It's A Monday, Visited Mom

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Overwatch 2 was a lot of fun, as I was focused on completing many of the daily and weekly challenges. Big thanks to both LvStrkr and PandaSweet for being apart of matches! Characters I used included Mei, Junkrat, Reinhardt, Bastion, Moira, Ana, D.va, Orisa and a couple of others, with a three plays of the game earned as Mei, Bastion and D.va!

Now during the stream, I did get a call from my mom, but I was not in a position to talk, since I was in the middle of a match at that point. She told me they have her doing some breathing exercises to help her strengthen her lungs, which makes sense considering she's mostly been on her back for the past month. 

I did went to see here this morning, when I got there she was just waking up and she was incredibly groggy. Her bed was locked to keep her head elevated at 30 degrees to keep her airways cleared, so when she asked for it to be raised, it had to be unlocked. When I left,  a respiratory therapist came by to for her to do some breathing exercises. 

If anyone would be kind enough to donate to her GoFundMe in her fight against Lung Cancer and other medical expenses, please visit: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz during their 12th night of playing Prey over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Stream Clip Links

• And I got ran over too...
• Their Moira Is Low... 
• Hey everybody... CHILL!!!!
  

The Hello Fresh campaign is back, as the next several streams I do on twitch will be sponsored! Use Promo code POGHF64483 at hellofresh.com to get 21 Meals and free shipping!

The string of commission fics based on current WWE continues as the series featuring Triple H is going to have a 10th installment, which I plant to write today.

Also already have three subscribers to my subscribestar archive, which is pretty cool. I'll have to make sure to write some stories exclusive to it for them! In fact I have one based on the Addams Family.

On a silly note, some of the screenshots from the previous night's stream of Catherine got flagged on Tumblr... which gave me a little chuckle.Speaking of Catherine, the archive version of last night's stream won't be viewable in Japan because the entire big cut scene where the revelation about the Bartender being behind Vincent's dreams is restricted in that country. Weird.

I did make some changes to my settings for Fitness Boxing 2, so some days there may be 4 exercises or less, this why was in case I'm running late I can adjust things more easily. That said, today's routine included Hip Shape Focus Combo, Sway Back Combo and Difficulty Challenge Combo #2 for 24 minutes. I woke up later than I wanted.

"I thought the dryer was shrinking my clothes. Turns out it was the refrigerator all along."

Song of the Day: Cool Kids by Echosmith.

For tonight's stream, we are back to Saints Row '22, probably with a focus on exploring and side jobs first before advancing the plot.

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

Visited Mom Yesterday; Catherine's Final Towers Were Nuts!

Good morning everyone,

First off, obviously, I went and saw mom yesterday at the hospital, and funny thing, myself and my brother got there around the same time, not knowing the other would be there, so he and I had a nice chat when he came down from her room. (They only allow one person up at a time). When I went up, mom was asleep, because they had to sedate in order to have her be still when doing an MRI and other scans earlier in the morning. She woke up for a little bit but went right back to sleep. It was nice to see her. If anyone would be kind enough to donate to her GoFundMe in her fight against Lung Cancer and other medical expenses, please visit: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Last night's stream of Catherine actually saw us finish the game, it did take 6 hours, because those final towers got pretty nutty and I ended up having to retry a lot of my attempts. I can't imagine how insane things are on the hardest difficulty settings for this game. I did enjoy me experience playing it, and the choose your own path aspect of the game really mattered as it related to the ending and the achievements that were earned.

As for the ending, I got the normal lovers ending, which sees Vincent and Katherine reunite and plan their eventual wedding. I'm sure there are guides on how to get all the possible endings, but for a first time play through, I can't pleased with the results.

Now would I play Catherine again... yes I would, but at the same time, I might want to eventually get Catherine: Full Body, which is the remastered and expanding version of the game, that introduces 'Rin, a third possible love interest for Vincent. That game I believe is only on the PS4, so tracking down a physical copy would be my preference. OF course.. with the Xbox 360 version that I played, it does have the achievements I could target on a second playthrough

For the raid we dropped in on MissCammi316 while they were playing Dead By Daylight over on twitch.tv/misscammi316!

Catherine Achievements

• What Time is It?: Conquer Stage 6.
• Path to the Altar: Conquer Stage 7.
• You Don't Have To Go Home...: Stay in the bar until all the other customers leave.
• Making Legends: Conquer Stage 8.
• One Last Case: Help Morgan clean up his mess.
•  Read All About It!: Get Justin out of his jam.
• A New Look: Help Todd out of his trouble.
• Mother Inferior: Help Archie work through his quandary.
• True Freedom!: Conquer Stage 9.
• Just Like Old Times: View the normal Lover ending.
• Welcome to the Colosseum: Unlock the Colosseum mode.

