The Lack Of Courage With Randoms

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Overwatch was interesting on a few levels, first big thanks to ChiefB33F and PandaSweet for being apart of matches through out the night... and second I did have four plays of the game, three as D.va and one as Torbjourn. Other characters used were Brigitte, Mei, Tracer and Reinhardt!

Now what was interesting is the number of folks choosing to play the 'toe in / toe out' method of being on the objective, which actually cost us several wins. Ya'll know me, 99% of the time I'm focused on the objective, but if I notice some nonsense happening I will pull back like no one can believe. I can handle losing hard fought matches when everyone is on the objective or payload... I will not tolerate losing because someone chooses to not engage the enemy or even attempt to get on the objective.

Of course I get told I'm too brave for my own good at times since I often play as D.va, but I rather be aggressive and go all out to try and win than pussyfoot around!

Also during last night's stream, found out Bob Saget passed away this weekend, that certainly was shocking. Like most people my age, practically grew up only knowing Saget in his role of Danny Tanner on Full House and his time hosting America's Funniest Home Videos. It really wasn't until the mid 2000s I became familiar with his stand-up routines and learned of his reputation as one of the filthiest comics of all time.

Anyway, for the raid following the stream, we sent the fun over to Helramma who was playing Apex Legends! They stream over at twitch.tv/helramma!

Twitch Clip Links

• Shutdown!
• We caught the train...
• Well... great... that happened.... 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Hips Shape Focus Combo, Sway Back Combo and Straight Combo #2 for 31 minutes and a estimated calorie burn of 465 kcal. In terms of EX Achievement progress, as you'll see below, this week we'll hit two milestones pretty easily, as we need 800 HITs for Immortal Weight Puncher which will be accomplished with tomorrow's work out, and we'll have the five daily stamps acquired by the end of the week

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise EX Achievement Progress 

• 33/50 hours trained with Janice for Janice's Champion
• 395/400 stamps acquired for Honored Stamper
• 539,280/540,000 total HITs for Immortal Weight Puncher
• 85/100 percent of all EX Achievements acquired for King EX Fighter
  

Continued my X-Box achievement streak via the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, pick up three achievements in it last night. The toughest one to get was 'Classic Speed Run', to get my best times in all three to equal to 10 minutes or less. My times were 1:57 for Klondike, 5:17 for Spider and 2:14 for FreeCell, for a total time of 9:28. Anyway these would be the last achievements in that game I would be able to get for a while, since nearly every one left requires daily challenges.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1. Get Out of Jail Free: Won 10 FreeCell games
2. Classic Speed Run: Your fastest win times in Klondike, Spider, and FreeCell add up 10 minutes or less
3. Become a Star: Completed an entire pack of challenges in the Star Club 
4. Always Invited: Participated in every event in a month
5. Event Aficionado: Completed all the challenges in an Event
   

My off-stream Final Fantasy XIV progress saw me finally getting back to the Eden side quest line, and I got my first taste of Eden's Promise: Umbra. And while it was a successful first attempt, there were some aspects of that fight I didn't understand and the wiki certainly doesn't help. I also loved that more big battle music from Final Fantasy VIII was used for it! As far as the plot goes, Gaia being used by an Ascian to free itself from Eden is an interesting twist.

For tonight's stream, we shall return to Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise to continue that adventure, mostly because I was able to extend my X-Box achievement streak through other means as mentioned earlier.

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

Reflections on Crystal Reflections

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV certainly was Main Story heavy...and that wasn't my intention, it actually was to handle the Eden side-story... but it turns out that would have been among the first stuff in the game I've seen that was effect by COVID, as its clear some stuff was cut and shuffled around.

So my attention turned to doing the Main Story Quest on stream, which meant a lot of cut scenes with voiced and non-voiced dialog, general running around from place to place. The good news is that outside of the abrupt '...and then the Scions went home' line of dialog in the epilogue of Hope's Confluence, everything was pretty smooth.

