It's Friday

 Good morning everyone,

Yes I forgot to post yesterday's blog, my bad! Anyway work was alright last night, got another completed interview, but I really wish the wording of the questions were worded a little more 'humanly'. Thing again, the intro basically comes across as the 'In America' meme from the Yu-Gi-Oh abridged series.

Last night's stream of Mass Effect saw us getting the achievement for using Alenko in the majority of the game, which meant after we did the initial side quests, we went straight to Virmire where we left him behind. I made a mistake but sending Alenko with the Salarians instead of Ashley, which meant we didn't see Alenko's last stand. Once Virmire was done, I noticed I had the max bar filled regarding Paragon, which means i can finally start making some of my usual Renegade choices... and by having Virmire done before Noveria, we justify Shepard 'snapping' a bit.

We did go to Noveria and got all the initial story out of the way, so the next time we play it we can go straight to Peak 15 and then dealing with the one or two side quests that pop up because of the Rachni before the big push for finishing the game. 

Mass Effect Achievements

• Sentinel Ally: Complete the majority of the game with the Alliance sentinel squad member

For the raid we dropped in on princesspashley as they were playing Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom over at twitch.tv/princesspashley

The plan for tonight's stream is to continue Kena: Bridge of Spirits, I know we're somewhere in the second act of the story. The stream will be starting at 9:30 PM Eastern due to work.

Got a new commission request through my SubscribeStar page for a story based on AEW... and since I don't following WWE closely, there is no chance I know what the hell is up with what's going on in the glorified cocaine-fueled fuck fest that is All-Elite Wrestling..but I think I can whip something together using an old outline from something written ten years ago.

Restocked my food supply yesterday, and realized making ramen is rather painless. Sure it's not healthy, but hey at least I'm eating right?

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

Resident Evil 6 Progress, Achievements in Fall Guys!

Good morning everyone,

Another late shift of work yesterday, but I got another interview done and thus felt productive once again. 

Also made some pasta the previous night... and it's edible, so I have left overs for today. There is a big difference in knowing how to cook and 'knowing how to cook;.

Last night's stream opened with Resident Evil 6 which saw Iceman and I knock out Chapter 2 of Leon's campaign.. and since I'm playing as Helena, it certainly has lead to some unique moments and mechanics within the game, such as carrying Deborah and being its target during the boss fight. Now since the chapters are so long, Iceman and I are approaching of doing one chapter per week. So with five chapters per campaign and four campaigns in total... we'll be with this a lot in the coming weeks and months on Wednesdays.

Once chapter two of RE6 was done, and after a break, I loaded up Fall Guys with the intent of testing out an exploit to get the achievement for 5 wins in a row. Currently, if you do one of the short 'special' fan made races that are currently an option, you just have to finish it, doesn't matter the placement. Now do it four more times, and you got the achievement. Also managed to get the achievement for doing an emote before finishing in first place. Now that just leaves coming in 1st place 20 times in races... just wish I knew how many I had done already.

Resident Evil 6 Achievements

• Lifesaver: Help or rescue your partner ten times.
• Buried Secrets: Complete Chapter 2 in Leon's campaign.

Fall Guys Achievements

• Big Tease: Perform an emote just before coming first in a race round
• Infallible: Win 5 Episodes in a row

On a side note, my current Xbox achievement stands at 12 days and 50 achievements earned, some of which I didn't make mention of here in the blog.

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

The plan for tonight's stream is more Mass Effect, and we'll be opening with three side quests with the hope we can get the achievement for doing the majority of the game with Alenko in the squad. If we get that achievement, we'll do Virmire before Noveria just for a change of pace 

Also finished the Mass Effect short story yesterday, so the commission slots are now open.

SO on that note we'll see you later tonight over on twitch.tv/fredcasden and the stream will be starting around 9:30 PM Eastern.

 

Social Links In Persona 3 Portable

Good morning everyone,

Work yesterday was alright as I finally had a complete interview for the client that is giving us work, granted I think I screwed up slightly, but getting a complete interview was a nice boost to my confidence.

Last night's stream of Persona 3 Portable saw us pick up in the aftermath of Shinjiro's death and Ken basically making his vow to not let what happen be in vain, which evolved his Persona, in addition we saw Fuuka's Persona evolve as well because someone moved away. This is kind of a weird way to show the companions evolving their powers having nothing to do with being directly linked to the main character, which gives things a rougher feel in comparison to how in Persona 5 Royal everything felt as if these payoffs were more important to the character development.

Still we covered basically all of October getting within striking distance of the next Full Moon, at the same time we made great progress on several of the Social Links, completing Yukari's while also nearly finished with Fuuka's. Some of the stories with the secondary characters have been really hit or miss, such as I wouldn't want to deal with Kenji's story every again, while Mamoru's story hits a bit close to home with details that are revealed. Then there is the weirdness of Tanaka's and Nozomi's stories which has me going what the hell!

