Tales of Arise Beyond the Dawn DLC - review

Atleast they made new camp menu images...

  Since Bamco decided to a very belated DLC episode/expansion for Tales of Arise

I did have some mixed feelings since it had been so long BUT since

I really liked the main characters I decided to just get it anyway!

Honestly it was really nice to just see everyone again...

I remember the ending of the original made me really warm and fuzzy

so I was kind of apprehensive at some story set before the end credits.

 

If I had to be really honest I am not really fond of DLC this late after the launch

of a single player RPG. I basically thought Arise was done... yet here we are!

this felt so weird and so out of left field that at this point i'd expect a new tales of

to be announced and not a DLC for a two year old game, wtf bamco?!

 

Pro's

- Fun character interactions.

- Decent story about Nazamil.

 

Con's

- Recycled bosses and hardly any new ones.

- Half the stuff doesn't even carry over from the main game, so relearn/reforge etc.

- No proper epilogue for Alphen's busywork.

The story mostly focuses on a girl named Nazamil, I had a soft spot for her quickly...

she has been through some shit alright and she is also a kid still so I couldn't

be too hard on her. Some aspects of the story like the rifts between the Dahnan and

Rena peoples were kind of cheesy and predictable... but cheesy is how I remembered

my tales of arise so I didn't mind it that much. I personally loved the skits

and character interactions which was basically what pulled me through the DLC

after I initially put it on hold till I felt like I wanted to see the gang again.

More rambles after the jump, I won't be detailing the plot much but there are screenshots.

Yakuza 1 Kiwami - Review

 Genre: Adventure/action.
Developer/publisher: Sega
Platform: PS4/pc.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 29-8-2017.

 

I decided to continue working on my backlog and decided its back to yakuza

to follow the adventures of Kiryu-chan! I casually added Y1&2 kiwami to my backlog

from a psn sale after finishing Y0, since I thought why not? why should I not

try to make my way through the mountain of yakuza games? however I won't be doing

a marathon and will go through it when I think the time is right to visit Kamurocho again.

Since I don't like brawlers I played on easy from the start with gore set to mild

hmmm? seems this is becoming a tradition! Also most of my screenshots

are funny things from sub stories or Majima in general.

Pro's

- Good for an ''origin story'' of the first ever Yakuza game but not much else.

- Majima is annoying but also a delight.

- Plenty of optional content like minigames and substories.

- Combat was good, I actually used brawler stance more in this game compared to Y0.

Con's

- Why the hell did certain substories explain main plot threads? like hello

mainstory is there for a reason???

- Game has story markers but also randomly stops using them in the middle of it all.

- Pretty short compared to Y0.

This review isn't really spoiler free as I did kind of sum up the game in my final thoughts

so you're warned! the rest is just rambles and my experience of the game!

Witch on the Holy Night - Review

Title sceen not much so uh have the box art of the limited run???

 Genre: VN.
Developer/publisher: Type/moon.
Platform: PS4/5/Switch.
Official Site: N/A

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v777

Release date: 08-12-2022.

 

Since BK1 was a bit of a mixed bag I decided to get Mahoyoru as my next game

since I didn't really feel like playing anything else and just want to relax and read!

I wanted to try something different again from the usual otome stuff I sit through.

and Mahoyoru was one of the few options available. I won't post much screenshots

and they're all from before chapter 5 since PS4/5 cuts off capture from that point

so its probably best not to share anything past that point.

 

Pro's

- Good overall plot and great cast of characters.

- Art is gorgeous and bgm fits the mood/tone of the scenes.

- Fun optional sidestories that give side characters their spotlight.

Con's

- Slice of Life scenes can seem like it drags on at times.

- UI can take a bit to get used to if you prefer text boxes.

This game is by the makers of fate/stay night and shares the same universe

but you don't need to read that first or anything and can dive in here just fine

as the story itself has nothing to do with fate and is self-contained.

There are 0 choices in the main story as well so you can just enjoy it without stress.

For some reason they made an optional gag scenario with choices but you can

always use a guide for it if you need it. 

 

TL;DR I thought it was a good VN, some of the characters could

be a bit insufferable but ya know they're teens? most of the time it was just Aoko anyway.

