A Night Of Exploring The First Palace

Good afternoon everyone,

Well, I wanted to fully experience a dungeon or palace in Persona 5 Royal, and last night certainly was it. Sure we got some character development and leveled up a few things, and badly mishandled fusing Persona's, but the biggest thing was going through what I think would've been 90% of the first palace, missing a couple of things along the way.

Still with the notes I'm using saying to go through it in one 'in game' day, I can see the perks to it, because leaving and going back to them would be a pain. This means I would have to certainly stock up on stuff that replenish HP and SP, since there doesn't seem any way to do so in the Palaces outside of of the Will Seeds.

I do like the different enemies that are encountered and the fact that if certain conditions are met, they could be recruited, however only so many can be had at one time, which means fusing some with the hopes of getting something fairly powerful is key, not to mention having the fused Persona have a variety of elemental attacks to be used in battle.

Still the next time we do Persona 5 Royal, which will be on Friday, we'll do the Calling Card set up and see how that goes!

For the raid, we dropped in on SheepFuzz who was doing JackBox Party things over at twitch.tv/sheepfuzz! SheepFuzz also raided my stream earlier in the week... and I forgot to make note of that! They are certainly good people! 

Persona 5 Royal Trophies

• I am Thou...: Obtained a Persona through negotiation.
• Tactical Teamwork: Performed a Baton Pass.
• You'd Better Hang On!: Used the grappling hook.
• Let's Blow It Up: Defeated enemies via Disaster Shadow explosion.
• Technician: Triggered a Technical.
• A Deadly Debut: Performed a Guillotine execution.

Twitch Clip Links

1. You wouldn't believe me if I told ya 
2. We recruit another one 
3. That finished Them

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted  28 minutes with Defensive Combo #1, Defensive Combo #2 and Double Combo #1 for an estimated calorie burn of 437 kcal.

Fitness Boxing 2 Rhythm & Exercises Stats 2/20 to 2/26/22 

• Punches Thrown: 11,309
  
• Estimated Calorie Burn: 4677.42 kcal
  
• Total Days In A Row (Counting original Fitness Boxing): 600
• Total Days In A Row (Only Fitness Boxing 2): 441
• 43 out of 50 Hours trained for Hiro's Champion
  

Learned that the rewards for the four current Pandemonium raids in Final Fantasy XIV can only be claimed once a week, which kind of negates doing them daily. Tough beans man. 

Experimenting with making original content for my YouTube channel again, starting with a 'First Time In A Long Time' reaction to Cowboy Bebop: Asteroid Blues. Why first time in a long time? Because I haven't watched a lot of stuff in years. Still this was mostly to test the waters to see how this would work in terms of avoiding any copyright claims by making it as transformative as possible, such as combining the episode with my green screen and background and cutting the audio from it to about -17 dB. Editing was an interesting process  to focus on things that I said at key moments.

For tonight's stream, we'll be tearing through the story mode of Mortal Kombat IX, we will be reducing the difficulty to try and get through all 16 chapters, but you know it's going to probably take several hours to get through.

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

What did we do in FFXIV last night?

Good morning everyone,

The crazy weather of let February in South Jersey popped up as last night we got some snow... well that was surprising.

Anyway, last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV saw a few things getting done, we did a few dailies, and a couple of raids, included two of the Pandaemonium raids (Second & Third Circle). I can imagine how much more of a pain in the ass these would be on Savage difficulty, which I would eventually have to do to try and get gear that's level 600+. That will be a torture for sure.

Still I did do some level up grinding for both Blue Mage and Fishing, and those are progressing quite nicely with gaining about two levels each. Mostly used Fates for Blue Mage and found a few quests that gave some XP as well, which worked out nicely.

There was one quest, The Greatest Story Never Told, which proved to be really pointless since the rewards was only 10 gil. I think in terms of an actual quest , it is probably the worst one when it comes to presenting lore, and assumes everyone will know who every ones is within the game world when unscrambling letters.

No raid last night, but we did host Maximillian_dood who was playing Elden Ring over at twitch.tv/Maximilian_DOOD! Now, do I have any interest in playing Elden Ring myself? Are you kidding, I could not make it very far in Bloodborne, do you really think I'm going to mess around with something even harder?!