We did pick up two achievements, Going Nova was basically the result of boosting one Persona's strength to max and getting to do an all out attack, and I'm rather pleased with getting over 50% of the Compendium done, with all the fusing I've spent time doing. At this pint I have 66% of the the game's achievements. Persona 3 Portable shall return on Monday.

Persona 3 Portable Achievements

• Going Nova: Deal over 999 damage in 1 attack.
• Moderate Bookkeeper: Register over 50% of the Compendium.

For the raid we dropped in on sweetlindir who was playing Paladins over at twitch.tv/sweetlindir

Also, Happy Birthday to long time friend of the channel PandaSweet! 

Nearly finished the Mass Effect short story commission, I would have had it done yesterday but I took a quick trip to a store to grab a couple of things. This story will be finished for today. The WWE short story commission that I picked up a few weeks ago has been shelved because I was not thrilled with the added changes the client wanted. They know what I'm comfortable writing and they pushed for things I wasn't going to budge on.

Tonight's stream will be starting at 9:30 PM Eastern due to work, so that means no Fall Guys, so we'll be jumping into Resident Evil 6 with Iceman  

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

So Shinjiro Is Basically Apart of SEES for A Cup Of Coffee?

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was interesting as I had an issue with Amazon, as I caught the delivery person throwing my package over the fence while claiming they put it on my porch by my front door. They said they couldn't open the gate, which was a lie, because I easily opened it. So I called up Amazon directly, used the fact that Amazon delivery personnel take photos to document where they placed packages and thus was able to prove where this package was thrown in relation to where another delivery was placed just four days prior. Got a $10 credit for my trouble, but yeah I was annoyed.

Last night's stream of Persona 3 Portable saw us reach October 4th, and in the context of the came it was the rather abrupt departure of Shinjiro after it was revealed he accidentally killed Ken's mother two years prior to the events of the game. Always thought Ken was weird based on what I saw of him in Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, but now having the full context, it makes sense. This entire story beat does lead to Shinjiro being killed and Akihiko finding his conviction to evolve his own Persona into Caesar.

Still, since I was playing P3P, a lot of the attachment I probably should feel when it comes to Shinjiro just isn't there, not to mention I haven't seen any of the cut scenes from the original P3 or event P3:FES, so to me, Shinjiro being killed off comes across as a 'oh that happened'. 

I have managed to get Makoto up to level 50 and with a number of social links done, I can fuse various combinations of Persona to where I can have a fairly over powered line up. And since this play through is blatantly a guided play through, I was able to go in the Fortune & Strength boss fight with a good plan. Granted the gimmick of the wheel of fortune gave be flashbacks to the Shadow Sae fight from Persona 5 Royal.

Also learned from a viewer that Vincent from 'Catherine' makes a bit of a cameo in Persona 3 Portable as he's hanging out in Club Escapade. Since both games are made by Atlas, it's a cool little easter egg, granted Catherine came out years after the original release of Persona 3. 

The plan  for tonight's stream is to continue Persona 3 Portable and see more of the fallout regarding  Ken as well as make out way towards the next big trip into Tartarus, as well as catching up on Social Links I fell behind on. I know I have all the ones that can only be done at night done, the rest are all school related. 

Of course I don't know if we're starting at 6:30 PM Eastern or 9:30 PM Eastern due to work. As soon as I know I'll let you all know!

Persona 3 Portable Achievements

• Flawless: Max out all social qualities.
• Special Fusion Expert: Use 4 or more Personas in a special fusion.
• No More Bets: Defeat the Fortune and Strength.

 For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz who was playing Outbreak over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz

I got some writing done on the Mass Effect short story commission, putting in some meta jokes regarding contents I've recently played in the original Mass Effect that is not in the Legendary Edition, as well as Ashley's drastic difference in appearance.

Oh and if you're wondering what was in package, it was several Persona 5 manga, I'm missing volume 4 in the series... hopefully I can track that down.

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

General Notes

 Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was kind of a lost day due to me waking up early to trim some branches and do some yard work of sorts. Combine that with the after effect of the unplanned marathon stream on Saturday and I was completely out of it all afternoon. I should look into finding a cheap service to get various yard stuff done in one shot, because it is a lot for me to manage.

Last night's stream of Overwatch saw wins and losses. We had a lot of fun though, big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the action. Picked up two plays of the game as Orissa and Reinhardt, with other characters used being Ana, D.va, Junker Queen, Bastion, Tracer, Tobjourn and others.

We also messed around with a few other modes besides Quick Play

For the raid we sent the action over to misscammi316 who was also playing Overwatch over at twitch.tv/misscammi316

The plan for today's stream is to continue Persona 3 Portable, depending on my mood and how long it takes to recharge my Xbox Series controller, we may start early to try and get a lot done.

Speaking of plans, since we knocked out Star Trek Resurgence in one night, that frees up this Saturday night to dedicate to Street Fighter 6 on the XBox side of things.

Just realize, I've not played Mortal Kombat X on the console side... I've done MK 9 and MK 11... but not X... hmm...

Since we're at the end of May, the Phillies are certainly looking like they are done for the year, despite being in striking distance of the Braves, but they have too many holes in the line up and pitching staff.

