Spirit of the North, PowerWash Simulator and Other Notes

 Hi everyone,

Work was cancelled tonight as the assignment that was supposed to start got pushed back to tomorrow, so that helps in a big way as we haven't had work since the Friday before last! I also have a job interview tomorrow at 12:30 PM Eastern, which could possibly lead to a new career path. Then again I also applied for a position as for a major company that has a major presence in my home town too. Either job would be a good get because I wouldn't mind commuting via Uber or Taxi since they would be very local destinations with in the city!

We finished Spirit of The North on tonight's stream, and needless to say the final three plus chapters of the game may in total took two hours and changes to do, (since we were in the middle of chapter five last night), but man did the game develop a case of a 'where the fuck do we go', namely in the Chapter 7 where everything was mostly blue and rather hard to see. Almost at random I seem to find where I needed to go and things progressed to a rather satisfying ending.

Overall I like Spirit of the North, much like Abzu and Omno, there is a fairly logical approach to all the puzzles... and it's more about the journey and experiencing the creative direction the developers put in place. Would I personally play it again, probably not, but I do recommend folks play it.

Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition Achievements

• Match Maker: Match 12 sets of Revolving Matching Glyphs
• Old Companion: Awaken 12 Shaman Spirits
• Spirited Away: Make it out of the Spirit World
• Northern Lights: Fill the night sky with Aurora Borealis
• Foxin' Around: Stand still for 3 minutes

Since we finished Spirit of the North two hours into the stream, after a break we switched over to PowerWash Simulator, starting on the Firehouse job, and clearing out well over 60% of it, leaving the side structure to deal with. There is an achievment for not using the scaffold, which is going to be an interesting challenge next time we use PowerWash Simulator as a filler game

For the raid we went over to twitch.tv/misscammi316 where Cammi was playing Smite

Kristi and I did a lot of free style writing on our little Power Rangers project, not sure if we'll publish it, but we certainly put in a lot of lore and detail into it.

Xfinity spent the morning installing fiber optic cable in my neighborhood so we're all on that 10G network... let's home that fixes the issues of intermittent Upstream power levels dropping.

I want to say I'm 70% finished the Mass Effect short story commission, and it's already the length of two and half stories at 5300 words. That's the problem with stories that involve 10 characters that need to be spotlighted equally.

Our next stream over on twitch.tv/fredcasden will start after 9:30 PM Eastern on Wednesday, as Iceman and I will begin the Ada Wong campaign of Resident Evil 6! I'm real curious to see where her story fits in with the other three campaigns.

And on that note, have a good night everyone!

Abzu is the 60th we finished this year

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream opened with Abzu, a game that is more of an experience because of how gorgeous it is and how incredible the musical score is. I did try to find everything for a 'possible' 100% completion run, but some areas are just too difficult to see where some things are  Still, it does give me an excuse to play it again on stream to try and get the other achievements.

I hope to have the highlight reel featuring all 60 games we finished for this years tour ready by New Years Eve

We did play Smite, and there were two quests that tied into one another, play as a Warrior and play as a Chinese God... so with that I ended up playing as Mulan for the first time, picking up one of her two achievements and coming painfully close in picking up the other, which involved leveling up her weapons. She kind of feels like a less dive heavy version of Nike.

We loaded up Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 to try and get an S-Rank achievement... never got hire than an A-Rank. There has to be a trick to it.

Lastly we closed out with SoulCalibur II HD Online, and I totally forgot that earlier in the year I was messing around with it to try and get several achievements done. Was surprised to pick up one achievement for defeating 50 male warriors. Did do an arcade run as Heihachi, and I have to giggle at his ending basically coming across as it was all a dream.

ABZÛ Achievements

• Breach: Leap from the water.
• Jetstream: Burst 15 fish schools in the jetstream.
• Food Chain: Witness predation while meditating.
• Ballet: Perform a flip while riding a creature.
• Connection: Ride the Great White Shark.
• Leviathan: Breach the water on the back of a blue whale.
• Reflection: Complete the adventure.

SMITE Achievements

• Two For One: Unlock the SMITE Award "Two For One."

SoulCalibur II HD Online Achievements

• Exemplary Fortitude: Defeated 50 Male Characters

Stream Clips

• Achievement: Leviathan
• Achievement: Two For One 
• WakkaWakkaWakka 
• Is that all you got
  

By the way, here is the full list of every game we finished this year.