Sadly it seems this game does kind of cut itself short and that they wanted to do more

but haven't gotten around to it, that aside it still was pretty well-rounded & the end was nice.

Can pretty much recommend it to anyone if you like visual novels in general.

More rambles after the jump but its just a little more detail of my experience with the game.

Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean - review

 Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Bamco/tri crescendo/monolith soft.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: N/A

Release date: 14-09-2023.

 

So I decided to get Baten Kaitos remaster for the switch, this contains two games eternal wings

and the lost oceans + origins. I will be playing eternal wings and the lost ocean first.

Also disclaimer: this is all just my personal opinion that got formed while playing the game, it could differ from yours and that is fine we all can't like or agree to everything. This review is relatively

spoiler free, I won't really go into the story at all but I did joke about it at the end of the post.

Pro's

- Interesting world/setting and good story from part 2/disc2 onwards.

- Good BGM.

- Nice QoL features like no encount/1hit KO and auto save.

- Peak boss design because someone in a dev meeting dropped the P word.

Con's

- Story doesn't pick up till later and most characters can seem pretty bland cuz of it.

- Long battles, especially boss fights if you don't know what you're doing.

-Time consuming item change system, also annoying how some degrade when in fact they're just cards.

 

Final stats b4 heading to final dungeon, I skipped some sidequests cuz I couldn't be bothered anymore by the end of it I was lvl 70 cuz the final boss was annoying I bet he hated Avocados and Tea.

 

IMHO it was OK at best for a game from 2005, I did think it was a little cliche and i've

seen it somewhere before and the only really good thing was the lore and environments.

Most of the characters were bland, humor was few, far and between which is a disappointment

cuz character interactions are a necessity in rpg's for me! it also has this whole go collect four/five?

thingitis and the biggest offense is how slow this game is in the first half. Then the second half 

fully kicks in after a certain event and I hate to admit how I was blindsided by it, there were

some things throughout as hints but you'd probably wouldn't think anything of it

and well the game sort of keeps doing it like that.

A timeline of my enjoyment of the game would be like:

Beginning: Ok... Eh.. oh... eh.. OH... meh... eh... oho ok..:End.

Literally this game in a nutshell.

This game has a habit of baiting you with interesting tidbits but never actually letting you get

to know the characters till way later, Xelha is the biggest offense at this since she is the one

with the most potential but also who are you?! all will be explained in due time

but this game can test your patience. I wish there were more character interactions too

there's not much romance either but maybe Xelha liked Kalas? i've played many rpg's and BK1

in terms of romance is almost non-existant so by the end it all felt so flat? like okay that's how it is?

the narrative didn't carry it well enough even though characters did care about someone in that way.

I was not amused that I had to find this all out post final boss along with some other small twist...

Sooo I suppose they had other issues on their minds and honestly a lot of the characters

felt closed off even though they're friends.

 

Next the combat while it seems interesting is slow and boss fights often drag on 

due to having bad hands of cards which you use to attack,defend or heal.

It was neat how the player had a role as guardian spirit but... I just don't get why we have

to play out our turns with cards, it just felt so weird to be suggesting things to the characters.

I think my favorite character was Lyude since I sympathized with him, seconded by Kalas

since he wanted no part in taking on the whole empire LMAO which was such a mood early on

but idk about him in part two that is when I just said whatever mate suit yourself.

Xelha grew on me in part two and ended up being my favorite but everyone else

was pretty much whatever. I understand they already went above and beyond trying

to make this game different in many a ways but at the same time make these design decisions

that could make it delve into kusoge territory when its story/narrative is far from it.

Baten Kaitos Eternal Wings certainly had potential but it just was not for me and often wish

I moved on to play something else but by that point I hit the halfway point so I was like okay

let's just gooooo. The only way I'd recommend this game is if you really like to take your time

to get the most out of the combat system and just like slower paced rpg's or just old games

in general! This game is not perfect but you can get something out of it and the plot does get better

so hang in there I guess? its just blergh old game is old and it has old game issues despite

some QoL improvements that're there as last resort which I definitely used at times.

6.5/10

An rpg with a lot of potential but it is old and it has old game problems.

