Tuesday, March 28, 2023

We Knock Out A Huge Chunk Of Hi-Fi Rush

 Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Hi-Fi Rush saw us getting through chapters 4 through 9 of the game, and sure it went over five hours because I did kept searching for secrets and stuff through out every stage. I really enjoyed the art style and music, the game is easily a sleeper hit for me. And there is incentive to revisit the game to find things that I miss and take advantage of a probably New Game Plus to reach areas I couldn't in earlier parts of the game. Assuming that is a thing.

The twist that Peppermint is Kale's sister was a twist I didn't realize, and it was oh so obvious to me before I started putting a few things together in the Museum stage. 

That said, we're in real good shape to finish Hi-Fi Rush tonight, so we'll probably pair it with something else. I'm tempted on doing it with Hades... but other possibilities include Smite, Divine Knockout or some other nonsense to serve as a back up game.

Hi-Fi RUSH Achievements

  • Whoa! There's ANOTHER health bar!?: Increase your health to where you unlock a second tier.
  • This will cost you big time: Drain development's budget, removing creative control.
  • Uh, they were broken when I got here: Destroy 200 Vandelay security robots.
  • Z-shielding's got nothing on us!: Shatter 10 enemy shields by calling in Macaron.
  • The Negotiator: Remove the head of Security from the equation.
  • I have to read these things?: Find and read half of the Vandelay Vlogs on the campus.
  • There's such a thing as TOO helpful: Find and engage with every Smidge, while completing all of his practice tips.
  • Kissing the sky!: Perform 50 Aerial Raves.
  • Check out my moves!: Purchase every combo and partner attack.
  • Headliner: Be the showstopper for the head of Marketing.

Big thank you to Kalenal for the Raid followering their stream of Pokemon Scarlet over at twitch.tv/kalenal

For my raid, we dropped in on PowerThumbz during stream of Dead by Daylight over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz

The developers of MultiVersus announced the game is going on hiatus, and a lot of folks are pissed because it wasn't really stated that this entire time was an Open Beta. I suspect the death of Kevin Conroy (the voice of Batman) may have been a factor because, since no new characters were added to the game since he passed away, and there was a real long content drought. Hell most know I stopped playing it because it started feeling monotonous and I banged out quite a few tough achievements.

My idea of using a Splitter to divert the HDMI signal from the output of my capture card to a monitor and TV didn't work the way I hoped it would... but I did found a three-way HDMI splitter so now I don't have to disconnect the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles. Will need to do so for the PlayStation related consoles because they are positioned further away from the others.

I do have a new commission short story request based around Mass Effect, namely Mass Effect 3. I think I'll try to keep it straight forward, unless I can find specific dialog transcripts. 

Did pick up am Amazon Fire Stick, because it didn't occur to me until after I moved the TV from the living room to my basement that if I have family come over, and if they bring their kids there is nothing to entertain them. 

Also figured out how to make YouTube shorts... so that could be a thing I do going forward.

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


Monday, March 27, 2023

Big night of Overwatch

Good morning everyone, 

Last night's stream got off  to a rough start as my mic wasn't quite working correctly, warranting a stream restart. First time that's ever happened.

Once that was sorted, we got down to playing Oveewatch 2, big thanks to PandaSweet for being apart of the fun. We certainly were hampered by some noobs who clearly had no clue of what they were doing, but we did won a lot more than we lost. I picked up four plays of the game (1 as Moira, 2 as Reinhardt and 1 as Junker Queen), which means this months collection of Plays of the Game for March is at 18 (assuming I don't get one in an off-stream session).

Other characters used were Orisa, Wrecking Ball, Ana, Mei, Junkrat, and a handful of others.

Did discover that the analog stick on my Xbox One controller does have some drift, mostly moving in an upward direction. So will have to track down a back up wireless controller for it at some point if it get worse. 

