Highlights & Disappointments of 2004 - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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Digitalboy
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"Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Wed 15 Dec 21:27post reply

The point of this thread (other than the orders of Professor to make more threads) is to share your hit or miss of the multi-media (from video games on console & PC to movies, comics, et cetera) that was released in 2004. Since it is the 15th it isn't too early, no? And I want some mayhem in this post if anyone is willing to supply.

Here are my highlights of 2004:

Microsoft & Xbox:
Ninja Gaiden
Metal Slug 3
Sega ESPN NFL 2k5 (FUCK EA!)
Team Ninja's announcement to release the Hurricane Pack to non Xbox Live subscriber's

Nintendo & Gamecube:
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Tales of Symphonia
Nintendo's announcement on another Zelda.

Sony & Playstation 2:
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection (about time!)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
KOF: Maximum Impact - Decent graphics, decent roster, okay controls and gameplay. Good attempt on their first try on the SNKP's part.

Comics:
Udon Studio: Street Fighter (handled well, great story, and excellent introductions of characters from the series), Darkstalkers (still premature but it's okay since it's in better hands than Dreamwave Studio), and Rival Schools (it's not out yet but I read the prelude in the Summer Special that Udon released so far so good).

Metal Gear Solid: Ashley Woods art added the reason for me to pick up this title.

Conan the Barbarian: Cary Nord's great art added to this legendary sword welding fornicating barbarian.

Other:
The Mad Man Cafe getting a new server!
Sota Toys Street Fighter Line.
Tekken 5


Disappointments of 2004:

Marvel Comics continuity.
DC's decision to bring back Hal Jordan.
Spider-Man's organic webbing (in the comics).
Wizard Magazine is not good as it use to be.
IGN.
Devil May Cry comics.
SNK Playmore's delay on the double pack of King of Fighter's 2002 & 2003.
Electronic Art's buying all the license for the NFL.
SNK Playmore should have waited a little longer for KOF:MI to be released, it needed more work to be compared to other fighters.
No King of the Fighter's 2004.






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GrandC
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Wed 15 Dec 22:57post reply

PROS
- Xda IIs, PSP, PS2 slim, and Nintendo DS
- Perfect console port for KOF2003, SNK announced NeoGeo Battle Coliseum
- 2 MGS in one year: Snake Eater dan Twin Snakes
- FFVII Compilations
- Halo 2 is finally here!

CONS
- No KOF'2004 -_-;
- Xenosaga II
- Capcom sold Street Fighter!
- Delay of Final Fantasy XII and Kingdom Hearts II
- Not much Multiplayer Maps in Halo 2





Ammadeau
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Wed 15 Dec 23:33post reply

PRO - Got nearly a dozen games for free.
CON - Some of them were horrible and I still had to play them.
PRO - Halo 2 finally released.
CON - See above con. (also applies to THUG 2)
PRO - Good games are dropping in price faster than ever.
CON - I have too many games already to even think of buying them.
PRO - Guild Wars is one of the best games I've ever played.
CON - I can only play it one weekend a month.





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Burning Kyo
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"Re(2):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Wed 15 Dec 23:53post reply

Highlights :

- Nice port of SF3.3 & KOF '03 on PS2
- NejiBako !!!

Disappointments :

- Where is KOF '04 ?
- CFJ ...
- The new gen' handhelds






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tenguman
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"Re(3):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Thu 16 Dec 00:07post reply

Highlights:

- Nejibako
- Made In Wario/Atsumare! Made in Wario/Mawaru Made in Wario
- Rockman X Command Mission (bite me)

Disappointmens:

- Rockman X7
- CFJ (wasn't expecting much anyway)
- KOF: MI
- KOF Neo Wave





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war
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"Re(3):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Thu 16 Dec 02:18post reply

Highlights:

-New Metal Gear game not sucking, yet still that good kind of lame
-Monster Hunter
-Resident Evil Outbreak
-SMT in English?!
-Siren USA
-Tenchu: Kurenai

Disappointments:

-Living with never completing MGS2; now wanting to due to the excellence of MGS3
-Monster Hunter running out of content fast
-Getting into RE:O seven months after release
-Too many console RPGs with terrible character designs
-Too busy; can't even remember half the games I played this year





Mokona
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"Re(4):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Thu 16 Dec 02:26post reply

Best thing that came this year: Katamari Damashii!

Disappointments: no KOF'2004





Blah!

Taa kun
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Thu 16 Dec 02:42post reply

+
Tales of Phantasia
Metroid prime 2
Melty blood Re-act

- and -- and --- and ----
Not winning 42 000 000 € at the Euromillions lotery...

And I know it's a video game board.





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Sate sate nani ga dekiru ka na ?

