Whatcha Playin’, Coffee?

The post-God of War Ragnarok high is now over and it’s back to the backlog grind! I’m so close to finishing off Crisis Core Reunion’s extra missions. As of writing, I’m on Mission 9-4-4, which leaves me with 16 more to finish off. But these ones will be the toughest so far, culminating in the ultimate boss battle against Minerva!. I’ve maxed VIT and SPR (very, very important to do so before the fight!) but haven’t maxed out my HP as of yet. Nothing a lil’ Materia Fusion and SP farming can’t solve.

I will say one thing: getting the Genji Shield this time around was SO much easier than it was in the original. If you’re unfamiliar with how to obtain it, in Mission 7-6-6 you can randomly run into a Magic Pot enemy. It will ask you for the following actions: Use Gil Toss, Use Costly Punch, Deal 99,999 damage and Use Octaslash. The last one, in the original PSP version, requires an EXCESSIVE amount of luck to accomplish because you’re at the mercy of the DMW. The problem here is that you automatically execute the limit break when the reels line up. Equipping special DMW Materia does help increase your chances of landing Octaslash, but you also don’t want it to occur before clearing up the other three requests. So, the solution here is to wear a Cursed Ring, have an enemy inflict Curse on you while wearing said ring and then de-equip it during the mission before running into the Magic Pot. And then when you do get to the last action, use a Remedy and wait for the reels to line up.

Reunion changes things by allowing the player to manually execute limit breaks! So, I didn’t have to go through that whole convoluted route to get Octaslash! I had it in my stock midway through the fight, so I did the three actions, used Octaslash and got the shield ON MY FIRST TRY! Saweeet!

Whatcha Writin’, Coffee?

The Draft Has Begun! 

Since starting last Saturday, I’ve completed chapter 1 and man, does it start off on a high note! There’s action, drama and a mystery that unfolds throughout the book. My goal right now is to get through a chapter a week. I hope that’s realistic, given everything else I’m doing at the same time? HAHA. If nothing else, I will aim to finish the draft for February 2024 with a potential release date of April or May of that year. Ooooh, how exciting!

Oh yeah, let’s add stats to this, just for the hell of it! These will be as of Friday:

Chapters complete: 1

Chapter in progress: 2

Chapters remaining: 47

Words wrote:  1710

Apart from that, I’m hard at work writing up a critique for Sonic Frontiers on The Pixels. This has been on the back burner for a while, so I’m putting this on priority and aiming for the end of March to get it done. 

The following post on Games with Coffee will step away from gatekeeping and go towards a more personal subject – fatherhood and God of War. The latest iterations of God of War are very close to my heart. The lessons in both games have helped to shape me into the parent I am today. I’m eager to talk more about this topic!

Whatcha Watchin’, Coffee?

No new shows this week, but I did get to catch the end of a Retro Gaming Expo broadcast hosted by my good friends, RedAUX and Ducks in Disguise. They are both fantastic hosts and talented individuals! You should totally follow them on Twitch and their socials!

How’s Trainin’, Coffee?

OK, back to normal on training! Sort of haha. Still not trying to aggravate the shoulder too much, but I’m back to working out. And also eating right haha.

I chanced upon a tweet from Arnold Schwarzenegger offering free 15-minute workouts by signing up for his Pump Club (Giggity). I figured, “The Governator knows a hell of a lot about working out, maybe I should check this out myself?” And I was not disappointed. Sometimes, 15 minutes is all you need to get a solid workout. And everyone can find 15 minutes to spare. I’ll use these as my backup in case what I intend to do doesn’t happen.

Whatcha Creatin’, Coffee?

Holy cripes, this week has been bringing back many great memories of spending late nights making music. I hadn’t realized how much I missed doing this. Granted, I’m making tunes to use in my upcoming videos, but I might upload the new tracks to YouTube as well. Diversity in content creation! The first track I made was a LoFi version of my favourite Sonic level of all time: Windmill Isle, from Sonic Unleashed. Permit me to be unbiased, but it sounds way past cool!

Speaking with Mrs. Coffee the other day, we both agreed that I’d restart streaming once Lil’ Macchiato’s started her sleep training, which will be this month into next month. So, it’s looking like my hiatus is gonna stretch to six whole months. But that’s OK, because now I can focus more on content creation. Hence, why I changed “Streamin’” to “Creatin’” on the header there. I’m doing more than just streaming now, I’m creating! And it feels good to be in that creative seat again after focusing solely on one thing for the last ten years.