We Finished Pokemon Violet! And It Was Awesome!

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet saw us basically breeze through the Elite Four, the League Champion Geeta, the 6th match against Nemona and have a leisurely stroll to the bottom of Area Zero to finish the game. I'm not kidding, as I had the match up list for each major battle, so I was prepared in advance. I did make sure Meowscarda got the final hits to defeat Geeta and the Turo AI in terms of the standard battles. 

That said I loved how the story played out in regards to Arven finding out that his father died a long time ago, Miraidon having to face a bully version of itself (which ties in nicely with the Team Star story arc) and everything wrapping up nicely while setting things up for 'post credits' content (Gym battle rematches, and so forth.

Oh, my six Pokemon to close out the game were Ceruledge, Meowscarda, Vivillon, Medicham, Raichu.& Floatzel. Outside of Ceruledge who I got in a trade and Medicham which I caught mid-game, the other four were in my lineup since damn near the start of the game. 

Overall I did enjoy playing Pokemon Violet a hell of a lot more than I did Pokemon Shining Pearl. There was never a point where I felt I was under prepared outside of not knowing the Ghost-gym involved 'double battles'. 

As for what will be the game to be featured on Mondays and Tuesdays? I thinking the Xbox 360 version of Bayonetta. I have never played it before.

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz who was playing Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Stream Clip Links

• Defeating Geeta In A Snap!
• Do It Meowscarada! 
• Miraidon Gets The Job Done!
  

Tried to keep taps on mom yesterday, but missed her several times when I called. She did have a radiation therapy session, and they gave her shots to the stomach to try and deal with the tumors. If anyone would be kind to donate to her GoFundMe to try and cover medical expenses, it would be greatly appreciated. The link is at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Did a fair amount of writing on the latest Mass Effect short story commission request, granted I'm including EDI a lot more than one would assume in terms of setting up the plot. I should be able to finish it before tonight's stream... or before I go to bed after the stream. Whichever comes first.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Defensive Combo #2, Intermediate COmbo #1 and Triple Combo #2 for 31 minutes.

What kind of dinosaur loves to sleep? Well, now, all of them.

Song of the Day:  I’m Not The Only One by Same Smith

For tonight's stream we're playing Fall Guys to start and then we'll switch to Fallout 76 after the 9 PM break.

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

Closing in on the end of Pokemon Violet

Good morning everyone

Last night's stream of Pokemon Violet got off to a good start with us capturing the eighth gym badge in sort order, which is very useful in terms of some of the very lucky surprise trades I made. As you may know, once you have all 8 badges Pokemon of any level will listen to you... which is helpful because one of the Pokemon I was lucky enough to nab was a Level 100 Ceruledge, a Fire-Ghost type, which makes it my heavy hitter.

Beyond getting the 8 badges done, I also cleared out the last Titan and the final two Team Star Bases. Reaching the final Titan (Which was the False Dragon) and the Fighting Type Team Star Base were a bit of a pain in the ass. But the battles and story elements were also quite enjoyable. Also knocked out the battles against Arven and Penny to close out the Path of Legends and Starfall Street story arcs.

Which means tonight, my first objective is dealing with The Elite Four and the League Champion. I think I can cover most match ups, or at the very least brute force my way through it, but this might take a few attempts. With luck we might even finish Pokemon Violet, but we'll see how that goes!

Thank to LvStrkr for 45 months of being subscribed to my Twitch Channel!

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal as they were playing Trials of Mana over at twitch.tv/kalenal! 

Stream Clip Links

• That makes 8 Gym Badges
• It's saying I'm Titan... Holy Hell! 
• Defeating Penny With Flower Trick!
  

My mom is currently waiting on results for a biopsy that was done on her tongue on Sunday. There are times when I call her when she sounds great but also times when she sounds terrible. If any one would be kind to donate to her gofundme to help cover her medical expenses, please visit https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Last night's Monday Night Football game was postponed due to the scary situation involving Bills Safety Damar Hamlin. That entire circumstance is not how I wanted to clinch my first Fantasy Football championship since 2011.

