Final Fantasy XIII and other notes

The day started with a morning stream a two hour session dedicated to Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Start, where I set a few new personal bests. I did however see how silly I look doing anything physical on camera! We might bring back these morning streams every now and then

Tonight's stream of Final Fantasy XIII saw us finally wrap up Chapter 11, and all the heavy level grinding I did off stream certainly help, making sure we were at the maximum possible abilities for my main party, while also putting us in a great position to instantly level up once the 9th tier on the skill tree was unlocked. Thanks to help from one of the viewers, I was able to level up weapons for Fang, Hope and Lightning. so now there is the question of powering up accessories 

Next time we'll play Final Fantasy XIII will be on Saturday's stream, picking up at the first save point of Chapter 12. The march towards victory begins!

Friday night's stream will feature Ghost of Tsushima, with the priority being on exploring 

For the raid we dropped in on misscammi316 who was playing Dead by Daylight

We did have work today, so that's good news on the positive front there!

Finished the WWE story commission I had on the docket, and next is a Mass Effect one that may take a day or two to write, depending on the dialog. At the moment that story is maybe 10% complete.

Grabbed dinnerfrom Blowin Smoque, consisting of BBQ chicken, kale greens and candied yams.

Also the strategy guide for Lightning Returns; Final Fantasy XIII arrived... and just looking at it I see that game's mechanics are completely off the rails!

Final Fantasy XIII Achievements

• Pulsian Pioneer: Took over 10,000 steps on the lowerworld surface.
• Instrument of Faith: Defied destiny's charge and embarked on a different path.

Closing in on the end of Spider-Man

Good afternoon everyone

Work yesterday was an hour shorter than anticipated but was productive as I got two interviews done and set up several for next week. 

I did have a rough start to today, as I basically woke up several hours ago, but just laid in bed and kept thinking about how much I'm failing at trying to do things the way mom would've done them.

Last night's stream of Spider-Man finally saw us finish Act 2 of the story, because I did so much side-content all I had were the last side-missions before doing a series of main story quests. Was rather surprised on the twist that Doctor Octavious was the one who orchestrated the big break out of Rykers Island and The Raft, which turns the in-game world into Saints Row The Third when all hell breaks loose.

Potentially I could finish Spider-Man next week, based on how quickly I find and deal with all the remaining Sable and Prisoner Crimes and Camps (already completed them in three sectors already), and then there's there is basically a blitz of the main story and doing everything associated with it.

The entire quarantine situation that happens in Act 3 does remind me of Tom Clancy's The Division and of course the real world parallel with Covid. Wonder how many other games that came out before 2020 involved more mass quarantine plot-lines.

Now there is no chance in hell I'm going to Platinum Spider-Man, because getting all the costumes is going to be too much of a pain in the ass to deal with, and it's not worth it. I'll be glad to get every other achievement however.

Marvel's Spider-Man Trophies

• Tombstone Takedown: Defeat Tombstone
• Schooled: Complete all of the Corrupted Student missions
• A Bit of a Fixer-Upper: Complete all optional projects in the lab
• Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Complete all Side Missions
• The Six Assemble: Complete Act 2
• Overdrive: Complete 10 Vehicle Takedowns

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood during their stream when they were playing Mega Man Battle Network over at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

The plan for tonight's stream is of course, Elder Scrolls Online, continuing our adventures with Striker! 

For the first time I watched Duck Soup, one of the legendary films starring the Marx Brothers... it is as good as I always heard it was.

Did a few runs of Hades following last night's stream, and managed to successfully get the Thorn of Thanatos achievement, using the spear and building around Poseidon and Zeus. So with this achievement unlocked, I have only two left to get!

Hades Achievements

• Thorn of Thanatos: Get 30% bonus damage with the Pierced Butterfly

Here are this week's Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star Stats

• Punches Thrown: 7560
  
• Estimated Calories Burned 2958.24 kcal
  
• Fitness Age: 18
  
• Achievements Unlocked: 66%

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

The Plan Is To Move Stuff

 Good morning everyone,

Today my brother is coming over today and with luck we'll be getting a few things out of the dining room area of my home along with the deep freezer from the basement (finally),

With yesterday being a non-work day that I had scheduled myself to work, I took advantage and did another run of Hades (currently have a streak of 151 clears I think). I do feel like I could get 5 out of the 6 remaining achievements will little trouble, but the one called Thorn of Thanatos will give me the most trouble because it involves not taking damage in 15 room to build up a 30% damage boost. Sounds easy, until you realize that I tend to be super aggressive with my approach to playing this game

Hades Achievements

• Infernal Arms: Unlock all Weapon Aspects 
• Harsh Conditions: Fulfill the 'Harsh Conditions' Prophecy
• End to Torment: Fulfill the 'End to Torment' Prophecy
  

Last night's stream of Elder Scrolls Online saw me getting lost a lot, but thanks to Striker I was able to stay on track as we cleared out a lot of side quests and started up the main quest in High Isle, which will be our focus for the next time we play it next Saturday. If there is one complaint I do have about ESO its the placement of mountains to make each area seem bigger than it really is, because one thing I enjoyed about Fallout 76 is how I could get everywhere with little trouble.

Yes the soup you saw me eating was indeed very salty... I haven't had much salt on anything since my mom passed away, and it certainly was a jolt to the system. 

Last night's raid went to MissCammi316 who was playing Smite. They stream at twitch.tv/MissCammi316 

The plan for tonight is to continue Marvel's Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4, and I actually forgot if I'm opening with side-content or the next main story quest. Either way we'll be getting things done!

Phillies won their home-opener yesterday, much to my surprise. 

This week's Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star stats are as follows

• Punches Thrown: 7976
  
• Estimated Calories Burned: 2968.75
  
• Fitness Age: 18
• Achievements Unlocked: 63%
  

Watched Paul Rodriguez Live from San Quinton, which originally aired on HBO back in 1995. It's one of the many weird DVDs I have in my collection, which I got in either 2001 or 2002.