Stream Clip Links

• Aw crap...
• WOW! 
• We made it!
  

Had a couple of commission requests for WWE stories back to back, got one written yesterday and will work on the second one today, both basically focused around Triple H running things. I do feel I've been expanding a few things a bit to try and flesh out my fic writing process. Now if only it didn't take me 4 hours to write a 2000 word story lol.

Recorded a new tier-list video for the YouTube Channel, it's focused on Capcom Fighting Games, though the tierlists I found were not exactly a complete list of all the fighting games Capcom published. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Beginner COmbo #2, Advanced Combo #1, Uppercut Combo #1 and Intermediate COmbo #2 for 35 minutes.

"If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?" "Pilgrims."

Song of the Day: Dark Red by Steve Lacy.

For tonight's stream, well you know what time it is, Overwatch 2 is on deck and I'll probably put in an effort on playing support because I haven't exactly gotten to play that role much in off-stream matches this week. 

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

Adachi's P4AU story fills in the gaps

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream saw us featuring Persona 4 Arena Ultimax one final time in order to see Adachi's story play out, and it certainly filled in the gaps as to why he was out of police custody and why he was 'helping' in his own way during the P4 version of events. It does however raises a question as to how much of the P3 side of the story is actually canon because both side contradict one another yet complement each other at the same time, particularity once the True Ending is considered.

Anyway, we did do one Score Attack run as Elizabeth to get its related trophy and also a few attempts a flows 41-50 in the Golden Arena to see if we could get further in that, but a lot of grinding is involved as far as that goes, since that mode is more of an RPG.

We also revisited Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight, picking up a couple of King Crazy's and setting a few new high scores on some songs. I was a tad bit rusty at it since it's been about a month since I last played it any of the Persona dancing games.

One thing I did reveal during the stream is that next Friday... the PS4 game will be Final Fantasy VII Remake

For the raid we dropped in on Flint_Locke while they were doing a VRChat stream over at twitch.tv/flint_locke! 

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Trophies

• Score Attacker: You completed one Score Attack Course.

Stream Clip Links

• Adachi vs Hi-no-Kagutsuchi
• I ran right into it! 
• Why yes is his yelling at them to...
  

My brother and one of my aunts visited mom at the hospital yesterday, and I talked to her a bit, she sounded better for sure, so maybe what the doctors did for her throat helped some. There are lot of concerns for sure still. I didn't get any updates or news regarding her condition, but if anyone would like to help out, please donate to mom's gofundme at https://gofund.me/6adf8354, all funds go directly to covering medical expenses in her fight against lung cancer and other ailments!

Also went and saw mom this morning, but she was sedated because they took her to get an MRI earlier, so she was partially asleep

Managed to finish the Gotham Knights commission request rather easily, despite not playing the game and not having any context as it relates to how the four characters interact in it, but I'm not complaining as it was nearly 4000 words long. Got another short story request for a WWE, I'll get to work on that in the afternoon. And all these little commission requests I've been doing with work being slow has certainly helped out in covered my electric bill for this month.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Weaving Combo #2, Hook Combo #1 and Waist Shape Focus Combo for 28 minutes

"How do you follow Will Smith in the snow?" "You follow the fresh prints."

Song of the Day: Shake Your Groove Thing by Peaches & Herb.

For tonight's stream, we're resuming Catherine after completing the first five floors last week. And if the giant bride is any indication, things in the second half of the game is going to get crazy.

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

Thoughts on the New Alliance Raid in FFXIV

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV saw a huge focus on 6.3 content, namely the story associated with the new Alliance Raid. The Raid itself certainly is incredible, as all the gods introduced for the boss fights looked great... but with it being my first time doing said raid, I had quite a lot of trouble picking up on some of the mechanics, particularly on the final two bosses.

The story on the other had, while cute when going to the Marks of the 12, certainly revealed that there is not anything subtle with the fact that the character of Deryk is the 13th 'god', who is unnamed. At least that is my theory, but a lot of things point to him because of dialog he says.

Beyond the new stuff, I did a couple of side quests and also some roulette runs... and boy did I forget the mechanics on a lot things, granted some of the ones that I was randomly put in were big battles that I only did once. So my gear took a punishment. On the plus side, did discover that that the awesome Hildibrand dance sequence can be viewed again!

