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The half way mark! Six down, six more to go! Thanks to everyone who's been following me as I try to get through this entire series, my goal being to play and review each one before year's end. Always appreciate feedback, and any game discussion is great, too.
Final Fantasy IX review Squaresoft,2000
The kingdom of Alexandria is busied with great excitement as its people prepare for the performance of "I Want to be Your Canary," a famous play and favorite of her highness, Queen Brahnne. The giant of a woman sits atop her castle balcony, cooly fanning herself as she indulges in the fireworks, staring on as a theater ship sails through the sky and into the arena. Ticket buyers take their seats, less privileged delinquents navigate the city's rooftops in hopes of catching a glimpse of the spectacle, and the stage is finally set. The Queen cannot hide her anticipation. But while her maniacal eyes grow wider with joy, there beside her, with a gaze cast downward and wearing a face of somber indifference, sits her daughter, Princess Garnet. Perhaps the subject matter of the play -- a story of a royal girl breaking free from the cage of castle walls -- has her longing for something more in life.
It would be a girl's lucky night, then, because the theater troop below is actually a ruse, the actors and stage workers aboard the airship a guise for a band of thieves and their plan to kidnap the princess, yet unaware that she herself has already made plans to slip away during the evening's entertainment. The confusion that follows is unforgettable, running various characters around the castle in a playful chase for the princess, a girl more daring than either her knights or kidnappers had ever imagined. Captain Steiner of the Queen's Guard hopelessly tries to assemble his worthless soldiers into a rescue effort while Zidane, a scrappy and wild boy (he has a tail, in fact), infiltrates the castle; his comrades putting on the show for the queen, demonstrating the game's battle system on stage in between volleys of acted drama.
As an introductory sequence the entire segment is masterful, leaving you with an unlikely party of personalities as Zidane's airship makes a narrow escape, heavily damaged from the Queen's cannons. With Garnet successfully kidnapped (well, she sort of requested it), the ensuing adventure is as whimsical and wonderous as this opening would prepare you for, but one that runs out of creative steam at a worrying rate. Or, not steam, here it would be called "mist," a magical substance used to operate the medieval world's many steampunk esque contraptions. Nonetheless, dreamlike and as detailed as it is, Final Fantasy IX still buckles under a complete lack of direction, exhausting the last of its charms in those first few hours.
And it needs to be said that, even early on, there are hints of its unbecoming nature. You'll notice it in your first battle encounter: the game is slow. Dreadfully, depressingly, and destructively slow. Such a criticism is often lobbed at dialogue heavy games with a density of non interactive sequences, and Final Fantasy IX is certainly deliberate also in that sense, but it's really the random battles that are most dampening here. The speed is unbearable. It takes 15 seconds to load the battle screen itself, a fact that is doubly concerning when considering what little it has to offer. After your four party members appear on the field their time gauges gradually fill (very gradually) until it is then their turn to act. Few enemies ever demanding more than a slash from Zidane's daggers or cast of Garnet's healing magic, things are quite simple from there.
Which is fine. Final Fantasy IX is, after all, designed after proven architecture that also benefited from simplicity. It just doesn't know how to implement it. Take Trance, for example. A super state that can be unleashed after a character is damaged enough. Sounds dramatic, sounds exciting, sounds pretty straightforward. Except,Trance will pop without your consent, automatically activating when the damage threshold is reached, meaning that a 54 damage prick of a little cave bat can send Zidane into premature elation, spending your rare shot at big damage not on a boss, but on a pest. It's infuriating.
Perhaps it's ill mannered to make comparisons to different productions, but the game makes no attempt to hide its influences. Even for a Final Fantasy installment, a series that always carries over arbitrary elements like item, weapon, and certain non-player character names, Final Fantasy IX has a ridiculous amount artistic, musical, and thematic references to earlier installments. Like the super attack gauge, or a world map that exists to walk across instead of explore, many are afterthoughts. But in regards to the familiar battle engine, there's also a real absence of the necessary horsepower found in previous iterations. Not just for the loading times, and not just for the slow climb of the gauges, but even when selecting actions there is noticeable hang up. It lets you blink a couple of times, like it needs a brief moment to read yours or the enemy's inputs -- like playing a scratched disc, a fear that's hard to get over even with the digital release. The framerate, too, chugs to a noticeable degree during big spell splashes, of which take their own liberal amounts of time in their lengthy, albeit beautiful, casting animations.