Did some work on the Mass Effect short story commission, I should have that done before tonight's stream. 

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

We Finished Hades! Woo-Hoo!

 Good morning everyone,

Work yesterday was really meh... was not at all thrilled being stuck on this one assignment while also being plagued with the system not recording my call backs correctly. And I know today is also going to be meh since I'm going to be by myself on a similar assignment.

Last night's stream on the other hand... well you can tell by the title of today's post, we finished Hades, I needed only two clears... I got three done. We got to the end credits, Persephone has returned to the underworld and now ones attention could turn to the 'post game', which features a lot of extended content to resolve the issue between Hades, Persephone and the Olympian Gods. That will require finding a lot of nectar and generally a lot of grinding.

Still, Hades is a game I can easily go back to, I know how to play it, because outside of some of the early runs, every run attempted and successful escape run took about half and hour, with me getting to the Hades fight more often than not. Now hours after the stream I did do another run of Hades and picked up the Something From Everyone achievement to go along with the seven I earned during the stream.

Now the question is, what will replace it in the line up next Thursday? I'm not particularly sure, we could go with an game from the Xbox 360 era? There are a number of quality contenders for that spot of the week!

Hades Achievements

• Nyx's Mirror: Have at least one rank in each Mirror of Night Talent
• The Family Secret: Complete the main quest in the story
• Day-or-Night Trader: Trade 20 times with the Wretched Broker
• Master of Arms: Fulfill the 'Master of Arms' Prophecy
• The Useless Trinket: Earn the first of Skelly's prizes
• Skelly's Last Lamentations: Earn the second of Skelly's prizes
• Champion of Elysium: Clear Elysium with the 'Extreme Measures' Condition
• Something From Everyone: Unlock each standard Keepsake
  

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal who was a featured streamer for Stream Raiders! They were also playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal

Of course the plan for tonight's stream is Spider-Man, as we'll be picking up after defeating Shocker... I think I had another set of side activities unlocked beside labs  

Recorded another DVD inventory video for my YouTube channel... and safe to say I could not 'show' every DVD I had in one of the two containers I went through because they 'ahem', fall under a more mature rating

Donald Trump was finally indicted... here's hoping he's arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced harshly 

Did an extended workout in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star.... because I didn't realize I was selecting the wrong difficulty to chase one in-game achievement!

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

Understanding the controls of Resident Evil 5

 Good morning everyone,

Had a hard time sleeping last night, not sure as to why, so now things just feel weird today.

Work yesterday was alright, a combination of two different assignment certainly was weird but we were productive.

Did some light grocery shopping, getting two loafs of bread and other items. Found a decent toilet bowl cleanser. I do need a new toilet bowl brush, since I somehow broke the handle of the one I had.... yeah that was weird folks.

Last night's stream started with Fall Guys, and we made it to the final round twice in regards to solo shows, but I certainly didn't have a good night overall, as I felt cheated on a few of my jumps and dives... then there were the grieffers and trolls who join Duos and Squads to either not attempt to try and just being AFK. Still there were some hilarious moments.

After the break we switched over to Resident Evil 5 and we were joined by Iceman, but he was running a bit late, which allowed me to check out the Mercenary mode and learn how to use the Type D controls, which are RE5's default controls... and I was able to get a better idea of how to actually play. When Iceman was able to join we cleared out the back end of Chapter 2, dealing with two big boss fights with us only dying once.

One thing I did like regarding Mercenary mode was that I got to see what different weapons fired like, and I love the kit that Rebeccs Chambers has. Hopefully her gear can be found in the main story mode!

Resident Evil 5 Achievements

• Exploding Heads: Pull off 20 headshots.
• Fireworks: Shoot an enemy Molotov cocktail, dynamite stick, or hand grenade.
• Completed Chapter 2 - 2: Complete Chapter 2 - 2 on any difficulty setting.
• Completed Chapter 2 - 3: Complete Chapter 2 - 3 on any difficulty setting.

And yes that food at I had after the break was stuff my Aunt Grace made, and it was delicious!

For the raid we dropped in on tracydoll during their stream of Friday the 13th The Game over at twitch.tv/tracydoll

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Hades, and we need two escapes to complete the main story quest. Once we get the ninth clear, I plan for the 10th run to be the most difficult with many of the Pacts of Punishment turned on. The goal is to try and get as many achievements on that 10th escape because I know Hades is not fought at the very end of it.

Didn't do any writing yesterday, but I did get a few minor things done around the house. Need to figure out which of the grass trimmers work since the grass is starting to grow.

I really should cash out my earnings so far from subscribestar, but that the same time, having it there does serve as a nice backup.

The MLB Season starts today, and it's going to be weird not having the option to watch any Phillies games, but I should be able to turn in for the radio broadcasts.

Found out who the hidden trainer is in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star... and it's Yuria, Kenshiro's beloved. I was not expecting that based on who would make the most sense from what I know of Fist of the North. 

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

We Finished Hi-Fi Rush!

Good morning everyone,

Had another rough start to my day, waking up a bit before 6 AM but feeling not doing anything... but this is why I give myself little daily goals.

Work yesterday was good, sure I was not thrilled with the assignment but hey, two complete interviews are two complete interviews.

Last night we did finish Hi-Fi Rush, granted I did delay things by going after the achievement for completing all the combos in the Training Room. Once that was done, it was a straight forward thing getting through the final level and dealing with the final bosses. I really liked how the game ended one the 'there's more to do', but at the same time I kind of wished going back to find things in various levels didn't involve all the cut scenes... but oh well.

Out of the games 61 achievements, I managed to knock out 31 one of them, with quite a few being diamond. There is certainly a lot of things for people to do who want to get every achievement for completion, but several achievements involve having to do multiple runs of the game on various difficulties... which is certainly asking a lot of gamers who just chase 1,000 Gamer Score.

