Overwatch 2 and other notes

We had a fun night of Overwatch 2 this evening, with PandaSweet joining for the majority of the night. Ended up getting the second of Ramatra's character related achievements and we had a stretch where we won nine matches in a row. We also figured out exactly how is Blizzard turning a profit with that Reinhardt weapon skin, and it comes down to the price point for Prisms which are needed to unlock all the skin's features.

Also worked in a bit of singing with two redentions of Tongue Tied from Red Dwarf  as well as the full version of the Three Amigos Ballad

Overwatch 2 returns next Sunday

Tomorrow's stream will feature Grandia

For the raid we dropped in on intergalacticpants who was playing After Us

Had the worst kale greens I have ever had today... still can't get the taste out of my mouth

Finished the Pokemon commission and next up is a WWE related one, which is actually slated for August, so I am ahead of schedule

Overwatch 2 Achievements

• Any Means: Eliminate 3 enemies in a single use of Ramattra's Annihilation.

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse and other notes

The big objective for tonight's stream was to do the entire campaign of RWBY Grimm Eclipse as Weiss Schnee and thanking we were able to do so, which was possible because we had Weiss at level 10 with a complete skill set already in place. The only time we had trouble was the very end with the Giant Scorpian and the various androids that keep spawning. Now the question will be when will I do runs as members of team JNPR.

We took a look at RWBY Arrowfell, which is a side-scrolling RPG where you can swap between all four members of the team. We knocked out the first chapter and I think we will add the game to the tour list, but we'll start it over when we finally dedicate time to it. Probably after we play Grandia (which we will start on Monday)

We messed around with RetroMania Wrestling completing the 10 Pounds of Gold as James Storm and getting an achievement as Stevie Richards. It appears the update from earlier this year added a bunch of achievements that are certainly do-able

Tomorrow's stream will feature Overwatch 2

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

Finished the My Hero Academia Story commission request, next up is a Pokemon commission story for the last one scheduled for July.

Did some yard work today, ended up going through three things of weed trimmer.... ugh

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse Achievements

• Ticking Time Bomb: Completed Mountain Glenn Part 2 with 3:00 minutes or more left on the clock.
• Weiss Schnee: Complete the campaign using Weiss

RWBY: Arrowfell Achievements

• A Mission Begins: Complete objective at the Summit.
• What are ya buying?: Purchase an item from a Merchant.
• Treasure Huntress: Open a chest.
• Close Encounters: Defeat 50 enemies using melee attacks.
• The Mysterious Orb: Complete Chapter 1.

RetroMania Wrestling Achievements

• Whipped Into Shape: Win a match as Stevie Richards in the SRF Arena

 

Asura's Wrath and other notes

 We continued Asura's Wrath this evening, going from Episode 10 to 15, plus doing the glorified FMVs that were DLC chapters 11.5 and 15.5, which adds context to the story, but at the same time, really has some questionable choices. Really enjoying the game, and in terms of  the base game achievements we have nearly 50% of them, of course there is the question of how many achievements we'll get as I did see there are some tied to difficulty settings and game play modifiers.

Funny thing, apparently screenshots of Asura's Wrath are forbidden on Facebook... go figure, but not on tumblr.

Next time we'll play Asura's Wrath will be on Saturday, where we'll go through the rest of the game and the extended story, with luck we may even do the Street Fighter crossover stuff.

Friday's stream will feature Alan Wake Remastered

Asura's Wrath Achievements

• View of the Valley: Continue to stare at the hot spring attendant's assets.
• Like a Fish: Consume more alcohol than you should.
• Sometimes I Feel Like...: Find all the peeping Doji at the hot spring.
• Denied: Get scolded by your former master in Episode 10.
• They Don't Stand a Chance: Defeat 50 enemies while in Unlimited Mode.
• Shut Up, Augus!: Interrupt Augus' monologue.
• Heads Will Roll: Completely lose it in Episode 12.
• Rebirth: Complete Part II: Rebirth.
• Rebel with a Cause: Do what you think is right in Episode 13.
• Can't Touch This: Perform 50 counterattacks.
• Taking Out the Trash: Defeat 300 enemies with heavy attacks and/or lock-on fire.
• Unstoppable Force: Defeat 100 enemies while in Unlimited Mode.
• A Cry of Anger: Activate Burst 50 times.
• Quick on the Draw: Achieve 70 EXCELLENT synchronic impact rankings.

 For the raid we went over to zonesama who was featuring Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire

Work was solid tonight, no real complaints

Finished the wrestling related story after last nights's stream and started work on the RWBY x Justice League commission, and counting that I have 10 stories to write to earn extra income this month. 

I really hate how long the Amazon Prime reward codes for Dead by Daylight are... and too bad the developers of that game don't have a way to link an account to just have the redeem kick over.

Good night folks!

 

Resident Evil 5's DLC was a lot of fun

 Good morning everyone,

Work yesterday was fairly good, despite some issues with Microsoft Edge randomly remembering my login from last year that I've changed causing some headaches. Then I find out there is possibility of normal day work coming back which means a change in my streaming schedule again! Ugh! At least it'll be back to normal, which means Fall Guys would be back.

Last night's stream of Resident Evil 5 features both the Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape DLC, and we did both with Iceman, which was a lot of fun.

Lost in Nightmares is set before the events of RE5 on Chris and Jill's mission that saw her get captured by Wesker, basically a throwback to the gameplay style of the earliest Resident Evil games with puzzles that need to be solved and limited ammos. We did use a guide, and had one crushing death. The fight against Wesker was of course a pain in the ass as it relates to the QTEs being noticeable, but we cleared it.

