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 Click here to go straight to Another Age!  Welcome to Let's Play Armored Core - The PS2 Years! This LP will be doing the entire Armored Core series that was released on the PlayStation 2. That is to say, these games will be the main focus:  The goal is to play through each game, in release order, playing through all missions, collecting all parts, and doing all the side content. I won't be doing anything crazy like going for S Ranks all the way through, because I'll be focusing on diversity of build and playstyle.  Armored Core is a giant robot third person action series by FromSoftware, with mechanical design by Shoji Kawamori, of Macross fame. The series started out in the PSX era, with the most recent entry being Armored Core: Verdict Day, an expansion of sorts to Armored Core V. The game takes place in a dystopian future where a handful of gigantic corporations have taken over just about all facets of daily life, from basic consumer goods to high tech weapons of war. You play as a mercenary, generally known as a Raven, and take missions from these corporations for profit, ranging from innocuous tasks like disabling a haywire security system to gunning down squatters and workers who have gone on strike. Even working with terrorists! If they have the cash, you're for hire, no questions asked. This LP will be starting with Armored Core 2, and will be an effective sequel to ArclightBorealis' Armored Core, Project Phantasma, and Master of Arena LPs. And though this LP is mainly focusing on the PS2 games, that's not to say there won't be bonus content down the line. This LP will be subdivided into a number of parts, due to the complex system mechanics and endless numbers of things to talk about with customization options.  Missions updates will be me and a co-commentator or two playing through a number of missions, back to back, with little to no side content to be seen. I'll be taking a number of different builds and parts along for the ride, so as to show off a wide variety of different weapons and strategies.  Arena updates will be showing off one-on-one Arena combat with enemy ACs for the sake of fun and profit. I'll be joined by various co-commentators and we'll power through a handful of fights in one sitting, with various builds.  ACE's Garage is a building and mechanics-focused update, generally with just me and occasionally Nine-Gear Crow, to talk about building strategies, check out parts in the shop, do test runs, and explain the ins and outs of Armored Core's mechanics. For these episodes, I'll be taking suggestions from the thread as to what parts or builds people want to see, and if I like them, I'll include them in the Missions and Arena updates rotation of ACs.  So feel free to chime in on design elements or parts you want to see! I'll try anything! Mail will be all the e-mails we receive in each mission, typed out for your reading pleasure so you don't have to pause a video every time something comes up on screen.  Music sections will have all the music we've heard in an update, so you can enjoy your techno trance OST free of talking or giant robot noises. So with that said, let's get into it starting with Armored Core 2! Oh, and as a general rule, try to avoid spoiling things in advance, plot or otherwise. ACES CURE PLANES fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 10, 2016 |
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Feb 4, 2016 16:44
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 Armored Core 2, and it's expansion pack, Another Age, is a direct sequel to the PSX Armored Core series. Taking place 67 years after the first series, much of humanity has left Earth, and moved to Mars, hoping to escape the desolate, polluted hellscape of Earth and find a new life away from the old Corporations. Unfortunately, given the struggles of terraforming Mars and the new group of Corporations that have surfaced on the red planet, not much has changed. And so, our Protagonist, having just arrived on Mars, sets out to become a Raven. So with all that laid out, let's begin:  Episode 1 - Intro and basic mechanics (Commentaryless version coming soon) Nerves Concord posted:Welcome Raven Nell Aulter posted:New Partner Light Seeker posted:To the New Raven RoboComBat Opinion of the Way Roundabout ACES CURE PLANES fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Feb 4, 2016 |
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Feb 4, 2016 16:45
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Good first video. Glad it seems we got some things in common when it comes to these types of games (cluttered mech HUD all the way). Good luck all the way through, man. You certainly took quite a burden off my back deciding tackle these seven games, but I look forward to your spin on things regarding play styles and AC builds.
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Feb 4, 2016 19:57
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This is my straight up favorite Armored Core ever. Been looking forward to someone doing this one for a while. Everything looks great so far.
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Feb 4, 2016 21:56
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Armored Core always made me curious why there aren't other notable mecha games out there. That and Battletech kind of run around, everyone enjoys them despite being incredibly flawed, no one else tries to do it. Heck, Chromehounds was well received until it shut down.
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Feb 4, 2016 22:19
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I've always skirted around playing the AC games because I don't mesh well with the controls (Which will, as usual, make Aces frown at me) but they'll never stop fascinating me. Hopefully watching someone play them competently will give me the inspiration to try it myself sometime.