More ramblings after the jump. Its just more detail of my experience with the game

and some screenshots as well as my final thoughts. Nothing important I haven't said.

Ys X Nordics - review

Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Falcom.
Platform: PS4/5/Switch.
Official Site: https://www.falcom.co.jp/ysx/

Release date: 27-09-2023.

 

I decided to just preorder this game last minute like a week before release

yea I was that on the fence about it. Ys games are mostly standalone

and don't really require order of play with the exception of 1 and 2

but those are bundled together nowadays.

The protagonist Adol's adventures are based on real life journals but falcom likes

to just do whatever when they make a new game so one moment

you got Adol at his oldest and the next he is young again.😂

So... if this game sparked your interest in the series its okay to start here!

Its not like falcom's gonna knock on your door if this is your first ys game...

 

Pro's

- Interesting story and a great cast of characters.

- Amazing Soundtrack.

- Fun boss fights.

- Smooth gameplay, no lag or anything on PS5.

 

Con's

- Its easy to gravitate towards combi mode and forget... regular skills exist.

- Confusing spheregrid-like system.

 

In short, I quite enjoyed my time with Ys X despite being on the fence about it prerelease.

it was hard to grow tired of it, even if some end game dungeons got longer

like the last game I played, it was still fun to try and find every chest, quest or

mow my way through the raid/strongholds. I liked the story as well I think

it is out there with Ys VIII. My only gripes would be with the orbment grid

or that I gravitate too much towards combi mode that I forget regular skills exist.

Combi mode just feels too good to be honest. Its a good game and I'm glad I played it!

If you can get past the fact there are only two playables and the graphics

being rough in certain areas then you're in for a good time! I believe falcom

really gave it their all with this game. I'm still pretty fatigued when I think about trails

but if falcom takes their time making their games and not rush them out year after year

then it'll be okay, idk how long this game took them but they deserve a very pat on the back.

9/10

 

More rambles after the jump, there won't be any plot spoilers in this post

i'll share a few screenshots but nothing with further context.

This game's story  is best experienced going in blind.

 

Scarlet Nexus - Review

 Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Bamco.
Platform: PS4/5/PC.
Official Site:

Release date: 25-06-2021.

 

I bought this game on a sale a while ago, this goes on sale quite often

and for that price I couldn't say no! since I wasn't sure what to play

till something else interested me I decided to work on my backlog

before adding more to it and honestly it feels better to look at what

you have instead of adding one more game to it from yet another sale.

 

I'm mostly positive about scarlet nexus, while I had a few minor gripes here and there

I enjoyed this game a lot more than the previous dumpster fire that I sat through! 

Pro's

- Good story and great cast of characters.

- Bond episodes are fun and definitely worth doing as you play the game.

- Combat was good but can get repetitive...

- BGM.

Con's

- 80% of the scenes are told like skits, it very obvious they had a budget.

- Late game dungeons were too long and felt different from the pacing early on.

(Its like they finally paid their dungeon designer or something...)

 

This game has two scenarios with different MC's and from what I read before playing

you're basically forced to play it twice for the full picture, I decided to start with Yuito

first since that's who everyone seems to recommend. It takes place in a post-apo

setting about a bunch of kids that're part of a gaurdian corpse that protect citizens

from weird creatures. Not a lot of things made sense at first but as I played

through the game most of my questions were answered! and when I finished

for some reason I didn't feel the need to go through Kasane's route atleast not right away.

 

More rambles after the jump. I don't think there are any real spoilers in this post

atleast not those that are about the plot, I do talk about the characters a little but nothing major.

Shuuen no Virche Epic Lycoris - Review

Genre: Visual Novel.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/virche/fd/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38067
Release date: 07-09-2023.

 

Only reason I even got this FD was cuz I wanted more romance with Ceres and the guys

since... the original game was lacking a lot in that area. As well as not giving one major

character a route which was a great injustice which this game seems to want to remedy?

 

OP movie URL cuz they apparently disabled embedding...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIJLuh_JA_8

 

Pro's.

- Side stories are nice.

- Nice after stories for Yvess, Scien and Adolph.

- Great for Ankou fans.