Twitch Clip Links

1. This is going to happen a lot
2. I'm just a fool like that.... 
3. Ressurected and knocked out in an instant
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minutes with Biceps Shape Focus Combo, Triple Combo #2 and Intermediate Combo #1 for an estimated calorie burn result of 525 kcal. Now if I was to guess, I would say we would hit the 50 hour mark for Hiro's Champion around March 12th, not factoring in the little extra sets I do each day on top of the daily sessions.

Microsoft announced that as of March 1, 2022 Party Chat will no longer be available in the Xbox Console Companion app on Windows Devices, which means I'll have to finally start using the Xbox app itself in order to have voice communication with those who join in on games I play using both Xbox consoles. Thing is, I have found the Console Companion app to be superior to the Xbox app in terms of layout and ease of use. Still we must evolve with the times since we have Gears of War: Ultimate Edition on the horizon.

Messed around with SoulCalibur, the Xbox 360 port, and managed to knock out a few achievements to keep my current streak going at 15 days. I will say this, the sound mix for SoulCalibur is loud as hell, even at 50% volume for back ground music and sound effects! In terms of how it looks, I'd say for a game that was once in the arcades that was ported to several consoles, SoulCalibur, the character models still look good, but some aspects such as the backgrounds have not aged well. Controls pretty decently too.

SoulCalibur Achievements

• Zen Warrior: Concentration and practice have led you to perfect your skills and obtain a perfect victory.
• Summon Suffering: Ivy is graceful but deadly and you have mastered her signature throw, the Summon Suffering.
• Warrior: Your skills have shown improvement now that you have defeated Arcade Mode.
• Art Connoisseur: You truly appreciate fine art and have viewed all the different areas in the Museum Mode.
• Apprentice: You have begun your journey by playing 3 different characters.

Really excited for Persona 5 tonight, mostly because the visual novel aspect of the game gives me so much to react to in terms of the story, but also I'm looking forward to really seeing what the dungeon experience is really like to some extent.

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

Roads and Collectables Found

Good morning everyone,

Let me begin this post the same way I started last night's stream by saying that Greg Abbot the governor of Texas has set a dangerous standard by making every family that has a youth who is trans a target for harassment in order to try and save himself politically. He, and anyone who supports him, are clear and present dangers to the American People.

That said, last night's stream opened up with Forza Horizon 4, as I set the goal to try and find every road in the main area of the game.... and some how I haven't discovered the final 3. The map says I've been everywhere, so I have no clue where these short side roads would be at. Still I finally found the final Beauty Spot location in the game to get that achievement.

Iceman joined in for Gears 5 as we set about searching for the final four collectables of the game, having to replay two major parts of the campaign. It did work out rather nicely, as we discovered a unique aspect of of JACK's shield which can stop a pouncer from diving onto a player. We also took Iceman into his first run of an Escape, which was chaotic fun.

We did announce that next Wednesday the Gears of War franchise fun will continue as we're going back to where it began with Gears of War Ultimate.. which was the remaster of the original game. It has an extra section that was exclusive to the PC version, so it should be a lot of fun. For that adventure I'll use the X-Box One for it since it is an older game.

No raid last night, but we did host JustBrootal who was playing Call of Duty: Warzone over on twitch.tv/justbrootal!

Forza Horizon 4 Achievements

• Taking the Grand Tour: View every Beauty Spot.

Gears 5 Achievements

• It’s Not Hoarding if Your Stuff is Cool: Collected all Campaign Collectibles

Twitch Clip Links

1. I would create restaurant... 
2. JD... Phrasing
3. The Shield Stopped The Pouncer! 
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 34 minutes with Difficult Challenge Combo #1, Difficult Challenge Combo #2 and Difficult Challenge Combo #3 for an calorie burn estimate of 647 kcal.

Jumps into Tell Me Why to speed run Episode 3 with all the 'negative' choices to get the final achievement to 100% complete the game. Needless to say skipping over all the context and lore of Mary Ann really takes a lout out of the game, which means going for the 'split' of the Twins is something deliberate one must go for.

