Today's Notes 4/24/21

Good evening everybody,

Yup I totally slept in today, granted I didn't hit the sack till about 4:30 AM, and didn't get up till 3 PM, but hey I'm here aren't I? 

Anyway last night's stream was focused on games from the PlayStation One era and obviously these were games I have not played in probably 15-17 years.

First up was Rival Schools: United By Fate, as we went through the arcade mode on Disc 1 with Sakura and Hinata, and we did not get the good ending because I didn't realize you need to get through Raizo and his partner by using a team up super. We then messed around with the stuff on Disc 2 (or the Evolution Disc) which included a variety of different game modes and I still had my original save file so trying to to beat my old high scores was an interesting challenge.

Next up with Knockout Kings, EA Sports first venture into boxing video games, and we messed around with fights in all three weight classes (Heavyweight, Middleweight and Lightweight) as well as the slugfest mode. I ended up winning the first two fights using Muhammad Ali and Oscar De La Hoya in their respective weight classes, but lost as Floyd Mayweather and Butterbean (in the slugfest mode). I did find myself trying to use the combos I often see as apart of Fitness Boxing 2 with all the button presses, but I can safely say Knockout Kings was very unresponsive at times.

Lastly, and the real highlight from last night, we messed around with Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Battle 22, a game which I have never beaten, even on its easiest setting. But the stars were aligned, as I made up my mind I was going to 'get good', picked Android 18 and we went through the 1P vs COM mode, beating every other character in the game. It may have taken me an hour to do so, because I took my share of loses, but we got through it and best part is I got footage to prove it. Since there are no unlockable victory endings, I'm counting Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Battle 22 as a finished game for this years tour.

Following the stream I messed around with MLB The Show 21 and got the call up from Triple H to join the Phillies main roster, earning the Welcome To The Show Achievement. Since I was playing nightly after the streams, and playing every game I was starting, it took me about a week from the when the game went live last Friday for pre-order purchasers. A lot of folks have done it faster by simulating seasons, which is a cop out I think.

Todays Fitness Boxing 2 Daily workout was only 38 minutes.... so I did an extra 30 minutes in Free Training and boy do my legs feel it! It paid off as we're up to 99 points for the Sophie's Best Friend achievement, which we'll get tomorrow, so we'll have a new trainer starting with Monday's session. I also set new personal bests today with punches thrown (2802), estimated calorie burn (1147.05) and exercise duration (1 hour 9 minutes 14 seconds)

Added Legends of Wrestling II for the PlayStation 2 to my collection today, I did have this game years ago, but traded it in and tracking down a copy at a fair price took awhile. Also found a copy of the manual for ECW Anarchy Rulz, too bad I couldn't find the original jewel case with the back cover. Ah well.

For tonight's stream we'll be wrapping up the 2004 season in ESPN Major League Baseball, playing the Saturday Night games of each week. We'll get started with this at about 7 PM EST because I want to get a shower and have dinner first!

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

Today's Notes 4/23/21

Good morning everybody,

Last night's stream did indeed turn into a double header, with both Star Trek Online and Hades being featured.

What we did with Star Trek Online was get rid of the two 'recruit event' characters, and so I'm keeping Zagreus, my 10+ year veteran character, and Sorra, the Klingon Defense Force aligned character we rolled out last year. The way I figure is we'll gradually max out everything with Sorra (DOFF assignments, R&D, Reputation) and when that eventually happens I'll consider rolling out a new character. In terms of game play, we primarily did things related to the endeavors, and exposed once again how just queuing up for something for that (in this case Binary Circuit) takes way to long to do.

Following STO, we loaded up the Nintendo Switch to play Hades, and it took three attempts but we finally got through the game a second time. Granted it's been like two months since we first made it through. Like my first successful attempt we used the the Adamant Rail and was lucking to get the triple shot with no reload power, which made everything else easier. to slog through, Also Demeter's boon for casting, which tunes the runes into temporary beam turrets was a big help when I nearly failed on the third attempt.

New to my collection is Monster Hunter Rise, also for the Nintendo Switch, granted I've yet to play Monster Hunter World, but with both of these in my library, it gives extra options for syncing up with other streamers I know who play both games on a regular basis.

There's an official video of Bill Murrary and Ivan Reitman reacting to the Mini-Pufts that will be in Ghostbusters Afterlife, and you can certainly tell the difference between Murrary's joy for this and his disdain for the Paul Feig Train Wreck that was the 2016 reboot.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was about 30 minutes, and involved probably the hardest exercise for me... block combos, just never feel comfortable doing them. Anyway we're up to 94 points needed for Sophie's Best Friend Achievement, so two more extended daily workouts will finished that off, and that's not factoring in the extra I put in on the weekends. 

Not completely sure what will be on tap for tonight's stream, as we can go several different ways. Obviously I do not want to start up a large game, which does negate a lot in my collection since at the moment we have Uncharted: Drake's Gold, The Division and ESPN Major League Baseball as the campaign games. Maybe we'll bounce around with some old school PS1 / PS2 fighting games.