 

Con's 

- A giant 🖕 to Lukas fans.💀

- Some CG's are nice but they're spread across too many different scenarios... afters feel barren

some also have awkward angles or weird face shots and I am like what is this?!

- Some afters just plainly lack any fluff or fun content.

- With the exception of Ankou's route everything was pretty short.

---

 

There's side stories with all the main characters and then there's the usual after stories

as well as a new side end that takes a spin on the original route from the first game.

There's also a route for Ankou, however you can't do it till you complete the Drifter story.

 

Also it seems they took encore literally and it is not going the be the fun kind and more in line

of what the original game was like. Lukas's left me traumatized and I cannot handle it

so I skipped the other encores. What is even worse is the encores are like 3/4ish hours

with the same experience while the emotion/after stories are like like 1/2 hours at best.

I was quite disappointed with atleast 2 of the afters as well. Ankou's route is by

far the longest and i'm pretty sure it was 8-10 hours in length... hoo boy!

 

The writers apparently said no, you can't have nice things and some characters apparently haven't suffered enough, so here's more despair, Ankou included. Yea I know virche wasn't exactly

a normal otome game but come on, I thought this was a FD but it didn't seem like one, even less

than raditale's. Also while some cg's were beautiful they sometimes had awkward angles

and really nice moments between the characters were hard to find especially in the afters.

So I found it hard to find anything memorable in the after stories, the only ones

I even remotely liked was Scien Brofist's cuz hurrdurr and Adolph.

For Ankou's route they had a nice prequel story called Drifter which unlocked Ankou

and the route was pretty enjoyable albeit very long, this but this game is 

pretty much for him alone and everything else is there as a bonus. 😂

Now for the thing I am most disappointed about, it is the severe lack of fluff and/or fun

content in the afters... cuz unless you're Adolphe,Scien or Ankou they had to give that to us

via a side story and its just sad they couldn't do better for the actual afters.

 

I don't know if I should recommend this game unless you're a big Ankou fan

and are OK with some of the other guys not really getting much else but a few crumbs!

I'm sorry I really tried to like things in this game but I could barely find it...

most of the time I was just bored, missing even the interactions with Jinnia and Liyan.

All the fun stuff were put into side story -interlude- as well...

I guess that not everything has to be truly happy but I just found most of the afters lacking

if only they didn't bother with encore and focused more on the afters cuz it really

feels like they divided their attention too much leaving some other areas to be desired.

 

Idk what score to even give this FD on one hand an 8/10 just for Ankou seems a bit much

but a 5/10 or lower could make this seem like a kusoge... so I guess a 6.5 or 7/10???

cuz hey atleast half the guys had a nice after story! as wells as Ankou being a great addition.

 

My play order was: Lukas > Mathis > Science Brofist > Yvess > Adolphe >Drifter > Ankou.

The only good thing about this play order for the FD is that the afters will gradually get better.

Spoilers after the jump as I will be writing about the character/routes etc!

so you've been warned!!! if you don't want spoilers then don't proceed further!!!

**Ended up fixing some mistakes or adding some stuff but this post won't be edited anymore

and ain't no way I am touching encore more than I already did.

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Radiant Tale ~Fanfare~ - Review

 Genre: Visual Novel.
Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/radiant_tale/fanfare/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v42433
Release date: 31-08-2023.

 

Okay so Otomate decided Radiant Tale needed a FD and since I sort of liked the game

and they added a Liyan route I decided to get it! also it seems like Raditale FD releases

really close to Virche's FD, not even a week apart! 😱😱😱 I didn't realize this

till I was in the middle of Vilio's after and was like no rush right?! 😅

Good thing is this game wasn't that long... phew.

 

Pro's

- Enjoyable FD to compliment the original game!

- Gorgeous art and fitting music.

 

Con's

- After stories have choices but they don't actually matter.

 

 

As this is a fandisc it will have after stories for the main guys and 2 new routes for Liyan and Jinnia

which take place after the common route normal ending of the original Radiant Tale.

After and IF stories are roughly 3-4 hours in length, which honestly was enough as it never

did drag on long enough to overstay its welcome and most of them remained short&sweet.

