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 Undertale is a turn-based RPG from the mind of Toby "Radiation" Fox, who's probably best-known for being the most prominent musical contributor for the well-known webcomic and unstoppable memetic hell-plague Homestuck. But let's not hold that against him, because Undertale is shaping up to be an interesting and innovative little title that already turned a lot of heads with its surprisingly deep demo, initially released in 2013. For those of you wondering what that demo might be like, you'll be pleased to know it's linked at the bottom of this post. And in between here and that link is a whole bunch of information about the game itself! What a tremendously helpful post this is. STORY  Long ago, there existed two dominant races on the world, humans and monsters. War broke out, as war often does, and the humans emerged triumphant, and trapped all the monsters underground with a magic spell. Good for them! Years later, a human child plays around the foot of the giant Mt. Ebott. Legend says that no one who climbs the mountain ever returns, but the child doesn't even get to find out for himself. The child falls down a deep hole at the foot of a mountain, but is saved by the helpful monster Toriel. From there begins a grand adventure filled with danger, excitement, questionable morality, and LOVE. GAMEPLAY  Undertale is a top-down RPG with one of those retro pixel art styles that became super popular again all of a sudden. You roam around picking up items, solving puzzles, and engaging with a variety of colorful characters. Radiation's music is top-notch stuff, a mix of old-school JRPG MIDI tunes with a touch of melancholy similar to some of the themes in Cave Story (which, as you can probably guess by the name, was a big source of Inspiration). Most overworld objects will also have a line or two of unique text upon being examined. The game is especially concerned with the romantic inclinations of cacti. Sometimes, though, you meet enemies instead of friends! This is where things get interesting.  On the face of it, Undertale's combat follows a familiar Dragon Quest style where you're pitted against a row of enemies who try to hurt you in various ways. You're all alone in the world, and only have one attack, which can be strengthened with a quick timing mini-game. The enemies' own attacks, however, are far more unique. your player character is represented on the above screen by that little heart in the box, and the enemies' attacks take the form of quick shmup-type segments where you must maneuver the heart to avoid the various projectiles they throw at you. The variety of attacks is impressive and amusing - you might have to avoid a deluge of tears, or hover your heart above a hopping graphic of a frog, or just watch the enemy's sprite do a little dance in the attack box. At least one enemy is periodically too depressed to fight you at all and fills the box with an apology instead. Upon defeating enemies, you gain gold and experience. Experience increases your LV, or LOVE. The more LOVE you have, the stronger you become. It's only sensible to amass as much LOVE as you possibly can to face the world around you. If you want, though, there are other ways to get around enemies.  Every enemy in the game can be interacted with in a variety of unique ways, many of which will let you befriend or pacify them instead of having to fight them. You can flatter a man-eating frog, contemplate the sky with a slime mold, or compliment a depressed ghost's dapper hat. If the enemy's will to fight you falters, you can select the unique MERCY option to SPARE their lives and end the fight. They'll often leave you a bit of cash out of gratitude, but you won't get any experience. Pacifists don't deserve LOVE. No one has to die in Undertale, but without LOVE you'll find the game very hard going. Pacifist runs turn the game from a straightforward, if quirky, turn-based battler into a weird puzzle-action hybrid of Earthbound and Shin Megami Tensei's demon negotiation system. Your actions strongly affected the plot in the demo, so we'll have to see if the full game contains that much reactivity. CHARACTERS The Child Your avatar in Undertale. The child who fell down the hole at the bottom of Mt. Ebott. A bit on the quiet side. Their true nature is as indeterminate as their gender. How exciting. Toriel  Some kind of...sheep-woman thing. The monster who saves the player character at the start of the demo. Kids apparently fall down that hole pretty often, and Toriel makes regular sojourns through the cavern to nurse them back to health and send them on their way. Sweet, kind, and nurturing, she's got a great big heart full of LOVE. But as her name suggests, she's really just the tutorial character, and doesn't appear outside the demo. She's not very important. Flowey  This guy, on the other hand, is super important! Flowey is a flower monster who offers you helpful tips, lore, and words of encouragement throughout your adventure. He has a very good memory and is always watching you. And last but not least, who could forget... You  Yes, that's you, the player! I know it's just an empty square, but that's okay. If something's empty, that means there's lots of room for LOVE. Undertale releases on September 15th. Fortunately, the demo can be cleared in half an hour at most, so anyone whose interest has been piqued can easily get caught up before the official release rolls around. You might even want to replay the demo a few times, just to make sure you didn't miss anything. Don't forget to SAVE often, and remember that LOVE makes the world go round! Official Website, With Demo Undertale Greenlight Trailer Undertale Release Trailer Oxxidation fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Sep 14, 2015 |
