What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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Mischief Maker
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

Tetris Effect: Connected

I got an erroneous report that this game was DRM-free, which it is not, but decided to hang on to it because I found some dirty workarounds to keep the game in a more-or-less functional state should steam no longer be an option in the future.

I wanted to love Rez, but disliked most of the music. I think Tetris Effect achieves that synesthesia goal better than Rez or any of its other copycats ever did.

At it's core it's Tetris, specifically modern Tetris with piece-holding, 5-tetramino previews, piece-shadows, and multiple seconds to slip and slide a piece around the bottom of the playfield before it sets into place. And yet I don't mind all the modern jank because the music plays a stronger role in the game beyond background visuals.

As you play a level, a song with music video plays in the background, your piece movements creating little percussive beats and other noises in time with the music. As you clear certain line thresholds, the music moves to the next section and the background video gets steadily more and more detailed.

But the music rebounds back onto the gameplay too. You may not notice until higher levels, but the falling speed can make a sudden rapid increase during the chorus section of the song before settling down to a more reasonable speed in the final movement.

To counter this is TE's main gameplay gimmick the "zone" mode that freezes the playfield for several seconds, giving you a less-frantic break to clear lines. It also doesn't remove cleared lines until the timer runs out, then tabulates the score all at once, so you can clear four messy lines and still get a Tetris score, or clear several multiples of four to rack up even larger combos.

In addition to the main Journey mode, there are several puzzle and freeplay modes.

My main complaint is that a really good Tetris player can break the whole synesthesia effect by clearing too many lines too fast and advancing the song before the vocalist even gets a chance to sing their full lyrics.

Recommend if you're in the mood for a really good synesthesia game. If it's hardcore tournament-quality Tetris you're after, the synesthesia mechanics might be an annoying distraction.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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BrianC
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BrianC »

Mischief Maker wrote: Recommend if you're in the mood for a really good synesthesia game. If it's hardcore tournament-quality Tetris you're after, the synesthesia mechanics might be an annoying distraction.
I hear there is a 2p mode based on NES Tetris (Classic Score Attack?), but I haven't tried it myself. I have the Windows Store version. I'm guessing that version has DRM too?

edit: Tried the mode (it is Classic Score Attack). It's under multiplayer, but it can be played against the computer. Plays similar to game A of Tetris NES. No garbage is sent to the other player's side, only scores being compared. Game keeps going if the other player gets game over.

The game seems more demanding than usual for a Tetris game. Runs fine on my gaming PC, but the fan makes more noise compared to other games.
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Immryr
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Immryr »

tetris effect is one of the only games i've bought in the last couple of years that i can remember feeling buyers remorse from. and i say this as a fan of both mizuguchi and tetris.
Last edited by Immryr on Tue Nov 09, 2021 11:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

I suppose I'm just starved for Tetris after a years-long famine.

Once upon a time freeware Tetris clones roamed the internet in mighty herds, but they were hunted to near-extinction by intellectual property lawyers.

Strange fate for a game created by a communist.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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To Far Away Times
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Miziguchi has made some great puzzle games, but Tetris Effect isn't one of 'em. I played a couple rounds and promptly deleted it.

If you want skill Tetris play TGM. If you want lots of modes, fun extras, and a ton of content play Tetris DS.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Sumez »

Mischief Maker wrote:I suppose I'm just starved for Tetris after a years-long famine.

Once upon a time freeware Tetris clones roamed the internet in mighty herds, but they were hunted to near-extinction by intellectual property lawyers.
That definitely isn't true. There are more clones now than ever, and they are probably even easier to find, as well.
As long as a game is free and doesn't use the "Tetris" trademark, TTC have actually been pretty lax with the legal actions.
Strange fate for a game created by a communist.
Lol, if you think Alexey Pajitnov is a communist, I don't think you've ever seen him speak :D

https://aregamemechanicsprotectable.com/
To Far Away Times wrote:If you want lots of modes, fun extras, and a ton of content play Tetris DS.
Tetris DS's infinite piece spin/slide problem is a lot worse than Tetris Effect's. At least in the latter there's still a threshold to how long you can keep a piece in play (even if it's stupidly long). In Tetris DS you can just keep an O piece on screen by continually pressing any rotate button.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by XoPachi »

Rastan78 wrote:LUXXURY - Feels So Good
You are the fucking MAN.
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To Far Away Times
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Sumez wrote:
To Far Away Times wrote:If you want lots of modes, fun extras, and a ton of content play Tetris DS.
Tetris DS's infinite piece spin/slide problem is a lot worse than Tetris Effect's. At least in the latter there's still a threshold to how long you can keep a piece in play (even if it's stupidly long). In Tetris DS you can just keep an O piece on screen by continually pressing any rotate button.
It's a real shame, because the extra content and Nintendo's coat of paint in Tetris DS is very good. The infinite rotation makes it much more of a casual game though. Tetris DS is good in what it sets out to do as a more casual Tetris game.