I did set a good pace for myself and got through an after in a day so I spend

a good week on this which is pretty good value if you ask me but it all depends

how much time you have to want to set aside to sit back and read a little.

 

System is pretty standard as per usual, however I didn't understand why there were choices

in the after stories, said choices seemed to be there for the sake of it. Like congratulation Ion

or telling Ion that he was cool. I'm like... why bother at this point? there's no need for choices

if the outcome doesn't change or there is no dictionary or different scene to collect.

There being choices made much more sense in the new routes...

since there are normal ends but those give no CG.

Art is as gorgeous as ever and Usaba Kagerou and Miko have returned to grace us with more of

their insanely pretty art! Music is fitting enough and I did not have any complaints.

Honestly with most of the after stories I was pretty satisfied and I even ended up

liking certain characters more than I did in the original game which was really nice.

The after stories also further went into matters so yes if you loved the world view and lore

you'll be in for a treat for sure. So I can definitely recommend Radiant Tale to fans of the original

who can't get enough of it! The new routes may depend on tastes of who you were more

interested in. Its good they got routes because I sure was thirsting after one of them back then.

 

However I do think the afters could be either a hit or a miss... in my opinion it felt that

some of them didn't really had a good enough plot, I liked Ion,Zafora and Radie's...

but I had some issues with Paschalia and Vilio's afters and didn't enjoy them as much.

Both IF stories with Jinnia and Liyan were very enjoyable to me so there's that!

Anyway that is just my two cents and I still recommend Raditale FD if you really liked the original

since this is an amazing FD to compliment a good otome game!

9/10

For play order I mostly followed the same order I did in the original with the new routes last!

since this is a fd the order doesn't even matter I just decided this for myself

you could only do your fav's and skip any you don't like too...

Ion > Paschalia > Zafora > Radie > Vilio > Jinnia > Liyan.

 

The non-spoiler babbles end here and from here on i'll be writing about the afters etc!

and sharing my favourite cg's. So be warned there will be spoilers after the jump.

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Atelier Marie Remake ~The Alchemist of Salburg~ - Review

Title screen is random everytime.

 Genre: RPG.
Developer/publisher: Gust/Koei.
Platform: PS4/5, PC, Switch.
Official Site: https://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/marie/
Release date: 13-07-2023.

 

I usually only like play 1 atelier a year but decided to make an exception

since this is a remake of the very first atelier game. There are no plot spoilers

in this post but I do share a few screenshots and CG's.

 

Pro's

- A remake of the original that isn't anymore or less than it used to be.

- Cute graphical style that give it a charming vibe.

- Interesting characters, made me want to replay atleast once to see their events!

 

Con's

- Game is overall too easy and i'd go as far as saying there is too much time.

- Annoying minigames for no reason... thankfully most are one and done.

 

Story is rather simple, Marie is a basically a failure and gets the worst scores

in the entire alchemy academy but she gets an extra chance since she still somehow

has some potential and its up to you if she even passes her exam!

 

More rambles after the jump...

 

9 R.I.P - Review

 Genre: VN.

Developer/publisher: Otomate.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: https://www.otomate.jp/9rip/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v38068
Release date: 2023-06-29.

 

Otomate's latest visual novel! I didn't get started on it right away because

I was busy with FF16 but I still wanted to give this game a shot since it seemed interesting

and they brought back some golden-era seiyuu's I hadn't heard in a while. Oh boy! they

got me nostalgic for Kakki, KENN, Nobuhiko and Shinnosuke Tachibana alright!

I am not too familiar with Azakami or Shun'ichi though but it is always good

to see otomate try to use less popular seiyuus. Other than that I went in very blind

I didn't even know it was gonna be an occult mystery with suspense!

 

Game/story is presented as an occult mystery about people being spirited away...

The heroine Misa ends up hearing some scary stories/rumors and then she had a strange encounter

in the school hallway, she was also worried over her education when an accident happens...

Due to that Misa finds out crossed over to the spirit realm, most of the love interests

are spirits and such. I don't want to say too much so i'll stop her since its really better

if you don't know too much and can find it out on your own.

 

Pro's

- Story/character driven, good amount of suspense.

- Art, cg's are very well done.

