Awesome Stream With Family For The First Time Ever!

 Hi everyone,

Today was a good day the pain in my left ankle is certainly fading and now I have to monitor the remaining swelling and hope is dissipates over the next few days.

Of course today was incredibly as my Cousin Frances and Aunt Grace came over, bringing some food to help ease my mind in terms of me cooking, but this also turned into a pizza party and most exciting a co-op gaming session with my cousin! Last time we played any video games together had to be when they were living in Collingswood back in the 90s, so this was great!

The game we ended up playing because I was totally undecided was Lego The Hobbit, and we both saw exactly why it got some real mix reviews with some bad camera angles, finicky pixel perfect issues when it came to interacting with objects and an hub world that takes too long to navigate! On top of that Several achievements associated with completing several chapters did not pop, because the last thing we completed was Over Hill and Under Hill! Hopefully they'll pop if I randomly load the game up another day.

Now I'm not going to play Lego The Hobbit with out my cousin, since we started it together and with all the unique quirks I listed, it is most certainly a game best played in co-op! Hopefully we can make arrangement for another Saturday night of shenanigans real soon!

On a side note, exposed Frances to Hellsing Ultimate Abridged.... it went well (I think lol)

We also included some Street Fighter 6 after my family departed for the evening, doing my placement matches as Cammy and actually ended up being placed in the Silver tier!

LEGO The Hobbit Achievements

• Someone to share in an adventure: Played a level in co-op
• A city turned to ash: Completed "Greatest Kingdom in Middle-earth"

For the raid we dropped in on Felkimchi over at twitch.tv/felkimchi while they were playing Doomsday: Last Survivors!

Got some writing done on the latest commission request and got a fair bit done, while also picking up another request for a Mass Effect story. So we have two stories in the queue.

The more and more I see of Mortal Kombat 1... the less interested I become, the announced roster has no one I'm interested in playing as, and the leaked / rumored roster is even less compelling. I did not have this view point when it when game to Mortal Kombat 9, X or 11 or even Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe!

Our next stream for Sunday night will feature Overwatch 2, it'll be a mix of playing quick play and knocking out challenges. Hopefully we'll have some good random match up pairings!

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

Spider-Man Miles Morales: Familiar But Different

 Hi everyone,

Update on my ankle, is that I stayed in bed with my leg elevated most of the day and the pain has gradually subsided, now I just have the swelling to mitigate, hopefully things will resolves with a combination of continued rest, ice and elevation. 

Work was cancelled at the last minute, which is frustrating considering the series of days lost because of the holidays. On the positive side we were able t start the stream early.

And for the stream, which ended at 1:35 PM, we played Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and having put in a ton of time with Marvel's Spider-Man this year, playing this was very familiar but clearly things are different as Miles certainly has his own unique powers, the Venom strike is real useful, and I suspect as I get further into the game, the camouflage power will really be a big help. 

Much like my play-through of Spider-Man, and open-world games in general, I set about doing all the side activities and finding collectables, which there are a fair amount. Unlike the earlier Spider-Man game, in this one, crimes certainly pop up more randomly and you are given more of an incentive to do all the challenges associated with time, considering the limited currency options to unlock new Suits and doing upgrades.

There were  a few bugs that I encountered with enemies not spawning in  when reaching crime locations, and the timing, and thankfully turning off the QTEs is an option, because from what I saw early on the QTEs in Miles Morales would be more off the wall than Spider-Man's.

Also, the character model for Peter Parker is even more nightmare causing...  and the photo-mode when using Miles out of costume is horrifying with the emotion customization.

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS4) Trophies

• Like a Rhino In A China Shop: Smash into 15 breakable objects while steering Rhino through the shopping mall
• Rhino Rodeo: Ride Rhino through the mall
• A Gift From Pete: Receive the Gift Suit
• Punching Pixels: Get Spectacular or better in a Spider-Training Combat Challenge
• Mod that Suit: Craft a Suit Mod
• Launch, Swing and Dive: Get Spectacular or better in a Spider-Training Traversal Challenge
• Look with Better Eyes: Craft a Visor Mod
• The Harlem Express: Get the trains running again
• Nowhere to Hide: Perform 100 Stealth Takedowns
• Dodging Light: Get Spectacular or better in a Spider-Training Stealth Challenge
• Spider-Training: Complete: Complete every Spider-Training Challenge once
• Pete's First Villain: Complete the Final Test
• JJJ Would Be Proud: Apply a sticker and customize lighting while in Photo Mode
• Hanging By A Thread: Keep the bridge together

We didn't do a raid tonight, sorry folks. Normally we do but a rare instance of not doing a raid keeps things fresh.

With being bed ridden with the ankle problem, I didn't do any writing during the day, so I hope to do some today before my cousin comes over.

Which  leads in to me talking about our next stream on Saturday, which will feature my cousin Frances as we'll mess around with various co-op things! Stream will start once we get set up in the early evening!