Desperate Escape is a companion chapter to the event of Chapter 5 of RE5's main story, where you play as Jill and Josh as they escape from the facility after Chris and Sheeva rescue Jill. It's a mad dash, super action sequence with lots of bad guys and ammo. As a side story and showing how Jill and Josh got to the helicopter that appears at the end of the game, it was quite enjoyable.

Now with this, we're moving on Resident Evil 5, but we'll revisited down the road for shits and giggles, to try and get other achievements, but starting next week, Resident Evil 6 takes center stage.

Resident Evil 5 Achievements

• A Friend in Need: Save partner 10 times when HELP is displayed.
• Must've Got Lost: Complete "Lost in Nightmares" on any difficulty setting.
• Egg on Your Face: Defeat a Majini with a rotten egg.
• Way of the Warrior: Defeat 150 enemies singlehandedly in one playthrough of "Desperate Escape."
• The Great Escape: Complete "Desperate Escape" with an S rank.
• Getaway: Complete "Desperate Escape" on any difficulty setting.

For the raid we dropped in on pradoxgamerau while they are playing Pokemon Brilliant Diamong/Shining Pearl over at twitch.tv/pradoxgamerau

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Mass Effect, we shall continue our side quest hunt and grind for using  the engineer powers!

Also, as noted last night, The Dark Pictures Anthology will be something I'll be looking to get, since Iceman and I learned those are online co-op, which means more shenanigans we can have on Wednesdays! Now if anyone wants to gift it to me on the Xbox side... (I'm kidding!)

Did some writing on the WWE commission story and I was told by the client to take my time with it, so I'll shift my attention to the Mass Effect story commission.

So on that note we'll see yo ulater over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

I forgot How Long the 5th Chapter if Alice Madness Returns Is

Good afternoon everyone,

Yesterday was another rough day for me mentally in regards just feeling motivated about stuff in general. But on a positive note finally got that second box of contractor bags, along with the storage contains to help with all the additional vinyl records. Want to store them a specific way so I can repurpose the trunk they are in.

Last night's stream of Alice: Madness Returns saw us finishing up the back half of  Chapter 3 and all of Chapter 4 in fairly short order. Completely forgot about the awesome segment when Alice gets to go giant size and stomp on everything! Now I thought we could finish the game last night as we were making fairly good progress in Chapter 5...

But then the puzzles and timing segments happened and of course my bad timing and needing multiple attempts to succeed at stuff, not to mention trying to get various collectables slowed me down in a huge way. Near as I can tell, there are only four segments left in the game, but how long it'll take me toget through them is a real question.

So the plan for tonight is too finished Alice: Madness Returns, and we'll probably play some Smite or Hades, as I do have both games installed on the Xbox One.

Alice: Madness Returns Achievements

• Nothing Like the Smell of Bacon: Pepper All Snouts in a Chapter
• Just peachy: Collect all Peaches in the Scroll of Destiny
• When Worlds Collide: Complete Wonderland Chapter 3
• More than a Mouthful: Fully upgrade a weapon
• Grandmaster: Complete a Chess Puzzle without failing
• 52 Pick-Up: Defeat 52 Card Guards
• Tea Party: Destroy 10 Ruin Barriers
• The Harder They Fall: Complete Wonderland Chapter 4
• Armed to the Teeth: Fully upgrade all weapons

Big thanks to Kalenal for the raid following their stream of Pokemon Scarlett over on twitch.tv/kalenal

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz who was playing Daymare: 1998 at twitch.tv/powerthumbz

Started work on the latest commission request for a short story based on those who were presenting at the 2023 Crunchyroll Anime Rewards. It's probably going to barely hit 1500 words.

 Looking at the work assignment for today, I can already tell it's going to be a long afternoon in terms of how beaten up the call sample is.

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

A Day of Junk Removal and Spider-Man

 Good afternoon everyone,

Yesterday was a long day as I was up at 7 AM and got things as ready as I could for when my brother came over, and we got a ton of stuff removed from the house. The deep freezer, an old fridge, massive television (which was basically destroyed), an old screen door and a bunch of stuff we weren't sure as to why mom kept things. Big thanks to his entire family for helping out.

One thing we did find was a trunk full of records... so I'm going to need storage containers for them, because I think there's well over 300 records I have to catalog! Also found a GameBoy Color and copies of Pokemon Red & Blue!

Last night's stream of Marvel's Spider-Man saw a few main-story quests done while I also knocked out of a lot of achievements, having 58% of the base game's achievements unlocked, which is really cool as I didn't think I'd be able to get the ones associated with the Taskmasker challenges done. Near as I can tell, without finishing Act 2, I have over 70% of the side content done.

As far as the plot goes, it's basically the everything in setting up to face Mr. Negative who is going after Norman Osborn, while the road to Doctor Octopus becoming a villain  I do know the nest time I play Marvel's Spider-Man (on its normal night of Friday), the first thing I'm doing is a side-mission involving Tombstone.