Now the next game to take over on Mondays & Tuesdays will be New Tales From The Borderlands. A normal playthrough is estimated to only take 9 hours or so, so that seems doable to me for a new night stretch next week

Hi-Fi RUSH Achievements

• OK, I THINK I know what I'm doing now: Successfully pull off every combo and attack in the Training Room.
• I play my own way!: Purchase and equip your first Special Attack.
• You must like calling me in, Chai: Destroy 50 barriers by calling in Peppermint.
• Time to pay up!: Settle the bill with the head of Finance.
• Easy Listening: Finish the game completing every level on the Easy difficulty.
• Who's the boss now?: Take it up with the CEO, and come out on top.
• Wanna hear my playlist?: Change the background music in the hideout.
• That's a lot of junk metal…: Destroy 500 Vandelay security robots.
• Chip-tuned: Increase your chip slots to the maximum capacity.
• Out in a puff of smoke: Put out 10 fires in battle with Korsica. (Enemies included.)

For the raid we dropped in on misscammi316 while they were playing Grand Theft Auto V over at twitch.tv/misscammi316

The plan for tonight's stream is of course Fall Guys & Resident Evil 5... who hilarious things will happen to me this week in both games.

Spoke with my brother and the big plan is get a lot of large stuff out of the house on Saturday, April 8th. This way I can finish the basement and start getting a handle on things up in what is supposed to be the dining room.

Got some writing done for the Mass Effect short story commission, and I would dare say it's already about 30% complete. Yay me! Have not figured what the next SubscribeStar Exclusive story will be, I'm leaning Star Trek again...

Watched the Top Gear Vietnam special last night, and that still holds up as one of the better road trips Clarkson, Hammond and May went on.

I was having a question regarding what is going towards earning stars on Regular and Hard versions of exercises in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star... and I just realized it only counts if I haven't done an exercise on that setting yet.

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

 

 

Another Saturday In ESO

Good morning everyone,

God a small bit of writing done yesterday, a lot less than I planned because I got caught up with some things around the house, laundry, dishes and other stuff. Oh well.

Did have a hard time getting the stream started last night, as my Internet speeds were way down from what I'm now paying. It sorted itself out, but again it proves to me Comcast can really be a pain in my ass at the wrong times!

Last night's stream of Elder Scrolls Online was a lot of fun, as Striker and I got a lot of side quests done. Striker went ahead earlier in the day to find a lot of the fast travel points which cut down on travel time. The story in Vvardenfell is getting pretty good as it turns out the cause of the living god's depleting power is caused by a dude named Chode... not really his name, but I call him Chode. The in-game wanted level is certainly a hindrance, and I can imagine if you don't have a Soul Gem to revive where you die it gets even worse. I mean I get why it's such a thing, but the time it takes to deplete just acts as a real deterrent of going into the towns for quest progression

Anyway, I really did enjoy the side quest for the Scarlet Judge, and love that we were awarded with the attire of the in-game vigilante to wear as a costume.

For the raid we dropped in on Hawleigh who was doing a Food and Drink stream over at twitch.tv/hawleigh

It's Sunday which means tonight's stream will be featuring Overwatch 2! Voice chat will be in my Discord!

Expecting a visit from my Aunt Grace and Cousin Frances this afternoon, which will be really cool 

Something I forgot to get when I did a small bit of grocery shopping the other day was getting some moon pies... I mean come on, they go great with RC Cola! (Yes I prefer RC Cola to Coke and Pepsi)  

Really looking forward to getting some things out of the Basement, it'll really open up things up and I can make it look nicer on camera.

My NCAA tournament brackets are already invalid...  then again I just made picks at random, so I'm not surprised at all!

So I unlocked Advanced Combo #2 in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star and talk about a nightmare and is probably the most difficult combination of motions I've seen in the Fitness Boxing games so far, because it involves Sways,Blocking Motions and Body Hooks. Doing it on Hard Difficulty and at a Fast pace was just brutal!

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

Spider-Man for the PS4 Is Pretty Fun

Good morning everyone,

Work yesterday was another solid day, but they called shift early because not enough people want to work the final hour on a Friday afternoon. Still it was a productive day and I like that

Did some light grocery shopping to supplement some things, adding a couple to provide some variety to what I've been eating. 

Last night's stream of Marvel's Spider-Man was a lot of fun, we're playing it on Friendly difficulty, and I could take it or leave it with the combat, while trying to keep track with a lot of enemies. I do struggle with larger enemies, to the point the Kalenal pointed out that I should try not getting hit (good advice by the way). Still, I did enjoy a lot of the game mechanics when it came to web slinging and went about getting all of the Backpacks collected and fixing all of the towers. 

Basically I'm taking the same approach I had with Saints Row '22, in doing every new task first before advancing the main story. It's how I get the most out of open world games, plus it keeps me from having to think to much in regards to keeping various game gimmicks in mind.

I did run into one notable issue with Spider-Man, and that's the lack of foresight when it came to quips he says after finishing off a group of villains around the city. In fact I could swear I heard the same line three times in less than five minutes,

Marvel's Spider-Man Trophies

• Knocking Down Kingpin: Defeat Fisk
• Lost and Found: Collect 5 Backpacks
• Spider-Sensible: Perfect Dodge 10 attacks
• Amazing Coverage: All Surveillance Towers activated
• And Stay Down!: Complete a level 1 Combat Benchmark
• King of Swing: Complete a level 1 Traversal Benchmark
• Wing It: Traverse across the city rooftops
• Backpacker: Collect all Backpacks
• The Scientific Method: Craft your first Upgrade

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood as their stream was getting started, they took a look at the King trailer for Tekken 8 and tried out a randomizer for Resident Evil 2 Remake. You can check them out at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Elder Scrolls Online, if things fall through we got several alternatives that we can play instead

I will not be surprised if Square Enix ends up being bought out by Sony within the next two years. Not because Sony wants to keep it out of Microsoft's hands, but because Square Enix has been and is making some of the stupidest decisions possible

On Monday, my brother and I are going to try and get a few things out of the basement through the rear doors. For sure an exercise bike and the old couch that used to be featured on my streams is getting tossed. But I need to literally clear a path to get this huge TV out of here as well. Safe to say tonight's stream will look different as a result.

