FIrs Impression of Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Good afternoon everyone,

Work yesterday was positive, mostly for the fact that we can go back to our normal schedules, so on Monday we're back to the 6:30 PM Eastern start time! 

Last night's stream of Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and I can safely say it is a gorgeous game with a great musical score. The combat can be a little iffy, but there are some game play styles similar to Alice: Madness Returns. The biggest thing that gets me is the puzzles because the game is so pretty that I end up getting turned around and lost repeatedly. 

Now I am taking the super casual approach to playing it, and I can safely say it will not be a game that I can finish in two streams, even though a guide listing indicates I'm nearly half way through. but the trade off is that it will provide a nice alternative in the weekly line up as being something modern that visually stands out differently from the other big games I'm playing considering the open world nature of how I play Mass Effect.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS4) Trophies

• Found a Friend: Hero Rot joined your team.
• Haikyo: Discovered the Village.
• Say Cheese: Captured a picture in Photo Mode
• Good as New: Restored a Flower Shrine.
• Into the Woods: Discovered the Forest.
• Hunter in the Forest: Learned the Bow Ability.
• Rot Commander: Use 5 Rot Actions in a single combat.
• Taro's Fear: Found Taro's Knife Relic.
• Taro's Love: Found Taro's Food Offering Relic.

We had two raids last night, one from oldish22 (twitch.tv/oldish22) and from b00mpowsurprize (twitch.tv/b00mpowsurprize) 

For the raid we dropped everyone off over on alexirmen who was also playing Kena Bridge of Spirits over at twitch.tv/alexirmen

Not sure what's on the agenda for tonight, we might go with a variety night, but we'll see what we end up doing.

As something to mess around with off-stream with the potential of streaming it, messed around with the Xbox version of BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma EXTEND, which is the definitive edition of the 3rd game in the series. So not sure if we'll stream its story mode without the context of the first two games on the final game.

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma EXTEND Achievements

• Lesson Is More: [Tutorial] Finished the stylish and beginner lessons in Tutorial Mode.
• Impersonal Trainer: [Training] Dealt a total of 100,000 Damage.
• Good Grief: As Makoto, land an attack with maximum Impact Gauge.
• Just a Taste: [Arcade] Completed Arcade Mode.

Tried to put a dent into grinding for the last two engineer achievements in Mass Effect by doing 'laps' at Pinnacle station. Not sure how much I was able to accomplish.

Did make progress in the Mass Effect short story commission, it'll probably be finished by Monday for my Subscribstar followers.

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

A BSOD Style Damper

Good morning everyone, 

Work yesterday was okay, more of the same of trying to work with the very wordy script we have to use, but hey, as I said the other day, we just have to try to make it work, if we managed to get anything out of it, great, if not... we tried.

Last night's stream of Mass Effect was very much focused on side quests and level grinding, as we bopped around the Milky Way finding various missions from Admiral Hackett, plus Garrus and Wrex's loyalty missions as well as quests that originated on the Citadel. We did hit Pinnacle station to try and start grinding on the final achievements associated with the engineer (AI Hacking and Neural Shock).

Now next time we play Mass Effect, we'll probably focus on the Pinnacle station quests, then do Bringing Down The Sky, the big DLC mission before focusing on the main story of the game.

Of course the end of last night's stream was weird, as a sudden BSOD occurred indicated a bug of some kind, but every scan and diagnostic tool I can think of indicates nothing was wrong. Last thing I need is yet another computer going down this year.

Mass Effect Achievements

• Damping Specialist: Use Damping Field 75 times

We didn't do any raids following last night's stream because of the 

The plan for tonight's stream is to start up Kena: Bridge of Spirits on the PlayStation 4, from what I understand this game is very straight forward, with trophies attached to combat and collectables. So we'll take a casual approach to this game.

Got some writing done on the Mass Effect short story commission, getting a good portion of the intro done. Since it focuses on Miranda's 2nd meeting with Shepard on Citadel, it's already in the perfect location for various dialog.

Anyone ever noticed that in the Super Mario Bros Super Show episode with the Quirks, the little aliens play the Legend of Zelda theme? I noticed that last night after the stream.

With that said, we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Resident Evil 5's DLC was a lot of fun

 Good morning everyone,

Work yesterday was fairly good, despite some issues with Microsoft Edge randomly remembering my login from last year that I've changed causing some headaches. Then I find out there is possibility of normal day work coming back which means a change in my streaming schedule again! Ugh! At least it'll be back to normal, which means Fall Guys would be back.

Last night's stream of Resident Evil 5 features both the Lost in Nightmares and Desperate Escape DLC, and we did both with Iceman, which was a lot of fun.

Lost in Nightmares is set before the events of RE5 on Chris and Jill's mission that saw her get captured by Wesker, basically a throwback to the gameplay style of the earliest Resident Evil games with puzzles that need to be solved and limited ammos. We did use a guide, and had one crushing death. The fight against Wesker was of course a pain in the ass as it relates to the QTEs being noticeable, but we cleared it.

