Killer Instinct, Story Writing and other notes

 Hi everyone,

Second day in a row work was cancelled, but I did got to ask a question regarding the how the current political climate in the United States may have actually negatively effect the world of Market Research. I suspect Donald Trump has made it virtually impossible for any traditional questions to be asked regarding how people feel about various public figures, and I know some agencies who favor conservatives are afraid of pissing him off.

Still have been applying for everything I can come across, hopefully something will pan out.

Anyway, because of no work, we started the st ream early at 6:30 PM Eastern and rolled with Killer Instinct tonight, learning the basics of how to play and seeing what the game has to offer. I saw there was a story mode that means it would be worth checking out the lore of the game, but the Shadow Lords and its micro-transactions based system certainly raised an eyebrow. Surprised there was no traditional arcade ladder though.

That meant I ended up playing a lot of matches against other players, and something that became real apparent is that Killer Instinct has an awful match making system, throwing low tier new comers against top ranked players with no actual rhyme of reason. Yes Killer Instinct is something like 10 years old, so the pool of players is going to be modestly small, but I certainly could tell the world of difference between me losing a close fight against another player with the same skill level as myself, and getting my faced stomped in.

Was shocked at how many achievements there are in Killer Instinct as well, so in terms of just 'grinding things out', the game certainly has replay value to anyone willing to try and go through the torture of it. Seeing as how there's a big update coming to improve various aspects of the game, I suspect there will be a spark of player interest in it once again.

 Killer Instinct Achievements

• Enemy of My Enemy: You recruited an agent of UltraTech to your Shadow Lords team!
• Stylish Gargos: You have unlocked a color for Gargos!
• Friendly Rash: You have won an exhibition match vs a friend as Rash!
• Friendly Kim Wu: You have won an exhibition match vs a friend as Kim Wu!
• Stylish Kim Wu: You have unlocked a color for Kim Wu!
• Friendly Cinder: You have won an exhibition match vs a friend as Cinder!
• Criminal Flair: You hit your opponent 5 times with Special Attacks while in Cinder's Instinct Mode!
• Stylish Cinder: You have unlocked a color for Cinder!
• Ready to Body: You've played all 10 Qualifying Matches!
• Demonic Annihilation: You completed a combo that dealt 85% or more damage in any mode as Omen!
• Competitive Fulgore: You have won a ranked match as Fulgore!
• Friendly Spinal: You have won an exhibition match vs a friend as Spinal!
• Supreme Spinal: You have earned a Supreme Victory in an online match as Spinal!
• Competitive Spinal: You have won a ranked match as Spinal!
• Triple Trials!: You have completed 3 trials!
• White Belt: You have completed 5 Dojo lessons
• Survival Orchid: You have won a survival match as Orchid!
• Orchid's Jaguar: You hit an opponent with a Jaguar while in Instinct Mode with Orchid
• Stylish Orchid: You have unlocked a color for Orchid!
• Friendly Sabrewulf: You have won an exhibition match vs a friend as Sabrewulf!
• Stylish Sabrewulf: You have unlocked a color for Sabrewulf!
• Friendly Thunder: You have won an exhibition match vs a friend as Thunder!
• Stylish Jago: You have unlocked a color for Jago!
• Sabrewulf's Claws: You Have performed 10 points of chip damage while in Instinct Mode with Sabrewulf
• Competitive Sabrewulf: You have won a ranked match as Sabrewulf!
• Friendly Jago: You have won an exhibition match vs a friend as Jago!
• Competitive Jago: You have won a ranked match as Jago!
• Competitive Glacius: You have won a ranked match as Glacius!
• Thunder's Spirit Dash: You did a dash while in Instinct Mode with Thunder
• Competitive Thunder: You have won a ranked match as Thunder!
• Competitive Sadira: You have won a ranked match as Sadira!
• General Novice: You have reached 10 General Fight Challenges!

For the raid we dropped in on MissCammi316 during their stream of Phasmophobia over on twitch.tv/misscammi316

Knocked out two story commissions today, which when the funds come in makes up for no work today, the first story was based on AEW's The Outcasts, and the second was based on the video game Vanquish. Really wish I knew more about both to put in more details, but hey, between both stories over 6500 words were written.

Out next schedule stream over on twitch.tv/fredcasden  is for 9:30 PM eastner on Wednesday with Resident Evil 6 with Iceman. Regardless of if there is work or not, Wednesday's stream will not start early in order to make sure RE6 is properly featured. 

So on that note, have a great night everyone. 

Mortal Kombat X, Job Interview and other notes

Hi everyone,

So first up, we had a job interview for Cooper Hospital today, and it kind of went okay, but I fear I might have botched it when asked 'Why do I want to work there?' which is never a question I'm good at answering, especially now when a big reason is more personal than professional. I was told that they are only in phase one of the interview process and phase two is when they narrow down the field to five candidate to see who among them would be the best fit.

On the plus side I was given some information regarding several of my applications that positions have not been filled and was encouraged to contact Talent Acquisitions to let them know I'm still interested in those spots.

Did end up looking on LinkedIn to see if there were any postings being listed, and there appeared to be a couple of promising leads.