Opponents have them too, dramatic attacks that either tickle you or, often times, do nothing at all thanks to a character progression philosophy that ignores fundamental balance. Gear contains skills, both passive and active traits, that the wearer can use. Once mastered, the ability is permanently accessible, and the equipment can be exchanged for a better piece with new moves to learn. Leveling up gear is gratifying, but right off the bat you'll have a party that has learned to be largely immune to everything enemies can muster. You'll sit through their exaggerated attempts to cast Sleep, Silence, Poison, etc... on your party only to see the effects bounce off. There is not a boss fight in the entirety of the central game where this does not also hold true, the fights only memorable for how bizarrely unchallenging they are. New armor and weapons bought at town shops then grant you only better defenses, like an auto-healing effect found half way into the story that essentially defeats the purpose of the two white mage characters.
On a battle to battle basis, these are all nitpicks, but across a 30 hour undertaking, well -- just imagine it. It's constant interruption to what is initially a well woven, fairy tale like experience, moved with other devices. Entering towns prompts you with viewable events, shifting perspective as each character goes to explore and talks to locals, all with their own motives and personal plights. Steiner, the stubborn knight, is devoted to his duties, searching for opportunities to convince an unwilling princess to return home. His father like love for her is endearing, and his reactions to Zidane's moves on the girl nothing short of hilarious.Then there's Vivi, an innocent young boy who's not exactly human. He's a magical creation, your black mage. Unsure of his origins, and terrified by what others like him are being used for, his dilemma serves as a worthwhile, and prime focus of the story.
Zidane's personality devolving into an obsession with Garnet, a relationship that simply amounts to a man asking a woman "are you alright?"after any mild semblance of danger, it would seem appropriate for Vivi to take the helm as almost a main character of sorts. Alas, his little shoulders cannot carry the weight of the game. It answers the questions he has about his life, roughly, and then abandons him to introduce unnecessary additions to the roster. Zidane returns to the forefront, always the perfect hero, preaching about the values of friendship and compassion to all he encounters. On some level this could be almost cute, given the cartoony imagery, the picture book like nature of the game, the lullaby scores of music, and a villain that sits atop his dragon, flying about the world, constantly musing about how "everything is going according to plan." But strangely, in the final segments, everything takes an abrupt turn into complexity.
As if trying to makeup for something at the last second, Final Fantasy IX begins to question the meaning of life in drawn out exposition, characters suddenly deciding they have no reason to live and other such nonsense. It is laughable, but a testament to the idea that this was a project attempting to be everything that was before it; combining the deeper connotations of modern RPGs before it as well as the lightweight, sprightly tone of the S/NES era designs. To the developer's credit, they really did get just about everything, but then it's no surprise that as a standalone game, Final Fantasy IX doesn't have an identity to call its own. In all of its pretty, purposeful pastiche, it forgets it needs to be something playable. A game, even.
6.0/10
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Nice writing, good review.
Edit: Went through your blog and read some more reviews. You write very well. I like your general perspective.
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6! 6!
I'm shocked, this is considered one of the better FF's by many (including myself, obviously)
Woah and I just saw you gave 13 a 9, do you by chance smoke crack (sarcasm, please don't take offense but wow, a 9 for XIII, now i'm literally shocked)
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On July 02 2013 13:08 ReignSupreme. wrote: 6! 6!
I'm shocked, this is considered one of the better FF's by many (including myself, obviously)
Woah and I just saw you gave 13 a 9, do you by chance smoke crack (sarcasm, please don't take offense but wow, a 9 for XIII, now i'm literally shocked)
Wasn't easy to write something this critical, believe me. And I know that when readers disagree with me on one game, they may dismiss my opinions for everything else, which is terrifying to me. But hey, I have to be honest.
I really can't say enough about how brilliant IX's opening hour is, though. One of the best segments I've ever had the pleasure to experience in a game, and not just a Final Fantasy. That's my olive branch, if you'll accept it =]
Woah and I just saw you gave 13 a 9, do you by chance smoke crack (sarcasm, please don't take offense but wow, a 9 for XIII, now i'm literally shocked)
After playing the game I just didn't understand the criticisms. It's not a great Final Fantasy, but it's a great RPG.
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Most people (me included) didnt really like the battle system of 13. It was easy and I just got bored.
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I can't argue with most of this: the game has it's flaws. The ultima attack was pretty silly. There wasn't much of a point to the overworld. Items and stats were uninspired. There was little point in switching around your lineup (in fact it was discouraged). Still, I remember at thinking that it was the most beautiful game I had ever played.
