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Let's Play NieR: Episode 30: Man, Fuck The Junk Heap

RentRent I'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
edited June 2011 in Games and Technology
Most recent episode: Episode 30: Man, Fuck The Junk Heap Viddler blip direct download


So.

NieR.

This game is fucking amazing.

Like seriously.

But it really doesn't matter because like NOBODY played it. At all.

Not that I blame you, of course. I mean it's a critically panned SQUARE ENIX game. How badly do you have to suck to be a critically panned Square Enix game?

dirge-of-cerberus-logo.jpg

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Back to NieR.

My game of the year for 2010, probably. Which is saying something, since VC2 came out last year and if you know anything about me I was waiting for that game for like three fuckin' years.

What is NieR?

NieR is an action-JRPG developed by the "good" (I use that term for lack of a better word. I guess "twisted" would be more apropros) folks over at Cavia, which was a development studio owned by the Enix side of Square-Enix before they merged. I say "was" because Cavia the studio got officially folded after NieR was released.

Cavia is an...infamous development studio. They develop very...very weird fucking games. Like completely bizarre.

How weird are we talking here? Well, let's take a look at their recent "hits":
600full-drakengard-cover.jpg
Deadaim.jpg
Drakengard-2.jpg
bulletwitch.jpg

So....yeah. Weird games with super depressing and nonsensical storylines and characters is kind of their thing. For instance, Drakengard has a cannibal elf, a pedophile, and incest as fucking plot points. Just as a, you know, taste of what's to come.

Could you guess what other thing all these previous games had in common? Yeah, they're all fucking awful piece of shit games. That's Cavia's other claim to "fame": making horrible, horrible games that are absolutely no fun to play. At all.

But NieR...NieR is different. It's Cavia's greatest work to date, and is so unparalleled in the things it does right (story, characters, plot, dialog, voice acting, music, player immersion) that the things it does wrong, or not too well, can be safely ignored. It seriously is a game that is so, so much more than the sum of its parts, and I love it to pieces.

So, because most of y'all are probably scared away by it's shitty review scores or its surface appearance as a "bad game", I'm going to LP it.

Well, not just me. My good friend Earwig Squad is along for the ride as well.

Tell me more about NieR

Well, okay. NieR was developed by Cavia as a direct sequel to a game they previously made, Drakengard-

wait wait wait I most def see a "Drakengard 2" up there buddy

That's the thing.

Drakengard 1 has five endings: endings A, B, C, D, and E. Ending A was the ending that Cavia took to be the "canon" one when they made Drakengard 2.

For NieR, however...they took ending E of Drakengard to be the ending leading to the beginning of NieR.

So in other words, less confusingly:
Drakengardgenealogy.png

So, yeah. One game has two completely different direct sequels. Pretty cool.

Oh man I don't know shit about Drakengard

Well, you're in luck. SA LPer The Dark Id completed an LP of Drakengard about a year ago, and you can view it here. I would suggest you do, because in addition to fully fleshing out the backstory of NieR it's a very, very good LP. Just fantastic, really.

A word of advice, however- if you're going to be reading both his LP of Drakengard and watching my LP of NieR concurrently, I would advise you to read up to the point of ending E of Drakengard, then wait until I post Ending A of NieR, then read/watch ending E of Drakengard and then right after watch ending A of Nier. It should make ending A a bit less confusing for you.

If that all sounds like way too much effort for you, don't worry, I intend on making a "how Drakengard links to NieR" video after posting ending A of NieR. So you should get it either way.

A note about spoilers in this thread. This is your only warning.

Do not, Do not under any circumstances, DO NOT SPOIL THE EVENTS OF NIER. Do. Not. Do. It.

Again, in big bold huge red font:
DO NOT POST SPOILERS, SPOILED OR UNSPOILED, ABOUT NIER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM

I define spoilers as "anything not previously shown or explained in an LP video".

This includes but is not limited to: linking spoilers (this includes a certain book), spoilering spoilers, remarking them offhand, saying a spoiler then saying in defense "But everyone has already heard about it anyways!"

Don't do it. Don't even think about it. Oh, and all of the above? Directly applies to any and all events in Drakengard which could be a spoiler for the events of NieR


Why am I so anal about this? Three reasons:
  • 1. Because the plot is just that good. I am 100% serious about this.
  • 2. Because we have a thread for all the spoilery discussion of NieR you want (oh by the way, any people unfamiliar to the events of NieR should avoid this thread, it's got some pretty lax spoiler measures in it.)
  • 3. Because (and this builds into my second point), it seems like in most to all other threads that start a NieR discussion within them, people start dropping REALLY BIG spoilers about it as if it ain't no thing. I don't get what makes this game so prone to people inadvertently spoilering it but I'm not tolerating it in this thread.