Sadly, work was cancelled tonight, I wonder how much the threat of a severe storm with nickle sized hail was a factor.

That meant tonight's stream started early, and we played the story mode of Mortal Kombat X, which does such a great job of setting up the future of the franchise that was then squandered in Mortal Kombat 11 and it's expanded story Aftermath. We had some trouble with a few fights because I totally forgot how to play the various characters that are featured in the story mode, in fact the Raiden vs Liu Kang fight in Chapter 10 took me three attempts to do.

We also did a living tower run as Cassie Cage, mostly to make sure we did a fatality at least once.

Mortal Kombat X Achievements

• It's a Gusher: Spill 1,000 pints of blood
• Moving Up: Reach personal level 10 in XP
• A New Beginning: Complete 50% of Story Mode
• There is a Ruler: Complete 100% of Story Mode

For the raid we dropped in on sweetlindir who was playing Baldur's Gate 3 over on twitch.tv/sweetlindir

Did a lot of writing on the commission request for an AEW story involving the Outcasts, putting down 2000 words already. Also picked up another commission request to write something basedon the game Vanquish, which I've never played.

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern over on twitch.tv/fredcasden and I have Mortal Kombat X slated for the night, we might try our hand at something else. We'll see what ends up being the case.

So on that note, have a good night folks!

Overwatch and other notes

Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream of Overwatch 2 saw lots of wins and losses, but some very questionable teammates as well. There was one match where I was Wrecking Ball and the team didn't push past the first choke on Blizzard World, despite me getting behind the other team and reaching the objective to cause them to turn around. Then there  matches where folks just stay as Widowmaker until the last 40 seconds instead of swapping off her in order to give more direct help in a team fight to win a match.

On the other hand, I picked up a play of the game as Ana & Junker Queen and even an achievement as Sigma, completing his set from when he was added to the game. Other characters used included D.va, Reinhardt, Tracer, Ashe, Moira, Mercy and a few others. 

Big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the fun this week for many of the matches!

Overwatch 2 Achievements

• Event Horizon: Get 3 killing blows during a single use of Sigma's Gravitic Flux in Quick or Competitive Play.

For the raid we checked out misscammi316 who was playing Dead by Daylight over on twitch.tv/misscammi316

Recorded the 10th an final video for my series of watching and reacting to Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, and made the decision not to do a series involving Dragon Ball Z Abridged. There just isn't as much meat on the bone with DBZA that I could talk about in regards to my knowledge of references.

Ordered some take out again, because I puttered around in the Kitchen a lot today, and the Doro Dash driver recognized me from High School... which was amazing, considering they were a year behind when I graduated and, they were in a different shop class. So either I aged surprisingly well

Yes it does bother me that my father has turned into a transphobic right wing nut case.

Finished the Metal Gear Rising short story commission and it was a challenged because of how that franchise handles particular details. There is a possibility there will be an AEW story commission done in the near future as well.

Got a job interview tomorrow (Monday) at noon... I hope it goes well... thankfully it' a remote interview.

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern time over on twitch.tv/fredcasden and we'll feature the story mode of Mortal Kombat X, which is perfect considering how lack luster every single announcement for Mortal Kombat 1 has been. The start time is under the assumption I have work of course. If not, we'll probably start early.

So on that note, I'm heading to bed, good night everyone!

Bonus Borderlands and Other Notes

Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream of Borderlands started at 6:30 PM and I had one big objective, which was to reach 1000 gameer score in the Game of the Year Edition of the game, which we managed to do A big focus was the Island of Doctor Ned / Zombies content, and I totally botched getting an achievement for it because I missed the Brains side quest, not knowing where its trigger point was.Beyond that I knocked out a bunch of side quests around T-Bone Junction, there are some achievements associated with doing all the quests there.

In terms of actual main story stuff left, there is the Claptrap Ninja Assassin stuff to do, which could make for a fine wrap up of streaming Borderlands, so we'll more than likely do that as bonus next Saturday.

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition Achievements

• House of the Ned: Completed the "House of the Ned" mission
• Jakobs Fodder: Completed the "Jakobs Fodder" mission
• Night of the Living Ned: Killed Ned...sort of
• Ned's Undead, Baby, Ned's Undead: Killed Ned. Again.
• Speedy McSpeederton: Raced around the Ludicrous Speedway in record time

For tonight's raid we visited Kalenal during their stream of FInal Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal

Wanted something different, so I ordered some take out from a place called Blowin Smoque, located over on Haddon Avenue in Camden, getting a Chicken Platter with a Broccoli Salad , Potatoe Salad and a Honey Butter Muffin. It was pretty damn good!

Finished the WWE short story commission and picked up another one, this time for a Metal Gear Rising one... keeping in mind I've never played a Metal Gear game at all, let alone one of the odder entries in the franchise. Still I might be able to figure something out with it.

Out next stream is schedules for Sunday night at 7 PM with Overwatch 2, over on twitch.tv/fredcasden and we're a few days away from the launch of the mission content, which I really hope ends up being something good.

So with that said, hope everyone has a good night!

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!