Chronicler06

Maybe I'm remembering the past two streams wrong, but I feel like maybe you should've been at least a little bit further along, possibly closer to 10/20 (a quick check of the results of each brawl in the recorded videos you uploaded should help determine whether I'm right or wrong, but I don't have time for that today). Then again, I do recall some of the struggle I had with that particular achievement is that, for some weird reason, using the exact same character will never count more than once towards this achievement. Fortunately, you don't need to go through the effort of creating twenty entirely different custom characters. All you really need to do is swap out the weapon or one of the three powerups, pretty much any little thing that will prompt the game to ask if you want to save changes to your character. As long as you remember to leave the lobby and slightly modify your character after each time you manage to get top brawler, I think this achievement might be quicker to complete than you're anticipating. That's just my theory, but we won't know for sure until you try it out.

Some good progress today. Got to experience a few other maps, made two more custom characters (though you'll need to fill in the third open slot for that achievement to unlock), and even managed to improve your rank from Bronze to Silver and then to Gold (though such a pity you then got demoted back to Silver after losing just one rank point on your final brawl). And now that you also checked through some of the Hints and Tips (I couldn't tell you directly about the dash attack because my controls on a keyboard are definitely different from your Xbox controller), hopefully that'll help give you a bit of an edge now that you know some things that many other players never really seem to even be aware of (conversely, some of the highest ranked players seem to have perfected such moves in ways even I could only dream of, so watch out if such players don't end up on your team). As for the achievements, good to see you got the custom loadout and the ones for participating in several brawls. Once you've created a third custom character, I guess that just leaves the achievements for being top brawler a number of times, playing in Party Mode a few times, and unlocking the six champion characters. While the eventuality of Party Mode now seems almost inevitable at this point (I won't be able to 100% confirm that until I try logging in and using the Twitch chat on my tablet instead of my computer, which I'll attempt for next week's stream), I think the real challenge for you now is to be top brawler (20 times, for that last achievement). As I said previously, I struggled to figure out how exactly progress was made on that particular achievement, so at least check your progress on it so far (if possible), and if you continue as you've done these first two streams, hopefully it won't be too long before you eventually get that achievement. Oh, and if you're wondering how to check the global leaderboard (as mentioned in the Hints and Tips regarding ranks), just select the icon on the upper right of the main menu that displays your current rank, so remember to check that out next time.

I just remembered one more thing I had wanted to mention. Back when I had started playing Lego Brawls, I remember during like the first week of playing that I would get a free mystery bag character at least once a day from doing nothing more than simply starting up the game. If this turns out to be true for you as well, then could you do us a favor by starting the stream before opening that free mystery bag if it does immediately show up? At least so we can see which character (or weapon or powerup) you essentially got for free just from being a new player. In any case, now that the only uncertainty I had about unlocking the champion characters is already solved, I would recommend for your next stream or two to save the champions for later and instead go for all the other easier achievements, which would involve creating additional custom characters and trying to get top brawler a certain number of times. Also, if you don't feel like waiting on me for an opportunity to get the achievements for playing in Party Mode, one of the two types of parties you can host (the 4-player team, not the 8-player free-for-all) allows you to play even if you're the only one in the party, which is how I was able to unlock those achievements.

Are you talking about the smaller maps where there's almost no scrolling at all? Yeah, those kinds of maps are not exactly ideal (especially if you're trying to unlock the champion characters and can't use their powerups to make any progress with that). Pretty much the main advantage I see from those maps is that they tend to be very quick (except for the castle themed Base Race, which could go on for quite a while depending on which kind of players you end up playing with). Anyway, while there's currently a day or two left until next week's Holiday theme content becomes available to unlock, I did check to see that there will be eight things to unlock (rather than ten from not only this past week but also for the third week to follow), so if you want to take some extra time to create a few custom characters and try going for those other easier achievements, your next stream next week (on Tuesday the 12th) could be the ideal time to go for it. I'd also like to mention that a pattern I've noticed after playing this game for several months is that the final week of each month typically offers double studs, so as long as you're able to play specifically on that last Tuesday of this month (which would be the 26th), you'll very likely be able to not only complete the Holiday theme but also probably make significant progress through whatever other theme you decide to progress through next.

