It's the Weekend

Good afternoon everyone

Yesterday was kind of weird as when I was working I got a notification that my Facebook account was suspended, and apparently its because my Instagram account got hacked. Thankfully I was able to resolve it, but I did have to take 30 minutes out of work to get it fixed.  But work itself was solid, got an interview done which is always a good feeling

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy VII Remake opened up with a boss fight and was very action packed, as Chapters 10 through 13 had a ton of combat, including a section where playing as Barrett is the focus of. Of course, the fact that Jessie was killed off because of the whole Shinra dropping the plate on Sector 7 plot device, it does take the wind out of the sails for the game. Still she went out like a bad ass in my humble opinion.

Now from what I can tell there are five more chapters left, So depending on pacing we might be able to finish it on next Friday's stream. Depends on if we got a big area to explore and do side quests or note.

Eagle eye viewers would have noticed than when I came back from my break I seemed upset... I ended up thinking about mom, and every time I do it just hits me hard. 

For the raid we dropped in on DaemonsW0lf who was playing Hunt: Showdown over at twitch.tv/daemonsw0lf

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) Trophies

• Sewer Survivor: Complete Chapter 10.
• Paranormal Investigator: Complete Chapter 11.
• The Collapse: Complete Chapter 12.
• Broken Dreams: Complete Chapter 13.

I do plan to do some writing this afternoon to try and knock out a WWE Short Story Commission, and I did get another request to do afterward based on Daria which I'm really excited to get to.

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

 "What did Baby Corn say to Mama Corn?" "Where's Pop Corn?"

Song of the Day: Opposites Attract by Paula Abdul

For tonight's stream, the plan is to try out Elder Scrolls Online, which was gifted to us by LvlStkr earlier this week as a possible replacement for Final Fantasy XIV. We'll see how long it takes me to get through the tutorial!

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

 

Hades on A Thursday, Sponsored By Babbel

Good morning everyone,

We had another day of work yesterday, and while it wasn't as good as the previous day, it was still nice to feel productive. And we have more work today.

Last night's stream of Hades was really focused on me trying to grind for various things to progress in different aspects of the game (Darkness to buff up Health for example, of Crystals to unlock different customization options for the house). Now we did come painfully close to making past Elysium, but the fact that I only have one death defiance and have not gotten anywhere close to the builds I liked when I played Hades on the Switch meant I was basically a sitting duck. Still with Hades its all luck mixed with skill to get further ahead in the game.

Of course last night's stream was sponsored by Babbel, one of the world's leading language learning applications, and we tried it out. Since I do have a very very very very basic understanding of Spanish, I was able to go through the first few lessons live on stream to see how it works. If you have the time, Babbel is a great way to try and pick up another language. Now here's the cool part, if you sign up using my link, you get to save 60% off your subscription! Here's the link: https://strms.net/babbel_fredcasden

I am trying to figure out the audio de-sync issues that occasionally happen during the stream from the capture card, and I'm hoping a solution I found will resolve it by creating a separate audio source. We'll see how that goes with tonight's stream. 

For the raid we dropped in on TokuSHOUTsu  which was airing episodes of Ultraman Geed over at twitch.tv/TokuSHOUTsu 

Started work on the lates WWE short story commission based on things that happened at Elimination Chamber 2023, because I came up with an idea of how I want it to start to kind of justify the action that takes place.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Difficult Challenge Combo #2, Straight Combo 32 and Biceps Shape Focus Combo.

"I asked my dog what's two minus two. He said nothing."

Song of the Day: "Walk Like An Egyptian" by The Bangles

For tonight's stream, we're resuming Final Fantasy VII Remake, picking up in Chapter 10, which has us in the sewers... because of course we're going to be in the sewers right?

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

 

Pizza, Close Calls and Gears

 Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was a good day of work, as I was able to complete two full interviews and nearly had a third, so I kind of found how who to ask for that would be knowledgeable.Here's hoping the good fortune continues to today.

Huge thank you to my Cousin Frances and Aunt Grace with sending me a pizza, a cheesesteak and some chicken wings. That was an awesome surprise. Nearly ate the whole pizza on stream... but I behaved a little... saved two slices for today. Hey there is a reason I weigh 240 pounds folks... I can eat... A LOT!

Last night's stream opened with Fall Guys, and first we have to say thank you to FelKimchi for being apart of a lot of the matches, in which we came very very close to winning. In fact, Felkimchi nearly carried us to a win in the last show we played  as my timing was off quite a bit all night. 

We also played Gears of War 2, and of course we were joined by Iceman for that, as we covered From Act 2 Chapter five up to the start of Act 3 Chapter 5. Despite playing on Normal Difficulty, we had very little trouble getting through these parts, there were a few deaths but mostly due to timing (such as with the giant worm's teeth) or bad luck (crashing the tank into a hole on the ice lake), but the combat was very straight forward. Outside of crashing the tank, we didn't have any issues getting past the tower, at least not as compared to three years ago.

