Side Questing In The Azim Stepp

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV was really productive in getting all of my desire of getting all the Side Quests done, as I cleared out everything I had left in the Ruby Sea and also focused on clearly out a large chunk of the ones in The Azim Steppe. Perhaps the big highlight was unlocking the tribal quests for the Namazu, which was hilarious considering it starts by finding one being a literal 'nearly' dead fish in the desert. 

Not much in the way of combat done during the stream beyond anything associated with all the side quests. It was basically cool just to cover all the side things that basically establishes just how important the Warrior of Light is in their role as an Adventurer, particularly when some NPCs are seen later on to further tie things together.

Also managed to find Alpha hanging out with some Sheep in the Azim Steppe which was pretty cool, as he does appear randomly throughout the game world. Oddly enough Omega was not with him.

Twitch Clips

• They were dealt with
• Hell of an entrance for a Namazu 
• Group Up On Girimehkala
  

Thank you to the chat for kicking in 10 Bits during the stream, much appreciated! Also thank you to new followers Manzanaverde22 and Mecha222. Was pretty cool to chat with folks from Argentina.

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

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Uppercut Combo #1, Hook Combo #1 and Waist Shape Focus Combo for a duration of 31 minutes.

Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field.

What did the buffalo say when his son left? Bison!

Song of the Day: Love Me Now by John Legend

Kept track of the Flyers versus Devils game last night, and I was surprised with how the Flyers just rolled them over. Maybe they'll be interesting this year.

Work was 'alright' yesterday beyond the newbies trying to be know-it-alls when it came to dealing with a situation when we ran out of contacts towards the end of the shift.

Made some  progress in writing the short story commission based on Arrow, and I think because of how weird episode 4 of the first season was, I'll use the ending to really set up how this unexpected series of stories could really go off and away from the established cannon.

For tonight's stream we'll be playing Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and working on the grind towards Makoto, Ryuji and Yusuke's social links.

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

Nearly Done The Steel Dawn Arc in Fallout 76

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Fallout 76 saw a big focus on the Steel Dawn story arc of Fallout 76 which introduced the Brotherhood of Steel at Fort Atlas. Thing is the quests were incredibly long, with one resulting in a real pain in the ass boss fight against against an Assault-Tron that was dressed as Sheep. That's how the game described it... and it ate a ton of ammo, every single round of 5.56 ammo that I had in particular.

Still this means next week I'll be looking to finish the Steel Dawn story by doing the Catalyst mission which will be a super-long endeavor which apparently has a boss fight as well.

Beyond that, I did notice the daily challenges in Fallout 76 were a bit weird, including involving scrapping things that give certain items. Guess the Developers were tired of people tearing through them quickly.

Twitch Clips

• Jam Session
• The SheepSquatch Imposterling 
• And it exploded
  

For the raid we dropped in on BestiBunni who was playing Overwatch 2 over at twitch.tv/bestibunni! 

Speaking of Overwatch 2, a lot of folks are complaining about Moira players not healing and focusing on doing DPS... and let me say this as someone who plays Moira a lot: If I see the damage role players are not doing their jobs then I'm going to try and pick up the slack.

I had the Phillies versus Braves game on during the stream and saw Wheeler's meltdown in the sixth inning. So now there are two games guaranteed to be in Philadelphia.

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

Work was another side shift, no real complaints other than the order of questions at the start of being clunky as hell with them being out of order.

I have an addiction to cheddar cheese. But it's only mild.

Why shouldn't you write with a broken pencil? Because it's pointless!

Song of the Day: Lush Life by Zara Larsson. 

I am getting a good chuckle with all the announcement of Disney putting a number of Marvel movies on hold because of various production problems. Not surprising when you have directors quitting because of corporate mandates.

For tonight's stream we're back to Final Fantasy XIV as my quest to do every single side quest continues. I think I have a handful more in the Ruby Sea area before moving onto the next area.

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

We Learned How To Play DragonBall FighterZ

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream saw us start up Dragon Ball FighterZ and we spent a lot of time in the tutorial mode, learning the ins and outs of the game at a casual level, plus knocked out 200 of the combo challenges. There was a reason for that, as much like Persona 4 Arena and Under Night In-Birth and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r], there were achievements associated with those game modes. 

We did tackle one of the arcade runs, the Snakeway one, and nearly pulled off the requirements for S rank on the first attempt, getting ranks of A, S and C which pulled the average down. Attempts made later on were not as I couldn't finished the third fight. Doesn't help that I was hitting RB and not RT to keep the pressure on the A.I.

Attempted a couple of online matches, won a match against someone who was AFK, and got my butt handed to be by a player who clearly created a second profile in order to beat up on newer players. That was 'wonderful' experience.

