So Heavy Rain's Plot Only Happens Because A Kid Is An Idiot...

 Hi everyone,

We had another great day of work, granted it got a bit tough with no real breaks between interview attempts, but hey, I was felt super productive. However, my work schedule will lead to Monday's stream starting at 8:30 PM Eastern, while Tuesday to Friday's stream next week will be still starting at 9:30 PM Eastern

Also got in some groceries, some bananas, some goodies, a few frozen food items... if I'm learning to cook on the fly, got to make sure I have some things that are edible just in case things go wrong. Rather like the Bowl & Basket branded stuff from Shop Rite, they are cheap and often I don't have to worry about expiration dates.

So we started Heavy Rain, and right off the bat I have to say the entire plot is based on the face that Ethan's son Jason being a complete fucking idiot and wandering off for no real apparent reason. So the kid wanders off, Ethan chases after him and a tragic accident happens which leads to the actually story moving forward. I do like the various changes in perspective but this game has a big problem.

That problem is that the CONTROLS ARE FUCKING AWFUL... Heavy Rain is a game whose controls depend fully on the gimmick of features of the PlayStation 4's controller, such as shaking , turning and making various motions with it. Not to mention some of the most awkward button presses that make some things impossible. 

Still by my math, we covered about half of the game so far, and looking at the achievement list, this game will require a guide to try and get various other achievements unlocked in future play throughs down the road.

We'll continue and problem finish Heavy Rain next Friday

Heavy Rain Trophies

• Happy Birthday: Prologue - Complete the drawing + Set the table + Play with kids
• Interactive Drama: Thank you for supporting Interactive Drama
• Private Eye: Sleazy Place - Lead Lauren to talk about her son
• White Knight: Sleazy Place - Beat Troy
• Negotiator: Hassan's Shop - Persuade the Robber to leave
• Lucky Locker: Lexington Station - Find the correct locker on first try
• Blunder: Nathaniel - Shoot Nathaniel
• Good Driver: The Bear - Complete the Bear Trial successfully
• Cat & Mouse: Covered Market - Beat Korda in the cold storage
• Tough Guy: Kramer's Party - Defeat Gordi's bodyguards
• Coward!: The Butterfly - Give up or fail the Butterfly Trial
• Good Cop: Shrink and Punches - Stop Blake from hitting Dupré

For the raid we dropped in on watchshouttv while Highlander was airing over on twitch.tv/watchshouttv

Thing on the agenda for Saturday include doing the dishes and laundry (though that can wait until Sunday). Also will try and get some writing done on a Mass Effect commission request that I started writing a few day ago.

The plan for tonight's stream is Street Fighter 6, we're going to do a lot of stuff in the World Tour to progress it story and work towards achievements. We might do some Fighting Ground matches as well.

So on that note we'll see you at about 7 PM Eastern over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

An HD Link Cable For PlayStation Consoles That Works!

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was just weird as I wanted to watch a movie around noon, and I feel asleep, didn't wake back up until 5 PM.. So I lost the whole afternoon. Oh and the movie I was intending to watch was Face/Off. Did end up watching Highlander II: The Quickening after last night's stream... and I unironically enjoy that movie, if for anything Michael Ironside's over the top performance

Striker wasn't available, so instead I finally made the decision to test the POUND HD Link Cable for PlayStation 2, and too my surprise, it actually works. It outputs the PS2 at a 4:3 display, but everything is upscaled from 480 to 720, which meant games like Capcom vs SNK and Aeon Flux looked surprisingly good. We also tested Die Hard Trilogy as well to see what games from the PSOne era look like, and it looked surprisingly crisp. So you can bet we'll get back to playing games from the 90s and early 00s in the future.

We also did some Rock Band 4 on stream last night, belting out songs from Huey Lewis, The Killers, Van Halen and more. Didn't get any achievements, but all the possible ones for singing I've already earned. I certainly do not have the vocal rang I did back in the Twitch Sings era, but it made for a fun half stream of nonsense!

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal  during their stream of Final Fantasy XIV over on twitch.tv/kalenal

It's Sunday which means tonight we're playing Overwatch 2, I expect wins and losses to take place! HA!

Apparently the new Star Wars Jedi Survivor game has gotten off to a Cyperpunk level rough start, being a completely broken mess depending on the version. To which I say, I am not surprised at all as EA tends to interfere a lot in development of game sequels.

I know there is some concern regarding Persona 3 Portable being on Mondays & Tuesdays, and with it being a game I would play on the Xbox Series console, but here's the thing. Chances are I'll end up putting it on Friday nights. Plus I found a guide that should make the play through go by fairly smooth to try and get as many achievements as possible.

