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          The turn of the millennium is coming and everyone is cowering in their bunkers fearful that computers will turn on their masters. But in Japan there are more pressing matters to fear; namely a mysterious doomsday cult gaining power, increasing disappearances all around Tokyo, and a hideous beast lurking in the underground. Are you going to be able to survive the night....or will you find yourself running out of time? Truly a terrifying story and one that we'll be investigating more deeply as we head into the overlooked PS1 horror title, Hellnight (or Dark Messiah as it was called originally in Japan, though neither title makes much sense for the game). Now one might question why they had not previously heard of this game and that could be for any number of reasons. The game never saw an American release, it was released just a year before the PS2 (and thus would be overshadowed by the new hotness), it never got much commercial fanfare in the locales it was released, and most importantly of all...it doesn't really fit into a normal horror genre. While games like Resident Evil touted being survival horror, it still very much left the player an option to defend itself and fight off what lurks in the darkness. Hellnight decided to go a different direction with this and leaves the player in cramped locations, almost utterly defenseless except for the power to out think and out run the dangers that are set before them. And that, along with it's very deranged, albeit repetitive setting, probably greatly deterred most people from enjoying the game. But that's why I'm here to lead you through the danger and for us to hopefully escape the underground hell awaiting our protagonist. Good Stuff found in the Mesh  Razzo by yokaiy discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 10:14 on Jun 22, 2015 |
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May 11, 2015 02:53
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 06:04 |
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 Please believe when I say the monster is truly terrifying when I give it a chance.
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May 11, 2015 02:54
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Yeah, it's a fun game to watch with the proper editing but I hazard to recommend ever playing it. Also we'll have some audience voting in this game; so bully for that.Lotish posted:For the record, when I think of Ps1 horror titles, I think of Clocktower. Also I made a mistake, and the PS1 game I was thinking of was Overblood. At least I didn't say Impossible Creatures, right?
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May 11, 2015 03:22
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Mr. Sunabouzu posted:I have this unreasonable love for ps1 survival horror games. Hellnight is actually pretty good because it knows when to use silence (probably unintentionally on the devs part) instead of vomiting lovely midi tracks at you forever like other similar games (The Note). It can be surprisingly tense sometimes. And tense is definitely a good word for this game; granted the tutorial area doesn't get this across, but pretty quickly, the game is going to take off the kid gloves and show us more of what we're really going to be dealing with.
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May 11, 2015 09:22
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 Things get a wee bit more difficult as we head into the mesh proper. And we're given some very heady choices to make... Do we have mercy on poor Naomi or do we try our luck with a new partner? (you guys have up to Sunday night to vote)
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May 14, 2015 19:19
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So I got curious and figured I would investigate my idea: what happens if we try the staircase without helpful Naomi there to warn us/be bait? It's kinda what you'd expect. Now granted they do put in a helpful, random NPC before the door that pretty much says "Really dawg, you don't want to get near that door." but screw that noise.
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May 15, 2015 06:39
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I think I've been skating around it, but someone on youtube asked a very interesting question. When do we save? And that's probably another dickish move on the game's part, because we can only save during area transitions. There are no magic computers and no easy passwords to enter; so pretty much when we transitioned from the sewers into the mesh, there would have been no opportunities to save. And heaven forbid if you decided to be a Billy Badass and push forward without Naomi or saving....cause you could easily get hosed.Mraagvpeine posted:It depends on what this new partner can offer. Unless it's better than detecting monsters I say stick with Naomi. If you guys really want to be spoiled though on who the partners can be, it's kinda shown in the attract mode movie. Also we were given a hint either way by the frightening claymation man before enterting the bar.
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May 15, 2015 18:18
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Mraagvpeine posted:Does this game have multiple endings? And if so, does who you have as a partner influence them in any significant way? VVVVV While I never mean to enforce my stupid episode titles, I'm in full support of people's goofy nicknames. And possibly questioning why everyone (and I do mean literally everyone has one in the TokyoMesh). I'd be 'Hilly' Dunderson. discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 00:09 on May 16, 2015 |
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May 16, 2015 00:05
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So the current tally is 6 to get a new partner and 4 to keep Naomi at this point. It's closer than I would have imagined, but its reasonable to want to be nice. Really from all the LP's I saw of this on youtube, most people did choose to stick with Naomi because of her basic utility but who knows what the other people might bring.Brought To You By posted:Little late but during the first episode, I'd fallen asleep my first time through and woke up when Razzo first showed up. Trying to parse what was going on while looking at that cutscene was an incredibly surreal experience.