Finished the latest Mass Effect short story commission, and got the instant request to writing the next chapter which would involve Kelly Chambers. I'm very tempted to make jokes in the next chapter regarding some of my theories regarding her in the context of Mass Effect 2. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Biceps Shape Focus Combo, Difficult Challenge Combo #1 and Difficulty Challenge Combo #3 for 34 minutes

Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? It's fine, he eventually woke up!

Song of the Day: Starving by Hailee Steinfeld, Grey and Zedd

For tonight's stream, well as I said earlier, we're playing Pokemon Violet! Will we be able to finish the game? We'll see later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

First Overwatch Stream Of The Year Saw 7 Plays of the Game

Good morning everyone,

First, update on my mom, the doctors did another biopsy on her, this time on her tongue to see if the cancer spread that far.  There is some consideration of her coming home, but that has not been determined yet. For sure we know she is going to have to go through chemotherapy. We are raising money for my mom in fight against cancer, if you would be kind enough to donate, you can do so at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

As for last night's stream of Overwatch 2 was pretty epic, as we picked up seven plays of the game, 3 as Junkrat, 1 as Orissa and 3 as Junker Queen. It was insane considering that through out the month of December it was pretty rough for me to get POTGs and the first stream of the year sees me get seven. Big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the fun, and she even got two POTGs as well! There were a couple of matches that look like they were going to be a clear loss that somehow we turned into victories.

By the way, I put all the POTGs over on my Tumblr page last night.

For last night's raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz as they were playing Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Stream Clip Links

• Like rancid pea soup.
• Well... that happened 
• All Hail The Queen!
  

Finished the Mass Effect short story commission request, tried to put a lot of lore and emotional depth into it, which exposed my weaknesses as a fic writer in a major way. Did get the go ahead to write the next installment in this series of commission requests

I'm kind of shocked that I may actually win the championship in one of the Fantasy Football leagues I joined at the start of the season! 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Block Combo, Difficulty Challenge Combo #2 and Straight Combo #2 for 31 minutes.

Why did the golfer wear two pairs of pants? Because he always gets a hole in one!

Song of the Day: Disco Inferno by The Trammps

For tonigh's stream we shall be resuming Pokemon Violet with my next destination being the Ice Gym in Glaseado, which would be the final gym. From there it's the final two Team Star bases and then the final Titan, going to have to do quite a bit of leveling up as possible, because I don't want my attempt to get through the Elite Four and the League Champion to be the nonsense that I experienced in Pokemon Shining Pearl!

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

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone,

First an update on my mom, we we featured twice last night via phone to my mic. Found out she now has some stomach lesions, and that the doctors are now saying she's going to have to get chemotherapy. So at least she she's already at the hospital and they can keep an eye on her right? Of course we are raising money for my mom in fight against cancer, if you would be kind enough to donate, you can do so at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

As for the stream, we opened up with DKO Divine Knockout, continuing my journey to get Athena to Level 20, we're at Level 11. We won a few, lost a few and I got my butt handed to me in some really suspect ways. Couldn't quite line things up to get a Triple Knockout... not for lack of trying.

We then switched over to Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed for the remainder of the stream, and color me surprise that the glitched collectable achievement popped! Guess they finally fixed it. I had some really good matches, and completed some long term in-game objectives to unlock a version of the Ghost Trap that uses a remote to open and close, similar to the one seen in Ghostbusters The Video Game.  

Between both games, we picked up a few achievements, which was a nice final boost to my Xbox Gamer score for 2022!

Big thank you to Kalenal for the raid following their stream of Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal!

For the raid we dropped in on AnnieTalksShow who was doing a Karaoke Party over at twitch.tv/annietalksshow! Really makes me miss Twitch Sings

Divine Knockout Achievements

• Victorious Silver: Achieved 'Victorious Silver'

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed Achievements

• Master Collector: Find all secret clippings for every location
• Catostrophic Destroyer: Do 5,000,000 Dollars of Career Property Damage

Stream Clip Links

• Double Knockout!
• Every thing is Slimey! 
• Get In The BOX!
  

