More Mass Effect 3

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Mass Effect 3 was a lot of fun, as we took our time and tried to tackle many things from different parts of the game, such as N7 Missions, Exploration and the main story, plus just roaming around on the Citadel and other stuff that leads to me just having play through last longer than needed. The big thing we did do was to knock out the Turian missions on Tuchanka so that we don't have the 'bomb' mission to worry about as I go take care of other things. This will help in a big way when it comes to just making sure everything possible gets done without being rushed. 

Of course, we did have a number of chuckles with some favorite moments (Wrex's air drop, Grunt being reunited with his 'mama', and getting Liara to meet her father), and we've banged out several achievements... including one that involved getting armor that was DLC for Mass Effect 2. Also noticed on a lof the screenshots, that the 360 version of Mass Effect 3 has darker lighting than the PC (Origin) and Legendary Edition versions. 

I will try and put some time into the Mass Effect Galaxy at War gimmick to see if I can knock out its associate achievement, but that may prove to be a bit problematic considering how EA's N7HQ website was never all that reliable.

Big thank you to the those in the chat that kicked in 300 bits during the stream. The continued support is always appreciated!

Mass Effect 3 Achievements

• Liberator: Stop a Cerberus kidnapping.
• Always Prepared: Obtain two non-customizable suits of armor.
• Pyromaniac: Set 100 enemies on fire with powers.
• World Shaker: Destroy an Atlas dropped from orbit.
• Tunnel Rat: Survive the swarm.
• Giant Killer: Defeat a harvester.
• Sky High: Lift 100 enemies off the ground with powers.
• Tourist: Complete one multiplayer match or two N7 missions.

Twitch Clips

• Shepard Doing A Full Linda Blair!
• You Big Stupid Jellyfish... Great Line 
• Achievement: Giant Killer
  

For the raid, we sent the fun over to Joliet4 who was doing a music stream over at twitch.tv/joliet4! 

Got an email from Xfinity's Executive Customer Relations Department asking me to reach out to them regarding the issues I was having... goes to show, to make them do anything, just contact the FCC. Speaking of which, last night's stream saw three interruptions, and this morning was plagued with several issues... I attempted to call the persona assigned to this case but got their voice mail 1/2 a dozen times as well.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 featured Front-Back Step Combo, Triple Combo #2 and Defensive Combo #2 for 28 minutes. Today marked 600 days in a row of Fitness Boxing 2, 758 when also including the original Fitness Boxing

Kudos to voters in the state of Kansas to up hold abortion rights.

Work really dragged yesterday, as one of my least favorite assignments rolled in... and let me state, I'm not the biggest fan of Business to Business research because of how unprofessional people are. 

Vin Scully the long time voice of the Dodgers has passed away, I believe there are no more classic era announcers left with any of the major league teams at this point. 

Got another commission story request, looking for a cross over between WWE and Fox Sports which shall prove a challenge to make work. Hopefully I can come up with something solid. 

Cosmetic surgery used to be taboo, but now when you talk about Botox no one raises an eyebrow.

Did you hear the one about the three watering holes in the ground? Well, well, well.

Song of the Day: Do I Wanna Know by the Arctic Monkeys 

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.   

Iceman informed me he will not be able to take part in this week's mid-week shenanigans, so I think I might take a break from Fallout 76, and do something random. Not sure what that will be at this point and time.

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

The Return Of Mass Effect 3... This Time The 360 Version,

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Mass Effect 3 was a lot of fun, as we took our time trying to find all the things in each area, while exploring all the dialog options. I found a really good check list for all the Space collectables which actually serve as a great way of doing stuff between the big story missions. 

Some thing that surprised me was that I did Javik / Eden Prime mission before picking up Garrus, and  learned that Javik cannot be selected for the first true 'Priority' mission of the game. Which makes sense, as that attention to detail to not have him as an option over James or Liara means the plot point of EDI transitioning into the body Eva Corre doesn't disrupt things.

Much like the Gears of Wars games, Mass Effect 3 for the 360 still looks absolutely gorgeous, as I took some pretty gorgeous screenshots during the stream when possible. Thankfully, unlike the Legendary Edition, the original version of Mass Effect 3 doesn't have a photo mode some I'm having to time things via cut scenes.

We're going to get back into doing a main game two nights a week on Mondays and Tuesdays, so you can guess what we're doing tonight in case you don't want see what's written at the end of this blog. 