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May 16, 2015 19:09
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 Nothing can or will stop the updates from coming. Not even my love of smooth and precious marathon men. yokaiy posted:
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May 20, 2015 18:05
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Demicol posted:I don't remember if you mentioned it in the first episode, but what actually happens if you run too much? Do you just drop dead or run out of "stamina" and can't run anymore for a while? StarkRavingMad posted:See? Our new companion seems...great.
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May 21, 2015 17:46
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So I've been feeling a bit under the weather for most of this week, so I haven't gotten around to a new update but I did have a little bit of time to check out something else. Namely, what might happen if we decided to check out those stairs with our new buddy Kamiya.... It goes as well as you expect. Also decided to see what happens when you run for too long and it thankfully doesn't kill you, it just completely cements you in place while this goes on:  And finally I also found out that I shouldn't press Start and Select at the same time in this game cause it'll just boot me back to the main menu. All great things to keep in mind.
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May 23, 2015 19:53
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 As we head deeper and deeper into the depths of the TokyoMesh, it only becomes more and more evident that the only sane people down here might be us and Razzo. Also it's decision time again! So far our serial killer pal is being a bit of a useless, stick in the mud and we are going to have a chance soon to replace him. So do we keep Wesker for Fuckers or do we roll the dice in hopes for a brighter, less sociopathic future? Mr. Sunabouzu posted:Kamiya looks like Wesker For Fuckers with sunglasses on. Also I had no idea you could die at the staircase because why the gently caress would you ever go back there. Finally, the group that made this game for Atlus did have one other game and I'm wondering if it'd be worth showing off in some sort of bonus video because it's A.) just as weird as this poo poo and B.) completely in Japanese.
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May 24, 2015 23:19
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RealSovietBear posted:Bunch of Japanese PS1/PS2 games did this. I know plenty of fighters had L1+L2+R1+R2+Select+Start as a soft reset that boots you in the main menu. Some JRPGs also had it I think.  Hellnight Bonus Video: Let's Try deSPIRIA Well if you like esoteric, then boy howdy...is this it. I don't know why this aggravated me so much, but I could have sworn it wouldn't take as long to get to combat. Hopefully I don't sound too angry, cause I think I was. But yeah, this is apparently the plot of the game: MobyGames posted:deSpiria is an RPG adventure that takes place in the futuristic Japan of 2070. Twenty-two years after the World War III, an organization known as Church has taken power. You play as Allure Valentine, a girl who was recruited by the Church as an undercover agent. On one of her missions, Allure boards a train that crashes shortly thereafter. Her first task will be to find a way out of the underground tunnel and to discover who or what was behind that crash. And yeah, I vaguely remember more complex button combinations to reset games. Start and select just seems way too simple to reset the game.
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May 25, 2015 11:53
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^^^^^^^^ This will answer your wondering if it's a good or bad game:  yokaiy posted:I think we should prove to Kamiya that he's right about us not being prey like the rest of the people down here by preying on him. Kill him and every other partner off until we hopefully get Razzo as a partner. But all that aside, I wonder what you guys think of that weird quiz. Like were there supposed to be any deeper meaning or was it just odd busy work? Also I like the idea that Rhys is in this world to steal toys from babies and in case we gave the headphones to Mika. It's nice that the game covers whatever possibilities we might stumble into and if it were possible, I'd walk back to those damned stairs with every future NPC only to see what happens. discworld is all I read fucked around with this message at 04:30 on May 26, 2015 |
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May 26, 2015 04:18
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It's odd that the 'Yatagarasu' being a mark of guidance in Japanese culture has an parallel in Greek culture. Apparently in Greek culture, the crow was originally white but was turned black by Apollo (the Greek god of prophecy and healing), so it seems there's multiple instances in different cultures of the crow being a mixed omen. That it's both cunning and treacherous, prophecy and death. I guess the main problem with the quiz is that there's no hints initially that you're meant to be inclined to answer in an 'evil' manner. Just seems a bit of an odd assumption. Mr. Sunabouzu posted:I just want you to know that 6 hours into deSpiria and will not stop until this videogame has run out of videogame. It isn't getting any better in case you were wondering.
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May 26, 2015 08:34
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Mr. Sunabouzu posted:deSpiria update: I want to die but I think i'm halfway through.
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May 27, 2015 07:40
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Mr. Sunabouzu posted:Nope straight up playing it. I can read a kindergarten level of Japanese. I've run into someone that can only be described as 12-year-old-cool catwoman. I am losing my goddamned mind but I refuse to stop now.
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May 27, 2015 08:52
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 I have no idea how we're almost finished with this game and still have no idea what's going on. Also this game is still poo poo at explaining game mechanics...the NPC attack button is the same as the NPC talk button.
