Grandia HD Collection and other notes

Tonight we covered two major story arcs in Grandia, one getting the steamer pass and second dealing with the Ghost Ship, which means we had the big moment were Justin tried to ditch Sue and meeting Feena. We left off after arriving in New Parm and meeting the goof that runs the Adventurer's Society. Next time we play Grandia it will be to get to Feena's house and basically rescue her from her forced wedding, which should be a lot of fun.

Also made sure to get the best possible gear because I remember the road to Feena's home being a pain to get through!

Grandia will return on Thursday

Tomorrow night we are playing Smite, holding off on Sea of Thieves this week

For the raid we dropped in on  samaell_alwahm who was playing Zenless Zone Zero

Work was okay-ish, good, but not great

Still waiting on the updated taxes due on my house to be posted, apparently there has been a delay in the city's tax office

Finished the Kingdom Hearts story commission , making it five stories written in five days. Next one is Legend of Korra related

Grandia HD Collection Achievements

• Overdue Booty: Get your allowance from Mom.
• Bringing Down the Orcs: Defeat the Orc King.
• Swab Boss: Do a good job swabbing the deck.
• Ghost Egg: Find the first Mana Egg.
• Beneath the Spooky Seas: You sank the Ghost Ship.
• Mum's the Word: Found the other stowaway.

 

Grandia HD Collection and other notes

Playing Grandia again is always awesome, and at the very least, being familiar with the game allows me to show off a little in terms of going after every enemy as I see them in order to try to level up quickly as well as master abilities, since in Grandia, the more you use an ability the faster it will be executed in later battles. Really love the dynamic with Justin and Sue.

We basically knocked out all the introduction and opening set up, went the Sult Ruins, met Liete and set the tone. I was feeling a little worn down so we ended the stream a bit early.

We shall continue Grandia tomorrow night with the next objective being to get the Steamer Pass

For the raid we dropped in on  calyria who was playing Final Fantasy XIV

Work was alright, solid but not overly awesome

Watching Stargate SG-1 season 9 and I can't but laught at how the Ori are basically being presented as the Catholic Church

Finished the WWE commission in one shot today, next story is Kingdom Hearts related which might take two days to write depending on when I wake up

Grandia HD Collection Achievements

• Besties: Sue has joined party.
• Icarian Energy Item: Acquire the Spirit Stone.
• Charge!: Win your first battle.
• Growth Spurt: Level up for the first time.
• Little Green: Win 50 battles.

Mom Staying in the Hospital, and What Did We Do In Final Fantasy XIV

Good morning everyone,

First, update on my mom, she spent another night at the hospital, and after speaking with her this morning, turns out the doctors are saying she should stay, a large part being because of what I pointed out the other day in regards to Uber & Lyft not having proper vehicles to use for contracted hospital transport to and from people's homes. She is eating, and had a physical therapist see her, and I believe she will still get her scheduled radiation therapy treatments. We are raising money to cover these medical expenses, for more details, visit: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

In terms of how I'm handling things... its... worrisome on so many levels, but I kept getting the impression people are just waiting for me to snap. I know my father doesn't want to hear me vent, he made that particularly clear a few days ago. I know internalizing it is 'bad', but one has to keep up a strong front right? I don't really have a choice, I either step up or crash and burn. Too bad everything I've been trying to do has been a utter failure.

Sorry...

As for last night's stream, we played Final Fantasy XIV, and I was happily surprised to find the next two installments of the Endwalker Hildibrand story arc involving aliens, bunnies and a tabloid reporter. We also finally accessed the Moogle Tribe Quests, and got Carpentry up to level 51. Did a couple of raids, and basically got my face stomped in... I really hate the NieR inspired raids... I truly do Still we had fun.

For the raid we dropped in on PrincessPashley as they were playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt over on twitch.tv/PrincessPashley!  The Witcher 3 is a game that is on my list of things to eventually play.

Stream Clip Links

• Let it be a dance sequence!
• Dancing Bunnies On The Moon 
• I think he went down easily
  

Got only a little bit of writing done on the Mass Effect short story commission, as I was distracted with checking in on mom, so I didn't feel like writing too much during the afternoon. I hope to finish it today, then get started on the next commission short story which is based on WWE.

Recorded a new Tier List making video for my YouTube channel, this time focused on 80s movies. It ended up being an hour long based on trying to justify where I placed each film. Doing it did bring back to my mind the disappointment that was Kingdom Hearts III in regards to its World selection, since I did give The Great Mouse Detective and The Black Cauldron fairly high ranks.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Hook Combo #1, Weaving Combo #2 and Waist Shape Focus Combo for 28 minutes.

I still remember the last thing my grandfather said before kicking the bucket: "Hey, you want to see how far I can kick this bucket?"

Song of the Day:  Centuries by Fall Out Boy.

For tonight's stream, the plan is to play Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, continuing the story mode from the Persona 4 cast perspective with maybe an arcade run or two as well.

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

Flies, Hockey and Paladins

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream was a triple header of sorts, which lead off with Life of Fly 2, followed by NHL 94 Rewind and closed out with Paladins.

First, let's talk about Life of Fly 2; the sequel to Life of Fly that we featured one month ago to lead off a stream. In many ways Life of Fly 2 is just an continuation of the original game, flying to check points to get the next part of the story... but the big difference between the two games is that the areas are bigger, the sound mix is better and the little stories are more thought provoking... as they deal with some things as different kinds of love, the issue of why people hate one another, the worry about death. In terms of play time it took me about 90 minutes. I would recommend to wait to catch it on sale or to see if its on Game Pass.