A rather fine start to Lego Brawls. Not bad for someone just jumping right in with practically no experience at all. (Though once again, I would highly suggest you select the question mark icon at the top right of the main menu and read everything under Hints & Tips. I'm not going to share all of my expert secrets, so consider the one with the pirate cannons as the only significant one I was willing to share this week.) And I'm glad to see my suspicions about how to unlock the first champion character proved to be correct, so now you could just keep on playing as those champion characters until all six are unlocked. Unfortunately, it seems I am reminded of the difficulty I had with figuring out how to unlock some of those other achievements way back when I had started playing. Apparently, you must play as a custom character to make progress towards those other achievements. You already got one for making one custom character, but not yet the one for making three custom characters, or for making a custom "loadout" (which can be done by simply selecting a different victory dance for your character). The really tricky achievements from my experience were the ones for being top brawler (once, five times, and twenty times), as I never seemed to make progress when I played as the exact same character (certainly not as a champion character), and also somehow made progress when I was only second best (regardless of whether or not I was on the winning team). All I can really say for that one is to just keep playing (and possibly modifying your custom character every so often so that it counts as a different character every time) and you'll likely get those achievements soon enough. As for the five wins in a row achievement, I suppose at worst you could look forward to the possibility of playing in Party Mode with me (which will also provide a couple achievements), as we will always end up on the same team and my immense experience can certainly be helpful (so long as we're lucky enough to play five team games in a row and no free-for-alls (don't expect me to go easy on you if we do end up playing in a free-for-all)). In any case, now that you're already beginning progress with the first of the six Champion characters, I'll leave it up to you whether to keep going with that effort or to instead make some other custom characters to try going for the rest of the (mostly easier) achievements. (It should be noted that whatever new content you unlock will continue to be indicated as new content until you actually look at them in the character customizer, so be sure to as least briefly browse through every selection menu to clear away those indicators.) Next week, I'll once again log into Twitch on my computer as always, but this time I'll simultaneously also try accessing Twitch on my tablet to see if I can watch your stream on that device. If that goes well, that'll really open up the possibility that we could someday play together in Party Mode.

After playing another session earlier today, I can say that it might be unlikely that you'll find yourself tempted to switch themes while progressing through the "Holidays" theme this month (unless if you either have enough time for over a dozen brawls each session or if you somehow get super good super quickly, neither of which I honestly think are realistic). Keep in mind that for the mystery bags to unlock, you must participate in 3 brawls to open the "common" bag, 5 more brawls to open the "rare" bag, and then 10 more brawls to open the "epic" bag, so that's 18 in total for each and every week. Something tells me that at least during these first few sessions you'll be more interested in taking the time to check out what you've unlocked and possibly create some custom characters, so perhaps you might be okay with passing on the epic bags for now. (Don't worry, you'll always be able to unlock any mystery bag characters you've not yet unlocked, with the only uncertainty being which specific characters you'll get. I figured this out from experience because I was fortunate enough to have the rare bag replaced with a second epic bag for a few weeks back in September (during a special event that month that introduced some "limited edition" characters), and now that I've got so few characters left to unlock, it seems I already got all the epic bags because now I find myself unlocking two rare bags instead of one of each. In other words, you'll never really miss out on anything as long as you continue playing the game, because you will eventually get everything (except maybe for some special events).) One thing I forgot to mention previously was how to "master" the six Champion characters (which counts for six of the 18 achievements). When one of them becomes available to play, you must play as them and use each of their three special powerups a certain number of times to unlock them. Once that champion character is fully unlocked, the next one will become available after you play one more brawl, and you repeat the process until all six champions are fully unlocked. As for what makes the first champion character become available, I honestly don't remember how it happened for me, but after rereading the hints and tips, I suspect that you'll need to play as all three of the starting characters (who are also identified as Champion characters) and use each of their three special powerups at least once. If this is true, then you might be able to get started with the Champion characters rather quickly, and by the time you're done, you'll have plenty of content unlocked for making custom characters. Now that I really see the wall of text I've left in my wake here this past week, I guess it's very obvious just how obsessed I've been with this particular game in recent months...

