It's Friday the 13th

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV saw a few raids, a trial and leveling on a couple of alternate roles (Fishing, Botany and Lancer). We actually used the Dancer in one of the Alexander raids, which was interesting. We also spent a lot of time in the Crystalline Conflict, I should learn and get more comfortable with other roles than Bard for it, because I'm a sitting duck whenever an enemy gets in close. Granted I more often than not get a fair amount of assists, but being able to brawl may be more helpful. Also figuring out how to do a character portrait for when a CC match starts was a lot more trouble than it needed to be.

Also during the stream got a call from work to let me know we're in another awkward period, but that call happened during a period where I couldn't quite do a BRB, so I just muted my mic.  

Another weird thing was that I ended up having two bowls of grapes, I normally just have one at the start of the stream to make sure I have some fruit, but I wasn't feeling having anything sweet following the mid-stream break.

Twitch Clips 

• Kick his A...!
• We're dancing man! 
• HA! Got him!
  

For the raid last night we sent things over to Aggie_oG  who was playing Fallout 76 over at twitch.tv/Aggie_oG!  

Made a new video for my YouTube channel, inspired by finding the VHS tape of You Only Live Twice earlier this week. It's actually more of me going down memory lane. It can be found over at https://youtu.be/K0zfQGGUpO8.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout involved Body Uppercut Combo, Body Hook Combo and Triple Combo #1. But as you can tell since this post is being done in the afternoon, today is a workday that has no work... so we did some extra exercises as well.

Well at 12:08 AM Eastern Time, I got the final achievement in Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle to complete that game Friday the 13th of May of 2022. You can be I'm proud about the perfect timing!

Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle Achievements

• Lucky Number 13: Completed a 13 day streak in Daily Death.

Also played some Smite before bed, and I managed to get Thor's second achievement, both of Persephone's achievements which completes the Queen of the Underworld update content, and one of Morgan La Fey's achievements. I have to say I do like what I figured out with Persephone, as it was the first time I've used her in a match, which happened to be assault so it was randomly selected. I feel I understand Morgan's abilities a little better, but her second achievement is going to be near impossible for me to pull all as it involves building her passive by using all her abilities on one character. 

SMITE Achievements

• Tectonic Stun: As Thor, stun three or more enemy gods at once using tectonic rift.
• Master Harvester: Unlock the Smite Award "Master Harvester."
• Grasping Vines: Unlock the Smite Award "Grasping Vines."
• Strength Drawn from Pain: Unlock the Smite Award "Strength Drawn from Pain"

The 76ers lost to the Miami Heat last night... and clearly that is probably Doc Rivers last game he'll coach for Philadelphia, because I can't imagine him not being the obvious scapegoat. The Sixers showed no fire in the last two games, despite what they showed in games 3 and 4 to tie the series up. 

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj.

Atlus, the studio behind the Persona and Shin Megami Tensai series of games, has a survey that is asking if folks would be interested in seeing their games on other platforms... I highly encourage everyone fill it out over at: https://p-ch.jp/enquete2022/na/

And speaking of Persona... for tonight's stream we'll be getting back to Persona 5 Royal, we're in the waiting period for the next major plot point, so we'll try and knock out various companion quests.

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

More Fallout 76 Experiences

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Fallout 76 saw a lot of things being done as I went to find the item for Beckett's bar for my camp, as well as doubling back to get the canister needed for a quest... and I think I kind of understand the hacking gimmick in the game, finding the right password, but it randomizes every time so what may be the clues one time. Do wish the clues were a little more obvious to find in the surrounding area. We were joined by Iceman and we cleared out the Whites Springs Resort area of a couple of quests that we both had. Now we have to deal with a sword that we have to use to kill six different types of creatures... which seems like its going to be a pain in the ass! But I found a list of creatures that will contribute to it, so we should kind of have an easy time with... maybe?

On a side note I did learn that water slides can be built in game, and you can go down them... that was the most important thing that happened last night. Also, the issue with combat difficult last week seemed to be resolved, kind of, as I focused on using rifle weapons. That seemed to even things out a bit. I think. Also last night's stream was split in two, and I think the issue was on Twitch's end... so Xfinity escapes the blame... this time.