For the raid we dropped in on Flint_Locke who was doing a voice acting stream of the visual novel Hotoful Boyfriend over at twitch.tv/flint_locke

The plan for tonight's stream is of course Hi-Fi Rush, picking up at Chapter 4 I believe, and if things go right we could knock out a huge chunk of the game tonight. Yes we are looking for the possibility of finishing Hi-Fi Rush this week, and what we do tonight will determine that.

With the strong possibility of finishing Hades on Thursday, I'll have to consider what to do with the Thursday night streams.

Finished up both the Dragon Ball short story commission and the original idea I had for an All That story. The first is already up on my Subscribestar page and will be posted publicly after the 28th, the later will be exclusive for my Subscribestar followers for the month of April

Ended up doing more organizing of things in the basement, getting the shelves in order mostly as I do want to move away from using crates as make-shift 'bookcases'  

Also ended up watching Space Jam last night, for no real reason, just wanted to watch something silly.

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


Sunday, March 26, 2023

Constantly Getting Loss Is apart of the ESO experience

Good afternoon everyone,

Last night's stream of Elder Scrolls Online certainly was interesting. Of course were were joined by Striker and made some progress knockout a few side quests... but them my in ability to actually finding my way from point A to point B popped up... and somehow, I kept losing track of wherever Striker went, like there were no on-screen indicator of how to track him down. Then on top of that, we ran into a glitched quest... as if that has never happened before  in a Bethesda game I've played.

Still, did have my first group Dungeon experience, and there is clearly some long queue times, in fact nearly two hours waiting in the queue to get into a dungeon. Still it's very straight forward, and much like with Final Fantasy XIV, you will not see my ass tanking or playing a mage in ESO, because it's tough enough playing the role of a damage dealer!

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

Of course it's Sunday night, which means Overwatch 2 is on tonight's agenda, with the super casual approach I'm taking since I've already knocked out the Season's Battle Pass

Heard an interesting fan theory that connects Mass Effect Andromeda's Vetra to Mass Effect's lead villain Saren, indication that she is his daughter. There are a lot of hoops to job through to make that work, but there are lot of tie-ins between ME:A and the rest of the franchise that works on so many levels.

Got a fair amount of writing done yesterday for the Dragon Ball short story commission, don't think it'll pass 2000 words in total though.

Made the mistake in saying I needed a HDMI switcher when what I need is an HDMI splitter, this way I can take the output signal that passes through my capture card  and direct to the monitor and TV.

Recorded the 3rd video of a series involving going through a bunch of 45s to see if I can find the music on them on Spotify. The video of that experience will be on YouTube around April 17th

Rearranged a large chunk of my basement as well, my bed is no longer viewable on camera, the stacks of DVD cases are off the one side. I'm really thinking of just getting a fairly sized rug to throw down on the floor. Everything is not where I want it to be yet as I still need to get the deep freezer out of here... but it is closer to how I wanted it to look for years.

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

Saturday, March 25, 2023

So much to do in Spider-Man

Good afternoon everyone,

I must have been exhausted yesterday, because I slept for nearly 12 hours today....

Work yesterday was... alright, got one complete interview, but the shift was ended much earlier than anyone would have thought. Five bucks says its because of the lack of people willing to work Friday afternoons. Really should consider working Mondays instead of Fridays.

Moved the flat-screen TV that was in the living room down to the basement, and how I figure is that once certain furniture is moved around, it'll be in a perfect spot for when doing any local co-op. I should get a second HDMI splitter for output from the Elgato this way I can switch between the TV and my main monitor. Will I get a Roku or a similar type device? At some point yeah, but it's a very low priority

Last night's stream of Spider-Man certainly saw a big example of my focus when it comes to open-world games, as I spent a large amount of time on the side activities, doing all of the King Pin's bases, finding all the landmarks and doing nearly all of the Science Labs... only to find out, a couple require specific skills unlocked! Boo! But we did kick Shocker's ass a couple of times, ran into Mary Jane and had a fun time seeing the plot slowly (very slowly) advance. 