Looks like it's on sale for $5 on Xbox, which is easier for me to stream than PC, so I picked it up. I think we have a winner for our next game! Overall, I've been doing some thinking about what my streaming is going to look like in 2024, so there may be some change-ups come January. Okay, wow, this is quite a nice surprise. And with good timing, as the seasonal theme for December is just about to get started, so you'll have the opportunity to unlock content from that special theme. (I did my semi-weekly session earlier today, and while the holiday themed map is available to play, the holiday theme with content to unlock is not yet available, though that might change by my next session on Monday at the start of a new week, so I'll let you know then if it becomes available.) As far as how long you might be interested in playing this game, I think unlocking all of the mystery bag characters would be the equivalent of 100% game completion, since it'll definitely take much more time to accomplish than literally everything else. I suppose your goal for now should be to unlock all the achievements (a total of 18) and fully complete all of the themes (a total of 13, not counting the seasonal themes for October and December). While I could share a lot of advice on how to play, I think the easier thing to do is simply read through all of the hints and tips, which you'll find among other options after selecting the question mark icon on the main menu. Of course, as you might recall from when you played the demo over a year ago, you'll first need to play through the tutorial before you're able to visit the main menu for the first time. Of all the content to unlock, three of the four categories (characters, weapons, and victory dances) are just for appearances and don't really affect your abilities, while the one other category (powerups) come with unique abilities and you'll have options on which ones to give to your character. If you want to unlock as many powerups as soon as possible, then I would recommend the first few themes you should try completing are Castle, Space, Pirates, Western, and Monkey Kid (you can do them in any order you want, but my recommendation is to complete those five before any of the others). But personally, I think your highest priority among the themes at this time should be the seasonal one that'll be available this month, because it'll go away at the end of the month and you'll have to wait until next year if you missed any of it. Lastly, while I am still quite eager to make use of the game's Party Mode to be able to play along with you, I'll just watch on Twitch for the first two or three streams so I can use the chat to share advice if you're struggling with something. Once you seem to have the game figured out (and once I'm sure I can access Twitch on my tablet rather than my desktop computer where I've been playing the game), then perhaps we could try playing together in Party Mode. (Yes, cross-play is enabled by default, so it should be possible for us to play the same game, even though I'm on a PC and you're on an Xbox.) EDIT: I just checked the game again for a moment and it looks like the seasonal theme is now available, but only a limited amount of content is available to unlock for each week of this month. I would still recommend that your first theme should be the "Holidays" season theme, just to make sure you're able to unlock all of it while it's available for this limited time. If you happen to do good enough to get everything available for the week, then perhaps you could make use of additional time by switching to another theme and making a little progress over there. Don't worry, you can switch back and forth between themes and your progress in each of them will be saved.

Glad to see you were able to figure out the rather simple key to completing that quest, and from there was able to finish all three remaining races to complete the story mode. I don't know how much more effort would go into reaching 100% completion since I have not yet played the game myself, but with how much of the different areas there are to explore, I think it's fair to say there's quite a lot of things left to find and complete. As for which games you could move on to next, you mentioned completing both of the Indiana Jones games as a probable next option. Another option I'd like to see would be Lego City Undercover (though after having just played a racing game, perhaps you might prefer to save that for another time). Let's also not forget about Lego Dimensions, where I recall that you have so far visited 13 of the 14 hub worlds from the Year 1 content, and that there's still quite a few more Fun Packs from Year 1 alone left to open and build before you can begin to replay all the story levels to try reaching 100% completion. Alternatively, you might also consider beginning to play Lego Bricktales (if you were able to purchase it sometime in the last few months) or perhaps even Lego Brawls. From my experience, Bricktales can be done relatively quickly compared to most Lego games (you could even go straight to 100% completion after just one or two additional sessions), and you might even find the building puzzles throughout the game to be quite interesting. Lego Brawls is very quick and easy to figure out (I don't think you'll have much problem with unlocking all of the achievements in a rather short amount of time), though it could be very time consuming and repetitive to try unlocking everything there is to unlock (my progress in that game remains ongoing, though it appears I might finally get everything by the end of December, so that's two sessions per week with less than two hours for each session over a period of about six months, as far as my experience with that game will end up). Put simply, there's quite a lot of options to choose from at this time.

