I can't seem to catch a break...

 Good afternoon everyone...

Yesterday was rough, a bit around 4 PM, my computer's hard drive died... I had no indication that something was wrong. And while I made sure to do back ups of a lot of things, something were not backed and so I lost a lot of stuff. On top of that the new PC is equal to the now damaged one in some ways, but it's biggest weakness is its power supply and its graphics card. So the long term plan is to put money aside to fix the old one, which will involve upgrading its CPU to run Windows 11 and install two hard drives on it. 

In fact the graphics card is so weak it can barely run Overwatch 2 and Final Fantasy XIV... and the later is a game that is over 10 years old. So... Overwatch 2 will have to be played via one of my consoles going forward on Sunday nights (most likely the X Box One), while Final Fantasy XIV is going to have to be dropped until either I upgrade both the power supply and the graphics card of this new PC (which won't happen any time soon), or get the other one fixed (again won't happen any time soon).

I'll consider doing a fundraiser for getting the more power PC fixed as the only thing wrong with it is its hard drive. But that in and of its self would pain the wonder

I do seriously wonder when I'll catch a break... between mom's passing, the water heater and now the sudden expense of a new PC... I have to wonder how much more I can take with every single crisis that is coming my way.

I do have to say, huge thank you to my brother Leo for being able to transport me to Best Buy to grab this new PC. I feel really bad about having to bother him,     

Now I did managed to do a short stream last night, getting 80% of OBS set up the way it was, and we did some Smite. Audio falling in and out of sync may be a problem with some of the consoles, but I'm sure things will fall into place. We had a dominate win as Athena to lead things off which was really cool. But one of Smite's biggest problems of having a match continue when there is a huge handicap was on full display in the final match I played which had me on a team of 3 against of team of 5. That was not fair at all!

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal while they were playing Final Fantasy XIV online over at twitch.tv/kalenal

Before my PC died yesterday, I was working on the short story commission request based around Chelsea Green's return at the Royal Rumble. Thankfully, that was backed up and I don't have to start over.

Finished making the series of Videos involving all the VHS tapes my mom kept, and I have over 300 of them, they are all neatly stored in their transport cases and will be moved to one of the bedrooms for storage.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Body Uppercut Combo, Double Combo #1, & Advanced Combo #2.

"How do you get a squirrel to like you? Act like a nut."

Song of the Day: Down Under by Men at Work

For tonight's stream, the plan is to resume Final Fantasy VII Remake with the big focus on side quests in what I guess is Chapter 8 of the game (roughly around the half way point)

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

We've brought back Gears of War 2

 Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream opened with Fall Guys, and we did win a show and came very close to winning another one. I was surprised there were no special gimmick objectives to do this week. Seems like since Fall Guys went free to play there was always some sort of silly thing to shoot for. But hey we had fun with it and had some big moments.

Now for the second half of the stream, we brought back Gears of War 2, as a break from Fallout 76, and of course we were joined by Iceman for it, nearly completing the first two acts. On this play through we are playing on Normal, and surprisingly we didn't have too much trouble so far, having only had to re-try three times. Two were my fault lol.

It did take a little bit of time to remember how to play Gears of War 2, but once I did, I was actually able to make progress towards some achievements, so potentially, when we finish this run of the game, we could end up with a few boosts to my gamer score.

Big thanks to Iceman for renewing his subscription to my Twitch Channel for the 59th consecutive month!

For the raid we dropped in on Mystery Science Theater 3000 while Monster a Go-Go was being shown over at twitch.tv/mst3k

As many folks know I lost my mom to cancer recently, and at her funeral, I met a cousin for the first time who is also battling cancer. She has started a go fund me, and has already raised $2500. You can find out more at https://gofund.me/5c2c042a

Started writing the latest WWE short story commission which focuses on the return of Chelsea Green to the promotion, and I got maybe 25% of it written. Only reason I didn't get more done, because I had a few other things to take care of. I do want to write a Star Trek short story, but I'll probably save that as an exclusive for March over on my SubscribStar page

Now part of what distracted me from writing was the fact I wanted to get ahead of making some content for my YouTube channel, knocking out the 2nd to last video regarding VHS tapes, and I'll have one more to make to end that series.

Also went through and tossed some things out as well, nothing major, just some stuff mom set aside in a contractor bag to be trashed months before she got sick.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Uppercut Combo #2, Front-Back Step Combo and Body Straight Combo. 

Applied for one of CVS remote customer service positions, took their test.... and was told my application will not go any further

"My wife is really mad at the fact that I have no sense of direction. So I packed up my stuff and right!"

Song of the Day: Come & Get It by Selena Gomez.

For tonight's stream we have Final Fantasy XIV scheduled, with side quests, raids and other things.

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

Saints Row '22 is finished!