Next we dabbled with NHL 94 Rewind, which was EA's attempt of nostalgia by placing modern players into their classic hockey game from the mid 90s. We did two games, one to get familiar with the controls, losing horribly 6-2 to the Colorado Avalanche , then winning 6-5 in Overtime against the New Jersey Devils. Of Course In both games I played as the Philadelphia Flyers. In terms of finding good paths to score and playing defense, it certainly does not feel comfortable for me to play, but it was fun to get hyped when things worked in my favor. There are a couple of achievements in this that I feel I might be able to get... granted I would be relying on more than luck than skill.

When it came to Paladins, I was surprised to see there were two siege modes, one that uses a more traditional level system where you choose one item at each level... which I kind of like. It took some of the guess work out of trying to figure what would work best for a long match. I mostly used Viktor in his new Rambo skin because why wouldn't I, and had some good moments. In terms of wins and losses.... well it's tough to judge a defeat when you notice players staying in the spawn or that they disconnected from the match. Also folks, nothing pisses off a solo-tank more than being stuck on a team with two flanks and seeing that neither of them is capable of taking out the supports of the other team.

Big thanks to Kalenal who dropped in with a raid after their stream of Final Fantasy XIV over on twitch.tv/kalenal!

For our raid, we dropped in on BangBangBang713 who was also playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/bangbangbang713!

Life of Fly 2 Achievements

• The Philosopher: Finish Chapter 1
• Love: Finish Chapter 2
• The Mundane Side of Life: Finish Chapter 3
• Technology: Finish Chapter 4
• Hygiene: Finish Chapter 5
• Creativity: Finish Chapter 6
• Heroes we worship: Finish Chapter 7
• Another Me: Finish Chapter 8
• The King: Finish Chapter 9
• Travel: Finish Chapter 10
• Hate: Finish Chapter 11
• What is Real?: Finish Chapter 12
• Death: Finish Chapter 13

NHL 94 Rewind Achievements

• He shoots, he scores!: Score a goal against the computer
• One for the record books: Record a win in user records
• Going the distance: Win a 20-minute game against the computer

Twitch Clip Links

1. We are denied!!!!
2. We give one up... but we get it back! 
3. We're unstoppable! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout was 31 minutes with Advanced Combo #1, Intermediate Combo #2 and Weaving Combo #1 for a calorie burn estimated to be 500 kcal.

I did notice after the stream part of the boom arm was visible, so I re-cropped the web cam box on the game screen for the future. The reason why the boom arm was visible in the first place was because I recently moved it and I'm still getting use to it being to my left.

Messed around a bit with a game called Band of Bugs, which is a turn based strategy game that came out in the X-Box 360 era. It has a little charm to it, not sure if this will be something we would dedicate an entire stream to, but it could be used as light filler.

Band of Bugs Achievements

• Recruit: Completed the Tutorial

Really need to empty the inventory in Final Fantasy XIV, but it is often tough to decide what to keep and what to scrap!

A new week begins, which means we'll take a look back at all the games featured which included: Overwatch, Kingdom Hearts III, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Final Fantasy XIV, Persona 5 Royal, Life of Fly 2, NHL 94 Rewind & Paladins!  

For tonight's stream, it's Overwatch! There are no events going on so it's straight up Quick Play matches!

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

 

 

 

We Finished Kingdom Hearts III

Good morning everyone,

Last night we finally finished Kingdom Hearts III... and boy did the pacing of the final act of the game had so many issues, everything little thing having a cut scene to try and time up as many of the loose ends as possible while setting things up for the future of the franchise. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a lot of the game play, as fighting the hordes of Heartless and getting to see the Train attraction in action was a real treat. Donald Duck's epic solar flare was really bad ass, as was the return of Xion being the trigger to solve the issue with Roxas being stuck in Sora's Heart. 

But my goodness, every member of Organization XIII getting a send off with the cut scenes of you defeat basically interrupting the fight is just completely asinine. I get it, they wanted to give these characters closure to various degrees and this was a problem caused by having an uneven number of Warriors of Darkness and Light. The pacing issue is all over the place, where you enter an area have a cut scene, walk to another area, have another cut scene. It really bogged things down. Last night's stream was about 4.5 hours... I think 2 hours were just cut scenes.

Now the question becomes would I willingly want to play Kingdom Hearts III again... no, absolutely not for two reasons. the first being pacing issue as mention before. The other reason is I don't trust Tetsuya Nomura when he's both the writer and director of a project... and all the pacing issues seen in Kingdom Hearts III's final act falls on his shoulders.I mentioned this yesterday, but the fact there are lines of dialog in the game talking about how overly complicated the plot is is a tell-tale sign Nomura has bogged down the franchise with too much stuff. Hell when I think about it, all the Disney worlds in KH3 could've been swapped out for almost anything else and would've worked the same way, they were just window dressing.

This brings me to the future... and the fact that Sora will still be the lead character going forward... eand Kingdom Hearts III went out of its way to set it in tone that he's a fucking idiot. I believe the next main installment must have a new lead character. That's not going to happen, but it should considering there are close to a dozen characters that could step into Sora's place as the lead.