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Jun 1, 2015 06:27
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D_W posted:Maybe I'm crazy, but that map had the Eastern block to the west and the Western block to the east. I was trying to figured out if the map was actually upside down on the screen the whole episode. It's really bizarre. This area is certainly not OSHA approved. But I think I can probably check to see what happens if Kamiya and Ivanoff meet, but I don't think it's anything super interesting. Like I doubt they have a gun fight or anything, though I do fully admit that knowing exactly how any situation in this game will work out is a crap shoot; case in point when Kamiya just murders that NPC. Mr. Sunabouzu posted:Wait a good goddamn minute there's an attack button? I guess maybe that's the point of keeping kamiya around. I mean what could Naomi have possibly done to the monster. Red Bones posted:I'm surprised that you're almost finished, one of the related videos for your most recent one was part 82 of someone else's hellnight LP. Case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TmJzovxaFY
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Jun 1, 2015 18:02
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Also there were a couple of things that I meant to mention in the video itself, but first...the Research area. Now I mostly did streamline that entire affair but I can't express enough how much of that place is a waste of time. There are multiple labs and rooms that are just collective dead ends meant to have you running around pointlessly in that semi maze and all the while, every time you enter one of these pointless rooms that guy will pop up behind you. And oh no, he won't pop up to give useful info; instead he'll always pop up, say he knows you're looking for Miyake, say that he's not in 'x' room, and that he wishes you good luck. Then he pops off into the ether leaving you wondering what his point is outside of being a super vague clue (the clue being that if he doesn't appear then you've found the one right room). Now even while that's frustrating and lovely, meandering design, I still appreciate the fact that they gave the player multiple options of approaching a situation. Like let's say that you did give the headphones to 'Natural' Mika, well obviously you couldn't go to Tetsuo but the game gives you a second option in the form of the rear end in a top hat Rhys (who still stinks). It's at least giving some small variance to how you can approach a situation, though it ends up being a bit confusing to leave the NPC's behind even though they will invariably do gently caress all for you. But I can at least respect the effort. And finally, I did miss a conversation in the livestock area with Razzo; not sure if anyone would want to see it but I could go back and get some screenshots of it so you guys can get the gist of it.
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Jun 4, 2015 04:49
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yokaiy posted:I'd be interested, unless it's a huge pain in the rear end. And nah, it wouldn't be too hard to get the conversation; I've got multiple saves going on. Hopefully I'll also get the next update recorded and done over the weekend. Limopalise posted:For the first time I'm tempted to say keep Ivanoff, because he's a cool dude with a flamethrower grenade launcher out for revenge. I'd like to see his story pan out, personally.
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Jun 6, 2015 01:39
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 Hellnight Bonus 4: Quality time with Razzo Sorry this took a bit of time but I was wanting to get together the footage for the next part and boy howdy...was it frustrating. But yeah, just a short bonus video for a missed conversation with Razzo (because everyone loves this little ummmmm orphan?) and I decided to see if Ivanoff and Kamiya had any special dialogue for their meeting. They kinda do and it brings up an interesting question of possibly Kamiya turning into the monster.
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Jun 7, 2015 09:18
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yokaiy posted:Well, good thing we killed Kamiya off when we had the chance, then.
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Jun 7, 2015 20:49
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Also, thank you, Razzo, that was actually quite helpful.
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 So it turns out that the game was an rear end in a top hat all along. Also for the vote this time around we've got something a bit different. Now we do see that we meet a new partner in this video but pretty soon we'll be meeting our final, possible partner. So this time around do we want to keep Ivanoff, try out Rene, or see what's behind door number 3. Either way, I'll try to make a bonus video to show off which ever partner might not be shown, so we will get to see them in some fashion; but for this last final bit they suddenly decide to quickly throw
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Jun 8, 2015 08:44
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Mr. Sunabouzu posted:deSpiria watch update: Finished it. Would heartily recommend if you want to experience just how close you can push yourself to insanity. Red Bones posted:Door number 3! Let's see who else this game has to show us.
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Jun 8, 2015 23:16
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Alright so far it's 4 votes for option 3 and 3 votes for Ivanoff. It's a lot closer than I would have expected, though I'm saddened no one wants Rene to come along. Apparently though she has a pretty low ammo count, and currently I think Ivanoff still has like 13 shots left which should hopefully be fine for the rest of the game. Also I still really feel the need to point out how much of a dick move the cd-rom is. For the most part the game is pretty good with forcing you to get plot necessary items or having workarounds for things (such as getting trapped by a conveyor belt and needing Kajiwara to begrudgingly open a gate for you), but oh no....not that cd-rom. And the worst part about it is that you could easily overwrite a previous save you have from the second floor and have absolutely no way to go back and get the item you need. You are just stuck and have to replay through the entire game in hopes of finding this easily missable item. An item that doesn't even really seem to help with solving the puzzle it's connected to. Like seriously, maybe the puzzle makes sense in Japanese but there doesn't seem to be a clear answer at all to that puzzle.