Granted, the action was rather light, but the pay off was epic in terms of Elidibus committing his last acts of a desperation, even when the truth was right in front of him that he had no fight left to fight, that he lost a long time ago. The trial, titled Seat of Sacrifice, was certainly epic, and had a nice pay off with Emet-Selch helping out certainly had me asking questions (and thankfully Kalenal was able to answer them.)

So now my attention if Final Fantasy XIV turns towards finishing the 5.3 content off-stream as well as getting back to the Eden side-story, as clearly there is a lot more to happen with that than meets the eye.

For the raid, we sent the fun over to Wolfeey_ who we found on Hover, they were playing Genshin Impact. Their twitch channel is over at twitch.tv/wolfeey_!

Twitch Clip Links

• Well we got him!
• Timely Resurrection To Get The Last Hits In 
• When the Limit Break doesn't finish the boss...
  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout had me doing Intermediate Combo #2, Weaving Combo #1 and Advanced Combo #1 for 31 minutes resulting in an estimated calorie burn of 486 kcal.

Knocked out two what I deemed 'do-able' achievements for Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, the remaining achievements involve dealing with the tutorial, and character combo and combat commands, both 'cliffhanger' achievements, and playing 100 online matches. The last one would be 'do-able', but people have a habit of not accepting matches when one becomes available to them. This also continued my current streak of having 34 days with at least one X-Box achievement unlocked with a total of 236

Dead or Alive 5 Last Round Achievements

1. The Power of Two: Do 10 different character-specific tag throws.
2. Training Hard: Play Free Training mode for 1 hour.
   

Also, knocked out two more achievements Microsoft Solitaire Collection, and if I was smart I would have held off on doing these to help extend the daily streak... oh well.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1. Expedition Leader: Took 14 cards off the board in a row without using the stock in TriPeaks
2. Dig, Dig, Dig!: Won a three-board game of Pyramid on Hard difficulty or higher 
   

For tonight's stream, we are focused on level grinding in Pokemon Shining Pearl, to build up my squad to deal with the Elite Four and the Champion Cynthia. Way I figure, I need to get the entire team up into the upper 70s to low 80s to deal with that gauntlet, which is a hell of a lot higher than what I needed to finish off Pokemon Shield and Pokemon Let's Go Eevee!

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

Side Content Is What Carries Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise certainly featured some bizarre things, such as having to stare at Xsana for three minutes straight, having to fight Jagi from a First Person Point Of View  Perspective... but the length of the main campaign is certainly coming into question. If I subtract the time of me just roaming around, looking for side quests, playing the mini-games and so forth... then that tells me the main story is only maybe 10-12 hours at the most. Don't get me wrong, I get why that is, as all the side stuff is meant to keep people playing with goals in mind.

Hell, I've fallen for the trap that is FotNS:LP's side content, it certainly is a lot of fun, even if certain things feel as if its meant to handicap the player to some degree (the race against Diego for example), and the reoccurring bounties can be a little silly but considering the 10 Million IDL debt Kenshiro gets put under is a major part of the game's side story. Not to mention finding little things like seeing Kenshiro hand out groceries and other mini cut scenes is a nice motivator.

That said, we did finish chapter eight, so that leaves three chapters left, so we could a few more streams left of this game, and if I want to just throw it in for a night of just mindless tomfoolery. Will be interesting to see how I choose to feature Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise after eventually finishing the main story.

On a different note, I did watch some of Dub of the North Star, and the three videos that did abridged parodies of some of the big story arcs...they were interesting to say the least.

Big thanks to FelKimChi for the raid during the stream! They were playing Minecraft, working on a rail! Their channel is over at twitch.tv/felkimchi!

Following the stream we raided Joliet4 who was playing Borderlands 2! They often do music streams and can be found over at twitch.tv/joliet4!  

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise Trophies

1. Ahem. Yuria?: Stare at Xsana in First Person Mode for 3 minutes straight.
2. Battler Royale: Complete 50 encounters each in Eden and the Wasteland, 5 scripted encounters, and 5 in-store battles.
3. The Man who Broke Ties: Completed Chapter 8.