For the raid, we dropped everyone off over with JonnieTortilla who was playing Minecraft over at twitch.tv/jonnietortilla!

KINGDOM HEARTS III Achievements

• Rook: Defeat 5,000 enemies.
• No Matter What: Reunite with Kairi.
• The Battle to End All: Begin the final confrontation with Master Xehanort.
• Another Chapter Closed: Finish the game and view the ending.

Twitch Clip Links

1. CHOO CHOO!!!!!!
2. Clutch! That Was Clutch! 
3. Finish Him... Or Did That Go Wrong?!
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout was 28 minutes with Front-Back Step Combo, Hook Combo #2 and Beginner Combo #1 as the exercises for a calorie burn of 450 kcal.

So I made it official, Friday's going forward until the game is finished will feature Persona 5 on the PlayStation 4. This will start this week! I'm both excited and dreading what this will be like considering how nuts the Persona 5 community can be. 

So for the first time ever during my time playing Final Fantasy XIV I grew frustrated with what I was seeing, namely being stuck with a trio that were clearly grouped together that had no intention of actually accomplishing the task in question. The fact that the one who was Astrologian said that they didn't feel like playing was a first sign indicator, which clearly was the attitude of the other two folks they were playing with, and for the first time in any MMO that I've played, resulted me intentionally quitting the dungeon. I'd rather have that 30 minute penalty to put up with that nonsense

Swapped all the skins for there characters in Overwatch to basic legendary skins for each character, not that I use everyone, but it's a good just in case..

For tonight's stream, we're going to lead off with Forza Horizon 4 and then try and do some collectable hunting in Gears 5!

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

Well I lost my head in San Fransokyo

Good afternoon everyone,

Let me begin by saying, I have not seen Big Hero 6... and after playing the San Fransokyo level of Kingdom Hearts III, I'm not sure that I want to. I kind of feel like there could have been a lot more done  make things stand out to inspire me to see the film... but the entire world felt like it was there for the sake of being there. Which is a shame because I do like the designs of the characters and the city was really cool. So with this being the last of the Disney levels to go through in Kingdom Hearts III... I feel like I understand why it has a mixed reaction, the selection of worlds as a whole were clearly meant to make sure some Disney's big money makers looked really good (Frozen, Pirates of the Caribbean).

That said, I did enjoy some of the gimmicks of San Fransokyo with it just basically being a big metro area for folks to do battles with various enemies for level grinding purposes. It's the only world in Kingdom Hearts III that has two distinct phases, (Day & Night), so if one just wants to go after treasure boxes, just set it to day and not deal with any enemies. I didn't really care for the final boss battle in it, as it felt really hokey to play.

I really liked what came afterward, granted, it was a ton of cut scenes, but to see direct tie-ins to Birth by Sleep with Aqua being rescued and Ven being awakened really helps tie things together. There was a great moment of Axel saying how impossible it was to explain everything that has happened to get new comers caught up, and he's not kidding... a coherent, easy to follow story from a casual stand point is not a strength of the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise. 

But at the same time, Aqua has this line about 'waiting 10 years to be rescued, which if you think about it makes sense... Birth By Sleep came out in 2010 which ended with Aqua being stuck in the realm of the darkness... Kingdom Hearts III came out 10 years later. No wonder she was pissed, she had to wait a decade to get her story resolved!

Now, near as I can tell, based on the achievements list, I should need one more night dedicated to Kingdom Hearts III to finish the story, and that's what we're going to do for tonight's stream. I considered maybe saving it for Friday, but I might want to dedicate Friday's for a particular game on the PlayStation 4.

For the raid we dropped in in Hawleigh who was playing Horizon Zero Dawn over on twitch.tv/hawleigh!

KINGDOM HEARTS III Achievements

• Making a Difference: Adventure through San Fransokyo and complete the story.
• Hidden Kings: Complete the Lucky Emblems section of the Gummiphone.
• The Hearts Joined to His: Gather the seven guardians of light.
• True Captain: Sink 200 enemy ships in The Caribbean.
• Grand Mage: Cast grand magic for the first time.
  

Twitch Clip Links

1. It's Morphin Time! Let's Do This!
2. Getting things done as Aqua! 
3. A True Captain! 

(Note: If clip links don't work, it's because Twitch deleted the clips for some reason, as I mention last week, I only have this issue with Kingdom Hearts III)

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout was 28 minutes long and involved Defensive Combo #2, Double Combo #1 and Defensive Combo #1 for a calorie burn of 446 kcal. 

My off-stream Final Fantasy XIV adventures resulted in a revaluation regarding the Wondrous Tales weekly challenge... unless it's things that are common for folks to do, getting 9 done is going to result in a lot of waiting around in queues for specific things. Still I got my gear story up high enough to try out the first of the Pandemonium raids.!

Going out of my way to say it that Ben Simmons clearly exposed himself to be a fraud, as he lied about his  'mental health', dude's a fraud and he basically made things more difficult for those who have issues who will now have a harder time of seeking the help they need. Wonder how quickly he'll fold now that he's under the spotlight of the New York Media.

For tonight's stream, well you read it earlier, Kingdom Hearts III is on deck to see if we can finish it. Now I did jump back into it after the stream (hence why Grand Mage is listed as an achievement unlocked which was not done during any of the KH3 streams). I also put in some heavy grinding toward the 5,000 enemies that need to be slain, we're up to 91% on that, so that should probably be accomplished before finishing the story. Regardless, depending on when we finish the story we might do some other achievement hunting as well.

