Marvel's Midnight Suns and other notes

Tonight's stream of Marvel's Midnight Suns saw us wrap up the DLC story content which involved Slaying Dracula. Actually had to do the final fight twice because I got overwhelmed in the first attempted and had some bad draws. We continued the main plot which included having Wolverine join and the Hunter being cemented as the official leader to put an end to all the squabbles.

Midnight Suns will return on Monday's stream.

Tomorrow night we'll be opening things with Overwatch 2, with a possibility of Smite

For the raid we dropped in on intergalacticpants who was playing Cyberpunk 2077

I saw the footage of the so-called 'assassination attempt' on Donald Trump, that was obviously staged because no one after getting shot is going to start screaming to 'fight'.  

Got a good chunk of the AEW story commission written, will be working on this after this is posted.

You know what's weird? There are a couple of Popeye shorts where he and Bluto are almost friendly towards each other until Olive Oyl shows up.

Marvel's Midnight Suns Achievements

• A Shining Light: Reached maximum Light Balance.
• Not a Scratch: Completed a general mission where no hero takes Health damage.
• What's In This, Anyway?: Apply stat modifications to 5 different heroes using the Laboratory.
• Beyond Biochemistry: Complete all Morbius Research.
• Dracula's Tomb: Complete the Dracula Tomb's mission.
• Blood Storm: Complete all Storm story missions.

Just Your Typical One Night Playthrough of Ghostbusters

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream featured Ghostbusters; The Video Game, and went a lot longer than it probably should for a couple of reasons... one being I was trying to get as many achievements as possible in a single play-through, and I missed out on a few 100% PKE, but I did find every single collectable item, which was something I didn't do when I played the Remastered Version last year. Now my desire to get some achievements certainly lead to me having to re do certain parts, which was frustrating... particularly with the infamous Stone Angels late in the game. The stream itself ran 7 hours, which is long for a Wednesday night for sure but hey, it is the 34th game finished this year

Still on a positive note, I did show that the online multi-player still works... now I just need to find 3 people to play it with! Also a positive is that the Xbox 360 version of Ghostbusters The Video game holds up rather nicely, and outside of textures there really isn't that much difference in how it and the Remaster look, in my opinion. On a side note, in comparison to my play through of the Remastered version last September, I actually grabbed 3 more achievements.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game Achievements

• You Gotta Try This Pole!: Slide down the fire pole.
• Total Protonic Reversal: Knock yourself down with your own weapon.
• I Ain't 'Fraid of No Ghost!: Trap a ghost.
• We Have the Talent!: Complete the Firehouse training level.
• I'm Picking Up A Signal...: Obtain a 100% PKE scan on a paranormal creature.
• ...And You Want to Keep It?: Collect a Cursed Artifact.
• Aim for the Flat Top!: Eliminate a creature.
• I Feel So Funky: Get slimed by a charging ghost.
• The Flowers are Still Standing!: Complete the 'Welcome to the Hotel Sedgewick' level.
• Slam Dunk!: Slam dunk a ghost into a trap.
• I Looked at the Trap, Ray!: Recover 20 of your own full ghost traps.
• I Love You When You Rough-House!: The tidy arcitectural office could use some Proton-based humbling.
• Once S'more into the Breach: Complete the 'Panic in Times Square' level.
• But the Kids Love Us!: The children's reading room has a story to tell, but it will take more than your eyes to see it.
• Slime Dunk!: Trap a ghost using the Slime Tether.
• I'm a Ghostbuster, Not a Doctor!: Revive your teammates 20 times.
• Mother Pus Bucket!: Purchase all upgrades for the Slime Gun.
• Get Her!: Complete the 'Checking Out the Library' level.
• Stasis Dunk!: Trap a ghost using the Stasis Stream.
• Heat 'Em Up: Purchase all upgrades for the Proton Gun.
• You Never Studied: Keep your ears open to learn everything you can about the Civil War.
• We be fast! They be slow!: Purchase all upgrades for the Dark Matter Generator.
• Ghost Fever Grips New York: Complete the 'Museum of (Super)Natural History' level.
• Ghostbusters Drinking Game: Quench your thirst wherever possible to avoid being scared spitless.
• I've Quit Better Jobs Than This.: Some ghosts had a real blowout in the Coat Room. Clean it up?
• I Don't Want My Face Burned Off: Purchase all upgrades for the Meson Collider.
• We Have the Tools!: Purchase all available equipment upgrades.
• Somebody Saw a Cockroach on 12: Complete the 'Return to the Sedgewick' level.
• Hedgebuster: The hedge maze is a real eyesore; do some Protonic pruning.
• Let Me Guess, Gozer Worshippers: Complete the 'Lost Island Rising' level.
• Spores, Molds, and Fungus: Collect all Cursed Artifacts.
• Disaster of Biblical Proportions: Complete the 'Central Park Cemetery' level.
• We Came, We Saw...: Complete the game on 'Casual' or 'Experienced' difficulty.

Twitch Clips

• I Feel So Funky...
• I'm fine... it was Egon who got nailed!
• Disaster of Biblical Proportions
  

Big thanks to Redneck_23 for the raid after his stream of Farming Simulator 19, which e was playing over on twitch.tv/redneck_23!

For last night's raid we dropped in on SweetLindir who was playing Smite over at twitch.tv/sweetlindir! 