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

Duke Nukem Forever is... interesting

 Hi everyone,

So update on my ankle first, near as I can tell its certainly a sprain as I feel it from the left side of left foot up to the top of my foot. I have iced it down and soaked it in cold water periodically through out the day.

Work was really bleh... and with my ankle and left foot bothering me, I certainly was distracted to say the least.

Anyway, tonight's stream ended at 1:30 AM, as we started up Duke Nukem Forever, and the call backs to Duke Nukem 3D is great, I can really get a feel for just how chaotic and idiotic the trip through development hell was, because there are some game play elements that mesh together. I do appreciate the humor, even if it's was dated by 2011... but hell I'm old, and Duke Nukem was a character I was familiar with in the early 90s. I was surprised the number of actual puzzles through out the game so far, Near as I can, we reached the halfway point of the game if a look at the chapters list is any indications, as the last major thing we did was defeated the Queen Bitch segment..

So I was debating on if we'll continue the game next week, and we will, playing it on the lowest possible difficulty and with the number of times I died and seeing how the check point system works means as long as I learn from my mistakes we can make progress.

Duke Nukem Forever Achievements

• Turd Burglar: Find and steal a piece of poo
• Drawrings: Doodle something on the whiteboard in SP
• Sunday, Black Sunday: Shoot down the blimp above the stadium
• One-Eyed Freak: Defeat the Cycloid
• Nobody Likes a Whiner: Knock out the talent at the talk show
• Flagon of Chuckles: Drink a beer in SP
• Juiced: Take steroids in SP
• Substance Abuser: Drink beer while on steroids or vice versa in SP
• Extermination: Kill 50 aliens
• Annihilation: Kill 100 aliens
• Sticky Bomb Like You!: Put a Trip Mine on a live alien
• Natural Disaster 3x: Kill 3 aliens at once
• Pit Champion: Defeat the Battlelord in Las Vegas
• Dead Useful: Kill 10 aliens with environmental explosives
• Nuclear Devastation: Kill 250 aliens
• Trapper: Kill 10 aliens with Trip Mines
• FBT: Get knocked down 10 times
• Not Bad for a Human: Defeat the Alien Queen

For the raid we dropped in on tracydoll during their stream of Friday the 13th: The Game over on twitch.tv/tracydoll

Got some writing done on the next commission request... sure it's a WWE related one, but hey at least I got it started!

Our next stream will be Friday night we a schculed started time of 9:30 PM Eastern, as we'll be starting up Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales!

So we'll see you next time over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Somehow I sprained my ankle

 Hi Everyone,

You know, I'm not sure, but I sprained my left ankle, I don't remember taking any weird steps over at all yesterday, but clearly I did. Might have been I was going through a few things to throw out with this week's garbage.

Tonight's stream ended at about 1:36 AM, as we had the late night start due to work, but it was fully of wild and crazy things as Iceman and I tackled Chapter 3 of Chris's campaign in Resident Evil 6... and I ended up dying 22 times, most of which in the part where you're trying to escape a helicopter. That part was just awful! But on the plus side it was hilarious, even if I was getting a little frustrated with it. So the goal of getting through two chapters certainly did not happen, but we had fun and I do like how we reached apart of Chris's campaign that was overlapping with key moments of Leon's campaign.

On the other hand, Chris Redfield is certainly not a likeable character at all, not that he ever was, but he really comes across as more generic when compared to how he was in Resident Evil 5. His entire PTSD shtick doesn't make him compelling when compared to the over the top tone of the action set pieces.

We also did some Forza Horizon 5 getting a few achievements done while working towards a few achievements and making some progress towards in-game objectives. The Goliath race taking a solid 15 minutes was certainly a marathon race to complete.

Resident Evil 6 Achievements

1. After Her!: Complete Chapter 3 in Chris' campaign.

Forza Horizon 5 Achievements

• Album Cover: Take a photo of the 2021 Mercedes-AMG One for Horizon Promo
• Long Gone: Win the Goliath Race Event
• Icebreaker: Participate in a Horizon Arcade event

For the raid we dropped in on maximilian_dood during their stream of Street Fighter 6 over on twitch.tv/maximilian_dood

Our next stream for Thursday night will be start at 9:30 PM Eastern and we're finally going to check out Duken Nukem Forever because... why not? We're going to take our usual casual approach to it to see if we can work around a lot of the game's issues at the lower possible difficulty.

Work yesterday was pretty good, got one complete interview... granted coming off a five day weekend, means I only have shifts for Thursday and Friday this week, but that's the nature of having major holiday weekends in close proximity.

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

No Objections In Finishing Phoenx Wright: Ace Attorney

Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream wrapped up around 10:50 PM Eastern, as we had another early start on a weeknight thanks to the July 4th Holiday, and we finished up Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, making it the 28th came we've finished. Now ready all the dialog meant that my voice was really fading, granted I blame a lot of my vocal issues on dealing with Xfinity and my increasingly wonky internet at various times of the day, they are sending someone out on Sunday to cap the unused lines on the splitter.