I just remembered something else I wanted to mention, so I'd better say it now before I forget again. Did you know you could spend a few hundred Insiders points on Lego.com to unlock a vehicle to use in Lego 2K Drive? Perhaps it might be worth taking a look at.

Quite unfortunate to have that rather annoying glitch where your vehicle takes damage every time you use the speed boost. Obviously this game is not designed to have that as an additional challenge (especially for the more difficult races and quests), so hopefully it'll go away the next time you load up the game. (If not, then you might as well start asking around if other gamers have had a similar issue and how you might resolve it.) Well, I guess now you understand why I insisted on completing all those other races before trying to go for the one with that bats quest. It is now literally the only thing there is left to do in order to run that final regular race, which will allow you to run that final Grand Brick Arena, which will allow you to run the Sky Cup Grand Prix to complete the story. So, uh... yeah, I'm afraid it simply must be done. (I may have to rewatch that part of the playthrough videos, as I honestly can't remember the exact details of how to complete that quest.) Now let's see if I can remember how to add a spoiler tag...

Well, looks like you decided to try a completely different plan, but at least you managed to make some good progress. Two of the three pre-race quests completed, and three of the four races in Hauntsborough completed. For the next stream (whenever you're next able to stream), you should definitely go for the one race in Big Butte County and the two in Prospecto Valley (whichever order you decide to do them in). That way, when you later come back to Hauntsborough for the last remaining race, you'll already be in the same area of the final Grand Brick Arena and won't need to bother with waiting though the loading screen an additional time. As I mentioned in the chat, once you complete the third and final Grand Brick Arena, you'll then return to Turbo Acres to go right to the Sky Cup Grand Prix to complete the story. If all goes relatively well, you might be able to finish this game after just two more streams.

While I never got any of those, I do recall once getting some mini CD with some other Bionicle set, though I don't know what happened to it. I also remember playing the mini games that (I think) came with entering the "Kanoka Code" that came with each of the Toa Metru, which involved finding and rescuing their respective Matoran. Does anyone know if those Toa Metru mini games have been saved somewhere?

Great to see you finally reached Rank 20, and with just enough time left to complete the Turbo Acres race for the first of eight checkered flags you'll need to reach the Hauntsborough Grand Brick Arena. I don't yet know if reaching the apparent maximum of Rank 30 will be necessary for the story, but at least there's an achievement for it. As for where to go next to start your next stream, I would recommend that you first go to Big Butte County to run the one new race available there. After that, go to Prospecto Valley for the two new races that are now available. You'll be able to start those three races right away, so you might as well get them out of the way before going after everything else in Hauntsborough. I have not yet watched far enough through the playthrough video to see what those last four races are like, but I'm pretty sure some of them can't be accessed until after you complete certain quests (and from what little I did glimpse so far, it seems they will be similar to the story-required quests you had done in the other two areas, so that would involve rescuing civilians from robots, protecting some generators from robots, and unlocking jetpacks for the area). Anyway, I'll probably make use of the next week being off by watching the last parts of that playthrough video to see how those last few races will be like when you eventually reach them.

From a very brief search I just did, the DVD releases apparently stopped after Season 8 (no idea if the "Day of the Departed" special from between Seasons 6 and 7 was ever included among those DVDs). If you need alternative ways to watch the series, I have seen it available on Netflix (can't say for sure if everything is there, as I had watched the series elsewhere before I started regularly using Netflix, so perhaps I'll consider rewatching it there at some point). I know some of the early season episodes have been available on YouTube for a while, but I haven't checked in recent years to see if any later episodes have since gone up as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if DVDs don't pan out as an option, there are quite a few other alternatives you can consider using.

Season 3 was one of my favorite seasons of Ninjago, probably thanks to the futuristic themes and the space setting later on. I'm actually quite interested to see what other viewers really think of this show, so I would certainly like to read more of your reviews. I've watched up until the end of Season 10 (haven't had an opportunity for a while to watch any further), so I will say this much: I found Season 4 to be rather interesting, Season 6 was easily my least favorite of the seasons I've watched so far (it ended in a way that made me feel like the whole season didn't matter at all), Season 7 made up for that with such interesting world building, and Season 10 ends in a way that feels to me like a proper finale (unlike how Season 2 was originally intended to be), so that's my suggestion of how much further I'd like to see you keep going with these reviews. (I might get back to you later on the most recent seasons if I ever get around to watching them at some point.)