01/07 - Pokemon Shining Pearl
01/17 - Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise
01/20 - Life of Fly
01/24 - Battletoads
01/25 - Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
01/26 - Gears 5
01/29 - Disney-Pixar Brave
02/08 - Life is Strange: Remastered
02/13 - Life is Strange - Before the Storm: Remastered
02/15 - Kingdom Hearts III
02/19 - Life of Fly 2
02/22 - Tell Me Why
02/26 - Mortal Kombat IX
02/28 - Light Fairytale Episode 1
03/01 - Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold
03/01 - Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper
03/01 - Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix
03/07 - What Remains Of Edith Finch
03/09 - WWF SmackDown 2: Know Your Role
03/12 - Teen Titans
03/14 - Sonic Generations
03/15 - P.O.W. Prisoners of War
03/15 - Beast Busters
03/16 - Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon
03/21 - Contrast
03/23 - Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
04/02 - Apocalypse
04/19 - Mass Effect 2
04/23 - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
05/17 - Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition
05/22 - Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes EX Edition
05/30 - Lego Batman: The Video Game
06/02 - Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Xbox 360 Version)
06/11- Capcom Fighting Evolution
06/18 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge
06/21 - Persona 5 Royal
07/11 - Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins
07/18 - Persona 4: Arena
07/23 - Tekken Tag Tournament 2
07/25 - Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse
07/30 - Persona 5: Strikers
08/06 - Stray
08/12 - My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure
08/22 - Mass Effect 3
09/02 - Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]
09/05 - LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
09/12 - Murdered: Soul Suspect
09/16 - The Quarry
09/20 - Tekken 7
10/03 - Overwatch
10/10 - The Last of Us Remastered
10/14 - Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight
10/28 - Until Dawn
11/18 - Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight
11/21- Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova
11/22 - Dragon Ball FighterZ
11/23 - Fallout 76
12/09 - Persona 4: Dancing All Night
12/13 - Games of Thrones: A Telltale Series
12/20 - Abzu

For the raid we dropped in on FelKimchi as they were playing Genshin Impact over on twitch.tv/felkimchi! 

Found out that mom will probably start getting radiation treatments on my birthday, and the major areas of concern are in her hip and right shoulder. If anyone wants to help with my mom's medical expenses, you can donate to her gofundme at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

The streak of Mass Effect shorty commissions request is now up to four, and I should have guessed that there was a possibility of including Matriarch Benezia. Will have to ponder how to make that work.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Sway Back Combo, Hip Shape Focus Combo and Intermediate Combo #2

What's the best way to carve wood? Whittle by whittle.

Song of the Day: Rocket Man (I think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time) by Elton John

For tonight's stream, the plan is to play Fall Guys and Fallout 76, so silliness and action is expected. 

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

What did we accomplish in Pokemon Violet?

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet started off with us taking on the Electric Gym Leader, in one of the most surreal ways of me doing dialog ever... it's not easy trying to impersonate an high energy broadcaster. We then set out sights on tracking down the Steel Tighten and then wrapped things up going after the Water Gym Leader. So at this point I have four Gym badges, three Titan badges and two Team Star Badges.

So planning ahead, my next objective will to go after the Poison Crew of Team Star, followed by the Normal Gym Leader. Granted I could go after the Earth Titan since I'm still in that region, but I rather bounce around the recommended order of doing things just to try and have some sort of advantage.

That said, the Gym Tests in this generations Pokemon games are a bit interesting... as they basically are tasks being pushed off onto the player. Don't get me wrong they bet having to figure out the puzzles of Pokemon Shining Pearl, but I guess the emphasis on the open world aspect meant no actual in-door gyms were made.

Also thank goodness at this point all the answers for the 'tests' at the Academy can be easily found, no way I would be able to remember some things.

Last Night's Clips

• Magical Leaf For The Win
• Just Bite It Again 
• The Flower Trick For The Win
  

For last night's raid we dropped in on Kalenal as they were playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal!  

Mom has another set of appointments today, I believe we'll find out for sure how severe his battle with cancer is because there was a lot of confusion that popped up over the past week. If anyone wants to help with my mom's medical expenses, you can donate to her gofundme at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Moved a dresser that was being unused in on the 2nd floor of my home down to my studio / office in the basement. It was fairly easy... since I took the drawers out first and basically slide it slower down one flight of stairs, then through the living room and kitchen... then down another flight of stairs.