Marvel's Spider-Man Trophies

• Inner Sanctuary: Take down each Demon Warehouse
• Ace the Base: Complete all objectives in a base
• Short Fuse: Get Spectacular or better in a Taskmaster Bomb Challenge
• Fists of Fury: Get Spectacular or better in a Taskmaster Combat Challenge
• Ninja: Get Spectacular or better in a Taskmaster Stealth Challenge
• Spy Hunter: Get Spectacular or better in a Taskmaster Drone Challenge
• Hug It Out: Knock together 10 pairs of enemies with Trip Mines
• Challenge Finder: Complete every Taskmaster Challenge in the city once
• Master of Masters: Defeat Taskmaster

Last night's raid saw us drop in on Kalenal who was playing Final Fantasy XIV at twitch.tv/kalenal

The plan for tonight's stream is Overwatch 2, as the new season begins on Tuesday with the launch of the new battle pass. So expect me to be playing that a lot to bang that out asap

Because of how long it took to clear out the dining room, I didn't get any writing done yesterday, but I should finish the Mass Effect story commission in like 45 minutes, probably less.

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

We Knock Out A Huge Chunk Of Hi-Fi Rush

 Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Hi-Fi Rush saw us getting through chapters 4 through 9 of the game, and sure it went over five hours because I did kept searching for secrets and stuff through out every stage. I really enjoyed the art style and music, the game is easily a sleeper hit for me. And there is incentive to revisit the game to find things that I miss and take advantage of a probably New Game Plus to reach areas I couldn't in earlier parts of the game. Assuming that is a thing.

The twist that Peppermint is Kale's sister was a twist I didn't realize, and it was oh so obvious to me before I started putting a few things together in the Museum stage. 

That said, we're in real good shape to finish Hi-Fi Rush tonight, so we'll probably pair it with something else. I'm tempted on doing it with Hades... but other possibilities include Smite, Divine Knockout or some other nonsense to serve as a back up game.

Hi-Fi RUSH Achievements

• Whoa! There's ANOTHER health bar!?: Increase your health to where you unlock a second tier.
• This will cost you big time: Drain development's budget, removing creative control.
• Uh, they were broken when I got here: Destroy 200 Vandelay security robots.
• Z-shielding's got nothing on us!: Shatter 10 enemy shields by calling in Macaron.
• The Negotiator: Remove the head of Security from the equation.
• I have to read these things?: Find and read half of the Vandelay Vlogs on the campus.
• There's such a thing as TOO helpful: Find and engage with every Smidge, while completing all of his practice tips.
• Kissing the sky!: Perform 50 Aerial Raves.
• Check out my moves!: Purchase every combo and partner attack.
• Headliner: Be the showstopper for the head of Marketing.

Big thank you to Kalenal for the Raid followering their stream of Pokemon Scarlet over at twitch.tv/kalenal

For my raid, we dropped in on PowerThumbz during stream of Dead by Daylight over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz

The developers of MultiVersus announced the game is going on hiatus, and a lot of folks are pissed because it wasn't really stated that this entire time was an Open Beta. I suspect the death of Kevin Conroy (the voice of Batman) may have been a factor because, since no new characters were added to the game since he passed away, and there was a real long content drought. Hell most know I stopped playing it because it started feeling monotonous and I banged out quite a few tough achievements.

My idea of using a Splitter to divert the HDMI signal from the output of my capture card to a monitor and TV didn't work the way I hoped it would... but I did found a three-way HDMI splitter so now I don't have to disconnect the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles. Will need to do so for the PlayStation related consoles because they are positioned further away from the others.

I do have a new commission short story request based around Mass Effect, namely Mass Effect 3. I think I'll try to keep it straight forward, unless I can find specific dialog transcripts. 

Did pick up am Amazon Fire Stick, because it didn't occur to me until after I moved the TV from the living room to my basement that if I have family come over, and if they bring their kids there is nothing to entertain them. 

Also figured out how to make YouTube shorts... so that could be a thing I do going forward.

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

Big night of Overwatch

Good morning everyone, 

Last night's stream got off  to a rough start as my mic wasn't quite working correctly, warranting a stream restart. First time that's ever happened.

Once that was sorted, we got down to playing Oveewatch 2, big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the fun. We certainly were hampered by some noobs who clearly had no clue of what they were doing, but we did won a lot more than we lost. I picked up four plays of the game (1 as Moira, 2 as Reinhardt and 1 as Junker Queen), which means this months collection of Plays of the Game for March is at 18 (assuming I don't get one in an off-stream session).

Other characters used were Orisa, Wrecking Ball, Ana, Mei, Junkrat, and a handful of others.

Did discover that the analog stick on my Xbox One controller does have some drift, mostly moving in an upward direction. So will have to track down a back up wireless controller for it at some point if it get worse. 

For the raid we dropped in on Flint_Locke who was doing a voice acting stream of the visual novel Hotoful Boyfriend over at twitch.tv/flint_locke

The plan for tonight's stream is of course Hi-Fi Rush, picking up at Chapter 4 I believe, and if things go right we could knock out a huge chunk of the game tonight. Yes we are looking for the possibility of finishing Hi-Fi Rush this week, and what we do tonight will determine that.

With the strong possibility of finishing Hades on Thursday, I'll have to consider what to do with the Thursday night streams.

Finished up both the Dragon Ball short story commission and the original idea I had for an All That story. The first is already up on my Subscribestar page and will be posted publicly after the 28th, the later will be exclusive for my Subscribestar followers for the month of April

Ended up doing more organizing of things in the basement, getting the shelves in order mostly as I do want to move away from using crates as make-shift 'bookcases'  

Also ended up watching Space Jam last night, for no real reason, just wanted to watch something silly.

