ESPN NHL 2K5 Still Holds Up As A Great Game!

Good afternoon everybody,

First let me say that I  totally forgot about daylight saving time ending at 2 AM last night... I got caught up in playing a lot of Final Fantasy XIV, and we'll talk about that later... but first we had Hockey action yo!

Obviously inspired by the fact that the National Hockey League returned to ESPN last month, hooking up the PlayStation 2 to play the last ESPN branded NHL game (ESPN NHL 2K5) made a lot of sense in the world... and since I'm from the Philadelphia area, it meant the games I played was of course going to feature the Philadelphia Flyers because I remember a lot of the players on that team. 

Now the last time I played ESPN NHL 2K5 would've been 2005, because I do have NHL 2K6, now don't be fooled by that, because much like the various sports games published by EA Sports, Sega Sports and later 2K Sports went with listing their games by having the follow year indicated on the title. This was actually a game I would play with my younger brother from time to time, and he isn't a hockey fan at all, but the big hits and fast action of it was appealing to him since he enjoyed football and basketball video games.

Presentation wise, well the game looks like it's from 2004, but it still holds up nicely enough in how gorgeous everything looks from the character models, to the details of the hockey rink, to the ESPN branded on-screen displays. The sound mix sounds like a television broadcast, and the commentary keeps up with the action of when the puck is passed, poke checks are performed and when goals are prevented. Their isn't much inane chatter from the game's commentary team, nothing comes across as filler, and when details are being given about a player or a replay is being shown, the timing isn't too long and nothing lingers.

The controls were easy for me to relearn, and the game has various camera angles so you're not locked into playing from a particularly perspective, as the two games I played on last night's stream featured the standard overhead look and the side-camera look which is closer to how most NHL games appear on television. 

Also I set the periods to be 20 minutes, and let me tell ya, time just flew by, between penalties, icing and off-side calls, plus every time a goal was score, both games played (one against the Maple Leafs, the other against the Red Wings), each took longer than an hour to finish... but time just flew by because ESPN NHL 2K5 holds up as a great game.

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

Twitch Clip Links

• That is how you start the 2nd Period!
• Hats on the Ice! 
• A Hat Track For JR In Hockey Town
  

Here are this week's Twitch Bits, which features my favorite moments from the games I featured, which included Overwatch, Tomb Raider, Gears of War: Judgement, Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack!, Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions, Final Fantasy XIV and ESPN NHL 2K5! 

My off-stream Final Fantasy XIV progression saw me finally getting into the final raid that was apart of the Alexander story arc, which of course was a trial against Alexander its self, which proved to be quite the challenge, with how it has some targeted instant kill moves. Also the main story quest progressed to where I learned that Minfilia is dead and that her form is now the 'voice of the mother', and got some more lore regarding the villains of the the game and their ambitions.

But that's not all.... with no more side quests wit the plus (for the moment), I dived in deeper into the Main Story Quest, clearing every thing up till the start of Shadows of the First, which meant the second brawl against Nidhogg, which was about as intense as the first encounter... in that I died near the end of the fight,, got resurrected and promptly killed again just as the fight ended. Still, it is nice to see that  Ishgard is on the upswing to bring an end to the Dragonsong War, but with that I'm now clearly at the point where things are setting up for Shadowbringers by bringing Alisaie back into the main story for the first time since she and Alphinaud had a falling out on what was the best way to proceed.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Bisceps Shape Focus Combo, Intermediate Combo #1 and Triple Combo #2 for a duration of 31 minutes and a estimated calorie burn of 523 kcal.

For tonight's stream, well it's Sunday, which means Overwatch is on deck to kick off the new week! 

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

The Temporal Mechanics Of Final Fantasy XIV

Good afternoon everybody,

Well last night's stream was long as hell wasn't it... eight hours of Final Fantasy XIV... and boy did we have fun with it.