If any of you are unsure what exactly is and isn't a spoiler for you to post, I would advise you to not post it.

Let me give you an example of how seriously I take the "post no spoilers" to be.

This is what I consider a spoiler (NOTE THIS IS AN ACTUAL SPOILER PEOPLE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE GAME PLEASE DON'T CLICK IT):
OH HURF DURF DURF KAINES A HERMAPHRODITE HOW HILARIOUS HURF DURF DURF

Seriously. It doesn't matter that "everybody already read/heard about it!". Don't post anything even close to that.

What's your format here

Videos, each roughly 30 minutes long, recorded in stunning HIGH DEFINITION. Voice commentary.

For those of you unfamiliar with our setup I'm the one who plays through the games having already played them and have an asperger's amount of knowledge about them, and Earwig Squad is the funny one who is going into the game completely blind and really he's carrying this LP I'm just some guy who knows too much about video games god I'm so lame

Oh by the by, we've done an lp before. It was Alan Wake. SELF PROMOTION HOOOOOO!

Video hosts are Viddler, blip, and direct download.

A note about direct downloading: if you do it (and I advise you do because holy fuck does Viddler's encoder suck), you're direct downloading from blip, which the file in a flash video (.flv). It's actually not a flash video- it's a renamed .mp4 to flv extension, because blip autoconverts all files that aren't flv to flv and their autoconverter is like the worst thing in the world so to save time I just rename the extension.

You have two options here: either download an FLV player (or use one that can play .flvs), or, the much easier solution, just rename the extension from .flv to .mp4. It works either way.

Another couple of notes. If you saw our last LP and are a bit worried as to the technical proficiency of this one, your fears are assuaged. This isn't gonna be like the first six or so videos of the AW LP (that is to say, an audio fiasco), for two reasons: 1) I got new video editing software since then, and 2) most importantly, I'm waaaaaaaaaay less retarded than I was then.

Secondly, if you saw our last LP, a note about this one-this LP is NOT post commentary. It's live. There's a couple of reasons I decided to do this, chief of which is that NieR is a game due to certain (unique, spoilery) reasons can only work, in my opinion, as a live LP, and not post. Plus, I wanted to try something new.

There gonna be any other video hosts bro

Fuck YouTube. That being said, I'm willing to listen to whatever suggestions people have for alternative hosts that aren't YouTube because again, fuck YouTube. So send them to me, as long as it's not YouTube.
I'll see what I can do.

Will you be 100% the game

No. I will get all the endings, I will do all the sidequests (except one- people who've played the game know which one it is), but that's it. I do not have the time or inclination to get all the trophies etc. Because uh, I already beat the game four times, beating it four times more is pushing it.

Basically this runthrough is a 100% of the plot runthrough. That's how you can look at it.

Will you play the DLC

Don't have it, can't afford it, so probably not.

god your lp sucks you suck Rent

As always I love criticism, the harsher the better. So be ruthless- tell me exactly what you do and don't like and I'll try to change to compensate.

That being said if you really don't enjoy my LP, you're in luck. The Dark Id (the guy I linked earlier) just started an LP of NieR on Something Awful. Here it is. It's pretty fantastic, I'd advise you check it out regardless (Be warned- there's spoilers for the ending of Drakengard/beginning of NieR there, though).

My dearest hope is wherever you find it, that people viewing this thread will be enticed enough to experience the story of NieR in some way. Because it is just so, so fantastic.

Or right and before I forget I update every other day.