Fallout 76 Achievements

• Appalachian HOA: Build 100 C.A.M.P. Items
• Giant Slayer: Kill 5 Giant Creatures
• Appalachian Trailblazer: Reach Level 25
• Retro Now: Play a Holotape Game

Twitch Clips

• We can go down the slide!!!!!
• We totally can't see Iceman 
• I hit level 25! 
• Thank you very much game
  

For the raid we dropped in on FnDanteSavage who was playing Gears of War 3 over at twitch.tv/fndantesavage!  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout involved Beginner Combo #1, Uppercut Combo #2 and Front-Back Step Combo. You can totally tell we took it easy with today's workout.

Knocked out another fan fic for a commission based around former WWE Superstars Evan Bourne and Alicia Fox, I set it in and old alternate universe continuity that Kristi and I did years back.

Speaking of WWE, some folks are saying Tammy Lynn Sytch, aka Sunny, should be removed from the Hall of Fame... listen... considering the shit Fabulous Moolah, Jimmy Snuka and various other inductees have done, Sunny isn't getting kicked out. 

Knocked out today's Friday the 13th Killer Puzzle daily death... and I just realized... tomorrow's Friday the 13th... I'm going to complete this game on Friday the 13th. That is awesome!

Up through yesterday, I managed to put together a nice little streak of consecutive days earning an Xbox achievement, currently standing at 13 days. This was thanks to figuring out a few gimmicks while playing Thor in Smite off stream following last night's stream.

SMITE Achievements

• Dunkmaster!: As Thor, land on three or more enemy gods at once using ultimate.

Updated the AMD drivers for my graphics card to the latest release... wonder how long until I'll have to reinstall it, because heaven's knows AMD doesn't really do quality testing on new drivers to make sure they don't have any issues before release!

Apparently there is a game based on RiffTrax, which involves the guys who were first involved with Mystery Science  Theater 3000. From what I can tell it is a Jackbox Party type of game... maybe we'll give it a try?

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj.

For tonight's stream, we got Final Fantasy XIV things on deck, raids, fishing, botany and other stuff!

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

Thoughts on Star Trek Online: Stormfall

Good morning everyone,

Last night we returned to Star Trek Online for the first time since February, as two new episodes were added, titled 'Blue Shift' and 'The Calling'.

'Blue Shift' continues from where the previous mission 'Red Shift' ended, as a rescue plan to rescue Ilia from the Terran Empire, and I believe this is the second mission to ever to make use of mechanics used in a Task Force Operation, as one was introduced that involved raiding Terran Space Dock and guarding three Exocomps (who steal the show with how sassy they are... I mean one is called Cereal Killer!). Beyond that, there are nice space battles, as well as the payoff of getting Marshall Janeway back in command of the Mirror Universe version of Voyager. Once Illia is retrieved she lets the player know that there is a Mirror version of V'ger that is very pissed off and is being summon by the Terran Emperor.

'The Calling' sees another trip into the Mirror Universe, where we get to play as our mirror counterpart 'The Inquisitor' in what is a glorified flash back scene to show what is happening on the alternate version of Pahvo (a payoff to 'Killy's' escape from when that character first tried to take over Pahvo and escaping when her plans were thwarted). There is a major space battle, a re-taking of the Mirror Universe Enterprise to put Admiral (Mirror Universe) Leeta back in command as well as dealing with the alternate version of V'ger for the first time... and out first look of the Terran Emperor's flag ship.

Of course I should talk about Forged in Fire, which is a remake of Assault on Tarok Nor using the remodeled Deep Space Nine interior from FOUR YEARS AGO (let's keep in mind Assault on Terok Nor was introduced seven years ago). It basically plays the same, with some things simplified down and made more obvious. I do like the twist of having to run up different levels in the Ore Processing portion to avoid getting nuked by Admiral Leetha's nova blasts. Plus you finally get to take down Kurland... and make the joke that 'Kurland WAS here'.

Overall, the new content is great, Both missions are really well done as the pace is kept moving with both, even with all the dialog, but of course this is Star Trek Online, so we won't see the next chapter of the story for like another two months..The new Task Force Operation is a quick in and out affair, that most people in PUGs can tackle in 5 minutes. Overall it took about two hours and change to get through all the new stuff... that was not the new tutorial for Federation 2409... I'm debating featuring that next week.

For the remainder of last night's stream we played Smite, going six and four in ten matches that were a mix of Arena and Assault. Big thanks to LvStkr for being apart of a few matches, always cool to team up with one of the channel regulars!  We also managed to pick up a couple of achievements as well.

SMITE Achievements

• Love to Guard: 5 Mastered Guardians.
• Get Over Here: "Unlock the Smite Award "Get Over Here"!