Twitch Clip Links

• Waiting for an Trophy To Pop
• Can Kenshiro Handle This?
• Well this fight is interesting 

With today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout, we're back to using Janice as the trainer! The Exercises for today were Left-Right Step Combo, Advanced Combo #2 and Double Combo #2 for a duration of 31 minutes with an estimated calorie burn of 556 kcal.

Knocked off three achievements in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, which I'm surprised were all Diamond ranked considering they involved triggering the Danger Zones on three different stages. 

Dead or Alive 5 Last Round Achievements

1. Tango Kilo November: Trigger the Special Danger Zone in Hot Zone.
2. Gesundheit!: Trigger the Special Danger Zone in The Show.
3. Catch and Release: Trigger the Special Danger Zone in Sky City Tokyo. 

Also more achievements unlocked in the Microsoft Solitaire Collection, it's getting really interesting to see what things I can add to my current streak of daily X-Box related achievements.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1.  Aces High: Cleared 3 Aces from the board in a sequence without using the stock pile
2.  Snowfall Success: Won 10 Klondike games
3.  Peak Jumper: Cleared a board where your last three cards cleared were at the top of each peak in TriPeaks
4.  Good To Be King: Played a game of TriPeaks and Pyramid in which a King was the last card removed from a board
   

Played some Final Fantasy XIV, and I think I finished what was the initial Doma Enclave improvements as it related to the area called 'The Yard'. Also knocked out the MSQ quests Deep Designs and A Whale's Tale. Next time I play I know I'm going to be dealing with a dungeon and the end of the 5.2 content, which means I should be able to get back to the Eden side-story

For tonight's stream, we shall lead off with Forza Horizon 4, seeing what carnage we can get up to in that, and then after 9 PM Eastern, it'll be Gears 5 with Iceman and LvStrkr!

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

To Finish Shining Pearl... I'll Need To Grind

Good afternoon everyone,

You know that feeling when the end is in sight for a game, but then you realize exactly what you need to go through to finish it? That is exactly what happened to me with last night's stream.

As you know, Pokemon Shining Pearl was what we were featuring, with the first goal of getting through the eighth gym was interesting, and it probably should've been a warning as to how the Elite Four were going to be in terms of specialty, or rather going off-specialty.. The Victory Road journey was pure torture to get through, mostly because the Pokemon spawning in it were just pure mindless action. Granted the level boosting was nice but seeing Golbat after Golbat which basically negates the effectiveness of some members of my squad is just mind numbing.

Then there is the bull shit of having to win five fights in a row with no real chance to rest after beating the Elite Four, it's straight to the Champion Cynthia. Which means the next time I play Pokemon Shining Pearl next Saturday, that entire stream will be about grinding. I will probably do off-stream re-matches against the Elite Four without using Portions or Revives to get as much XP as possible since I know I can get through them with extreme difficulty at the moment. Plus I'm going to want to stock up on every healing item I can.

One last note, every member of the Elite Four having Earthquake as a move on multiple Pokemon is just cheesy, frustration. If there is a reason why we want to over-level just have the Hit Point pool large enough to tank those devastating hits. In fact that process began this morning as I set about looking for the Lucky Egg and finding a spot to start gaining levels on my team with Rapidash being the horse of the squad and beating up on Ice-Type Pokemon in the underground.

We had two raids during the stream, first was LumiLexy who was playing Little Miss Fortune over at twitch.tv/lumilexy! The second raid was from Lunar_Princess who was playing Pixel Ripped 1995 over at twitch.tv/lunar_princess!

Following the stream we sent the fun over to Kalenal who was playing Final Fantasy XIV! You can find Kalenal over at twitch.tv/Kalenal!  