LESS TALK MORE VIDEOS

THE VIDEOS

NieR Opening Movie-Abridged (Completely Spoiler Free- Either watch this or the Unabridged version first): Viddler blip [url=
http://blip.tv/file/get/Itsrent-NierOpeningMovieAbridged475.flv]direct download[/url]

NieR Opening Movie (Watch this first): Viddler blip direct download
Episode 1: Snow in Summer: Viddler blip direct download
Episode 2: Village Viddler blip [url=
http://blip.tv/file/get/Itsrent-LetsPlayNieREpisode2Village447.mp4]direct download[/url]

Episode 3: The Incomplete Stone Viddler blip [url=
http://blip.tv/file/get/Itsrent-LetsPlayNieREpisode3TheIncompleteStone101.flv]direct download[/url]

Episode 4: Blu-Bird Viddler blip [url=
http://blip.tv/file/get/Itsrent-LetsPlayNieREpisode4BluBird430.flv
]direct download[/url]

Episode 5: Cold Steel Coffin Viddler blip direct download
Episode 6: Kaine/Salvation Viddler blip direct download
Episode 6 Bonus: Viddler blip direct download
Episode 7: Sidequestin' Viddler blip direct download
Episode 8: The Wretched Automatons Viddler blip [url=http://blip.tv/file/get/Itsrent-LetsPlayNieREpisode8TheWretchedAutomatons619.flv
]direct download[/url]

Episode 9: Junk Heap, pt. 2 Viddler blip [url=http://blip.tv/file/get/Itsrent-LetsPlayNieREpisode9JunkHeapPt2240.flv
]direct download[/url]

Episode 10: City of Commerce Viddler blip direct download
Episode 11: Grandma Viddler blip direct download
Episode 12: The Prestigious Mask Viddler blip direct download
Episode 13: Temple of Drifting Sands Viddler blip direct download
Episode 14: Vin Diesel's Greatest Fantasy Viddler blip direct download
Episode 15: The Lost Forest Viddler blip direct download
Episode 16: Sidequestin', pt. 2 Viddler blip direct download
Episode 17: Sidequestin', pt. 3 blip Viddlerdirect download
Episode 18: Sidequestin', pt. 4 Viddler blip direct download
Episode 19: Sidequestin', pt. 5 Viddler blip direct download
Episode 20: Sidequestin', pt. 6 Viddler blip direct download
Episode 21: Sidequestin', pt. 7 Viddler blip direct download
Episode 22: The Ultimate Weapon Viddler blip direct download
Episode 23: The Dark Colossus Destroys All Viddler blip direct download
Episode 24: Song of the Ancients Viddler blip direct download
Episode 25: Epic Video Time Viddler blip direct download
Episode 26: A Beaucoup Box of Boss Battles Viddler blip direct download
Episode 27: The Magic of Spears Viddler blip direct download
Episode 28: Rent Sucks At This Game Viddler blip direct download
Episode 29: emot-smith.gifViddler blip direct download
Episode 30: Man, Fuck The Junk Heap Viddler blip direct download

Rent on
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Posts

  • AdusAdus Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Four and a half minutes to start the game!?

    Tsk tsk.

    Adus on
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Holy shit those guys made BULLET WITCH?

    That game was weird and fun in a "terrible yet fun" way.

    Klyka on
    SC2 EU ID Klyka.110
    lTDyp.jpg
  • RisenPhoenixRisenPhoenix SUPER HOTRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Your crazy description makes me want to play this.

    I think I'll watch a few episodes and see if it's something I might enjoy.

    RisenPhoenix on
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Btw, those are some HUGE ASS pictures in the OP.

    Klyka on
    SC2 EU ID Klyka.110
    lTDyp.jpg
  • PancakePancake Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent, your OP is awful. It's huge and the images are huge and all of disparate size. It's so long that I missed that there were actually videos there at the end the first time I looked at it.

    It's a good thing you don't care about presentation.

    Pancake on
    wAgWt.jpg
  • TrynantTrynant Maniac Brawler Rank 20.100 and full WildRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent

    I'm going to take the notes and have the criticisms. All the criticisms.
    Yeah totally looking forward to this.

    EDIT:

    And yeah Pancake's at least somewhat right. You might want to consider putting the videos first in the OP (or at least right after the NO SPOILERS warning).

    Trynant on
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    The game itself seems kind of interesting from what I've seen so far. I'll keep an eye out for this LP.

    Rhan9 on
  • surrealitychecksurrealitycheck lonely, but not unloved dreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Oh Rent I wish I was a bro of yours so we could bro together in Bromania

    surrealitycheck on
    obF2Wuw.png
  • DragonatrixDragonatrix Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent wrote: »
    Most recent video: NieR Opening Movie (Watch this first)

    [...]

    DO NOT POST SPOILERS, SPOILED OR UNSPOILED, ABOUT NIER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM

    Funny how you recommend people watch the opening, which is riddled with massive ass spoilers, before anything else AND ask for no spoilers posted at all in the same post. That's... something all right.