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Feb 4, 2016 22:22
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Gamerofthegame posted:Armored Core always made me curious why there aren't other notable mecha games out there. That and Battletech kind of run around, everyone enjoys them despite being incredibly flawed, no one else tries to do it. Heck, Chromehounds was well received until it shut down. Of course, there's also the answer of other notable mecha games aren't out there because of how gently caress expensive it is to develop games now. But hey, when has that never been the case for anything in this industry these days?
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Feb 4, 2016 22:41
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motoh posted:I've always skirted around playing the AC games because I don't mesh well with the controls (Which will, as usual, make Aces frown at me) but they'll never stop fascinating me. Hopefully watching someone play them competently will give me the inspiration to try it myself sometime. Yes but like you said, I frown at you for everything. And as for the controls, I honestly struggle with the base ones too, which is why I go out of my way to change them as soon as possible. Funny how switching the buttons for turning and moving has me going from barely getting by to zipping along effortlessly. I blame Megaman Legends and the glut of PSX era games before analog sticks when camera control was relegated to L1/R1. Kinda funny that Arc brings up Another Century's Episode, since those games were made by FromSoft too. There might be some bonus material there. Anyways, what's the point of asking people to suggest parts and builds when people don't know what parts or builds are in the game? So expect an update tonight or early tomorrow on just what kind of parts we have available to us from the start with our first ACE's Garage section. I knew I should've set a basic thread tag instead of expecting the process to get another forum's thread tag to be a quick one. 
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Feb 4, 2016 22:58
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Aww yeah. These were some of my favorite games. So looking forward to this. Nexus was my favorite. Never got around to playing Last Raven, although I think I own it, so looking forward to seeing that too.
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Feb 4, 2016 23:12
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I love me some Armored Core. I want to say Silent Line was my biggest 'oh man I understand this series now!' game. Or that might be the Last Raven. Either way, endlessly circle strafing in a hover mech until out of ammo and then sword arming stuff to death to make mad bucks is what I remember most. Also having to escape a sinking ship.
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Feb 5, 2016 03:51
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Been on the lookout for this since it was mentioned in the Ace Combat Zero thread. I was entirely addicted to AC3 up through Ninebreaker, but didn't ever play Last Raven. Years later when I picked up For Answer in the bargain I flat out couldn't play it due to the muscle memory built up from the PS2 game controls, not to mention the huge difficulty spike. Even the AC test AI in that seemed more vicious than the top tier Arena foes in any of the PS2 games.
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Feb 5, 2016 03:59
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Huh. Decided to pop this in and give it a spin since I remember playing the heck out of AC2 over a few rentals. Either this game a lot harder than I remember, or coming to the controls after so many years of dual-stick movement is awkward.
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Feb 5, 2016 05:31
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Krysmphoenix posted:Huh. Decided to pop this in and give it a spin since I remember playing the heck out of AC2 over a few rentals. Either this game a lot harder than I remember, or coming to the controls after so many years of dual-stick movement is awkward. The controls are buttcheeks to get back into Man I loved these games a lot
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Feb 5, 2016 08:11
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I played AC2 a ton as a kid, but as almost always happened, I got distracted by new games before I finished it. Will be cool to see what I missed, what I remember, and what I don't.
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Feb 5, 2016 08:35
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AC2 is the best goddamn mecha game I've ever played. Also gently caress Werehound.
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Feb 5, 2016 08:50
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I often tell my friends that, despite the risk of sounding like a hipster, From Software was also awesome before Demons'/Dark Souls. Will look forward to more! Also, if this does indeed turn into the Armored Core Megathread for the PS2 era, would you be up for contributions or co-commentary from other AC players like ArclightBorealis or myself?
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Feb 5, 2016 19:28
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I'm definitely going to have co-commentary on episodes, mainly because I'm pretty terrible at carrying an episode myself (the commentary for the opening video took like 8 rerecordings and I had to eventually split my commentary into four parts ). Working on an update right now, because what's the point of asking for people to suggest parts they want to see without showing what kind of selection there is? The post is written up, just gotta do the video part. It's just the post is 15000 characters long. Before any pictures. 
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Feb 5, 2016 19:40
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Armored Core has a lot of parts, and the parts have a lot of stats. First time I booted up AC3 and looked at the detailed stats for a random bit on my AC I just kinda blanked out at all the terms and numbers and stared for a moment before trying to figure out what they all did. And this is a bit pre-emptive, but rather than suggesting specific parts to use I would like to suggest the use of machine guns. For some reason I always have a soft spot for rapid-fire weapons/attacks, even in games where they're impractical.