Twitch Clip Links

• This Rounds Out My Team
• The Big Come Back
• It's Up To Mew 

Played a little Final Fantasy XIV off-stream yesterday afternoon, knocking off a few main-story quests, but the length of the dialog to sit through does mean I've really slowed my pace down with the game as of late considering it's all setting up stuff for Endwalker. Plus the clear indication we're on a collision course with Elidibus is really obvious.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 diamond workout featured Defensive Combo #1, Double Combo #1 and Defensive Combo #2 for a duration of 28 minutes and an estimated calorie burn of 438 kcal

Since for whatever reason Mortal Kombat IX is delisted digitally, I tracked down a copy of the phyiscal version for the X-Box 360. I believe backwards compatibility for it was recently added to use on the X-Box One / Series X consoles... but since only my X-Box One has a disc drive, that is how we will feature it. I also believe it's only functions for head to head play are also disabled as well, so no need to worry about online achievements/

Managed to get the final two achievements in Jump Force, one was needed to unlock the other, but the game is 100% completed. I became the 283rd person over on trueachievements.com to accomplish that particular feat. According to X-Box itself, of all people who have owned and played Jump Force, only 0.01% have actually done this.

Jump Force Achievements

1. Apex Fighter: Got S rank 10 or more times on Expert Free Missions.
2. Jump Force: Obtained all achievements
   

Also spent some time working on another set of achievements in Microsoft Solitaire Collection. If it weren't for the in-game ads, this would be a lot more pleasant.  

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1. Playing the Odds: Completed all the odd-numbered challenges in an event before playing the even-numbered challenges
   

It's time for this week's Twitch Bits, highlights from last week from all the games featured which were Overwatch, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, Forza Horizon 4, Gears 5, Final Fantasy XIV, Kirby's Adventure, Power Rangers Time Force, Rushdown, Shock Wave Assault, Space Jam, WWF War Zone, Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden Memories and Pokemon Shining Pearl! 

For tonight's stream Overwatch is on tap with the goal of playing enough matches to unlock the Peppermint Bark skin for Brigitte!

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

Last Day of the Year

Good afternoon everybody,

It's the last day of 2021, and with Covid cases on the rise, I strongly feel that I do not intend to be around more than maybe a couple of people at any given time!

Anyway, last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV was probably like 50% cut scenes, 20% Trials, and 10% Mahjong. Let me explain, we mostly featured the The Sorrow of Werlyt Quests story arc, namely the quests 'Blood of Emerald', 'In Memory', 'Duty in the Sky with Diamond' and 'Forever at Your Side'. Of those quests only the 'Emerald' and 'Diamond' had game play of note, two trials called 'Castrum Marinum' and 'The Cloud Deck', both of which were interesting experiences that make me dread their Extreme counterparts. So the majority of the time was spent watching the story unfold.

So with that, we certainly got an in-depth look into the plan of the adopted children of one Gaius van Baelsar, who were sacrificing themselves to bring forth an ultimate weapon in order to undermine the Empire they were in service two, with the goal of only one remaining. Gaius, seeing their plan for what it was, goes through some great character growth as his own ambitious came back to haunt him. There are some really touching moments, and it does make me wonder how can anyone like Zenos more than Gaius. Gaius has depth, layers that can be explored... Zenos, in comparison, is a cartoon character, there is nothing redeemable about him that strikes me as interesting... and I'm already not looking forward to seeing how Zenos is going to play a big part in Endwalker.

Also messed around the Mahjong mini-game, which certainly can fill up some time with how slow paced it is... too bad it's the more head to head Mahjong of which I do not understand. I've only played the 'match the tiles' version... so I relied on the 'suggested decisions' feature.

Following the stream we sent the fun over Hawleigh who was playing Life is Strange: True Colors! You can check out their content over at twitch.tv/hawleigh! 

Twitch Clip Links

• The Bunny Can Not Believe It!
• You have got to be kidding me
• 30 Second Clip... 9 Second Fight
  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Difficult Challenge Combo #3, Difficulty Challenge Combo #2 and Difficult Challenge Combo #2 for a duration of 35 minutes and an estimated calorie burn of6 33 kcal. Here are my Fitness Boxing 2 Stats for the Month of December 2021

• Punches Thrown: 41,770
• Estimated Calorie Burn: 16909.79
• Average Fitness Age: 21
  

I'm going to start posting the weekly stats on Saturdays as well.