Also during the stream, my Xbox Gamer score broke past 85,000... not bad for basically 2 and half years of gaming on Xbox consoles. Potentially, just based on mostly story achievements and things already in progress, I probably get 880 gamer score off of what's left in Mass Effect 3.

Mass Effect 3 Achievements

• Driven: Return to active duty.
• Bringer of War: Chase down an assassin.
• Shopaholic: Visit a store in the single-player campaign.
• Untouchable: Escape a Reaper in the galaxy map.
• Lost and Found: Dispatch 10 probes to retrieve people or resources in Reaper territory.
• Focused: Evolve any of your powers to rank 6.
• Recruit: Kill 250 enemies.
• Mobilizer: Bring a veteran officer aboard.

Twitch Clips

• Keeping within a few meters
• No it's nothing like that terrible movie
• In Action On Eden Prime 
• We Need The Krogan!
  

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

Got an email back from the FCC letting me know that Xfinity has been severed noticed of the issues I've had with intermittent connection issues with my internet service. For the record we had one interruption, but the Gateway didn't register it to get a reading on the Upstream Power Level

I have found myself listening to the Triple KO podcast... and while Maxamillion Dood is always cool to listen too, Justin Wong often sounds mixed about anything he discusses ... while Matt McMuscles... really is a terrible driver of conversation, as he completely comes across of wanting to get to particular talking points instead of letting a conversation flow naturally. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Biceps Shape Focus Combo, Difficult Challenge Combo #1 and Intermediate Combo #1 for a duration of 34 minutes.

Why did Cinderella get kicked off of the soccer team? Because she kept running from the ball!

How many ears do space aliens have? Three: The left ear, right ear and the final front ear.

Song of the Day: Raise Your Glass by Pink

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.    

For tonight's stream we shall continue Mass Effect 3, with the first stop being Grissom Academy and saving Jack! 

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

We Found The Key Issue With Xfinity

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Overwatch was really hampered for a good portion by Xfinity issues, primarily because of the upstream power level spiking up to 58 on Channel Index 1. Normally the power level sits at 47... but when it spikes it totally screws with me over, Things got so bad that last night's stream was split into two parts and I actually got disconnected from enough matches in Overwatch that I nearly got penalized for leaving early.

Still, since I've reported the issue numerous times to Xfinity since late May, and after reaching out to Xfinity one last time with documented proof of the issues I forwarded a screenshot of what I saw to the FCC and going to let them deal with it the way I did last year. I'm done speaking to Xfinity on this matter.

Anyway, big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of all the matches and the fun, as well as hanging out through the many issues I had this evening. We did more than just quick play matches, as we tossed in a few Mayhem and Mystery Heroes matches as well. In terms of characters used, I used D.va, Moira, Reinhardt, Mercy, Orissa, Winston, Mei, Wrecking Ball, Lucio and others. Also picked up a play of the game as Reinhardt in one of the mayhem matches.

Twitch Clips

• When a A Latency Spike hits because of Xfinity
• Sheeeet!!!! 
• I think we won this one
  

For the raid we dropped in on TracyDoll who was playing Dead by Daylight over at twitch.tv/tracydoll!

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Difficult Challenge Combo #2, Block Combo and Difficult Challenge Combo #3 for a duration of 34 minutes. Today we completed the requirements for the Bernardo's Champion EX Achievement. With that done we'll switch to Laura as the trainer.

Fitness Boxing 2 Rhythm & Exercise EX Achievements

• Bernardo's Champion: Train with Bernardo for over 50 hours
• King EX Fighter Progress: 95%
• Laura's Champion Progress: 60% (30 of 50 hours trained)
  

Finished writing the commissioned fic based around Watch Dogs yesterday, and it turned out pretty decent I think, as it broke 2000 words. Problem is the client will still pay only the fixed rate they have been, but oh well. It's extra cash I wouldn't have had other wise. 

My fantasy baseball team had a solid week, and if things continue to hold up I could end up in my leagues playoffs. Of course I'm banking on Bryce Harper aand Chris Taylor to come back from injuries as soon as possible.

Nichelle Nichols who is probably only best known for playing Uhura on Star Trek the original series and in the first six films, passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Which leaves William Shatner, Walter Koenig and George Takei as the surviving members of the original cast.

What do clouds wear under their shorts? Thunderpants.

Did you hear about the guy who won the award for best knock knock joke? He won the no bell prize.

Song of the Day: Would? By Alice in Chains

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.    

The plan for tonight is to start up the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 3 to pick up achievements and to wrap up the classic version of the trilogy. In fact I installed it last night, and saw the multiplayer still works for it, even though no one else was playing it and I was able to get a couple of achievements. Also got myself re-familiar with some of the controls so I can look like I'm semi decent.