Here is this weeks stats for Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star

• Punches Thrown: 8224
• Estimated Calorie Burn: 3296 kcal
• Fitness Age: 18
• 41% of Achievements Unlocked
  

Didn't do any writing last night due to the moving of furniture and stuff , but I intend to work on the Daria commission request this afternoon.

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

Final Fantasy VII Remake is Finished

Good afternoon everyone,

Song of the Day: Love Potion #9 by The Coasters

Work yesterday was good, got two complete interviews done, and nearly had a third, but the respondent had to go. But hey, I felt productive and I'm happy about that.

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy VII Remake went over seven hours because we played from Chapter 15 all the way through to the end of the game. And boy did they add a ton of extra padding to the game to draw things out a bit to ensure some iconic moments from the original version of Final Fantasy VII was represented. And let me tell you that padding certainly felt real during the Expressway escape sequence in, there was little reason for it to be as long as it was.

Something that did occur to me, particularly in the final boss fights in Chapter 18 against Sephiroth is that the mechanics of Final Fantasy VII Remake is very much influenced by Kingdom Hearts. There were a handful of battles I found difficult to get a read on what I had to do, but the Sephiroth fight was text book Kingdom Hearts. 

I do love the fact that the finishing hit was Sephiroth being squashed by a the Fat Chocobo summon.

Now would I play this again... probably not, and my only real excuse to revisit it on stream would be to eventually get a PS5 in order to play the Intergrade story. 

Question now becomes what do I play next on the PS4, I do have plenty of options in terms of games that are exclusive to it. I'll have to mull it over for a few days before making up my mind. Contenders include Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn and Ghosts of Tsushima

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) Trophies

• The Pizza in the Sky: Complete Chapter 15.
• No Appointment Needed: Complete Chapter 16.
• Emerging from Chaos: Complete Chapter 17.
• Destiny's Crossroads: Complete Chapter 18.

Thank to Oldish22 for the raid following their stream of Last Epoch over on twitch.tv/oldish22

For the raid we dropped in on MissCammi316 as they were playing Smite over on twitch.tv/MissCammi316

The plan for tonight's stream is more Elder Scrolls Online, continuing the various quests that were picked up and just roaming around while being completely lost on how to easily navigate from point A to point B. However this is a possibility my brother could be dropping by as well to join in for some local co-op gaming.

This week's Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star Stats are as follows

• Punches Thrown: 7,861
• Estimated Calorie Burn: 3120.82 kcal
• Fitness Age: 20
• 29% of Achievements Unlocked
  

Did not start on the next commission request, but I am getting some ideas for it since it's based on Dragon Ball Z when Vegeta and Trunks are in the hyperbolic time chamber. Trunks does strike me as the one to take whatever's given in that scenario.

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

 

 

Finding Vinyl and Hess Trucks, Plus Final Fitness Boxing 2 Totals

Good morning everyone,

Work yesterday ended up being a bit short because the client wanted to review something order, or make changes to the study to try and make it more applicable to respondents. At least that was the impression I got.

So with the extra time I managed to liberate the crates that have vinyl records, both 45s and LPs from the storage closet, which means I got some unwanted deck furniture upstairs in the living room. But hopefully I'll be able to dispose of those items as well.

Also found a couple of Hess Trucks, and for those wondering, for a long time, the gasoline company Hess had these big holiday promotions regarding toy trucks. I remember having one back in the 80s, and the two I found, one from 1997 and one from 2000. Considering the novelty of them, these were a cool find.

For the first time I was asked by someone in the neighborhood about mom, because they were use to seeing her around. So that was a bit tough to convey.

Last night's stream opened with Fall Guys, and we certainly had some rough moments, as my timing in some rounds were way off. Did have a few close calls that nearly resulted in wins, but we didn't get any crowns. I did get the season pass because I was incredibly close to completing it anyway, so we have all the awards.

After the break, we switched to Gears of War 2, and too my surprise I was able to play with others in the Horde mode, which was a lot of fun. Playing on a fairly hard difficulty, I managed to hold my own with out getting downed once. We were then joined by Iceman, and following some issues with him being unable to hear me because Windows 11 is awful, we were able to get quite a bit done. We did have a comedy of errors with having to retry a few parts. But we had fun.

For the raid we dropped in on TokuSHOUTsu during the marathon of Kamen Rider over at twitch.tv/TokuSHOUTsu 

Gears of War 2 Achievements

• Rookie Gear: Reached level 5 in multiplayer
• Photojournalist: Submitted a spectator photo

The final Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Body Hook Combo, Weaving Combo #1 and Double Combo #2. 

Total Stats

• Fitness Boxing 2 Days In  A Row: 811 (969 counting Fitness Boxing 1)
  
• Total Punches ThrownL 1,089,663
• Total Estimated Calories Burned: 456,697.80 kcal
• Total Exercise Time: 481 hours, 42 minutes, 34 seconds

Body Parts Trained:

• Bicep Exercises: 1839
• Chest Exercises: 1928
• Core Exercises: 1841
• Hip Exercises: 1938
• Calf Exercises: 1833
  

Trainers Used

• Karen - 332
• Leo - 12
• Guy - 18
• Janice - 388
• Hiro - 383
• Lin - 522
• Sophie - 333
• Bernardo - 322
• Martina - 336
• Laura - 324
• Evan - 344
  