Good morning everyone,

Last night we finished Saints Row, and I have to say, in certainly went in a direction I wasn't expecting. Obviously the big betrayal angle was well telegraphed, but the reason for it was certainly unexpected The Nahualli wanting to take Kev, Neenah and Eli to be his own friends after seeing how they made The Boss better. Then there was the entire 'Life is Strange' style segment that really got weird, before the epic show down and wrapping up of the story. I really did like it ended with just an old fashion duel, but I feel I had the wrong weapon equipped considering the animation indicated it was supposed to be a revolver.

We did go on to do everything reasonably possible in a single play through, completing every single district, placing every venture.. and the big pay off being the Saints singing Love Shack was pretty sweet. We also went after some 'easy' achievements that I didn't do, so I ended up with 44 out of 50 achievements... and I really have no interest in the remaining six, two of which involve multiplayer. 

In terms of what's the Next Monday-Tuesday game, it's going to be WWE 2K22, and I've already went ahead and knock out a bunch of achievements right off the bat. Now there are two story modes in it, we'll probably do just the female one first obviously, and depending how long it takes we'll do the one for a male superstar. On a side note, not sure if I like the control scheme this game has in comparison to what was sort of the standard for nearly 20 years

For the raid, we dropped in on PowerThumbZ as they were playing Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz

Saints Row Achievements

• Quality Time: Completed all loyalty missions.
• Chaos Tamer: Defeated all members of the Idols Collective.
• It's a Bird!: Completed all wingsuit challenges.
• Et tu?: Betrayed by a friend.
• Showdown: Completed Showdown.
• The Spins: Performed a barrel roll.
• We could go home, or…: Sang karaoke with the Saints.
• A Golden Age: Unlocked Criminal Empire Tier 5.
• The Mechanic: Fully upgraded a vehicle.
• Statement Pieces: Customized a weapon, a vehicle, clothing item, and your skin with a Cutting Edge material.
• Free Refills: Refilled the boost bar 3 times in a row with Infinite Boost.
• Fiesta Time: Hit a launched piñata with the Piñata Stick.
• All Mine: Completed all 15 districts in Santo Ileso.

WWE 2K22 Achievements

• Gulak Academy Graduate: Finish the Tutorial (Play Mode).
• CANNONBALL!: Perform a top rope dive as a Super Heavyweight (Play Mode vs AI).
• C-C-C-Combo Breaker: Counter an Opponent's Combo Using Breaker (Play Mode vs AI).
• Getting Creative: Hit your opponent with 5 different objects in one match (Play Mode vs AI).
• First of Many: Win a match (Play Mode vs AI).
• Acknowledge Me!: Win a 1v1 match against Roman Reigns on Legend difficulty (Play Mode VS. AI).

Had a nice conversation with my Uncle Abraham who is getting checked out for different things al this week, glad he's taking the precautions to stay on top of his health.

The job hunt is... going... not sure if I would say 'well' at this point

Finally finished the Mass Effect short story commission, and it's up at all the usual places. Next commission request is for a WWE one based on things that happened at the recent Royal Rumble event.

All recorded another VHS box tapes... finding one movie where Chuck Norris plays the villain... yeah crazy I know! That video will premier next Wednesday on my YouTube channel.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Intermediate Combo #1, Triple Combo #2 and Defensive Combo #1

"I don't trust those trees. They seem kind of shady."

Song of the Day: Smile by Vitamin C.

For tonight's stream, we shall lead off with Fall Guys, will we get lucky with a surprise win like last week? Who knows, then if Iceman is able to join us, Fallout 76 or Gears of War 2... or maybe something else entirely, we shall see

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

We're 89% done with Saints Row

Good morning everyone,

Woke up with a damn Charley horse in my right calf this morning.... yeah that was a rude wake up call

Last night's stream of Saints Row saw a big focus on the remaining side activities, dealing with the final two ventures and their side activities, plus the final eleven Wanted side quests, which meant doing the Donut Run main quest to open up the final six of those. So a good portion of tonight was spent traveling back and forth all over the map to get all this stuff done.We closed out then night by doing the main story mission 'Corporate Retreat', which was certainly a surreal way of closing out the stream.

That said, the obvious incoming betrayal by The Nahaulli is pretty obvious and not well hidden considering he wants to do the Train Heist, and didn't like the idea of a Team Building exercise. Still this does tie things together with the beginning of the game and the opening cut scenes.

Now as the title says, we're 89% done with Saints Row, so tonight's stream means we'll have a good shot at finishing the main story, and I'll probably end up doing some achievement hunting for some basic things as well, because the real goal is to get the Saints Skyscraper built to give the game it's true ending 

On a side note, I increased the gamma on how OBS displays things via my capture card, because as last Saturday night proved, it was showing things way to dark.

