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Cake Attack posted:I can since I've never played the game! As you may have guessed, we missed out on a bit in the last ending. There is quite a bit to look forward to.
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Jun 14, 2014 04:49
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I have a lot of questions about that opening, but I will settle for noting that Lenneth looks like a real badass in motion. 
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Jun 14, 2014 05:01
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Cake Attack posted:Dude making out with the unconscious girl seems creepy. For added creep factor, she's also naked under that sheet. Derek Barona fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Jun 14, 2014 |
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Jun 14, 2014 05:03
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I knew you'd be skipping a lot since you did a normal run but it's weird seeing the game go at breakneck pace as you just hit the high points of the Hard run. That's not a complaint, just ... it's funny to see just how fast it can go when you don't have to post every little bit.
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Jun 14, 2014 05:24
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Psion posted:I knew you'd be skipping a lot since you did a normal run but it's weird seeing the game go at breakneck pace as you just hit the high points of the Hard run. It'll slow down a bit once we get the introduction out of they way. We skipped, like, half the gameplay and most of the plot the first time through.
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Jun 14, 2014 05:49
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The Hard mode run will probably still run faster than the original; I don't think we'll be doing much voting on this run. But yeah, this first post through chapter 2 isn't going to be normal, if memory serves every chapter from here has a new dungeon, and at least one has two.
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Jun 14, 2014 07:42
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 While it's generally assumed that if we miss out on recruiting an Einherjar, their story plays out as normal except Lenneth doesn't intervene (hence why we can, say, recruit Suo even if we missed out on Shiho). The world map doesn't necessarily reflect it, though, one of the biggest notables being Camille. If we forget or not bother to recruit Kashell, Camille never gets petrified and the Oddrock Caves are never unsealed.    In any case, Chapter 3 nets us not only Kashell, but Nanami and Yumei. Fun story times were had by all.  This also means that we get the Dragonbane (and the Fragment of Lapis Gem, but the Dragonbane's a better prize).  Not much has changed. We go through the Oddrock Caves as normal.  We also make a visit to Brahms Castle.  Unlike before, however, we're not going to confront Brahms just yet. Instead, we're just going to loot his castle and run off giggling like a robber into the night.  There are some good prizes in the Castle, but the most important one (for Chapter 3 anyway) is the Beast Slayer. The Unicorn's Horn is also another good treasure worth picking up.  Also some decent levelling.  In the absence of the Gorlha Cult HQ, we have the Clockwork Mansion.  OST: 118 Distortions in the Void of Despair The Clockwork Mansion is in my category of 'pretty, but annoying' dungeons. At least it's a relatively short one.  The only enemy here is the Necrophidius. They aren't really threatening one way or another - they have a bit of bulk, but 'a bit of bulk' in that it might take a low level Sorceress more than one spell to kill them.  The Mansion, for what it's worth, does have some nice backgrounds, so I'll have a couple screenshots of it here and there.  We missed out on Guts in the Gorlha Cult, but luckily there's a copy of it in the Clockwork Mansion.  "Beyond here lies danger. Move and the room rotates. Life is a one-way ticket. Return if you are wise. Only fools who need not need life should pass beyond. Foolish ones, take this scroll. If you cannot proceed even with this scroll, then you truly are fools."  A short way in is our puzzle. Ready for our gimmick?  The Clockwork Mansion's puzzle isn't incredibly new, but it does get annoying - made up of a square grid of 5x5 rooms, we start in the centre left and our job is to get to the centre right room. The catch is that every time we enter or exit a room, every room except the one we leave and the one we're entering rotates 90 degrees, their entrances rotating as well.  If we take too long in one room or get stuck, a samurai head eventually appears - touching it warps us back to the beginning of the puzzle and resets it.  Pressing Select brings up a view of the grid, at the very least. Which is why this puzzle isn't quite as bad as it could have been - the map is moderately helpful and at least there are no enemies in the puzzle. It can still get annoying, especially if you mess up and drop off a ladder into the bottom of a room where there is no exit, forcing you to reset the puzzle. That said, here's one of the solutions:    Meanwhile, enjoy some of the scenery.  Once we're through the puzzle, it's a short path straight forward to the save point and the boss.     The Chimaera immediately starts the fight with Three Deck. It hits the entire party, and can cause Freeze and/or Poison.  Namely, I'm unlucky enough to have everybody but Nanami Frozen, with Arngrim Poisoned as well.  Normalize quickly fixes us up however, and the Chimaera's damage is really bad for this point of the game.  The Beast Slayer in particular makes short work of him.  