The Court of Owls...

Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream of Gotham Knights was a bit long because I got side tracked in doing many side activities along with letting dialog and stuff play out. The big plot reveal that the villainous Court of Owls is interesting, and I wonder how much of an influence the TV series Gotham had on them being featured. Also discovered Mr. Freeze is running around and that's a plot that needs to be dealt with but it has no bearing on the main story it seems.

Staying focused on using Batgirl girl has apparently lead to unique character stuff happening, so I wonder if that pertains to Robin, Nightwing and Red Hood as well. Loved that Renee Montoya and the Penguin are being used as allies that provide reoccurring challenges for me to knock out.

The whole 'night' cycle of the game is rather unique and really raises questions regarding how much does Batman get done in one night... but then again I'll worry less about that question going forward because as soon as I learned fast travel was a thing, I unlocked it to make sure we can jump from place to place with little trouble going forward! 

Also managed to experience the co-op drop in feature of Gotham Knights, which ended up being a lot of fun

Gotham Knights Achievements

• To the Victor Go the Spoils: Uncover a new problem at S.T.A.R. Labs
• Get ReQ'd: Discover a sketchy self-help program in Gotham's streets
• Whispered Words: Complete Case File 02: THE RABBIT HOLE

We didn't do a formal raid tonight, instead I just went over to hang out on bestibunni's channel over at twitch.tv/bestibunni

Nearly finished the WWE short story commission and I'm already thinking about the one that's next which is a return to Mass Effect

Work was not as good as it was on Monday evening, but it was solid enough to get through.

Foot and ankle feel better, still need to keep it elevated at times, but at least when sitting  it's not feeling feeling hot.

Our next stream is for Wednesday night at 9:30 PM Eastern, and will see Iceman and I continue Resident Evil 6! 

See you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Batgirl is the Gotham Knight

Hi everyone,

We finished tonight's stream a bit before 2 AM because we started Gotham Knights and I quickly discovered that I'm going to do as much of the side quests as possible because this is clearly an open world adventure. In fact I would dare say that Marvel's Spider-Man clearly had a lot of influence on Gotham Knights in terms of its controls, play style and overall vibe of the story, despite everything being broken up over 'nights'.

As you can tell by the title, I've elected to do this playthrough as Batgirl for a few reasons, one I'm not a fan of The Red Hood, Nightwing comes across as being out of touch and Robin just seems like a terrible protagonist within the context of the game's plot. The overall vibe is something I can gel with.

Now do I regret starting Gotham Knights within the same time frame we're also playing Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Not really, the Miles Morales game is a lot shorter from what I can tell and it has all the collectables noted to be easily to find. 

We shall continue Gotham Nights on our Tuesday night stream!

Gotham Knights Achievements

• First Step Into the Knight: Unlock an Ability for the first time
• The Batman Family: Play as Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood
• Not On My Watch: Successfully stop all Premeditated Crimes in a single night
• Har, Har, Har, Very Funny: Visit an unlikely source at Blackgate Penitentiary
• Knighthood: Reach Knighthood with Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, or Red Hood
• Loose Ends: Complete Case File 01: BATMAN'S LAST CASE 

For the raid we visited SweetLindir who was playing Smite over on twitch.tv/sweetlindir

Work was really good on Monday night, getting six full interviews done, putting me two over on the production quota for the night. Granted no one knew I was scheduled for Monday, but hey, they rather have me on than most people!

Got a fair bit of writing done on the latest WWE commission request, I plan to knock out a good portion during the afternoon.

Also need to record the next episode of my reaction to Hellsing Ultimate Abridge

Anyway, we'll see you around 9:30 over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

The New Week Is Underway

Hi everyone,

Tonight's stream ended well over an hour ago at the time I'm writing this, and we had a fun night of Overwatch 2, with PandaSweet being in a big part of the fun. Of course we had numerous instances of highly questionable teammates doing odd things that lead to the majority of our losses. Picked up two plays of the game as Reinhardt and D.va, giving us a total of four plays of the game for the month of July so far. Other characters used were Sigma, Moria, Ana, Lucio, Echo, Tracter, Orissa and Junker Queen.

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

Watched Terminator Salvation during the afternoon and it was alright, but it really does call into question exactly how old is the character of Kyle Reese is. Also got a chuckle out of the 'US Government / Military' is a complete bunch of idiots troupe being used. 

The swelling on my ankle and foot became a lot less notable today, it still looks odd but at least all the noticeable pain and inflammation feeling has faded so I don't have to take any Aspirin to mask the pain.

After this blog is posted I'm jumping right into work on the WWE short story commission to get as much of that done as possible before I go to sleep. I would have work on it during the day, but Comcast Xfinity set a tech out to try and resolve some of the issues that have cropped up, directly hooking up internet connection to the main line and dropping the splitter... did have to spend a lot of time waiting for them to show up.

At the moment, all five weekday streams this week will be at 9:30 PM eastern, I'm just about to give up on day work every returning to my job at this point. Hopefully we get all five days this week!

Speaking of which our Monday night stream will see us starting up Gotham Knights, a game where Batman is killed off, which is a really good concept. 

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

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