Messed around with Microsoft Solitaire Collection, and if it wasn't for the ads that are loud as hell, I would dive deep into to get knock out as many achievements as possible.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1.  2-Piece Silk Suit: Won a 2-suit game of Spider
2.  Tough but Fair: Won an Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert difficulty game in any one of the 5 classic games
3.  Mummy’s Boy: Cleared 10 Pyramid boards
4.  Don't Label Me: Changed your profile title
5.  Nice Profile You Got There: Viewed another player's profile page
6.  Personalized: Changed your card back

Also got back on the grind with Jump Force to knock out the three achievements that require a fucking grind marathon to do since they are based on rewards.The last two achievements involve getting S ranks on 10 or more Free Missions for both Very Hard and Expert Difficulty. Hopefully I can pull those off.... or otherwise, Jump Force will be like Mortal Kombat 11 in that I just tapped out on dealing with the game's nonsense! See I can beat the Free Missions at Very Hard and Expert difficulty no problem, but to get through them fast and with the requirements needed for an S-Rank is a completely different animal.

Jump Force Achievements

1. King of Coin: Obtained more than a total of 1,000,000 gold.
2. Lucky Star: Obtained dropped items 1000 or more times.
3. Contributor: Used more than a total of 1,000,000 gold.

To my shock, there is a Domino's Pizza that does deliver to where I live, so I was able to make use of some gift cards.

For tonight's New Year's Eve stream, I'm not sure what we're going to do, we might just do a variety night of nonsense like we did last week. We'll see what comes to mind between now and then!

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

Shifting Gears On A Horizon

Good afternoon everyone,

First, woke up to learn that Angel Little, the day manager at the gig where I work passed away yesterday. With work being slow, this was a real kick in the head.

Last night's stream was a double header that went long because of the unique nature of how Gears 5, can be installed. Now for that portion of the stream we were joined by Iceman and LvStkr to being a three-person campaign run, however, while Iceman had the game installed on his console from when it came out, all the updates that came afterward weren't installed. So we delayed a bit with me messing around with Escape and Horde daily challenges.

Thankfully the install of the updates didn't take too long, and thus the plan of playing Act I of Gears 5 was achieved. Following a great recap of the events of Gears of War 4, Gears 5 takes place with JD, Marcus, Del and Kait enlisted in the COG which seemed surprising, but of course stuff starts going down following an attempt to get the Hammer of Dawn back online. JD went from being a bland hero, to being a real try hard, and the mystery regarding Kait's lineage is played up a bit more as the story becomes more about her in Act II... but we'll see more about that.

It was super fun to play with two folks on this, and the gimmick of the third person being Jack is a unique twist. I also get why the change for the chainsaw was made, with the grenade launcher variant of the Lancer.

Of course I am ahead of myself here, as that was the second half of the stream. The first half was focused on Forza Horizon 4 and it turned out I was able to bang out some achievements while messing around. Found the 'Insurance' story, and those were pretty fun to go through... even though the Racing Truck had zero-grip off road!

Big thanks to Hawleigh for the raid during the stream, in which they were playing Horizon Zero Dawn! You can check Hawleigh out over at twitch.tv/hawleigh! 

Following the stream we sent the fun over to Dont_Run_x who was playing Jump Force! You can check their stream out at twitch.tv/dont_run_x! 

Gears 5 Achievements

1. On the Razor's Edge: Got 5 kills while inside Hivebuster Venom
2. One, Two, Three Sorties: Completed 3 Objectives for Tour of Duty in a day
3. Not There to Buy a Timeshare: Launched the Rocket
4. And… He's All Yours: Upgraded Del's New Best Friend
5. Now I Gotta Get Up Again: Reinforced Carmine at the Plaza
6. I Was Born in a Crossfire Hurricane: Used Jack's Flash ability to stun 3 enemies at once in Campaign
7. A Mouthful of Boom: Headshot the Swarmak at the theatre
8. It Takes Three to Make a Thing Go Right: Completed an Act of Campaign in 3-player co-op
9. You've Got a Friend in Me: Made a new Ally in Gears Allies

Forza Horizon 4 Achievements

1. Muddied: Reach Round 10 in the Horizon Dirt Racing Series.
2. The Wonderful World of Car Insurance: Complete the first chapter of ''The Car Files''.
3. Simples!: Complete ten chapters of ''The Car Files''.