Songs Used

• Birdsong - 109 
• Aim High - 102
• South Nocturne - 89
• Alone - 89
• Hot N Cold - 82
• Castle on the Hill - 106
• Girls Just Want To Have Fun - 106
• Y.M.C.A. - 97
• Can't Hold Us - 82
• Venus - 102
• Animals - 94
• Don't You Worry Child - 108
• Born to be Wild - 79
• So What - 80
• Break Free - 93
• Beauty and a Beat - 83
• Sandstorm - 92
• It's My Life - 98
• Bang Bang - 80
• Something Just Like This - 87
• What Makes You Beautiful - 103
• Boogie Wonderland - 73
• I'm an Albatraoz - 99
• Cosmic Fairlane - 42
• U.S. Route 163 - 59
• Rio Grande - 52
• Virtual Love - 53
• The Endless Voyage - 62
• Eternal Return - 45
• Matsuri - 51
• Galaxy Railroad - 63
• Avalon - 48
• Louisiana Joe - 62
• Sparkling Dawn - 29
• Morning Breeze -47
• Groove Fantasy - 46
• Shining Splash - 38
• Light Stomp! - 35
• Emerald Vibe Workout - 29
• Attract - 37
• Evolution - 42
• Go, GO, Punch! - 47
• Midnight blue - 47
• Melbourne Workout - 0
• You're Gonna Change - 1
• Your Future - 3
• Dawn of the Storm - 5
• INFERNO - 1
• The Long Way Around - 1
  

"Dad, did you get a haircut?" "No, I got them all cut!"

Song of the Day: Soul Man by Sam & Dave

For tonight's stream.... we might feature Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star on the Nintendo Switch if we can play it tonight. Then we'll also play Hades for a bit (or the full stream if FBFotNS is not avaliable.

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

 

 

 

Still Taking The Casual Approach To Saints Row

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Saints Row was a lot of fun as I really focused on the ventures and side jobs for a good portion, with the big realization being that the ones for acquiring the cars was a lot more obvious than they were in other games. We did advance the plot a little in terms of quests associated with Eli, Kev and Neenah that advanced their sub stories and get to know more of what their characters are like in various situations.

Perhaps the highlight was the final mission we did that introduced the LARP aspect Saints Row, and it's a big reminder as to why I prefer Saints Row over Grand Theft Auto, which is how the series is not afraid to be silly and over the top in various ways. 

Something very apparent is that I'll hit Level 20, which is I think max level sometime during the next stream where I feature Saints Row (Monday), because of my focus on avoiding the main story. I just really like being able to take a casual approach to it, getting the most out of the game where I can set my own pace.

Big thanks to TheInsanityInc for resubscribing to my Twitch Channel for a 19th month! It's greatly appreciated! 

For the raid, we dropped in on TokuSHOUTsu, a channel that is always on and features things like Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Ultraman and many other Japanese shows and movies courtesy of Shout! Factory TV! You can check the channel out at twitch.tv/TokuSHOUTsu!   

Saints Row Achievements

• Kitted Out: Fully upgraded a weapon.
• Shopping Spree: Bought 1 item from every store.
• Wrecking Ball: Killed an enemy with a towed object.

Stream Clip Links

• Coming Down!
• "Mess" 'Em Up! 
• Pew Pew Pew!
  

I couldn't reach my mom at all yesterday via her cell phone... and I had a pretty bad blow up as well with a lot of hits coming my way. I know I'm not alone, but I'm not the best at expressing myself. Doesn't help that the longer things go on, the more the fact that I'm failing on so many fronts is coming to light.

As a result, I didn't get any writing done at all yesterday in terms of the commission requests that I do have that helped cover some expenses and odds are that won't be the case today either. 

For anyone wanting to try Hello Fresh, use code POGHF64483 when you sign up at HelloFresh.com for a discount on 21 meals plus free shipping, or sign up via my affiliate link at https://strms.net/hellofresh_fredcasden!  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Biceps Shape Focus Combo, Triple Combo #2, Intermediate Combo #1 and Defensive Combo #2 for 32 minutes

Also Fitness Boxing 2 had a surprised update, with a new instructor named Leo being added, which is funny to me because that's my brother's named. Other features added was the option to remove Blocking from the daily workout settings, the ability to customize the order of songs on the Song List and check the courses played on the Exercises Results Screen 

Also stepped on the scale, and my weight seems to be down around 238 to 240 pounds, so lets split the difference and call it 239

"Dear Math, grow up and solve your own problems."

Song of the Day: Bury A Friend by Billie Eilish

For tonight's stream the plan is to play Fall Guys and Fallout 76 as part of the usual Wednesday night double header. 

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

I now understand that Dojima is awesome

Good afternoon everyone

Last night's stream of Persona 4: Dancing All Night saw us continuing the story, knocking out Chapters 3 and 4 of the story mode, and it's chapter 4 that has my attention because I finally understand why everyone says Dojima is awesome as it relates to the characters of Persona 4. Dude is a gruff cop who is always one step away from wanting to say he's too old for this shit.  The way he goes fully into the case and how all the pieces of the plot come together through his logical deductive reasons was quite interesting to watch. Also learned that the Fever Time Dances that are are revealed in the story mode will trigger the trophies if the other ones were already seen.

Now I did spent a good portion of the night trying to beat my own high scores... and short of doing everything perfectly, there really isn't going to be much of a chance of me getting some scores higher than what I've gotten already.  I do find it funny that there is the option to 'overwrite' high scores... I do have my pride so I'll never do that!

Persona 4: Dancing All Night Trophies

• Tidy Up Your Toys: Rescued Sumomo Ujima
• Beauty and the Beast: Seen all Bond Fevers between Naoto and Kanji
• Standing Room Only: Rescued Nozomi Nakahara
• Bearwell!: Completed Chapter 4

Twitch Clips

• Kanji & Naoto (Fever Time)
• Just a story about a Small Town Bear...
• My best combo on 'Heaven' (Normal Difficulty) 
• Marie & Margaret (Fever Time)
  

For the raid we dropped in daworstgamerever25 as they were playing Grand Theft Auto V over at twitch.tv/daworstgamerever25 last night 

We're expecting Xfinity to come out to check everything... again... considering the reoccurring problems that popped up last Saturday that were similar to what we experience the previous week

Happy Birthday to my mom who turns 63 today.

Work was surprisingly productive yesterday, even if I felt rather wonky during it... still can't complain too much when things go well right?