With last night's stream going a lot longer than intended, it meant I didn't exactly have much time to  look into other topics for today's blog. It does indeed happen.

Something that was trending (kind of) on Twitter was posting what cartoons premiered in the year you were born... and boy the pickings were rather slim for 1982 with things like Gilligan's Planet & The Gary Coleman Show hitting the airwaves in the United States.

For today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout, the exercises were Weaving Combo #1, Weaving Combo #2, Uppercut Combo #1 and Straight Combo #1. Workout was a solid 45 minuets long.

Kind of work related... so there is this guy running for Govenor of New Mexico named Mark Ronchetti, who was a meteorologist...but one of things he wants to claim is that climate change doesn't exist. Like seriously... dude... you were a weatherman! Clearly you've seen how the climate has changed in your career! 

SNK, the developers of the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series of games... is now owned by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. This completely flew under the radar when it happened in April, and safe to say... and while I do have a great deal of respect for the history of SNK, safe to say, I will not be featuring anything from that company going forward.

For tonight's stream we shall be playing Final Fantasy XIV, and depending on how long it takes me to get various things done, we may toss in some Star Trek Online as well!

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

The Usual Before I Address Something Serious

Good morning everyone,

Bit of a disclaimer, in this blog I will address the issue of Gun Control (or lack there of) in the United States, that will be discussed towards the end.

Last night's stream was mostly dedicated to Final Fantasy XIV, as we did a raid and trial as a Bard, some fishing, gaining a level on Botany and then dedicated quite a bit of time to leveling Lancer while going into the Palace of the Dead. Actually made three trips through it to get to level 31. I figure we'll do two more trips to try and break through level 50 so that we can use levels 51-60 for boosting up alternate job roles.

Of course not all of the stream was focused on Final Fantasy XIV, nope, we did load up Star Trek Online and ran through a few Task Force Operations over the span of 30-40 minutes, STO is really weird to stream because to have OBS broadcast it at a consistent frame rate I have to cap Star Trek Online's frames at 30, otherwise the stream frame rate bounces from 40-59 frames per second. Not sure if we'll regularly pair of STO with FF14, but the option is always there.

Twitch Clips.

• I'm not swift of foot
• Well this is a thing 
• What Is A Popular Sitcom In Eorzea
• Rude! Rude! Rude! 
  

For last night's raid, we dropped in on Hawleigh who was playing The Last of Us Part II over at twitch.tv/hawleigh! 

LvStrkr had a great idea for a new feature for the stream, which is a live score update overly and chat bot, which can be found over at sportscoresbot.com. The on-stream version will have the constant scores updates, while the chatbot will focus on local Philadelphia area teams (Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, 76ers and Union).  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Difficult Challenge Combo #2, Difficulty Challenge Combo #3 and Hip Shape Focus Combo. We unlocked the Laura's Contender EX Achievement this morning, meaning our focus will now switch to Sophie's Contender

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise EX Achievements

• Laura's Contender: Train with Laura for over 30 Hours
• In Progress: Sophie's Contender:Trained with Sophie for over 30 Hours (50% Completed)
• In Progress: King EX Fighter: Acquire All EX Achievements (93% Completed)
  

Work was alright, but something did occur to me with the assignment I was on... the fact that the County Executives, which are elected positions, are not exactly well know in their communities, and thus are typical voted by their party alignment. 

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj.   

Now... how about I go after Gun Rights Activists.. because I saw something really interesting in the differences between purchasing a firearm in Canada and the United States. In Canada one must do the following

1. Obtain a firearm license (Mandatory 28-Day Waiting Period)
2. Submit Photo and Signature of Photo Guarantor
3. Complete Multi-Day Gun Safety Course and Pass Written and Practical Tests 
4. Complete Background Check Which Considers Criminal Record, Mental Health History, Domestic Violence History and Whether Applicant Poses Risk of Harm to Anyone
5. Provide Two References
6. Provide Signature of Conjugal Partners Within The Last Two Years
   

That's a pretty damn though and well regulated process, and one has to admire Canada for it. Meanwhile here in the United States... the process is not so well thought out.

1. Pass an Instant Background Check If Buying From An Authorized Seller
2. No Restrictions if Buying at a Gun Show Or in Some States, From a Private Seller

Yeah, you read that right folks, in Canada there are 6 steps one must go through to purchase a firearm... in the United States, there's only 1 and that's if the person is buying from an Authorized Seller! We got a fucking problem in this country with guns, and making it harder for people to obtain them. And guess what fuck nuts, let's take a look at the Second Amendment: Bearing and Keeping Arms which states the following

'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'

Which means in plain simple American English,a well regulated militia means the military and police force, for they have rules and training necessary for the purpose of the security of the their respective jurisdictions and the nation... and with that purpose in mind, the right of the people to keep and bear arms (aka to own a gun) shall not infringed. So if you're not apart of your local, county or state Police force, or if you're not enlisted in the United States Army, Arm Reserves, Army National Guard, the United States Marine Corp, the United States Navy, The United States Naval Reserve, The United States Air Force or even the fucking Coast Guard... you are not entitled to have a gun, let alone something that is similar to what is used in a real battle field.

And let's get into these so called militia that are filled with mostly white, racists, beta, conservatives... they are not well regulated, they are not trained for active defense of their community let alone the states and nation that is the United States of America. They are a clear and present danger to the vast majority of people in this country, because they push to make it easier for guns to be acquired by those who should not have them. If we had tighter more restrictive gun laws, a vast majority of these mass murders would be prevented. 