Now we didn't do much in terms of advancing the main story quest because I had a back log of dungeons, trials and raids to tackle to start with... and a lot of them were tied to the Alexander side-story, which got more interesting with each bit of progress because of the villain seemingly being able to predict the future, but the real kicker is that it's all the result of a predestination paradox. 

What is a predestination paradox? It is essentially a closed loop of events where one cannot exist with out the other happening, such as what we saw in Star Trek Online with Sela actions regarding the Iconians because they destroyed Romulus as a result of her attacking them when they were escaping their home world, in the context of of Final Fantasy XIV, the character of Mide Hotgo is apart of a summoning of the primal Alexander which arrives from the future when she is on it and where a journal is lost in the past, picked up by who ends up becoming the villain setting of the cycle of events. The question becomes what actually happened first? It's the whole chicken and the egg theory, if chicken's come from eggs how the did the first chicken come into existence if there was no egg

But when you think about it, in terms as a plot device, the use of a predestination paradox makes the most sense for Final Fantasy XIV, it keeps the story moving forward without the worry of considering alternate time lines... and the tragedy that something can't be changed because it was always meant to be makes the character of Mide more compelling... and I was really hoping to see how the story would end but the queue for the last raid (The Soul of the Creator) wouldn't pop. DAMN IT!

Still we had a lot of fun with everything we did, we got the final raid of the Sky Pirates story arc done, and I can safely say that whoever at Square Enix came up with knock of the edge mechanics for a number of battles in this game has a special place in hell waiting for them!

Following the stream we sent the fun over to long time friend of the channel FelKimchi who was playing Minecraft over on twitch.tv/felkimchi! 

Twitch Clip Links

• Aw you gotta be F'n kidding me! 
• Nobody saw that.... 
• My backside was on fire! 
• We are behind the tree... that is a big bear! 

I figured out that I can crop the my web cam in OBS without using the filters and adjust it on different scenes, which actually solves a lot of issues regarding lay out placement of different things on my stream. Only took me nearly six years to figure that out! 

The subject of old TV stations and Saturday morning cartoons came up towards the end of the stream which proved as a reminder of how much useless information I have inside my head.

If Jim Kaat is being considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame... then shouldn't Jamie Moyer be a possibility at some point too?

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Workout had Difficulty Challenge Combo #2, Difficulty Challenge Combo #3 and Difficulty Challenge Combo #1 as the exercises for an duration of 34 minutes and a estimated calorie burn of 638 kcal. Also managed to get a perfect score on Difficult Challenge Combo #3 (504 actions performed, none OK or missed)

For tonight's stream, we're going to celebrate the fact that the NHL is back on ESPN by playing the last hockey game that had ESPN branding on it... EPSN NHL 2K5. We're not going to do a season like we did with ESPN Baseball, instead we're going to do a few exhibition games. Chances are I'm going try to keep the stream to about 4 hours considering the length of last night's stream.

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

More Big Rumble Boxing Fun

Good morning everybody,

You know when people call your to ask you something and they know what answer you're going to give them... why do they even call in the first place?

By the way, that's a great screen shot isn't it? Looks like Drago is pointing to where Rocky should go as the Italian Stalion is making a turn.

Anyway last night's stream saw more fun with Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions, as we covered five arcade towers, and the more of these I complete, the more I see how BRB:CC is probably adding a ton of lore to the Rocky Universe while giving some filler on what has happened between Creed II and Creed III (if that ever gets made). Perhaps the one arcade tower that has the most consequence was the one for Benji, which basically acts as a set up to Adonis' own towner, which we did on the first night of playing this a few weeks ago.

But in terms of added lore, Ivan Drago's tower certainly adds a lot in terms of his downward spiral, and how he did cross paths with Clubber Lang... and damn near killed him as a result of Drago not being able to get over his loss to Rocky. If the BRR:CC is considered canon, then it certainly fills a big 'what happened to...' aspect when it comes to one of Rocky's more memorable opponents.  

