A Random Night of Old Games

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream had a wide amount of variety with games from the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 era. We lead off with Legends of Wrestling, which arrived in the mail mid-afternoon, and outside of the unlock all the wrestlers code not working, it was just as mediocre as I remember. Mainly I added it for the purpose of having the completely trilogy of the series. Something of note is that my stream had a few resets which I suspect was due to an issue with Comcast.

Second game was Rocky Legends, which in many ways is the older version of Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions which we played last year... just a little less arcade like. It does have a full story mode, with various unlockables that can be earned... but Rocky Legends is a lot more grind heavy. Also of note is that the music from the Rocky films is worked in quite nicely through the game with some musical cues kicking in depending on how a round is going.

We then switched to the PlayStation 3 and checked out Golden Axe: Beast Rider... and from what I experienced, it seemed like a good game The controls are a little over thought out, and the riding of the dragon seemed a little clunky, but beyond that the game looked, sounded and played pretty well in my opinion. Would I dedicate it to a full attempt to beat it... who knows.Still, I did find it to be better than something like Bloodborne.

Marvel vs Capcom: Origins was the next game, which has the full arcade port of Marvel vs Capcom... now i played the EX Edition recently, but going back into the 2v2 style certainly was screwy, as I felt a lot of my timing was way off in regard to what I was able to do. Not to mention the Arcade port A.I. is much more brutal than the PlayStation variant. We closed the night out with a quick look at Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which was the version of SSF2T that had the more modern look that no one really liked. If I started earlier in the night I probably would have dedicate more time to actually brute force my way through it, but hey that's a challenge for another day!

Twitch Clips

•  The Dramatic Camera!
•  Knocked Him Down!
•  A Big Dude On A Bridge
•  Shinku Hadoken
•  You Win
  

For last night's raid we dropped in on CallMeMsGalaxy who was playing Overwatch over on twitch.tv/callmemsgalaxy! 

Speaking of Overwatch, I did my 5 placement matches for Support... and went 2-3, getting placed at Silver 1724

I would be shocked by all the drama surrounding Star Wars, but lets be honest, at this point, most people are taking the roles in that franchise just to bait trolls.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 workout featured Triple Combo #1, Double Combo #2, Left-Right Step Combo and Advanced Combo #2. Triple Combo #1 was set to No Mercy Difficulty, and managed to score a new personal best on it.

Started work on the commission request for a WWE story involving Finn Balor, AJ Styles and Liv Morgan, I got the general opening set, and I figure if I don't over complemented I can knock it out gradually over the next few days

Feeling old yet...  rumors are starting to pop up regarding what may be happening for the Power Rangers 30th Anniversary. Although I believe Jason David Frank is done with the franchise because of how his tattoos need to be constantly covered, and of course there is issues with Austin St. John that could result in him spending 20 years in prison due to committing fraud with the PPP loans.

For tonight's stream, Iceman will be unable to join us, so we'll be taking a break from Fallout 76 and focus on something else for to the evening! Thus I think we'll place the Xbox 360 version of Ghostbusters on tonight's stream.

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

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions Is A Lot Of Fun!

 Good morning everybody,

For last night's stream, we hooked up the PS4 and played Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions for the first time!

Now I wasn't expecting much, maybe just a modern take on the Rocky games that were released for the PS2 over 15 years ago... in terms of presentation and how it looks, it's a real pretty game. The character models are on point for the licensed characters of Rocky, Apollo, Adonis, Clubber, the Dragos and the villain from the first Creed movie. There is a nice set of arenas, plus a back alley location, so not every fight is in the ring. The music is nice, with the real gem (and DMCA nightmare being Eye of the Tiger from Survivor).

Game play wise... it's a button masher, while the controls are simplistic... it's really more about overwhelming the opponent with a barrage of punches in a quick fashion. There does seem to be a delay or lag when it comes to blocking and dodging, which makes it a lot tougher than it needs to be.Still once I got the hang of it I was able to put some combos together

Now surprisingly there are quite a few unlockables, from bonus characters to alternate attires, and there are two ways of doing getting them. One is to go through the arcade mode with every default fighter at least once to unlock their respective alternate attires and a corresponding bonus character (example beating Arcade Mode with Rocky, unlocks Rocky's alternate trunks as well as Apollo Creed). The other method is to just do versus matches and grind out the requirements needed via an XP type bar to unlock something random.