I can't believe you left out the best character in the whole game (well, second, behind Quinna): Kuja. Though he's obviously a Sephiroth clone (the Japanese are big on visual archetypes), I prefer Kuja's cunning to Sephiroths brutality. The way he breezes airly through scenes, with some amazing theme music+ Show Spoiler +, tossing back his hair, makes for one cool villain.
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Quinna was also a favorite of mine, used him/her the entire game.
But this review is already a tad too long.
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There's really nothing for me to dispute with this one, FF9 was subpar as a final fantasy. Not too much stood out for it.
FF13 and FF13-2 were absolutely amazing in terms of battle system. Their stories were pretty terrible, but the graphics, battle system and OST were so good.
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Agreed with Trance and battle speed. Definitely my biggest gripes about the game.
Also, I hated FF13. Got extremely bored and side quests were a chore. Characters felt cliche and too fake at the same time.
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Agree with OP IX is 7 max to me
The best ones of the series are : IV, V, VI, VII, X and XII
Those are at least 9 to me except IV and X for an 8.5
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IX is a 7. I personally couldn't take the main character as anything more than an annoying pest, the tail and the how small everyone is just made me dislike the game lol - I was that petty.
Especially when you contrast it to some of the older titles, I couldn't like 9 as much.
I agree with your score on VIII, I enjoyed the tone it chose which felt almost like a romantic drama/tragedy than anything more than the typical Final Fantasy growing wider and winder in 'dire consequences' of world-ending-magical-fantasy-world
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I agree with your rating; FFIX was just subpar to me in almost every way, and I never felt particularly drawn into the game.
I was actually very impressed with FFXIII, despite coming into it with low expectations after reading the reviews. The only criticism that was really noteworthy was the linearity, however I am fortunately not bothered by that. The characters, battle system, graphics, and music were all great, and the story was fairly good.
Really liking your reviews; they come across very well. I'm looking forward to FFVI.
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So many agreeing yet so many people rave about FF9 elsewhere.
Im still playing through it slowly, forcing myself past the slow battle system kicking and screaming, it really does suck.
Only thing worse is 8 imo, because i dont understand the draw system properly, or its just fucking terrible.
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I agree with your opinion of 9 as it was shit, but as someone who has spent probably 200+ hours on FF7 making a master materia file, your assessment rather offended me. FF7 has to be one of the best storylines in any game, on any console, of all time.
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On July 02 2013 15:49 Capped wrote: So many agreeing yet so many people rave about FF9 elsewhere.
Im still playing through it slowly, forcing myself past the slow battle system kicking and screaming, it really does suck.
Only thing worse is 8 imo, because i dont understand the draw system properly, or its just fucking terrible.
the systems are simplistic, just redundant or not really needed to complete the game on any real difficulty. Story is still good, animations, fights and such are pretty good.
Their systems are unintentionally daunting when they thought they were adding depth loool
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That doesnt fix the loading speed for each encounter.
It's still like 15 seconds per encounter and the random encounters seem to pop up alot more frequently aswell, never bothered to complete the game due to this
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I am playing this right now. I started playing RPGS around FF7 back in the day and I much preferred 7 and 8 to this.
Maybe I will like it more this time, I am still at the beginning, I play it on the bus on my way to work so it will take me awhile.
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Personally love FF9, the world is just very nice. I personally think it's the third best FF after FFVII and FFT.
I think you can criticise any FF for the gameplay, JRPGs are usually ridiculously simple. The materia system in FFVII is nice, the job system in the older FFs is nice, but outside of FFT, there's no FF which has a battle system you'd call "deep". Story, characters and the world is without a doubt the most important aspect of these games, and FFIX sits very nice in that regard.
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I don't agree with your score at all. Final Fantasy 9 is by far a top 3 final fantasy game of all time. Reason is that it is a really traditional fantasy RPG with a very fun combat system, great cast of characters that you can care about. And the story is very good. There is so much stuff in the game to do and see. Yes I would say this game is pretty simple and not that hard at all, but Final Fantasy games aren't known for diffculty, I mean heck FF 8 if you take the time you can be so OP on disc one that the game is a breeze. They are know for a great story, and awesome characters. Maybe I am a little defensive, because I grew up playing this stuff. But this game deserves a 9/10
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On July 02 2013 15:49 Capped wrote: So many agreeing yet so many people rave about FF9 elsewhere.
Im still playing through it slowly, forcing myself past the slow battle system kicking and screaming, it really does suck.