Finished the commission request for a WWE short story with a bit of focused writing, wasn't quite able to hit the word count that was asked for, but I made up for it with a lot of variety in action. Now on to the next request for a Mass Effect story!

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Hip Shape Focus Combo, Intermediate Combo #2 and Sway Back Combo for 31 minutes.

It's the start of a new week, so let's recap what we featured over the last seven days which was Overwatch 2, Pokemon Violet, Fall Guys, Fallout 76, Final Fantasy XIV, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, DKO Divine Knockout and Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed 

Why did the man get fired from his job at the calendar factory? He took a couple days off!

Song of the Day: New Year’s Day by U2.

For the first stream of 2023, we shall be playing Overwatch 2, hopefully we can begin the new year with a lot of wins!

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

Last day of the Year, Mom update and other notes

Good afternoon everyone

Yesterday was a bit rough for me as a lot things just hit me at the wrong moment. Mom's still in the hospital at the time I'm writing this, but I do know they took her to get her radiation therapy, and they have changed the food she's eating to be softer since she's having trouble swallowing. If anyone would be kind to donate to her gofundme to help cover these medical expenses, you can do so at: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Did reach out to talk to the FN Dante Savage and had a nice short conversation, was nice to hear a different voice in the mix of all the chaos and insanity I'm experiencing.

As for last night's stream, we featured the back half of the Persona 4 cast story in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and came to a realization that the entire plot for P4AU uses elements that ended up being used for Persona 5, witch a 'god' being embodiment of desires, a crossover of the 'TV World' and the 'Real World', and with Sho basically having the same back story as Akechi! Still, P4AU does in some regard give closure to the cast of Persona 4 in its epilogue.

We also did an arcade run as Teddie, and I thought I didn't like using him in vanilla Persona 4 Arena, but the changes and refinements in P4AU meant the A.I. on Normal meant using Teddie was a lot harder than it needed to be. We ended up clearing out a few achievements 

For the raid, we dropped in on MissJackieLin who was playing Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight over at twitch.tv/missjackielin. Always nice to drop in on other streamers who are playing games within the same franchise.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Trophies

• The P-1 CLIMAX is over!: You completed Story Mode from the P4 perspective.
• Ultimate Suplex Hold: You used the S Hold System 10 times in Arcade Mode.
• Arcade Master: You completed Arcade Mode with three characters.

Stream Clip Links

• No Two Ways About It...
• There we go! 
• When You Hit Teddy's Super... Remember to Salute!
  

Finished the Mass Effect short story commission and started on the next commission request for a WWE not-so-short story, but I also got in a request for another Mass Effect short story. So I'll probably go back and forth writing both, since one will take me less than than the other.

Went through some stuff to throw out and found a couple of things worth keeping, including the framed inserts that celebrated the 1995 Hall of Fame inductions of Richie Ashburn and Mike Schmidt that were in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Uppercut Combo #1, Advanced Combo #1 and Beginner Combo #2 for 34 minutes.

Stepped on the scale and I weighed in at 240 pounds! Okay maybe a two pound margin of error, so possible 242 lbs.

What do you call a can opener that doesn't work? A can't opener.

Song of the Day: I Can’t Wait by Nu Shoaz.

For tonight's New Year Eve stream, we'll do the usual bouncing from game to game, opening with DKO Divine Knockout and then going from there.

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

 

 

 

Mom Staying in the Hospital, and What Did We Do In Final Fantasy XIV

Good morning everyone,

First, update on my mom, she spent another night at the hospital, and after speaking with her this morning, turns out the doctors are saying she should stay, a large part being because of what I pointed out the other day in regards to Uber & Lyft not having proper vehicles to use for contracted hospital transport to and from people's homes. She is eating, and had a physical therapist see her, and I believe she will still get her scheduled radiation therapy treatments. We are raising money to cover these medical expenses, for more details, visit: https://gofund.me/6adf8354

In terms of how I'm handling things... its... worrisome on so many levels, but I kept getting the impression people are just waiting for me to snap. I know my father doesn't want to hear me vent, he made that particularly clear a few days ago. I know internalizing it is 'bad', but one has to keep up a strong front right? I don't really have a choice, I either step up or crash and burn. Too bad everything I've been trying to do has been a utter failure.