More dedicated Tetris players should stick with TGM though.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

Is Tetris DS different from Tetris Party?
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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XoPachi
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by XoPachi »

Mischief Maker wrote:Is Tetris DS different from Tetris Party?
Substantially, yes. There's a shit ton of Nintendo crossover stuff in DS and some different game modes. It was really good.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

Libble Rabble, this week's ACA release, as well as the latest from new partners Namco. This is also the first that wasn't on the PS1 Namco Museum discs, so it's a bit newer to me... although I guess there's the SFC port, which I picked up mostly for its lovely boxart (and frickin sha-weeet DIP Switch menu), but never got around to. Image

Image

Customarily immediate dual-stick puzzle/action from Toru Iwatani, with the timeless pixels of Hiroshi Ono. Lasso varmints, dig up treasures, watch out for Satans. It's the sort of intuitively tactile play that's fun with even a non-gaming partner, as long you don't mind sharing a pad. Good snuggly weather pick. :3 Coordinating the twin anchors solo is something I'm still getting used to.

Spoiler
Image


Interested to see a bit of production flourish from the normally spartan ACA - hit R1 to bring up stickers, then use the touchpad to mark treasure chest locations, handy with the busy pace. As with ACA Gradius III's viewable hitbox toggles, it's sparely done but also likeably unintrusive, with another tap of R1 instantaneously clearing the screen. Nice little touch, feels like a nod to the mild Wizardry influence the game picked up when Iwatani handed it off mid-development. Cruel field, make notes! Banned in Hi Score mode. :cool:
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BrianC »

Is Libble Rabble stuck with analog sticks like Hamster's other twin stick games? These games need ultra hardcore 2 controller support like Smash TV on the NES, robotron on the 7800, and the FC Crazy Climber (though that one is kind of cheating since the original FC had hard wired controllers).
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BIL
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

BrianC wrote:Is Libble Rabble stuck with analog sticks like Hamster's other twin stick games?
Nope! Happily, you can use the Dpad+Face Buttons setup of the SFC port. Although tbh, I'm finding the sticks surprisingly comfy. That might just be babysteps on my part, though.

EDIT: Awww yeee, up early alone time and the dpad+buttons muscle memo is startin' to kick in. :cool: Nice n' clicky. Gradually learning to treat the arrows as individual units in certain circumstances, as a cohesive dragnet in others.

Forgot to say - there's a Preference Option that'll transfer the right stick to P2's controller - allowing you to hook up a pair of sticks for true ~BASHISHI GAME~ play. Very, very cool. Opens a chance for mad lads to whip up a little beauty like this:

Image

God I love ACA. Image Image No frills but lots of affection.
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BrianC
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BrianC »

BIL wrote:
BrianC wrote:Is Libble Rabble stuck with analog sticks like Hamster's other twin stick games?
Nope! Happily, you can use the Dpad+Face Buttons setup of the SFC port. Although tbh, I'm finding the sticks surprisingly comfy. That might just be babysteps on my part, though.

EDIT: Awww yeee, up early alone time and the dpad+buttons muscle memo is startin' to kick in. :cool: Nice n' clicky. Gradually learning to treat the arrows as individual units in certain circumstances, as a cohesive dragnet in others.

Forgot to say - there's a Preference Option that'll transfer the right stick to P2's controller - allowing you to hook up a pair of sticks for true ~BASHISHI GAME~ play. Very, very cool. Opens a chance for mad lads to whip up a little beauty like this:

Image

God I love ACA. Image Image No frills but lots of affection.
Sweet! Namco ports have some nice preference options so far. I have tried the SFC port before via SD2SNES and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Nice in game tune too.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

Co-Op Qix! Neato!