With that said, I highly suggest and encourage going through the arcade mode, because every character has a story. With Rocky, he's telling Adonis stories, and you are replaying some of the big fights from the films, plus a couple to help stretch out the story mode. With Adonis, he's in a fixed tournament going up against guys he had issues with it... then you have Ramirez, whose story is a prequel to the original Rocky, where he is dealing with a loan shark and it caps off with street fight against a young Rocky... then you have Scraps, whose story is a fever dream involving having to fight for world peace against Ivan Drago and the resurrected Apollo Creed. 

Perhaps the biggest drawback is lack of online multiplayer, considering the roster, it seems like it would be a blast to play online. Oh well....

With Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions being a PlayStation 4 title, there are plenty of achievements to earn, and the best part is, because of the Arcade mode being a story mode, it justifies me streaming it again! And you can bet we'll go through everyone's story!  

Following the stream we sent the fun over to eltipometroidvania who was playing Super Punch-Out! over at twitch.tv/eltipometroidvania! 

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions Trophies

1. This Guy Is Still Standing?: Land a Super Move 3 times in a single match
2. Finality: Win a match by Knockout using a Super Move
3. Ain't How Hard You Hit: Armor through a Basic Attack 10 times
4. Unmistakable Fire: Break your opponent's Guard Meter 3 times in a single match
5. It's How Hard You Can Get Hit: Armor through a Basic Attack 20 times
6. Sunshine And Rainbows: Break your opponent's Guard Meter 10 times
7. The Legend: Beat Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
8. Eye Of The Tiger: Win a match without Slip Countering or blocking any attacks
9. No Playing: Perform a Slip Counter 10 times
10. Imma Let You Finish: Interrupt an opponent's attack with a Super Move 10 times
11. No Jiving: Perform a Slip Counter 20 times
12. You Slip, I Slide: Slip Counter a Slip Counter 10 times
13. Just Business: Perform a Slip Counter 30 times
14. The Legacy: Beat Adonis "Hollywood" Creed's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
15. A Mean And Nasty Place: Break your opponent's Guard Meter 20 times
16. Flying High Now: Slip Counter your opponent 3 times in a single match
17. Head Trauma: Beat Luke "Scraps" O'Grady's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
18. Beat You To Your Knees: Break your opponent's Guard Meter 30 times
19. How Winning Is Done: Get the first Knockdown in a match without losing any health
20. One Step: Pierce an opponent's Guard with an Unblockable Move 5 times
21. Hit The Bars: Beat Axel "El Tigre" Ramirez's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty

Twitch Clip Links

• Rocky: "Yo!" / Drago: "Die"
• Eye Of The Tiger! 
• Watch it!
• Apollo Creed Is Back From The Dead?! 
  

My off-stream Final Fantasy XIV adventures continued with my attention turned to the Crystal Tower story line, which involved my first taste of the Alliance Raids... and boy, just being told 'kill stuff and don't die' certainly was inspiring on my first successful run of Labyrinth of the Ancients. Granted I was downed once... but still managed to get through it, thanks to one person putting in some tips as well as having a wiki up to see where I'm supposed to go. Turned my attention also to the next steps in the Main Story Questline, which introduces Yugiri and the Doma, who are refugees who we get to bring to Reverenant's Toll... and I also learned that I'm now on a collision course with the next Primal... Leviathan... why do I feel there's going to be a Primal a giant  Tonberry

Am I nervous about my Dental appointment on Monday afternoon... yes... yes I am.

Received my copy of Daria: The Complete Animated Series today, and I wasn't expecting the delivery, in fact I didn't get a notification it would arrive until late this evening... after it already arrived. That said this box set is the 8 disc variant with all 5 seasons plus the two movies. The box set itself is from the era where for some reason, every packaging maker tried to be cute, and so the discs don't on the pegs neatly. Oh well.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily work out lasted 31 minutes with the following exercises: Advanced Combo #1, Intermediate Combo #2 and Weaving Combo #1 for an estimated calorie burn of 494 kcal.

For tonight's stream we're going to do something random,,, not completely sure, as I want to save doing more Big Rumble Boxing for next week as a feature title! Plus on Saturday, we're playing The Walking Dead:  The Final Season, so we need something chilled for tonight. We'll see what I come up with!

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

Puzzles And Judgment

Good morning everybody,

Last night's stream proved to be a lot of fun with a tad bit of frustration tossed in.