Desperate Escape is a companion chapter to the event of Chapter 5 of RE5's main story, where you play as Jill and Josh as they escape from the facility after Chris and Sheeva rescue Jill. It's a mad dash, super action sequence with lots of bad guys and ammo. As a side story and showing how Jill and Josh got to the helicopter that appears at the end of the game, it was quite enjoyable.

Now with this, we're moving on Resident Evil 5, but we'll revisited down the road for shits and giggles, to try and get other achievements, but starting next week, Resident Evil 6 takes center stage.

Resident Evil 5 Achievements

• A Friend in Need: Save partner 10 times when HELP is displayed.
• Must've Got Lost: Complete "Lost in Nightmares" on any difficulty setting.
• Egg on Your Face: Defeat a Majini with a rotten egg.
• Way of the Warrior: Defeat 150 enemies singlehandedly in one playthrough of "Desperate Escape."
• The Great Escape: Complete "Desperate Escape" with an S rank.
• Getaway: Complete "Desperate Escape" on any difficulty setting.

For the raid we dropped in on pradoxgamerau while they are playing Pokemon Brilliant Diamong/Shining Pearl over at twitch.tv/pradoxgamerau

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Mass Effect, we shall continue our side quest hunt and grind for using  the engineer powers!

Also, as noted last night, The Dark Pictures Anthology will be something I'll be looking to get, since Iceman and I learned those are online co-op, which means more shenanigans we can have on Wednesdays! Now if anyone wants to gift it to me on the Xbox side... (I'm kidding!)

Did some writing on the WWE commission story and I was told by the client to take my time with it, so I'll shift my attention to the Mass Effect story commission.

So on that note we'll see yo ulater over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Later Start Time, Same Old Fred

Good morning everyone,

So yesterday we had work for the first time in few weeks, but it was at a later time which pushed the start of the streams back to 9:30 PM, which will be the norm for the foreseeable future. But the good news is the assignment we got just involves us 'trying' to be productive, because of how impossibly tight the requirements are for anyone to even qualify for the research that is being conducted. 

Last night's stream of Persona 3 Portable was pretty shocking in regards to how much we actually got done. We saw the summer trip to Mitsuru's family summer home, and I can see how much much was gutted for Persona 3 conversion to be on the PlayStation Portable because I can imagine how over the top some things were from beyond a visual novel perspective, including Aigis's big reveal, which is surprisingly understated. Now what helped things progress was how an entire week in-game was dedicated to 'training' for track event

This meant we were able to get to another extended trip through Tartarus, getting up to Floor 89, while leveling up to 31, which puts us slightly ahead of the pace of the game I believe in terms of dealing with enemies. Now we had Mitsuru, Aigis and Yukari in the squad, mostly based on a guide's recommendation, which really helped in regard to the enemies encounter being vulnerable to their abilities and attacks. 

Next time we play, we're going to open in Tartarus to try and get Junpei and Akihiko caught up, as they are level 23 and 26, making them kind of weak going forward. Plus there are a couple of quests for Elizabeth we might try and go for.

Persona 3 Portable Achievements

• True Supporter: Max out a Social Link.
• Head of the Class: Rank #1 in your class on an exam.

For the raid we went over to maximilian_dood who was doing a Street Fighter Legacy over at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

The plan for tonight's stream is Resident Evil 5 with Iceman, and we'll see about Fall Guys in the second half, since my schedule now favors finishing streams towards 1:30 to 2 AM in the morning. 

The producers at Blizzard who over seen Overwatch basically said that making PVE content is too hard for them, and that they are going to half-ass PVE story content going forward. Which really is disheartening since the PVE content is what everyone was excited about when Overwatch 2 was announced.

Recorded the final DVD inventory video for my YouTube channel, and recorded three Star Trek Online videos as well. Now what will end up as the Wednesday series of exclusive content is up in the air, but the STO videos will be on Monday mornings, with each mission being done one at a time.

Didn't get any writing done yesterday, but we'll see about doing some today, because I did get busy with those different projects.

Did get back in touch with Kristi this morning, which was a great way to start the day!

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

Big Progress In Persona 3 Portable, Schedule Change Due To Work

Good morning everyone,

We got news, found out there is alternate work hours I can get, it means the weeknight streams will not start until after 9:30 PM, which will begin tonight. It would've happened last night, but I didn't see the text messages until after 6 PM. Still, I need the work obviously for my own financial security, but also for my mental health in terms of feeling normal.

Last night's stream of Persona 3 Portable saw us spent several hours in Tartarus, getting up to floor 65, our level is up to 27, and I realize that balancing the other party members is going to be tough since it appears there is no shared XP for those not with you during an expedition. We did of course take of the next big full moon boss, and the entire Love Hotel was a bit hilarious, though Yukari didn't need to slap us. 

