Just Chatting: Congrats To My Cousin 
• Chrono Cross: Boss Fight - Cassowaries 
• Chrono Cross: Defeat The Quaffid 
• Chrono Cross: Boss Battle - Zoah, Solt & Peppor

If you're wondering about the Just Chatting Clip, during the stream I got an email from my cousin Elissa who was announcing that she and her husband just had their first child! So big congrats to them!

On a side note, playing Chrono Cross means for the first time in a while I get to have an excuse to have an actual physical strategy guide on hand to help me remember how to recruit various characters. Some are locked into the story, while others involve actual decisions to be made and specific actions to be performed in terms of side quests. And considering the rarity of some of the games in my collection, find a few for some specific titles is not a bad idea...

Yesterday's mail arrived with another little item for the collection: Pitfall: The Lost Expedition for the PlayStation 2.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout lasted 28 minutes with an estimated calorie burn of 438 kcal.We did do an extra set, so the the complete session was 34 minutes with the estimated calorie burn being 526 kcal. We are now up to 58 out of 100 for the Karen's Best Friend achievement. Weight is still holding around 250 lbs.

Also started messing around with Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training... seems like a way to work my brain a bit either after a work out after dinner. And it's an excuse to use the Switch undocked. 

For tonight's stream, as mentioned earlier we'll be back to Chrono Cross, picking thing up at around 6:30 PM Eastern

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!