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

Progress in Agents of Mayhem

Good morning everyone,

Song of the Day: Can I Change My Time by Tyrone Davis

Yesterday got off to a good start as a new boom arm / mic stand arrive which is a lot more managable than the one I got a few years ago. The key thing is now I can have the mic even further away from the speakers, but it does end up placing it closer to me. 

Also had two comic books books, one being the RWBY / Justice League crossover, and the other being the Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover. Really looking forward to reading both.

Last night's stream of Agents of Mayhem saw a big focus on story related content and leveling up some characters. With the exception of Scheherazade, every other agents side stories are completed. We'll be getting to Scheherazade tonight as her unlock missions become available only after the Gaunt story is completed. At this point I can mostly focus on main story stuff, because I am debating putting in the grind to get every Agents up to level 20.

That said, I did notice that as far as the Xbox version of the game goes, not many people actually finished it. I think it was something like 7% of Xbox players finished the main campaign, which is kind of stunning to me. But I kind of figure if I stick with the main missions the rest of the way, I'll finish Agents of Mayhem within three streams. 

So the goal on tonight's stream is obvious, unlocked Scheherazade, do her story missions and then tackle the big story arcs!

Agents of Mayhem Achievements

• Super Agent: Reach level 40 on any agent.
• Bombshells: Fully deck out the Bombshells in their signature outfit.
• Three's Company: Fully deck out Carnage a Trois in their signature outfits.
• You Got Gaunt!: Complete "Operation: Star Power".
•  All the Bells and Whistles: Fully upgrade all areas of the ARK

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal while they were playing Pokemon Scarlet over at twitch.tv/kalenal

My brother hooked me up with some food from Checkers yesterday, it made for a nice change of pace of eating healthy.

You know, there are times I truly believe Naoki Yoshida aka Yoshi-P is a complete idiot... and it's mostly due to him trying to justify something stupid like only a PlayStation console can handle anything Final Fantasy related. 

Got some writing done on the Dragon Ball short story commission, using flash backs have allowed for it to flow a lot better.

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

We reached the middle of the week

 Good morning everyone,

I will admit I forgot to post yesterday's blog... and it didn't get posted until 10:55 PM last night... oops

Work yesterday was okay, got one full interview done so that was good. Also got a bunch of empty boxes moved out from the basement so that when I'm able to find a junk removal service who can do things at a fair price we can get things moved from the basement and the living room in one day instead of doing two multiple trips

I did remember to call my Aunt Grace and Cousin Frances yesterday, and had a nice chat with them. Also Happy birthday to Frances!

Last night's stream of Agents of Mayhem was focused heavily on unlocking the various agents that we could following the defeat of Hammersmith (Daisy, Redcard, Oni & Joule), getting all of their initial missions done. Now I could've done more but because I tend to roam around a lot on foot, plus going shard hunting every now and then tends to slow me down a lot. I do want to make sure I get all the achievements associated with the four canon squads attire combinations.

So the next time Agents of Mayhem will be featured on Stream will be on Monday of this upcoming week, we'll do the second character missions for Daisy, Redcard, Oni & Joule, and more than likely the squad missions for Bombshells & Carnage a Trois since I have those full squads already

Also I did notice after the stream the weird echoing happening on and off when looking back at some footage. It has to do with my mic positioning in relation to my speakers. I hope to have that resolved with tonight's stream.

Agents of Mayhem Achievements

• Not this Fracking Thing: Destroy a Dark Matter Fracking Station..

For the raid we dropped in on PradoxGamerAU who was doing a Nuzlock run of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet over at twitch.tv/pradoxgamerau! 

Because I don't drive, going to have to figure out how the whole Instacart thing works out. Biggest concern will be of course making sure I find good bargains.

Got some writing done following last night's stream,the short story commission request for a follow up to a recent WWE story is about half done. Also started work on an new subscribestar exclusive story for the month of April.

As I was taking the trash out this morning, I was approached by someone who learned about mom's passing... and I nearly broke down.

The plan for tonight's stream is to open with Fall Guys and then around 9 PM Eastern we'll switch over to Gears of War 2. I believe we'll be opening in Act 4 Chapter 5 because we already reached the point Marcus and Dom reunited with Cole & Baird.

Any one who buys into that fucking nit wit Tucker Carlson's white washed version of January 6, 2021 needs to be incarcerated because clearly they are a danger to everyone around them.

Song of the Day: No Particular Place to Go by Chuck Berry

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

New Water Heater and More Saints Row

Good afternoon everyone,

We begin by saying thank you to my brother Leo, his friend Macho and Macho's father for all their help in getting a new water heater installed with little to no trouble, and for half the cost PSE&G wanted. It's one less stressful thing to worry about in what has been a dramatic few weeks. For the record, it turns out the previous water heater was installed in 2003, so it did its job and then some. I recall mom wanted to replace it a few years ago, but then COVID hit and other things too priority around the house.

Last night's stream of Saints Row was entirely focused on finding Discoveries and expanding the Saints Empire, as I refuse to fully advance the main story until I do everything that is considered side content. This meant a lot of roaming around, flying, gliding, getting into scraps and actually having to try things multiple times because of critical mission failures (aka I fought, I died, I respawned). The biggest main in the ass is calling out Marshall and it's 'mini-boss' being an enemy that is invulnerable unless you let it overheat, then shoot its tanks and then wear it down, rinse and repeat until it's defeated. Ended up reducing all the difficulty settings to the lowest possible just to get through it!