Just like the Harpy fight, we want to get him to drop his Bracelet of Zoe.   The Mirage Robe is a decent mid-level robe for Sorcerers. The Mirror of Pleidaes is a nice possession that gives the wearer a 50% chance to bounce harmful spells back at their caster for doubled damage.   The Cave of Oblivion is not nice to me this chapter, throwing out nasty Fire Elementals.  This is becoming a recurring theme.  What does make the trek worth it however is, among other things, the Mighty Check I find in the Cave.  I'm going to keep Janus around for a little longer, so I send both Kashell and Lawfer up to make up for it.  Which is just as well, since they have a shared scene together if you send them up this chapter:   Oh, Kashell. I just thought I'd check out the equipment once more before we leave. Man oh man... You're way too serious sometimes. That's not true. Yes, it is true. Ah, that it is. Let's show 'em what we're made of. Yeah. And here's Lawfer's other scene:   ...Is somebody there? A Vanir... Badly wounded... ...Run. I cannot draw my sword on a defenseless person. Hurry! Run before someone else comes!   Hoo...ray?  Chapter 4 is going to be very, very busy. We'll get into the meat of it soon enough, but before we end the update, have a Spiritual Concentration we deliberately missed last time:  Listen: Spiritual Concentration 17 "Why? Why did it have to come to this? Lezard, why are you-" "I am he who hath entrusted his soul to the eternal vortex of time." "I... What's happening to me?!" "Oh Goddess! Surely you cannot allow any more desecration!" "What? What are you trying to say? If not that, then why?" "Ye know me! It shall be engraved on thy very soul! Lezard Valeth!" "Lezard, think this through! Please!"  No prizes for guessing where we're going next!
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Jun 16, 2014 12:20
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Enter the best character.
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Jun 16, 2014 13:17
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Oh it's this fucker. Here begins the plot we missed, so strap on for anyone new to the ride.
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Jun 16, 2014 13:40
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The Clockwork Mansion traumatized me as a child. I don't think I enjoyed puzzle dungeons for at least half a decade after that. Upcoming awesomeness, though. More Pokemon characters! 
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Jun 16, 2014 13:50
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Whoo-hoo! Miss Frizzle is one of my favorite Einherjar.
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Jun 16, 2014 14:02
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Whoo-hoo! Miss Frizzle is one of my favorite Einherjar. Mercifully the Magic Schoolbus just dropped her off on this root of Yggdrasil. Otherwise we'd be seeing another 20 horribly depressing einharijar recruitments.
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Jun 16, 2014 14:24
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I managed to get a look at that art book a few days ago. The teacher's name is listed as 'Rolenta'. Combined with a love of Final Fight, you get weird imagery. It doesn't help that she's carrying a staff.
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Jun 16, 2014 14:27
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Lawfer finds a wounded soldier, lets him go, and gets docked five HV. Suo finds desperate civilians, hesitates instead of just killing them, and dies for it. I'm thinking the game is trying to tell us something about this whole "mercy" concept. Also, here we loving go. THIS is where my memory of the game picks up a decent bit, since this particular area is the reason I only have one good playthrough past Chapter 4. Derek Barona fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Jun 16, 2014 |
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Jun 16, 2014 15:56
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FeyerbrandX posted:Mercifully the Magic Schoolbus just dropped her off on this root of Yggdrasil. Otherwise we'd be seeing another 20 horribly depressing einharijar recruitments. Nah, just 19 horribly depressed kids and 1 who makes constant terrible puns. And like people have been saying, it's time for the best characters (who don't have fingerguns) to appear.
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Jun 16, 2014 16:26
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valkyrieprofile.png The Clockwork Mansion is pretty much only notable for being the only Hard Mode dungeon without a Flame Jewel. I think I did the puzzle room like three or four times thinking I missed it but nope, turns out it's the only dungeon to break the pattern.
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Jun 16, 2014 18:25
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 I am he who hath entrusted his soul to the eternal vortex of timeThat line! That voice! 
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Jun 16, 2014 18:38
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God I love that dumb voice and that dumb chant. And I used to dread an upcoming dungeon probably because I was a dumb baby. Now every time I replay this game it's something I very much look forward to.
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Jun 16, 2014 19:48
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The Real Valkyrie Profile Starts Here. 
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Jun 17, 2014 03:32
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inthesto posted:Upcoming awesomeness, though. More Pokemon characters! At least this one doesn't sound exactly like the Pokemon character. It would be pretty horrifying if they did.