Way Ice figures, we'll probably finish Gears of War 2 within two streams, possibly three depending on how some of the more intense areas go.

For the raid we dropped in on Oldish22 who was playing One Piece Odyssey over at twitch.tv/oldish22.

Found a six-button controller for a Sega Genesis last night, as well as the Tiger Electronics hand held version of Street Fighter II. When I say my mom kept the oddest of things, I wasn't kidding.

Did a bit of writing on the next Subscribstar exclusive story, which is based on Star Trek The Next Generation, and I'm trying to get it to be as close to 3000 words as possible.

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

"What did one hat say to the other?" "Stay here! I'm going on ahead."

Song of the Day:Straight Up by Paula Abdul

For tonight's stream, we're going to play Hades, and my goal will be to try and compelte and escape, but also grind for the items to unlock various abilities and ides for the house of Hades.

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

The Road To Rhea in WWE 2K22

Good morning everyone

Let's talk about work, and it was nice to get back into the things, even if its a tough assignment to work with. It does actually raise a question I've been wondering in regards to how many businesses are actually trying to hire people.

Last night's stream saw us continue WWE 2K22's MyRise mode, and we turned heel, which lead to some rather funny heelish dialog and some scenarios that I probably would not have seen staying on the baby face path. The number of matches actual opponents did expose how limited the WWE's Women Roster inclusion was, and I can't imagine it's going to be particularly good in the upcoming 2K23 if it tackles the MyRise mode the same way. I did rather like the build towards facing Rhea Ripley and how over the top it got with a backstage brawl, an empty arena match and a match ending in a double DQ before the big match.

That said, I think I'm going to put WWE 2K22 on Saturday's starting next week because it is a bit much to do MyRise content on back to back nights. Which means we'll put something else on Mondays and Tuesdays. And after careful consideration, that game is going to be Agents of Mayhem. 

Come to think of it the line up is probably going look like this through next Saturday.

Tonight: Fall Guys & Gears of War 2
Thursday: Hades
Friday: Final Fantasy VII Remake
Saturday: Try Out Elder Scrolls Online (Thanks again for the gifted game LvStrkr)
Sunday: Overwatch 2
Monday: Agents of Mayhem
Tuesday: Agents of Mayhem
Wednesday: Fall Guys & Gears of War 2
Thursday: Hades or Elder Scrolls Online
Friday: Final Fantasy VII Remake
Saturday: WWE 2K22

For the raid, we got bold and raided Maximilian_DOOD who was playing Like A Dragon: Ishin. He is the largest streamer I actually follow on Twitch, and he broadcasts over at twitch.tv/Maximilian_DOOD 

WWE 2K22 Achievements

• The New Revolution: Win the NXT Women’s Championship in MyRISE.

Latest story commission request is for a WWE story based on things that happened at the 2020 Elimination Chamber event.  Since work has started back up, probably won't get to writing it until the weekend.

Had a nice talk with my Aunt Rosa yesterday after work, talked about a few different things, but it was a major reminder of how much I miss mom.

Did go through a few boxes of stuff that mom had stored aside, finding outdated AC power adapters, old fire alarms and other stuff that should have been tossed out years ago.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Intermediate Combo #2, Waist Shape Focus Combo & Uppercut Combo #1

"Why couldn't the bicycle stand up by itself? It was two tired."

Song of the Day: "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees

For tonight's stream, we shall lead off with Fall Guys and then when Iceman joins us, we'll shall continue Gears of War 2. Can't get more opposite ends of the spectrum than that!

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

Thoughts on MyRise in WWE 2K22

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream featured WWE 2K22 at the perfect time when the next game in the series comes out net month (I think), and we jumped right into the MyRise mode, creating a female superstar named Jackie Hammer (as in jackhammer)... and right off the bat, I'm surprised at how in depth the opening creation tools are... and how limited. There were quite a number of things that weren't even options, such as hair color for example... and the limitations on 'outfits' to be forced to go with a predetermined look certainly was odd.

That said, the presentation of the MyRise mode does give more control to the player over what feuds and matches they part in... and the voice acting from the WWE Superstars at least sounds good in some cases, and awful in others (did Sasha Banks recorder her dialogue in a fish bowl?). Was nice to see that there is some continuity with the prior WWE 2K story modes with references to it and to see Josie Jane from 2K20 getting featured. The new character of Fanny does raise some concerns.

We got fairly far into the MyRise story, getting past a few story arcs involving Toni Storm & The Mae Young Classic. It'll be interesting to see how things progress with this game, and if we keep it as a two-night a week game or slot it as Saturday night feature.

I also took a brief look at the Showcase mode and as I feared, it relies heavily on WWE footage to get it's point across, and the set up of in match objectiveness makes it a tedious affair I want nothing to do with

For the raid we dropped in on pradoxgamerau who was playing RimWorld over at twitch.tv/pradoxgamerau

WWE 2K22 Achievements

• Time to TakeOver: Have a match on NXT in either Male or Female MyRISE.
• Who’s That Jumping Out the Sky?: Complete One Objective in Showcase Mode.