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal while they were also playing Final Fantasy XIV over on twitch.tv/kalenal!  

Stream Clip Links

• So much for doing this without dying
• Where are we Running too?! 
• Had to see it again!
  

Update on mom is that the doctors discovered an issues in her esophagus that was making it tough for her to swallow but apparently that was easily treatable. They also discovered some apparent spine compression that may be the cause of her weakness in her limbs. As far as the fluid in her lungs, the cause has not been determined but the words of possible heart failure was mentioned... if anyone wants to help out in her fight against lung cancer and these other medical issues, please donate to her gofundme https://gofund.me/6adf8354!

Finished another Dragon Ball short story commission yesterday afternoon, and the streak of those is broken, because the next commission is to be based on Gotham Knights, but I have not played it yet... so I'll have to wing it a bit and rely on what I know of the Bat Family. Should be fun to write!

With Star Trek Online's anniversary coming up, next Thursday's stream will be split between STO and FF14. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Straight Combo #1, Double Combo #2 and Triple Combo #1 for 31 minutes.

"What do you call a fish wearing a bowtie?" "Sofishticated."

Song of the Day: Star Shopping by Lil Peep.

For tonight's stream, we're returning one final scheduled time to Persona 4: Arena Ultimax to see the Adarchi story which was originally DLC for the game's initial PS3/Xbox 360 release. Once the story is done, we'll probably jump into the Golden Arena mode or try and knock out a few score attack runs to see if we can get a few achievements.

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

The Middle Of The Week

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream was plagued with frame drops, but everything seemed stable as Twitch only showed once instance of stream instability. It was rather peculiar as we dropped frames off and on throughout the entire night.

In Fall Guys, I ended up in the Final Round a few times, gained a first place finished and had some very questionable eliminations with last minute failures on squads. It was the usual silliness of pretty much. We did pick up an achievement during it because of the one first place finish, and if I can finish a race in first place 15 more times that'll be another achievement down the road!

We also played Fallout 76, helping Iceman with his main story quests, as he's in the Wasterlanders portion of the story, which means on track for the Treasure Vault raid which is going to be very interesting considering how much of a pain that was for me solo. At least I'll be able to help him out when he reaches that point!

For the raid we dropped in on x9abenonymous9x while they were playing God of War II over on twitch.tv/x9abenonymous9x!  

Fall Guys Achievements

• Quite Dashing: Get first place in a racing round 5 times

Stream Clip Links

• You All Get Hoops!
• You're still alive! 
• Run Away!
  

Update on mom, they drained some fluid from around her lungs yesterday, and when I talked with her, she sounded better than she did when I saw her on Monday, but from what I understand they are draining more fluid today, so I think that obviously would delay her chemo treatment that was scheduled. If anyone would like to help my mom in her fight against Lung Cancer, please donate to her gofundme at https://gofund.me/6adf8354!

Wrote another short story commission based on the world of Dragon Ball yesterday, and have another lined up for today to work on as I wait for work to pick back up while also looking for a more stable gig. At lease these tales are keeping my brain occupied.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Beginner COmbo #1, Body Hook Combo, Weaving Combo #1 for 28 minutes

Found boxes filled with VHS tapes the other day, and I figure a good idea for content for my YouTube Channel is to go through them and see which films have I seen and which ones I haven't. Recording the first one yesterday, which will be viewable on Monday

"What do a tick and the Eiffel Tower have in common?" "They're both Paris sites."

Song of the Day: Gloria by Laura Branigan.

For tonight's stream we shall be playing Final Fantasy XIV, with the first main goal being to play the new Alliance Raid... which I should've done last week, but I was unaware of it. So once that's done, we'll get back to side questing!

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

So Saints Row '22's origin for The Saints actually makes sense in context

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Saints Row '22 saw us start with off roaming around, doing the side hustles, finding stores and any landmarks we could find before making some headway when it came to the main story, which saw the unlocking of the JimRob's Garage, and the advancement to where The Boss gets canned by Marshall because of the other factions crashed a museum. This lead to mission where the two companion characters who had affiliation with the those other factions basically quitting and which leads to the creation of the Saints. 

Now that may seem convoluted, but one has to remember in the original Saints Row, the Saints were already established, and because of the events of Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell, Johnny Gat basically has an option to reboot the universe, which means the Saints don't come into existence until much later on. So with that in mind, the story actually works.

One thing that was cool was that folks realized that I made The Boss character apart of the LGTBQ community, which just makes sense because of the 'Romance' scenes in Saints Row IV. Regardless of the gender, the Boss has relations with all members of the Saints in that game. 