YeldellGW
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"Re(2):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 04:13post reply

Pros

Gradius V (PS2)
Mega Man Anniversary Collection (PS2)
Mega Man X Command Mission (PS2)
Mega Man X8 (PS2)
Duel Savior (Import PC)
Samurai Shodown V (Neo Geo)
Samurai Shodown V Special (Neo Geo)

Cons

SF Anniversary Collection (PS2) - Got nothing on Vampire Chronicle
T.M.N.T. 2 Battle Nexus (PS2) - Not nearly as enjoyable as the first game and I won't bother mentioning the arcade game. Enough's been said about that already.
Playmore's lame censorship of the SS games.
No KOF 2004.
Capcom Fighting Evolution - Capcom, take a break from crossovers for awhile, please!
End of the Neo Geo MVS - All good things come to an end. Another system that bought me years of enjoyment bites the dust.
Certain aspects/changes in Mega Man X8 - The lame DBZ powering up bosses do on the harder difficulty when low on life, Too much SF homage, the new metal system, and the biggest negative, this is rumored to be Sigma's last appearance!





Sano
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 06:38:post reply

PROS:

- Street Fighter Anniversary Edition on PS2
- Capcom Fighting Jam - Yeah, yeah, I'm the only one here who likes the game...
- Astroboy Omega Factor on the GBA
- King of Fighters EX2 Howling blood
- Guilty Gear Isuka
- Guilty Gear XX # Reload
- SVC Chaos on X-Box - I like this game also, I'm sure I'll be alone with this decision too...
- KOF 2000/2001
- Halo 2
- Megaman Anniversary Collection
- Under the Skin
- Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
- Zelda II the Adventure of Link on the GBA
- Udon's SF and DS Comics
- Avengers/JLA
- Spider-Man 2 Movie - I've seen it 4 times in the Theater, twice in Imax! I love this Movie...
- Avengers Dissasembled and New Avengers - Wolverine and Spider-Man join Avengers! 4 out of 7 of the new Avengers were in MVC2! Hooray!
- Rurouni Kenshin goes monthly!
- Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
- Ghost in the Shell 2
- Ninja Scroll Anime
- Director's cut of Rurouni Kenshin Reflection with Saito, coming the 28th!
- Teen Titans Cartoon - still a fave!
- The New Batman Cartoon - Not great, but enjoyable.
- Street Fighter Toys
- Hi! Hi! Puffy Ami Yumi Show!
- X-Play on G4 Tech TV - I don't agree with all of the reviews but Adam Sessler and Morgan Web are hilarious!
- Play Magazine
- Pulse - My favorite News show, but see below...


I think that's it.

CONS

- Crimson Tears
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence - was this 2004 or 3? Oh well, still sucked.
- Justice League Unlimited - Bring back my one hour episodes with just seven JLAers!
- Colossus coming back to life - Yo Marvel, KEEP DEAD CHARACTERS DEAD!!!
- Superman's Jim Lee Comic - Yo to the writer, can you make the story any more boring?
- Pulse and Unscrewed getting cancelled on G4 Tech TV.

I think that's it on the Cons. I'll be back later if I think of anything else.





[this message was edited by Sano on Fri 17 Dec 06:55]

Grahf
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 09:41post reply

PROS -
Great summer movies this year: Dawn of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Harold & Kumar go to Whitecastle, Anchorman, Dodgeball, and it feels like I'm forgetting something...
I've gotten six games since this summer, and I enjoyed all of them: Tales of Symphonia, Gradius V, Katamari Damacy, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Capcom Fighting Evolution, and Taiko Drum Master.

CONS-
I got Devil May Cry 2 for $10. It wasn't worth it.
Reality TV is still around.
Shinkon Gattai Godannar got licensed before I could see the last two episodes.
R.O.D. TV was good, but disappointing compared to the original OVA.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow could have been a lot better.

That's all I can think of right now.





Pollyanna
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"Re(2):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 10:06post reply

quote:
PROS:

- Capcom Fighting Jam - Yeah, yeah, I'm the only one here who likes the game...

- SVC Chaos on X-Box - I like this game also, I'm sure I'll be alone with this decision too...



For what it's worth, I'm with you on both games. They're both horribly flawed in their own way, but if you have friends to play with, they're lots of fun. Not every fighter can be a masterpiece and both of these are at least good enough to not get too many complaints from me.





Mog
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 14:52post reply

Pros

Gradius V
ESPGaluda
Tales of Symphonia
FarCry
Half-Life 2 - first half

Cons

Half-Life 2 - last half + the worst ending I have ever seen in a game
Xenosaga II





Burning Ranger
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 17:08post reply

quote:


Disappointments of 2004:

DC's decision to bring back Hal Jordan.
Spider-Man's organic webbing (in the comics).




Are these really cons? Why? I can kinda understand the Spiderman thing, but why no love for Hal Jordan?





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hikarutilmitt
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 17:57post reply

PROs
+Gradius V
+Star Ocean 3
+ESP Galuda
+Sengoku Ace/Blade PS2 release
+Shikigami 2 release
+KoF:MI being GOOD
+Samurai Warriors
+Venture Brothers
+Kiddy Grade
+Pretty Cure
+Godannar

CONs
-delayed KoF 2k2/2k3 pack
-delayed Wild Arms Alter Code: F
-delayed The Red Star
-delayed Red Ninja: End of Honor
-being without my HDTV for 2 months because of stupid Conn's not fixing it properly
-not finding a job
-IGN
-GameFAQs
-Van Helsing





Digitalboy
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"Re(2):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 18:28post reply

quote:


Disappointments of 2004:

DC's decision to bring back Hal Jordan.
Spider-Man's organic webbing (in the comics).