That saint tonight's stream will be more of the same, looking to continue expanding The Saints empire and finding all the goodies across the map.

Thank you to Kalenal for the raid following their stream of Pokemon Scarlett over on twitch.tv/kalenal

For the raid we dropped in on PradoxGamerAU, during their stream they were playing World of Warcraft and RimWorld over at twitch.tv/pradoxgamerau

Saints Row Achievements

• Tourist: Completed the photo scavenger hunt.
• Picking Fights: Defeated a miniboss from each faction.

I didn't get any writing done on the 20th Mass Effect story commission request I've received, so I hope to put a dent into that today if certain things aren't an option for the afternoon.

I still have a hard time going to the living room of my home unless I have to do something... I miss mom more and more each day.

Recorded another Box with VHS Tapes video, which will go live on my YouTube Channel on Friday.

Going forward with Overwatch 2, I'm going to focus on just the first 80 levels of the battle pass and forego the titles. Mostly because I want to write more.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily work out featured Advanced Combo #2, Hook Combo #2 and Left-Right Step Combo.

"What's the best thing about Switzerland?" "I don't know, but the flag is a big plus."

Song of the Day: Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran

For tonight's stream, well you know it's Saints Row... muhahahha! So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

The Casual Approach To Saints Row is what works best

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was an okay day overall my brother came over to get some things for mom's funeral, going through pictures I found with her in it. Today's going to be a little rough as I have to sign off of somethings pertaining to the funeral.

My cousin Frances pointed out that Lisa Loring who played Wednesday Addams in the 1960s Addams Family series passed away. Instantly remember the 1977 TV Pilot for a sequel series called The New Addams Family, which most people tend to forget about... despite that some of its plot was used for the first of the two Raul Julia films in the 90s!

Last night's stream of Saints Row saw me completing all the of Side Hustles, and having those off the board is huge, because it's one less thing to distract me. We found over 80 of the packets, and I think we have a good chunk of all the discoverable things covered, but there are still a lot to find. We also progressed the story to where we add additional ventures and to open up some smaller side-stories to grow the Saints empire. Also managed to unlock 100 different costume items, but I'm still struggling to find things to give The Boss a defined look as I did with Saints Row The Third and Saints Row IV

On tonight's stream I think I'll start with going after discoverable items that are on the map already and places a few ventures to start the overall cleanup of the game before doing the next story chapters. It's a plan right? Kind of... sorta...

Big thank you to Kalenal for the raid following their stream of Pokemon Scarlet over at twitch.tv/kalenal! I believe they said they were up to 354 on their PokeDex!

For our own raid, we dropped everyone off at PowerThumbZ while they were doing the Mooncrash DLC for Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Saints Row Achievements

• Untouchable: Completed 10 Crimes of Opportunity.
• Always Be Hustling: Completed all Side Hustles.
• Took It to The Limit: Reach the maximum level.
• Closet Space: Own 100 different pieces of clothing.
• A Young Empire: Unlocked Criminal Empire Tier 2.

At this point I have 4250 Xbox Achieements for a Gamer Score of 98,687

Finally finished that one WWE / NHL short story commission request that I got before mom passed, and got a request for another WWE one based on the Royal Rumble this passed weekend which I did not watch. Also started writing a short story to be exclusives to my SubcribeStar page based on Dragon Ball. 

I did speak brief with my dad to get some clarification on some stories... and leads me to ask my Unlce Abraham about his mighty spoon, or probably not, if I forget about asking.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Waist Shape Focus Combo, Intermediate Combo #2 and Beginner Combo #2 for 21 minutes. You know... ever since last Friday I haven't really been motivated to workout.

"How does the moon cut his hair?" "Eclipse it."

Song of the Day: Everywhere – 2017 Remaster by Fleetwood Mac.

As detailed earlier, the plan for tonight's stream is more Saints Row! So we'll see you all over at twitch.tv/fredcasden this evening!

We Finished Pokemon Violet! And It Was Awesome!

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet saw us basically breeze through the Elite Four, the League Champion Geeta, the 6th match against Nemona and have a leisurely stroll to the bottom of Area Zero to finish the game. I'm not kidding, as I had the match up list for each major battle, so I was prepared in advance. I did make sure Meowscarda got the final hits to defeat Geeta and the Turo AI in terms of the standard battles. 

That said I loved how the story played out in regards to Arven finding out that his father died a long time ago, Miraidon having to face a bully version of itself (which ties in nicely with the Team Star story arc) and everything wrapping up nicely while setting things up for 'post credits' content (Gym battle rematches, and so forth.

Oh, my six Pokemon to close out the game were Ceruledge, Meowscarda, Vivillon, Medicham, Raichu.& Floatzel. Outside of Ceruledge who I got in a trade and Medicham which I caught mid-game, the other four were in my lineup since damn near the start of the game. 

Overall I did enjoy playing Pokemon Violet a hell of a lot more than I did Pokemon Shining Pearl. There was never a point where I felt I was under prepared outside of not knowing the Ghost-gym involved 'double battles'. 

As for what will be the game to be featured on Mondays and Tuesdays? I thinking the Xbox 360 version of Bayonetta. I have never played it before.

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz who was playing Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Stream Clip Links

• Defeating Geeta In A Snap!
• Do It Meowscarada! 
• Miraidon Gets The Job Done!
  