I did look at the trophy list  and I can almost guarantee I'm not going for 100% completion, but I will do as much as I can that seems reasonable But near as I can tell, I'm going to end up doing a lot of the main story in next week's stream as I need to level up to unlock specific skills..

Marvel's Spider-Man Trophies

  • Spider-Man About Town: Greet 10 citizens
  • All the King's Men: Take down each Fisk Hideout
  • Sightseeing: Photograph all Landmarks on the Map
  • Neighborhood Watch: Complete all Faction Crimes in a district
  • Sticky and Tricky: Chain 4 unique tricks before landing
  • Snappy Dresser: Wear 5 new Spider-Suits
  • Shock and Awe: Defeat Shocker

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood who was playing the new Resident Evil 4 remake over at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

The plan for tonight's stream is more Elder Scrolls Online, as Striker and I will continue out quests and adventures. Back up plans include things like Smite and other stuff.

This week's Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Stats are

  • 51% of Achievements Unlocked
  • Punches Thrown: 8803
  • Estimated Calorie Burn: 3545.76
  • Fitness Age: 19

Have to make sure I do the dishes today, used a lot more than usual this week because of all the fresh food I got to eat!

Also plan to do some writing on the Dragon Ball shorty story commission, already got the basic intro written, granted I had to do do a time skip to get things lined up to when Videl and Gohan are married.

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

Friday, March 24, 2023

We Had THREE Successful Escapes In Hades?!

Good morning everyone, 

Despite how yesterday started, work was incredible with four complete interviews, and the shift nearly went as long as I schedule myself for!

Also spoke with my uncle Abraham yesterday afternoon, talked alot about food... what can I say... in my family, we like to eat!

Last night's stream of Hades got off to a shaky start because of issues caused by a surprise update to the Xbox consoles, but then we pulled off three straight successful escapes, two with the spear, and one with the bow. The plot over how Persephone ended up in the underworld and the possible war that could erupt between the gods is certainly an interesting twist. 

So now I'm up to eight escapes, with a streak of four in a row. I could have gone for a ninth escape last night, but that would mean the single objective for next Thursday would be to just clear one escape to finish the main story. So I ended the stream at about the 4 hour mark to preserve the idea of finishing the game next week.

Hades Achievements

  • Back to Work: Earn access to and enter the Administrative Chamber
  • Blood Bound: Max any Weapon Aspect
  • Thanks, But No Thanks: Purge a Legendary Boon

For the raid we dropped in on caphrine_ while they were playing Apex Legends over at twitch.tv/caphrine_

The plan for tonight's stream is of course, Marvel's Spider-Man on the PS4. I am going to lower the combat difficulty, and first focus on finding all the Kingpin bases through out the city. Yes I am taking the approach I use in every other open world game I've played

Picked up three t-shirts associated with 93.3 WMMR, a local radio station here in the Philadelphia area. Mostly to replace a few shirts that I regularly wear.It's good to retire shirts from time to time, particularly when I rotate through the same 20 shirts

Need to remember to pick up some milk and bread over the weekend.

Finished writing the Daria story to fulfill a commission request, and started work on the next commission request for another Dragon Ball related story. Hopefully that won't take a week to finish

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

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Hey... finally played a Resident Evil game on stream!

Good morning everyone,

I will admit today was one of those days where I didn't feel like I getting out of bed, like I heard my alarms going off, but I just didn't feel like moving as I just laid in bed thinking to several hours. This reflected on my Fitness Boxing workout this morning as well, as I only did 18 minutes. 

Anyway, work yesterday was... shorter than expected, but the assignment was interesting, as we were interviewing folks in New York regarding a public official, and its always interesting to see how people answer when asked straight forward questions.

Last night's stream opened with Fall Guys, and I was apart of a winning show in a squad. With the double XP on Show points, we were able to gain a lot of shards considering I have the base battle pass completed. I do have to point out that reoccurring problem of Fall Guys just starting duo and squad shows with teams that are at an unfair disadvantage. Squads are supposed to be teams of fours... but if your team only has three people, you're basically screwed from the word go!