Anyway, finishing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was a very straight forward, thanks to my notes from 2019, but I do remember a lot of the gripes I had with the 'Rise from the Ashes' case, in that unlike the four original cases, the court recorded ends up being bloated and remembering how much a pain it comes to remember what is relevant and what isn't..

Also everything be overly drawn out in final day of the trail really makes it tedious, plus it doesn't help one has to replay that particular case to get an achievement tied to lunch boxes given by Angel Starr. I'll worry about that down the road. 

Not sure when we'll start the next game in the Trilogy, I'm tentatively considering it for July 15th. I also have the big conondrum for what to put on Mondays & Tuesdays.

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Achievements

• Rise from the Ashes: Clear Ep. 5 of PW: AA.

For the raid we dropped in on misscammi316 during their stream of Smite over on twitch.tv/misscammi316

Our next stream is scheduled for 9:30 PM Eastern on Wednesday night with more Resident Evil 6 fun with Iceman as we continued Chris's Campaign. With luck we can knock out chapters 3 and 4! As a back up alternate, I'll have Forza Horizon 5 on standby.

Had to get some additional groceries, ran out of milk, so I took it as an opportunity to make sure I'm covered in other areas in terms of good.

With Friday the 13th The Game shutting down in 2024, the developers are doing a major patch to unlock and max out everything for players. I think we'll do a stream focused on Friday the 13th The Game to give it a casual review.

Finished up the first of July's commission requests for a WWE story... and the next one is... also a WWE story...  grrr...

Anyway on that note we'll see you next time over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Completed Terminator Resistance

Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream ended at about 10:30 PM Eastern after we finished Terminator: Resistance, which took a little less than four hours to do, getting all of the achievements, making it a game not only finished but completed. I have to say once Terminator Resistance gets to where it's basically prologue / prequel to the first two Terminator movies (Aka the only good Terminator movies), it really finds its pacing with the story and the action set pieces, while also making good use of the iconic music from Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Since we earned all the achievements, I do have to say, Terminator: Resistance is actually a good game worth completing since everything is doable in a single play through, as nearly every achievement is story related with some things clearly things you have to go out of your way for (like unlocking a door that you can walk around). I do stand by part of what I said last week about this game being mediocre and how it gets good in its second half.

Now thing is, I really have no reason to revisit Terminator: Resistance in the future, because it's expanded content is exclusive to the PlayStation 4 & PlayStation 5 versions of the game for some strange reasons. Still glad I played it... now what will replace it in the line up... that's a good question, but our next stream on Tuesday night will feature Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney as we aim to wrap that up! That stream will begin at about 6:30 PM Eastern

Terminator Resistance Achievements

• Second Generation: Obtain Skynet security codes from a fallen HK Tank.
• I'll be Back: Complete the game on any difficulty level.

For the raid we dropped in on Kalenal who was playing Legend of the Zelda: Breath of the Wild over on at twitch.tv/kalenal

Ran into a bit of writers block in regards to one of the commission story requests I have in progress. But I think I have an idea of how to knock that out quickly to move onto the next one.

With Star Trek: Resurrgences two broken achievements being fixed, I went back and completed and off-line play-through getting all the alternate achievements. We'll eventually replay it on stream because there is some gnarly stuff that happens with different choices being made.

Didn't really eat much at all today, had some left overs from Sunday and a can of pasta.

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

It was a hot night

Hi everyone,

We wrapped up our stream a bit after 11 PM Tonight, having a fun night of Overwatch 2 with PandaSweet and a new friend to the channel Zander, who certainly made things easy by driving things home in the role of a tank. I picked up two plays of the game tonight one as Brigitte and the other as Bastion, while also playing as Ana, Moira, Tracer, Torbjourn, Junker Queen, Wrecking Ball, Ashe, Mei and a few others. Mostly kept to the Support and Damage roles this week.

Speaking of Plays of the Game, the compilation video for all the ones I earned in June is now up on my YouTube channel.

For the raid we dropped in on annietalksshow who was playing Pico Park over on twitch.tv/annietalksshow

Damn near lost my voice dealing with Comcast Xfinity during the morning as my internet connection went down three times in a short span. Being forced to use the app to get to someone proved to be a nightmare because of a) how long it takes to even try finding the chat, b) being connected to people who are not call ready and c) being denied the opportunity to be connected to a supervisor.

Star Trek Resurgence finally got a patch update to fix the two broken achievements for completing Acts I and II, but you have to play through them again. I did start a new play through off stream to knock out several achievements on alternate choices

We got confirmation that my cousin will be apart of the fun on Saturday's stream! For sure we may dive into things on the Nintendo Switch or via the Xbox Series console (since it' closer to where the TV is).

It was so fucking hot and muggy as if it was going to rain, but it never did near as I can tell. Also was the first day I actually smelled all that smoke and bad air particles.

Spoke with my brother during the afternoon to check on him and also get confirmation on a day trip to visit our aunt up in North Jersey. That will be during the day on the 29th of July, and we should be back in time for that stream. 

Our next stream will be in the early evening on Monday night, as we'll be looking to finish Terminator Resistance! 

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