And if you disagree with me, if you're a gun rights activist, a card carrying member of the NRA and so forth, then fuck you, you are nothing but a piece of shit who would pray to an imagery being in the clouds while being completely fine with letting kids be slaughter. There have been over 1,700 mass shootings in the United States since January 1, 2019. For every one hundred people living in the United States there are 120 guns... how is that even fucking possible?! Oh right, you people have spent over $120 Million since 2012 to make sure your can compensate for your lack of balls. Fuck you.

For tonight's stream, well it's Friday which means we're returning to Persona 5 Royal, and the countdown to the showdown with Shadow Sae and the betrayal of the Phantom Thieves by Akechi. Should be a pretty fun night.

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

Feeling the Fallout 76

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Fallout 76 saw a slow, gradual process of working on the early in game story stuff, and... my character became a "Responder". Not sure if that was joining a factor or not, but it was a nice bit of progression to make it feel like I'm getting stuff done. I also made a nice little shack for myself. I figure keeping a nice gradual pace will make this game last because I'm really in no rush to get things done.

Iceman also joined in for a lot of fun as we tackled a few of my early quests, find various items and also realizing that I'm blind as hell when it came to finding a set of doors that was next to another set of doors! The help Iceman has provided with various games cannot be understated, damn best wingman to have in co-op games! 

Fallout 76 Achievements

• First Contact: Complete "First Contact"
• Second Helpings: Complete "Second Helpings"
• We Must Rebuild: Build 20 C.A.M.P. Items
• Wayward Child: Complete "The Elusive Crane"

Twitch Clip Links 

• Like really?!
• We we dead... 
• The door was right here...
  

For the raid we dropped in on x9abenonymous9x who was playing Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City over at twitch.tv/x9abenonymous9x! He was doing some co-op stuff with FnDanteSavage!  

Now because of the on going issues between Twitch and the Music Industry... in particular the RIAA, Twitch has enabled a few features, that means having VODs on my channel would be inadvisable because of how I got for as much of the actual experience of the game as possible. The VODs do get stored for up to 60 days at a time, but since I just forward them to my YouTube channel it's no big deal. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Block Combo, Waist Shape Focus Combo and Hook Combo #1. We're 26 days away from the days in a row hitting a unique number.

My Xbox Achievement streak is extended through today by knocking out three more achievements in Super Night Riders, and to give an idea of how hard these are getting, it took 20 minutes for me to clear course 5... and then 40 to clear course 6... based on multiple attempts. Then I learn the next big course achievement is do do all six course back to back, that is going to take a lot of effort.. I think I'll focus on the 'stages'  

Super Night Riders Achievements

• Course 4 Cleared: Cleared the course 4.
• Course 5 Cleared: Cleared the course 5.
• Course 6 Cleared: Cleared the course 6.

If you think Joe Biden is to blame for gas prices, you're a fucking idiot. Price gouging by the oil and gas companies has always been a thing which can easily be tracked back going all the way back to the 1970s. 

For tonight's stream we shall be featuring Final Fantasy XIV, as I know I'm looking to do the Fourth Circle raid to get the last item needed to craft another item to get the best possible weapon I can get without doing Savage runs. Beyond that, we'll do some Fishing, Gathering maybe grind out a Blue Mage level or two and whatever else comes to mind!

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

 

Tomb Raider... Or Lara Croft Falls Down A Lot!

Good morning everybody,

We're a day into November and some old concerns have popped up, a few of which are related to some local government decisions here in New Jersey... and funny enough it's election day... with Phil Murphy hoping to get another term as Governor. Considering his challenger is a Trump support, I'm pretty sure Murphy is going to win... even though a decision he made has put a lot of us in a bind.

Anyway, last night's stream featured the start of Tomb Raider, not the original from the late 90s, but the 2013 game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. I have played it before, in particular, I played the version on Steam, once in 2017 and again in 2018, both play through were streamed on Twitch. This run is using a console, namely the X-Box Series S, since it hasn't been used much as of late. 

One huge difference I feel between the console and PC versions is the fact the controls feel fighter on console. Sure I had a few deaths during the stream, but I feel they were more my fault as opposed to the game not reading inputs... so I'm a little more open to exploring and finding collectables than I was the first two times.

Graphically, Tomb Raider still holds up nicely, and I didn't waste time putting Lara in the 1930s Aviator attire to give her a look that makes sense for the adventure she's on... plus I think whenever she is shivering, it looks even colder if she's actually wearing a jacket! I do find it fun at how she can be covered in cuts, blood, mud and scrapes... then is totally clean moments later. I get why no game has really gone with the realistic wear and tear on clothing for games like this, just about every game with a female lead would be rated M for mature.

Let me also address the title of today's blog, because I joked about how Tomb Raider is basically Lara Croft falling down a lot, or as some of my regulars called 'Lara just get the shit kicked out of her'. There are quite a number of instances where Lara is falling from a great height, tumbling down a hill and so forth... and this is not even counting missed jumps or failed Quick Time Events or failed combat situations. Since the developers wanted to show Lara toughening up, safe to say that happens quite a bit.

In terms of where we left off, it's at the start of the Chasm Monastery, so a little less than half way through the game, but I do remember there are a lot of big action set pieces in the second half of the game, so I don't think we'll finish it in two nights. 