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

 

A Nice Night Of Overwatch

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night’s stream of Overwatch was rather interesting, with quite a few people early on finding spots to hide during a match, and I hate to say it, quite few were reported for inactivity and game play sabotage. Still things gradually turned our, as we put in the time to unlock the Porcelain rewards for the final week of the Lunar New Year Event, which means I’ll be going back to switch everyone’s skins to something else until the next Overwatch event probably in late March / Early April.

Big thanks to PandaSweet and BangBangBang for joining in many matches last night, it’s always nice to have other being apart of the chaos and mayhem that is Overwatch on a Sunday evening. Also picked up four plays of the game, all as D.va! Other characters I used were Tracer, Solider 76, Moira and Mei.

For the raid, we visited Flint_Locke over at twitch.tv/flint_locke who was doing a full Voice Acting stream of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: Tsumihoroboshi!

Twitch Clip Links

1. Sticking To The Mercy
2. Keeping Them Boxed In 
3. Making The Push Happen! 
   

Sad news, Ivan Reitman, director of such films as Stripes, Dave and Ghostbusters has passed away. This makes his contributions to Ghostbusters: Afterlife all the more special.Funny thing that I learned about Reitman is that he was the executive producer of Mummies Alive!, a syndicated cartoon that aired (where I lived) on weekday afternoons. Goes to show you can learn a few things here and there. 

   Top 5 Favorite Films Directed By Ivan Reitman

1. Ghostbusters (1984)
2. Stripes
3. Dave
4. Kindergarten Cop
5. Ghostbusters II
   

So if you look at that list... you'd probably wonder why Meatballs and Twins are not on it. Well I've never seen Meatballs, despite being aware of it, and as for Twins, well, the whole conspiracy to keep the brothers Benedict (played by Danny DeVito and Arnold Scgwarzenegger) apart from each other their mother (played by Bonnie Barlett) has always bothered me as it didn't make any sense.

 

Today’s Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured a 31 minute workout that had Triple Combo #2, Intermediate Combo #1 and Biceps Shape Focus Combo for a calorie burn estimated to be 543 kcal.

My off-stream Final Fantasy XIV adventures has seen a focus on the dailies, and trying to really push towards boosting my gears score. I do realize that getting the level 90 bow is probably going to be the toughest things to do since that is going to be tied to the Pandemonium raids. Still getting used to doing the daily raids does mean seeing the same things over and over again, but unlike with Star Trek Online, Final Fantasy XIV does not have 20 different in-game currency types to worry about,

PandaSweet noticed there was some crackling ambient audio being picked up by my microphone, turns out it was some sound being heard from my monitors, So I moved my mic to where it's a foot in front of the monitors instead of hanging over them. So things may sound a little different on streams going forward.

For tonight's stream, we're going to move Kingdom Hearts III from Fridays to Mondays, as we'll be looking to deal with the next major world in it while also going after the remaining Lucky Emblems!

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

Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirates Life For Me

Good afternoon everyone,

Technically we did two streams last night... thanks to Comcast causing some issues at around 9 PM Eastern, where the upload speed was all over the place! Seriously the last time I seen my Upload speeds being that erratic were one year ago, and it took a letter to the FCC to get it sorted out! 

Anyway, the stream(s) featured Kingdom Hearts III as we covered the Caribbean part of the story, which ties in with Pirates of the Caribbean films, namely the third one which I have never seen. This introduce a big wide open world where a lot of sailing is involved, ship-to-ship combat, searching everywhere for chests and goodies. Since the PotC movies are live action, that meant Donald and Goofy got more realistic looks, particularly Donald whose feathers really looked incredible. 

Now the ship to ship combat aspect certainly took some getting use too in regards to how maneuver the Leviathan, figuring out max range of the canons and trying to build up the meter to unleash some special attacks. I think more effort was put into it than the the Gummi Ship portion of the game, but that's just my opinion on the matter.

Now, having never watched the Pirates of the Caribbean films, I can't say how much was used and if too much was worked into the game, but at at least the music wasn't as much of an ear-worm as it was in Kingdom Hearts II! There really isn't that much interaction with Sora, Donald and Goofy with the characters from the PotC films, but at least that was explained away with Sora, Donald and Goofy needing to make sure they were prepared before going to the final battle.

Managed to get the Blademaster achievement, which is for fully powering up a Keyblade, which was pretty cool. Only 6% of those who have played the Xbox version of KH3 has done that.

Next time we featured Kingdom Hearts III we have one more Disney tie-in world to visit, and the last set of Lucky Emblems to find,

For the raid we dropped in on PrincessPashley who was  doing a live remote stream over at twitch.tv/PrincessPashley!

KINGDOM HEARTS III Achievements

• Blademaster: Obtain a Keyblade that is fully powered up.
• Way of the Pirate: Adventure through The Caribbean and complete the story.