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Sep 14, 2015 05:41
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I really like this game, so much so that I made the trailer for it! Embedding it because I'm a vain person (and also it shows what the game is like, etc, but really because I made it): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hojv0m3TqA&hd=1 I'm excited as heck to see it released and general reactions! There's a lot of positive things I can say about Undertale, but to spare everyone from some dreadfully boring draedful words I'll just say it's a really impressive, chill, thoughtful RPG with surprisingly solid mechanics. Posting this here so it's a bit more visible:  CONTEST ALL OVER It looks like a strange little dog gifted me with a few Undertale Steam keys (they're... warm?) to give out! Since I love images, I figured I'd encourage image creating behavior with positive reinforcement! If you want a key, draw a pretty picture of any of the characters or events visible in the free demo or the trailer and post it in this thread! If you're wondering, well duh it can be something weird like a photoshop or animation or whatever the heck. That's my bag! Just don't do spoilery stuff, especially since ostensibly you haven't played it yet and are trying to get a key, that's rude to everybody yourself included! At 8PM EST 9/16 (it'll be soft so if I haven't posted yet it's fine) I'll award one key to the best piece of ~freshly made goon fanart~ in the thread. At 8PM EST 9/17 (it'll be gooey n chewy so if I haven't posted yet it's fine) I'll award two more keys to the two best remaining ~fresh goon fanarts~ posted, art that didn't snag the first key can still win! So if you're not sure if you want a key or not, give the free demo a whirl, watch the trailer, and decide for yourself! But if I had to guess, you probably do since this game is really pretty stellar. So go for it, carpe canem, etc! Preemptive Expected Question: Are these keys just the game or the soundtrack bundle? Preemptive Maybe Expected Answer: I... have Edit: Fangz confirmed they're just game keys, almost as if this is entirely a clever ploy to get you to play and realize you also want the soundtrack and end up spending some cash? Whoa, sinister! CONTEST ALL OVER Happy Memory Picture Gallery: Beekeeping and You - Key Winner!  willing to settle  Naerasa  Drakonis  alcharagia - DETERMINED  Doctor_Fruitbat  Fangz - Key Winner!  Bert of the Forest - Key Winner!  pon alien  Thanks for all the great submissions, even if you broke my heart. Enjoy your keys! Everdraed fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Sep 18, 2015 |
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Sep 14, 2015 06:49
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I remember this as being very interesting and fun, as demos go. Might give this a go if I can find the time!
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Sep 14, 2015 07:01
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I could have sworn the demo was older than that. Between this and LISA it's been a good year for indie rpgs.
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Sep 14, 2015 07:01
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Deki posted:I could have sworn the demo was older than that. Between this and LISA it's been a good year for indie rpgs. yeah, the demo came out in 2013 according to my copy of it.
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Sep 14, 2015 07:19
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I hope this game doesn't have a zero tolerance morality, like Bioshock. Nothing would upset me more than killing a single life means you grow up to be Hitler in the epilogue.
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Sep 15, 2015 05:02
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Glad someone made a thread for this game! I was just rewatching the demo to remind myself what happened. I forgot the weirdly plot-heavy ending for killing toriel 3 times+killing everything else. Flowey, the gently caress are you talking about?
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Sep 15, 2015 05:09
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DoubleCakes posted:I hope this game doesn't have a zero tolerance morality, like Bioshock.  moments. Hopefully the full game follows through.
