The Last of Us Part II and other notes

Hi everyone,

Friday was a mixed bag on various levels, for one I did some yard work early in the day... and went through three spools for my lawn trimmer just to get the sidewark and part of the yard done. I really need to just dump weed and grass killer on every bit of vegetation around my house to kill it all off.

To top it off, I quick order of some stuff from DoorDash was nearly delivered to the wrong address, and I was super pissed. At least the driver realized their mistake when they drove past my house and saw me waiting for my delivery.

Sadly work got cancelled again, putting a huge dent in things as I was counting on my next pay check to basically cover half the cost of a new fridge.

On a more positive note, we did start The Last of Us Part 2, and the first four hours alone are so much better than the entire run of the first game which I played last year. The controls are so much better, and the fact that I can customize them to negate some of the terrible button combinations and actions is very helpful.

I particularly love that Joel basically get his comeuppance for his actions at the end of the first game, setting up a interesting revenge plot for Ellie, while we also see things from the antagonist's Abby's point of view as well.  The achievements are much more manageable and fair  when compared to the first game as well.

I'm actually looking forward to playing The Last of Us Part 2 again next Friday, which is a feeling I didn't really have with the first game last year.

The Last of Us Part II Trophies

• Apprentice: Learn a player upgrade
• Tinkerer: Upgrade a weapon
• Starter Set: Find 5 trading cards
• So Great and Small: Find the Engraved Ring

For the raid we dropped in on marslag who was also playing The Last of Us Part 2 over on twitch.tv/marslag

Picked up another commission request for a Mass Effect short story to somehow have MaleShep and FemShep interact as siblings. An interesting challenge to say the least

Heading up to North Jersey today with my brother and his family to visit my aunt. and her family. The plan is leave early in the morning, hopefully get up their around 10 or 11 AM, and then making it back up by 4 or 5 PM. Really hoping everyone is considerate of that fact. 

Spoke with the FnDanteSavage during the day just to see how he was doing, and turns out as much turmoil as I'm going through, he had his own misadventures this summer, but I'm glad to know he and his family is doing well.

So Saturday's stream, as far as I'm concerned is scheduled for 7 PM Eastern, and I want to experiment with maybe featuring something from Game Pass to get footage for an idea for content for my YouTube channel.

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

The Expanse, Street Fighter 6, Gears 5 and other notes...

Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream featured The Expanse: A TellTale Series... and I was impressed with how great the game looked, the voice acting, the dialog choices and the controls... everything was so immersive that I was caught off guard with the the first episode only ended after about 70 minutes. This basically proved the fundamental problem with TellTale Game's episodic release style, because for streamers and content creators, a 70 minute 'episode' just isn't good enough. Hell I could and have gotten close to two hours of play time out of each episode of the TellTale Walking Dead Season 1. 

The release of  the Expanse, does prove that the company's being Life is Strange: True Colors and Star Trek:Resurgence had it right by releasing the full game day one and letting players go at their own pace. A shame The Expanse is tainted by a archaic gimmick. Add on to that that you cannot access the options menus when starting the game and this not fully a positive experience.

So since the Expanse was so short, we played some Street Fighter 6, getting ranked placements as Juri and Ryu. We tried to do some Avatar fights, but couldn't find anyone to match up with in the Battle Hub.

Lastly, we loaded up Gears 5 for the first time in a while, doing an Escape, a couple of Horde runs and a PVE. We managed to complete a horde run, which was pretty cool, and picked up an achievement during an escape. 

The Expanse: A Telltale Series Achievements

• Captain Drummer: Complete Episode 1 of The Expanse

Gears 5 Achievements

• Buying Time: Used the Scrubber Room to slow down the Venom in Escape

For the raid we dropped in on daworstgamerever25 who was playing Rocket League and showing off their sound mixing skills over at twitch.tv/daworstgamerever25

Work was cancelled again, and while I'm partially covered for this week, going forward I'm in dangerous territory. Also doesn't help but I think one of the job I was applying far was blatantly misleading applicants with the address I was given not being for the company listed. 

Wrote a bonus story for my SubscribeStar followers based on Hellsing, which ended up being over 3000 words. It was something different based on what I know regarding the character of Heinkel Wulf.

Our next stream is schedule for Friday night at 9:30 PM Eastern with the start of The Last of Us Part 2... if work gets cancelled again, then we'll start early, since I do have to be up before 8 AM to prep for a trip up to North Jersey.

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

Resident Evil 6. Power Wash Simulator and other notes

Hi everyone,

Finished the short story commission related to Mass Effect first thing this morning, I was particularly inspired by some ideas I had for it. So at the moment commission slots are open.

Work got cancelled at the last minute, but I was told we should have an assignment starting on Thursday, which I hope gives us many hours of work.