Only thing worse is 8 imo, because i dont understand the draw system properly, or its just fucking terrible. He rated FF8 an 8.5/10. FF8, the worst final fintasy of the series. Even X-2 was better.
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On July 02 2013 23:07 PrinceXizor wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2013 15:49 Capped wrote: So many agreeing yet so many people rave about FF9 elsewhere.
Im still playing through it slowly, forcing myself past the slow battle system kicking and screaming, it really does suck.
Only thing worse is 8 imo, because i dont understand the draw system properly, or its just fucking terrible. He rated FF8 an 8.5/10. FF8, the worst final fintasy of the series. Even X-2 was better.
FF 8 wasn't the worst at all. It was unique with the combat system, and honestly the whole draw system was pretty tedious. But you could totally abuse the game become super OP and that was fun. THe story was pretty good, not to mention it is one of the best romances in video game history. X-2 was terrible, and boring.
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On July 02 2013 23:07 PrinceXizor wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2013 15:49 Capped wrote: So many agreeing yet so many people rave about FF9 elsewhere.
Im still playing through it slowly, forcing myself past the slow battle system kicking and screaming, it really does suck.
Only thing worse is 8 imo, because i dont understand the draw system properly, or its just fucking terrible. He rated FF8 an 8.5/10. FF8, the worst final fintasy of the series. Even X-2 was better.
Woah woah woah. Let's not say things we can't take back. 8 had it's issues to be sure but X-2 was NOT better, haha.
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On July 02 2013 22:38 HeeroFX wrote: I don't agree with your score at all. Final Fantasy 9 is by far a top 3 final fantasy game of all time. Reason is that it is a really traditional fantasy RPG with a very fun combat system, great cast of characters that you can care about. And the story is very good. There is so much stuff in the game to do and see. Yes I would say this game is pretty simple and not that hard at all, but Final Fantasy games aren't known for diffculty, I mean heck FF 8 if you take the time you can be so OP on disc one that the game is a breeze. They are know for a great story, and awesome characters. Maybe I am a little defensive, because I grew up playing this stuff. But this game deserves a 9/10
100% Personal opinion shouldnt be based upon giving points or rating any game IMO.
I rated my score from part of my personal opinion, compared to another sequels, looking from others point of view + i factored in whats to look for in general not just "hey, i grew up playing this and i had a lot of fun, it should be the best"
My first FF in the series was FF IV, it was hard playing a japanese version as a kid learning about all the spells/commands that i couldnt even read and finally conquered the game, to me, it was one of the best experiences i've had when i was young to overcame all those obstacles but it doesnt make it the best FF for me personally because when i get back to play it again, i see some flaws in it.
But one thing though, i understand that younger generation (ppl younger than 25 mostly) would preferred latest FF than the old ones, like 9 and up because by the time they get their hands on FF, the old ones graphics are already dated and ps1 and 2 already are popular.
I, II, III - i won't rate them, they're way too old for me. IV : 8 - 8.5 V : 9 - 9.5 (TBH the only thing i wanna complain about V is characters missing their faces the job system was incredibly genius) VI : 9.5 - 10 ( 10 doesnt mean perfect cuz theres always flaw when u try to find one, 10 is just for the best you could give to a game that is almost perfect, this game has everything to offer; difficulty (as long as you dont cheat, use faqs, know what to do before), story line, characters depth, graphic, music, uniqueness etc. VII : 9 - 9.5 (Mini games in this game are incredibly fun to play; chocobo breeding&racing, gold saucer, etc. not to mention one of the best system ever; MATERIA but man, bosses in this serie are way TOO EASY they posted no challenge at all) VIII : 8 max (personally 6-7) IX : 7 max (personally 5-6) X : 8 - 8.5 (personally 8) XI : didnt play XII : when i first saw 5, when i finally tried it 9 - 9.5 the only thing i will complain in this game is Quickenings, i mean, WTF was that ? enemies standing still and let you&your friends taking turn cheap shotting them.Yeah, make senses) XIII : 8 max to younger generation.Since 8 FF series started drifting away from being about Fantasy to Technology, should have just renamed the series to Final Technology so the FF fans could have save some bucks)
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On July 02 2013 23:07 PrinceXizor wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2013 15:49 Capped wrote: So many agreeing yet so many people rave about FF9 elsewhere.
Im still playing through it slowly, forcing myself past the slow battle system kicking and screaming, it really does suck.