Twitch Clips

• We don't need a HUD!
• We'll just look at you... 
• Ooo that was a terrible line!
• Coming through! 
• One for me
  

For the raid we dropped in on Flint_Locke as they were doing VRChat things over at twitch.tv/Flint_Locke!  

Knocked out Today's Daily Death in Friday the 13th Killer Puzzle right after last night's stream ended (and a much needed trip to the rest room) I need to do the next two on Thursday and Friday to unlock the final achievement. Progress is being made!

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Hook Combo #2, Double Combo #1, Defensive Combo #2 and Defensive Combo #1.

Added two games to the Xbox digital library, From Earth to Heaven and Sam & Max Save the World. The later we have played before but it's the remastered version that was released after Telltale originally closed down, so if we stream it'll be good for a few laughs, plus the challenge of playing a point & click game with a gamepad may make for a unique experience. From Earth to Heaven, it's a first person platformer that is supposedly an easy completion. We shall see if that's even true or not.

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj.

For tonight's stream, I'm going to start off with Fallout 76, and we'll see if Iceman joins in or if we may be teaming joining in for a four person run of Gears of War 3, who knows! Regardless we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

From the Isle of the Damned to Earth Dragon Isle

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Chrono Cross The Radical Dreamers Edition saw a lot of progress made in terms of both advancing the plot and knocking out side quests. We made blatent use of the battle boost and fast forward buttons to try and make things move quicker particularly in areas with a lot of battles (Marbule). We did make sure to find just about everything major, and tried to make sure certain characters were used in key parts, such as Radius being in the party for the Garrai battle, plus having Zappa and Van met their counter parts, dealing with the Dead Sea, rescuing Riddle and doing things through the first two Dragon god battles (Water and Earth).

Of course we reached the point of the game where Harle leaves the party, and for over 20 years it has bugged me regarding how friendly she and Starkey are, because they have that one cut scene that implies they hang out a lot from the point Starkey is recruited.  If Chrono Cross had an anime or manga that expanded on things, it would answer a lot of questions, because I do know when some characters are not in use they are hanging out in some places.

Now a lot of people say the Dead Sea is where the plot of Chrono Cross goes off the rails, but I don't see it that way, I see that gang from Chrono Trigger saved the world, but doomed an entire time line of people in the process to be erased... and I firmly believe that the events of Chrono Cross are, without question the fault of Chrono, Lucca, Marle and the rest.

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition Achievements

• Lunacy: Use Harle's unique level 7 tech, Lunairetic.

Twitch Clips

• Glide Hook Is The Final Hit
• Ride a Dragon, Drop An Elbow 
• Do what you can... ride a dragon!
  

For last night's raid we dropped in on YrGamerBunni who was playing Mass Effect 2 (The Legendary Edition) over at twitch.tv/yrgamerbunni!

The Capcom Fighting Collection will be coming out in June, which is awesome!

The servers for WWE 2K19 and 2K20 will be shut down at the end of June, goes to show the stupidity of yearly releases, when you cannot even get 5 years out of a game in terms of online play. And  this is why you will never see me pay full price for any game that puts so many achievements associated with online play.

Completed today's Daily Death for Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle, just three more to go for the last achievement! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Difficult Challenge Combo #1 on No Mercy, Triple Combo #2, Intermediate Combo #1 and Biceps Shape Focus Combo. Managed to set a new personal best for Difficult Challenge Combo #1 as well.

Played some Smite last night as well, actually figured out a few things with Baron Samedi. Also did a couple of matches as Khepri, who I think I figured out, but not 100% sure.

Also got in a couple of matches in on Overwatch 2's Beta, and I can safely re-confirm Orissa is going to need some serious nerfs with how much of a charge tank she is at this point. Also was pleased to see the Quick Play with no Role Queue enabled to allow for some variety.

So there is apparently official statues of Tifa, based on her appearance in Final Fantasy VII Remake being sold of her in the Jack-O pose from the Guilty Gear series, and some folks are up in arms about it. I'm not because hell over the course of the past 10 years, there have been so much SFM, Blender artwork and videos made of Tifa that it was only a matter of time before someone at Square-Enix approved of a way to profit from it. There is a reason I use the line 'Because Japan' to explain some stuff in Persona 5! That said, it's not a bad looking statue, and it is what ne would expect from a character like Tifa put into that pose. But if you think this statue is fake... nope, here's the link to where one could pre-order it: https://www.favorgk.com/collections/newest/products/1-4-scale-jack-o-tifa-lockheart-ff7-final-fantasy-vii-resin-statue-nl-studio-pre-order

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj.