Tried to keep taps on mom yesterday, but missed her several times when I called. She did have a radiation therapy session, and they gave her shots to the stomach to try and deal with the tumors. If anyone would be kind to donate to her GoFundMe to try and cover medical expenses, it would be greatly appreciated. The link is at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Did a fair amount of writing on the latest Mass Effect short story commission request, granted I'm including EDI a lot more than one would assume in terms of setting up the plot. I should be able to finish it before tonight's stream... or before I go to bed after the stream. Whichever comes first.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Defensive Combo #2, Intermediate COmbo #1 and Triple Combo #2 for 31 minutes.

What kind of dinosaur loves to sleep? Well, now, all of them.

Song of the Day:  I’m Not The Only One by Same Smith

For tonight's stream we're playing Fall Guys to start and then we'll switch to Fallout 76 after the 9 PM break.

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

Closing in on the end of Pokemon Violet

Good morning everyone

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet got off to a good start with us capturing the eighth gym badge in sort order, which is very useful in terms of some of the very lucky surprise trades I made. As you may know, once you have all 8 badges Pokemon of any level will listen to you... which is helpful because one of the Pokemon I was lucky enough to nab was a Level 100 Ceruledge, a Fire-Ghost type, which makes it my heavy hitter.

Beyond getting the 8 badges done, I also cleared out the last Titan and the final two Team Star Bases. Reaching the final Titan (Which was the False Dragon) and the Fighting Type Team Star Base were a bit of a pain in the ass. But the battles and story elements were also quite enjoyable. Also knocked out the battles against Arven and Penny to close out the Path of Legends and Starfall Street story arcs.

Which means tonight, my first objective is dealing with The Elite Four and the League Champion. I think I can cover most match ups, or at the very least brute force my way through it, but this might take a few attempts. With luck we might even finish Pokemon Violet, but we'll see how that goes!

Thank to LvStrkr for 45 months of being subscribed to my Twitch Channel!

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal as they were playing Trials of Mana over at twitch.tv/kalenal! 

Stream Clip Links

• That makes 8 Gym Badges
• It's saying I'm Titan... Holy Hell! 
• Defeating Penny With Flower Trick!
  

My mom is currently waiting on results for a biopsy that was done on her tongue on Sunday. There are times when I call her when she sounds great but also times when she sounds terrible. If any one would be kind to donate to her gofundme to help cover her medical expenses, please visit https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Last night's Monday Night Football game was postponed due to the scary situation involving Bills Safety Damar Hamlin. That entire circumstance is not how I wanted to clinch my first Fantasy Football championship since 2011.

Finished the latest Mass Effect short story commission, and got the instant request to writing the next chapter which would involve Kelly Chambers. I'm very tempted to make jokes in the next chapter regarding some of my theories regarding her in the context of Mass Effect 2. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Biceps Shape Focus Combo, Difficult Challenge Combo #1 and Difficulty Challenge Combo #3 for 34 minutes

Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? It's fine, he eventually woke up!

Song of the Day: Starving by Hailee Steinfeld, Grey and Zedd

For tonight's stream, well as I said earlier, we're playing Pokemon Violet! Will we be able to finish the game? We'll see later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

First Overwatch Stream Of The Year Saw 7 Plays of the Game

Good morning everyone,

First, update on my mom, the doctors did another biopsy on her, this time on her tongue to see if the cancer spread that far.  There is some consideration of her coming home, but that has not been determined yet. For sure we know she is going to have to go through chemotherapy. We are raising money for my mom in fight against cancer, if you would be kind enough to donate, you can do so at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

As for last night's stream of Overwatch 2 was pretty epic, as we picked up seven plays of the game, 3 as Junkrat, 1 as Orissa and 3 as Junker Queen. It was insane considering that through out the month of December it was pretty rough for me to get POTGs and the first stream of the year sees me get seven. Big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the fun, and she even got two POTGs as well! There were a couple of matches that look like they were going to be a clear loss that somehow we turned into victories.

By the way, I put all the POTGs over on my Tumblr page last night.

For last night's raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz as they were playing Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Stream Clip Links

• Like rancid pea soup.
• Well... that happened 
• All Hail The Queen!
  

Finished the Mass Effect short story commission request, tried to put a lot of lore and emotional depth into it, which exposed my weaknesses as a fic writer in a major way. Did get the go ahead to write the next installment in this series of commission requests

I'm kind of shocked that I may actually win the championship in one of the Fantasy Football leagues I joined at the start of the season! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Block Combo, Difficulty Challenge Combo #2 and Straight Combo #2 for 31 minutes.

Why did the golfer wear two pairs of pants? Because he always gets a hole in one!

Song of the Day: Disco Inferno by The Trammps

For tonigh's stream we shall be resuming Pokemon Violet with my next destination being the Ice Gym in Glaseado, which would be the final gym. From there it's the final two Team Star bases and then the final Titan, going to have to do quite a bit of leveling up as possible, because I don't want my attempt to get through the Elite Four and the League Champion to be the nonsense that I experienced in Pokemon Shining Pearl!

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

Two More Gyms and One More Titan Conquered

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet was certainly more the 'how the hell do I get to where I need to go' aspect, but following a plan of doing things in a set order does mean I'm pretty much over powered in a number of different aspects. Meowscarada can basically one shot most things at level 56, since I have her with two dark type moves, one grass type and one fairy type moves. I'm certainly leaning into doing the rest of this game as I did Pokemon Shield and just over level my core team to brute force my way through the elite four. I mean it worked in Shield & Let's Go Eevee... and technically did in Shining Pearl.