Mass Effect 3 Achievements

• Enlisted: Start a character in multiplayer or customize a character in single-player.
• A Personal Touch: Modify a weapon.

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

Thoughts on every character in MultiVersus

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream was totally dedicated to MultiVersus, for well over four hours. I didn't just stick with one character, I rotated through everyone currently in the game.So here are my thoughts on the current roster. I had more losses than wins during the night, but I had a blast. In fact I was having so much fun I nearly forgot to take a break! Anyway here's my break down of the current cast of characters in the game.

Lebron James: The basketball gimmick is quite useful, but it's way to easy to eliminate yourself by trying to use a down ability to dunk someone who is trying to get back on the platform

The Iron Giant: Big and slow, does a lot of damage and hits like a brick. Hope you never get stuck with a random partner also playing the character because the match becomes a slog.

Taz: Played him before the nerf that is coming for his spin, I don't see what the issue was, I found him to be fairly solid.

Velma: As a support character, I couldn't figured her out, but using her as a brawler allowed me to spam her gimmicks.

Arya Stark: Getting behind opponents and attacking from behind is key, does have some nice recovery options.

Batman: His grapple hook is great to close in on enemies... but can also result in yeeting yourself off platforms.

Bugs Bunny: Fairly even kit, but apparently he's getting nerf. His air side special of a rocket is really useful to try and get a quick ring out.

Finn the Human: I really not sure what to make of FInn, when I fact him I get my ass kick, when I used him I couldn't quite understand how his skills worked.

Garnet: A close range bruiser, has rocket punches... other than that nothing stood out to me

Harley Quinn: My 'main', has a side special that should get you behind enemies to shoot them in the back.

Jake the Dog: Actually calls opponents bastards, has to be in close to be effective near as I can tell.

Rendog: has an ability to extend a shield around partnered players, total support character but can set up some traps.

Shaggy: The mascot of the game, total instinct Shaggy is one of two characters everyone gets to learn right off the bat. Not sure how to make him throw a huge sandwich.

Steven Universe: A support character that can set up a shield for a barrier, can also create a clone that if it gets ringed out makes you think he himself has been elininated.

Superman: Classic Big Blue, has some nice combos, I didn't get a good handle on how to have him fly.

Tom and Jerry: You're actually Tom with Jerry being your item. I find it funny they and Bugs are classified as Mages.

Wonder Woman: Like Shaggy, she is someone everyone gets to learn right from the jump. Has some great nature combos.

On a side note we did pick up a few achievements related to MultiVersus as well

MultiVersus Achievements

• Spike Specialist: Get 10 Ringouts using the bottom of the blastbox
• Bun-Puncher Supreme: Get 100 ringouts
• Signature Slammer: Get 10 low damage ringouts
• Toast Master: Give out 100 toasts to other players

Twitch Clips

• Get that stuff out of here!
• Achievement: Spike Specialist 
• We Win!
  

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

Now I had an Xfinity tech come out and what they checked was everything, with the key thing being replaced was a splitter that had three connectors to one that had two while making sure the internet is in the priority slot. Apparently Xfinity splitters divide up the signal a certain way with three connectors that was causing some issues, not to mention I learned exactly where the 'cut off' is for when power levels get to high (51) on the modem which causes intermittent issues. The stream itself had no issues what so ever which was good.

My copy of Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] arrived yesterday afternoon, and I'm excited to see it is an ArcSys game that has a story mode.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout included Hip Shape Focus Combo, Intermediate Combo #2 and Straight Combo #2 for 28 minutes. Excellent chance we'll knock out the Bernardo's Champion achievement tomorrow

Fitness Boxing 2 Stats for the Month of July 2022

• Punches Thrown: 36492
  
• Estimated Calories Burned:15125.22 kcal
  
• Bernardo's Champion Progress: 98% (49 out of 50 hours)
  
• King EX Fighter Progress:94%
• Fitness Boxing 2 Days In A Row: 597
• Total days in a row: 755
  

Figured out the intro for the Watch Dogs commission fic, so now it's all about writing the action that is set up. Probably won't finish writing it until tomorrow or Tuesday.

It's the start of a new week, so let's recap what we played over the last week which was Overwatch, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, Ghostbusters Sanctum of Slime, Fall Guys, Cultist Simulator, Fallout 76, Final Fantasy XIV, Persona 5 Strikers and MultiVersus!

How do you catch a bra? With a booby trap.