First off, we lead off with Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, with the goal of trying to beat it on the HARD difficulty setting with Dan on the standard arcade mode, then do it with another character (Ryu) also on the HARD difficulty setting in the classic arcade mode. The difference between the two is some sort of subtle balance change , but I didn't notice any difference. We were successful on both attempts which was really cool, so we've officially added Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix to the games finished list for this years tour! 

Then at 9 PM, the half way point of the stream, Iceman joined in as we started up Gears of War Judgement, as we continue our journey through the Gears Saga with the game set earliest in the time line. Marcus and Dom are not in it, as the focus is on Baird and Cole. The controls are slightly different than in the first three games so it's taking some getting use to, and the enemies are certainly a hell of a lot more up in your face. Iceman has played it before but it's been a long time for him, so it's almost a totally blind play through. We did clear the first two ACTs, and there are six in total, plus a bonus one for finishing the story that takes place in Gears of War 3. 

The story For Gears of War: Judgement is that Baird and his team are on trial for basically going against the orders given to them, and everything is being told as a flash back. So Baird is in the role of Marcus, and Cole is along for the ride as well, with two new characters Sofia and Paduk. As Iceman tells me, this game is basically explaining Baird's attitude in the first three games where he basically doesn't give a fuck about what those in charge have to say! 

Now for the ugly side of the night, three times during the stream, everything just froze, the stream didn't go down, it's just froze... all the USB devices (webcam, Elgato, speakers, stream deck) disconnected and then reconnected. I tried looking for a solution in Event viewer after restarting the PC but couldn't find any system errors... which I suspect were erased after when I restarted the PC after the stream....

Also, Twitch Raids weren't working so we couldn't send the fun along to anyone last night... so that was disappointing.

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Achievements

1. Modern Battle Master: You completed X’ Arcade Mode on Hard or Expert Difficulty.
2. The Longest Journey: Ya-hoo! You have completed X’ mode (Hard or Expert difficulty) using only Dan.
3. Classic Battle Master: You completed X Arcade Mode on Hard or Expert Difficulty.

Gears of War: Judgement

1. Challenge Accepted: Completed your first Declassified mission
2. Ribbon Master: Earned 3 unique Ribbons in any section
3. They Called Him Karn: Completed Museum Of Military Glory
4. Level 5: Reached level 5
5. Open Arms: Completed Halvo Bay Military Academy
6. A Peek into the Future: Watched Aftermath teaser 

 Can I just point out how much Donald Trump has made my job difficult with how he has brainwashed the people who were nuts to begin with? Not every political poll has to do with him, even if he has to be included because of his influence.

Acquired Zarya's skin for week two of Overwatch's Halloween Terror 2021 event, I have gotten pretty good at picking my shots as McCree during Junkenstein's Revenge.

Started the Seventh Astral Era Quests for Final Fantasy XIV last night as well, these were apart of patch 2.1 released who knows how many years ago.  Anyway, the big goal was to knock out Thornmarch, a quest that releases a new duty assignment for group raids... and after a long wait was able to get into it... and involved fighting Moogles and their king.... it took a few attempts, but someone was about to relay what needed to be done and we were successful in the end, and we knocked out the rest of the story progress that sees the Scions base relocated from Vesper Bay to Mor Dhona. Also learned that there is a mandatory side quest involving the Crystal Tower that has to be done... joy....

Got the confirmation / reminder call for my Dentist Appointment on Monday at 3:30 PM, and I'm still up in the air on if we're going to stream that night or just do a watch along in the Discord of something.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minutes with the following exercises Triple Combo #1, Body Straight Combo and Uppercut Combo #1 for an estimated calorie burn of 418 kcal

For tonight's stream we're going to hook up the PlayStation 4 and mess around with Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions, since November will mark the 45th anniversary of the release of Rocky (I think... not sure)

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

Synthetic Lives Will Matter

Good morning everybody,

It's Friday, and considering the work assignment I've been on this week, I'm glad it is, let me tell ya!

Anyway last night we wrapped up our first play through of Detroit: Become Human, and we certainly screwed up a lot, as Conner got shut down, Luther and Alice Died but Kara was still alive and Markus got his moral victory through peaceful protest. Needless to say bad decision were made, but the great thing about a game like Detroit: Become Human is that there are multiple paths and we could jump back to make different choices. So it's safe to say this will be apart of next year's gaming tour.