We did conquer two Gyms, the ones for Ghost type, which happened to be the one 'duos' style of battling area I've seen in game, plus the Psychic gym. Again Meowscarada basically did all the heavy lifting in both areas. Figuring out how to 'catch up' with Iron Treads, the Quaking Earth Titan, took way too long for me to realize, but we made short work of him.

Noat this point, I have One Gym left, two Team Star Bases and one more Titan to conquer before starting the string of end game battles. But also discovered there are Shrines where if certain things are removed Legendary 'ruin' Pokemon may be freed to possible battle and / or captured. I doubt I'll go that far as most sites are calling the pursuit of the Shrines to be 'post-credits' content.

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz as they were playing Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz!

Stream Clip Links

• Final Hit In The Ghost Gym
• Flower Trick For The Win... Again 
• Victory In The Psychic Gym
• Defeating Iron Treads, the Quaking Earth Titan 
  

Mom first day of Radiation Therapy went well from what she told me, the biggest issues yesterday being with the prearranged Uber and Lyft rides which clearly are not taking into account how quickly she can move. Most of her therapy sessions are in the afternoons, which gives plenty of time to get her ready... but I'm worried about the ones that are schedules for mornings. If anyone would be kind to donate to her GoFundMe, it would be greatly appreciated: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Started writing the latest WWE commission story request, may end up going with the promo set up route for it, since it's easy to write without me having to track down actual TV segments. Did got a large portion written after the stream.

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

What did the clock do when it was hungry? It went back four seconds.

Song of the Day: Big Fun 2017 by Inner City

For tonight's stream, Iceman made me aware that he may not be able to join us, so we may still only with Fall Guys or pair it with Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed or MultiVersus if I decied no t to play Fallout 76. Regardless Fall Guys will be featured to start things off!

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

 https://gofund.me/6adf8354

The futher you get into Pokemon Violet, the longer it takes to get places!

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet saw my first objective being trying to get to the next Team Star base which featured Atticus his wave of Poison Pokemon. The raid and battle was no problem, but the open world aspect of Pokemon Violet certainly meant it took awhile to get from point A to point B. Still, the big thing with it was the revelation that Team Star were victims of how bad the Academy handled issues of bullying.  

In terms of the Gym Battles, I went after the Normal Gym next, and the Gym Test being basically beating other trainers for their clues was a lot more straight forward than the obvious 'do someone's job for them' approach the previous gyms did. It was really not much of a challenge... but then again I have my team of Pokemon in the high-40s so at the very least I could brute force my way though most battles.

We ended the night with me trying to figure my way to get to the Ghost Gym, and this  is where the title of today's blog comes in, as I found myself in the ice mountain areas, which feels huge. I kind of feel I was lucky to find a Poke'Center. Yes I know, Picnicking is almost as good as visiting a Poke'Center, but since I'll be featuring Pokemon Violet tonight... I wanted to be in a good spot.

Also the surprise trade has resulted in some wonderful one sided trades in my favor, such as trading a Hoppip and getting an Espeon (an evolved form of Eevee) in return!

For last night's raid we dropped in on AnnieTalksShow as they were playing Overwatch 2 over at twitch.tv/annietalksshow!

Stream Clip Links

• The Fall of Team Navi
• Conquering The Normal Gym! 
• Meowscarada Brings It Down!
  

Today my mom goes for her first radiation therapy session, and she is a little nervous about it. Everyone has been telling it it'll be fine, and the doctors know what they are doing... but it is a little scary considering everything. Fingers crossed everything goes well.  We are raising funds to help cover the medical expenses, for my information please visit my mom's GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Finished writing the Callisto Protocol commission request, and I think it turned out okay, but got another commission request for a WWE short story to be based around The OC vs The Judgement Day feud.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Hook Combo #2, Advanced Combo #2 and Left-Right Step Combo for 31 minutes.

How do you find Will Smith in the snow? Just follow the fresh prints!

Song of the Day: I Was Made For Lovin’ You by KISS

As mentioned earlier, we shall continue Pokemon Violet this evening as a way to get back into a groove of featuring a main game on Mondays and Tuesdays. Our initial objective is to make it to the Ghost Gym!

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

Yesterday was a good day

Good afternoon everyone,

Yesterday we had quite a lot of family come by to visit for Christmas, and it was awesome. In one big way it certainly brought a smile to my mom's face with everyone being there, in another it was the first time my cousins got to my brother's kids, and they hit it off famously, which was awesome to see. It really was an incredibly day.

Of course the topic of what's going on with mom came up, with her starting her radiation treatments on Tuesday, so we have that to contend with in the coming days. I think we've prepared at much as possible to make sure she's comfortable, and I'm hoping the treatments will help provide some pain relief for her. If anyone would like to donate to her gofundme in her fight against cancer, you can do so at: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Last night's stream of Overwatch 2 was... problematic, as my upload speed and latency were all over the place from the time I started too about about 9:30 PM ish. These were similar to what happened on Friday evening, when everything went to crap on my Birthday stream. I basically kept the stream going and extended it till about 1:15 AM, so we still ended up with 3 Hours and 30 minutes of footage for the YouTube Archive. I did DM Xfinity Support and they did admit there some signal concern, and I know for a fact it has nothing to do with the modem or cables, it has to do with their own infrastructure that serves the area.

Anyway, we we got in plenty of matches as Lucio, Junker Queen, Junkrat, Torbjourn and other characters, with one Play of the Game added to the month as Junker Queen. We completed the Season 2 Battle Pass, so now it's just progression to see if we can get all the prestige titles for the season. Big thank you to BangBangBang for being apart of a lot of the matches.