Not all of the actions for Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions happened on stream, as I went back to it off-stream and used a second controller to tackle four achievements, and finally realized what the Unblockable Move is... but holding triangle, a character will throw a punch that will tear through the opponents guard. Since I'm damn near constant offense any way, I didn't realize what it was when I accomplished the 'One Step' achievement!  

Now the way I figure, there are eight more arcade towers to tackle... so if I split them four and four we can get two more streams out of BRB:CC... and I tackle one at Champion Difficulty and use an alternate attire when using Wheeler, we could 100% complete the game. Then again, I might make the Champion Difficulty attempt it's own separate stream using either Rocky or Scraps. Who knows.

Anyway... following the stream we sent the fun over to Juwan313 who was also playing Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions over at twitch.tv/juwan313!

 Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions Achievements

1. Nothing But Bums: Unlock all Boxers
2. Oh Mama: Beat Vick "Underground" Rivera's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
3. Honor To Beat You: Beat Leo "The Lion" Sporino's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
4. Redemption Arc: Beat "Pretty" Ricky Conlan's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
5. End of the Beginning: Beat Benjamin "Benji" Reid's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
6. Broken Man: Beat Ivan Drago's Arcade Tower on Any Difficulty
7. Pound For Pound: Win a match without using Basic Attacks
8. I Didn't Hear No Bell...: Win a match after being 3 Knockdowns behind
9. One Punch: Pierce an opponent's Guard with an Unblockable Move 10 times
10. One Round At A Time: Pierce an opponent's Guard with an Unblockable Move 20 times 

Twitch Clip Links

•  Don't Think He Can Go Past That 
•  Apollo Is Alive?! Out... It's a Cut Out.... 
•  Just Like The Movie! 
•  Big Uppercut From Clubber... Is Not As Big As This! 
•  Countered And Knocked Him Out!
  

Also, forgot to give a big thank you to LvStrkr for resubscribing to my Twitch channel. He's been subbed to the channel for 31 months! Big thanks dude!

Speaking of my twitch channel, followers now have access to five free emotes just for following the channel... and if they just do a basic subscription to the channel (Tier 1), they get access to 5 more!  

There was an issue regarding how banning works on Twitch, in for a brief period, it was removing people from following the channel if they were banned. I don't see the problem with that, as that's how it's supposed to work in my view... but there are real idiots out there who've been using the Banned function as a meme... like someone can request someone else to be banned as a joke, which undermines the purpose for banning someone! On my twitch channel, the only people who get banned are those who break the rules I have set!.

My off-stream progress for Final Fantasy XIV saw more progress on side stories than the main story quest, as I had a number of raids and dungeons to do that were open in my journal. I have to say that I still struggle with noticing random tagged AOEs from enemies in the raids, and recognizing what happens when is a bit of bother on those times I do get tips or insight on what's happened. That I am digging the Sky Pirates story arc as it has me primed with a show down with Diablos, and the Alexander quests seem to be a series of mini-raids from what I can tell.... which makes me think their is one huge one that links them all together coming at some point.   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout had Sway Back Combo, Hip Shape Focus Combo and Straight Combo #2 as the workouts for a duration of 31 minutes and an estimated calorie burn of465 kcal.

For tonight's stream we'll be putting a focus on Final Fantasy XIV, as we're going to do whatever we come across... it might be raids and big battles, but depends on what quests need to be fulfilled!

So on that not we'll see you over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Street Fighters, Judgment and a Fitness Boxing 2 Patch Update?

Good morning everybody,

Don't you just love it when you're first told there isn't work, then get a call asking if you can work, but when you're trying to start work the system doesn't work, and thus you lose time that you could spend working? Yeah that was my day yesterday!