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Sep 15, 2015 05:24
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DoubleCakes posted:I hope this game doesn't have a zero tolerance morality, like Bioshock. If I remember the demo correctly, it does not. Demo endings that I can recall: Minimal kills, Kill Toriel Minimal kills, Spare Toriel Kill everything, Kill Toriel, get some foreshadowing Kill everything, Spare Toriel No Kills, Kill Toriel No Kills, Spare Toriel Spare Toriel until she starts to talk again, then kill her Kill Toriel, use SAVE, Spare Toriel Spare Toriel, Use SAVE, Kill Toriel And the dialogue and reaction from Flowey is different each time. That's what really got me interested in the demo way back when and why I'm hyped for the release now. It's a game that sees through your bullcrap and points it out to you without reservation, and judges you not on a binary scale but on your actions. The fact that it's an Earthbound inspired RPG where no one has to die is all sorts of awesome. There'd better be more Napstablook, though. That ghost is great. Also, great trailer, Everdraed. The Toriel in Unity was a great touch. EDIT: Put in two more endings I missed. Thanks for reminding me, Alabaster White. Another thing that someone had to tell me: Depending on your path through the game, the online manual changes. If you Spare Everything and Toriel, you get an extra page from her, and if you kill everything, every page is changed to a red text that says 'Let's finish the job'. J.A.B.C. fucked around with this message at 09:13 on Sep 15, 2015 |
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Sep 15, 2015 08:54
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J.A.B.C. posted:If I remember the demo correctly, it does not. Don't forget the ultra secret ending of kill everything and everyone that has really bizarre and terrifying implications, especially when you check the knife block and the mirror.
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Sep 15, 2015 08:56
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That was fun. Let's finish the job.
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Sep 15, 2015 10:26
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I just noticed something in the release trailer. In the opening, as the scenes of the game flash by, there's one with the 'do not step on the leaves' sign. MC then proceeds to dance a merry jig upon them. J.A.B.C. fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Sep 15, 2015 |
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Sep 15, 2015 10:34
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That trailer intro is supposed to serve as a walk down memory lane for people who played the demo, so I tried to include a number of memorable clips / sequences that stuck in my mind from when I went through it. I've flagrantly disregarded that sign every time I've read it, so I had to toss that in haha. Like most of my videos, I did my best to add little details and easily missed gags for people really interested to rewatch and notice. Can't take credit for the the high-poly 3D Toriel clip though, that was expertly crafted by Chelsea Saunders. I did made the photo-realistic Tor-real™ that's overlayed however!
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Sep 15, 2015 11:30
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Alabaster White posted:Don't forget the ultra secret ending of kill everything and everyone that has really bizarre and terrifying implications, especially when you check the knife block and the mirror. There's another Easter egg I found last night. If you spare Toriel and then go to sleep, you hear a sinister voice (the text-scroll sound has this unpleasant basso rumble, not like Flowey's) begging for "you" to wake up, saying that you're "the future of humans and monsters." The idea of the player as this sinister presence that's trying to overwrite the Child's personality through violence (or maybe even vice-versa) is something I haven't seen before. OFF did something similar, though. The game releases today! Anticipation wriggles in your marrow.
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Sep 15, 2015 13:42
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Alabaster White posted:Don't forget the ultra secret ending of kill everything and everyone that has really bizarre and terrifying implications, especially when you check the knife block and the mirror. For those who don't want to look it up, if you've killed everything by that point, checking the mirror says "It's (player name)" instead of "It's you!" And checking the cabinet says "Where are the knives?" Instead of "It's full of monster cookie cutters." It also replaces the text of all save points with "Determination." Instead of whatever was there before!
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Sep 15, 2015 14:04
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Beekeeping and You posted:For those who don't want to look it up, if you've killed everything by that point, checking the mirror says "It's (player name)" instead of "It's you!" And checking the cabinet says "Where are the knives?" Instead of "It's full of monster cookie cutters." Youtube Link to that ending, by the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx53oocRHn4 EDIT: One hour left! Also, this was on the tumblr:  Undertale Tumblr posted:UNDERTALE finally comes out tomorrow afternoon. http://undertale.tumblr.com/ J.A.B.C. fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Sep 15, 2015 |
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Sep 15, 2015 15:24
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The demo was amazing, can't believe it finally comes out in an hour and a half. Still have no idea what kind of run I want to do first.
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Sep 15, 2015 15:42
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axelsoar posted:The demo was amazing, can't believe it finally comes out in an hour and a half. Still have no idea what kind of run I want to do first. I'm probably going to end up doing a goody two shoes run first, because I just know that I'll like the characters too much to murder everyone.
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Sep 15, 2015 15:49
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 I just bought four copies. One for me, two for my friends, and one for the Steam Gift channel. Because people need to know! J.A.B.C. fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Sep 15, 2015 |
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Sep 15, 2015 16:02
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Also if you kill everything one run and then do another run sparing everything the manual will change to contain a message from Flowey saying he didn't forget what you did.