How many tickles can an octopus take? Tentacles!

Song of the Day: Say So by Doja Cat

For tonight's stream Overwatch is on deck, so we'll hope for a smooth night with no issues. 

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

We Finished Persona 5 Strikers... No Thanks To Xfinity

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream had a 40 minute delay, granted it was started at 6:30 PM Eastern, but a ton of connection issues thanks to Xfinity pissed me off to the point I called them and blistered them on stream for it. The Rep I spoke too certainly went out of their way to not diffuse the situation by patronizing me when I told them exactly what was going on and then denying transferring to a Supervisor, and refusing to ask for when I would be available for a tech visit. Which turns out will be for today between 2 PM and 4 PM... whiih I was not aware of until after I called them back at 2 AM last night.

That said... once we got the connection stable after I did a third reset of my modem yesterday, things went mostly smoothly for the night as we had a straight forward approach to finishing Persona 5 Strikers. In fact, the story arc is extremely straight forward. I did rather enjoy Sophia unlocking her Persona... and just knowing it's name is Pandora prompted me to yell "put her back in the box". Since I was also using a guide, we had a real good idea of how to plan for the final boss of the game... in fact I split the team into 3 groups for the phase two portion (Panther, Makoto and Yusuke for the first part ; Morn, Noir and Skull for the second ... leaving Joker, Wolf and Sophie for the final) 

I did enjoy how every major plot point was wrapped up nice and neat, but what's left is basically a ton of grinding and monster hunting... which would be kind of a pointless because the last one requires a second full play through.... so maybe we'll reinstalled Persona 5 Strikers down the road just for the purpose of trophy hunting and grinding.

Now with Persona 5 Strikers finished, the next PS4 game will be Stray, which recently game out, and will be featured next Friday night.

Big thank you to all the viewers who did hang out and for the 300 bits, your continued support was greatly appreciated.

Persona 5 Strikers Trophies

• A Newfound Heart: Sophia found strength of heart.
• Humanity's Companion: Completed the Jail of the Abyss.
• Walk Your Own Path: Completed the Tree of Knowledge.

Twitch Clips

• They really are Thor!
• Some Body Put Her Back In The Box! 
• The Fall Of The False God
• Like OMG 
  

For the raid we dropped in SheepFuzz who was playing Jackbox Party Packs over on twitch.tv/sheepfuzz!  

I have been struggling a bit with how I want to write the commission request for a Watch Dogs fic... I have an idea of how it should go, it's just questioning which details regarding an unneeded character that is holding things up. 

Song of the Day: When I Come Around by Green Day

I tried buying camouflage the other day but I couldn't find any.

What did one bean say to the other? "How you bean?"

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Beginner Combo #2, Advanced Combo #1 and Sway Back Combo for 34 minutes. We did pass 49 hours training with Bernardo,  but the exact time is unknown, so we'll either compete his Champion EX Achievement tomorrow or on Monday

Fitness Boxing 2 Stats For Week of 7/24 to 7/30, 2022

• Punches Thrown: 8160
  
• Estimated Calorie Burn:3325.72 kcal
  
• Bernardo's Champion Progress: 98% (49/50 Hours)
  
• King EX Fighter Progress: 94%
  

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.   

For tonight's stream, MultiVersus will be featured and it should be the only game we feature tonight, if all goes well. Hopefully the issues with Xfinity will be resolved or at least I'll have a better understanding of how to deal with them.

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

Xfinity Epically Fails Me Again

 Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV was hampered with nearly a dozen instances of service issues thanks to Xfinity. While the stream didn't go down fully, the intermittent issues did see me actually getting booted out of FF14 twice... and thank goodness it wasn't in a raid, trial or some other group activity. Things were so weird last night that I even had frame drop issues indicating more of a problem than one would assume.

As for Final Fantasy XIV, I did manage to level up Dragoon just by picking up various quests I've skipped over because they were unrelated to the main story, just things to add flavor to the game... like a side-dish... hence why they are called side quests. Also did some fishing, and dedicated time to gaining a couple of levels on botanist to put it in striking distance of finishing it's story, which I mid do to open up next Thursday's stream.

On a side note, I was awarded an Amazon gift card from my job, which we promptly used to pick up Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[Cl-R] for the PlayStation 4 which from what I understand, is the definitive version of Under Night In-Birth EXE:Late. I do hope it has some sort of story mode to help flesh out the characters because when I played the vanilla version via Steam a few years ago, I did like  the concepts they were featuring

On a side note, a bit of personal trivia was corrected, when it came to the ate of when I got a  'visor' I from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. It was during a Star Trek exhibit, and I knew the year was 1994... but I thought it was February, but in reality, it was November of that year. The exhibit itself ran from October through December that year.