Not much new to say, since you're still working your way toward Rank 20. One minor complaint I have would be to perhaps not be so quick to check the map immediately after you complete a race or quest, just so you can actually see how much progress you made with experience earned to improve your rank. I can't help but be concerned you might fail to notice if you've improved a rank just because you couldn't bother to wait just a couple seconds. Seeing as you apparently get the most experience from rerunning races in Class B, I would actually recommend that you should return to Big Butte County, where most of the races you did there had been in Class C, so even though you've already explored that area a lot, it's possible just two or three of those higher class rerun races might be enough to finally get you to Rank 20 and thus reach Class A to finally resume the story.

Well, if nothing else, at least now we know how much experience can be gained from completing each type of tasks there are to complete. And as I said in the chat, there's probably quite a bit more quests and events you have yet to discover that do not yet appear on your map (not to mention, you do get a small amount of experience from simply discovering any events, quests, and garages you might come across while exploring). I will say that I was not expecting how little progress you would actually make by the end of the stream. The playthough video I had watched didn't seem to do any skipping and it didn't take them more than a few minutes to reach Rank 20, but they also didn't hesitate to quickly complete any events along the way to all of the previous races, so I guess they already had much more of a head start by the time they had completed the Prospecto Valley Grand Brick Arena. Well, good luck in searching for any map guides to help you with finding more quests and events, because I have not yet seen any such guides on the site I typically check. As for what awaits after you finally do reach Rank 20, first will obviously be the third race against Clutch Racington in Turbo Acres, then you'll need to collect seven more checkered flags to reach the Hauntsborough Grand Brick Arena. There will be one new race in Big Butte County and two new races in Prospecto Valley, all three of which will be immediately available. I have not yet watched much further in any of the playthough videos, but it seems you can expect at least some of the remaining four races in Hauntsborough will likely not be available until certain quests are completed (possibly a third going of the types you had already done in the other two areas, which would mean rescuing civilians from robots, stopping robots from destroying the scientist's generators, and something to unlock jetpacks for that area). (By the way, regarding Lego Brawls, I can now confirm that the special Halloween content is indeed available to unlock only during the month of October, and since it seems unlikely you would be ready to start playing that game before the end of this month, I suppose you can at least be assured you'll get another opportunity for it next year.)

Excellent progress made in this week's stream. Completed that quest (took a little extra effort), gained access to the third area of Hauntsborough, completed all three races there in only one try, then completed the Prospecto Valley Grand Brick Arena (albeit after quite a few tries). As for how to reach Rank 20 and thus reach Class A to access the next part of the story, I honestly don't have any particular suggestions on how to accomplish that. In the playthrough videos I watched, pretty much all they did was just randomly wander around and do whatever things they came across until they eventually hit the required rank. Personally, if I was playing this game from this point of progress, I would just wander around the map to reveal any events, quests, or garages since you get a little experience from simply discovering them (much like you get from speaking with your rivals before racing them), though I'm sure you get the most experience from actually completing events and quests, so I'll leave the choice up to you since you're the one playing. And now for me to resume watching that playthough video to see what kind of races will await you after you reach Class A and win against Clutch Racington for the third time...

Good progress this week. All currently available races completed in both Big Butte County and Prospecto Valley. Just need to complete that special quest, which I had recommended saving for last because upon completing that quest the third region will become unlocked. Once you get there, you'll have to win three races (and thankfully no additional quests needed to access any of them). After that, you can then return to Prospecto Valley for the second Grand Brick Arena race. And that's pretty much it, as far as I'm currently aware. (Still getting through watching playthrough videos just enough to stay a step or two ahead...)