Anyway, last night's stream lead off with Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact: Giant Attack, and we had three successful arcade runs that involved multiple continues being used... as we cleared it with Ryu, Ibuki and Ken. In comparison to Street Fighter III: New Generation, 2nd Impact is much harder because of the A.I. input reading, so combos and that should be landing are blocked out right. That said, I did have fun with it, even if my own endurance for going up against an A.I. in a fighting game was starting to deplete to where I was going just destroyed by Hugo.

Speaking of which, Hugo, along with Akuma and Urien are added to the roster, while Yun and Yang are separated, so they aren't sharing the same character slot. Something is real obvious with Urien who is Gill's brother... and that's the fact they share quite a few of the same animations/ So I kind of suspect, Capcom wanted to make Gill playable but not want to nerf him, so they created a new character instead.

Half way through the stream Iceman joined in as we continued Gears of War: Judgement, knocking out Acts V and VI of the main campaign, which was quite entertaining in terms of the hordes of enemies we had to deal with along with the numerous ways we got killed. Managed to get Iceman a collectable he was missing late in the game which was pretty cool. The final end boss for GoW:J is rather.. underwhelming in terms of its design, but it certain packs a mean punch.

The more arcade like nature of GoW:J really shines through more in the final two acts of the campaign, as every possible enemy is on your tail, and there is a real possibility of running out of ammo, but at the same time it is a lot of fun.

Now I"m not counting Gears of War: Judgement as being finished yet because we still have the Aftermath mission to do, which we'll cover as part of next Wednesday's stream. So one more round of fun with us as Baird and Cole, then of course Gears of War 4 will be on the agenda!

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Achievements

1. Make an Impact: Beat Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact - Giant Attack.

Gears of War: Judgment Achievements

1. Rising Star: Attained 50 Stars on at least Casual Difficulty
2. Veteran Remembrance: Recovered 25 COG Tags during the Campaign
3. I Told You: Completed Downtown Halvo Bay
4. This One's Not Over: Completed Courthouse
5. Determined: Completed all Campaign Chapters on at least Casual difficulty
6. Blood Brothers: Completed all Campaign Chapters in Co-op
7. Proud Wearer: Equipped your first Medal

Twitch Clip Links

• 2nd Impact: Shutting Down Gill!
• Hugo was not impressed with my attempt to win.... 
• Got 'Em!
• Getting that one collectable Iceman needs
• Hello... HELLO Mister Fancy Pants!
• I'm being chased

I didn't make much headway Final Fantasy XIV's Main Story Quest last night, but I did turned my attention to some of the side quests that required doing certain Primal battles (The Diabolical Bismark and Thok Around The Clock), plus a dungeon involing saving Tonberries (Not Easy Being Green). I'm glad I picked up the boost to 70 once I was level 69, as the gear that comes with it certainly has me hanging in fights a lot longer than I normally would have. Also my clueless nature certainly showed  when I was doing The Minstrel's Ballad: Thordan's Reign... as it gave me fits in trying to figure out the pattern of the attacks that were incoming.

Added Requiem From The Darkness: Eternal Rest (aka volume 4 of the set) to my anime DVD collection, and I now have all four volumes of the series. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout had Block Combo, Waist Shape Focus Combo and Hook Combo #1 as the exercises for a duration of 31 minutes and an estimated calorie burn of 472 kcal

Fitness Boxing 2 also released a new patch update, it is now version 1.1.0.and here are thew updates

• New Instructor
  
  1. A brand-new instructor, Guy, has been added
• Voice Languages for Instructors
  
  1. Guy and Janice now have Korean voice options
  2. You can now set individual voice languages for each instructor by going to the Change Instructor in the Instructor section of the Lounge
  3. Voice Language has now been removed as an option from the Instructor section of the Settings Menu

Guy's personality makes him sound like a jerk... so I'm in no rush to use him as a trainer, as no achievements are associated with him, but is inclusion does balance the number of trainers out a bit more between male and female.. As far as the Voice Language setting changes go, it doesn't really effect me since I do everything in English, but for those who want to mix and match different languages for different trainers.