Tell Me Why Achievements

• Life Tears Us Apart: Complete the story with the twin's bond weakened
  

Messed around some more with NBA Jam last night as well, wonder how many achievements are actually do-able with it that don't depend on online play.

Back in the 90s my dad did a lot of research into family history, tracing his side of the family back to Belarus on my grandfather's side, and Ukraine on my grandmother's side... so it that later part that has me hoping that the mess caused by the Vladimir Putin gets sorted out quickly. 

It's looking more and more doubtful the 2022 Major League Baseball season will start on time, I meant it ain't that hard to say 'we'll use the old agreement until the new one is agreed upon', but the greed of the players and stubbornness of the owners continues to hold things up 

I have no issue with Machine Gun Kelly being in WWE 2K22, I however do have a problem with yet another WWE video game using licensed songs for the menu screens that cannot be used for custom entrances. It's really a waste of the rights fees 2K has paid to acquire the use of those songs... granted it's a terrible selection regardless.

For tonight's stream we'll be playing Final Fantasy XIV, probably do a daily alliance raid, level up blue mage and fishing a few levels!

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

Which Tell Me Why 'Positive' Ending Was Better?

Good morning everyone,

Last night we continued and finished Tell Me Why, and we went the extra mile to see both endings, one where Alyson stays in her and Trevor's mother's house, and one where they left the town to move on with their lives. Now one thing that surprises me is that as of 2/22/22, The 'Lock-Up And Go' ending is the one damn near everyone picks, and so it really makes me wonder why would folks pick it over 'A New Chapter'.

Probably the first reason is that most folks would want to see the twins basically putting everything behind them, and since Alyson does have some issues needing to sort through it's more of a happy ending... and the other with her staying behind, it does seem to set her up for many of the same issues her mother did. On the other hand, with Alyson staying behind allows her to basically forge her own path and do what's best for her and probably do something with all the Goblin stories that played a huge part of the game.

It's really a tough call... but what wasn't a tough call was making sure Trevor and Michael end up as a couple, and doing every single puzzle which certainly adds a lot of lore and back story to make everything makes sense. If you have not done every puzzle in the loft, you should because it really opens up a lot of details.

Now with last night's stream, we have every achievement for episode three except for one... and that involves making sure Alyson and Trevor lose their power of communication telepathically with one another. So after doing a little Final Fantasy XIV, I loaded Tell Me Why back up and basically did a speed run of Episode 1 and 2 making every 'negative' choice when it came to memories and conversation possible... which basically shows how 10 years apart can really divide how people view things.

Anyway, we had some extra time so we loaded up NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, which was released way back in 2011. Rather surprised the NBA Jam brand has been left dormant again for so long, but considering EA hasn't made a basketball game in what seems like forever I'm not surprised. Still managed to knock out an achievement for it which was a nice little bonus.

For the raid, we dropped in on SeverOmega who was playing Apex Legends over on twitch.tv/severomega!

Tell Me Why Achievements

• Mailbox Bandit: Found out who the Mailbox Bandit really was
• Just One Fix: Helped Sam fix the engine
• Are You My Daddy?: Learned the truth about Sam's relationship to the twins
• Fish all the Fish: Caught all the fish with Michael
• The Princess' Lost Treasure: Uncovered the princess' lost treasure
• And Everything In Its Place: Placed all collectibles in the attic
• Twins4life: Completed the story with the twins strongly bound together
• A New Chapter: Started writing a new chapter with Alyson
• Lock-Up And Go: Locked-up and left the Ronan house with Tyler

NBA JAM: On Fire Edition Achievements

• Jam Sesh: Participate in 5 JAM Now games.

Twitch Clip Links

1. This is how legends begin 
2. Make The Move
3. Everything in its place 
4. Dawkins Is On Fire!
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minutes with Sway Back Combo, Hip Shape Focus Combo and Straight Combo #2 resulting in an estimated calorie burn of 462 kcal. I am closing in on 600 consecutive days since I started the original Fitness Boxing in the summer of of 2020.

So with Tell Me Why finished, what will be the next game dedicated to Mondays & Tuesdays? As of right now I have not made up my mind yet, but there are a number of possibilities on the X-Box side of things that I'm considering. Current contender include Dragon Ball Kakarot and Game of the Thrones: The Tell-Tale Series (which I have a physical copy of).

