Friday, March 31, 2023

We Finished Hades! Woo-Hoo!

 Good morning everyone,

Work yesterday was really meh... was not at all thrilled being stuck on this one assignment while also being plagued with the system not recording my call backs correctly. And I know today is also going to be meh since I'm going to be by myself on a similar assignment.

Last night's stream on the other hand... well you can tell by the title of today's post, we finished Hades, I needed only two clears... I got three done. We got to the end credits, Persephone has returned to the underworld and now ones attention could turn to the 'post game', which features a lot of extended content to resolve the issue between Hades, Persephone and the Olympian Gods. That will require finding a lot of nectar and generally a lot of grinding.

Still, Hades is a game I can easily go back to, I know how to play it, because outside of some of the early runs, every run attempted and successful escape run took about half and hour, with me getting to the Hades fight more often than not. Now hours after the stream I did do another run of Hades and picked up the Something From Everyone achievement to go along with the seven I earned during the stream.

Now the question is, what will replace it in the line up next Thursday? I'm not particularly sure, we could go with an game from the Xbox 360 era? There are a number of quality contenders for that spot of the week!

Hades Achievements

  • Nyx's Mirror: Have at least one rank in each Mirror of Night Talent
  • The Family Secret: Complete the main quest in the story
  • Day-or-Night Trader: Trade 20 times with the Wretched Broker
  • Master of Arms: Fulfill the 'Master of Arms' Prophecy
  • The Useless Trinket: Earn the first of Skelly's prizes
  • Skelly's Last Lamentations: Earn the second of Skelly's prizes
  • Champion of Elysium: Clear Elysium with the 'Extreme Measures' Condition
  • Something From Everyone: Unlock each standard Keepsake

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal who was a featured streamer for Stream Raiders! They were also playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal

Of course the plan for tonight's stream is Spider-Man, as we'll be picking up after defeating Shocker... I think I had another set of side activities unlocked beside labs  

Recorded another DVD inventory video for my YouTube channel... and safe to say I could not 'show' every DVD I had in one of the two containers I went through because they 'ahem', fall under a more mature rating

Donald Trump was finally indicted... here's hoping he's arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced harshly 

Did an extended workout in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star.... because I didn't realize I was selecting the wrong difficulty to chase one in-game achievement!

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


Thursday, March 30, 2023

Understanding the controls of Resident Evil 5

 Good morning everyone,

Had a hard time sleeping last night, not sure as to why, so now things just feel weird today.

Work yesterday was alright, a combination of two different assignment certainly was weird but we were productive.

Did some light grocery shopping, getting two loafs of bread and other items. Found a decent toilet bowl cleanser. I do need a new toilet bowl brush, since I somehow broke the handle of the one I had.... yeah that was weird folks.

Last night's stream started with Fall Guys, and we made it to the final round twice in regards to solo shows, but I certainly didn't have a good night overall, as I felt cheated on a few of my jumps and dives... then there were the grieffers and trolls who join Duos and Squads to either not attempt to try and just being AFK. Still there were some hilarious moments.

After the break we switched over to Resident Evil 5 and we were joined by Iceman, but he was running a bit late, which allowed me to check out the Mercenary mode and learn how to use the Type D controls, which are RE5's default controls... and I was able to get a better idea of how to actually play. When Iceman was able to join we cleared out the back end of Chapter 2, dealing with two big boss fights with us only dying once.

One thing I did like regarding Mercenary mode was that I got to see what different weapons fired like, and I love the kit that Rebeccs Chambers has. Hopefully her gear can be found in the main story mode!

Resident Evil 5 Achievements

  • Exploding Heads: Pull off 20 headshots.
  • Fireworks: Shoot an enemy Molotov cocktail, dynamite stick, or hand grenade.
  • Completed Chapter 2 - 2: Complete Chapter 2 - 2 on any difficulty setting.
  • Completed Chapter 2 - 3: Complete Chapter 2 - 3 on any difficulty setting.

And yes that food at I had after the break was stuff my Aunt Grace made, and it was delicious!

For the raid we dropped in on tracydoll during their stream of Friday the 13th The Game over at twitch.tv/tracydoll

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Hades, and we need two escapes to complete the main story quest. Once we get the ninth clear, I plan for the 10th run to be the most difficult with many of the Pacts of Punishment turned on. The goal is to try and get as many achievements on that 10th escape because I know Hades is not fought at the very end of it.