Huge thanks to Kalenal for the raid during the stream! They were playing Tales of Vesperia on Monday night over on twitch.tv/kalenal!  

Following the stream the fun was sent over to LifeWithStan who was playing Dark Souls III over on twitch.tv/lifewithstan!

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Achievements

1. One Smart Cookie: One optional tomb completed.
2. Big Game Hunter: 10 large animals killed and looted.
3. Unfinished Business: One challenge completed.
4. Predator: 50 enemies killed with the bow.
5. Bookworm: 25% of all documents found.

Twitch Clip Links

• And that is gonna hurt even more!
• Lara 1 Deer 0
• We're The Predator!
  
• Dude you're finished! 
• We glitched through the floor! 

Volume 6 of Gungrave and Volume 7 of Chrono Crusade arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon, meaning 17 years after I picked up volume 1 of both series I finally have the complete DVD sets. Always nice to be able to fill in gaps in the collection.

A good portion of my off-stream Final Fantasy XIV adventures involved side quests associated with Idyllshire, a city that was abandoned but is now thriving (sort of) under goblins who took it over, and are gradually setting up a community... meaning a lot of quests involved running around, making deliveries, taking out monsters and such. It is a charming little series of side quests, even if when one is done three more pop up... but that is why they are side quests!  

Anyway, I did progress the Main Story Quest up to The First Flight of the Excelsior, and I have to say the apparent death of Iceheart aka Shiva was glorious, but very ambiguous since she fell to her death providing covers for everyone heading to Azys Lla, which is the next huge major chunk of the story.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Intermediate Combo #2, Advanced Combo #1 and Weaving Combo #1 for a duration of 31 minutes and a estimated calorie burn of 490 kcal. As of today we now have 80% of the EX achievements unlocked.

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise EX Achievements

1. Monster Weight Puncher Lv. 4: Reach a total punch count of 450,000 HITs 
   

Oddly enough the requirements for Monster weight Puncher Lv. 5 is only to reach 495,000 HITs, I wonder why it isn't an even 500,000.

For tonight's stream we'll continue Tomb Raider using the X-Box Series S console as we work our way through the island!

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

The Zero Sum Of A Mugged Atlas In The Borderlands

 Good morning everbody,

Last night's stream did end up featuring Tales from The Borderlands, and were playing the Xbox One version of the game. 

Now I had recently picked up the digital version that 2K released to republish the game... however there was a problem with it. It only downloaded the first episode 'Zer0 Sum', and not seeing anywhere to download the rest, I had to crack open the physical copy I picked up last year and use that to download episodes 2-5. It's a good thing I was using the Xbox One console itself, which does have a disc drive as opposed to the Xbox Series S which doesn't. Still the headache that 2K has for not having all 5 episodes download at once was completely asinine.

Anyway, it's been a while since we played Tales from The Borderlands using the PC version via Steam, so playing it again was a lot of fun. Fiona is such a cool character and it's so obvious that she was written to have Jennifer Hale give off a Commander Shepard vibe... hell, Fiona has a similar cut through her eyebrow exactly like default Shepard does in the Mass Effect games. (Correction: Because of the similarity of their voices I confused Jennifer Hale with Laura Baily, who actually does Fiona's voice... oops!)

Then there is Patrick Warburton who does a great job as Hugo Vasquez to where you know he's a menace but you just can't take him seriously. There are lot of references to things from Borderlands, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands The Pre-Sequel such as the appearance of various characters like Scooter and Athena, so the fan service is real high. Plus the best part is, Tales from the Borderlands is a canon story, as it takes place between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3.

The one big downer about Tales from the Borderlands is Handsome Jack with the complete 'Ghost in the Machine' vibe. I always understood why it's there, but the fact that if you want Rhys to be straight up with Vaughn, Fiona and Sasha, the game is written for them to dismiss your claims. Plus the game is not real subtle about Rhys's crisis of conscience that he has to go to through at different points. 

Anyway, we got through episodes 1 and 2 tonight, and it took a solid 4 hours to clear both, because I do like to check out everything we can see. In short, I was indulging myself. Maybe I should consider the Borderlands games for the 2022 gaming tour.

Following the stream we sent the fun to Sw33ts_gaming over at  twitch.tv/sw33ts_gaming who was playing Smite! It is funny how Hi-Rez can make a decent game like Smite, but their Overwatch clone in Paladins never got that the dedication it needed from the developers. 

Tales From The Borderlands Achievements

1. Welcome to Pandora, Kiddos: Completed Chapter 1 of Episode 1
2. My Turn To Speak: Completed Chapter 2 of Episode 1
3. Partners In Crime: Completed Chapter 3 of Episode 1
4. Not Alone in the Dark: Completed Chapter 4 of Episode 1
5. 2 Fast 2 Fiona: Completed Chapter 5 of Episode 1
6. Blood Money: Completed Chapter 6 of Episode 1
7. Devil on Your Shoulder: Completed Episode 1
8. Deal With A Ghost: Complete Chapter 1 of Episode 2
9. Till Death Do Us Part: Complete Chapter 2 of Episode 2
10. A Plan Came Together: Complete Chapter 3 of Episode 2
11. Funeral Crashers: Complete Chapter 4 of Episode 2
12. Classic Reflexes: Complete Chapter 5 of Episode 2
13. Bro or Bot: Complete Chapter 6 of Episode 2
14. Miracle of Atlas Engineering: Complete Episode 2
    