Twitch Clip Links

• Yee-Haw!
• Ultimate Speed!!!!
• The Spoiler Came Off... 
• Things I got to do to rescue some one!
• The Subtitles: 'Low Displeased Growl' 
• At least they run toward ya!
  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Hip Shape Focus Combo, Sway Back Combo and Straight Combo #2 for 31 minutes and a calorie burn of 454 kcal.

Did try to knock off two classic Street Fighter games off my list of things to do last night, one being the original version of Street Fighter II and the other being the original Street Fighter game itself. I was only 50% successful in those goals.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Achievements

1. World Warrior: Beat Street Fighter II: World Warrior
   

Still with that one achievement I was able to to at least complete 7 of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge set over at www.trueachievements.com, which is more than I thought I would be able to do. Also messed around with the Microsoft Solitaire Collection.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1.  Grandmastering the Art?: Won a Grandmaster difficulty game in any of the 5 classic games

Made some progress on a commissioned fan fic that was requested based around an episode of WWE's RAW from 2019... and if you think my writing when it comes to this blog is bad, you should see how bad it gets when I'm trying to reach a 'desired' word count.

Because of how late the stream ended, I did not play any Final Fantasy XIV last night,but considering how salty I am still about the whole G-Warrior mech battle, I needed more time to cool off from that.

Which brings me to what's on tap for for tonight's stream and  I'm not 100% sure of what we're going to feature, Ironically Final Fantasy XIV is the leading candidate but I'm not sure at the time I'm writing this.

Regardless we will see you later today over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

If Gamora Had A Brother Would Their Name Would Be Sodam

Good afternoon everybody,

Yes, that is a Sodom and Gomorrah joke for the title of today's blog post, because of the simple fact their is a character called Gamora in the Marvel Universe... and that ties into me talking about last night's stream

Anyway, last night's stream featured Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, in which we covered chapters nine through twelve. This saw us paying the fine to the Nova Corp, seeing the the Worldmind is just like most authority figures in which a police force is used only for their benefit, dived into Drax's mind and ripped up a bunch of goons on Knowhere while saving a dog that was a cosmonaut. That pretty much covers a lot of it.

But here's the thing, last night saw an entire chapter basically devoted to Drax longing for his deceased family, and a heavy moment in regards to Gamora having to kill her sister Nebula. both of which were things of strong importance in the Telltale series. Hell Drax's entire scene with his daughter hits the same beats in both games. So it does raise a number of questions. Not to mention the choices basically shaping the world around Starlord certainly leaves an impression that sequel could follow up on those decisions.

Now at this point, I'm about three-fourths of the way through the game, I feel I should be able to finish it with tonight's stream, at least that is the plan. Granted this will depend on how heavy the combat gets... and if I can realize when there are narrow passages I can move through to advance the plot.

Also I looked at the collectables list... and yeah I've missed a lot, so hopefully this game has a New Game Plus mode, or a chapter select where I can back and grab the stuff I missed the first time around.

Following the stream, we sent the fun over to Sw33ts_gaming who was playing Aliens: Fireteam over at twitch.tv/sw33ts_gaming!

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Achievements

1. Galactic Frugality: Pay your Nova Corps fine.
2. Desperate Times: Complete Chapter 9.
3. Fan Friction: Acquire the Wind Element for Star-Lord's guns.
4. Test of Faith: Complete Chapter 10.
5. Titanslayer: Survive the manifestations of Thanos.
6. Mind Over Matter: Complete Chapter 11.
7. Adding Injury to Insult: Defeat 10 enemies affected by Drax's Wrath of Katath ability.
8. Boom Show: Defeat 20 enemies with Rocket's Five Barrel Barrage.
9. Trained to Perfection: Defeat 10 enemies with Gamora's Executioner ability.
10. Knowhere to Run: Complete Chapter 12.
    