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Feb 5, 2016 19:51
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That's totally fine, weapon type suggestions are welcome just as much or more. Basically, what you'll be seeing later is a video with me and Nine-Gear Crow talking about weapon and part categories, and I'll have an offsite SSLP Test Post page showing all the parts and weapons we have available to us as of now, and explaining all the different stats. So if your interests lie in building giant robots, look forward to later.
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Feb 5, 2016 20:02
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IIRC I loved missiles and explosives in general. Big robots + big explosions, what's not to love?
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Feb 5, 2016 20:04
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Missiles in Armored Core 2 are particularly useful, if not broken to a certain extent. Like, multi missiles in the first game were pretty economical already, but between support missile extensions and the heat system being introduced in this game, letting big targets and ACs take a dozen missiles to the face is more devastating than they ever were in the series prior. And also there's the fact that many missiles being fired are the primary cause of slowdown in this game, which I hope ACES will show at some point just how many ballistics you can cram on screen at once.. It's impressive to watch, though, considering all the contrails weaving in a way that would make a Macross fan proud. ACES CURE PLANES posted:I'm definitely going to have co-commentary on episodes, mainly because I'm pretty terrible at carrying an episode myself (the commentary for the opening video took like 8 rerecordings and I had to eventually split my commentary into four parts
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Feb 6, 2016 02:34
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And welcome to ACE's Garage, where I build, show off, and test out various AC parts and designs that you poor folks want to see. Or rather that's how it normally works, but first we need to see what we have available from the start, don't we? So I enlisted nine-gear crow to help me talk about the basics of AC parts, since we have a lot to go over. Episode 2 - The Basics of AC Design If there's anything you've seen that looks interesting and you want to see in action, post in the thread, and I'll show it off. I'll try to satiate everyone, even if it means making some sort of horrible abomination of clusterfuck AC design. Similarly, we still haven't gotten a name for our main AC. Not that I mind riding Dongs, of course. In our next update, our first Arena update, we'll take whatever horrible abominations people want to see out for a spin, alongside our garbage low tier AC. So look forward to that. ACES CURE PLANES fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Apr 1, 2016 |
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Feb 6, 2016 09:01
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Wow, I actually remembered many of those parts! I think my final AC had either quad legs or hover "legs". I remember really liking quad-leg designs on mechs at the time. As for AC designs/names, here's mine - no energy weapons, shell weapons with big stopping power, maybe also those missiles that shoot up, then down at the enemy on a shoulder or two. Color it red, white and blue and call it the Open Carry (or if you want a really old joke, the Never Forget  ).
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Feb 6, 2016 09:46
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ACES CURE PLANES posted:All seven PS2-era Armored Core games LP Of course, I love talking about these stupid stompy giant robot games so I'm all over this thread and will be barfing some design suggestions at you. Some of them will make you hate life. Some of them demand a high-level of control. Some of them are super-easy. But they'll all be fun! 
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Feb 6, 2016 11:32
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Zanzibar Ham posted:As for AC designs/names, here's mine - no energy weapons, shell weapons with big stopping power, maybe also those missiles that shoot up, then down at the enemy on a shoulder or two. Color it red, white and blue and call it the Open Carry (or if you want a really old joke, the Never Forget Return from whence you came, please.
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Feb 6, 2016 13:10
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Oh, you're right. I wasn't thinking when I posted that one. Alright, then do what I'm sure I did at some point as a kid - tons of missiles, and call it the Mad Cat.
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Feb 6, 2016 13:17
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Armored Core 2 is a huge loving part of my childhood. I was 8 when it came out, so I got it and Another Age in middle school and only managed to beat them with the aid of an Action Replay cheat device. The first like, half of AC2 is permanently burned into my brain.