For the raid, we sent all the viewers over to x9abenonymous9x who was playing Resident Evil: The Director's Cut over at twitch.tv/x9abenonymous9x!

Stream Clip Links

• Actually doing something as Echo
• No I'm not 
• That answer that question 
  

Got a good portion of the Callisto Protocol short story commission written yesterday before family came by. I'll probably finish it this afternoon or after the stream.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Double Combo #1, Body Straight Combo and Body Uppercut Combo for 28 minutes.

What do you call HIJKLMNO? H20!

Song of the Day: Too Good At Goodbyes by Sam Smith

For tonight's stream, the plan is to continue Pokemon Violet. I actually forgot where I left off at, so we'll see what direction I want to head in.

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

Today's my 40th Birthday

Good morning everyone and Happy Birthday to me...

This afternoon my mom begins radiation therapy in her fight against lung caner. I want to begin the day by saying thank you to everyone who has been so supportive. It really has kept my head straight, and I've passed along anything said in the chats regarding my mom to her. If anyone would like to donate to her GoFundMe, visit: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Last night's stream featured Final Fantasy XIV, as I continuing my quest of doing all the side quests, finding some things that link sub-stories together, such as the troll who eventually learns how to speak and the moogles from the Twelvewoods meeting their sky island living cousins. It was a pretty chill and relaxing stream on all fronts. We also did once Alliance Raid, and I remembered instantly how much I hate the ones associated with the NieR franchise.

Stream Clip Links

• Just your typical finish to a raid
• Aye... of course... 
• It meowed?!
  

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal who was also playing Final Fantasy XIV, with a big focus on doing the Rival Wings PVE content over at twitch.tv/kalenal!

The string of Mass Effect short story commissions continues as the client has moved the series into the Mass Effect 2 era of the story. Finished writing the fifth episode a bit before 4 AM

With Jalen Hurts out of for this week's game against the Cowboys, my two Fantasy Football teams are in danger of losing, well one for sure will certainly lose. The other has a slim chance at winning, but it's Kenneth Walker III is questionable.

I did remember to pop into Pokemon Violet to see the Birthday message at the Pokemon center it was cute for what it was. Also a new Pokemon Scarlet/Violet distribution is running through December 25th, enter HAPPYH0L1DAYS in game to get 50 Ice Tera Shards!. Big thanks to Kalenal for informing me about this. 

Big thank you to the FnDanteSavage for the Xbox gift card! Used that to pick up Anthem and The Council.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Biceps Shape Focus Combo, Difficulty Challenge Combo #3 and Difficulty Challenge Combo #1 for 34 minutes. Today is the 900th consecutive day I've worked out since I got the original Fitness Boxing in the middle of 2020. My weight is currently 245 lbs.

Recorded a Tier List video of ranking 80s Cartoons which will be viewable on my YouTube channel on Monday.

What do you call a belt made out of watches? A waist of time.

Song of the Day: Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers

For my birthday stream I'll start as early as possible, but this does mean I'll be taking breaks to check on my mom once she returns from the hospital. But in terms of what we'll play, it's going to be a variety day of different stuff.

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

What did we accomplish in Pokemon Violet?

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet started off with us taking on the Electric Gym Leader, in one of the most surreal ways of me doing dialog ever... it's not easy trying to impersonate an high energy broadcaster. We then set out sights on tracking down the Steel Tighten and then wrapped things up going after the Water Gym Leader. So at this point I have four Gym badges, three Titan badges and two Team Star Badges.

So planning ahead, my next objective will to go after the Poison Crew of Team Star, followed by the Normal Gym Leader. Granted I could go after the Earth Titan since I'm still in that region, but I rather bounce around the recommended order of doing things just to try and have some sort of advantage.

That said, the Gym Tests in this generations Pokemon games are a bit interesting... as they basically are tasks being pushed off onto the player. Don't get me wrong they bet having to figure out the puzzles of Pokemon Shining Pearl, but I guess the emphasis on the open world aspect meant no actual in-door gyms were made.

Also thank goodness at this point all the answers for the 'tests' at the Academy can be easily found, no way I would be able to remember some things.

Last Night's Clips

• Magical Leaf For The Win
• Just Bite It Again 
• The Flower Trick For The Win
  

For last night's raid we dropped in on Kalenal as they were playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal!  

Mom has another set of appointments today, I believe we'll find out for sure how severe his battle with cancer is because there was a lot of confusion that popped up over the past week. If anyone wants to help with my mom's medical expenses, you can donate to her gofundme at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Moved a dresser that was being unused in on the 2nd floor of my home down to my studio / office in the basement. It was fairly easy... since I took the drawers out first and basically slide it slower down one flight of stairs, then through the living room and kitchen... then down another flight of stairs.

Also changed some things around, so the stream tonight will look different, contemplating just showing off how large the basement is. 

Got a third Mass Effect short story commission request, and managed to get a good portion of it written. Of course the challenge here is using Tali in a featured role forces me to think of alternatives.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Uppercut Combo #1, Beginner COmbo #2 and Advanced Combo #1 for 34 minutes.

Why do ghosts love elevators? Because it lifts their spirits.

Song of the Day: Faded by Alan Walker

For tonight's stream, the plan is to to play and finish Abzu in one stream to give us 60 games finished for 2022 in order to wrap up this years tour.

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