Twitch Clip Links

• Looks Like He Had a Change Of Heart
• Fiona's Krogan Headbutt
• He's Half The Man He Used To Be
• We Caught The Eye
• That's Bro! So Bro!
• We Got The Boot Back
  

Work was soooo borning yesterday, as I couldn't get to speak to anyone for the assignment that I was working on, it was just a lot of dead air... which mean the hours just dragged! It got to the point where I loaded up APBA Baseball for Windows and did a simulated games between the 1986 Mets and Phillies. I posted the box score and script over at https://fredcasden.blogspot.com/2021/09/apba-baseball-1986-exhibition-new-york.html

Got an update, I should be receiving a copy of   Marvel Super Heroes VS Street Fighter EX EDITION for the original PlayStation probably around Monday or Tuesday. This will be the version of the game that was released in Japan, because finding the US version. Besides I have a modded PSOne to play it.

I received my mail-in ballot for the 2021 General Election here in New Jersey, and let me tell ya, when it comes to local elections for my home town of Camden, we don't really get any choices. Example: For the position of Sheriff there is only one option, Gilbert Wilson, there are no other candidates. For the positions of Members of Council At-Large, we are to vote for three candidates, but there are only three people via for those spots, making them guaranteed. To really stress the point, in our election for Mayor, the choices are the current Mayor Victor Carstarphen and two independents in Theo Spencer and Jennifer Huse who clearly have no shot at winning. If you want to know why voter turn-out is often a problem it's because we don't always have choices, and it we do, we get alternatives that aren't going to have a shot at winning  

Took advantage of the current Xbox digital sale to add Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the Marvel's Avengers 'Endgame upgrade and Contrast. The Endgame Upgrade for Marvel's Avengers will give me justification to playing that again considering all the improvements that it should have. Contrast I have played before on PC, but it's such a good little game it is worth a another look. I've been told I would love Assassin's Creed Valhalla by a number of folks, so it makes sense to add it to line up.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minutes while featuring the Biceps Shape Focus Combo, Intermediate Combo #1 and Triple Combo #2. The estimated calorie burn was 510 kcal. Now i don't normally miss, but I can completely blame the miss and the fairly high 'ok' totals on a phone call that came in that distracted me.We are closing in o nthe monster Weight Puncher Lv. 3 achievement which requires a total punch count of 405,000, currently we're at 401,868.

For tonight's stream we're continuing Tales From The Borderlands with Episode 3 & 4... and if I'm feeling up for it, we may play episode 5 as well. That will mean a six hour long stream bare minimum if I choose to do that. We shall see how things play out.

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

Making Sure We Saved Kate

Good Morning Everybody,

Last night's stream lead off with Star Trek Online, and the endeavors this week weren't too bad, one was defeating 30 Undine ships, another was defeating 10 Mirror Universe Vessels in the Badlands, the third was defeating 15 specific types of enemies within Tzenkethi Battlezone... and the last was doing damage in space using Plasma weapons. The last one was super easy to do because Zagreus is set up to use Plasma Weapons. Also the next major 'event' has started within Star Trek Online, the No Win Scenario, completing it counts towards the year long progress that could get players a free Tier 6 ship or other rewards.

We then switched over to Life is Strange to play episode two Out of Time. This episode is notable for a few things... one is you get a real indication of just how much of a bitch Chloe Price can be when she doesn't get her way, and the other is the entire situation regarding Kate Marsh. Having played this game before, talking Kate down off the ledge is a big deal and it's why I was taking my time in going through every little detail... not to mention wanting to get the photo related achievements (I missed two... damn it!).

Now there is an odd detail about the Kate situation in Episode 2 that I'm not sure people notice, that if you walk with her after she is talking with that douche bag Mr. Jefferson (you can't tell I played this before), Kate will tell you to leave her alone as she storms her way to the front door of Blackwell Academy, and for obvious story reasons you can't follow her. I kind of feel this was missed opportunity for the developers of the game to give a choice of having Max choose to follow Kate or not, I get why they didn't since the way the whole thing plays out is for Max to learn she can move within a moment of time. Still it is funny to joke that Max is prevented from following Kate by a force-field (which is referenced in last night clips which you'll see below)

Episode 2 is also really important in to how every single little thing Max does or does not do matters, such as reporting Nathan to Principal Wells, choosing to or not get involved with David Madsen being stern with Kate in episode 1 has consequences in episode 2 and beyond. Even taking the blame for Chloe's joint in episode 1 comes back to haunt Max at the end of episode 2. Also I will admit, I clearly did not take opportunity to rewind on certain matters, in when Max has to sign her statement.

Now I kind of considered doing Episode 3 tonight as well, but I'm gonna save that for next Thursday, since I'm going through every thing step by step, it means each episode is taking longer than usual. Anyway, we were playing Life is Strange using the Xbox Series S, so that means we have achievements, and we got 9 out of the 12 for the episode.