Played some Space Invader Infinity Gene follow the stream to try and grab another achievement out of it and was successful... once I read I could use the Bonus stage to do things a bit easier than playing through the normal levels.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene Achievements

• 1,500 CHAINED: Achieved a chain of 1,500.

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

Fitness Boxing 2 Stats For Week Of November 27 to December 3 2022

• Punches Thrown: 9755
  
• Estimated Calories Burned: 4018.56 kcal
  
• Martina's Champion Progress: 72% (36 out of 50 hours)
  
• King EX Fighter Progress: 98%
  
• Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Streak: 722
  
• Fitness Boxing & Fitness Boxing 2 Combined Daily Streak: 880
  

How do you organize a space-themed hurrah? You planet.

Song of the Day: Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison

For tonight's stream, it's a variety night as we'll feature the likes of MultiVersus, Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed and other stuff.

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

Forgot How Long The TellTale's Game Of Thrones was

Good morning everyone

Last night's stream featured episodes one and two of Game of Thrones: A Telltale Series, and yes the plan was to play episode three as well... but I forgot how long TellTale the episodes could be, not to mention, with how I was taking my time with it, still this means we'll get three weeks out of it instead of the expected two, with episode three and four next Tuesday, with episodes five and six the following week.

In terms of how I'm playing, I'm trying to thing a little different with Mira Forrester since she's basically all on her own, but that kind of is what it is. Otherwise, I'm going for the Forresters in general to just basically wanting the Whitehills' heads on pikes. One does have to appreciate the cameos from the show... even though I never watched a single episode of Game of Thrones.

To pad things out a bit, we did load up Cacpom Arcade 2nd Stadium because... well there getting to 100 hours of game to knock out, not to mention the long grind towards

On a side note, note sure why the Sidekick 'BRB' reel was not working the way it should have. In fact it wasn't working particularly well on Monday either. Hopefully it'll sort itself out, otherwise I'll have to come up with some audio for the BRB screen.

Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series Achievements

• Through the Night: Completed Chapter 1 of Episode 1
• Justice or Mercy?: Completed Chapter 2 of Episode 1
• A Long Road Ahead: Completed Chapter 3 of Episode 1
• Defiance or Diplomacy?: Completed Chapter 4 of Episode 1
• A Lord's Judgement: Completed Chapter 5 of Episode 1
• A Lord's Depute: Completed Chapter 6 of Episode 1
• A Lord's Reception: Completed Chapter 7 of Episode 1
• Squire: You completed Episode 1.
• A Ransom's Reward: Completed Chapter 1 of Episode 2
• Fight for Life: Completed Chapter 2 of Episode 2
• Unfamiliar Faces: Completed Chapter 3 of Episode 2
• Strength of Mind: Completed Chapter 4 of Episode 2
• The Pressures of Family: Completed Chapter 5 of Episode 2
• Love and Hostility: Completed Chapter 6 of Episode 2
• Initiation Completed: Completed Chapter 7 of Episode 2
• Knight: You completed Episode 2.

Twitch Clips 

• You're A Bold Lord
• He's Been Disarmed! 
• There were not enough chugs!
• Mistakes Were Made 
• We got 'em!
• We got energy 
  

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbZ as they were playing Vampire Survivors over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz!

Work yesterday was surprisingly decent, as I came across some very cooperative people in interview which was really nice.

Got a bit of writers block on finishing the short story commission request based on Batman: The Killing Joke, mostly divided on how I want to end it.

I stupidly (or wisely) loaded up Person 4: Dancing All Night and basically did all the tracks on Easy difficulty to see how many I could unlock, which was quite a few. It does seem that a couple are truly tied to the story mode or require some other method to unlock them.  Still with the songs unlocked and done, we'll have more a variety in between the chapters when we resume the story mode on Friday night's stream. Also picked up one Trophy as a result.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night Trophies

• Inseparable: Triggered 30 types of Bond Fevers

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Stragith Combo #2, Difficult Challenge Combo #2 and Block Combo for 31 minutes

Fitness Boxing 2 Stats For November 2022

• Punches Thrown:39115
• Estimated Calories Burned: 16602.11 kcal
  
• Martina's Champion Progress: 70% (35 out of 50)
  
• King EX Fighter Progress: 98%
• Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Streak: 719
  
• Fitness Boxing & Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Streak: 877
  

How many bugs do you need to rent out an apartment? Ten-ants.

Song of the Day: Anti-Hero by Taylor Swift

For tonight's stream we'll open up with Fall Guys for the first half and then switch over to Fallout 76 for the second half. There are still achievements in it I do want to try and get... it'll just take time to do.

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

Another Friday and Another Persona Dancing Game

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Persona 4: Dancing All Night got off to an awkward start because a) I didn't realize there were DLC tracks for the game b) I didn't change the title or game category. Whoops on my part! Still once we got rolling, I was able to find my comfort zone with P4D rather quickly, with my biggest concern being the weird charting this game has in comparison to its Persona 3 and Persona 5 younger siblings. More so than those two games, P4D was clearly meant to be played on the Vita, as even on Easy I have trouble picking up on how some notes appear. 

Now the story for Persona 4: Dancing All Night is rather intriguing, as the Investigation Team is practicing to be apart of Rise's comeback but then group of Idols goes missing as they were pulled into the world of the Midnight Stage... where the only way to save them is to dance. Sure the premises is silly, but the question of who is behind the mystery has my attention. It does make me think that the Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight could have been just one single game with a looming threat that had to be dealt with through dance but oh well.