For the raid we dropped in on PrincessPashley while they were playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt over at twitch.tv/princesspashley

Saints Row Achievements

• Bonus Round: Destroyed a car with Pugnus Sanctus Dei.
• The Professional: Completed all jobs on the Wanted app.

Received the storage bags for my DVD collection... and I needed 22 of them... so I was right in my estimate over how many DVDs I have. I'll worry about my physical video game collection down the line. The reason why I want to get my entire DVD collection in order is  mostly due to thinking about eventually moving things up out of the basement, and having the DVDs ready for moving around and setting up something for when family comes over to watch movies and such seems like a good idea.

Big thank you to Mr. Ward at PSE&G in helping with retaining all existing services and making the transition of things from my mom's account to my new account incredibly smooth. Here's hoping things with American Water work out.

Spoke with my Aunt Hilary yesterday, and if there is one thing I can say for sure is that I cannot think to far ahead in terms of any trips or stuff, with everything so in-flux and my own constant worries about whatever can go wrong (as the recent Water Heater incident proved, things will always go wrong when you least want them to). 

Recorded a new tier list video based on Saturday morning Cartoons... but the tier list I found had so many duplicates! UGH!

Got some writing done as it relates to the Mass Effect short story, and I'm still not back to where I could write a 2000+ word story in under 4 hours. Hope to finish it today actually

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Block Combo, Difficult CHallenge Combo #1 and Defensive Combo #2

"Where do boats go when they're sick?" "To the boat doc."

Song of the Day: Because of You by Ne-Yo.

For tonight's stream, the plan is actually to finish Saints Row, will we be able to do it? With how I adjusted the difficulty last week, we certainly have a shot!

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

 

Overwatch, Super Bowl and other things

Good morning everyone,

We had a little bit of work yesterday morning just to help close out one of the assignments that came in, so hey, I got to feel productive.

Last night's stream of Overwatch 2 was a lot of fun, picking up two plays of the game as Symmetra and Moira. Big thank you to PandaSweet (who had three Plays of the Game as Moira!) for being apart of the fun as well, as we carried as many people to wins as possible but we ran into some bad luck in regards to people just intentionally preventing progress.

Did finally see the new Antarctica map, with is a best of three capture points, and there is certainly a lot of ground to cover to keep the opposing team from overwhelming you if you're defending the capture area.  My biggest gripe with it is the blue'ish tint it has, which does make it hard to see things

For the raid we dropped in on PowerThumbz while he was playing Prey over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz

Started writing a new Mass Effect short story commission, getting a fair bit done. I'll tell you, writing two characters is a lot more fun than writing three or more.

Went to a little store yesterday afternoon to pick up a few things, and man I was lucky to find a half-gallon of milk, a loaf of bread and the last pack of Chips Ahoy cookies they had (it's been a few weeks since I had any cookies). I was also looking to see if they had any eggs, and they were fresh out. Oh well.

Did have the Super Bowl on during the stream, and I was wearing my mom's Eagles jersey... now despite them losing, I know my mom would've loved the game. It's a shame the game came down to basically a referee making a call they should've just let slide because of how the game has gone. Sure the result of the game may have still been the same with the Chiefs getting a field goal, but at least the Eagles would've had a chance.

Cousin Frances got every single Trophy in Stray over the weekend, and just knowing that makes me want to put it on the line up of things to revisit during this years gaming tour.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Difficulty Challenge Combo #2, Straight Combo #2 Biceps Shape Focus Combo.

"I got carded at a liquor store, and my Blockbuster card accidentally fell out. The cashier said never mind."

Song of the Day:Lost on You by LP.

For tonight's stream, we're back to Saints Row with the big focus being on the remaining Ventures to the placed, I believe I have two to go along with their respective tasks and clearing out of threats in the areas where they are located at.

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

We Had Some Work Yesterday; PS2 Variety Night

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday we had some work, not as many hours as I would've liked, but it knocked some rust off... too bad some of the usual features used for work wasn't working as they should've been. I'd really hate to go back to using my phone instead of the web browser set up, because it makes harder for me to hear the people I'm interviewing.

Congratulations to my uncle Freddy who is going into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame!

Last night's stream was truly a variety night of games from the PlayStation 2 era, starting off with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus... and I forgot how bad that game was in regard to hit detection, the wonky A.I. and the bad camera angles. For whatever reason Konami really struggles with making TMNT games that weren't 2D brawlers. Chances are quite a lot of the VOD is going to be muted or cut because of how much footage this game used from the 2003 TMNT series.

Next was X-Men: Next Dimension, a fighting game that clearly has some inspiration from Tekken and Virtua Fighter. We went through the arcade mode as Betsy (aka Psylocke), and outside of Magneto, we didn't have too much trouble. Rather surprised Patrick Stewart supplied some voice work for the game. This game does have a story mode, so it makes it worth revisiting to see what that is like.