Anyway we'll figure something out and we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Today's Notes 4/22/21

Good morning everybody,

Last night's stream of The Division was solid, as most of it was spent with me wandering around the first few areas, finding collectables and doing side missions and stuff, while trying to avoid getting killed. We were joined by Iceman in the later half of the stream, with him using a secondary character so I wouldn't be downed too many times due to the game's infamous armor scaling bug. Probably next Wednesday's stream will be more of the same when it comes to progression with this game.

Found a copy of ECW Anarchy Rulz for the PlayStation One, and while it didn't come with the original instruction booklet, I probably remember how to play it because I did have it at one point, but traded it in when that was a thing to do. I already had ECW Hardcore Revolution in my collection, so adding Anarchy Rulz was just to complete the set. Maybe I can steal an idea from legendary YouTuber MaxamillionDood and do a character legacy, maybe using Tommy Dreamer in all the games I have that he appears in, which are just six games (the 2 ECW games, WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2008-10 and RetroMania).

I went looking to see if I could find a decent looking DVD / CD tower, and fuck me, the only things I find are the wired styled slot in ones, awkward wall mounted versions and things that require more assembly that a Lego set. This is why I miss places like Tower Records, could just go and pick something like that up no problem.

Did some more MLB The Show 21's Road to the Show off stream last night, finishing up my first season stuck in Triple A and without simulating anything, and getting the 'invite' to be at Spring Training for the Phillies. If my player can make the club out of Spring Training, I'll have the final achievement unlocked for the Road to the Show campaign.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was pretty good, the Sophie's Best Friend achievement is up to 91 points, so if that keeps pace with 3 points a day, it should wrap up by Sunday. Granted last time I said that I ended up having to use Hiro on a Monday. Also, going by the length of the workouts, I should just about match the output I did last week overall. Of course it all depends on what tomorrow's session has involved, as the week of Fitness Boxing 2 run Saturdays to Fridays.

Tonight's stream will be split between Star Trek Online and Hades, the reason being, as you know, is that STO just doesn't have the content for me to justify a full stream, as the Task Force Operations are just not fun to do, and Space Combat just get down right boring if done so much. Hades will be brought in for the second half of the stream.

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

Today's Notes 4/21/21

 Good morning everybody,

Last night we started playing Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the PlayStation 3, making it through the first 7 chapters... with a lot of deaths along the way. My initial impressions of the game is this, I like the story, I like the puzzles, I like the characters... but I do not like the combat, mostly because the control layout on what button does what is so counter-intuitive based on many other games I've played. Getting into and out of cover is often a pain in the ass, as is aiming with several weapons to try and conserve ammo where possible. Some of this is due to how the PlayStation 3 Dual Shock controller is designed. 

So I read into it... apparently the issues with PlayStation controllers and shooter games in the PS2 and PS3 era was because they wanted to keep things uniform with the original PlayStation controllers where when holding that controller, the index fingers rested between the L1 L2 and R1 And R2 buttons. So when the Dual Shock controllers were first designed, they made it comfortable to hold because of L2 and R2 placements in order to keep things in-line with the original controller design. Goes to show Sony was anti-gamer way back in the day.

After the stream I did progressed some more with MLB the Show 21's road to the show, since I've been playing every game my player starts, the way I figure I won't get a call up until the next 'season'. That said, the MLB Network commentary videos on how my player is doing does appear to have a limited number of videos, as I seen one involving Cliff Floyd at least twice about him being a former Minor League player of the year.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session lasted about 35 minutes, solid work out, and we're up to 88 points on Sophie's Best Friend Achievement. Nearly had a completely flawless session but one missed uppercut and a few badly timed punches doomed that in.

Tonight we'll be back to Tom Clancy's The Division on the Xbox One, we'll see if the map layout hold true that there will be areas of lower level enemies I can deal with on my own. Don't know if we'll be joined by Iceman or PowerThumbz, but we'll have fun regardless.

Since work has been steady, I've formally adjusted my Twitch schedule to have s start time of 6:30 PM EST Mondays to Fridays, of course I tend to start before that, but as I said, work has been steady. Granted, I now expect to be told there won't be day shift and I'll have to switch back to 9:30 PM starts.

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

 

Today's Notes 4/20/21

 Good morning everyone,

I am still surprised that I did not write yesterday's entry until after last night's stream, which just boggles my mind, because normally I would write it right after my daily Fitness Boxing 2 sessions and before I have lunch. It's just weird.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was about 30 minutes, pretty direct and to the point in terms of objectives. We're at 85 points of the 100 needed to complete Sophie's Best Friend achievement, and if things hold to form, I should have that done by Saturday or Sunday's session.

Anyway, as I mentioned in last night's post, Sony has announced they are reversing their decision on closing the online stores for the PS3 and Vita, and let's be honest here, Sony was entering a world of shit with how suddenly they announced they were closing those store fronts down last month, because it proved one thing was true, that Sony, in particular an idiot named Jim Ryan, who is the President & CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment, is anti-consumer and would rather forget and erase history. One of the stupidest things they have said was 'Why would anyone want to play old games?'. 