At the time I'm writing this it's 64 degrees outside, which is nice, but the forecast is to see it drop down to the mid 30s tomorrow. Welcome to the wacky weather of later February in New Jersey

For tonight's stream, we'll lead off with more roaming around in Forza Horizon 4, then we'll load up Gears 5 to find the last four collectables needed to it an achievement!

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

Tell Me Why Is A Very Surprising Game

 Good morning everyone,

Well as you tell by the title, Tell Me Why is already surprising to me on so many levels that I regret not playing it sooner. Developed by DONTNOD, the same folks behind the original version of Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2, Tell Me Why sees a pair of twins reunited 10 years after a tragic night to put the past behind them... but old secrets start cropping up, and a mystery needs to be solve.

One thing I can appreciate is the DONTNOD clearly clearly their lesson from Life is Strange 2, that instead of making a massive road trip with side-characters were barely get to know, we get to stay in one spot which allows the story to breath. And having not played the third episode yet, it does appear DONTNOD learned a lesson from both of their efforts on Life Is Strange and Life is Strange 2 in that padding for the sake of stretching a story out is not a good thing.

That, Tell Me Why is a gorgeous looking game and it really does force one to admire the details of the scenery. Some of the sound mixing is a little weird at times, depending on how far you are from a character that is speaking, but that's fine. I'm real excited about seeing where the story ends up, and how the choice I mad matter.

There may be a need to do three full play-throughs based on choices, but I'm not sure based on what I'm seeing, based on going back to find collectables and things missed for achievements in episodes 1 and 2. Speaking of doing that, I managed to discover some things I clearly missed 'story wise' that would have added even more depth to the characters.

Oh, and in case anyone cares, I'm more than cool with Tyler being a trans character, in fact, I got more than a little off-put by the fact there is a character in Tell Me Why who despite everything, wasn't going to accept him for who he is. Of course... anyone who things conversion therapy is a good idea has their own head so up their own ass that they can taste what they had for lunch two days prior.

Funny thing to note, because of the episodic nature of Tell Me Why's initial release, the game is considered completed with all achievements unlocked for episode one, with the episodes two and three just counting as DLC. So that's an interesting little nugget of information!

For the raid, we dropped in on PragoxGamerAU who was playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/pradoxgamerAU!

Tell Me Why Achievements

• Rear View Mirror: Left Fireweed Residential Center
• We Need To Talk: Took time to talk things over with your twin
• One For The Collection: Found your first Book of Goblins figure
• Homecoming: Entered the Ronan House
• Crafty Goblins: Solved the puzzle on Mary-Ann's door
• Full Confession: Made Tessa tell everything she knows
• Hacking 101: Found the password to unlock the Police Station computer
• Bound To A Lie: Remembered the night the twins agreed to lie
• Chapter One: Completed Episode One
• Guess Who?: Figured out who inspired each Book of Goblin character
• Arborglyph: Corrected the old graffiti on the tree
• State Your Emergency: Found a recording of the twins' 911 call
• Cold Case: Discovered intel about Mary-Ann's past and her death
• Sharp Shooter: Won the plushie battle
• Rest In Peace: Made peace with Mary-Ann at the cemetery
• Chapter Two: Completed Episode Two
• This Is Despicable: When we say locked, it's locked 
• Kick Me: Stick a note on Tyler's back
• Moo'd Changer: Prove to Tyler that moo boxes are actually funny
• Remember Strange Vampire: Find three classic posters
  

Twitch Clip Links

1. Obvious Puzzle Is Obvious
2. Playing WIth Fuses 
3. Something Poetic About Time Travel and Life Being Wierd...
   

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Daily Workout lasted 31 minutes with Hook Combo #1, Waist Shape Focus Combo and Block Combo, with the calorie burn estimated at 494 kcal.

I have a sinking feeling the United States and Russia will probably be entering a very hostile period over the Ukraine, which will probably pull in quite a few Eastern European nations. 

Not shocked at the sudden surge in rent costs across the country, the price gouging done by leasing offices is down right criminal.  