For tonight's stream we'll be hooking up the PlayStation 4 to continue unlocking stuff in Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions! Hopefully the characters I'll be using are easy to figure out quick combos and patterns.

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

To Raid Tombs One Must Be Heavensward

Good morning everybody,

Well yesterday was a day off that was not planned, as usual election times can be screwy in the world of market research... 

Anyway last night's stream was of course focused on Tomb Raider, picking up from the start of Chasm Monastery and ending by reaching the Endurance crew on Shipwreck Beach, which basically sets up the final third of the game for next Monday's stream. In terms of the focus of tonight, I did put a lot of time into trying to find the tombs, picking up three tonight. The point of the tombs is to be able to go back and find all the collectables once the main campaign is finished. Might make for a fun random night of nonsense, as I believe I have over 50% of the things found.... I could be wrong.

Now one thing that was quite obvious about tonight's stream was that I struggled with a lot of Lara's big cinematic running and jumping scenes, as she plummeted to her death quite a few times... which is funny, because in prior runs of the game, it was when she was sliding down a river and avoiding debris that was the problem,

There is a good portion about Tomb Raider that certainly lends itself to fan fiction, Lara and Sam obviously, but considering the island is filled with murderous dudes who haven't seen a woman in at least 15 years, one would think wanting to kill the first one they see would be the last thing on their mind. Just food for thought there.

Following the stream we sent the fun over to Loganatf who appears to be very new to twitch, and they were also playing Tomb Raider over at twitch.tv/loganantf!  

Tomb Raider - Definitive Edition Achievements

1. Relic Hunter: 25% of all relics collected.
2. Down and Dirty: 15 finishers performed.
3. Looking for Trouble: 25% of all GPS caches found.
4. Scrounger: 5000 pieces of salvage collected.
5. Sharp Shooter: 50 headshot kills performed in the single player campaign.
6. Opportunist: 25 unaware enemies killed.
7. Picky: 200 enemies looted.
8. Epic Fumble: Forced an enemy to drop dynamite that killed two people.
9. Crab Cakes: FeeFee the crab killed.
10. Clever Girl: Purchased all skills in one category.

Twitch Clips Links

• Watch out for that tree! 
• What the hell just happened?!
• Think we got most of them with that!
• Overkill 
• Crab Cakes
  

Off-stream Final Fantasy XIV progress saw me reaching the end of Heavensward with the quest of the same name. Safe to say I loved how straight forward a lot of things were in the later portion of the chapter, as some things were being set up for the future while others were coming to ahead. The revelation that I'll be going up against Nidhogg against and this time he's possessed Estinien (the Azure Dragoon) certainly raises the stakes a bit... if I actually liked Estinien to begin with.

Some other points of interest were the post-credits introduction of the Warrior of Darkness, now is this going just a doppelganger of my character, or is it some fully voiced foe whose ass I'm going to have to kick six ways from Balamb Garden? (Yes that's a Final Fantasy VIII reference but that is my favorite game in the series of all time). There is still the matter of finding the other Scions and the Empire still causing havoc with their version of doing the 'right' thing by keeping the Primals in check.

Really looking forward to seeing where the story goes next!

That said, I do find it funny that the boss of Heavensward is basically a Pope-like figure whose self-righteous pious nature leads them becoming a threat for the world. Japan game developers certainly make it a point to take shots at religious figure heads... though Grandia II was the most obvious since it's main villain was Pope Zera.

Beyond that, I stumbled across  a side-story within Final Fantasy XIV involving Sky Pirates, a shot ship and Diablos. The associated Alliance Raid was a hell of a lot of fun, particularly since I used a boost from the FF14 online store to grab the max level gear for level 70 before I hit it based on my own game play (I was like 500,000 XP away... but the huge difference in damage output between what I was doing and what I saw other Bards doing was quite noticeable)

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Weaving Combo #2, Beginner Combo #2 and Straight Combo #1 for a duration of 31 minutes and a estimated calorie burn of 470 kcal.