Twitch Clip Links

1. Is Ariel Dead In The Pirates Of The Caribbean Universe?
2. A Pirate Ship Is On A Pirate Ship! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured 31 minute workout with Hip Shape Focus Combo, Straight Combo #2 and Sway Back Combo for an estimated calorie burn of 468 kcal. As of today we're up to 34 out of 50 hours for the Hiro's Champion EX Achievement

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise Stats For 2/6 to 2/12/2022

• Punches Thrown: 10,283
• Estimated Calorie Burn: 4332.59 kcal
  

Worked on just doing some dailies in Final Fantasy XIV, think I'll save some things for streaming purposes. Ended up doing The Final Day trial twice last night... which is a bit much for that particular fight, but the 2nd time was randomly selected because of the dailies.. Also got downed and resurrected four consecutive times during that 2nd... that was not a good experience at all! I do have my Gear Score up to 562 as a Bard. 

Saw that the Chrono Cross Remaster is up for pre-sale and its going to be a cheap one, think we'll grab that closer to its release date.

For tonight's stream we're going to do a full run of Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered, we're going to have a guide up to get all the collectables and to hopefully have an incident free experience with it unlike with Life is Strange: Remastered.

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

A Casual night of FFXIV

Good morning everyone,

Well, with the Main Story Quest done, I can now mostly mess around doing random stuff on stream with Final Fantasy XIV while doing side quests and things off stream. Manage to get a few levels on both Fisherman and Blue Mage. Also put in some time on knocking out 10 levels in Castle of the Dead.

The biggest part of last night's stream was dedicated to the Resistance Weapons Quest line, which involves a big open area called The Bozjan Southern Front where there is a not of combat taking place, enemies follow you from one end of the map to the other and there is a 'ranking up' system. I rather like this area since there is a good opportunities to play with other players at random. The story itself takes place between Shadowbringers and Endwalker, so it's like doing finding a major story.

I did realize what I'm going to have to do to get the best available gear and that is to grind out the level 90 Dungeons, Raids and Trials... figure one a day would gradually get me towards the items needed for the gear.

For the raid, we dropped in on x9abenonymous9x who was playing Resident Evil Village over at twitch.tv/x9abenonymous9x!

Twitch Clip Links

1.  ...and I die at the very end
2.  We're Singing... Fishing In The Rain
3.  Doing Fates to Level Up Blue Mage

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured at 31 minute workout with Waist Shape Focus Combo, Block Combo and Hook Combo #1. The estimated calorie burn was 484 kcal.

I do have to comment on things work related, in that the assignment we're having to deal with has the worst possible combination of things to do just to get start along with the most impersonal way of trying to make something sound interesting possible. 

Loving the fact that some folks are finding this half-ass blog of mine thanks to the issues with Life is Strange: Remastered.

We're going to have a real whip-lash of weather this week as it's supposed to get up into the 60s today and tomorrow then drop back down to the 30s on Sunday and Monday. Welcome to late winter in New Jersey folks...

Played a little Smite off-stream last night, trying out Morgan Le Fay for the fist time, getting 5 Kills and 21 assists while dying 3 times. Rather surprise that neither of her two related achievements are tied to using her basic special attacks.

Also messed around with Paladins a bit, the Rambo skin for Viktor looks pretty good, but the voice is a really weak impression of Stallone. Still it was for free for those who have Amazon / Twitch Prime. So that was a plus.

For tonight's stream we'll be resuming Kingdom Hearts III, as I believe the next area we're heading too will involve Pirates of the Caribbean. There is probably going to another pain in the butt Gummi-Ship level to deal with first, and of course we'll make sure to find all the Lucky Emblems.

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

A Square-Enix Kind of Saturday

Good morning everyone,

Well one could say that last night was a Square-Enix kind of Saturday, as we split the stream between Life is Strange Remasterd and Final Fantasy XIV. Why did we do that? Well because I wanted to make sure FFXIV was included in this week's featured content, plus the pacing of Life is Strange would have meant an awkward split-stream on Monday. 

Anyway, Episode 3 of Life is Strange, Chaos Theory, is of course the one episode everyone knows since it features when you gave have Max kiss Chloe, plus the entire pool scene and where Max goes back in time to change history so that Chloe's dad lives... but Chloe ends up being paralyzed. One minor change may result in some positives, but other wise things could get really... really screwy. Since we're going in hard with the Max supporting Chloe route, that did mean basically tearing David down during the breakfast scene.

Of course, there was one thing you would have noticed in that I constantly say most of the stuff that happens to Chloe is her own fault, and that is basically true, because she could have accepted that things happen and to try and cope, but she never does. This fact really gets driven home in Before the Storm, particularly if you try and have Chloe make an effort instead of being the whiny woe-is-me drama queen she actually is. Don't get me wrong, I like the pairing of Max and Chloe... BUT... let's be honest, there's a reason why quite a few people choose Arcadia Bay over her and it is justified. 

As far as the Final Fantasy XIV half of the stream goes, we mostly did things related to Wondrous Tails, doing a couple of big raids, trials and other stuff. I briefly thought about doing MSQ related stuff but decided against it mostly because of how much dead air there would have been because of cut scenes (voiced and non-voiced). Did discover I did not have the Extreme versions of Trials unlocked related to Stormblood, the Resistance Weapons Quests that apparently adds another area to explore, which would make for some interesting content once I'm done with Endwalker. 

For last night's raid we sent the fun over to GGVexy who was doing a Community Appreciation Stream with giveaways while playing Stardew Valley!  They stream over on twitch.tv/ggvexy! 

