The Last of Us Part II and Other Notes

Hi everyone,

We had another mundane day of work, the assignment is so bland and has so many road blocks put in it that I felt like I was going through the motions by the end of my shift. Can't complain, as we did get nearly a full set of hours this week.

Tonight's stream of The Last of Us Part II saw us finished Ellie's version of Seattle Day 1, which involved quite a bit of side questing to all the areas in down town Seattle before progressing with the main story which saw a lot of stealth and combat happening with the Wolves (aka the human villains). There was a number of cool moments, such as Ellie playing 'Take on Me' during a segment where a guitar was found, along with Dina coming to Ellie's rescue on several cut scene occasiosl

Now the Birthday Gift flash back was nice, to try and give the big warm and fuzzy feelings towards Joel, but remember he projected his feelings about his own daughter not being around on to her, so for me it was nice to see the build up towards Ellie learning the truth.

The Last of Us Part II Trophies

• Mechanist: Fully upgrade a weapon
• Sightseer: Visit every location in downtown Seattle
• Looks Good On You: Put a hat on your companion

For the raid we dropped in on zonesama who was featuring Skullgirls over on twitch.tv/zonesama

DId some writing yesterday on the WWE short story commission, but since it features similiar content compared to the recent commissioned story for the Mass Effect series.

Our next stream is scheduled for 7 PM Eastern on Saturday night, and just for the hell of it we're going to play Borderlands again and work on the DLC content to see if we can get towards    1000 gamer score! 

 Have a good night everyone, and we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

 

Finished Borderlands and Other Notes

Hi everyone,

Started the day knocking out the 2nd of three commission requests that came in this week, which was focused on Mass Effect and that ended up being over 3000 words, then started work on the 3rd commission requests which is a WWE story... not thrilled with that, but hey we had a variety of stories done. Will work on that story on Friday during the day.

Work was meh, one of the tougher assignments where w just leave voice mails more than actually speaking to people. I did have two possible ones, but they both didn't qualify because of demographics.

So for the stream, we went ahead and finished Borderlands, and I was sticking pretty damn close to all the quests and bounty boards tonight, and since I was over-leveled by a bit and had some fairly good gear, it was basically a cake walk, particularly the descent to the Vault to face the Destroyer. It is the 32nd game we've finished this year, which raises the question over what game will be next?

But before that , we do have 865 out of a possible 1750 Gamer Score, and I would like to get it to over 1000, so we may keep Borderlands around for Saturdays to do the bonus content.

Actually come to think of it, before I work on any commission stories, I'm going to record my Casual Review of Borderlands for my YouTube channel after breakfast.

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition Achievements

• My Brother is an Italian Plumber: Killed an enemy plumber-style
• Discovered Trash Coast: Discovered Trash Coast
• Destroyed the Hive: Killed the Rakk Hive
• Ding! Sleepless: Earned level 40
• Wanted: Flynt: Killed Flynt
• Fully Loaded: Rescued enough Claptraps to earn 42 inventory slots
• Made in New Haven: Completed all missions in the Rust Commons
• Discovered Crimson Lance Enclave: Discovered Crimson Lance Enclave
• Discovered Eridian Promontory: Discovered Eridian Promontory
• Destroyed the Destroyer: Killed the Vault Boss

For the raid we went over to kaedmon who was playing The Elder Scrolls Online over on twitch.tv/kaedmon

Assuming there is work, our next stream over on twitch.tv/fredcasden is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern and will feature The Last of Us Part II. I really like what I experienced last week, so I'm interested in seeing how this double story goes.

So on that note, have a great night every one! 

Borderlands, Job Interview On Monday and Other Notes

Hi everyone,

On Tuesday I had a job interview that was going well until it turned out I couldn't travel to it... on Wednesday I was contacted for another job interview at a place where I've applied for multiple positions and is very easy to get too! Here's hoping I land the gig! Work tonight was okay, we closed one assignment that actually has some connection to the job interview on Monday... maybe a good sign? 

Tonight's stream of Borderlands saw a lot get done in terms of side quests in the base campaign before randoms started popping in and leading me into other things. Good news is that I leveld up so that the enemies in the General Knoxx content aren't one shotting me any more. Still one of the players who randomly joined in wants to ensure that I do the secret hidden boss fight to get legendary loot. That should be neat.

It wasn't all positive as the Claptrap in Old Haven didn't spawn, but apparently it's tied to the main story quest for that area of the game. It broke my streak of getting so many side quests done at one time and brought the stream to a crawl.