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Jun 17, 2014 03:40
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Goons posted:Pokemon characters Are you guys forgetting we've been dealing with Maddie Blaustein's work all game? The real impressive part is that she managed to pull off Arngrim, Lawfer, this character, and Meowth from Pokemon without having any of them sound like each other. You wanna talk about range...
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Jun 17, 2014 05:19
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Maddie Blaustein also was one of the earliest content-creators for Second Life, wrote for Milestone Comics(including on Static), and is the sister of Jeremy Blaustein, who localized this game and a ton of other 'considered seriously awesome' localizations. Basically, Maddie Blaustein was loving awesome and it's a drat shame she's no longer with us.
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Jun 17, 2014 06:37
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I do think this character has a biiiit of Meowth to him, but there's so much just... smarmy, crazy, slimy hamminess on top of it that it doesn't really stand out.
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Jun 17, 2014 06:53
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Huh I expected that you would go to Garabellum in every chapter. Seems you have another plan entirely.
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Jun 17, 2014 08:08
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So hi! I had a flight the day I posted the last update. And in the ten minutes just before I left the door, my laptop managed to magnificently crack its screen frame right before a 16-hour flight journey. I had been needing to get a new laptop anyway.. but in any case, with any luck I'll get one in the next week and be able to successfully migrate everything over. Worst case scenario, I'll just have to play the game again up to where I left off. Updates will hopefully keep on schedule, but if they're not, it's likely that I'm just having technical problems.
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Jun 17, 2014 10:17
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ApplesandOranges posted:I had a flight the day I posted the last update. And in the ten minutes just before I left the door, my laptop managed to magnificently crack its screen frame right before a 16-hour flight journey. R.I.P laptop. It died doing what it loved. They say one should not speak unkindly of the dead, so I say, "Nice try."
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Jun 17, 2014 11:08
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KataraniSword posted:Are you guys forgetting we've been dealing with Maddie Blaustein's work all game? The real impressive part is that she managed to pull off Arngrim, Lawfer, this character, and Meowth from Pokemon without having any of them sound like each other. You wanna talk about range... I would legit prefer it if Lawfer and Arngrim sounded like Meowth, since I don't care for either of them. Lizardbreath is magnificently hamtastic, though.
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Jun 17, 2014 13:09
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Wonderslug posted:I would legit prefer it if Lawfer and Arngrim sounded like Meowth, since I don't care for either of them Foul demon, black-hearted heretic that spits in the face of the greatest Enherjar! Thou hast defiled thy last post! Judgement is at hand!  All seriousness, Arngrim's entire point is to sound as as possible, so sounding like a Pokemon probably wouldn't work for that.
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Jun 17, 2014 15:14
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ApplesandOranges posted:Worst case scenario, I'll just have to play the game again up to where I left off. At least that's not a terribly depressing worst case scenario!
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Jun 17, 2014 20:43
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Apple's laptop has joined the ranks of Lenneth's Einherjar. Odinspeed, soldier.
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Jun 17, 2014 20:55
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Apple's laptop has joined the ranks of Lenneth's Einherjar. Odinspeed, soldier. It has joined The Dark Id's PS2 in Let's Play Valhalla.
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Jun 17, 2014 20:57
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Apple's laptop has joined the ranks of Lenneth's Einherjar. Odinspeed, soldier. It will be engraved upon your DDRAM! Divine Assault... Abort Retry FAIL
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Jun 17, 2014 21:11
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'Til Death Do Us Part Let's talk a little about getting the A Ending. Aside from some specific plot events we'll have to trigger and see, one of the requirements relates to Lenneth's Seal rating. To qualify, we have to get it below a third of its maximum (so below 34) sometime in Chapter 7. There are a few ways to affect the Seal rating. For the more generic ones, keeping the Niebelungen Ring equipped during a Sacred Phase increases it by 2, while not equipping it decreases it by 2. Recruiting an Einherjar will lower it by 2 in most cases, while sending one up to Valhalla increases it by a whopping 12. Thus far, we've been on the ball and sending an Einherjar up regularly, and our Seal level is at maximum.  We're going to send an Einherjar right at the start of Chapter 4, so those 12 points don't go anywhere. Fortunately, anyone can meet this requirement. I would have done a poll to decide between Nanami and Yumei (the two Einherjar we haven't sent up to Asgard yet), but I'm not sure it would even have been close.  