Also changed some things around, so the stream tonight will look different, contemplating just showing off how large the basement is. 

Got a third Mass Effect short story commission request, and managed to get a good portion of it written. Of course the challenge here is using Tali in a featured role forces me to think of alternatives.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Uppercut Combo #1, Beginner COmbo #2 and Advanced Combo #1 for 34 minutes.

Why do ghosts love elevators? Because it lifts their spirits.

Song of the Day: Faded by Alan Walker

For tonight's stream, the plan is to to play and finish Abzu in one stream to give us 60 games finished for 2022 in order to wrap up this years tour.

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

We'll never know how The TellTale Games Of Thrones Series Will End

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream opened up with Game of Thrones: A Telltale series, with episode 5 and 6 being played back to back. But despite all the choices I made to give it the most dismal ending possibles as far as a cliffhanger goes... we'll never know how things play out because TellTale games, well the original version of that company, went out of business. Sure it was relaunched, but they don't have the license rights to do another Game of Thrones series (hence why you cannot buy it digitally, you have to find a physical copy).

Still, I did go with choice that lead to Mira losing her head so that Asher is the lone surviving Forrester and Tutle choosing to march back to Ironrath instead of defending the North Grove. Why did I have Mira lose her head, well I was playing up her 'pride' as a Forrester.  

On a side note, the achievement for Chapter 5 in Episode 6 is glitched, and didn't pop during my play through on stream, I replayed the chapter, that didn't pop it, and I  tried the delete the save method, and that did not work to fix the bug either. Will justify another play through down the road.

Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series Achievements

• Set Down Our Deeds: Completed Chapter 1 of Episode 5
• Here We Stand: Completed Chapter 2 of Episode 5
• We Light the Way: Completed Chapter 3 of Episode 5
• We Do Not Sow: Completed Chapter 4 of Episode 5
• As High as Honor: Completed Chapter 5 of Episode 5
• Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken: Completed Chapter 6 of Episode 5
• Family, Duty, Honor: Completed Chapter 7 of Episode 5
• Grand Maester: You completed Episode 5.
• Ours is the Fury: Completed Chapter 1 of Episode 6
• Our Blades are Sharp: Completed Chapter 2 of Episode 6
• Growing Strong: Completed Chapter 3 of Episode 6
• Hear Me Roar!: Completed Chapter 4 of Episode 6
• Winter is Coming: Completed Chapter 6 of Episode 6
• Iron from Ice: Completed Chapter 7 of Episode 6
• Sentinel: Complete Episode 6.

We also played some Smite, winning 2 matches and losing 1 in Arena, which was a nice surprise. Always love how folks don't know how to deal with Athena, because her basic 1-2-3 combo gets stronger as the match goes on. In fact in the match I used Athena, I had 28 assists... in a match where my team had over 30 eliminations, meaning I was involved in every elimination!

Twitch Clips

• When in doubt headbutt!
• Hi Finn! 
• Not in the face
• I got my revenge! 
• Bringing the Wubs
• Incoming for Victory! 
  

For the raid we dropped in on annietalksshow as they were playing Valorant over at twitch.tv/annietalksshow! 

Work was surprisingly good yesterday, rather nice after last week.

Mom had a few tests done yesterday, hopefully we'll get some good news, but if anyone wants to contribute to her gofundme to cover these medical expenses, visit https://gofund.me/6adf8354

With the wrapping up of Game of Thrones, we're at 59 games finished on stream for the year... so we're going to do a short game on next Tuesday's stream called Abzu to give us an even 60. This will also give me plenty of time to put together the image to celebrate this year's gaming tour.

Not a fan with how the Winter Wonderland event is set up for Overwatch 2, basically forcing folks into playing game modes that weren't too popular in previous years 

Got some writing done last night on the WWE Short story commission, would've finished writing it too if it wasn't for realizing the glitched achievements for Game of Thrones.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Defensive Combo #1, Uppercut Combo #2 and Front-Back Step Combo for 28 minutes

What concert costs only 45 cents? 50 Cent and Nickelback.

Song of the Day: Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men

For tonight's stream, we're opening with Fall Guys and then we'll play Fallout 76. It's a Falling Wednesday

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