A Positive Day On All Fronts

Hi everyone,

Thursday was all together a positive day as it relates to work, as we got an assignment that I could really sink my teeth into, with perfect pacing. I actually lost track of how many interviews I completed.

Speaking of completing, we finished our current playthrough of the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect, hitting level 56, which is actually 6 levels higher than the first play through of this version we did in 2020. The big difference was of course me jumping out of the Mako to fight enemies on the ground as often as possible. I suspect it is possible to hit level 60 in a single play through starting from scratch if you're willing to fight a thresher maw on the ground... which I'm not.

Now with this play through done, that leaves only doing a run using Garus and Liara for the majority of the missions, and playing as Adept in order to get all the achievements related to being a biotic.That will be challenging because of the lack of fire power options that will be available. But we'll worry about that when we get to it. 

Mass Effect Achievements

• First Aid Specialist: Use medi-gel 150 times
• Long Service Medal: Complete 2 Playthroughs

For the raid we dropped in on pradoxgamerau who was playing Diablo IV over at twitch.tv/pradoxgamerau, while it is a game I want to play, I'm going to wait until expansions start rolling out for it because I might as well get the most bang for the buck... and when guides are available to do everything.

Since Mass Effect is finished, we're going to move Street Fighter 6 into the Thursday night slot to focus on the World Tour mode and do head to head stuff. I already have 77% of the game's achievement unlocked (thanks to some off-stream gaming I've done since Saturday), and there are about 8 more achievements that I think are possible for me to unlock. We're still going to play Street Fighter 6 this Saturday

So that will free Saturdays, which raises the question of what will go on Saturdays. Folks have asked if I played Hallow Knight or any game in the Yakuza series... so those are contenders based on the chat and comments left on my YouTube channel. 

I saw that there will be a new spin off for Persona 5 that looks like a tactics style game, a genre that I've never played before. It looked kind of cute. Of course, there is also the news that Persona 3 is being remastered, and will come out in 2024. Which means I won't get to it until 2025 because I would still need to do a FemC run of Persona 3 Portable!

Also saw that there will be a new Sonic The Hedgehog game where up to four players can play, that seems like it would be a hoot! 

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Heavy Rain on the PlayStation 4, I have to remember to install it before the start of tonight's stream 

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden! (Note Tonight's stream will start at 9:30 PM Eastern)

An Okay Day

Hi everyone,

Well the air quality sure was interesting today thanks to the fires up in Canada and the air particles making their way down to South Jersey, I will admit, I didn't smell them till probably about 9 PM Eastern.

Work was alright, getting the hours I could snag, getting one interview completed made me feel productive, which is also nice.

Started to go through some of my mom's dresser drawers to throw out obvious stuff like undergarments and socks, really was the first time in months I spent more than a couple of minutes in what was her room. It was... tough to say the least, as I fought the urge to cry.

The stream opened with Resident Evil 6, with Iceman along for the fun following a few difficulties in getting the party invite to work. We knocked out all of Leon's Campaign Chapter 3 in about an hour and the first two big sections of Chapter 4 (the airplane and the tyrant like thing). Since I'm playing as Helena, it means I get to do all the stuff the A.I. would do, which is kind of fun. 

Now we did have a few deaths,as being in the catacombs certainly leads to a lot of 'what the hell do we do' now moments. I could've done without the swimming section. The giant fish creature was kind of cool to deal with. We did discuss how RE6 was a bit to ambitious for its own good, but with how silly it can get, I'm really enjoying it.

Resident Evil 6 Achievements

• Zombie Massacre: Defeat 500 zombies.
• Get on the Plane: Complete Chapter 3 in Leon's campaign.

After we were done Resident Evil 6, I jumped into Fall Guys in pursuite of the final achievement I need to get in that game, and if I understand some achievement guides correctly, if a Duo or Squad finishes in first place in race rounds via points it counts to the 20 first place finishes needed to get the final achievement unlocked. Here's hoping, as we were apart of a couple of squads that did finish in first place!

For the raid we dropped everyone off with tokushoutsu during the marathone of Ultraman 80 over at twitch.tv/tokushoutsu

The plan for Thursday night's stream is to finish Mass Effect, we have the back end of Noveria to do, and then it'll be off to Illos to the final push to wrap up this play through of the Xbox 360 version of the game.

So on that note we'll see you at 9:30 PM Eastern over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

The Tartarus Grind In Persona 3 Portable Is Grindy!