We only have one returning Einherjar to recruit, Aelia. That'll bring us down to 98.  For the main event of the day, we're heading to Flenceburg to get that Einherjar we missed last time.    You go on ahead. Do not let them retrieve the woman! Yes master!  Listen: Lezard  Ye know me! And if ye do not, ye shall be made to know me! It shall be engraved on thy very soul. Lezard Valeth!! If ye shall accept the brand of Hel upon thee, thy sanctions will in turn be lowered. ...I shall grant thee the deliverance of thy soul, and ye shall come now upon me!!It might shock to hear that after voicing Arngrim - who was already quite a departure from her signature role as Meowth - Maddie Blaustein also voiced Lezard, and the extent of her range is amazing.     I'm afraid this mad little interlude is over. Halt! ---   ...? (Yes, just like that.) GHAAAAAH!!   I thought you might realize. That's right. This construct is a homunculus... a man-made lifeform. A homunculus... What a naughty little puppet you are... What was that, some sort of bewitchment charm? However, as you have seen, the very fabric of a homunculus' psyche differs from that of humans. That is why poor Bellion here went mad, I'm afraid. Heh heh, how unfortunate for you. Did you use your charm hoping for a little... action? How... how dare you!! I thought so. You can speak the human tongue if provoked. Ah, well.  But then, since Bellion here is a homunculus, you two puppets would be perfect for each other! Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Go to hell! ...!!! Surprised, my dear? Then listen well. The Philo...sopher's...Stone...!! However, the wisdom sealed within the Stone cannot be gleaned so easily. Sadly, the legends were a bit off... the Stone does not transmit all the world's knowledge instantaneously. How did a devil like you...!! Ugh... Perhaps it was being irreverent in its own way, but the first thing the Stone told me was this... Anything which claims to be "All" is nothing more than a deception, it said. Yet still, my seeking out of the Stone was quite worthwhile indeed. You shall become a sacrifice, a sacrifice to satisfy all my desires! ---   Thank you. I do so appreciate it, you know.  ---  Ah, I'm finally home. He must be asleep by now... Are you lost, little one?      ---     So why, what could possibly make you do a thing like this?! You went so far as to kidnap my husband! Why? For some sort of... revenge?! If that is the reason, then... please! Let my husband go! He has nothing to do with this!! Revenge? Do you think I bear you such ill will because you expelled me from the Academy? If not that, then why?! You two have a lifetime of love behind you, don't you? And even now... What... what are you trying to say?! I too, covet love. And so...     With that much power at his command, how did the boy go wrong...? Lezard, Lezard... Lezard!!Lorenta isn't voiced here, but her VA is Megan Hollingshead - who also voices Lenneth. Coincidence? Probably. ---   Yes, it's me, dear. You're going to be all right. Lorenta. I... I... something's not right. That man gave me some sort of potion... it feels almost like I'm in someone else's body... GAAAAAH!! I... what's happening to me?! I'm... Gods, forgive me... There is nothing I can do for you... No matter how powerful my students think I am, I cannot help you... Forgive me... I can't... I can't stand... You know I can't do that! You're the most important person in the world to me, and nothing can change that...---  Listen: Lezard 2 Can you not hear it... The mad wailing!! Oh, goddess! Surely you cannot allow any more desecration... Come to me... I burn. I burn. I burn with passion for you... ---  Aaah... Come back to me... I love you, my... dear...      ...Huh, this isn't the World Map...   Lorenta character art. Decidedly not a Ballista Mom. ApplesandOranges fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Jun 19, 2014 |
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Jun 18, 2014 02:12
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Glazius said something earlier about how the mages of Midgard are all colossal dicks. Well, meet Lezard, the biggest dick of them all. And he has the hots for Lenneth! This can't possibly end well.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:25
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Of all the recruitment scenes, this one always gets me the most. I think it was a great choice to not have Lenneth say a word during the sequence. Almost like she's too pissed off to say anything.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:29
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Lezard is pretty amazing. The voicework on his line is just so...delightfully mad.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:30
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Now that he's been revealed, I can say I wish SA had a smiley with Lezard's glasses-adjusting pose:FeyerbrandX posted:R.I.P laptop. It died doing what it loved. They say one should not speak unkindly of the dead, so I say, "Nice try." 
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Jun 18, 2014 02:31
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A school for magic, a wizard with glasses, and the Philosopher's Stone ... Now where have I heard that before? 
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Jun 18, 2014 02:33
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The high tempo music that kicks in at this point really doesn't hurt the whole 'I'm going to beat your rear end' vibe, either.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:47
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Lorenta: Lezard:  Lezard spends so much time scenery chewing, and it is glorious.
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Jun 18, 2014 02:56
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