Life Is Strange Achievements

1. Field Of View: Take optional photo #1 in Episode 2: Out of Time
2. Full Exposure: Take optional photo #2 in Episode 2: Out of Time
3. Image Stabilizer: Take optional photo #4 in Episode 2: Out of Time
4. Compressed: Take optional photo #5 in Episode 2: Out of Time
5. Dynamic Range: Take optional photo #7 in Episode 2: Out of Time
6. Colorized: Take optional photo #8 in Episode 2: Out of Time
7. Meter Made: Take optional photo #9 in Episode 2: Out of Time
8. Resolution Revolution: Take optional photo #10 in Episode 2: Out of Time
9. Out of Time: Finish Episode 2: Out of Time

Twitch Clips Links

• Funko Row
• Cored The Computer 
• A Deep Space Encounter
• We just need two enemies... that's all we need 
• Is that the Doomsday Machine?!
• The soda was spilled and then not spilled!
• A Picture of Hey-Zeus and of a Bunny 
• Lure In The Squirrel
• You totally do want to go that way Max! 
• What happens When Chloe Shoots The Gas Tank
• What happens when Chloe shoots the bumper
• We Walk With Kate... But Encounter A Force-field?
• Thank goodness for that...

Following the stream, we sent everyone over to BootifulMama who also was playing Life is Strange Episode 2, I selected them at random based who else was streaming it and they seemed cool! Check them out at twitch.tv/bootifulmama

 

 

I don't talk politics, but let me make it clear that in February of 2020, Donald J. Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, which also involved releasing 5000 Taliban prisoners. The blood spilled over the past few days, just like that spilled on January 6 of this year, is on his hands and and on the hands of his supporter. 

 

We added two Funko POPs to the collection today, Becky Lynch (POP WWE #70 / Amazon Exclusive) and Bluto Toga Party (POP Movies #915 / Animal House). Both were cheap because the boxes were a little banged up. Now this is the second Becky Lynch one added to the collection, but the different between #70 and #65, is that #70 has Becky in her 'The Man' attire, and was as indicated an Amazon Exclusive.  

 

Apparently because of the shit that went down, Blizzard is renaming McCree in Overwatch, since the character was named after a douche bag within the company. It's a good move.... now as to what to rename him to is the big question. I'd go with Clayton, it's a nice generic 'Cowboy' name, and if used right can be used as the basis for a bunch of Back to the Future III references. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just remember that in Back to the Future III Mary Steenburgen plays Clara Clayton, the love interest for Doc Brown.

We worked in a bit of Baseball knowledge last night... is blowing a slow rolling ground ball foul before it reaches the third (or first) base bag legal? Technically it was when it was first done in 1940 between a game involving the Montreal Royals and the Jersey City Giants, when Bert Haas was successful in blowing a ball foul, the Giants didn't protest the play or the umpire call... not that it would matter because there was no rule to cover it at the time. However, the President of the International League Frank Shaughnessy would later add a rule deeming the play an illegal one. It is listed as Rule 2.00, OBSTRUCTION

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout lasted 31 minutes with an estimated calorie burn of 420 kcal. Today's exercises were Body Straight Combo, Uppercut Combo #1 and Triple Combo #1. We are continuing to stay with Lin as we're chasing after the Lin's Champion achievement.

 

For tonight's stream we will be doing another trilogy look back, as we'll be checking out Road Road, Road Rash 3D and Road Rash Jailbreak... all of which were games on the original PlayStation, so we're gonna use the PS2 for this stream. Of course the twitter poll I posted did see a last minute vote for Marvel vs Capcom 2.... so if there is time we'll work that in as well.

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

 

Today's Notes 8/11/21: Whoa We're Half Way There

 Good morning everybody,

As ya'll may (or may not) know, I work in market research, and over time I've seen a lot of things change in out surveys are presented, but something surprised me yesterday. For the first time, I saw a survey where the pronouns used to the describe a candidate running for an elected position this fall were 'Their' and 'They'. It really struck a cord with me, because I often would use 'him'&  'he' or 'she' & 'her' along with 'their' and 'they' almost interchangeably when I'm talking about someone, depending on who I was talking about...but to see the those running for political office are starting to embrace the variety of ways of how pronouns can be applied to them, to me, is very cool.

Anyway, on to last night stream of Chrono Cross where we tackled Mount Pyre and Fort Dragonia, which meant we had a bunch of boss battles to deal with and spent a lot of time shuffling elements around to make sure I had the best match ups possible even if I wasn't swapping party members. In fact, with the exception of Greco at the start of the night, it was Kid and Leena backing up Serge... with Leena more often than not getting the final hit in every battle. With the strategy guide on hand we were able to properly set up for every boss encounter to the point of over kill in some cases.

There were a couple of encounters I was worried about the Sonofagun was as much of a pain in the ass now as it was 20 years ago, but the back to back fights between General Viper and Lynx, because if I built for one that meant the other fight would be a lot tougher than it expected. What I did was basically loaded up every green and white element I had on Serge, Kid and Leena with the hope I could overwhelm both before the A.I. started dealing out their heavy attacks, and it pretty much worked.

I do love how all of the foreshadowing comes to a head at the half-way point of the story, where Serge and Lynx swap bodies, and everything that happened was predetermined.... with one exception. You see at the start of the game, it was Van who was with Serge and Kid, not Leena. Hell Van can even be recruited until the second half of the game! Anyway, we'll continue Chrono Cross on Monday night!

But of course we do have clips for you to check out...