I did see a lot of the plot reveal tying Persona 3 to the first game (I think), as well as Mitsuru's guilt about not being forthcoming with the details, as well as the set up for next story arc involving the summer break and the introduction of Ken. We left off on July 18th, so the goal for our next stream is to get to August 4th in order to ensure we have another big Tartarus night next Monday.

But as I said tonight's stream and for the foreseeable future, weeknight streams will start after 9:30 PM Eastern.

Persona 3 Portable Achievements

• S.E.E.S. the Day: Rescue a missing person.
  
• Hotel Investigation Squad: Defeat the Hierophant and Lovers.

For the raid we dropped in on misscammi316 who was playing The Sims 4 over at twitch.tv/misscammi316

I thought I would have a workout involving getting an HDMI signal from the PlayStation 3 to my capture card with a splitter, but it doesn't work. Last thing I can think of is maybe trying a S-Video set up, would mean trying to find a PlayStation 3 S-Video cable along with a convert to HDMI, otherwise, anything from the PS3 will be at a 480p. Might also give using component cables another try as well.

Got a new commission request for another Mass Effect story, to  go with the one remaining commission request from last week for a WWE story. I'll work a bit on the WWE one before work today, then make the Mass Effect one the priority. Helps that I know both clients habits when it comes to who actually pays me promptly and who makes make me waits for weeks.

Didn't dive into the Sakura box on stream last night, but considering the later start tonight, we might open with a snack.

I do have to remember to take the trash out before 4:30 PM this afternoon... not doing that after dark!

So on that note we'll see you around 9:30 PM Eastern over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

It's A Monday

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was the first mother day I've experienced without my mom, but it was positive as various family members visited for a full afternoon. I really do miss my mom a whole lot, and I'm doing my best to make her proud, but things aren't fully going in the direction I'm hoping it would.

From the Sakura Box my cousin Frances sent me, we tried the Mochi Taro Crackers, which was a pack of 'okaki' (rice crackers) flavored lightly slated crunch snacks and a peanut... as in there was one peanut in the little pack. Tasted like a fried crunchy noodle mixed with a salt cracker.

Last night's stream of Overwatch was pretty fun, big thanks to PandaSweet being apart of the fun. We had a fair amount of wins and losses. We certainly ran into some questionable random teammates who either didn't push onto the objective or even challenge the opposing team. Picked up one Play of the Game as Bastion, Other characters used were Tracer, D.va, Reinhard, Moira, and a few others.

We did also did a few instances of the Starwatch event, winning all three runs, two on defense and once on offense. I kind of fell it's easier on the console side in a 4 v 4 encounter, vs the PC side, which has the higher intensity between players on all side.

For the raid we dropped in on TracyDoll as they were playing Resident Evil 4 over on twitch.tv/tracydoll

Of course with it being Monday, we're back to our big game with Persona 3 Portable, and we're going into Tarturus, and it'll be a grind for sure, as we'll be trying to reach the next blocked floor. If things work out right we should possibly be in

The 76ers imploding yesterday was shocking, as they were down by 3 at half-time and then just didn't show up to play in the second half, losing in embarrassing fashion. I won't be surprised if James Hardan signs with Houston in the off-season.

Job search continues to flounder as I look for something with consistency, Hopefully a fresh weeks means interesting prospects and leads.

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

Surprise Night Of Kirby Star Allies and A Sakura Box

Good morning everyone

First Happy Mother's day... and yes I miss my mom more and more every day, as I feel a lot of my own headspace struggles are due to trying to make her proud, and things are not flowing the way I would like in that regard. Am expecting some family to be visiting this afternoon, which would mean nothing is getting done today in regards to any writing.

Huge thank you to my cousin Frances who sent me a Sakura Box, filled with snacks and treats from Japan! I figure we'll try out one item per day from it to see what we like and what we don't like. In fact we tried out one of them on stream, the Shimi Choco Corn Stick, which was really quite good. It tasted like a wafer cookie.

Last night's stream also featured a surprise one night, start to finish marathon play through of Kirby Star Allies. Now up to four players can take part, but obviously I was flying solo, and to my surprise, the game's A.I. was actually quite good, in fact several times, it was the CPU controlled teammates that carried me through some dicey situations. In fact we only died a few times and most of that was due to my own mistiming. 

Now on a single, blind play through, we completed 69% (nice) of the game, which is pretty awesome, We did every extra level we unlocked, we were actively trying to find the switches for the bonus levels and the hidden puzzle pieces except when it was clear I didn't have the right combinations of powers to solve a puzzle.

When I can rope my cousin or brother into being apart of a stream, safe to say Kirby Star Allies might be a contender of things to play!

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood who was trying to learn how to do some exploits in Street Fighter II involving Guile over at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

Now it is Sunday night, which means Overwatch is on deck, we might mess around with the Empire-Watchers 4 v 4 a couple of times as well. 

Did get my laundry and dishes done yesterday, of course, not wanting to dirty any dishes after washing them, ordered a cheese-steak and fries. Been a long time since I had one.

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