On a side note, I'm surprised at how many achievements are ranked 'diamond' (as in less than 10% of Xbox players who have played this game accomplishing the achievement)... so it was nice to get a couple like that.

Monday we'll start up the story mode, and see how long that takes us to do, it might take two streams based on everything I'm seeing. 

Dragon Ball FighterZ Achievements

• Yo, I'm Goku!: Complete a quest tutorial.
• To Test Myself, I Too Will Fight: Local Battle - Play a match.
• Snake Way Sensei: Arcade - Complete the Snake Way Course.
• Farewell, Tien...: Complete seven or more quest tutorials.
• Battle-Ready: Practice - Complete all battle tutorials.
• Don't Underestimate Earth!: Practice - Complete 30 Different Combo Challenges.
• The Power to Go Beyond the Super Saiyan!: Practice - Complete 100 Different Combo Challenges.
• Before Creation Comes Destruction...: Practice - Complete 200 Different Combo Challenges.
• Stamp of Approval: Replay - Use a Z Stamp while watching a Replay Channel.
• It's Play Time!: World Match - Play a Casual Match.
• Goku Isn't the Only Super Saiyan...: World Match - Play a Ranked Match.

Twitch Clips

• Achievement: To Test Myself, I Too Will Fight: Local Battle
• It's Down To Goku 
• Achievement: The Power to Go Beyond the Super Saiyan!: Practice
• Well 18 is Dead 
  

For the raid we dropped in on Joliet4 who was doing a music stream following their weekend at Twitch Con. They do some occasional gaming as well over at twitch.tv/joliet4! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Double Combo #2, Body Hook Combo and Weaving Combo #1 for 31 minutes.

Work yesterday was solid, no complaints other than the assignment I was on having a terrible order of questions to be asked which just destroys the pacing.

Also had the Phillies game on, TV was on mute, rather surprised they racked up 7 runs... I am no surprised that bullpen got exposed because Ranger Suarez had no command, and his houdini act saw him throw 87 pitches in less than 4  innings.

It's inappropriate to make a "dad joke" if you are not a dad. It's a faux pa.

What did Batman say to Robin before they got in the car? "Robin, get in the car."

Song of the Day: Naive by The Kooks

Started writing the latest short story commission request based on the TV series Arrow, the intro turned out pretty solid since it's based around the introduction of Felicity Smoak, but safe to say I won't be able to come up with a solid teaser for any follow up based on how lame-duck episode 4 of season one was. 

For tonight's stream, we're back to the wasteland that is West Virginia in Fallout 76 as we'll be working our way though daily objectives and story stuff.

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

We Finished The Last of Us And Like Everyone Else... We'll Never Play It Again

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of The Last of Us Remastered started a little early because I wanted to give myself a cushion on trying to finish it... and thankfully it was very straight forward when it came to getting things from point A to point B. Whoever came up with the 'sneaking battle' against David in the burning diner needs a swift kick to the nuts, but that was more luck than anything else to get passed it. It took me about a dozen attempt to get passed it because stealth isn't something I'm good at no matter what the game.

Now the novelty of playing as Ellie was kind of cool, and it does show that the developers were thinking ahead to what they were going to do in the sequel with her being the focus and finding out what Joel did. Quite frankly I'm not too keen on the ending because Ellie tells Joel her sacrificing herself so that a vaccine can be made was something she wanted to do

Now as the title says, I'm never playing the Last of Us ever again, because all a second play through would be is to find collectables I missed and upgrade Joel to have maximum stats. But the fact that The Last of Us had no standard achievements or things that allowed for a player to feel as if they were making progressing just sucks the joy out of the game. I like looking at games I re-play and seeing achievement list to make it feel like it was worth my time. The Last of Us Failed in that regard.

Now it was a bit after 10 PM when we finished The Last of Us, so we did some bonus gaming playing some Street Fighter V, clearing Sakura's SFV arcade ladder before getting my butt handed to me in some ranked matches. One thing I'm hoping for with Street Fighter VI is that there would be fewer loading screens between fights, both online and off.

The Last of Us Remastered Trophies

• No Matter What - Easy: Complete the game on Easy

Twitch Clips

• David gets to me...
• Chop! Chop! Chop! 
• You liar!
• Finished With A Super 
• Barely Held On
• Got 'em! 
  

Big thank you to Kalenal for the raid following their stream of The Trials of Mana, they cleared the section where they were miniaturized and are heading to the Wing Element portion. You can check them out over at twitch.tv/kalenal! 

Also huge thanks to Iceman for re-subbing to the twitch channel for the 55th Month in a row! Incredible!