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Feb 7, 2016 01:27
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AC2 was the first in the series I really sat down and played. I had the AC1 demo but never found an actual copy of the game til years later. I remember crashing it one time with 2 missile boats in versus. Silent Line remains the best game in the series, but 2 was a great place to start. You should show off how broken the EWR-L24 is if you can aim it. I setup proper right analog aiming in PCSX2 last year and just shredded everything with it. Also the EWX-VLS241, the only missiles anyone ever needs unless the map has really low ceilings. Get a bomb dispenser and kill someone in the arena by making GBS threads on them. Maybe try to avoid leaning too hard on God's One True Handed-Down-On-The-Mountain FCS: the LODD-BLAZER. The flamethrower is neither the worst weapon, nor is its damage bad. It's the highest dps by a wide margin and isn't nearly as hard to hit with as the bomb dispensers. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Feb 7, 2016 |
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Feb 7, 2016 13:19
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Clearly you should load up grenade launchers and rockets on as light a frame as possible and zip around missing everything. On a more serious note, All the Dakka. Chaingun on one of the shoulders, tank treads, machinegun of your choice, and your pick of whatever for the remaining back unit (as I'm sure a second chaingun would be more than a little absurd) and left arm. Not going to suggest any more specific parts because I've been up for 19 hours and I don't want to try making sure the weight will work. I'm pretty confident I've tried a similar build in AC3, at least. Likely out of some ill-conceived notion that being super tanky would adequately compensate for my clumsy and inept piloting. I know the chaingun can trivialize a lot of the earlier arena matches. Pity it doesn't really teach you how to actually fight once the opponents start getting too smart to fall to just immediately kneeling and spraying bullets until one of you is dead.
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Feb 8, 2016 03:15
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In AC3 all you need to trivialize basically every match is a chaingun and flamer in the Parking Garage. The AI is too stupid to not back itself into a corner and get in a damage race that's 100% impossible to win.
dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Feb 8, 2016 |
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Feb 8, 2016 03:23
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I wouldn't be surprised, but I am astoundingly incompetent at AC games, despite thinking they're really neat and awesome. The only one I consider myself "vaguely okay" at would be AC5, which is a whole different beast from the PS2 era.
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Feb 8, 2016 03:27
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Just a quick PSA: ArclightBorealis's runs through Project Phantasma and Master of Arena are now up on the LP Archive, for anyone who might have missed them.
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Feb 8, 2016 06:16
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So, I've got a question for you guys, considering I'm kinda still learning as I go along on what you guys like/what to see - Since the Gigantic Offsite Spergwall was a just a teensy bit inaccessible to all but the most dedicated, and stuff like the first Garage video was a bit too long, would you guys be a bit more receptive to a shorter, more digestable snippets at the end of videos explaining mechanics a bit more 'firsthand', so to speak? At the expense of having to listen to me drone on solo over a bunch of clips, of course. Or, alternatively, would you prefer I just skip the mechanics chat, maybe post some images of new parts every now and again, and get on with the shooty bits? Either way, I should have some shooty bits for you anyways by the end of the day, assuming nothing explodes.
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Feb 8, 2016 09:31
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I remember this was one of the first PS2 games i owned, and I loved the hell out of it, but I never completed it because I was 10 and dumb. I'm excited to see it completed.
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Feb 8, 2016 09:35
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ACES CURE PLANES posted:So, I've got a question for you guys, considering I'm kinda still learning as I go along on what you guys like/what to see - Since the Gigantic Offsite Spergwall was a just a teensy bit inaccessible to all but the most dedicated, and stuff like the first Garage video was a bit too long, would you guys be a bit more receptive to a shorter, more digestable snippets at the end of videos explaining mechanics a bit more 'firsthand', so to speak? At the expense of having to listen to me drone on solo over a bunch of clips, of course. I watched the garage video with no problems, but didn't look at the parts list. Hope that helps. ACES CURE PLANES posted:Either way, I should have some shooty bits for you anyways by the end of the day, assuming nothing explodes. Everything better explode. 
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Feb 8, 2016 09:37
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Zanzibar Ham posted:I watched the garage video with no problems, but didn't look at the parts list. Hope that helps. Same.
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Feb 8, 2016 10:58
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I'm down with mechanics chat.
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Feb 8, 2016 13:52
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Little snippets at the end of videos going into greater detail on some of the part stats and whatnot sounds like an awesome idea. Reading about it all is one thing, being able to see examples of some of the differences is another. And I watched the video and also skimmed other the parts list. Doing the snippets does add a lot of work for you (and this is a daunting project to begin with), but I think it'd make for a more complete experience. Anyone who's not interested in the mechanics and just wants giant robots shooting each other and just skip them. I mean for me, when it comes to suggestions for parts and the like I'm more interested in wanting to see a general playstyle rather than really hankering to see an EHD-ONE-NT slapped on top of a ZCH-GR/1. This is largely because I don't want to burden you with a particularly awful combination of parts, partly because I want to know what you would consider an effective setup for certain playstyles and learn more about effective AC assembly in case I decide to try playing again someday.
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Feb 8, 2016 19:20
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Snippets at the end of videos sound great to me.
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Feb 8, 2016 20:51
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