    Dragonatrix on
    k0ysz.jpg
  • EdS25EdS25 Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent wrote: »
    Most recent video: NieR Opening Movie (Watch this first)

    [...]

    DO NOT POST SPOILERS, SPOILED OR UNSPOILED, ABOUT NIER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM

    Funny how you recommend people watch the opening, which is riddled with massive ass spoilers, before anything else AND ask for no spoilers posted at all in the same post. That's... something all right.

    I agree with this 100%. If you have not seen this trailer and have interest in playing the game yourself or going into this Let's Play blind, skip it.

    EdS25 on
    Currently Playing : FE:Awakening, AC:NL
  • ZealotZealot Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Amusingly enough, Dark Id started his own Lp of this just a few days ago.

    Zealot on
    steam_sig.png
  • TrynantTrynant Maniac Brawler Rank 20.100 and full WildRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent mentioned Dark Id, Zealot.

    So one issue I have with your first video is that you positioned the microphone in such a way that Earwig Squad came in really quiet. You could possibly position your mic so that it's closer to ES; your voice came in loud enough that some volume could be sacrificed.

    And it's kinda weird to end the video where you did. I mean, it would seem to make more sense to end it at the tutorial rather than where you did.

    That's all I got for now.

    Trynant on
  • ZuldaneZuldane Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I've had this one on the shelf for about 2 months now, picked it up for $15 from Amazon one day. Been really looking forward to playing it, because I fucking LOVED Drakengard 1 and 2. Just had other things that keep coming along (Assassin's Creed, Castlevania, etc.). But I will have beaten this by the end of February.

    Zuldane on
    Zuldane.png
  • Transdimensional WhaleTransdimensional Whale Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Nier is a great game even if reviewers did hate it, having two LPs going at once is a good thing to me.

    Oh look I misspelled something. And while I'm editing, I do agree telling people to watch the opening video is a bad idea. I watched it when I started the game and kicked myself for it for like an hour.

    Transdimensional Whale on
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator mod
    edited January 2011
    Huh. Guess who just ordered it for $cheap.

    I was interested in it when it got released, but then I forgot all about it until now.

    Echo on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I always wanted to play Bullet Witch. Silly 360 exclusivity.

    cj iwakura on
    wVEsyIc.png
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    I always wanted to play Bullet Witch. Silly 360 exclusivity.

    I bought it when it came out.

    The last boss is the biggest video game troll I have ever seen.

    Klyka on
    SC2 EU ID Klyka.110
    lTDyp.jpg
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I like bullets, I like witches, it's like the game was made for me.

    I'll have to settle for Shikigami's Fumiko until I get a 360.

    cj iwakura on
    wVEsyIc.png
  • KlykaKlyka DO you have any SPARE BATTERIES?Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    When I first heard about Bayonetta I immediately thought about Bullet Witch.

    I think I was the only person in the world to do so.

    Klyka on
    SC2 EU ID Klyka.110
    lTDyp.jpg
  • VistiVisti Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Looking forward to this one, even though I just got the game.

    Visti on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • ronzoronzo Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    There is some really, really annoying voice echo. It's like a backround bass rumble a split second after either of you say something

    otherwise it looks pretty good

    ronzo on
  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    EdS25 wrote: »
    Rent wrote: »
    Most recent video: NieR Opening Movie (Watch this first)

    [...]

    DO NOT POST SPOILERS, SPOILED OR UNSPOILED, ABOUT NIER IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM

    Funny how you recommend people watch the opening, which is riddled with massive ass spoilers, before anything else AND ask for no spoilers posted at all in the same post. That's... something all right.

    I agree with this 100%. If you have not seen this trailer and have interest in playing the game yourself or going into this Let's Play blind, skip it.
    Oh look I misspelled something. And while I'm editing, I do agree telling people to watch the opening video is a bad idea. I watched it when I started the game and kicked myself for it for like an hour.