Life is Strange Remastered Achievements

• Parallax View: Take optional photo #1 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Lenscrafted: Take optional photo #2 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• The Reflex: Take optional photo #3 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Histogrammar: Take optional photo #4 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Bokeh: Take optional photo #5 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Pinholed: Take optional photo #6 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• RAW Strength: Take optional photo #7 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Viewfinder: Take optional photo #8 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Optican: Take optional photo #9 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Flash!: Take optional photo #10 in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Camera Eye: Take all optional photos in Episode 3: Chaos Theory
• Chaos Theory: Finish Episode 3: Chaos Theory

Twitch Clip Links

1. Well Chloe Asked For It
2. He was eating those beans! 
3. That's a Rare Achievement Too?!
4. Just A Little More! 
5. The Big Blow off...
6. Hurting Hermes! 
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout Featured a 28 minute workout which showcased Body Hook Combo, Uppercut Combo #2 and Body Uppercut Combo as the exercises. The estimated calorie burn for this set was 450 kcal. I did an addition 20 minutes to finish off the requirements for Janice's Champion, which mean's progress towards King EX Fighter is at 88%. My attention will now shift to the Hiro's Champion achievement, we already have at least 30 hours with Hiro as the trainer.

Fitness Boxing 2 Rhythm & Exercise EX Achievements

• Janice's Champion: Train With Janice for Over 50 Hours
  

Now way I figure this week will certainly see the wrap up of a few things, with Life is Strange Remastered finished on Monday's stream with Episode 4 & 5, Gears 5: Hivebusters finished on Wednesday, and then Life is Strange: Before the Storm being featured on Thursday and Saturday with it's 3 episodes plus the bonus Farewell Episode. This will more than likely open the doors for the weekly line up to get back to what it was last year with a more stable lineup of a major feature. We shall see how true that becomes.

Jumped into Battletoads earlier this morning to knock out some achievements, which was nearly every one I could do single player that did not involve finding collectables. 

Battletoads Achievements

• The Dlala Code: Entered the Dlala Code during the credits.
• Blink and You'll Miss It: Defeated 25 pink eyeballs during 'Time For Plan B'.
• Mementoads: Took a picture with Axeley's standee.
• Take This, Axeman!: Used spit to keep Axeley's weapon stuck in the ground.
• Hey, This is a Rental!: Scored 75 near-misses while riding a rented Turbo bike.
• Warped Sense of Humor: Hit the fake 'Warp Wall' during Nightmare Rider.
• Not Just for the Holidays: Landed a streak of 15 hits destroying a totem.

A new week begins, but let's check out my favorite clips from this past week which featured: Overwatch, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, Paladins, Capcom Arcade Stadium, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Life is Strange Remastered, Kingdom Hearts III and Final Fantasy XIV! 

For tonight's stream, well you know what day it is... it's Sunday which means Overwatch! We'll be going after the Auspicious Soldier skin for Soldier 76!

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

Frozen And Pooh... What A Combination

Good afternoon everyone,

Well this is a thing, we got up to a high of 50 degrees this week only for it to drop back to the teens... damn it! Anyway last night's stream of Kingdom Hearts III featured two worlds, 100 Acre Wood and Arendelle, which ties into worlds of Winnie the Pooh and Frozen. 

So let's talk about Arendelle first because boy one can just notice how much Disney interfered with it, as it is clear as day that Elsa should have been going through a redemption arc... and the shoe horned in 'Let it Go' and "Do You Want To Build A Snowman' were pretty much lifted from the film in how they were presented, which raises a whole list of issues for the YouTube VOD. The world itself is pretty straight forward, but man, going back to find the Emblems was a chore because of where they were placed. Even with notes telling me where to look, one was found completely by accident and another was only found after realizing there's a way to back track in the Ice Maze portion.

Also, with how Elsa and Anna are presented in Kingdom Hearts III, the shipping of them makes even more sense. Again, this is a clear result of Disney's interference to make sure all the elements from Frozen was depicted as it was in the film. but without any of the proper context. After all, this is Disney, they are not exactly known for having the most subtle of subtexts in their more modern films.

As far as the 100 Acre Wood is concerned, boy does it lay it on thick that Sora is going to be taken out in someone during the game's climax... if I'm reading between the lines correctly. Rather disappointed that all we got for Pooh and the gang is a three variations of a match five of any kind. Yes there are a ton of mini-games in Kingdom Hearts III, but hanging out with Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit and the rest was such a treat in Kingdom Hearts I and II. This isn't nostalgia talking, this is the fact that I played both games in the past two years, so it's fresh in my mind.

Did find all the Lucky Emblems in both worlds, so this just leaves the worlds that tie in to Big Hero 6 and Pirates of the Caribbean as far as the Disney tie-in worlds go.

For the raid, we dropped in on oldish22 who was playing Path of Exile over on twitch.tv/oldish22!

KINGDOM HEARTS III Achievements

• Bishop: Defeat 3,000 enemies.
• An Act of True Love: Adventure through Arendelle and complete the story.
• Home Again: Adventure through the Hundred Acre Wood and complete the story.