Didn't do any writing yesterday, but I did get a few minor things done around the house. Need to figure out which of the grass trimmers work since the grass is starting to grow.

I really should cash out my earnings so far from subscribestar, but that the same time, having it there does serve as a nice backup.

The MLB Season starts today, and it's going to be weird not having the option to watch any Phillies games, but I should be able to turn in for the radio broadcasts.

Found out who the hidden trainer is in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star... and it's Yuria, Kenshiro's beloved. I was not expecting that based on who would make the most sense from what I know of Fist of the North. 

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

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

We Finished Hi-Fi Rush!

Good morning everyone,

Had another rough start to my day, waking up a bit before 6 AM but feeling not doing anything... but this is why I give myself little daily goals.

Work yesterday was good, sure I was not thrilled with the assignment but hey, two complete interviews are two complete interviews.

Last night we did finish Hi-Fi Rush, granted I did delay things by going after the achievement for completing all the combos in the Training Room. Once that was done, it was a straight forward thing getting through the final level and dealing with the final bosses. I really liked how the game ended one the 'there's more to do', but at the same time I kind of wished going back to find things in various levels didn't involve all the cut scenes... but oh well.

Out of the games 61 achievements, I managed to knock out 31 one of them, with quite a few being diamond. There is certainly a lot of things for people to do who want to get every achievement for completion, but several achievements involve having to do multiple runs of the game on various difficulties... which is certainly asking a lot of gamers who just chase 1,000 Gamer Score.

Now the next game to take over on Mondays & Tuesdays will be New Tales From The Borderlands. A normal playthrough is estimated to only take 9 hours or so, so that seems doable to me for a new night stretch next week

Hi-Fi RUSH Achievements

  • OK, I THINK I know what I'm doing now: Successfully pull off every combo and attack in the Training Room.
  • I play my own way!: Purchase and equip your first Special Attack.
  • You must like calling me in, Chai: Destroy 50 barriers by calling in Peppermint.
  • Time to pay up!: Settle the bill with the head of Finance.
  • Easy Listening: Finish the game completing every level on the Easy difficulty.
  • Who's the boss now?: Take it up with the CEO, and come out on top.
  • Wanna hear my playlist?: Change the background music in the hideout.
  • That's a lot of junk metal…: Destroy 500 Vandelay security robots.
  • Chip-tuned: Increase your chip slots to the maximum capacity.
  • Out in a puff of smoke: Put out 10 fires in battle with Korsica. (Enemies included.)

For the raid we dropped in on misscammi316 while they were playing Grand Theft Auto V over at twitch.tv/misscammi316

The plan for tonight's stream is of course Fall Guys & Resident Evil 5... who hilarious things will happen to me this week in both games.

Spoke with my brother and the big plan is get a lot of large stuff out of the house on Saturday, April 8th. This way I can finish the basement and start getting a handle on things up in what is supposed to be the dining room.

Got some writing done for the Mass Effect short story commission, and I would dare say it's already about 30% complete. Yay me! Have not figured what the next SubscribeStar Exclusive story will be, I'm leaning Star Trek again...

Watched the Top Gear Vietnam special last night, and that still holds up as one of the better road trips Clarkson, Hammond and May went on.

I was having a question regarding what is going towards earning stars on Regular and Hard versions of exercises in Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star... and I just realized it only counts if I haven't done an exercise on that setting yet.

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

 

 

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

We Knock Out A Huge Chunk Of Hi-Fi Rush

 Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Hi-Fi Rush saw us getting through chapters 4 through 9 of the game, and sure it went over five hours because I did kept searching for secrets and stuff through out every stage. I really enjoyed the art style and music, the game is easily a sleeper hit for me. And there is incentive to revisit the game to find things that I miss and take advantage of a probably New Game Plus to reach areas I couldn't in earlier parts of the game. Assuming that is a thing.

The twist that Peppermint is Kale's sister was a twist I didn't realize, and it was oh so obvious to me before I started putting a few things together in the Museum stage. 