Here's a reason: not everyone had the opportunity to play some classic and legendary games when they were new! And if people didn't want to play old games, why would publishers go out of their way to make remastereds of the original games. Hell Sony just announced they are going to do a remaster / remake of the Last of Us and that game isn't even ten years old! So the stupidity of their mindset just amazes me. Hell what is one of the big selling points for a PlayStation 5, to play Spider-Man and Final Fantasy VII Remake, 2 games that were released on the PS4, with 'new content'. Aka those are OLDER games that Sony is using to promote their newest console!

This is part of why I acquired  PS3 recently, just to piss Sony off, because tonight I'm going to playing a game I've never played before, which is I'll be playing the PS3 version of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Sure the PS4 version looks better, but just to stick it to Sony, going with the older version just makes so much more sense to me.

And on that note, we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Todays Notes 4/19/21

 Good evening everybody,

You know for whatever reason I totally spaced on writing today's blog post.

Anyway, Sunday Night's stream was awesome as I tackled the challenge variations of the Overwatch Archive missions, getting the three I needed to get done... and the one that I never want to do ever again is Bulletproof Barriers, because getting a team that would make smart selections was getting frustrating. Granted I was using Dva but I discovered that Dva can eat a lot of damage. Also we helped PandaSweet get the 2nd week skin for Zenyatta, so all in all it was a good night last night.

This morning we did do a Fitness Boxing 2 stream, it went about an hour (when factoring in the small breaks between sets), and involved a lot of stepping, the portion of the workout that counted for the daily lasted 47 minutes, but with the extra bit we did, it ended up keeping on pace with the big three days of the week.

Tonight's stream we played and finished Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, and I was reminded of two bugs, one being when the Harvesters invaded Voyager, sometimes the lift to escape the cargo hold does not activate, and also when using God Mode in the Forge, when Biesman dies, it will deactivate. Still it was a good to have that game finished. As people saw with how the enemies swarm you, there is no way to keep up with the action on normal difficulty.

Because we finished that at about 9 PM, we did some bonus gaming, and I thought about doing some Star Trek Online, but instead we played NHL Face-Off for the PlayStation. And It was my first time playing it, it took me a few minutes to get use to using the D-Pad and to figure out what controls did what. We played three games, winning only one of them.

Did some MLB The Show 21 off-stream to advance the Road to the Show stuff, where I basically had to force my player to become a starting pitcher. A few other tweaks has resulted in him becoming a AA All-Star, throwing a perfect game and pitching like Fernando Valenzuela.

Sony announced they are going to keep the PS3 / Vita stores online because a) they like money and b) they know they will have a major lawsuit on their hands regarding denying people access to what they purchased/ The stupidity Sony has when it comes to refusing to accept that there are some people who enjoy playing older games in addition to newer ones just confounds me.!

Tomorrow night, more than likely we'll be starting up Uncharted on the PlayStation 3, giving the Xbox One a rest since it saw heavy duty with Dragon Age Inquisition. 

Which means tomorrow morning's blog post will be rather short, unless something inspires me.

And on that note we'll see you tomorrow over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Today's Notes 4/18/21

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of ESPN Major League Baseball saw the switch to simulating 6 out of every 7 games, and even with this my lead in the NL East stayed at over 20 games. More than likely we'll finish the 2004 season next Saturday. That said, after discovering the 'power swing' button last week, we certainly made good use of it, because in the games I did play last night we were mashing homers left and right, boosting Jim Thome's total to 37 and not to far off of the league leader Sammy Sosa's 41 with about 5 weeks left in the season.

Randomly, because there was a player named Bubba Trammel, and when I saw him, I instantly started thinking of the old Bell Atlantic commercials featuring James Earl Jones, namely the 'This is the book that got Bubba cooked' and ended with the line of 'And this is Bubba', and showing a big ass fish. Goes to show I'm old.

After last night's stream, I ended up going through some of the lower shelves and discovering even more stuff my pops left behind, including a bunch of old Sporting News Baseball books from the mid and late 80s, because he used to play the APBA Baseball games.This also lead to me discovering that one of the shelves on the bookcase you can when I do Fitness Boxing streams not actually being part of it, and that it was added with some half-ass tabs. Thankfully I had two old heavy duty plastic crates that I fit perfectly in the lower gap, and so I laid the board-shelf on top of it. The result ended up being the shelf is lower than before and now I can stand up some of the taller books I have in my collection.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was solid, 47 minutes with the daily workout plus an additional 15 minutes just to maintain my heavy weekend workouts. Tomorrow's session will of course be streamed over on Twitch as soon as I wake up and have breakfast.

With it being Sunday that means tonight we'll be playing Overwatch, and we'll be taking it easy as we'll be playing more archive arcade modes, rotating through Uprising, Retribution and Storm Warning. Maybe we'll take crack at the variations of those modes, and if there is Mayhem active this week, we'll toss in those to.

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