Twitch Clip Links

1. Hit them With Everything We Got! 
2. Unleash Hell!
3. Getting the Honey Cleared 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured a 28 minute workout with Beginner Combo #1, Front-Back Step Combo and Hook Combo #2, with the estimated calorie burn of around 452 kcal. We're also up to 49 hours out of 50 for Janice's Champion achievement

Fitness Boxing 2 Rhythm & Exercise Stats For 1/30 to 2/5/22

• Punches Thrown: 9895
• Estimated Calorie Burn: 4050.58 kcal
  

My off-stream adventures in Final Fantasy XIV covered quests from 'A Flower Upon Your Return' up through 'Thou Must Live, Die and Know' and the huge plot revelation that it was Hermes who basically allowed for the original End of Days to happen, and wiped the memories clean of Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus, while also confirming that Meteion is who we are destined to face for the fate of every living being after she... or rather her kin in a hive-mind discovered that on countless other worlds, they discovered that civilizations destroyed themselves in the end as part of their quest to seek an answer to the question 'What Do You Live For'.

Without getting into metaphysics and every possible headache causing answer to that question, one has to remember the history of Final Fantasy games, and hell, a good portion of Japanese Role Playing Games in general is that when big questions are being asked like that, it's normally akin to the end of the story being 'And Man Moved On From Their Gods...', considering how often God-like beings are depicted as the cause of most of the problems. Hell in the real world, more people have been killed for the sake of a religious deity than for any other reason and one could argue that the only way forward is to put aside that which divides us.

For Tonight's Stream we'll play Episode 3 of Life is Strange Remastered and then we'll play Final Fantasy XIV!

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

The Remastering Of Life Is Strange

 Good morning everyone,

It's Friday, the weekend here so I hope everyone has a good weekend. Last night we started up Life is Strange: Remastered... yes a few days after it was finally released, but I kind of get why it was delayed from its initial September 2021 release date.

One thing I noticed with episodes 1 and 2, which we played last night, is that while the new character models are certainly expressive and look great, there are a few 'framing issues', such as when Max talks to the cop in the diner, his head is half way out of frame, and also issues with sight lines, like when Joyce is talking with Max, it's clear she is not looking at Max at all. Then there is the issue of some attire being a little more transparent than before, this is really noticeable with Kate's clothing..

As far as my choices go, we're made sure to save Kate as well as making Chloe earn the right for this to be a 'Bae Before Bay' version of the story (the train may have gotten to her a few times). Yes Chloe will be saved in the end, but c'mon, letting things go wrong for her is part of the fun. I am using a guide to make sure we get all the collectables in a single play through. 

Now how will I place Life is Strange: Remastered episode 3-5 in the line up, well I'm considering either doing all three episodes in one shot for Saturday's stream, or 3 & 4 on Monday, with Episode 5 on Tuesday, sharing time with Final Fantasy XIV. See these are the decisions that comes with being a variety streamer.

Big thank you to LVStrkr for the Tier 1 Resub to my Twitch Channel, their support over 34 months has been awesome!

For the raid we sent folks over to SeaFairyStars who was also playing Life is Strange: Remastered over at twitch.tv/seafairystars!

Life is Strange Remastered Achievements

• Macro Eyes: Take optional photo #1 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Wide Angles: Take optional photo #2 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Telephotogenic: Take optional photo #3 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Close-Ups: Take optional photo #4 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Red Eye: Take optional photo #5 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Focused: Take optional photo #6 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Zoomed In: Take optional photo #7 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Focal Pointed: Take optional photo #8 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Maximum Aperture: Take optional photo #9 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Light Leak: Take optional photo #10 in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Visionary: Take all optional photos in Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Chrysalis: Finish Episode 1: Chrysalis
• Field Of View: Take optional photo #1 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Full Exposure: Take optional photo #2 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Processor: Take optional photo #3 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Image Stabilizer: Take optional photo #4 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Compressed: Take optional photo #5 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Pixelated: Take optional photo #6 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Dynamic Range: Take optional photo #7 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Colorized: Take optional photo #8 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Meter Made: Take optional photo #9 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Resolution Revolution: Take optional photo #10 in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Lab Master: Take all optional photos in Episode 2: Out of Time
• Out of Time: Finish Episode 2: Out of Time

Twitch Clip Links

1. Well that wasn't remastered
2. Put A Dent In The Bumper
3. Up and Down... Kate is a Yo-Yo 
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured a 28 minute workout based around Defensive Combo #2, Defensive Combo #1 and Double Combo #1 for an estimated calorie burn of 436 kcal.

The on going Major League Baseball labor dispute is getting silly, as it's clear as day that the Scott Boras controlled unition is going to keep pushing for things that benefit only his clients.

My off-stream Final Fantasy XIV adventures saw more progress in the Main Story, picking up from 'Aether to Aether' and going up through 'Worthy of His Back'. Perhaps the biggest thing here was meeting Venat, who would become Hydaelyn, who is able to instantly tell that we are from the future. The whole truth is reveal, and Emet-Selch takes it about as well as one would expect... does make me wonder if in the end he realized he became what he was told he would become. Still the entire session was mostly lore and exposition with some gradual roaming around. 

Of course I would be remiss not to talk about the duel we have to have with Venat... which took me three attempts, even on reducing the difficult after the first failure, it's a tough fight and is clearly design for the player to be a Warrior class to take advantage of all the self-healing abilities, or at the very least a role that is willing to stand toe to toe instead of do battle at a distance.

For tonight's stream we shall be resuming Kingdom Hearts III, and the plan is to tackle the two worlds that tie in with Frozen and Winnie the Pooh! We already seen the intros to both worlds, so it's just going to one doing it and then going to the other, then pulling up the notes to find the lucky emblems. Sounds like a full night.