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

Star Trek Resurgence Is A Great Star Trek game with some issues

Good morning,

At the time I'm writing this I have just finished my stream at 4:30 AM in the morning Eastern time following an epic night of playing Star Trek: Resurgence.Now normally I would recap to you my day, thoughts and feelings, but I'm just warped (no pun intended) after that entire surprising, not planned marathon. I love the fact this is a direct sequel to the The Next Generation episode 'The Last Outpost', certainly diving into a lot of the lore I remembered was great, and certainly showed my Star Trek geeky nature!

Part of what makes Star Trek: Resurgence work is that everything just flows naturally from one moment to the next, as it drives you to want to see the next part. This is an extremely well-written game, since the developers were part of the original TellTale Games, so they know what players want from this type of experience, where choices matter in trying to come to various outcomes. This does have a slight negative effect in trying to determine where to stop, or what would've made for a great cliff hanger point... hence why we went for 10 and a half hours. Keep in mind my average stream runs 4 to 5 hours.

Speaking of negative, the TellTale style of controls and quick time events, plus some of the puzzles certainly left a lot to be desired, there were quite a few instances where I felt button presses weren't being recognized or the analog sticks weren't responding. More than once I had doubts about actually doing what was indicated being a success.There were also a number of audio issues, screen flickers, and probably most annoyingly the inability to view percentage of choices to compare among other players.

See the only way to view the results of your choices is to sign up for the Star Trek Resurgence website, which is a blatant ploy by the Developers / Publisher to create a mailing list. I wouldn't be so annoyed about this is signing up via the code provided in the game actually worked. Actually had to do the whole QR scan gimmick.

Still the positives out weight the negatives, and I look forward to doing another play through down the road, because a second and probably a third trip through the game is needed to see the outcome of all choices.

Star Trek: Resurgence Achievements

• Shields Up: Chose Bedrosian’s plan
• Defiant: Disobeyed Solano and reversed hull polarity
• I Got This: Carter went into the hatch last and was injured
• Lower Decks Dalliance: Chose to date Miranda
• Hotari Pride: Sided with the Hotari at the Negotiation
• Jailor: Sent Miranda to the Brig
• Parting Shot: Shot at Miranda as she escaped
• Truth Bomb: Told Riker about the shield codes
• Effective: Let Arminta break Kapoor’s arm
• The Many: Transported the seeds onboard
• Man of Science: Chose Westbrook as your First Officer
• You Killed Her: Edsilar pulled the trigger
• Don't Forget Me: Carter was bioformed
• ACT 4: Resolute: Completed Act 4

We didn't do a raid at the end of the stream, and the plan for tonight is to play Overwatch, that will be about at 7 PM Eastern.

So on that note have a great day and we'll see you later!

Late work, late stream...

Good morning everyone,

We had work in the evening last night, and it didn't go as well as I would hope, as two people just hung up on me in the middle of interviews in which they would've been paid! I mean seriously, who does that?

Anyway, last night's stream featured Kena: Bridge of Spirits as we finished the first major story arc of the game, and found a bunch of the little dudes (the Rot), in fact we found 51 one of them, plus hats they can wear, cowboy hats, cat hats, dinosaur hats! Probably my favorite part of the game. Now of course that comes with the fact that getting loss is practically a reoccurring thing in terms of trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B, and it doesn't help I keep getting side tracked when I see different stuff pop up.

Now, I want to know who the hell exactly finished this game in 10 hours, because I'm already eight hours in and no where near done finishing the game. In fact by my current estimation it will take about four more weeks at most to finish it.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS4) Trophies

• Between the Eyes: Destroyed a Shield Sticks without breaking his shield.
• Taro's Regret: Found Taro's Lantern Relic.
• Spirit Guide: Defeated Corrupted Taro.
• Bow Master: Hit 3 enemies with a single Multi-shot.
• Harness Your Power: Learned the Bomb Ability.
• Weigh Them Down: Destroyed a Moth enemy with a Bomb.
• The Open Range: Discovered the Farm.
• Adira's Love: Found Adira's Ox Relic.

For the raid we dropped in on alexirmen who was playing Final Fantasy VII Remake over at twitch.tv/alexirmen

You know, more and more I think about grabbing a PlayStation 5, I'm certainly leaning digital for a few reasons, but the biggest is actually a problem I have when getting physical copies of PlayStation 4 games in that I am often sent the European version of the game and not the North American version. Yes the physical games are not region lock, HOWEVER,, codes for redeeming additional content that come with the physical copies are region locked. Of course this would mean, seriously rotating between using the all digital PS5 and the PS4 for games I have physical copies of, but that may be the way to go... if I can ever trust Sony not to screw people over when it comes to their digital libraries.

Didn't do any writing yesterday, mostly due to the change in my schedule for the day, as I don't like writing before work. In fact I prefer to write after I finish streaming, but when a stream starts at 9:30 PM, and by the time I write most of this blog, it's already 2 AM.

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Star Trek Resurgence, a game developed by former staff at TellTale Games, and I'm really looking for to playing it.

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