- Music fits the mood and theme of the game.

- Short but it doesn't feel longer than it needs to be.

- Great heroine, she takes initiative.

 

Con's

 - 1 route has no epilogue cg's.💀

- High amount of bad ends.

The game can have a little bit of suspense too... but at times it can also be relaxing.

There was enough time to get to know the characters during the common route parts but who

you meet there depends on an early game choice, this was good since it kept each playthrough fresh.

Also it is best going into this game blind as knowing too much could ruin the suspense.

 

First thing I notice is that there are 8(9 if you count the final) routes, well this can

go both ways but I hoped this wouldn't be too long of a VN and it wasn't

the pacing was okay, it moved at a good pace and there was hardly a dull moment!

so I was happy it respects your time, maybe the love process was a little fast

and most characters are nice and easy to like. Of course there are exceptions

and certain characters could not be your cup of tea atleast that was me with Minami.

On the other hand my favorite was Koyou followed by Koharu, Sena and Yukimaro.

Due to characters being paired up and share a common route it makes the most sense

to do the other characters route/end right after. Also even if they shared a common route

they did infact have a individual route and it didn't feel like one character took up more time.

I was relieved at this since I was worried of there being too much shared plot.

 

The heroine Misa was great and good at taking some initiatives, I didn't find her annoying

and considering what she goes through... she handled it pretty well.

 

This game does have bad endings so if you want to avoid those or not in the mood

a guide is recommended. I do think the bad ends were still worth doing even if

they had no CG, as sometimes they gave little details or for better or worse

showed another side of a character. 

 

System was your standard stuff but in one route they had you input your characters

name and you could do it manually which threw the entire jpn dictionary at you. xD

Thankfully you could autofill Misa's name which begs the question... why even bother?

The bad end gotten if you fill it in wrong can be gotten through another choice too...

this was a really dumb design choice that makes 0 sense.

 

Art, looked really nice and before I played I was more positive about it

than I initially was about tsuitsui, so IDK if that says something other than its good.

The CG's were all well done, even if the amount was low its 7/8 there are variations

so i'm on the side of i'd rather most be of quality than half of them be looking off.

9rip also has 8 routes and one finale which is more than the usual 6 or 7 so I think

that says a lot and there's nothing wrong with it. Cg's are nice but it shouldn't be

the whole reason to buy a game, then you're better of buying an artbook!

Music was fine, I had no complaints and it fit the mood. ED themes change

depending which pair of love interests you go after which was nice. 

I think I can recommend 9rip if you don't want a visual novel that is on the long side

but still want something with an engaging plot, don't mind it being an occult mystery

that could test your nerves a little (its nothing too scary) and one or more characters interest you.

This was a very good life/death character drama type of otome game

the only real down side I can think of is the number of routes since by the time

I reached the final route I was kind of burned, thankfully it wasn't as long

as a certain character from Tsuitsui but it was still a nice finish even if it was short.

9/10

I can't ironically give this any less than a 9 because of a bunch of facts

and how refreshing each set of routes was, it balanced everything out nicely.

My play order:

Koyou > Sena  >  Kureha > Hibiki> Koharu > Yukimaro > Minami > Seiya >???.

 

Recommended play order:

It was hard to come up with a recommended order I think this works nicely:

[Kureha > Hibiki]  > [Koyou > Sena] > [Minami > Seiya] > [Koharu > Yukimaro] >???.

You could switch some pairs up due to preference but things to note is that

Koharu/Yukimaro is a bit of a healing route and had more fluff compared to others... it can

either be done after Kureha/Hibiki or after Minami/Seiya. Finally Kojou/Sena may be best

done before Minami/Seiya... it just works better in terms of story elements

same goes for making sure Koharu is done after Hibiki. Of course you could

change something due to preference, like even my own play order works out.

There's not much choice but to do ??? last as his only unlocks after doing all

anyway I hope this information was helpful in deciding a route order.

Character rambles and my fav cg's after the jump! the spoiler free zone ends here.

I should add that 9RIP is one of those visual novels that is best going in blind

as route summaries/thoughts etc could reveal too much.

So if you want to go in blind stop reading here cuz there will be spoilers!

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