Only thing worse is 8 imo, because i dont understand the draw system properly, or its just fucking terrible. He rated FF8 an 8.5/10. FF8, the worst final fintasy of the series. Even X-2 was better. Funny thing about ratings is that they are based upon opinion. 8 is probably my favorite FF in the series.
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Played I - III and VII - X and a bit of X-2. Can't rate the first three because they are too simple/old. Other than that: VII = IX > X > VIII > X-2(which I only played for a bit but it sucked so hard, I had to drop it).
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On July 03 2013 01:25 TheRabidDeer wrote:Show nested quote +On July 02 2013 23:07 PrinceXizor wrote:On July 02 2013 15:49 Capped wrote: So many agreeing yet so many people rave about FF9 elsewhere.
Im still playing through it slowly, forcing myself past the slow battle system kicking and screaming, it really does suck.
Only thing worse is 8 imo, because i dont understand the draw system properly, or its just fucking terrible. He rated FF8 an 8.5/10. FF8, the worst final fintasy of the series. Even X-2 was better. Funny thing about ratings is that they are based upon opinion. 8 is probably my favorite FF in the series.
I actually really enjoy the story, and like i said, i probably didnt understand the draw system.
In fact, i read his review and it spoke about shoehorning players into summoning all the time - thats exactly what i did. Then i grinded out 99 fires and was still weak as fuck, so i was like wut. Like i say i probably didnt grasp the concept. then i stopped when i returned to balamb and started FF9, which is better, but the combat is shit slow like he mentioned here.
Both have incredible stories, but their combat suffers immensely (FF8 for its fucktarded draw system, FF9 for its slowness) when compared to FF7, the only other "true" comparison, as only these three are 3d and on the PS1 (and FF's)
TL:DR, this guys reviews are legit.
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I honestly dont remember using the draw system at all. Attacks, magic, GF's, and the alternate attack thing is what I remember using. I will have to go back and play it again to doublecheck.
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Korea (South)11232 Posts
I really enjoyed the chocobo treasure hunting in FFIX which made the game really good in my opinion. I liked the card game too even if it was sometimes rage inducing. But was never a fan of the childish look but in the end really seem to like the game.
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On July 03 2013 03:27 TheRabidDeer wrote: I honestly dont remember using the draw system at all. Attacks, magic, GF's, and the alternate attack thing is what I remember using. I will have to go back and play it again to doublecheck. draw is how you got magic. you essentially had to grind to get spells. and not the kind of grind where you kill alot of shit, the kind of grind where you kill 1 thing for 30 minutes to get spells from him. oh and then kill it in 1 hit after
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On July 03 2013 04:30 PrinceXizor wrote:Show nested quote +On July 03 2013 03:27 TheRabidDeer wrote: I honestly dont remember using the draw system at all. Attacks, magic, GF's, and the alternate attack thing is what I remember using. I will have to go back and play it again to doublecheck. draw is how you got magic. you essentially had to grind to get spells. and not the kind of grind where you kill alot of shit, the kind of grind where you kill 1 thing for 30 minutes to get spells from him. oh and then kill it in 1 hit after
I seriously want to know what Squares thinking when they look back at FF VIII... terrible system following an incredible one from VII.. what a shame
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* Final Fantasy IX was designed as the game that made references to its elders. Why are you complaining about that ? * It's also the grimmest game of the serie, the story which you mock is certainly deeper than the emancipation story in FFX or the ecological one in FFVII. Whether or not you understand and appreciate it is largely irrelevant to the inherent thoughtfullness of the subject at hand : the meaning of life and death.
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On July 02 2013 12:49 holdthephone wrote: As if trying to makeup for something at the last second, Final Fantasy IX begins to question the meaning of life in drawn out exposition, characters suddenly deciding they have no reason to live and other such nonsense. This was the theme of the game from the very beginning. Every single character's story follows them trying to find meaning, including Kuja's. The reason Necron serves as the final antagonist is he represents the idea that life has no meaning whatsoever, and is thus the antithesis of all the characters regardless of their alignment. FFIX is one of the only FF stories that follows a cohesive theme that binds the plot and all the characters, which is almost theatrical in its presentation - sensible given the game opens and closes on a stage.
In short, I don't agree with you.
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You have some writing skills but let that blinds your fairness, which is horrible for a review.
I played a lot of FF and the only game(s) that I replayed is FFIX and to a lesser extent FFVII. I played 9 in 3 different periods of time, yet it always made me feel good. It's relaxing and peaceful.
You like ff8, which is like a teen - movie, has bad main characters, awful "romantic' dialogues, so too bad your writing skills count for nothing.
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