We're going to continue Borderlands on Thursday's stream, again gradually making our way through the main story. I might make it so only Friends can join to avoid being pulled in various directions

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition Achievements

• Discovered Krom's Canyon: Discovered Krom's Canyon
• Wanted: Krom: Killed Krom
• Speed Kills: Destroyed a Lancer while in a Racer
• Depot Demolition: Destroyed Lance Depot

For the raid we dropped in on tsukinoraijin who was playing Persona 3 Portable over on twitch.tv/tsukinoraijin

Got some writing done on a Mass Effect commission requests, which the 2nd of three commissions I was asked to do this week. I plan to get a good portion of it done on Thursday afternoon.

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern, unless work gets cancelled, either way we'll see you over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

And on that note, Good night!

 

Borderlands, Failed Job Interview And Other Notes

 Hi everyone,

Yesterday I had a job interview that was a hybrid position and everything was going perfect until I learned the job was not in Philadelphia on a major NJ Transit route, but down at the south end of Cherry Hill which is nearly impossible to get to and actually impossible to come home from based on the hours. I'm very disappointed because all the duties I would've done would've have ultiized my experience working for the Courier Post, Cheatp Trips and Maximum Research!

Now the interview ran long and I ended up being late for work, so I stayed on the 'phone' longer than scheduled, and I did not get a complete interview... hell didn't even one started!

On the plus side I may have another strong aspect to interview for an even better job, have to remember to return a call first thing in the morning!

Tonight's stream of Borderlands started off with me focused on various side quests related to New Haven and the Scrapyard, but we were joined by random players, one of whom took me to what was essentially and end game area where I was heavily under powered, but the goal was to level me up quickly and to work towards the final boss of the DLC content to be able to get the best loot in the game. Basically I ended up just following around and trying not to get downed or killed... so it ended up being a very unsual night.

Did end up getting achievements sooner than I would have thought all the same, so it worked out in that regard.

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition Achievements

• Discovered The Scrapyard: Discovered The Scrapyard
• Weapon Aficionado: Reached proficiency level 10 with any weapon type
• Making a Monster: Built the New Car: Monster
• Pandora-dog Millionaire: Earned $1,000,000
• Ding! Hardcore: Earned level 30
• Athena, Out: Rescued Athena

For the raid we dropped in on SweetLinder who was playing Sea of Thieves and Hint: Showdown over at twitch.tv/sweetlindir

Finished a commission requested based on Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, and now my attention turns to a Mass Effect commission request... and top it off I have another request on file for a WWE short story.

Iceman won't be able to join us for Wednesday night's streams, so we're taking a break from Resident Evil 6 this week, and so I'll feature Borderlands instead. I got several side quests to turn in, and if we're joined by the player who was with us tonight, we may go back to that DLC content. We'll see.

The scheduled start time for the next stream is 9:30 PM Eastern over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Have a good night everyone!

Borderlands, Work and other notes

Hi everyone,

We had work on Monday, and got off to a good start with a solid interview and then it mundane, which wasn't helped by the fact I over ate when I ordered some Chinese Food, but re-heated General Tso's chicken never tastes good!

Tonight's stream of Borderlands saw us taking our time and knocking out various side quests and objectives while making our way to New Haven, which is where Marcos and Scooter hangs out, which also puts to where we can meet Tannis. We had more random help, but my lack of speed when playing a FPS that isn't Overwatch is very apparent. as I struggled to keep up with someone who clearly put in a ton of time into the Borderlands franchise on the console side.

We're continuing Borderlands on Tuesday's stream with the goal of knocking side quests first before meeting with Tannis, depending on where they take me and how easy it is to get around. It will be open to all random players, so it could end up kind of nutty

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition Achievements

• Rootinest, Tootinest, Shootinest: Killed 5 Rakk in under 10 seconds
• There's No "I" In "Team": Completed 15 missions in co-op
• You call this archaeology?: Applied an elemental artifact
• .21 Gigawatts: Killed 25 enemies with shock weapons
• Master Exploder: Killed 25 enemies with explosive weapons
• Ding! Expert: Earned level 20
• Made in Fyrestone: Completed all missions in the Arid Badlands
• Paid in New Haven: Completed 5 missions in the Rust Commons
• 12 Days of Pandora: Mastered the technology of Pandora

For the raid we dropped in on TokuSHOUTsu during the marathon of Ultraman Ginga S over at twitch.tv/TokuSHOUTsu 

Did a lot of writing as well, writing a Persona story based around a corrupted Velvet Room attendant and started work on a new commission request based around Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, while also getting another commission request for a Mass Effect story based around the mission that takes places on Sanctuary in Mass Effect 3

I have a virtual job interview on Tuesday afternoon, hopefully is goes well.