I hear and agree with everyone's critiques of Tetris Effect, but I'm still enjoying myself. I came as much for the dazzling particle effects as the actual Tetris gameplay and while I will readily agree a lot of the music videos in the middle section of Journey are duds, overall it's still what I was looking for.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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BIL
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

Mischief Maker wrote:Co-Op Qix! Neato!
Ironically, Qix itself is on the ACA new release slate, but Libble came outta nowhere and beat it to launch :mrgreen:

Further on the hybrid Taito/Namco tip, the former's maze-chaser Raimais is due on ACA, too. (second consecutive post ITT I've poached off zerochan, she always knows the good stuff)
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Ghegs »

Finished Tails Of Iron on Switch the other day.

Based on the trailer I thought it'd be a Salt & Sanctuary -esque 2D Dark Souls, and it sort of is, but not as much as I thought it'd be. I think the biggest flaw was that the game tells the player "GO HERE TO PROGRESS" with a big fat quest marker on the map rather than letting them get a bit lost while trying to figure it out. Even if a quest says to kill a thing that's "lurking somewhere in the sewers", you just look at the map and it tells you exactly where it is. The area maps aren't terribly large anyway. It still pays off to explore and go left when the quest marker is to the right, there's new gear to be found all over the place.

I did really like the audiovisual style and how the world developed. When you first get out of the starting area, the enemy horde has massacred the citizens and left the houses burning. Then, as you progress through the game, finish some quests, kill some bosses, the common folk slowly return to the ravaged areas and start cleaning them up, until eventually resuming their lives.

The combat is also a bit on the weak side. I did like how there are three different kinds of weapons (one-handed, two-handed and ranged) and they all have their individual button, so it's easy to use whatever weapon feels appropriate for that exact moment in combat. But the combat never really rose above the level of serviceable. Some bosses took a few tries, some went down on the first go, but the last boss was a big spike in difficulty. It took me just short of 9 hours to finish the game, and it felt like a whole hour of that was just trying to beat the last boss, that one really forced to actually learn his moves and figure out which ones could be punished and just how much. There were some optional bosses too, and they were much easier than the last boss.

There's a lot of gear to be found, but none of it was particularly exciting, just a lot of variants on swords, axes/hammers and spears, some clearly better than others so there's no reason to ever use most of it. And none of them are named, which I imagine would make it a pain to write any sort of guide for the game.

It was fun to play, but it does have quite a few small iffy design decisions.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

Bright Memory: Infinite.

It's really good, the kind of game modern Shadow Warrior was trying to be, but it's also very short.

Combat is smoother and less messy than Episode 1, but they took out the Devil May Cry combo meter, which I think was a mistake.

When you play, remember that shooting guns refills your exo suit power, while perfect-blocking attacks instantly refills your gun's clip.

I may just buy the cosmetic DLCs just for the sake of throwing money the developer's way, because I made out like a bandit getting this game for free. Note that the cheesecake shots of the protagonist are limited to the intro cutscene and after that it's just two solid hours of Devil May Cry meets Crysis action.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by To Far Away Times »

Forza Horizon 5 is really fun. It's a game that's designed to be "frictionless." Use any car you want most of the time and the game will balance around it. Tons of stuff to do and wander off and just do whatever you want. A rewind button and fairly low difficulty on defaults make this pretty breezy. Its a fun experience though. My favorite part is just exploring the map and trying to find all the fast travel/experience signs. Some are hidden up high on rooftops and its almost like a puzzle to figure out how to get them. Very much a "casual" experience, but its really great in what it sets out to do.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Creamy Goodness »

Got myself an SNES and am playing Donkey Kong Country. Have it setup near the Christmas tree so it is about as close to the feeling of Christmas 1994 as I can get. I personally love this game, but it looks like these days there is quite the debate on how good it actually is.

Also, I have not touched an SNES controller since maybe winter 1996. That thing feels tiny in my hands now. Being so used to bulky modern controllers it was kind of difficult to use at first.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by cocoron »

Creamy Goodness wrote: Also, I have not touched an SNES controller since maybe winter 1996. That thing feels tiny in my hands now. Being so used to bulky modern controllers it was kind of difficult to use at first.
Wow, but in my case it's almost the opposite. Even the PS2 controller feel a bit clunky to me.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by To Far Away Times »

I've been playing Touhou Spell Bubble. As a mash up of Touhou and Puzzle Bobble this game is right up my ally. It's been a long time since I've listened to Touhou remixes, but it seems like all the big ones are here, atleast all the ones I remember. I'm not sure its the best designed game in the world, but its still fun.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

Fights in Tight Spaces just left early access.