• Just Chatting: Considering A South Park Night
• Chrono Cross: The Frog Prince Is Summoned! 
• Chrono Cross: Boss Battle: FireDragon (Round 1) 
• Chrono Cross: Marcy Hates Everyone 
• Chrono Cross: Boss Battle: Taurusoid
• Chrono Cross: Boss Battle: GiantGloop
• Chrono Cross: Boss Battle: Bunyip
• Chrono Cross: The Foreshadowing Is Real
• Chrono Cross: Boss Battle: Viper
• Chrono Cross: Boss Battle: Lynx (Round 2) 
• Chrono Cross: Bring Forth The Feral Cats! 
• Chrono Cross: Truth Hurts Don't It? 

Yesterday in the mail, we added South Park, the first person shooter for the original PlayStation to the collection, and I now have the idea of maybe doing a Friday night stream where we play both of the South Park games I managed to track down. If I can find Chef's Love Shack then it would be a South Park showcase! 

Off-stream gaming, I went ahead and did the 'unlocking' of the Crossover stuff for Paladins involving gen:Lock in addition to clearing out the requirements to unlock all the basic stuff for Smite involving Stranger Things, just to make sure I have the skins available in case I want to feature either game. 

I also, briefly, checked out WWE Battlegrounds, and it really is the spiritual successor to WWE All-Stars in terms of how it feels to play, but the bull-shit way one has to unlock a lot of the characters certainly was frustrating and it's no wonder I didn't have this game as a priority to look into for a while. It does have a campaign mode, so we could do with it what we did with WWE 2K20 last year and stumble our way through it. 

WWE Battlegrounds Achievement

1.  I won!: Performed a pin successfully
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily workout lasted 31 minutes with an estimated calorie burn of 532 kcal. The exercises for today were Triple Combo #2, Intermediate Combo #1 and the Biceps Shape Focus Combo. We are now up to 78 out of 100 for the Karen's Best Friend achievement.

For tonight's stream the plan is to do more things with The Division after 9 PM Eastern for the second half of the stream with Iceman, but for the first half... I'm not totally sure, but we'll mess around with something fun! 

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

Today's Notes 2/13/21

Good afternoon everybody,

Yup I slept in, didn't get up till about 1:30 PM.... had a nice tuna sandwich and salad for 'breakfast', because why not.

Anyway last night's stream of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix saw a lot getting done in terms of advancement of the story, as we made our second visits to everything from Twilight Town up to Port Royal, which means achievements for finishing the worlds related to Mulan, Beauty &The Beast, and Pirates of the Caribbean were unlocked. Obviously the biggest and best moment of the night was the aftermath of Goofy's apparent death and playing as Sora running along a canyon fighting along side Squall, Cloud, Tifa and Yuffie before slaughtering 1000 enemies still holds up as one the most bad-ass moments in any video game I've played. Now while I like a lot of the added cut-scenes that add extra context to the story, the placement of them leave a bit to be desired, because I have no memory of such a large break in the action in some sections. Also the realization that I have to use the Drive forms to get various abilities that should be from just leveling up or reaching story points is complete bull shit lol.

So let me tough on the impeachment trial which as of this moment exposed two real big obvious truths, one the Republicans have no balls and won't stick their principals when it comes to defending the constitution are are willing to risk even more violence and Trump running for office again because they were complicit in enabling him to organize an assault on the Capital back on January 6th, and the Democrats dropped the fucking ball by not calling for witness testimony from those willing to speak about what they know and saw regarding Trump's actions, showing their inability to follow-thru.In fact as I'm writing this, the Senate did acquitted Trump 57-43.... and the 43 Senators all of whom are Republicans should be ashamed of themselves and for the fact they have just put this nation in peril. May all 43 of them burn in hell for all of eternity. If you are a Trump Support, fuck you and I hope you burn in hell too.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was about 38 minutes (closer to 46 minutes if one includes 8 minutes of stretching), and was a real leg burner as it did include a Hell Mode set. Unlocked a new achievement "Middleweight Puncher Lv. 3" which was to reach a total punch count of 84,000 HITs aka punches thrown that are not consider misses.  This does not include things like weaves, ducks, steps and blocks. My current exact total is 84,510 punches thrown. On a side note, it seems the game itself does not like to use 'So What' by Pink, as it has only been used in a session 5 times, while "Alone" by Marshmello and"Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have been used 21 times.

Late tonight, we'll be getting back to Zero Escape Virtue's Last Reward, as I think we've done all we could with the Magenta door path last week, so we'll need to jump to the first door choice to pick on of the other two to see if that gets us anywhere. So we'll be seeing a lot of dialog, new puzzles and such for tonight's stream! 

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

Today's Notes 2/11/21

Good morning everybody,

Last night's stream of ESPN Major League Baseball was a lot of fun, as my 2004 Philadelphia Phillies went 5-1 on a six-game home-stand against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, which saw two walk-off wins, one of which was a home run in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately,  we lost Kevin Millwood for three-months, meaning my rotation has Eric Milton, Randy Wolf, Vincente Padilla, Brett Myers and Pat Hentgen. On a side note, I did notice Dan Plesac was in the game as a free-agent, so I added him to my bullpen, giving me another left-hander... and I had to chuckle when his fast ball clocked in at 97 MPH, because by the end of the 2003, Plesac was topping out at 87 MPH which lead to this decision to retire at the end of that season.