For the raid, we dropped in on BestiBunni as they were playing Magic: The Gathering over at twitch.tv/bestibunni! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Left-Right Step Combo, Hook Combo #2 and Beginner Combo #1 for 28 minutes. By my estimation, I should hit the 50 hour mark for the Evan's Champion EX Achievement by Monday

The Phillies vs Braves Division Series starts at 1 PM This afternoon... obviously I will be working but I'll have the TV on and on mute just to keep up with things.

What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet? "Supplies!"

Imagine if Americans switched from pounds to kilograms overnight. There would be mass confusion!

Song of the Day:  Water Fountain by Alec Benjamin

For tonight's stream we're going to turn out attention to playing Dragon Ball FighterZ, and we'll be using the Xbox One console for it. We'll look at the tutorial and other things before diving into local matches and maybe start the story mode.

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

Off to a good start this week

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Overwatch 2 was a lot of fun as we actually had matches in all three roles (Tank, Damage & Support) with a fair amount of wins and losses along the way. There was a weird glitch seen at the start where queuing up was not even possible, and the game itself crashed unexpectedly which is the first time I've seen that happen. Big thank you to PandasSweet for being apart of the fun.

In terms of who I used last night where it was a variety, D.va, Morita, Bastion, Roadhog, Tracer, Torbjourn, Orissa, Junker Queen, Junk Rat and several others. Also picked up six plays of the game during the stream, which was awesome... and I might have had a few more that were probably over looked in terms of just wrecking fools.

Also managed to snag one of Junker Queen's achievements which surprised me, but the big thing I have trouble figuring out is how does she mitigated damage? Her shout doesn't seem to offset that much. Will probably have to settle into using her more often to figure that out.

Overwatch 2 Achievements

• Coup De Gracie - Use Junker Queen’s Jagged Blade and Carnage to pull and kill an enemy in Quick or Competitive Play.

Twitch Clips

• Quad Kill!
• Trapped them between my ult and Hog's ult 
• Hi!
  

Big thanks to BlueElectron for renewing their subscription to my Twitch channel! Always appreciate the support! 

For the raid we dropped in on CallMeMsGalaxy as they were celebrating their birthday and also playing Overwatch 2 over at twitch.tv/callmemsgalaxy! 

Today Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Advanced Combo #2, Body Straight Combo and Body Uppercut Combo for 31 minutes.

Song of the Day: Hurricane by Luke Combs.

How did Darth Vader know what Luke got him for Christmas? He felt his presents.

What's the last thing that goes through a bug's mind when it hits a windshield? Its butt.

The Mets lost last night to Padres in the only Wild Card Series that went to three games, and I know Jerry Seinfeld is going to blame it on the Timmy Trumpet thing... but let's be honest, the blame falls on Keith Hernandez whose comments about the Phillies defense seemed to curse the Mets into playing terribly.

Finished writing the 3rd consecutive commission request for something based on the show Arrow before I went to bed last night... and the one who commissioned it wants a 4th one. Will based the next installment around the third episode of season one.

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's stream is to finish The Last of Us Remastered, so I'll probably start a bit early to make sure that happens. Hopefully it's really straight forward.

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

A Wild Saturday Night

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream opened with Overwatch 2 because I was playing it before the stream to knock out a couple of challenges... and was joined by PandaSweet, so we got in a couple of hours in which was awesome. Really had a lot of fun and the pace of play certainly allows me to do some great things as Moira when I know Panda is the second healer. Looking forward to more games as Overwatch 2 takes its rightful place on Sunday nights starting tonight.

Now the plan was to Play MultiVersus last night and we did, and I mostly played as Wonder Woman, and we got on a pretty solid winning streak. Perhaps the big highlight was winning a 4-player Free for All as Harley Quinn. That shocked the hell out of me.

We wrapped up the night playing Fall Guys, and there was moment that I certainly feel like I got screwed... going into a Squad Show with no-teammates. How the hell is that possible?!  I did nab the Star Trek bundle, but I'm still rocking the Ripley skin I picked up last week.

Twitch Clips

• Gotcha Panda!
• Fuuuuuuu-waaaaaaah!! 
• Team Work For The Win
• Rude! But We Win Anyway 
• Solid Win
• Whoa I Win! 
• Hey we qualified
• Run! 
• EfF You Game!
  

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

I did have the Phillies game up during the stream, and right as I ended the stream the final out was recorded in their 2-0 win over the Cardinals.But you know what's funny... the Phillies haven't had a home game since September 25th... Game 3 of the Division series against the Braves will be on Friday and in Philadelphia.