This game rules. Slay the Spire mixed with Into the Breach.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Stevens »

Just came to post the same MM. I haven't played it since June or so. Seems they added quite a bit.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by Mischief Maker »

Stevens wrote:Just came to post the same MM. I haven't played it since June or so. Seems they added quite a bit.
If you like FiTS, check out "Trials of Fire."

Different mechanics, but still a really fun card/tactics hybrid.

Ranged attacks have unlimited... range, so cover is super important.


In unrelated news, Ziggurat is no longer the best roguelite FPS game, that title now goes to Ziggurat 2, which is better in every way!

2021 has been an awful year for me in meat-space, but the gaming scene has been bonkers good!
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

I managed to counterstop Halley's Comet at a game meet, and by sheer coincidence at the same time the other folks on the cab beside me were playing Get Star, another game published by Taito (but made by Toaplan :O) and I got around to trying it today.

GET STAR IS HILARIOUS, AAAAA

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RHINO PUNCHING SIMULATOR 1986 WILL NEVER GET OLD

I actually got the 1CC today too, will do a proper writeup for R2RKMF when I have enough GIFs and images to do it justice. :3

Also, I finally got around to uploading the full run of Bayonetta's story mode with a Pure Platinum in every chapter without that exploit that everyone in the community seems to use.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BulletMagnet »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote:Get Star
Presumably what you do after you GO TO STAR?
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BIL
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BIL »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote:GET STAR IS HILARIOUS, AAAAA
I had a suspicion, from my few credits in its ShotTriggers: Kyuukyoku Tiger appearance. :mrgreen: Will enjoy the writeup!
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BrianC
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BrianC »

BareKnuckleRoo wrote:I managed to counterstop Halley's Comet at a game meet, and by sheer coincidence at the same time the other folks on the cab beside me were playing Get Star, another game published by Taito (but made by Toaplan :O) and I got around to trying it today.

GET STAR IS HILARIOUS, AAAAA

Image

RHINO PUNCHING SIMULATOR 1986 WILL NEVER GET OLD

I actually got the 1CC today too, will do a proper writeup for R2RKMF when I have enough GIFs and images to do it justice. :3
Have you tried Guardian? My impression is that it was made harder in a bad way. If I remember correctly, the attack from the first boss that pushes you back does damage in the Guardian version.
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Re: What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

I just tried Guardian; it's bullshit. It's funny and fine when a game errs on the side of being a bit easy, but this is wildly on the other side of the equation.

In Get Star, Easy is definitely meant to be the default difficulty setting (it's the setting used on the Tiger Heli port). You have 4 life pips, you die when you get hit 4 times. On Medium enemies deal 2 damage per hit rather than one (equivalent to loop 2), on Hard enemies deal 3 damage, and on Hardest enemies are one hit kills.

In Guardian, default difficulty is set to Hard. All enemies deal 1 damage per hit... but your health when you spawn is determined by difficulty. Hard only gives 2 health stock (i.e. die in 2 hits). The 4 difficulties correspond to # health segments and also maybe how many enemies there are, how aggressive they attack, etc. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the difficulty goes.

The first boss in particular is WAY harder. The close range web attack with little startup that pushes you back without dealing damage. It hurts you now. You cannot speedkill this guy the same way you could. You have to do footies, and jump in between attacks, after punching down the spiders he hangs up.

Level 2 and 3 are actually quite similar in terms of enemy patterns and difficulty. You still melt everything it seems once you get Super Punch. You can get health items to raise your health up to 4... but your health will GO DOWN to what you start with on each respective difficulty mode. That means even if you build up 4 health in a stage, it drops down to 2 at the start of the next. There's also only one score extend, fewer than in the first game.

The enemies are also tweaked to attack more. The tanks at the start of stage 4 are quite manageable in Get Star, just jump in between attacks. In Guardian? They fire so rapidly that your opening is nearly nonexistent. The stage 5 boss seems immune to being speedkill punched.

If you turn the dipswitch setting in Guardian back down to Easy, it seems to tone it down somewhat. I tried it at Medium and managed to make a bit of headway. But at the apparent default of Hard (which is the default in the manual apparently) it's considerably rougher. If it does the same thing as in Get Star where looping bumps it up a difficulty, 1cc'ing Guardian on the Hard default would put you in loop 2 with 1-hit-kill health. O_o
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