Sorry...

As for last night's stream, we played Final Fantasy XIV, and I was happily surprised to find the next two installments of the Endwalker Hildibrand story arc involving aliens, bunnies and a tabloid reporter. We also finally accessed the Moogle Tribe Quests, and got Carpentry up to level 51. Did a couple of raids, and basically got my face stomped in... I really hate the NieR inspired raids... I truly do Still we had fun.

For the raid we dropped in on PrincessPashley as they were playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt over on twitch.tv/PrincessPashley!  The Witcher 3 is a game that is on my list of things to eventually play.

Stream Clip Links

• Let it be a dance sequence!
• Dancing Bunnies On The Moon 
• I think he went down easily
  

Got only a little bit of writing done on the Mass Effect short story commission, as I was distracted with checking in on mom, so I didn't feel like writing too much during the afternoon. I hope to finish it today, then get started on the next commission short story which is based on WWE.

Recorded a new Tier List making video for my YouTube channel, this time focused on 80s movies. It ended up being an hour long based on trying to justify where I placed each film. Doing it did bring back to my mind the disappointment that was Kingdom Hearts III in regards to its World selection, since I did give The Great Mouse Detective and The Black Cauldron fairly high ranks.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Hook Combo #1, Weaving Combo #2 and Waist Shape Focus Combo for 28 minutes.

I still remember the last thing my grandfather said before kicking the bucket: "Hey, you want to see how far I can kick this bucket?"

Song of the Day:  Centuries by Fall Out Boy.

For tonight's stream, the plan is to play Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, continuing the story mode from the Persona 4 cast perspective with maybe an arcade run or two as well.

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

Mom stayed over night at the hospital

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday at 11:30 AM my mom went off for her 2nd Radiation Therapy session... but she ended in the Emergency Room at 4 PM with some pains on her right side. According to the nurse in the ER I spoke too, a lot of of tests results looked fine, so it might be a bad reaction to the Radiation, or she might of badly pulled a muscle. By 11:30 PM, she was finally being put into a room to get some rest. Spoke with her first thing this morning, and apparently it's more of an issue of pain management. We are trying to raise money to cover all her medical expenses, if anyone can help, please donate to her GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/6adf8354

Now I did do a stream last night while keeping tabs on my mom, in fact she called in during the stream and for the first time she was able to thank those in the chat for their support. It was a really cool moment.

In terms of what we played, we opened up with Fall Guys, selecting both solo and squad shows... we didn't make a single appearance in the Final Rounds, but we did knock out all of the dailies. There were a few silly moments for sure.

We did end up Playing Fallout 76, mostly to just do the daily challenges, so it was roaming around doing finding things and doing events. Ended up teamed with a random player and followed them around for a good amount of time. Also picked up one achievement as a result.

Did experiment with Green Screen Gifs, introducing the random John Travolta appearing when someone redeems it of it I just want to be silly.

For the raid, we sent everyone over to Mystery Science Theater 3000 at twitch.tv/mst3k! Because if I no one else to raid, dropping in on the Satellite of Love is a great idea

Fallout 76 Achievements

•  Field Medic: Revive 20 Fallen Players

Stream Clip Links

• The Focus To Come In First
• I Just Came In First... Again! 
• Did Homeboy Boop Me Out The Way?!
• Of course... 
• Bad Monkey!!!
• Achievement: Field Medic! 
  

Finished the WWE Short Story commission yesterday afternoon, and the next commission request is for a continuation of the Mass Effect series of short stories this time featuring Aria T'Loak.  Got a lot of it written last night before I feel asleep.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured  Double Combo #2, Straight Combo #1 and Triple Combo #1 for 31 minutes

What do you call a dog with no legs? You can call him whatever you want, he's still not coming.

Song of the Day: Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi

For tonight's stream, we shall continue our side quest grind in Final Fantasy XIV, with maybe a raid or two tossed in to break things up!

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