For tonight's stream, the plan is to feature the new content of Star Trek Online that is yet another revamp of the tutorial, which includes two new episodes and a new Task Force Operation called Forged in Fire, which is a rework of the old Assault on Terok Nor. I figure this would take about two to two and half hours to go through. Afterward, we'll probably load up Smite or Overwatch 2 for the back end of the stream.

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

A 5-Stack In Overwatch? Awesome Sauce

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's Overwatch stream was a lot of fun as we ended up with a team of five! Big thanks to PandaSweet, BloodyClown, BangBangBang and Beltizar for being apart of the fun. We had a fair amount of wins and a lot of matches ended up being pretty good. I ended up with two plays of the game as D.va, In addition to D.va, I ended up using Reinhardt, Ashe, Cassidy, Moira, Ana and Mercy throughout the night. Perhaps one of the bigger highlights was when the 'It Goes With Everything' challenge point reward was redeemed, which (thankfully) lead to a clip of Guile's Theme from Street Fighter II playing. That clip is listed below.

The next Overwatch Rremix event will start May 17th, which is the day the current Beta run for Overwatch 2 will end. Big thanks to BangBangBang for letting me know about the news. Apparently the remix skins will be for Hanzo, Lucio and Symmetra, which the second chance to earn skins will be for Mercy, Ashe and Sigma.

Twitch Clips

• Got Him!
• Guile's Theme Goes With Overwatch 
• That's three!
• Whoa that charge out of nowhere! 
  

For the raid last night we dropped in on x9abenonymous9x who was playing Resident Evil over at twitch.tv/x9abenonymous9x!  

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Straight Combo #2, Difficulty Challenge Combo #2, Hip Shape Focus Combo and Difficult Challenge Combo #3. Set a new personal best with Difficult Challenge Combo #3 with 698 perfect actions out of 704, with the remaining 6 being just OK.

The 76ers won last night to tie up the series with the Heat, and I know the playoffs should not be considered, but Embiid is showing how much of a difference maker he is. Unfortunately, much analytic-minded voters didn't look beyond a stat sheet and instead named Nikola Jovic the MVP.

My daily death streak in Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle is up to 9 days, we need 4 more for the final achievement of the game.

My Fantasy Baseball Team batted a combined .179 (40/224), with 5 Home Runs, 16 RBI, 4 Stolen Bases while scoring 21 runs. My pitching staff threw 40.1 innings, with an ERA of 4.91, winning 3 games with 1 save while striking out 36 batters with a WHIP of 1.51. Needless to say everyone played like garbage. Here's hoping for a better week.

Played some Smite last night and tired out Apollo, not sure exactly what the best combo of his abilities are.Safe to say I died... a lot. Still got an achievement out of it so that's good.

SMITE Achievements

• Serenade: Unlock the Smite Award Serenade.

The fact that Ronda Rousey is once again being given an dominant push means I will continue to not dedicate any serious time to keeping up with current WWE programming. Of course AEW is too much of a clown show to even worth a curious glance outside of video game news. 

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj.

For tonight's stream we shall be resuming Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, as we're up to where the Death Door arc of the story begins.

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

Tekken, Dark Angel and Paladins

Good afternoon everyone, and happy mother's day to all the moms out there,

Last night's stream was a triple header, featuring two games from the PlayStation 2 era, the first being Tekken 4. As most know, I have played Tekken, Tekken 2 and Tekken 3 before on stream, so it was a matter of time of getting around to it. Visually, it holds up rather nicely, but I feel that its game play is not as good as the 3rd entry in the series. I was surprised that has a Story mode which is basically an arcade ladder that has a a long cinematic to advance the story for the characters you go through it as. Beyond that it has all the usual stuff, Tekken Force, Survival, Training Mode, etc. Because of Tekken 4 has unlock able characters, I think going through Story Battle might be a good way to randomly feature every so often.

Second game was Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse, which is a hack and slash RPG... I would say almost Diablo like to some degree. Released rather early in the PlayStation 2's history, this is a game that clearly would have been better on the original PlayStation. In fact during the stream I looked up that was being made for the Dreamcast. Game play wise, it's easy to learn, but is incredibly shallow. Visually it's just mediocre, but the music is a bit disappointing because when the music plays it sounds great, a kick ass metal style, the problem is the game goes long stretches without any music, which really takes me out of the game. Also I forgot to get a screenshot from the game, but nothing of value was loss since it is a game I can easily just throw into the PS2 at some point in the future.