Over The Hedge was the next game we played, based on the movie of the same name, and while clearly aimed at younger gamers, it has a nice charm to do for a budget cash grab game.Based on the first couple of levels, I feel this game will be a hoot to play in co-op if I can rope in either my cousin Frances of my brother Leo into spending an evening messing around with it on stream.

Finally checked out Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest, and its not a bad RPG,but it's clear it was meant to take full advantage of the PS2's online multiplayer capabilities. It might have local co-op so that might be worth diving into as a novelty.

We took a look at Death by Degrees and I have to wonder what Bandai Namco was thinking, They already had the bases for a decent brawling game in the form of the Tekken Force mode that was introduced in Tekken 3, but Death by Degrees certainly was not as fun to pick up on, due to the weird controls. Does look and sound great though.

Lastly we played Star Trek Encounters, which is in an arcade shooter game that uses some of the same assets used for Star Trek Legacy which was released on the Xbox 360 and PC around the same time. Much like it's more advanced sister game, the 'campaign' is not really fun, but using cheats to unlock all the ships means there is chaos to be had in its various game modes.

On a side note, I have to do something about how OBS is broadcasting things much darker than they should be in terms of the output color pallet.

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal who was playing Final Fantasy XIV over at twitch.tv/kalenal

Tonight is the Super Bowl... and I know my mom would have been rooting for the Eagles if she could watch it... and I finally saw her death certificate... and reading it really hit me hard.

Finished the Mass Effect short story commission and have another one to start working on as well, so this series will be up to 22 chapters.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Advanced Combo #1, Sway Back COmbo and Difficulty Challenge Combo #3

"What do you call a poor Santa Claus?" "St. Nickel-less."

Song of the Day: Sunday Best by Surfaces.

For tonight's stream, it's Sunday and that means Overwatch 2... and yes I will be wearing Eagles green, in fact I'll be wearing my mom's Eagles jersey that was originally owned by my brother.

So we're about half way through FF7-Remake... I think.

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy VII Remake was a lot of fun, picking up right where we left off and getting to where we see Jessie, Biggs and Wedge reside in Sector 7, before we get more insight into things being weird with the timeline with the 'spirits' roaming around. The entire trip to Sector 5's reactor was certainly spaced out to really let the journey take center stage. There is certainly a lot more going into the lore of the Shinra corporation to make them more villainous they they appeared in the original.

That said, I do want to give a little fan theory, and it involves Cloud crash landing in the church... and that he's actually unconscious, and everything he experiences afterward is a full on illusion. I mean it makes sense, particularly in the remake giving the height he falls from is made real clear.

But what about the time manipulation, because Cloud is clearly getting visions of things he shouldn't, namely of Aerith's death scene, and the 'spirits' roaming around basically made sure she didn't get hurt or fall when escaping the church. 

Still near as I can tell, I'm about half way through FF7R, so if things play out as I expect, then we'll probably finish this in a few weeks, which would be really cool, but considering the number of reused assets that I've seen so far, I have to wonder: exactly why was this game in development hell for as long as it was?

Oh an yes... I'd totally ship Cloud & Jessie because as I said last week (either in a blog or on stream), Jessie has the best personality out of her, Tifa and Aerith.

For the raid we dropped in on MissCammi316 who was playing Dead by Daylight over at twitch.tv/misscammi316

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) Trophies

• Night on the Town: Complete Chapter 4.
• Plan E: Complete Chapter 5.
• Lights Out: Complete Chapter 6.
• In Lockstep: Bypass the delta-level security lock in Mako Reactor 5.
• Trapped like Sewer Rats: Complete Chapter 7.
• Summon Slayer: Defeat a summon in battle.

Finally got in touch with my Uncle Mark, and found out my Aunt Rona is feeling better after catching Covid a few weeks ago. Hopefully I can touch base with him on several things on Sunday.

Got a nice card of condolences from my Cousin Gary and his wife yesterday which was appreciated.

Did a fair bit of writing yesterday afternoon on the Mass Effect short story, and I feel I could finish it today, but for the first time since December, I actually have work. I'm sure to be a bit rusty, but I hope to get back into the swing of things.

This might lead to some stream start times being later than normal depending on what assignments come in. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Intermediate COmbo #2, Waist Shape Focus Combo, Uppercut Combo #1 and Hip Shape Focus Combo.

"Dad, did you get a haircut?" "No, I got them all cut!"

Song of the Day: f**k, I'm Lonely by Lauv feat. Anne Marie.

For tonight's stream, we're hooking up the PlayStation 2 and going to mess around with a few different games, no real plans, but we're going to have fun

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