Tomb Raider... Or Lara Croft Falls Down A Lot!

Good morning everybody,

We're a day into November and some old concerns have popped up, a few of which are related to some local government decisions here in New Jersey... and funny enough it's election day... with Phil Murphy hoping to get another term as Governor. Considering his challenger is a Trump support, I'm pretty sure Murphy is going to win... even though a decision he made has put a lot of us in a bind.

Anyway, last night's stream featured the start of Tomb Raider, not the original from the late 90s, but the 2013 game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. I have played it before, in particular, I played the version on Steam, once in 2017 and again in 2018, both play through were streamed on Twitch. This run is using a console, namely the X-Box Series S, since it hasn't been used much as of late. 

One huge difference I feel between the console and PC versions is the fact the controls feel fighter on console. Sure I had a few deaths during the stream, but I feel they were more my fault as opposed to the game not reading inputs... so I'm a little more open to exploring and finding collectables than I was the first two times.

Graphically, Tomb Raider still holds up nicely, and I didn't waste time putting Lara in the 1930s Aviator attire to give her a look that makes sense for the adventure she's on... plus I think whenever she is shivering, it looks even colder if she's actually wearing a jacket! I do find it fun at how she can be covered in cuts, blood, mud and scrapes... then is totally clean moments later. I get why no game has really gone with the realistic wear and tear on clothing for games like this, just about every game with a female lead would be rated M for mature.

Let me also address the title of today's blog, because I joked about how Tomb Raider is basically Lara Croft falling down a lot, or as some of my regulars called 'Lara just get the shit kicked out of her'. There are quite a number of instances where Lara is falling from a great height, tumbling down a hill and so forth... and this is not even counting missed jumps or failed Quick Time Events or failed combat situations. Since the developers wanted to show Lara toughening up, safe to say that happens quite a bit.

In terms of where we left off, it's at the start of the Chasm Monastery, so a little less than half way through the game, but I do remember there are a lot of big action set pieces in the second half of the game, so I don't think we'll finish it in two nights. 

Huge thanks to Kalenal for the raid during the stream! They were playing Tales of Vesperia on Monday night over on twitch.tv/kalenal!  

Following the stream the fun was sent over to LifeWithStan who was playing Dark Souls III over on twitch.tv/lifewithstan!

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Achievements

1. One Smart Cookie: One optional tomb completed.
2. Big Game Hunter: 10 large animals killed and looted.
3. Unfinished Business: One challenge completed.
4. Predator: 50 enemies killed with the bow.
5. Bookworm: 25% of all documents found.

Twitch Clip Links

• And that is gonna hurt even more!
• Lara 1 Deer 0
• We're The Predator!
  
• Dude you're finished! 
• We glitched through the floor! 

Volume 6 of Gungrave and Volume 7 of Chrono Crusade arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon, meaning 17 years after I picked up volume 1 of both series I finally have the complete DVD sets. Always nice to be able to fill in gaps in the collection.

A good portion of my off-stream Final Fantasy XIV adventures involved side quests associated with Idyllshire, a city that was abandoned but is now thriving (sort of) under goblins who took it over, and are gradually setting up a community... meaning a lot of quests involved running around, making deliveries, taking out monsters and such. It is a charming little series of side quests, even if when one is done three more pop up... but that is why they are side quests!  

Anyway, I did progress the Main Story Quest up to The First Flight of the Excelsior, and I have to say the apparent death of Iceheart aka Shiva was glorious, but very ambiguous since she fell to her death providing covers for everyone heading to Azys Lla, which is the next huge major chunk of the story.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Intermediate Combo #2, Advanced Combo #1 and Weaving Combo #1 for a duration of 31 minutes and a estimated calorie burn of 490 kcal. As of today we now have 80% of the EX achievements unlocked.

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise EX Achievements

1. Monster Weight Puncher Lv. 4: Reach a total punch count of 450,000 HITs 
   

Oddly enough the requirements for Monster weight Puncher Lv. 5 is only to reach 495,000 HITs, I wonder why it isn't an even 500,000.

For tonight's stream we'll continue Tomb Raider using the X-Box Series S console as we work our way through the island!

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

Down A Tooth, Dragnet & Final Fantasy XIV...

 Good morning everybody,

Did not do a Twitch stream last night as the aftermath of having the tooth removed meant I had to switch out the gauze periodically.