For tonight's stream will feature two games, first Street Fighter III: Second Impact will be our lead off game as I attempt to beat it for the first time! Then around 9 PM or so, Iceman will be joining us for Acts IV and V of Gears of War: Judgement!

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! 

Overwatch On Halloween

Good afternoon everybody,

Update on the healing of the tooth is that the hole where it used to be is even smaller, no noticeable pains at all... so hopefully everything just rolls neatly with it. I do know the bone growing to fill in the gap where the tooth was is gonna take about 4-6 months to settle in, but as long as I don't have to deal with the dry socket possibility I'm happy.

We had a great night of Overwatch last night, getting in the last matches needed to unlock the Roadhog skin associated with this years Halloween Terror event. Also big thanks to Reaper, PandaSweet and Speedy for joining in a lot of matches! I can't think of the last time I had a four stack going into a match from the start... actually I can, it would've been Halloween of last year with Kalenal and I think Mech being in the team with myself and Panda!

In terms of Plays of the Game I picked up four two as D.va and one each as Reinhardt and 76. Game modes saw a bit of Junkenstein Revenge including a couple of attempt on the Expert version of it, with the second one being successful with little to no damage on the door. Once of these days I'm gonna try the Legendary version of it to see if that cane be done. Also tossed in a couple of Mystery Hero matches, but for the most part it was Quick Play matches for the night.

Following the stream we sent the fun over to Lunar_Princess who was playing Resident Evil 4 VR over at twitch.tv/lunar_princess!

Twitch Clip Links

 Quad Kill As Rein!

Oh boy! That was lucky! 

Some how surviving as baby Dva 

Off-stream Final Fantasy XIV Progress... well big news is I defeated my first first 'Extreme' Difficulty trial, and yes it was 'The Striking Tree (Extreme)'. After learning what to do during Saturday night's stream, going into with understanding of the orbs, the adds and AOE dangers, I certainly felt more comfortable. That said the tanks were also real new to it, so they both learned on the fly and were able to adapt. Sadly, one support player left part way through, but thankfully FXIV will try to find someone to fill the role.

Big thanks to Kalenal for showing me just how over powered a level 80 Red Mage can be against the likes of Ifrit, King Moogle, Garuda, Shiva, Leviathan and Titan, as three of them were tied to 'Face them on Extreme' quests. Also got some extra insights into the abilities and how these fights should go normally! 

Main Story Quest progress saw things picked up from 'In Search of the Soleil up to an 'An Illuminati Incident' and over the course of these session I faced the sky whale primal, learned that the next huge major story point is gonna involve entering a sky city  and oh yeah... Y'shtola has been found, the first of the Scions to turn up since everything went topsy turvey at the end of A Realm Reborn! 

Speaking off off-stream stuff, joined Sw33ts_gaming during their stream of Overwatch over at twitch.tv/sw33ts_gaming along with ChiefBeef for some additional matches, picking up two more plays of the game, one as D.va and one as Brigitte.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured the following exercises Triple Combo #1, Body Straight Combo and Uppercut Combo #1 for a duration of 31 minutes and an estimated calorie burn of 426 kcal

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise Achievements

1. Janice's Contender: Train with Janice for over 30 hours
   

Since we reached the 30 hours for Janice's Contender, we're now going to switch over to using Karen as the trainer. Based on time spent using Karen before we're at 14/30 hours for the Karen's Contender achievement. Other achievements in progress see that I'm at 325/365 consecutive days for One Year's Hard Work, 325/350  Stamps for Unparalleled Stamper and 449,780/450,000 HITs for Mosnter Weight Puncher Lv. 4. Safe to say we're gonna reach that last one tomorrow!

For tonight's stream we are going to be playing Tomb Raider, and this would be 2013 game that was developed by Crystal Dynamics. I have played the Steam version before, so this time I'll be playing the console version using the Xbox Series S. 

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