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Jun 10, 2015 04:53
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 Open the door....to your mystery date.
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Jun 14, 2015 03:49
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Limopalise posted:Man, all that Hive stuff kinda came out of left field. D_W posted:Ah a video game classic. The flesh level. So many games in the 90's had them. They have seen to fallen out of favor sometime around the mid 00's though. yokaiy posted:Okay, I think the weird robot-bug-saiyan friend was the proper choice for our final partner, even if he kind of wants to kill us a little bit. Also, the Hive seems pretty cool, and it's a neat take on the whole flesh-level thing. The butterfly-wing pillars in the Reactor Heart were especially cool. edit: Also you guys are missing out on the best anime ever 
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Jun 14, 2015 07:26
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 This was all originally going to be a single video but I didn't want to overwhelm you guys with 50 minutes of ummmm this?
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Jun 20, 2015 20:06
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yokaiy posted:This game is really bizarre. An alien hive crash landed to earth a long rear end time ago, when it crashed their leader was spread out into the atmosphere to later reform. During this eon long reformation, this alien culture sets up a very bizarre means of collecting their leader's fragments and feeding themselves by creating this psuedo religion to gather up sacrifices (which was the Holy Ring). And the final step in their master plan is the unleashing of the Dark Messiah, which is kind of the Dark Prince without all the necessary pieces but is pretty much the harbinger of the end times for a species that is the target of this alien hive....because apparently this isn't the first planet to be visited by the hive? I don't know, it's a bit vague on that end. It definitely all comes out of left field after the initial cult/trapped in the TokyoMesh/hologram baby, but hey, at least it's somewhat different than cult manufactures a hell beast for no real reason. A bit more of this is covered in the final video but the final area is a bit of a mixed bag....a lovely, lovely mixed bag.
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Jun 22, 2015 06:31
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Limopalise posted:I'm surprised but very glad of the turn the art direction in this game took. The TokyoMesh was getting pretty bland.  See if you can guess why I won't be playing this game multiple times for all the endings (I'll put a link to someone who has them all uploaded).
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Jun 22, 2015 10:14
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D_W posted:Oof That ending area. They must have been really pressed for time in development for it to end up like that. It seems like this game's story was a bit too ambitious for it's budget. This is the video with all the endings (apparently we got a 'Bad' ending I suppose because we died in the elevator?). It seems the most obvious and different ending is with Kamiya where he allows the Dark Prince to be reborn, while the good endings are seem to involve getting to the surface and seeing where generic looking building models. Personally I didn't mind the ending where we get caught up in a nuke because I doubt I'd wanted to live in a world without my Wandering friend. Also that area with the screams and sound effects is somewhat interesting, albeit super janky. Basically there are triggers in the hallways which queue sound effects to play, so as you're going through you'll here strange screams and monster sounds....but the problem is that you can constantly walk over these triggers and just get constantly repeating scream sound effects when you get lost down infinite tunnel #690. So what could be an interesting idea, especially for the PS1 era of games, becomes super tedious as it goes on way, way too long. CremePudding posted:The game really doesn't look fun to play, given the huge amount of walking in long corridors and terribly designed puzzles, and copy and paste at the very climax.
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Jun 22, 2015 18:22
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Man, this game has an entire novel of content that they wanted to shove secretly into the last 1/10th of the game. Some of it seems super interesting and out of left field, but it makes me wonder if there was supposed to be more to it and they just ran out of time. I mean, it seems like if maybe they had just allowed the player to select a specific team mate at the start and letting them learn over the course of the game about the character it might have worked better (like if through fateful encounter they all ended up on the subway together and ended up down in the subway, with the player splitting up with one of them while the others went their separate ways?). Still I do appreciate the effort and hope that my romp wasn't that painful (I was kinda running out of poo poo to say in the hive end areas...that didn't involve me saying how stupid everything was). Also since you played the game yourself, how did you feel about your experience once it was done?
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Jul 30, 2015 02:55
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 06:04 |
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It always warms my heart to know that my LP might have pushed people to play a game and enjoy it. And ya know, I think Chris' site was how I first learned of the game so long ago as well. Or maybe it was hardcore gaming; either site is pretty useful for finding out new obscure games. Hopefully though this should be added to the archives at some point. Also in case anyone missed it or was in the mood for more odd horror, I did just finish an LP of a PS2 FMV horror game: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3730843
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Aug 20, 2015 07:18
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