Did some writing, and nearly have the latest commission request for a WWE short story finished. I should be able to finish writing it before tonight's stream to be up on my SubscribeStar pagel

Messed around with the console version of Diablo III last night, just casually playing, nothing major, but did pick up a couple of achievements.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition Achievements

• A Mystical Meeting: Acquire the Mystic.
• Breaking Not So Bad: Use a merchant to repair an item.

Happy birthday to my uncle Abraham, who turns 61 today!

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

We Finished Spider-Man, Next Up It's DLC

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was another day without work, as they are still trying to fix the problems with the assignment we were all on. I'm covered, so at the moment I'm not worried, but I continue to look for new opportunities.

We finished Marvel's Spider-Man last night, and boy did I have trouble with the Doctor Octopus fight, mostly because I didn't see I could leap up off the roof to perch on some poles. Still, it was a very satisfying finished. We got every trophy in the base game with the exception of the one for getting all the suits, but hopefully with the game's DLC, I'll be able to unlock the ones I need that way, because I need base and challenge tokens. 

Of course, we'll be starting the DLC on next Friday's stream, and since there were three DLC releases, maybe we can do each one individually over the next three weeks. Maybe have some extended streams in order to get them all done perhaps? We'll see how it goes.

I of course, do want to talk about the Aunt May death scene, and with it only being three months since I lost my mom, that scene hit harder for me than for a lot of folks. I was fighting hard not to break down to start crying on stream, as I miss my mom every single day. Trust me when I say, there are days I feel so hopeless, and that scene unintentionally was a reminder of the empty feeling I have.

Marvel's Spider-Man Trophies

• Back in the Slammer: Take down each Prisoner Camp
• Superior Spider-Man: Unlock all Skills
• Mercenary Tactics: Take down each Sable Outpost
• I Heart Manhattan: 100% complete all districts
• Grounded: Defeat Electro and Vulture
• Sting and Smash: Defeat Scorpion and Rhino
• Staying Positive: Defeat Li
• End Game: Complete Act 3

There is a question of will I go straight to Spider-Man Miles Morales afte finishing all the DLC, and the answer is we'll probably put a game in between on Friday nights. I of course, reserve the right to change my mind on that!

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

The plan for tonight's stream is more adventures in Elder Scrolls Online with Striker, should be fun, depending on how long it takes us to get from point A to point B! 

Watched the first episode of the Higherlander TV series last night, it certainly was a great way of establishing the concept seen in the movies for a weekly program. Also was surprised at how far it was pushing the boundaries of what was allowed in syndication.

Got quite a bit of writing done on a commission request, with luck I'll finish it before tonight's stream.

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

A new week begins

 Good afternoon everyone,

Yesterday was mostly a chill day, as I spent a lot of time thinking about how overwhelmed I feel.

Last night's stream of Overwatch 2 saw us having a lot of fun with BangBangBang and PandaSweet being apart of the action. There was a number of times I questioned the mental capacity of a lot of the random teammates we got saddle with, like who would play Widowmaker on attack after they realize the opposing team also as a Windowmaker and an Ana that can focus their fire on you. There is also an unusual tendency for players to over extend, which ends up making defense harder than it needs to be.

Picked up one play of the game last night as Moira, other characters used were Reinhardt, Ana, Brigitte, Tracers, Bastion and several others.

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal during their birthday stream of Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal

The plan for tonight's stream is resume Alice: Madness Returns, picking up in the middle of Chapter 3. If things go right we could try and knock out

Finished the Star Trek story as an exclusive for my subscribestar followers, now I ponder what will be the next story I write on the side. Did pick up another commission request, based on the 2023 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, I think I'll keep it mostly generic.

Threw together an odd combination of items for dinner last night involving beats, corn and tuna fish. It was serviceable.  

Picked up a fresh box of contractor bags, because while a good portion of things were already dealt with there is still more stuff I need to make decisions on either keeping or throwing out. 

I am curious over how many play through of Hades I'm going to need to do to get the final two achievements since they are tied to character relationship progression.  

Recorded another video going through DVDs, the eighth in that series of videos for my YouTube channel, it features a lot of wrestling DVDs as well as a quite a few movies

I have been contemplating figuring out some sort of Karaoke gimmick to do on stream, and I've seen some limited options. Question is if there are USB microphones that work with consoles.

Watched Highlander following last night's stream, because I wanted to watch something, and it was the best option available without me thinking too hard! .Plus some of the Amazon Prime suggestions I was getting were very suspect.

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