Now because of the story mode, we'll tackle it in segments, with doing 1 full chapter then doing some free dances, then another chapter. I figure we'll get at least three weeks out of the game since there are eight chapters. Of course I'll probably put in a lot of off-stream grinding because of how unlocks are handled.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night Trophies

• What's a "Miss"?: Cleared a track with no MISSes
• Hit the Dance Floor: Cleared 1 track in Free Dance
• The Festival Begins: Completed Chapter 1
• Working Together: Triggered a Bond Fever at least once
• Dream Team: Paired Rise and Kanami in Free Dance
• Born Entertainer: Obtained top rank (King Crazy) on a track
• Love Connections: Performed a full combo on a track
• Closing Night: Rescued Tamami Uesugi
• A Night to Remember: Rescued Tomoe Sayama
• Perfectionist: 50%+ Perfect clear on HARD track or higher
• Empty Seats: A performance ended prematurely
• New Personal Best: Beat your own high score
• Appearance Matters: Bought a costume for the first time
• The Final Touch: Equipped accessory and began dancing
• Fashion Police: Changed costume and began dancing
• Star Dancer: Danced using 2 or more items to raise difficulty
• That Familiar Rush: Watched replay data from Score

 Twitch Clips

• Teddy & Naoto Fever Time
• Yosuke & Chie Fever Time 
• Naoto and Kanji Fever TIme
  

For the raid we dropped in on twinamitv who was also palying Persona 4: Dancing All Night over at twitch.tv/twinamitv! 

With the added day off, I finished writing the Dragon Ball commission request that featured Gohan, and to my surprise, instead of a WWE commission request popping up based on Sarah Logan's return, I got another Dragon Ball request to do a follow up to the previous story that featured Goku & Videl

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

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise Stats For Week Of 11/20 to 11/26/22

• Punches Thrown: 9438
• Estimated Calories Burned: 4008.57
  
• Martina's Champion Progress: 64% (32 out of 50)
  
• King EX Fight Progress: 98%
• Fitness Boxing 2 Consecutive Days: 715
  
• Fitness Boxing 1 & 2 Consecutive Days: 873

What do an apple and an orange have in common? Neither one can drive.

Song of the Day: Murder On My Mind by YNW Melly

For tonight's stream, well, it's Saturday, so random games are on deck, so expect MultiVersus, Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed and whatever else comes to mind.

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

Star Trek Prodigy Supernova Is Finished!

Good morning everyone,

Last night we finished Star Trek Prodigy: SuperNova and the final two stages took an hour each to get through, and the way I figure even with quickly advancing through the dialog it would be nearly impossible to 'speed run' those levels solo because of the types of puzzles involved in them. That said I did enough the final boss fight against the System Slayer, and how everything wraps up nicely. I'll most likely end up trying to find the remaining collectables off-stream to see what 'cheats' are unlocked.

Speaking of the System Slayer fight I did love the fact that all the mechanics that are taught during the game in how to deal with the Watchers are basically used for it, so it's not having to figure something out as was the case with the two earlier big bosses.

This does indeen mean Pokemon Violet will begin next Monday nigh, and hopefully there be a patch update before then to address some of the issues players have already experienced.

Prior to the stream I was playing Vampire Survivors just to knock out a few achievements, and because I had a few things on my mind and wanted to clear my head before stream. But since we wrapped up Star Trek Prodigy: SuperNova at an early enough time, I switched consoles to feature Vampire Survivors on stream and had a few successful runs in it.

Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova Achievements

• Relic Hunter: You found half of all Relics.
• Searching for Al'Shams: You met Lorn'ess, found a way into Al'shams Station, completing Taresse Level 2: The Frozen Lagoons
• Stopping the Supernova: You prevented the supernova and finished Taresse Level 3: Al'Shams Station.
• Saved the System: You defeated System Slayer and completed your journey!

Vampire Survivors Achievements

• Magic Banger: Find the Magic Banger.
• XVI - Slash: Reach Level 99 with Lama after unlocking the Randomazzo.
• Skull O'Maniac: Survive 30 minutes with Lama.
• Torrona's Box: Hold 6 different weapon evolutions at once.
• IV - Awake: Reach Level 99 with Krochi after unlocking the Randomazzo.
• Omni: Get Torrona's Box to Level 9.
• Tiragisú: Survive 20 minutes with Krochi.
• Vento Sacro: Survive 15 minutes with Zi'Assunta.
• Mannajja: Evolve the Song Of Mana
• I can't see anything...: Find the Yellow Sign.
• Forbidden Scrolls: Find the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane.
• Skip 3: Survive 30 minutes in The Bone Zone.
• IX - Divine Bloodline: Reach Level 99 with Suor Clerici.
• Banish 5: Fill 100 entries in the Collection..

Twitch Clips

• Achievement: Relic Hunter
• Defeating System Slayer 
• System Slayer Loses His Head
• We'll Just Walk Around In A Circle 
• Evolving The Song of Mana!
• Would you like to ask a question? 
  

Big thanks to Kalenal for the raid following their stream of Trials of Mana over at twitch.tv/kalenal! 

Fow our own raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz as they were playing Vampire Survivors over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Got some writing done on the Dragon Ball short story commission, it probably has the most 'dialog' for an opening to set everything up so that things make sense. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Front-Back Step Combo, Defensive COmbo #1, and Uppercut Combo #2 for 28 minutes. We completed the requirements for Sophie's Champion and now we just have one more in the form of Martina's Champion

Fitness Boxing 2 Rhythm & Exercises EX Achievements

• Sophie's Champion: Train with Sophie for over 50 hours
• Martina's Champion Progress: 60% (30 out of 50 hours)
• King EX Fighter Progress: 98%
  

Sunny-side up, scrambled, or an omelet? It doesn't matter. They're all eggcellent.

Song of the Day: Thunder by Imagine Dragons

For tonight's stream the goal is to wrap up the Android 21 Saga in Dragon Ball FighterZ while getting Android 18 and / or Goku to Level Link 40. WIll be interesting to see if we are successful on that objective.

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

We Finished Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight

Good afternoon everyone,

As the title states, we finished Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, knocking off all the remaining Social Links before doing Elizabeth's 8th one that triggers the credits. I totally forgot that I changed some things after last Friday's stream to set up going after two achievements that were only possible once Elizabeth was unlocked as a lead dancer. Now I did focus on several different aspects of things I wanted to do beyond achievement hunting, namely trying to get a Brilliant score on several songs on Normal Difficulty, some took multiple attempts to do. I could've had a King Crazy on a few songs, but the charting of the notes baffled me at the worst possible times.