Twitch Clips

• Another day another trial...
• Poor life decision made poorly 
• Answering Trivia About Myself... 
  

No raid last night, but we did host Starvexia who was playing Synth Riders over on twitch.tv/starvexia! 

Was great to see DaemonsW0lf getting in a stream as they were playing Layers of Fear yesterday afternoon over on twitch.tv/DaemonsW0lf. It was out right hilarious!

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Uppercut Combo #1, Waist Shape Focus Combo and Hook Combo #1

Rumor is saying that Sasha Banks and Naomi could end up returning to the WWE... and I ask why? Why bring them back... in particular, why bring Sasha Banks back to only once again reward her for having a hissy fit for not getting her way.  

Put in some more practice with MultiVersus after the stream, and I did more than just use Harley Quinn, as I tried out Wonder Woman and Finn in a couple of matches. I'll say this when there are two or more of the same character on screen it gets really hard to keep track of whose who, specifically if there are duplicates on the same team and the only way to tell which one I am is by a yellow outline.

MultiVersus Achievements

• Rightie Specialist: Get 10 Ringouts using the right-side of the blastbox
• Southpaw Specialist: Get 10 Ringouts using the left-side of the blastbox
• You're Getting Pretty Good At This!: Get 50 ringouts

Why does Waldo only wear stripes? Because he doesn't want to be spotted.

I witnessed an attempted murder earlier—fortunately only one crow showed up!

Song of the Day: Ex's & Oh's by Elle King

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.  

For tonight's stream the plan is to play Persona 5 Strikers, but we also have a Thunderstorm expected to hit my area as well... so we may do a little switch around just in case, because heavy knows the PS4's are temperamental machines when it comes to sudden power outages.

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

I'm leaning Raider in Fallout 76

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Fallout 76 saw some heavy story progress done as it relates to getting into Vault 79... and considering all the trauma I went through finding Lou and Ra-Ra on the Raiders side of the story I'm heavily leaning towards siding with the Raiders just for the simple fact I used a ton of ammo to reach them, so one could say I'm invested in seeing how the story progresses. Got so bad at one point I was facing the 'boss', a multi-star Legendary sentry bot with only a revolver and a short rifle... which left me running around ducking for cover and trying to do sneaky ranged attacks.

We were of course joined by Iceman for some leavling up on the scoreboard side of things, using his Fallout 1st. It is always great to have him join in on the fun! Also at this point Fallout 76 has 63 achievements, and I have 49% of them, so slowly but surely I'm getting things done in this game.

We did have a couple of instances of stream lag, thankfully none of it fully effected the game play... I think But good news is that the stream didn't go fully down so everything stays in one VOD. 

Fallout 76 Achievements

• Gold Rush: Gain 300 gold bullion

Twitch Clips

• It's Murder Time Alright! 
• A Box of 9... 
• This took forever 

For the raid we dropped in on Oldish22 who was playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/oldish22! 

I didn't notice until after the stream that the latest Logitech update really screwed with my mic settings as it pertained to things like mic gain. I sweat every time Logitech updates something it breaks one thing or another and takes forever to figure out what went wrong.

So the trailer for a movie on Hulu called Prey... it looks lame as hell.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Triple Combo #1, Weaving Combo #2 and Straight Combo #1 for 28 minutes.

Messed around some more with MultiVersus and discovered that the game does have a similiar unlock system for different builds and perks to what Paladins had early in its life and that each character can unlock the abilities from other characters. Actually this is probably closer to Dead by Daylight now that I think about it. Still I have continued playing as Harley Quinn because why the hell not. 

MultiVersus Achievements

• Aerial Specialist: Get 10 Ringouts using the top of the blastbox
• Credit Where It's Due: Give out 5 toasts to other players
• Nice Speech: Give out 10 toasts to other players
• Stepping Out: Win 10 Matchmade games
• You Mean Business: Get 30 ringouts

You hear about the man who sells dynamite? Business is booming.

I gave my seat on the bust to a blind man. They fired me as driver.

What's big, gray and doesn't matter? An irrelephant.

Why did the snowman pick through a bag of carrots? Because he was picking his nose.

Song of the Day: Hungry Like The World by Duran Duran

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.   

For tonight's stream we'll be playing Final Fantasy XIV, most likely a bit of leveling and dailies will be done. So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!