Update on the Fridge, because it's so old, all possible replacement parts (Part # WR9X405) for it were discontinued... so I certainly have to look into getting a new fridge a lot sooner than I expected.

Tonight's stream opened with Resident Evil 6, which saw Iceman and I clear Chapters 2 and 3 of the Jake and Sherry campaign, along with the opening few sections of Chapter 4. There was quite a few deaths in Chapter Two as we tried to figure out how to escape the cave, along with getting hung up in searching for stuff in what was supposed to be a stealth section in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 saw us reach the point where Jake and Sherry run into Chris and Pierce in China, which some wild sequences involving a motorcycle and seeing the helicopter battle from a different angle.

For the second half of the stream I dived into PowerWash Simulator, clearing a couple of jobs in pretty straight forward fashion. 

Resident Evil 6 Achievements

• A Revolting Development: Complete Chapter 2 in Jake's campaign.
• Silent Killer: Use a stealth attack to take down five enemies.
• Let's Blow This Joint: Complete Chapter 3 in Jake's campaign.

PowerWash Simulator Achievements

• Sole Task: Complete the sole of the Shoe House last

For the raid we dropped in on SweetLindir who was playing Sea of Thieves over on twitch.tv/sweetlindir

Got some Miscellaneous groceries, some snacks, bread, drinks and things like that. Nothing major.

Realized I needed ink for my printer... because I haven't had to use my printer in probably five years.

Our next stream is scheduled for Thursday night at 9:30 PM Eastern, and we're going to feature episode one of The Expanse, the first major release from the revived TellTale Games. Sadly they are doing episodic releases for all five chapters, So we'll bounce to it on all the major release days.

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

 

Friday the 13th and other notes

 Hi everyone,

We had work tonight, not a full shift, but nearly full, and I had three interviews so it was a positive evening before the stream. 

Also had a job interview, but it turned out the job wasn't as advertised based on the job listing, which meant I didn't know how to answer the questions.

Tonight's stream of Friday the 13th was a lot of fun, we were joined by BangBangBang for several matches, and I made progress towards a few generic achievements, but it does appear the counting stat ones are real glitchy, because I know I played as more than a handful of the counselors. We survived a few matches, got killed by Jason several times. There were several instances of matches ending because of the host leaving, server disconnects and other issues.

But this is a game that is shutting down on December 31st of this year, however unlike Gundam Evolution, Friday the 13th The Game has been around for several years and certainly had times when it was massively popular. I probably will do a casual review for my YouTube channel. 

Big thank you to for the subscriptions to my Twitch Channel along with the bits! It's greatly appreciated considering my current struggles!   

I should mention the asshole who came into the chat late who tried to get under my skin, like dude, I know how to deal with trolls, I just let 'em talk for a bit so that they have enough rope to hang themselves with when I report them, block them and ban them.

For the raid we dropped in on elegantlyslays (formally TracyDoll) who was playing Dead by Daylight over on twitch.tv/elegantlyslays

Did a fair bit of writing on the Mass Effect short story commission, I figure it's about 50% finished at this point.

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern on Wednesday night with the the cotinuation of Resident Evil 6 with Iceman! 

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

 

Gundam Evolution: So Much Wasted Potential

Hi everyone

First an update on the fridge, turns out I kind of resolved the matter myself when I turned off the fridge last Monday when it stopped cooling by turning up the settings to get it kick on its motor, so the PSE&G said what we need is a cold control that would do that automatically so I don't have to worry. I did ask if there was any way he could tell how old the fridge was and from what he could see, the fridge was made in 1987... so yeah, have to get a new fridge at some point anyway.

There was an apparent screw up with the work schedules so the Supervisor who was overseeing Night Shift wasn't aware I was supposed to be on for the second time in a row. Regardless there was very limited work even though I was told new assignments would be starting. 

I do got a job interview on August 1st for a hybrid position, so hopefully that could lead to a more stability.

Now we did play Gundam Evolution for tonight's stream, and it was quite interesting, because we lost more than we won, but we got a lot of insight over the history of the game from it's release in the fall of 2022 to the announcement of its cancellation from someone who put in over500 hours into the game. Big thank you to Bacon_Apocalypse for all the notes, which I'm going to use for an extra video on my Casual Review series over on my YouTube channel.

Now as for my own experience, I've gotten comfortable using the Gun Tank mech, it has enough mobility for me to do different things and it's not as gimmicky as some of the other choices to play as. I found the map variety to be almost too similar, despite being 12 maps, but the lack of any real mode besides PVP, there was a lot left on the table with Gundam Evolution's potential.

Gundam Evolution Achievements

• Nice Cover: Recover 10 allies total and reach (Casual/Ranked) Match Results

 For the raid we dropped in on misscammi316 who was playing Smite over on twitch.tv/misscammi316 

Did get in some writing on the latest commission request for a Mass Effect short story focused on EDI, and I'm certainly packing the lore into it for my warped take on the franchise.