That said, we're in real good shape to finish Hi-Fi Rush tonight, so we'll probably pair it with something else. I'm tempted on doing it with Hades... but other possibilities include Smite, Divine Knockout or some other nonsense to serve as a back up game.

Hi-Fi RUSH Achievements

  • Whoa! There's ANOTHER health bar!?: Increase your health to where you unlock a second tier.
  • This will cost you big time: Drain development's budget, removing creative control.
  • Uh, they were broken when I got here: Destroy 200 Vandelay security robots.
  • Z-shielding's got nothing on us!: Shatter 10 enemy shields by calling in Macaron.
  • The Negotiator: Remove the head of Security from the equation.
  • I have to read these things?: Find and read half of the Vandelay Vlogs on the campus.
  • There's such a thing as TOO helpful: Find and engage with every Smidge, while completing all of his practice tips.
  • Kissing the sky!: Perform 50 Aerial Raves.
  • Check out my moves!: Purchase every combo and partner attack.
  • Headliner: Be the showstopper for the head of Marketing.

Big thank you to Kalenal for the Raid followering their stream of Pokemon Scarlet over at twitch.tv/kalenal

For my raid, we dropped in on PowerThumbz during stream of Dead by Daylight over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz

The developers of MultiVersus announced the game is going on hiatus, and a lot of folks are pissed because it wasn't really stated that this entire time was an Open Beta. I suspect the death of Kevin Conroy (the voice of Batman) may have been a factor because, since no new characters were added to the game since he passed away, and there was a real long content drought. Hell most know I stopped playing it because it started feeling monotonous and I banged out quite a few tough achievements.

My idea of using a Splitter to divert the HDMI signal from the output of my capture card to a monitor and TV didn't work the way I hoped it would... but I did found a three-way HDMI splitter so now I don't have to disconnect the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles. Will need to do so for the PlayStation related consoles because they are positioned further away from the others.

I do have a new commission short story request based around Mass Effect, namely Mass Effect 3. I think I'll try to keep it straight forward, unless I can find specific dialog transcripts. 

Did pick up am Amazon Fire Stick, because it didn't occur to me until after I moved the TV from the living room to my basement that if I have family come over, and if they bring their kids there is nothing to entertain them. 

Also figured out how to make YouTube shorts... so that could be a thing I do going forward.

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


Monday, March 27, 2023

Big night of Overwatch

Good morning everyone, 

Last night's stream got off  to a rough start as my mic wasn't quite working correctly, warranting a stream restart. First time that's ever happened.

Once that was sorted, we got down to playing Oveewatch 2, big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the fun. We certainly were hampered by some noobs who clearly had no clue of what they were doing, but we did won a lot more than we lost. I picked up four plays of the game (1 as Moira, 2 as Reinhardt and 1 as Junker Queen), which means this months collection of Plays of the Game for March is at 18 (assuming I don't get one in an off-stream session).

Other characters used were Orisa, Wrecking Ball, Ana, Mei, Junkrat, and a handful of others.

Did discover that the analog stick on my Xbox One controller does have some drift, mostly moving in an upward direction. So will have to track down a back up wireless controller for it at some point if it get worse. 

For the raid we dropped in on Flint_Locke who was doing a voice acting stream of the visual novel Hotoful Boyfriend over at twitch.tv/flint_locke

The plan for tonight's stream is of course Hi-Fi Rush, picking up at Chapter 4 I believe, and if things go right we could knock out a huge chunk of the game tonight. Yes we are looking for the possibility of finishing Hi-Fi Rush this week, and what we do tonight will determine that.

With the strong possibility of finishing Hades on Thursday, I'll have to consider what to do with the Thursday night streams.

Finished up both the Dragon Ball short story commission and the original idea I had for an All That story. The first is already up on my Subscribestar page and will be posted publicly after the 28th, the later will be exclusive for my Subscribestar followers for the month of April

Ended up doing more organizing of things in the basement, getting the shelves in order mostly as I do want to move away from using crates as make-shift 'bookcases'  

Also ended up watching Space Jam last night, for no real reason, just wanted to watch something silly.