So instead I did a watch along in my Discord of the movie Dragnet, starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks. I remember watching this movie a lot as kid, as we had a VHS tape of it. Using the corrupt nature of the 'moral outrage' leaders of the time, the plot sees Detective Sargent Joe Friday and his new partner tackle a series of crimes all connected to extortion, kidnapping and murder.

While in many way a parody of the radio drama and TV show of the same name created by Jack Webb, the 1987 movie is also a great tribute as well, as Aykroyd's impression of Webb speaking manner was on point, plus Tom Hanks' Pep Streebeck serves as a nice comedic counter balance. There are a few easter eggs in the film as well, from the obvious photo of Jack Webb on the desk, to a publicity shot of Harry Morgan and Jack Webb seen in Morgan's character of Captain Gannon... as Morgan co-starred on one iteration of the TV series.

Also the original sound track and score for Dragnet is pure 80s goodness in terms of a rock sound, particularly during a few of the action scenes (such as when Friday and Pep are chasing Muzz for the first time, the escape from the People Against Goodness and Normalcy festival, etc).   

Thank you to everyone who popped into the Discord to watch along, helped take my mind off of the fact I'm missing apart of myself!

Prior to heading out to the Dentist for the removal of a molar... I did get in some Final Fantasy XIV, mostly because I had time to fill, and I did a 'quick alliance', and a few main story quests, as things seem to be picking up with the Ishgard being a major focal point while the turmoil happening in Ul'dah seems to have the long term slow build to it as it seems to be transitioning from a monarchy or a republic. Moenbryda seemed to be a real cool character.... and then when I got back home from the Dentist... I put in more time on FF14 to keep my mind off of things.

I continued playing almost non-stop from about 8:30 PM to 2:45 AM, and dealt with dragons, immortals and then witness once of the biggest what the fuck moments I have ever seen in a video game, with the coup that takes place at the every end of A Realm Reborn in patch 2.55, which sees our hero being separated from the comrades I've come to know and like. I didn't have time to completely close it out before Fin

So what was it like to have a tooth pulled? Well for one I had heavily before hand so I wouldn't feel like eating afterward... they had to use two shots of the anesthetic to get me to feel numb... and the pressure of it being pulled out hurt like hell, so thank goodness for the anesthetic. Here were the instructions i was given.

Instructions Following Tooth Extraction and Oral Surgery

1. Your mouth will be 'asleep' for about 2 hours after surgery. Do not chew anything 2 hours or bite your tongue or lips while 'asleep'
2. Keep the gauze pac on the surgical site for half hour, and do not spit or rinse for 24 hours
3. Bleeding should normally be light when gauze is removed after 2 hours, do not disturb site, do not put anything on the site or on your face, it will heal by itself (No Hot or No Cold packs)
4. Pain should be controlled by over the counter meds like ES Tylenol, Motrin or Aleve, do not use any med containing aspirin (No Excedrin, Bayer, etc). If your surgery was extensive, Take the prescription medication prescribed by the dentist
5.  You should Avoid Smoking for 3 days, if at all possible, smoking is the main cause of Dry Socket, a condition where the bone does not heal normally and may get infected and be very painful as a result
6. Slight swelling may occur with more extensive surgery starting after surgery and continuing for 3 days. This may be normal but if accompanied by fever or if very swollen and not getting better after 3rd day, it requires a return visit to be checked by the dentist for infection or dry socket condition
7. Do not stop eating, nutrition is important for healing. Eat soft or light good on the other side and drink fluids. In other words, eat and drink as normally as possible but stay away from the surgical site
8. If any unusual symptoms occur, call or come into office for evaluation
   

I can safely say Tylenol does a hell of a job of masking the pain, and I feel the minor bleeding stopped around 7 hours after the dental visit... hopefully today won't be too bad.  When I woke up there was no noticeable pain, just a bit of soreness as it appears to be closing up. 

Finally, after 15+ years, added volume six of Chrono Crusade to my DVD collection, meaning I just need to track down volume 7 to complete the set! Also we added a physical copy of The Wolf Among Us for the Xbox One.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 34 minutes with the following exercises: Difficult Challenge Combo #2, Difficult Challenge Combo 31 and Difficult Challenge Combo #3 for an estimated calorie burn of 631 kcal.