On a side note: I found an Indiana Jones style hat, jacket and pants with a whip in one of the in-game stores, which was pretty awesome!

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz while they were playing Prey over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Congratulations to Monicaneo who is getting married in October! Hope they and their partner have a long and happy marriage!

 Saints Row Achievements

• Tune Up: Customized a vehicle.
• Food for Thought: Staggered an enemy with a vending machine.
• Performance Review: Got fired.
• Making a Name: Named your criminal empire.

Stream Clip Links

• Sorry Marshall
• Achievement: Food For Thought 
• That screen effect going wonky
  

There was some miscommunication regarding what was going on with mom, but it was discovered that she has some fluid around her left lung that may be causing some shortness of breath. Had a long talk with my brother and one of the doctors who are taking care of mom, and the subject of how weak she has gotten because she's basically been bed ridden since initially going to the Emergency Room back on December 28. If anyone would like to help my mom in her fight against Lung Cancer, please donate to her gofundme at https://gofund.me/6adf8354!

Continued my string of daily commission writings with another Dragon Ball tale, and I have another one in line.as well that is apart of the established series of stories featuring Videl... even if she won't be featured in the next one that was requested. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Advanced Combo #2, Left-Right Step Combo and Hook Combo #2

"Singing in the shower is fun until you get soap in your mouth. Then it's a soap opera."

Song of the Day: Bad Liar by Imagine Dragons

For tonight's stream, Fall Guys will lead thing off then after the 9 PM break, we'll switch over to Fallout 76 as I work my way to level 100!

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

Mom's back in the hospital; The Saints Row '22 Game Isn't Bad

Good morning everyone,

First off, an update on my mom, apparently she had an appointment at MD Anderson that no one knew about, and she wasn't feeling well while over there. She was admitted to the Emergency Room at Cooper Hospital in the late morning, early afternoon. I went over to check on her in the late afternoon, but wasn't able to speak to a nurse or doctor, but mom seemed a little loopy, which I guess was from whatever medication they gave. I do know she was moved to the medical / surgical floor of the hospital, and she may have gotten an infection on top of everything else, there was an increase of white blood cells. I spoke to her this morning, and she was in a lot of pain, and according to the nurses station, they'll be doing tests and other evaluations of her today.

With everything going on, if anyone can donate to her gofundme to help, please visit: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

As for last night's stream, we started playing Saints Row, the reboot of the series released last year, and we're playing it with the licensed music turned off, which probably dings the experience, but I've done that with several other games in the series. I'm not particularly sure where exactly people said this game was bad, but then again I'm fairly early into it, only done two missions and spent a lot of time exploring and doing side quests because that's how I played other Saints Row games.

When it comes to visuals and the audio, Saints Row '22 looks and sounds great, and funny enough I managed to find a character voice that is fairly similar to Laura Bailey's performance in Saints Row The Third and Saints Row IV. There are enough customization options to tweak things to how I want them when it comes to combat and just wanting to get things done. It's clear that the flight suit is in the game because of the glide mechanics in Saints Row: Gat Out Of Hell. 

If there is one draw back, it's that Saints Row '22's character creation suite seems more limited than the ones in Saints Row The Third and Saints Row IV, as I do like making the Boss look a certain way. I wonder if some things are unlockable. 

Big thanks to BangBangBang for resubscribing to my Twitch Channel for a second month! It's greatly appreciated!

For the raid, we just dropped everyone off over at Mystery Science Theater 3000, the movie that was playing was Invasion of the Neptune Men! You can check out old MST3K episodes at twitch.tv/mst3k! 

Saints Row Achievements

• First F#@!ing Day: Completed First F#@!ing Day.
• To The Nines: Opened the Style app for the first time.
• The Side Job: Completed a Side Hustle.
• Wet Work: Completed a job on the Wanted app.

Stream Clip Links

• We Got Some Air Time
• That Redemption Of The Price Is Right Horn 
• Another one for the win column
  

Despite everything that happened yesterday, I did manage to finished two Dragon Ball commission requests featuring Future Trunks. I have another commission request to work on that is still based in the world of Dragon Ball, but with the focus being on Videl.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Double Combo #1, Body Straight Combo, Body & Body Uppercut Combo for 28 minutes

"Why do fathers take an extra pair of socks when they go golfing?" "In case they get a hole in one!"

Song of the Day: Fortune Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival

For tonight's stream, we shall continue Saints Row '22, I'll probably resumes exploring and doing what side stuff I come across before we dive into the next mission.

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