Hi everyone,

As I get what hours of work I can get, I was able to feel productive getting two interviews done, however the clunky nature and trying to probe for answers with a script that limits what I can say certainly was a problem. Still at least we'll pick up some more hours this evening which leads to tonight's stream starting at 9:30 PM

Tuesday's Night stream of Persona 3 Portable most certainly was a grind as we spent several long grueling hours in Tartartus covering floors 164 to 214 for a total of 50 floors.... and the entire 5th block. This would not have been so bad if the floors didn't get huge, which meant I ended up just scrambling to find the stairs so that we could reach our designated goal. This also lead to five boss fights, and me trying to predict match ups while trying to level up all the companions equally... not to mention getting various fusions done to complete as much of the Compendium as possible.

Now despite all that grind, we did had another goal of reaching level 69 (nice) so that we could fuse Gabriel to boost him to get a needed skill to then try and go through a series of fusions to pass it to where it can be used in a fusion to create Lilith. Since we have a lot 'open night's' in game, this could end up being easy to do as far as grinding to get added levels, as all my remaining social links are all during the day.

We have reached the point in the story where Aigis is questioning the validity of her existence, so with no 'shadows' expected on the next Full Moon I suspect this will be the big push into the final arc of the game's disjointed story. 

Funny enough, this stream was the first Persona 3 Portable stream where no achievements were earned! I'm pretty shocked about that, but we have 26 of the 36 achievements, so we can't be too mad about that.

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood who was featuring Street Fighter 6 over at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

The plan for tonight's stream, which again will start at 9:30 PM Eastern, is to play Resident Evil 6 with Iceman, knocking out Chapter 3 of Leon's campaign and then doing some Fall Guys to work towards the final achievement in that game.

So hope to see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

 

My Biggest Problem With Persona 3 Is The Story's Pacing

Hi everyone,

Monday was not fully what I was planing for, but it was an okay day on a few fronts. Did a bit of yard work, cutting branches on some trees that are interwoven with the fence (something my mom allowed over the years... so it's a bit of work). Also finished the AEW story and sent it off to the person who commissioned it. If they like it, it'll be up on the SubscribeStar page by the end of the week. 

This means I was able to move onto the next commission request for a Mass Effect story, getting the introduction and setup taken cared of with references to a much earlier chapter. I should have a fair time writing it as I have a good idea of what I would like to do with the characters involved.

The stream of Persona 3 Portable did indeed see us pick up in the middle of Taratus and it was most certainly a grind to cover a lot of ground to get to the 164th floor. There was a lot of back and forth to keep all the characters even in terms of levels outside of Yukari and Mitsuru, the later of which was needed to off-set the need to use ice skills to help keep a constant advantage.

The plot most certainly flew by as we covered both battles with Strega, the first against the male members of the trio and much later the one against Chidori, who is Junpei's love interest, who ends up dying in the end, sacrificing herself to revive Junpei after he is shot. It reminded me of the Star Trek episode 'The Empath', where Gem is in a position to use her abilities to heal McCoy from certain death. Still this at least gives some major motivation when it comes to what I'm guessing is a rematch against the other Strega members, since Junpei got the big anime yell moment.

But this does bring me to the plot of Persona 3, which in several ways is a follow up to elements I guess that happened in the original game or something in the Shin Megami Tensai universe, in the whole 'Bring About The Fall' plot, where we get Itkuski's betrayal, which would have been effective if it was timed to be actually at the end of the game, and the sudden introducing of Ryoji after the Death Arcana Social Link is completed. It really feels disjointed with the awkward pivot and focus.

Then comes Persona 3's other big problem in that you basically run out of things to do in the 'evening' portion of the game, unless you're going full bore to level grind wildly in Tartrus. If there was something I loved about Persona 5, its that there were enough Social Links only available in the evening hours to really make time fly by. 

Still I do know for tonight's stream we're pushing for another big Tartarus night with 50 floors to cover

Persona 3 Portable Achievements

• Settled the Score: Defeat the Hanged Man.
• Bond Maniac: Max out 10 Social Links.

For the raid, we dropped in on MissCammi316 who was playing Overwatch 2 over on twitch.tv/misscammi316

Now the plan start time for tonight's stream is 9:30 PM Eastern, because I already committed to working what evening hours I could get Tuesday to Friday this week. If for some reason I end up starting earlier than 9:30 PM, then you know something went wrong with that.

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

Old friends from the Army & New Friends in Overwatch

Hi everyone,

Today was a good day, got to talk with a friend from my short military career for two hours super early this morning, talking about life, anime and all sorts of stuff.

Last night's stream of Overwatch was incredibly awesome, for one we ended up playing with a full team of five, big thanks to PandaSweet, Beefstwer, Xlilplayer and others for being apart of the fun tonight. I had seven plays of the game, but was only able to save five of them because only the top five plays are saved on the console side, while on the PC side I could hit a button to mark POTGs to be saved. Overall I had plays of the game as Ashe, Junker Queen, Bastion, D.va and Reinhardt, with other characters used including Tracer, Orisa, Zarya, Wrecking Ball, Torbjourn, Widowmaker and others.