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


Sunday, March 26, 2023

Constantly Getting Loss Is apart of the ESO experience

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Elder Scrolls Online certainly was interesting. Of course were were joined by Striker and made some progress knockout a few side quests... but them my in ability to actually finding my way from point A to point B popped up... and somehow, I kept losing track of wherever Striker went, like there were no on-screen indicator of how to track him down. Then on top of that, we ran into a glitched quest... as if that has never happened before  in a Bethesda game I've played.

Still, did have my first group Dungeon experience, and there is clearly some long queue times, in fact nearly two hours waiting in the queue to get into a dungeon. Still it's very straight forward, and much like with Final Fantasy XIV, you will not see my ass tanking or playing a mage in ESO, because it's tough enough playing the role of a damage dealer!

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal while they were playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal

Of course it's Sunday night, which means Overwatch 2 is on tonight's agenda, with the super casual approach I'm taking since I've already knocked out the Season's Battle Pass

Heard an interesting fan theory that connects Mass Effect Andromeda's Vetra to Mass Effect's lead villain Saren, indication that she is his daughter. There are a lot of hoops to job through to make that work, but there are lot of tie-ins between ME:A and the rest of the franchise that works on so many levels.

Got a fair amount of writing done yesterday for the Dragon Ball short story commission, don't think it'll pass 2000 words in total though.

Made the mistake in saying I needed a HDMI switcher when what I need is an HDMI splitter, this way I can take the output signal that passes through my capture card  and direct to the monitor and TV.

Recorded the 3rd video of a series involving going through a bunch of 45s to see if I can find the music on them on Spotify. The video of that experience will be on YouTube around April 17th

Rearranged a large chunk of my basement as well, my bed is no longer viewable on camera, the stacks of DVD cases are off the one side. I'm really thinking of just getting a fairly sized rug to throw down on the floor. Everything is not where I want it to be yet as I still need to get the deep freezer out of here... but it is closer to how I wanted it to look for years.

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

Saturday, March 25, 2023

So much to do in Spider-Man

Good afternoon everyone,

I must have been exhausted yesterday, because I slept for nearly 12 hours today....

Work yesterday was... alright, got one complete interview, but the shift was ended much earlier than anyone would have thought. Five bucks says its because of the lack of people willing to work Friday afternoons. Really should consider working Mondays instead of Fridays.

Moved the flat-screen TV that was in the living room down to the basement, and how I figure is that once certain furniture is moved around, it'll be in a perfect spot for when doing any local co-op. I should get a second HDMI splitter for output from the Elgato this way I can switch between the TV and my main monitor. Will I get a Roku or a similar type device? At some point yeah, but it's a very low priority

Last night's stream of Spider-Man certainly saw a big example of my focus when it comes to open-world games, as I spent a large amount of time on the side activities, doing all of the King Pin's bases, finding all the landmarks and doing nearly all of the Science Labs... only to find out, a couple require specific skills unlocked! Boo! But we did kick Shocker's ass a couple of times, ran into Mary Jane and had a fun time seeing the plot slowly (very slowly) advance. 

I did look at the trophy list  and I can almost guarantee I'm not going for 100% completion, but I will do as much as I can that seems reasonable But near as I can tell, I'm going to end up doing a lot of the main story in next week's stream as I need to level up to unlock specific skills..

Marvel's Spider-Man Trophies

  • Spider-Man About Town: Greet 10 citizens
  • All the King's Men: Take down each Fisk Hideout
  • Sightseeing: Photograph all Landmarks on the Map
  • Neighborhood Watch: Complete all Faction Crimes in a district
  • Sticky and Tricky: Chain 4 unique tricks before landing
  • Snappy Dresser: Wear 5 new Spider-Suits
  • Shock and Awe: Defeat Shocker

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood who was playing the new Resident Evil 4 remake over at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

The plan for tonight's stream is more Elder Scrolls Online, as Striker and I will continue out quests and adventures. Back up plans include things like Smite and other stuff.

This week's Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Stats are

  • 51% of Achievements Unlocked
  • Punches Thrown: 8803
  • Estimated Calorie Burn: 3545.76
  • Fitness Age: 19

Have to make sure I do the dishes today, used a lot more than usual this week because of all the fresh food I got to eat!

Also plan to do some writing on the Dragon Ball shorty story commission, already got the basic intro written, granted I had to do do a time skip to get things lined up to when Videl and Gohan are married.

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

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