On the down side, the stream was broken up into multiple parts due to sudden drops in internet download and upload speeds. In fact at 647 PM Eastern I had 10.80 Mbps Down and 0.38 Mbps Up. Now unlike Thursday night, I basically plowed through hoping we could get hour plus blocks of footage, resulting in three separate segments. Now Twitch listed my total stream time last night as 5 hours 46 minutes... however only 4 hours 36 minutes was actually broadcasted. I got more to say about this, but I'll save for when I talk about work down below.

Of course the next game we'll be playing on Fridays will be Persona 4: Dancing All-Night, and unlike its Persona 3 and 5 cousins, the Person 4 dancing game does not take place in the Velvet room, but in the 'real world'. It leans more in the visual novel style with a more fleshed out story mode. Hopefully 

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight Trophies

• Best Buds: Explored all the guys' rooms.
• The One Who Gathered the Glasses: Obtained all the pairs of glasses.
• Fashion Monster: Obtained all the costumes.
• The Dependable Classmates: Cleared the stages where Yukari and Junpei dance together.
• Koromaru's Rival: Obtained all rewards from Elle-P's card search.
• Down to the Bone: Unlocked all Custom modifiers.
• The Party Never Stops: Made Elle-P's ball a success.
• The Selfish Producer: Had Elle-P join the ball.
• The Dancing Jeweler: Obtained all of the accessories.
• It's Gotta Be You: Watched all Social events.
• Can't Say "I Don't Care" Now: Watched every possible dance for the P3 Protagonist (Makoto Yuki).
• The Dancing Anti-Shadow Weapon: Watched every possible dance for Aigis.
• Dancing in Moonlight: Obtained all trophies.

Twitch Clips

• Elle-P's Big Surprise!
• Here Comes Elizabeth 
• They are doing a trade off!
  

For the raid we dropped in on Hawleigh who was playing Jackbox Party Packs over on twitch.tv/hawleigh! 

Work was rather bleh yesterday, but the noticeable thing was that exactly at 3:45 PM for the second day in a row, my internet download and upload speeds dropped significantly and this carried on through damn near the entire night, seemingly to settle down around 10:30 PM. Now I don't want to hear about 'peak hour' nonsense, because if that bullshit was actually true wouldn't I have these issues be reoccurring since everything was fixed back in September?!

Did find out that for sure I don't have work Thursday because of Thanksgiving, but Friday is up in the air because of an assignment that may start that day 

My Copy of Pokemon Violet arrived yesterday morning, and it most certainly take over the Monday slot in my Twitch line up... after we finish Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Straight Combo #2, Difficult Challenge COmbo #2 and Block Combo for 31 minutes/ On a silly note, the first song in Fitness Boxing 2 to hit 100 times played is 'Don't You Worry Child' by Swedish House Mafia

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise States For Week of 11/13 to 11/19/22

• Punches Thrown: 8579
• Estimated Calories Burned:3616.7 kcal
  
• Sophie's Champion Progress:96% (48 out of 50 hours)
  
• King EX Fight Progress: 97%
• Fitness Boxing 2 Consecutive Days: 708
• Fitness Boxing 1 & 2 Consecutive Days: 866

What did Blackbeard the pirate say when he turned eighty? "Aye, matey."

Song of the Day: London Calling by The Clash

For tonight's stream, which hopefully will go well with not problems, will feature a variety of stuff, MultiVersus, Fall Guys, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed... basically whatever casual nonsense I feel like playing.

So on that note I hope we'll be up and running later over at twitch.tv/fredcasden!

We Found The Buried Treasure In Fallout 76

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Fallout 76 saw a big focus on finishing the Wastelander's main story quest by doing the vault raid for the gold treasure. It wasn't too bad... outside of the sponge absorbing robots! I actually had to break out the power armor to make it through it, and used a ton of ammo along with different weapons to get it done. But it was worth it as now it put me in a good spot to really consider doing the daily Crater mission to try and get the reputation up to Allies in order to nab the Ammo Fabricator.

So tt this point, I really have one major story thing in game I want to do and that is to drop a nuke in-game. But as I said a few weeks ago, I'm going to need a lot of help for that because of the bunker.

Beyond that, we were joined by Iceman which was awesome, as we helped him with a couple of his quests in the Steel Reign story arc. Considering how he's helped me through both Division games since I added the Xbox One back in February of 2020 it is nice to return the favor!

Fallout 76 Achievements

• Go for the Gold: Complete "Buried Treasure"

Twitch Clips

• That's All I Needed To Hear
• It's Gonna Blow! 
• Good Thing I Wasn't Using A Fat Man
  

For the raid we dropped in on BestiBunni who was doing some video editing live on stream over at twitch.tv/bestibunni! 

Considering the uncertain future for Twitter under Elon Musk, I reinitiated my Tumblr as another place to promote my Twitch Channel.  

Work was meh yesterday... a few leads but nothing solid that I could capitalize on because of the assignment we're on. Really wish we would have the useful info that is at the end of each interview up front to try and make things easier.

The Republicans blatant use of gerrymandering is on full display as many districts that were firmly Democratic strong holds were redone to favor Republicans running for Congress

Did some late night Overwatch 2 playing  by joining SweetLindir in a few games during their stream last night over at twitch.tv/sweetlindir!

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Defensive COmbo #2, Intermediate COmbo #1 and Triple Combo #2 for 31 minutes. We're up to over 43 hours on Sophie for her Champion EX Achievement. Trying to get it on or by Thanksgiving.

What's the most terrifying word in nuclear physics? "Oops!"

Song of the Day: Cool Girl by Tove Lo

For tonight's stream we are back to Final Fantasy XIV, with a focus on side questing in the Shadowbringers areas!

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