Update on my YouTube channel over at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoZDn5flULzEeJlW0Rw2X2Q (I do not have enough subscribers with it to get a dedicated domain name), previous streams will be posted one week after they are streamed on Twitch. The reason I'm stating it is because up until this week, there was like a two week delay.

Got my gear score in Final Fantasy XIV up to 569, so steady progress being made in that with the simple daily Alliance Raid runs!

I will not be surprise of the 2022 MLB Season doesn't start until mid-April, there is no way a deal will be hammered out in time for spring training to be anything less than the rushed mess it was at the started of the 1995 season.

For tonight's stream we'll finish up Tell Me Why, and depending on time, we might pair it with Paladins or Smite. 

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

Whole lot of things

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Overwatch certainly was interesting with a lot of overly aggressive matches, some suspect new comers and other craziness. There was one Lucio who seemingly got their 'Soundwave' back faster than usual, keeping in mind, all matches were just Quick Play bouts, and it didn't help they appeared to be a smurf. So his bony ass got reported as so as something was noticed.

Big thanks to BangBangBang713 for joining in on several matches, always awesome to play with members of the community! Picked up one play of the game as D.va, and got in a few matches as her, Moira and Mei this evening, and I did use Reinhardt for part of one match and Tracer as a back fill in another.

For the raid we dropped in on Redneck_23 who was just doing a Just Chatting stream over on twitch.tv/redneck_23!

Twitch Clip Links

1.  The Focus Was Real
2.  I'm on fire... first one way and then the other
3.  A Nice Wall

For today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout lasted 31 minutes with Weaving Combo #2, Straight Combo #1 and Beginner Combo #2 for an estimated calorie burn of 482 kcal.

Messed around more with Moral Kombat IX to earn some basic achievements, we'll most likely dedicate time to the Story Mode this week, maybe for Saturday's stream perhaps.

Mortal Kombat Achievements

• Complet-ality: Perform 1 of each type of "-ality"
• Finish Him?: Perform any fighter's hidden finishing move
• Tag, You're It!: Perform and land a Tag Combo
• Robots Rule!: Win Arcade Tag Ladder with robot Sektor and Cyrax

Capcom officially announced Street Fighter VI, and here's hoping it's not just limited to the PlayStation side of the console market. That was easily the biggest drawback about Street Fighter V. That said, I'm more excited for the Capcom Fighting Collection  that will be coming out this summer, which will include every Darkstalkers game, plus other stuff like Red Earth, Cyberbots, Super Puzzle Fighter II, Pocket Fighter and the Anniversary edition of Hyper Street Fighter II.

 We added a few things to X-Box side of heavy considerations for streaming in the future

• Light Fairytale Episode 1 & 2
• The Adventures of Elena Temple: Definitive Edition
• Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins 
• Binary Domain
• Dead of Alive 1 Ultimate
• Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate
• Dead or Alive 3 Ultimate

Elena Temple is a retro styled platformer, Heard Binary Domain was a lot like Gears of War, so that could be interesting, of course the Dead or Alive Ultimate versions of the first three games that were on the original X-Box is more for easy completion. Light Fairytale is an episodic turn-based JRPG that apparently didn't do well enough to warrant the series continuing... and the Doctor Who game is another odd-ball licensed by the BBC instead of giving the franchise a proper video game experience.

That is something that always bugged me, outside of the 11th Doctor era, there has not been much of note for the Doctor Who franchise in the realm of video games. To be honest, the show does lend itself more towards the point and click adventure style of video game, which we got with the Doctor Who: Adventure Games, but there was a fairly decent action platformer as well with Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, and I believe the last major release was your basic Candy Crush styled game in the form of Doctor Who: Infinity. 

For tonight's stream we're going to start up Tell Me Why, which is a narrative driven game developed by DONTNOD. I've heard good things about it, and I figure this might take two, at the most three streams to finish.

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

 

Flies, Hockey and Paladins

Good afternoon everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Life of Fly 2 Achievements

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

NHL 94 Rewind Achievements

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

Twitch Clip Links

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

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

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

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

Band of Bugs Achievements

• Recruit: Completed the Tutorial

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

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

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

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