Paladins was the usual nonsense, I've had some good matches and some matches that made me shake my head, plus several instances of people leaving matches. Bug we were joined by PandaSweet for several matches which made things awesome. Some characters I used was Ash, Tyra, Skye, Viktor and Ying.

Twitch Clips

•  At least we ended it on a Combo
•  Can we finish off the Spider.
•  Behold this!
  

For the raid we dropped in on purrpl3panda  who was also playing Paladins over at twitch.tv/purrpl3panda! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout involved Beginner Combo #2, Block Combo and Sway Back Combo. This was an unusual combination, but the combined time was over 30 minutes.

Finished another commissioned fic early this morning (at like 5 AM) based around a short lived feud in NXT between Mia Yim and Io Shirai, since I wasn't following pro wrestling as closely as I once did, it was pretty difficult to get something finished based around what little info I could find, and I certainly don't have the time to go watch the WWE archives on Peacock to see how these characters were being portrayed. 

Knocked off the last level of Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle last night, so I now have 54 of the games 55 achievements unlocked. The last one requires the Daily Death, which I should unlock by Friday.

Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle Achievements

• Jurassic Jason: Completed every puzzle level of Jurassic Jason.

A new week starts, but lets go back and look at what we featured over this past week which included Overwatch, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, Fallout 76, Final Fantasy XIV, Persona 5 Royal, Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse, Paladins and Tekken 4!

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj.

For tonight's stream, we're of course going to be playing Overwatch!

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

The Okumura Boss Fight Sucks

Good afternoon everyone,

Well last night we had yet another marathon session of Persona 5 Royal, however we timed things right last week to where we basically jumped right into the fifth palace of the game, the space port, and knocked it out in about four hours. We got to see Haru's splash card for calling an all out assault, plus her showtime with Morgana, in addition we saw Ann and Yusuke's showtime move as well. We also finally started catching up on some of the Confidants, maxing out Makoto's and we locked in the romance with her, because it makes the most sense... and was in no way influenced by the works of NidoranDuran. We also nearly have Tae, Yusukue and Chihaya's done as well, which will make things easier to trying to tackle so many of the other ones.

Now about that Okumura Boss fight, which apparently was even worse in the original PlayStation 3 version of Persona 5. I didn't mind the wave of enemies, but the gimmick of a time limit combined with the need of having to do group attacks was just idiotic.I also found it to be pretty anti-climatic when compared to the first four palaces of the game... even with the shock to see the shadow version of Okumura killed felt a little flat considering how things are foreshadowed. 

Persona 5 Royal Trophies

• My Closest Partner: Entered a special relationship. 

Twitch Clips

•  Panther & Fox Showtime!
•  One Shot... One Kill
•  Makoto Makes Her Intentions Clear
  

For the raid we dropped in on YrGamerBunni who was playing Crusader Kings III over on twitch.tv/yrgamerbunni!

Last night showed how much of an impact Joel Embiid has when he was cleared to play and lead the 76ers to a dominating win over the Heat, giving the Sixers a chance to climb back into the series to possibly tie it at two games a piece on Sunday.

The Phillies game for today has been rained out, and so there will be a double header tomorrow. Needless to say the weather all over the country has not been kind to my fantasy baseball team this week, when I have to factor in all the rain outs that have occurred over the past couple of days.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Straight Combo #1, Advanced Combo #1, Waist Shape Focus Combo and Hook Combo #1,

Fitness Boxing 2 Rhythm & Exercise Stats For 5/1 to 5/7/2022

• Punches Thrown: 11,221
  
• Estimated Calorie Bur: 4533.63 kcal.
  
• 17 out of 30 hours trained for Laura's Contender  (56.7% progress)
  

We knocked out two more achievements off-stream for Friday the 13th Killer Puzzle, and we're six days away from the one for the the daily death kill streak. I really do dislike achievements associated with days in a row goals... reminds me too much of work. I have one more achievement associated with completing all the puzzles in a level, but I'll save that one for tomorrow.

Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle Achievements

• Omnicide: Reached a body count of 400.
• Knightmare: Completed every puzzle level of Knightmare.

If you're looking for tools to help with streaming or communicating from home with work, check out what Xsplit offers over at Xsplit.com, use the promo code CASDEN to save 10% on your order! If you're looking for just general stuff, of course you can swing over to Amazon using my affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3L8N1Yj. 

For tonight's stream we're going to do something random, I don't know what yet, but we'll be up to something.

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