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

Brave The Video Game Is A Nice Casual Adventure

Good afternoon everyone,

Well... it snowed yesterday... I figure we got about 4-5 inches where I live. Anyway, for last night's stream, we hooked up the PlayStation 3 to play Disney-Pixar's Brave. Why the PS3 version? Because up until about an hour ago I was unaware the X-Box 360 version is on the backwards compatible list!

Now long time followers of me over on Twitch would know I have played Brave before, but that was the Steam version, and I was looking forward to playing a console version of it when I got a working PS3. So finally choosing last night to play it was an eventuality. 

Of course, me being a casual gamer, we took it easy to make our way through the game, exploring every nook and cranny to get all of the collectables (having to back track for one) and managed to complete 35 of the games 48 achievements aka trophies. Since I have not seen the movie, I don't know how faithful it is to it, but I do think I saw enough with the game to want to see it at some point, and I think I had the same feeling when I played the Steam version a couple of years ago. 

Its very straight forward in terms of keeping players on the path to journey ahead, but going off that path does result in finding gold which is needed for upgrades and finding the various collectables. There's a great use of being aware of what an enemy's weakness is, as each of the charms has a different element that can make quick work if used on the right opponent... i.e. Ice beats Fire, Fire Beats Ice, Wind beats Earth, Earth beats Wind. The controls are very responsive and don't take long to learn.

Brave does sound good in terms of it s sound effects and music, but I do feel the audio mixing was a bit off as any dialog said is on the low side. Visually... well the Brave has a really drawn out camera, the environments are nice and varied, but getting a good look at the character models of Merida in her various outfits and the enemies is not really possible to appreciate how things look up close.

For the raid, we went to Hover to find someone random, and it was JustBrootal we picked who was playing Call of Duty: Warzone over at twitch.tv/justbrootal!  

Disney Pixar Brave: The Video Game Trophies

• Swordful: Collect a sword.
• Bowsome: Collect a bow.
• Digging in the dirt: Find the earth charm.
• Dirty work: Cleanse the ring of stones.
• Carpet runner: Collect a tapestry piece.
• Ante up: Purchase an upgrade.
• Triple H's: Solve a triplet puzzle.
• Minimum wage: Accumulate a total of 1000 currency.
• Toasty: Find the fire charm.
• Everyone knows it's windy: Find the wind charm.
• Impressive: As Merida, defeat 15 enemies in a row without taking damage.
• Ice to see you: Find the ice charm.
• Affluent: Accumulate a total of 5000 currency.
• Full of power: Purchase 15 upgrades.
• Heating up: Defeat 100 enemies using the Fire charm.
• My fair lassie: Collect an outfit.
• Taking out the trash: Defeat the rock golem guardian.
• Tremble: Defeat 100 enemies using the Earth charm.
• All bunched up: As Merida, defeat 5 enemies with a single charged shot.
• Mum's the word: Defeat 100 enemies as Queen Elinor.
• Throw rug: Complete a tapestry.
• Wealthy: Accumulate a total of 15 000 currency.
• Mopping up: Defeat the harpy guardian.
• On Fire: Defeat 250 enemies using the Fire charm.
• Charge it up: Defeat 100 enemies using charged shot.
• Breezy: Defeat 100 enemies using the Wind charm.
• Wall to wall carpeting: Complete all tapestries.
• Untouchable: As Merida, defeat 30 enemies in a row without taking damage.
• Swordtacular: Collect all swords.
• Brilliant: Solve all triplet puzzles.
• Bowlicious: Collect all bows.
• Clothes horse: Collect all outfits.
• Get out of my way: As Elinor, charge 5 enemies with a single charge attack.
• Cooling off: Defeat 100 enemies using the Ice charm.
• Great scot: Defeat Mor'du.
• Ranged only: Complete a level without using your sword.

Twitch Clip Links

1. Untouchable! 
2. This is Bowlicious! 
3. Get Out Of My Way! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured a 31 minute workout with Straight Combo #1, Weaving Combo #2 and Beginner Combo #2. The Estimated Calorie Burn was 481 kcal. At the moment we're at 45/50 for hours trained with Janice for Janice's Champion.

The progress towards the last achievement for Capcom Arcade Stadium is now at 88 hours. If I time it right to get it under 96 hours off stream, we'll feature the last push on stream this week.

My off-stream progress in Final Fantasy XIV was a hell of a lot more positive than the previous one, as I progressed the Main Story Quest from Gateway of the Gods up through In Shadow's Wake. The Twoer of Babil was a fun quick dungeon with the bosses being fairly easy to understand. The Dark Inside trial was a nightmare... from the first time I got downed it lead to me getting resurrected and instantly killed by Zodiark. I pretty much spent all of phase two basically laying down. 

Also had a weird instance where I ended up in first-person view and had to scramble to figure out how to get out of it. Didn't think that was a thing in FF14. But what is kind of obvious is that with Zodiark dead... that means Hydaelyn herself is next on the chopping block as one cannot exist with the other. Then there's the fact that Zenos is going to be the final boss of Endwalker... ugh.... and I thought Sephiroth was annoying antagonist with no real purpose.

A new week begins, but let's recap the past week with the Twitch Bits. Last we we featured Overwatch, Battletoads, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Final Fantasy XIV, Star Trek Online, Kingdom Hearts III and Disney-Pixar's Brave! 

For tonight's stream, well you know what time it is with it being Sunday... it's all about Overwatch, and with the Lunar New Year event going on