Yesterday, the official Ghostbusters YouTube channel added Darkness at Noon part 1, which was the first episode of Extreme Ghostbusters. I remember watching it on the very first day of my freshman year of High School on WGTW Channel 48 here in the Philadelphia area. Watching it yesterday, it was clear the strength of the show was going to be on its tone being pretty dark, and that Kylie Griffin was going to be the break out character. The show does suffer a little from the 'is that all they wear' vibe, as the in-episode timeline indicates two-days past... and that all the main characters were wearing the same clothes as they did before with the exception of when Egon suits up in a jumpsuit and when Kylie is seen in her apartment.

I did casually follow what was going with the impeachment via Twitter while working yesterday, and then once I was able to check some stuff out with audio it became very clear to the me that if any Republican Senator acquits Donald Trump of his crimes then they are basically admitting they condone what happened on January 6, 2021. You cannot say that Trump misspoke and that he 'didn't mean for it to happen', when he was basically telling people to come to DC, to march on Capital Hill and to attempt a coup all in his name.

Today's Fitness Boxing stream was s solid 30 minute workout, nothing to major or stressful, even though I happened to miss performing two right blocks (one from orthodox stance and one from the southpaw stance) at same exact point in two different combo sequences. Still, when looking at the end results when compared to the last few days, it certainly felt like a very light day. 

Tonight's stream will be a double header, because I work from 12 PM to 5 PM EST again today, so as soon as I finish dinner we'll get started. The first half of the stream will focus on Star Trek Online, as we'll probably do a couple of episodes for one of various characters, then about 8:30 / 9 PM EST we'll be switching over to the Division 2 to continue this weeks manhunt with Iceman, PowerThumbz and FNDanteSavage. So Trek and shenanigans will be on the menu for sure. 

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

Today's Notes 1/9/21

Good afternoon everybody,

Last night's stream of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 went about 5 hours from the time I started, and there is something about that game that has drawn a littler attention to my Twitch channel as it has been doing above average in terms of viewership for me. Which isn't saying much obviously considering my normal stats on a nightly basis, but still it does show the ever lasting popularity of the Dragon Ball franchise. In terms of progress, we acquired three of the five time eggs last night (only need the ones for Guru and Buu) and reached the 1/2 way point of the main story (which is basically the start of the Buu arc). My current character level is 62, which seems to have me on par or just below par of stuff that might be towards the end of the game, seeing as how the toughest fight I had last night was the one to help Frieza achieve his golden form and a few things involving Android 17 and the 'ahem' correct history of thing.

Had a sorta rough workout with Fitness Boxing 2 today, with some of the combinations involved with the Advance Combo not clicking in my head. There are just sequences for movements that just don't feel natural yet. Plus my hated of step forward-back combos continues.  We did unlock the Lightweight Puncher Lv. 1 achievement which was to reach a total punch count of 40,000 HITS, which does match my total punch total for Fitness Boxing 2 of 40,565.

Tonight we'll be going back to Zero Escape 999, as we'll be going after yet another ending, and going through doors 4, 3 and 2 which are the only ones I haven't gone through in the previous two streams. I have to say it was great seeing Flint_Locke (twitch.tv/flint_locke) playing it last night... just too bad I was working so I couldn't have the audio on, but it seems she got the idea of what I was saying regarding how heavily Zero Escape explains things. As DaemonsWolf (twitch.tv/daemonsw0lf) points out "The poison. The poison for Kuzco, the poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco, Kuzco's poison. That poison?"

Oh it was so awesome to see Twitter finally throw Donald Trump off of it's platform last night and seeing as how he's been banned from Facebook and Instagram, seeing him go on about building his own social media platform was hilarious. And guess what, anyone that goes to a Trump social media platform can instantly be called an insurgent and danger to democracy because as we saw this week, that's what his supporters are.  

Anyway we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Today's Notes 1/8/21

Good afternoon everybody,

Last night's stream of Star Trek Online saw the wrapping up of all available 'story content' within the game for Klingon Defense Force aligned characters. Federation aligned characters have some story related patrols. Still the Cold War arc was surprisingly shorter than I remembered it being, so does make me wonder why does it get the voice-overs needed to bring it back in line with the rest of the content.The real question is going to be... what the hell am I doing with STO in the upcoming weeks until new content comes out.

That said I did install the steam version of Star Wars: The Old Republic.... and instantly unlocked 77 achievements. Man I do love it when games recognize what I've done with them on different platforms. Now if only Blizzard will do the same with Overwatch, that would be really neat! I'm not even asking for cross-play! Just cross-progress!

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was a solid 30 minute work out that saw a lot of body punches (jabs, straights, hooks, upper cuts), which meant a lot of dropping of the hips and rotating to try and do things correctly. Let me tell ya, when you have to jab-jab-straight-left hook-right body hook-right body-hook-right body hook several times in a row it can be tiring! And then remember you have to do it from the southpaw stance as well, ugh! It's tough business... but at least the combination of punches makes sense.

At the time of this writing I just a video of a group of insurgents harassing Lindsey Graham at Regan International Airport because actually pulled his head out of his ass and did the right thing after enabling Trump for 4+ years. Hard to have sympathy for Graham, but even he saw this coming. Hell he said it 5 years ago "If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed and we will deserve it". Well the chickens have come home to roost.

Tonight we'll be back to Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, and if memory serves me right, the next in-game story content will focus on the Android / Cell Saga, which means things are getting much harder in the game. Still we'll have opportunities to level up, and currently I have Yamcha as my 'mentor' in the game at the moment and... shit I'm screwed aren't I? Oh we'll well get tonight's stream started at about 9:30 PM EST.

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