For tonight's stream we'll be playing Big Rumble Boxing Creed Champions, going through the Arcade Mode for several characters to unlock stuff and possible get achievements! Plus PowerThumbz and Iceman are probably doing some Division stuff so we might join them around the 10 PM hour mark, so it might be a fairly long stream for a Tuesday. Which means using both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One... should be interesting.

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

The Primals And The Crystal Towers

Good afternoon everybody,

Last night's stream was a ton of fun with Final Fantasy XIV taking center stage. Of course we did stream it on Tuesday to finish the original campaign, but the reason we played it last night was because I didn't want to start up something else just yet.

So what did we do during FF14? Well the first big thing was dedicate time to doing the Crystal Tower story quest, which involved two Alliance Raids, since I did the first one off-stream on Thursday night, Both went smoothly... but there is a special place in hell for whoever came up with the ABC stuff for the fight against Cerberus in the 3rd Alliance Raid.

Of course a huge focus was playing the Main Story Quest, and we covered the second half of Through the Maelstrom (Patch 2.2), which saw the big battle against Leviathan, and huge thanks to Kalenal (twitch.tv/Kalenal) for jumping in to be apart of that and to coach me up on what needs to be during it. Then then MSQ content continued into the Defenders of Eorzea story arc  (Patch 2.3) and knocking out over half of it including the battle against Ramuh who truly has an epic beard.

The plot regarding the refugees and how some are treated in comparison to those who just arrived (Yugiri's people) is certainly borderline close to being a parallel to real world issues on immigration and taking care of the poor, to the point that if some of the dialog that didn't have voice acting did have it, it would have a hell of a lot more bite to it.

Also of note, I did knock out the back half of the Patch 2.3. story stuff off stream in the middle of the night as well, mostly because I realized the Guildhest are not just group tutorials but actual mini-dungeons.

Thank you to eltipometroidvania for the follow! I know they stream so you can check them out over on twitch.tv/eltipometroidvania! 

Also thank you to Dango42 for the raid! They were playing Final Fantasy XIV as well over on twitch.tv/Dango42! 

Following the stream we sent the fun over to SheepFuzz who was playing Jackbox Party Pack 8 over at twitch.tv/sheepfuzz!  

Twitch Clip Links

Learning How To Handle The Leviathan Battle

Let The Sun Shine In! 

I comment on the Music... and I get zapped...

Going through my DVD collection, I realize that I may need to add a couple of things to make it complete or look neat... so I'm in the process of tracking down a copy of Sudden Impact starring Clint Eastwood, which is of course apart of the Dirty Harry series of films, as well as Volumes 6 & 7 for both Gungrave and Chrono Crusade, two anime series from the early 2000s. 

Picked up Tales from the Glory Hole by Drace Domino, it is a tie-in to their earlier book Rise of the Battlebitch which was a great read. Also added Kingdoms of Amalur Re-Reckoning for the PlayStation 4 to the collection as well.

People are asking if the prop weapons that Alec Baldwin used to accidentally end the life of Filmmaker Halyna Hutchins are dangerous.... gee, let's go ask Brandon Lee who was on the receiving end of a prop malfunction back in 1993! Look if you're using weapons as props for films and if they are not correctly maintained, configured and triple check for safety purposes of course they are going to be fucking dangerous! Could it have been prevented yes, but at the very least this may see the stop of using REAL guns in film making.

There are some character changes in coming for Overwatch. Torbjorn's Overload's cool down is being reduced as is the consumption of ammo used when using the Rivet Gun's alternate fire. McCree's Deadeye is getting a shorter slower damage ramping speed and his combat roll can be used in the air, Moira's Biotic Orbs will have a slower speed when it has a target, and Junkrat is getting a near rework so that he's better at close range to reduce his long-range spam potential 

Speaking of McCree... he's getting a new name, Cole Cassidy... and to which I ask... when is Butch Sundance joining Overwatch? I'm apologizing for that joke, because everyone else picked up on the obvious 'Coal and Ash' because of the character of Ashe... me, I'm going for the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid reference!

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minuets with the following exercises.: Beginner Combo #2, Weaving Combo #2, Straight Combo #1 for an estimated calorie burn of 478 kcal... and I'm two months away from turning 39... ugh....

For tonight's stream we'll be playing The Walking Dead: The Final Season to wrap up that series! We'll start early because the goal is to play all four episodes!

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