I did see some folks who are Damage role only players in Overwatch 2 complaining about how tough it is to take down Tanks and Supports, to which I say, cry me a fucking river because back in the Beta of Overwatch 2, Tanks and Supports were being melted left right and center. Overwatch 2 is actually incredibly balanced compare to what it was like when I played the Beta.

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

What did the blanket say as it fell off the bed? "Oh sheet!"

Why do cow-milking stools only have three legs? 'Cause the cow's got the udder!

Song of the Day: Linger by The Cranberries

Started work on a third consecutive short story commission request based on the show Arrow, and thankfully the client picked up on where I was looking for the creative direction to go in to make it easy to write. I'll probably have it finished by tomorrow of I choose not knock it out today.

Start of a new week so lets recap all the stuff we featured over the last seven days which included Overwatch, The Last of Us Remastered, Smite, Paladins, Overwatch 2, Fallout 76, Final Fantasy XIV, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, MultiVersus, & Fall Guys!

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, as mentioned earlier we're playing Overwatch 2, so on that note we'll see you later over at twitch.tv/fredcasden!

More Dancing in the Starlight of Persona 5

 Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight was a blast, not only did we knock out every achievement related to difficulties and gimmicks, we put ourselves in great position to actually get the Platinum Trophy. There is however one big road block and that is the requirements for Yusuke and Ryuji's which require a cumulative score and 'perfect' scores, then there is Makoto's which requires completing stages with different accessories. These are required to the Social Links related achievement done

That said, I can' finish the game at any time by watching the Social Link for Caroline and Justine's 'Rank 8' which I have unlocked. But I really want to get the everyone up to Rank 8 because when I played Person 5 Royal and Persona 5 Strikers, the bonds between the Phantom Thieves makes the game memorable.

So that said, next Friday's stream will really see the grind being put on to make progress towards completion. Because we're not 'finishing' the game until every member of the Phantom Thieves is at rank 8.

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight Trophies

• Indecisive Advance: Cleared a stage with 5 Challenge and 5 Support modifiers simultaneously enabled.
• The First Step to Greatness: Earned the highest possible grade on a stage (KING CRAZY).
• Infiltration Mission: Start!: Explored a friend's room.
• Trick Note: Cleared a stage with both "Note paths waver" and "Note speed fluctuates" enabled.
• Sparkling Quarry: Obtained half of all the accessories.
• A Few Small Gifts: Obtained 5 rewards from the Twins' card hunt.
• Phantom Choreographers: Watched a replay.
• An Impossible Mission: Started a stage on ALL NIGHT difficulty with 10 or more Challenge modifiers enabled.
• Hype It Your Way: Cleared a stage after changing Hype Gauge difficulty in Custom.
• The Perfect Crime: Cleared a stage on HARD or harder and earned a PERFECT rating on at least half of the Notes.
• Infiltration Route Secured: Cleared a stage on HARD or harder with all Support modifiers enabled.
• I'll Steal Your Hearts, My Dears!: Explored all the girls' rooms.
• A Safe Tightrope Walk: Cleared a stage with both "GOOD ratings won't break combos" and "Game Over with combo break" enabled.
• I've Taken Your Rooms, Lads!: Explored all the guys' rooms.
• A Phantom Thief's Most Indispensable Tool: Obtained all the pairs of glasses.

Twitch Clips

• King Crazy!
• Maybe she'll fetch the ax 
• I am Futaba
  

For the raid we dropped in on BestiBunni as they were playing Crusader Kings III over on twitch.tv/bestibunni!  

Work was really good yesterday, felt productive because I actually was, and I do enjoy that feeling when things just fall into place.

Finished the recent Arrow fic requests to complete another commission, and got promptly requested to do a third consecutive fic because of the world building I've managed to do. 

I did not wake up until 3:30 PM this afternoon... bleh

Also had the Phillies game on while I was working, had my TV on mute, but when I finished work, I saw the entire rally in the 9th inning with the volume turned up. So that was a hell of a kick off the weekend.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Front-Back Step Combo, Triple Combo #2 and Defensive Combo #2

Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise States For Week of 10/02 to 10/08/22

• Punches Thrown: 8627
  
• Estimated Calories Burned:3591.30 kcal
  
• Evan's Champion Progress:90% (45 out of 50 Hours)
  
• King EX Fight Progress: 96%
• Fitness Boxing 2 Consecutive Days: 666
• Fitness Boxing 1 & 2 Consecutive Days:824

What does a zombie vegetarian eat? "Graaaaaaaains!"

My new thesaurus is terrible. Not only that, it's also terrible.

Song of The Day: Sex on Fire by Kings on Leon

For tonight's stream we're probably playing MultiVersus and Fall Guys, continuing a trend that has been going the past few week.

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