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Sep 15, 2015 16:41
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The idea of a game being able to change the manual depending on what you've done, and read if you've saved or reloaded and taunt you with it is absolutely fascinating to me. I think I have an idea of where the plot might go for spare everyone but not kill everything. Also game in like 10-15 minutes. Wanna jam out to that soundtrack.
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Sep 15, 2015 16:49
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Oh poo poo I forgot this came out today!
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Sep 15, 2015 16:52
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it's here! Time to disappear for a few hours into RPG hell.
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Sep 15, 2015 17:19
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Have any Kickstarter backers gotten the email with their code yet? I keep pressing f5 but it hasn't shown up yet!
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Sep 15, 2015 17:23
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Penultimatum posted:Have any Kickstarter backers gotten the email with their code yet? I keep pressing f5 but it hasn't shown up yet! Yeah, impatiently waiting as well, wanna go save and or destroy the world.
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Sep 15, 2015 17:28
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I didn't back the kickstarter but I'm buying the game right when I get home and I am mega going to hug every enemy TO DEATH 
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Sep 15, 2015 17:46
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:I didn't back the kickstarter Wow, really going for the evil path.
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Sep 15, 2015 17:50
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axelsoar posted:Wow, really going for the evil path.
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Sep 15, 2015 17:54
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Emails are out, or just go to the Humble Bundle resender and put your email in there and it should work!
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Sep 15, 2015 17:57
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Game and soundtrack bought and downloading as we speak. Let's do this!Everdraed posted:I really like this game, so much so that I made the trailer for it! Did you also make the clip at the one minute mark?
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Sep 15, 2015 18:22
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I can no longer hate comic sans... wait... OH MY GOD THAT'S AMAZING!
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Sep 15, 2015 18:24
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Ok, someone tell me (very early game) how do I beat Toriel without killing them? Also is there any bonus for not killing anyone? In that case I might start over to give the dummy and a frog a break.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:24
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DoubleCakes posted:I hope this game doesn't have a zero tolerance morality, like Bioshock. This seems like the sort of the game where I'd just Murder Everything anyway though, since the game seems to expect a lot of different ways to go through it based on the demo a while back. I wonder if that's been kept up in the full game?
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Sep 15, 2015 19:25
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ymgve posted:Ok, someone tell me (very early game) how do I beat Toriel without killing them? Also is there any bonus for not killing anyone? In that case I might start over to give the dummy and a frog a break. This is a harsh place, though if you try really hard you just might be able to SPARE them.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:28
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Steam page just went up http://store.steampowered.com/app/391540
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Sep 15, 2015 19:28
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I loving love how good this game is at predicting what you will do, I did a double take after reading a sign and the game just flat out said: "Yes, you read that right"
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Sep 15, 2015 19:30
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ymgve posted:Ok, someone tell me (very early game) how do I beat Toriel without killing them? Also is there any bonus for not killing anyone? In that case I might start over to give the dummy and a frog a break. Just keep trying to SPARE Toriel and she'll eventually back down. She really don't want to hurt you - if you get one or two hits away from death, her projectiles will deliberately avoid your heart, and if you manage to get yourself killed anyway, she'll look horrified for a moment before the Game Over screen pops up. And your violent/non-violent path seems to have some pretty weighty plot implications. Bigger spoilers below: It's hinted in the worst ending that "you," the player, are actually some kind of sleeping evil entity that's BFF's with Flowey and is attempting to erode/steal the Child's soul to use them as your vessel for various horrible things. If you kill every single monster in the demo, then flavor dialogue changes to be more terse and first-person, occasional creepier bits pop up when examining certain objects ("Where are the knives."), and you instantly eviscerate Toriel upon fighting her instead of whittling down her health.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:30
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This game is dog petting simulator of the year.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:31
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Oxxidation posted:Just keep trying to SPARE Toriel and she'll eventually back down. She really don't want to hurt you - if you get one or two hits away from death, her projectiles will deliberately avoid your heart, and if you manage to get yourself killed anyway, she'll look horrified for a moment before the Game Over screen pops up. Right. I only tried that once, and when it didn't work I assumed it had to be something different. One of the tutorial frogs also said it would only work if the character's name was yellow, and it was still white. edit: Just encountered a bug - quitting the game via Escape crashed my game.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:33
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ymgve posted:edit: Just encountered a bug - quitting the game via Escape crashed my game. That's not a bug. It doesn't go to the main menu, it quits. Also: Slime posted:This game is dog petting simulator of the year. Also, skeleton dating simulator of the year.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:41
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