Twitch Clip Links

• Does that count as Praying Mantis?
• Uh-Oh? 
• Well that (Word that rhymes with ducked)
  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Triple Combo #2, Intermediate Combo #1 and Biceps Shape Focus Combo for a duration of 31 minutes and a estimate calorie burn of 525 kcal.

Since this posting is being done in the afternoon, you can probably tell the end of year slowness at my day gig has crept in. Good thing I prepared a bit this round.

Off-stream, I messed around some more with Microsoft Solitaire Collection, managed to unlock an achievement, which was cool to boost the total that I've managed to do on my current streak.

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1. Eventgoer: Participated in your first Event

No progress was made with Final Fantasy XIV, as there was all-worlds maintenance being done, which I suspect was in regard to a lot of the heavy game traffic since the launch of Endwalker. So with that off the table for last night, I made some progress towards a couple of achievements in Jump Force and Gears of War 4, but nothing was unlocked in either game..

For tonight's stream, as indicated earlier, the plan is to finish Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, there are only four chapters left so it is all going to come down to how well I do in keeping the action movie forward.

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

Chasing Team Galactic All Over The Region

Good afternoon everyone,

The last major holidays are closing in, which means the usual rough end of the year for me, but that's life as they say.

Anyway, last night's stream of Pokemon Shining Pearl went longer than I planned, because if there is one thing I've noticed about this game, is that it loves back tracking. After claiming the 7th Gym Badge and dealing with a sliding on ice puzzle, the majority of the night was spent chasing Team Galactic all over the place.

Turns out they nuked a lake to get access to some legendary Pokemon as part of their plan for universal conquest... their leader wants to summon a powerful Pokemon (Palkia) from another dimension so that he can re-shape reality. See, this is why Team Rocket is memorable folks, their schemes never got this silly. 

That said, it certainly was a gauntlet, particularly when heading to a mountain plateau, where I not only had to deal with Team Galactic grunts, but also wild Pokemon. Now facing off against Palkia was a big of a slug fest best I was not aware it was a Water-Dragon type... still, managed to catch it using the Master Ball. I would put it in the party, but even at level 47 its actually weaker than my squad which are all in the level 53-55 range.

Which brings me the concern that will be the Elite Four, I peaked ahead, and I realize I'm going to have to get my team at least into the low-to-mid 70s. So we may be grinding a lot for levels. Why? Because the entire Elite Four plus the Champion all have Pokemon in the mid 50s-60s range. That's going to be tough to get through.

Following the fun wassent the fun over to SheepFuzz who was doing their late Friday night Jackbox Party streams over on twitch.tv/sheepfuzz!

Twitch Clip Links

• I don't think that's gonna work
• Flame Wheel For The Win! 
• The Master Ball Is Used!
  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Block Combo, Waist Shape Focus Combo and Hook Combo #1 for a duration of 31 minutes and an estimated calorie burn of 475 kcal.

Finally got the Twitch Recap for what 2021 looked liked for me as a viewer, and I'm not too surprised that Kalenal (twitch.tv/kalenal) and sw33ts_gaming (twitch.tv/sw33ts_gaming) were #1 and #2 considering I lurk and raid their channels following my streams. MarvelMaven (twitch.tv/MarvelMaven) often streams in the afternoons, so I would lurk there when I'm working. Most known that DaemonsW0lf has done 99% of my channel's artwork, but she does stream from time to time over on at twitch.tv/daemonsW0lf and then there is FNDanteSavage who was not able to stream as much as he would like this year, but when he's able to he's super fun to watch over at twitch.tv/fndantesavage.

I am partly surprised over what was my top three watched categories, Final Fantasy XIV and Smite are expected as those are things Kalenal and Sw33ts_Gaming often feature... but I'm trying to think who the hell was playing Dead By Daylight so often this past year, because that was not something none of folks I often watch played.

With work slowing down because of the holidays, I took advantage and knocked out some achievements in both Gears of War 4 and Microsoft Solitaire Collection. Actually have a nice stream going as it relates to X-Box achievements.