Finished writing the Mass Effect short story yesterday before the stream, but didn't send it off until this morning this way I won't be tempted to start work on any new story commissions that come in.

Why? Because I actually have work today, so I'm hoping it'll be a good day and I'll be able to do a good job with the assignment.

I want to clear out this big storage 'closet' but to do that I need to move quite a few things around. Don't be surprise of the DVD display you've been seeing on stream disappears.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Beginner Combo #2, Hook Combo #1 and Hip Shape Focus Combo.

"Did you hear the rumor about butter? Well, I'm not going to spread it!"

Song of the Day: "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"  by Rod Stewart

For tonight's stream we shall continue WWE 2K22's MyRise, as we're on the NXT brand, so we'll see if we can get some cool stuff to happen.

On that note we'll see you tonight over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

 

 

Relearning how to play Overwatch on Console Is An Experience

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Overwatch 2 was certainly an experience as playing four hours of it via console is way differently than playing on the computer, as I had to calibrate how fast the camera turned so that I could lock on the opposing players faster. Used a variety of characters, D.va, Reinhardt, Orissa, Mei, Junkrat, Ashe, Ana and Junker Queen. We had a wild mix of wins and losses over the course of the night. Big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the  fun as well!

Now off stream I'll still play Overwatch 2 on PC, since I did get use to some of the handicaps I now have to deal with thanks to a weaker graphics card to work with. So I'll still be using that to knock out quick dailies.

Did have an issue with Discord in getting it work correctly, as it was giving me no audio and there doubts about folks hearing me through it. It got sorted, but it'll be interesting if that becomes a regular problem or not whenever I want to use it for voice chat while teaming up with folks!

For the raid we dropped in on MissGammi316 who was also playing Overwatch 2 over at twitch.tv/missgammi316 

Big thanks to LvStrikR for gifting me Elder Scrolls Online on the XBox side... since Final Fantasy XIV is on the shelf for the foreseeable future, that could be our new weekly MMO. Actually that reminded me, I did play a lot of DC Universe Online for a time too.. so that could be a contender. In fact I loaded up DC Universe Online onto my Xbox One... and quickly learned whatever progression I did years ago on the Steam version does not progress over.

Overwatch 2 Achievements

• Centenary: Win 100 games in Quick or Competitive Play.
• Coup De Gracie: Use Junker Queen’s Jagged Blade and Carnage to pull and kill an enemy in Quick or Competitive 

DC Universe Online Achievements

• Platinum Pace: Earn a platinum medal in any race.

Started writing the next Mass Effect short story commission and got the opening set up done, and while it involves Shepard, he's not in the scene. 

My brother Leo and his family came over yesterday, with some important paper work for me to fill out, as well as bringing over the big portrait of mom that was at her funeral. It's currently in the living room. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Weaving Combo #2, Straight Combo #1 and Triple Combo #1.

"What do you call someone with no body and no nose? Nobody knows."

Song of the Day: Do That To Me One More Time by Captain & Tennille

For tonight's stream we shall be starting up the story mode of WWE 2K22, and as promised, we'll feature a female created character. Wonder what creative options we'll have to work with at the start.

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

We brought back Hades

Good afternoon everyone,

So for last night's stream, we finally started playing Hades again, but this time the Xbox version just to go for achievements. Since I had the experience of playing the Switch version, the first few attempts were pretty solid in terms of having to start from scratch. Case in point, the stream started at 7 PM and a bit before 8 PM we cleared Tartarus, and around 8:30 PM we cleared Asphodel. We managed to do 10 runs, with the final run being the best run of the night coming within a whisker of clearing Elysium.  

One cool thing about playing Hades is probably getting input from the chat on what Boons to take. But the real trick is going to be grinding for keys, gems and other items to unlock various abilities and weapons as I progress. I would like to work towards getting the two secret endings, one of which requires 10 escapes... and the other involves maxing out all dialog and connections with every major character in the Greek myths. 

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

Hades Achievements

• Three-Headed Boy: Pet Cerberus 10 times
• Escaped Tartarus: Clear Tartarus
• Escaped Asphodel: Clear Asphodel
• Skelly Slayer: Slay Skelly 15 times

Finished the WWE short story commission (finally) after several delays, and started writing a Star Trek story featuring Tasha Yar. Since it's non-commissioned, I'll work on it between commission projects. Such as the next story commission in the Mass Effect series.

Something I found out, apparently there are two version of WWE 2K22, the Xbox One version and the Xbox Series version... so technically I could be cheeky and get achievements in both versions of the game since they have their own separate listings... despite being the same game. 

Did try to reach my Aunt Maria yesterday to see how they were doing, but only go their voice mail. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Weaving COmbo #1, Body Hook Combo and Double Combo #2

"I don't trust stairs. They're always up to something."

Song of the Day: Celebration by Kool & the Gang

For tonight's stream, we're playing Overwatch 2, but because of the limitations of my new PC's graphic card, I'll be playing the console version