    Here's the thing

    Although yes, I agree to a certain extent where you guys are coming from, and tbh I understand your concerns, but I fundamentally disagree with them

    Mostly because the events that the Nier opening movie show won't really spoil the viewer unless it's explicitly pointed out that the events in the opening movie are spoilers. By the time the spoilery events in the intro even come to pass you're like 15-20 hours in the game

    I mean I know I must've watched the opening movie like every time the game started up and was still taken completely by surprise by every plot twist in the game

    Secondly this is what the game shows you when you start it up. Like, before you press any buttons, this is what is played. I disagree with the notion that some images from a 3 and a half minute movie are at all equivalent to the example of a spoiler I posted in the OP (which you can see people discuss unspoilered in any thread that mentions Nier, even though it's a major plot point)

    Thirdly and finally I don't know if the music in the opening movie is played anywhere else and it's pretty baller so I'd like people to hear it

    That all being said, I'm working on an abridged, completely spoiler-free version of the intro movie

    It should be up within the next hour or so

    Rent on
  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Yeah by hour i meant like

    12 minutes

    NieR Opening Movie-Abridged (Completely Spoiler Free- Either watch this or the Unabridged version first): Viddler blip [url=
    http://blip.tv/file/get/Itsrent-NierOpeningMovieAbridged475.flv]direct download[/url]

    Rent on
  • vagrant_windsvagrant_winds Overworked Mysterious Eldritch Horror Hunter XX Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Oh hell yes. Thank you for doing this Rent.

    vagrant_winds on
    // Steam: VWinds // PSN: vagrant_winds //
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  • PancakePancake Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Your OP is better now, Rent.

    Pancake on
    wAgWt.jpg
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Well. I sure did watch and read all the Drakenguard LP today.

    captaink on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    My condolences.

    cj iwakura on
    wVEsyIc.png
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    You also forgot Cavia's tour de force this gen, Claire's ass in RE: Darkside Chronicles.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    cj iwakura wrote: »
    My condolences.

    Yeah, uh. At least I never played it.

    I mean the quality of the LP is good, but what an awful-seeming game.

    captaink on
  • KainyKainy Pimpin' and righteous Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent, while I disagree with you on Drakengard, I'm glad there'll be a thorough LP of NieR by someone who really cares about the game and its story.

    I'll be watching!

    Kainy on
    IcyLiquid wrote: »
    There's anti-fuckery code in there now :) Sorry :)
  • Zen VulgarityZen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Fucking Drakengard.

    Zen Vulgarity on
  • Zen VulgarityZen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Actually Rent

    The beginning movie is fucking

    Spoilertastic

    I don't think you should have ever showed that

    Zen Vulgarity on
  • TrynantTrynant Maniac Brawler Rank 20.100 and full WildRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Actually Rent

    The beginning movie is fucking

    Spoilertastic

    I don't think you should have ever showed that

    So, I take it you didn't read his post then?

    Also, as someone who has never played Nier I can say that I have no idea what the fuck is going on in the intro.

    Trynant on
  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    I liked what I saw in Kaseius' stream a lot.

    I'm actually first in line on Goozex for this game, but I haven't taken myself off hold yet.

    cooljammer00 on
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    3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
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  • Zen VulgarityZen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    No that was too much to read other than not to spoil anything in big bold letters.

    Zen Vulgarity on
  • Shady3011Shady3011 Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Pancake wrote: »
    Your OP is better now, Rent.

    I don't know what version 1.0 looked like, but it's still way too fucking cluttered for my tastes. Also, there is something to be said about brevity.

    Shady3011 on
  • Zen VulgarityZen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent just so you know I'm actually not going to go through The Dark Id's playthrough just to watch yours.

    Zen Vulgarity on
  • PancakePancake Registered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Shady3011 wrote: »
    Pancake wrote: »
    Your OP is better now, Rent.

    I don't know what version 1.0 looked like, but it's still way too fucking cluttered for my tastes. Also, there is something to be said about brevity.

    It is still too cluttered, sure, but it used to have these giant, irregularly sized pictures just hanging out all over the place and it made it like five times longer and worse to look at.

    Pancake on
    wAgWt.jpg
  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent just so you know I'm actually not going to go through The Dark Id's playthrough just to watch yours.

    you don't have to

    I'm just sayin' it helps to understand the backstory of NieR if you know the events of Drakengard

    either way I'll fully explain how Drakengard connects to Nier at the appropriate time

    I'll put a video up or something

    Rent on
  • Zen VulgarityZen Vulgarity What a lovely day for tea Secret British ThreadRegistered User regular
    edited January 2011
    Rent wrote: »
    Rent just so you know I'm actually not going to go through The Dark Id's playthrough just to watch yours.

    you don't have to

    I'm just sayin' it helps to understand the backstory of NieR if you know the events of Drakengard

    either way I'll fully explain how Drakengard connects to Nier at the appropriate time

    I'll put a video up or something

    No he's LPing Nier now too

    So

    I'm saying I'm choosing you

    My dear

    Dear friend

    Zen Vulgarity on
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