We also played Resident Evil 5, and we have to thank Iceman for being apart of the fun on this, as I was certainly struggling in dealing with the controls which aren't as good as I would expect considering the types of enemies running around. Still since it was designed with co-op in mind, having Iceman's help and experience meant we kept the death count fairly down. I think if Capcom designed the game with mobility in mind, it would be a lot more straight forward in being able to handle things.

That said, we did knock all of chapter one and the first half of chapter two... and the boss fights we encountered certainly were more puzzle based than I anticipated. Although one encounter resulted in us both being roasted alive! 

Resident Evil 5 Achievements

  • Completed Chapter 1 - 1: Complete Chapter 1 - 1 on any difficulty setting.
  • Completed Chapter 1 - 2: Complete Chapter 1 - 2 on any difficulty setting.
  • A Cut Above: Defeat 5 enemies with the Knife.
  • Completed Chapter 2 - 1: Complete Chapter 2 - 1 on any difficulty setting.

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

The plan for tonight stream is to continue Hades, We already have five escapes under out belt, and we need five more! If we get can get two done tonight that would be awesome! Of course the success of each run depends on the weapon along with the boons we're able to pick up along the way.

Basically crashed to bed right after the stream, so I didn't get to do any of the writing I had planned, but I will work on the Daria story after tonight's stream. Or even before, depends on if work if cut short again.

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

Wednesday, March 22, 2023

First Impressions Of Hi-Fi Rush

 Good morning everyone,

First an update regarding my billing issue with PSE&G, apparently, when I got things sorted with the accounts following my mom's passing, no one told me that I would have to wait a billing cycle to have everything implemented back the way it was before. So that explained that sudden panic attack I had.

Anyway, work yesterday was really good, minus the fact the final hour was cut because they needed things fixed for the evening shift... not sure why that would affect those of us on the assignment I've been on since i t doesn't run in the evenings.

Last night we started up Hi-Fi Rush... and I'm really glad I'm playing it on the lowest possible difficulty, because the rhythm patterns and beat isn't something I can hear since I'm not using earbuds or headphones to listen to the game's music. Still I love the art design and the game play is solid. I'm certainly relying on as much basic stuff as I can to overwhelm enemies quickly... and i could do without the parry system. 

Still it's very fun and I do find myself looking to explore everything to see if I can find any secrets along the way. Which means that levels that should probably take me 30 minutes to complete take an hour

We'll continue Hi-Fi Rush on Monday, in what I believe is the middle of the third chapters (as we met The 2nd of the ally characters)  

Hi-Fi RUSH Achievements

  • Does that say weakpoint?: Destroy QA-1MIL's face, revealing its shame.
  • Feeling the beat!: Land 20 beat-hit attacks on enemies.
  • Start with a bang!: Take out the last line of defense at Quality Assurance.
  • I look cool. But I can look COOLER.: Equip any costume.
  • You can pet the cat!: Play with 808 in the hideout.
  • Who put gears in there?: Destroyed your first golden statue of Kale.
  • Cream of the Crop: Come out on top with a battle against the head of Production.
  • Thanks for the free chip, Peppermint!: Purchase and equip your first upgrade chip.
  • You got this, Peppermint?: Destroy 10 barriers by calling in Peppermint.
  • Perfect Parry: Sucessfully parry with perfect timing 15 times.
  • Alright, that felt AWESOME!: Defeated your first enemy with a Rhythm Parry Attack.

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

The plan for tonight is to open with Fall Guys, then at 9 PM we'll be switching over to Resident Evil 5 with Iceman to continue our co-op adventures!  

Got a fair amount of writing done regarding the Daria commission request, I'll be looking to finish it after tonight's stream.

Really pondering how I'll going to layout the basement once the Deep Freezer is out of it, because I think I'll some stuff in that far corner. Really considering adding another bookshelf or two as well.

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

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