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern on Tuesday over on twitch.tv/fredcasden and out focus will be on Friday the 13th: The Game for the full stream. We'll be playing the Xbox version of course and the goal is to get a variety of footage from matches for archive purposes.

So on that note, we'll see you later!

So I Binged Watched Star Trek Prodigy

 Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream of Overwatch was a lot of fun as always thanks to PandaSweet being apart of the insanity, along with Odeu! We won a fair bit more than we lost overall, but there were a couple of matches where out teammates let us down. Didn't get any achievements, but picked up four plays of the game (2 as Reinhardt, 1 as Ashe and 1 as Junker Queen). Funny thing is I felt I had betters plays in those matches than what was considered to be the best moment of the match. Other characters used were D.va, Moira, Ana, Kiriko, Doomfist, Tracer, Mei, Orissa and a few others.

For the raid we dropped in on oldish22 during their stream of Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/oldish22

SO during the day, I binged watched all 20 episodes of Star Trek Prodigy, after nagging the entire season for $3 on Amazon Prime (it was on sale for $10 and I had a $7 digital credit), so I spent the late morning and afternoon watching it... and now having seen it, I can appreciate the references that were included in Star Trek Prodogiy: Supernova when I played that last year. While clearly aimed at a younger audience as an introduction to Star Trek, it really tells a nice over arching story, takes the time to give reasons to care about every character and actually wraps up rather neatly with it s final episode. 

Seeing how the series was cancelled after production of Season 2 was announced, I can see the series continuing in other media like comics, web shorts and the like, but if it doesn't, then one can simply see that the one season was to put the main characters where they belonged.

Have to wake up super early for a PSE&G tech to check out to the fridge, I haven't had any issues since Monday of last week, but better safe than sorry.

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern and we're going to dedicate the stream to Gundam Evolution, a game that launched in November of 2022... that is shutting down in November of 2023. Yeah you heard that right, so I want to get footage of the game to review it for my YouTube channel to see what went wrong with it.

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

Playing Gotham Knights As Only Batgirl Was Worth It

 Hi everyone,

So on back to back streams we finished up big open world super hero games, as we finished Gotham Knights and to my amazement, we knocked out 85% of the game's base achievements, which does leave me wondering if I should go the extra mile to get the remaining achievements, some of which involves searching all over Gotham for collectables, problem is that searching for them will involve referring to maps and stuff on a second screen.

Anyway, the build up to the reveal that Talia Al Guhl was using a Lazarus Pit to revive Bruce Wayne was pretty obvious to an extent, but it basically serves how far Bat Family has come since Batman's death to surpass him in a one on one fight. I do kind of feel the plot pacing falls apart once the raid on Kane Tower, since everything feels kind of rushed to an extent. 

Now since I did the entire play through as Batgirl, it meant we saw her character evolve from her doubts and concerns to being confident and declaring herself to the new Knight of Gotham. This really shows off in the end credits, where all the costumes I elected to have her wear was shown during key story moments. It actually makes the choice of sticking with one character matter in terms of the adventure from start to finish.

Gotham Knights Achievements

• Voiceless: Complete Case File 06: JACOB KANE
• Expert Crime Fighter: Prevent 250 crimes in Gotham City
• Out of Their League: Defeat 45 League of Shadows Assassins and 30 Rocketeers
• Drone You Out: Defeat 30 Regulator Drone Masters
• Family Meeting: Defeat 30 Mob Godmothers
• Seeking Asylum: Complete Case File 07: THE LEAGUE OF SHADOWS
• A Momentum Occasion: Unlock all Momentum Abilities as Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, or Red Hood
• Bat Out of Hell: Complete every Batcycle time trial
• Gotham Knight: Complete Case File 08: HEAD OF THE DEMON
• Practice Makes Perfect: Complete all 16 Training Area exercises
• Dressed to Impress: Craft a complete set of Legendary equipment (Suit, Melee Weapon, Ranged Weapon)
• The Man-Bat Family: Defeat 10 Man-Bats in Gotham City

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

Not completely sure what the next major game is going to be on the Xbox side, but with two live service game scheduled for de-listing just to get the footage of them. We'll see what ends up happening.

Ordered some take out from Checkers... and they screwed up my drink order... again...

Since I played Star Trek Prodigy Supernova last year, I made sure to grab the entire first season digitally on Amazon. Would be nice to watch the series and actually understand the general relationship between the main cast. 

Finished the Mass Effect short story commission, and got the go ahead to do another one this time featuring EDI in the spotlight, which was something that was being built towards.

Out next stream is scheduled for 7 PM Eastern on Sunday night, with Overwatch 2! So on that note, we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!