Gears of War 4 Achievements

1. At First I Was Afraid, I Was Petrified: Survived the first 10 consecutive waves of Horde in a squad
2. It's a Start: Earned 1000 Credits lifetime
3. Level 20: Reached Level 20
   

Microsoft Solitaire Collection (UWP) Achievements

1. Mining for Gold: Used 5 or more cards in the waste pile before making another draw in Klondike
2. Yuck, Random!: Won a Random difficulty game of Klondike
   

My off-stream Final Fantasy XIV adventures continued the main story quest from 'Reassuring the Masses' up through 'A Greater Purpose', which is basically the entire final stretch leading into the final quest of the original Shadowbringer's expansion. This does include covering the featured side quests the unlocked in addition to finding the Aether Current. So the next thing to do, when I continue, would be to do the mission called 'Shadowbringers' which has a dungeon and a trial associated with it.

Of course the plan for tonight's stream is to feature Final Fantasy XIV, but that depends on the size of the queue from when I'm trying to log in to have the game ready. If we can't get in, we'll mess around with something else!

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

Only i could combine Solitaire and Final Fantasy XIV...

Good afternoon everyone,

Thinking Square Enix actually got the log in congestion under control... but since during the week I play starting at a later hour, it confused me when I saw a 3000 long in queue minutes before tonight's stream.

So as we waited in the queue for two hours... we loaded up Microsoft Solitaire Collection and played that for a bit. Managed to win a couple of games, and turns out there were achievements I could earn that count towards my X-Box gamer score. So that was cool.

Once we got into Final Fantasy XIV at about 9 PM... and we mostly stuck with the Main Story Quest, even though it's certainly more text heavy and it meant a lot of down time in the action, but we covered what was basically the first half of the level 76-77 quests, from 'When It Rains' to 'A Convenient Distraction'. We also knocked out several things required for the Adventure Journal as well, tried to get  nine things done to turn it in, but some things were just not popping. 

This does raise a question of if I should move Final Fantasy XIV off of Saturday nights and maybe feature it during the week. Or maybe I should do the smart thing and log into it a few hours before I start the Saturday streams to avoid having to find filler!

Following the steam we sent the fun over to Sw33ts_Gaming who was playing Smite over on twitch.tv/sw33ts_gaming! 

Microsoft Solitaire Collection Achievements

1. On Parole: Won a game where you never had more than 2 cards in the cells at any given time in FreeCell
2. First of Many: Gained a level in any game
3. XP Chaser: Completed a game on Hard difficulty on a day that Bonus XP is available for that game
4. Perfectionist: Won an Expert difficulty game in any classic game mode without using an undo

Twitch Clip Links

• Getting that win :)
• We Play Like An Expert
• A Suspicious Man
• A Bard Versus Shiva
• Just another successful trip into Syrcus Tower

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout featured Front-Back Step Combo, Hook Comb #2 and Beginner Combo #1 for a duration of 28 minutes and a estimated calorie burn of 445 kcal

Looking over the stats for this year versus the last couple of years, the move back to the 6:30 PM Eastern start time did not do as well as it did prior 2020. Maybe I should consider doing 9:30 PM start times... would mean a change in my work schedule if i choose to do that in 2022.

Since the stream last night was dedicated to Final Fantasy XIV... and getting back in after taking time to put the highlight reel over on facebook.com/fredCasdenGaming would've been impossible, I loaded up Jump Force to continue the grind towards getting as many of its achievements that I feel are possible. Granted all of them are possible, it's just a matter of my sanity.

Jump Force Achievements

1. At the Zenith: Cleared Free Mission on Very Hard one or more times.
   

Here are my favorite Twitch Clips from this past week, which featured Overwatch, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Gears of War 4, Jump Force 4, Mario Golf Super Rush, Pokemon Shining Pearl, Final Fantasy XIV and Microsoft Solitaire Collection!

For tonight's stream, we will of course be playing Overwatch...more than likely it'll only feature Quick Plays this week since I doubt Mayhem will be cycled through on the Arcade Modes.

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