Seriously, though once playing with a full squad is different than playing with randoms, because then I start focusing and worrying about my own play to make sure I fulfill the functions of my role, switching characters if certain match-ups aren't working. It really made for a rarely seen experience on stream where I'm blaming myself for some of the failures I'm having but at the same time I have a team that can have my back as I try to get the ball rolling.

We also picked up a achievements as D.va, as I continue to somehow get in this game at the randomness of moments.

Overwatch 2 Achievements

• Shot Down: Prevent 1250 damage with a single use of D.va's Defense Matrix in Quick or Competitive Play.

For the raid we dropped in on  princesspashley who was playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom over at twitch.tv/princesspashley and too much shock, she never heard the song Fire by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, but it did lead to a moment where she is battling out again an enemy that is spitting fire at her as the song is playing.

Got a lot of writing done on that AEW Commission request and picked up a couple of new followers on the SubscribeStar page, which is nice. I should have that story finished sometime on Monday.

Speaking of Monday I have a couple of goals I want to do, mostly taking the lawn trimmer out into the yard and giving that a once over, making some pasta for dinner the next couple of days.

Monday's stream might start at 9:30 PM Eastern if I see there are hours available, if not it'll start at 6:30 PM, since I haven't worked Mondays in quite a few years. For sure at this point Tuesday to Friday's streams will start at 9:30 PM Eastern.

And the agenda for Monday night will be resuming Persona 3 Portable, picking up from where we left off in Tarturus last Tuesday with the objective of getting to the needed floor and deadling with the next big boss battle, while putting us in position to deal with the next big story arc.

So on that note we'll see ya'll over at twitch.tv/fredcasden in the evening at either 6:30 PM or 9:30 PM

Street Fighter 6 After Sleeping All Day

Hi everyone,

Yesterday, in the aftermath of everything that happened on Friday morning, I just stayed in bed the whole day... I mean I woke up at like 7:30 AM, had an egg,cheese and bologna bagel... then basically went back to bed, not waking up again until 3:30 PM in the afternoon. I still feel depressed following what happened on Friday morning... but at least last night's stream allowed me to have some fun.

So we started the stream at about 6 PM and went for well over 6 hours playing Street Fighter 6 because there is a ton to do in that game. Not only you have your standard arcade modes, ranked and casual online battles and numerous other gimmicks, but the World Tour mode is awesome in regards to how it truly is a Street Fighter RPG. You create your own character and as you progress through it, you meet the 'legendary' fighters and learn their moves, meaning you can create your own character from the ground up.

Now we didn't just stay in that all night, we spent quite a bit of time in the Battle Hub, trying out the Extreme Modes, clasisc Arcade games (putting up a respectable score in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo), along with Avatar battles, where I was able to take my character up against other players. The online play is really smooth.

My biggest possible gripe with Street Fighter 6 is Modern Controls vs Classic Controls, because the current cast of characters don't really feel or flow the way I would expect with the classic set, and Modern Controls' button controls feels inverted from what Arc System Works does for the sake of being different. Still they are mostly responsive, and I feel Modern Controls really work in the World Tour mode since things

Still, I can safely say we have a lot of reasons to feature Street Fighter 6 with so much to do and a great chance of getting a lot of the game's achievements, because we knocked out half of them during the stream. I really look forward to really diving more into the World Tour mode to see how everything progresses in that.