Good to see you've completed the first of the three Grand Brick Arena races, and have gotten the first two checkered flags towards reaching the next one. And also good to see you got that weed cutting vehicle (and I'm sure there's an achievement for mowing down all of the weed patches across all of the maps). And since I already mentioned in the chat what there is to do next, I don't have much else to say here. (I haven't had a chance to watch further through any playthrough videos beyond the very next race I had recommended, so I'd better set aside some time later this week so I can find out what new races will await in Prospecto Valley and how you'll eventually access that third "new area".)

I didn't get much of an opportunity this past week to further watch any playthrough videos of Lego 2K Drive, so I wasn't sure if I had previously seen enough to be of further help this week. Well, I guess it turned out it wasn't something for me to be too concerned about. Struggles aside, good to see the stream end with at least a success. With just two races left to go (plus a story-required quest between those two races), you might possibly make it to the first of the three arena races next time. Oh, and one bit of advice I wanted to mention in the chat, you can't pick up any additional powerups if you already have one, so consider using the powerup you're holding (even if it ends up as a pointless throwaway) before you grab the next one you see ahead of you. You never know when you might get something much better... And regarding Lego Brawls, perhaps it might be for the best that you're not in any particular hurry to get started with it. Apparently there's some special event going on this month where every week they have a special (map? battle zone? I don't know for sure what they're called...) that involves two different themes going against each other. I've played the first one earlier this week, and it took me a little while to figure out how to do well on it, so I believe it might not be a good time to start playing this game for the first time while this special event is ongoing.

That sure was nice to watch. For someone who claims to be terrible at driving and racing games, you managed to do quite well in your first session. You managed to win four races already (and with only two failed attempts). If I remember correctly, that brings you halfway to reaching the first of three championship races, though I'm sure some of the upcoming required quests might take up some time to complete, so probably don't expect to reach that Big Butte Championship race as early as next week. From what I've seen today (both your stream and the playthrough video I had started watching earlier this afternoon), I'm now convinced that I will enjoy playing this game. All there is left for me to do now is wait for a better price during a sale (as I'm sure I've said numerous times already). And unlike that playthrough video, you also showed a few other interesting aspects of the game, especially how purchasing stuff is done in this game. Since I prefer to focus on completing the story and unlocking all the achievements, it's good to see that I won't have to concern myself with any microtransactions. It just means I'll need to naturally get better as I progress through the game, and I'm perfectly happy with that. Looking forward to seeing you continue with the story mode of 2K Drive.

The Piraka were my favorite Bionicle villains, so I'm hoping to see all six of them advance. As I mentioned in the other topic, it would've been nice to have a few other villains included as well (Teridax, Vezon, Roodaka, Tuma, Skull Grinder, and more). It really makes me wonder just how well some of those others might have done in a bracket poll like this.

Finally had some time available to make my votes in this round. And seeing the results thus far, while many of them are rather obvious, there's quite a few that are a very close 50-50 (in fact, one of them is currently at exactly 50-50, so it'll be interesting if a tie-breaker might need to be done at the end of this round). Pretty much the only vote I gave that will likely not win this round was for Umarak the Hunter, as I wanted to give support to at least one character from G2. It certainly would've been nice to have some other villains included, such as Skull Grinder, or perhaps Roodaka, some Dark Hunters, arguably Vezon, or even (the most obvious one of all) Makuta Teridax. I guess they wanted to stick to a limit of 64 for this bracket, so that inevitably meant they had to remove a lot of the really good ones. Maybe if we do these brackets again a few years from now, that might be a possibility, but that's just my personal opinion.

Alright, Lego Jurassic World is now fully completed. Quite unfortunate that one of the achievements somehow glitched, but at least you got the 100% game completion achievement to prove that you also got that missing one. So it seems you'll be playing Lego 2K Drive next. I will say that I currently know almost nothing about that game, as I have not yet purchased it, let alone played it. I suppose the list of achievements might give a hint as to what sort of objectives there will be in that game. Perhaps if I can find some time over the next few days, I might look up some playthrough videos of 2K Drive so that maybe I could learn a few things that I might then be able to advise you on when you start playing. Also, seeing as you'll now be starting a new game, I'm curious about what you have in mind regarding Lego Brawls. I know you said last month that what I had suggested might not be probable, and I would be okay with that. I am still hopeful for the possibility of playing that game along with you, even if it means sticking with the regular Twitch stream on Tuesdays.