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern, assuming there is work in the evening. I might start early if there isn't, but since  I have two stories to write, I may work on those.

So on that note, have a good night and we'll see you next time over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Overwatch and other notes

 Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream of Overwatch certainly saw more losses than wins, in fact we won only two matches in the last two hours, but we did win the final match of the night. What we ran into was a lot of questionable folks who weren't bothering adjusting to what the opposing team was doing along with not playing their roles correctly. Big thanks to PandaSweet and Odeu for being apart of the fun over all!

Characters that I used included Kiriko, Reinhardt, Orissa, D.va, Junker Queen, Ashe, Tracer, Bastion and others, unfortunately I picked up no plays of the game this week on stream, but I had some particuarly good matches in terms of statistics. But we did get an achievement as Mei.

Overwatch 2 Achievements

• Cold Snap: Freeze 4 enemies at once with Mei in Quick or Competitive Play.

For the raid we dropped in on The offical channel for Mystery Science Theater 3000 over at https://www.twitch.tv/mst3k

Made up for the time lost yesterday but writing the Mass Effect short story commission, creating an whole alternate lore for different version of FemShep that fits in with the world of the previous 35 entries in the series. It turned out rather well.

Our next stream is scheduled for Monday night at 9:30 PM Eastern with the continuation of Borderlands. We'll focus on the side quests I picked up, in addition to leaving the option open for people to join in. Of course if there is no work, I might start early, depending on if another story commission comes in.

So it's a light post tonight, so on that note we'll see you next time over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Borderlands and other notes

Hi everyone,

So as a lot of folks know tonight's stream didn't start until 8:30 PM, because of reasons beyond my control that could've have been prevented thanks to someone actually being prepared for folks to visit them even though the date was sent a month in advance. We left at around 8:40 AM this morning on a two hour car trip to North Jersey, so it was around 10:45 AM when we got there, and when I'm heard that we should 'drive slower', that already put me in a foul mood and put me on edge the entire time, because I was figuring at the latest we'd be leaving by 4 PM to come back, so I would have enough time to refresh from the two hour car ride... but nope, we didn't leave till 5 PM and I didn't make it back home till right before 7 PM.

And I'm someone who likes to do a bit of prep before the stream, make sure everything is working as it should, have my drinks and snacks ready and those pre-flight checks can take 30 minutes... but since I was coming home after a two hour car ride, I needed much more time.

The stream tonight saw us starting up the Xbox version of Borderlands, and like my Steam play-through several years ago, we're playing as Lilith. But unlike my Steam play-through, I opened up the game to be public, so random people can drop in and out at anytime, which throws off the team balance to a very large degree. I got a fair bit done solo as I was doing all the side quests before we were joined by random folks. I still got several side quests to do in the first area before moving on, but I'm a higher level than I would've been since Sledge is already defeated.

We're going to put Borderlands in the Monday-Tuesday-Thursday slots of the schedule going forward.

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition Achievements

• Paid in Fyrestone: Completed 5 missions in the Arid Badlands
• Discovered Skag Gully: Discovered Skag Gully
• Ding! Newbie: Earned level 5
• Truly Outrageous: Killed an enemy with the Siren's action skill
• Pyro: Killed 25 enemies with incendiary weapons
• Ding! Novice: Earned level 10
• Get A Little Blood on the Tires: Killed 25 enemies by ramming them with any vehicle
• And They'll Tell Two Friends: Played with at least two other players.
• Discovered Sledge's Safe House: Discovered Sledge's Safe House
• Fence: Sold 50 guns to a shop
• Discovered Headstone Mine: Discovered Headstone Mine
• Group LF Healer: Rescued a groupmate from death in a co-op game
• Wanted: Sledge: Killed Sledge
• United We Stand: Defeated the Rakk Hive, the Vault Boss, Sledge, Krom, or Flynt in a co-op game
• There are some who call me...Tim: Equipped a class mod for your character

For the raid we dropped in on oldish22 who was featuring Path of Exlie over on twitch.tv/oldish22

Obviously got no writing done at all because of how Saturday went over all, I hope to get a good portion of the Mass Effect short story commission done on Sunday.

In fact I didn't get ANYTHING DONE THAT I HOPED TO DO... as in prep-work was done for meals I was hoping to making for Sunday and Monday.

Sunday's stream will start on time at 7 PM Eastern (unless there is a power our internet outage) an we'll featuring Overwatch, see you then over on twitch.tv/fredcasden