Street Fighter 6 Achievements

• Taking Initiative: You want to learn the basics? I'm not in the mood to take on students. Go hit the Tutorials, kid
• My Title, My Life: Earned any titles for your efforts yet? Me? Pfft. I don't need a title. I'm Jamie freakin' Siu!
• Jungle-Sized Surprise: Ever hear of Extreme Battles? They're more WILD than regular fights. Let your instincts take over!
• Get Your Game Face On!: Where's your face, dingus? Get your butt to the avatar creator and sort yourself out!
• Leaving the Nest: That's it for basic training! You're a full-fledged rookie now. Next move is up to you. Have fun!
• Fashion Leader: Do you know who else never changes their clothes? Animals. Change your outfit. Please.
• Actions Speak Louder: Something in your way? Easy fix: send it flyin' with a Master Action! One of life's li'l pleasures.
• So This Is the Battle Hub...: Welcome to the Battle Hub. Do enjoy yourself. That is the purpose for which it was built, after all.
• Pleased to Meet You!: Investigation or vacation, you can learn a lot by talking to people. Try chatting in the Battle Hub.
• Kickin' it Old School: You know they've got classic games at the Game Center? They might be old, but they still slap.
• Classic Leaderboard Champ: Tried the Game Center's Ranking Challenge? Give it a shot! Always challenge yourself, even in games.
• Entranced by Battle: Audiences turn mere fights into thrilling spectacles. Spectate a Battle Hub Match and witness glory.
• Becoming the Avatar: In Avatar Battles, you can battle others as an avatar; a self outside of your self. Try it out!
• Ready to Dance?: Have you jammed out at the Battle Hub DJ Booth yet, bud? Turn up and light the dance floor aflame!
• Fighting Fledgling: Swallows can fly super fast, right? Even they were chicks once. Get yourself to Training Mode!
• First Encounters: Start with a match in the Battle Hub. Taking that first step is what matters the most.
• Watching Gets Me PUMPED!: There's nothing quite like a fight, one-on-one, in the flesh! Go spectate an Avatar Battle!
• Up on the Big Screen: Sit down by the Battle Hub's big screen and see what's on show. Man... Used to be me up there.
• Fighters' Codex: You seen these Character Guide things? Talk about rad! Bushinryu gets some rep too, naturally.
• Tales of the Valiant: Head to Fighting Ground and finish Arcade Mode once, buddy! Ya gotta hear fellow fighters' stories!
• Ha-dough-ken: I've worked a few odd jobs. They all doubled as training. You should try a part-time job, too.
• Let the Praise Become Your Muscle: Hrrah! To fight before a roaring crowd is a wrestler's honor! Try earning a "Nice" fan of your own!
• Joining the Pack: A lone wolf is strong, but they're far more fearsome in a pack. So go on—try making some friends!
• Combat Analysis: In combat, you must constantly analyze the situation. Spectate an Extreme Battle, and watch closely.
• Coolheaded Analysis: Reviewing replays is a great way to learn from past fights. You're bound to make some discoveries.
• Welcome to the Stable: Battle Hub Clubs are kinda like sumo stables! You should join one! I hope they have chanko stew...

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood who was also featuring Street Fighter 6 over at twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

The plan for tonight's stream is Overwatch 2 as is the norm. Voice chat will of course be via Discord. 

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

An entire day of feeling depressed

Hi everyone,

Figure I better just post these blogs after my streams from now on...

Yesterday got off to a really bad start, as I made the mistake of trying to talk to my dad about things, and he took it as yet another opportunity to berate me. I refuse to apologize to him, and I'll just go back to just calling him on Father's Day and his Birthday... because I have enough worries, concerns, fears that I don't need him compounding things. Hell all day and I had this gut wrenching feeling in the pit of my stomach.

This of course let to me making a video trying to voice my feelings and it's on my YouTube channel, because I want to make it clear that I intend to try, because what's the worse that can happen to me at this point? I've already lost my mom, I barely hold things together as is. So all I can do is try.

Things were so bad for me yesterday that for the first time in years I thought about calling out from work, but since I need to make sure I get what hours I can. There were times I felt I would break down trying to read the script. Made it through the shift, just didn't get a completed interview... so add not feeling as productive as I like to the feelings I dealt with

Hell I barely felt like doing the stream, but my goal every day is to make it to my streams and do them, it's my daily end goal. And we finished Kena: Bridge of Spirits... ironically, its story is about grief and loss, so the ending was getting to me a bit, but the final boss battle and the reason for the events of the game being the result of a village leader's ego took the sting out of. Would I play this game again? Probably to just clean up the achievements in finding the last 26 Rot and all the remaining hats

 Kena: Bridge of Spirits (PS4) Trophies

• Adira's Fear: Found Adira's Hammer Relic.
• Adira's Regret: Found Adira's Village Heart Relic.
• A Heavy Hammer: Defeated the Corrupted Woodsmith.
• Crossing Over: Learned the Dash Ability.
• Triple Threat: Destroyed 3 enemies with a single Parry.
• Toshi's Fear: Found Toshi's Incense Relic.
• Toshi's Regret: Found Toshi's Harpoon Relic.
• Toshi's Love: Found Toshi's Village Crest Relic.
• A Leader Walks Alone: Defeated Corrupted Toshi.
• The Lonely Path: Reached the Mountain Shrine.
• Restore Balance: Defeated the Corrupted Rot God.

For the raid we dropped in on zonesama who was playing Diablo IV over at twitch.tv/zonesama

So with Kena: Bridge of Spirits done, the next PlayStation 4 game we're going to play will be Heavy Rain, which we'll start next Friday. 

Did get a bit of writing done on the AEW Commission story, with luck I can finish it in a few days. Granted I repurposed an outline for it, but it works.

The plan for tonight's stream is to play Street Fighter 6, and we have extra incentive to do so, as BangBangBang gifted me a code to get 250 coins for in-game currency.

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