Part of where I screwed up is accidentally progressing things with Conner that advanced the plot before I could check everything out, which meant a lot of things got skipped. With Markus, things kind of stayed pretty event, but with Kara, things really went wrong on the boat to Canada when the patrol boat came by wand Luther was killed while Alice was gravely wounded, I had Kara 'keep going', because I felt it would have been wasted effort if she died when she made to Canada... so I guess not giving the bus ticket back would have kept them alive.

Now let's adjust the elephant in the room which is the title of today's entry, because when you think about Detroit: Become Human did a better job of addressing the issues of racism and how fucking screwed up the Human race is. We are collectively a very ignorant, self-serving people who can't even treat each other with any dignity, and do you think we'd be able to when artificial life becomes a reality? The answer to that is a resounding no, we will not. Just look at the Black Lives Matter movement, conflict between those in 'superior' position and those who are oppressed is always inevitable. Yes, there are people who think like me and are open mind it with a live and let live, don't bother me I won't bother you attitude... but sadly, the reality is, there are more people in this world are so closed minded that tolerating them is becoming more and more difficult every day.

Which is why I'm so grateful my job has really settled into having folks work remotely... it keeps me from dealing with idiots in person.

Big thanks to Sw33ts_gaming (twitch.tv/sw33ts_gaming) for the re-sub and continued support  Sw33ts_Gaming plays a lot of Smite and has recently played It Takes Two, they are certainly good people! 

During the stream we had a big raid from redneckerthenyou who was playing Grand Theft Auto V before he brought his community over. I've known him for a while and he is a great guy! You can check out his content over at twitch.tv/redneckerthenyou

Following the stream we sent the fun over to Zanerli at twitch.tv/zanerli and he was playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey... and it was yet another reminder that I need to go play the games in that franchise.   

Detroit: Become Human Achievements

1. JERICHO'S HERO: Markus got enough parts
2. DOUBTS: The Tracis escaped
3. A SMILE ON HER FACE: Alice enjoyed a ride on the merry-go-round
4. NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Kara succeeded to make the cop go away
5. SEND A MESSAGE: Markus conducted a pacifist riot
6. KINSHIP: Connor refused to kill the Chloe
7. STAND YOUR GROUND: Markus stood his ground against the police
8. THIS IS MY STORY: Finish the game once
9. MORAL VICTORY: Markus succeeded in making the soldiers stand back
10. UNDEFEATED: Don't lose any fight before reaching the end
    

Twitch Clip Links

• Sumo is unimpressed
• Spare The Tracis
• Are Amerian Senators Really Corrupt?
  
• Symbolism
• That's the obvious choice
• It gets you right here...
  

Yesterday we added three new additions to the collection, first was Marvel Super Heroes for the PSOne. This version is the Japan variant, which was nearly 1/3 of the cost of finding the North American version of the same game. This does mean I would have to use the modified PSOne to play it, but hey, I don't mind.... that's why we added it after all.

Next, we finally added the PSOne version of Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes EX Edition. As you recall, the last time I went searching for this game I was sent the Dreamcast version... which was great for collectors purposes, but as I stated before, the PSOne version of the first Marvel vs Capcom game had it's own unique build.

Lastly, we added Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions for the PlayStation 4 to the roster, making it the third game based around the Rocky franchise to be added. And while it is focused on the recent Creed films, I have the idea of maybe doing a Rocky 'legacy', where we feature the two PlayStation 2 era games (Rocky & Rocky Legends) as a way to build up anticipation for BRB:CC. Of course, I did notice that reviews for this were mediocre, but the good news is that it's achievements are focused more on actually playing it as an arcade styled fighting game which means we could have some fun with it.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minutes with the following exercises: Weaving Combo #2, Straight Combo #1 and Beginner Combo #2. The estimated calorie burn was 475 kcal, and the one missed punched ended up being a jab while in the Southpaw stance. Achievement progress update, we're up to 294/300 days for the Ten Months Hard Work and Transcendent Stamper achievements  & 29/30 hours for the  Hiro's Contender achievement. That last one we should unlock tomorrow, while the first two should unlock on Thursday.

For tonight's stream, Life is Strange: True Colors returns with 'Wavelengths' the bonus episode which takes place before the events of the main game.Since I doubt it'll cover the entire stream, we'll end up doing some other things too! 

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