Are these really cons? Why? I can kinda understand the Spiderman thing, but why no love for Hal Jordan?



Nothing against you nor Hal Jordan, they raise a huge stink about keeping Kyle as the Green Lantern. There were even a club/cult that was badgering Ron Marz to bring Hal back. Now they are giving in? Just like Sano said about Colossus, they should have stayed dead.

Even though I do not read spandex clad comics anymore I still keep up with them. It seems they always make a big event about killing someone off and then make another big of their return. After years of reading comics, I just got tired of this crap.





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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 19:32:post reply

Pros
+Star Ocean 3
+Metal Gear Solid 3
+Onimusha 3
+Gungrave O.D.
+Crimson Sea 2
+Ace Combat 5
+Shadow Hearts: Covenant
+Kill Bill vol. 2
+Spider Man 2
+seasons 7 and 8 of South Park
+season 2 of Chapelle Show
+Drawn Together actually being good
+the announcement of Devil May Cry 3 and involvement of members of the DMC1 team
+the confirmation of Resident Evil 4 for PS2
+Golden Oreos
+Mountain Dew: Pitch Black

Cons
-delay of KoF 2002/2003 double pack
-KoF 2003
-KoF: MI
-no KoF 2004
-Guilty Gear Isuka
-most games getting overshadowed by Halo 2 and GTA: San Andreas
-the entire low-carb fad
-Pepsi Holiday Spice
-terrible gaming award shows such as GPhoria and the Spike TV VGAs
-the only arcade in my area with decent competition closing





[this message was edited by Korigama on Fri 17 Dec 19:40]

Sano
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"Re(3):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Fri 17 Dec 23:44:post reply

quote:
PROS:

- Capcom Fighting Jam - Yeah, yeah, I'm the only one here who likes the game...

- SVC Chaos on X-Box - I like this game also, I'm sure I'll be alone with this decision too...


For what it's worth, I'm with you on both games. They're both horribly flawed in their own way, but if you have friends to play with, they're lots of fun. Not every fighter can be a masterpiece and both of these are at least good enough to not get too many complaints from me.



Yeah, that's how I feel.

More Pros -

- Seven Samurai 20XX - Not a great game, but the Hip Hop Brothers made me die laughing!
- Guilty Gear NY and LA Vocal Edition Soundtracks
- SF Tribute Album and SF vs. SF Musicians Soundtrack
- DC's Identity Crisis - Someone is killing JLA Family members and all the clues are pointing to you won't believe who! Not revealing anything, but Deathstrike and Green Arrow have been really bad Ass in this story!





[this message was edited by Sano on Sat 18 Dec 07:27]

OYashiroForever
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"Re(1):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Sat 18 Dec 03:34post reply

Highlights:

- Supisupe (if only for Mizuki + bukkake fatality)
- Katamari Damacy
- Burnout 3 (yeah, it's EA... it's also about as much fun as I'll ever have with a racing game)
- MGS3 (Verbose and pretentious as always, but nowhere near as goofy as 2)
- Lots of good shooters (Gradius V, Shiki no Shiro 2, Psyvariar Final, ESPgaluda, etc.)
- Announcement of Phantom Kingdom
- Scrubs Season 4 (Best comedy on television continues to get better)
- Mythbusters Season 2 (Adam vs. Jamie is way too cool)
- Drawn Together (South Park finally has competition for the single most offensive show on American television)
- Death of Reality TV (well, I'm hoping at least... the ratings are definitely dropping)
- Ong Bak (The next level of chop socky movies)


Disappointments:

- CFJ (Couldn't even meet my already low expectations)
- The death of Square (loss of major figures, bad/mediocre/rehashed releases, future FF7 whoring)
- KoF: MI and Neowave (both good first efforts, but neither was good enough to warrant replacing a new KoF)
- Van Helsing (should replace Waterworld as the biggest waste of money in cinema history)
- Anime (could just be me, but it seems like barring a couple of notable exceptions, the creative quality of anime is just circling the drain... blame the Japanese economy or Western influence or the proliferation of computer cel coloring, but everything is looking the same and the new shows are creatively bankrupt)





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YeldellGW
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"Re(2):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Sat 18 Dec 04:22post reply

Forgot this wasn't gaming world exclusive...

Pros

Sonic Mega Collection Plus (PS2) - Picked this up while I was home for Turkey day. More Sonic games than Sonic Jam, but still no Sonic CD!
Shrek 2
Batman the Animated series Vol 1 DVD collection - Have anymore of these been released yet? I really want to see "Robin's Reckoning" again so much!
Finding plenty of dated games, soundtracks, etc. on auction boards.
Teen Titans - If it's got the boy wonder, it's always good! The other four Titans aren't too shabby either.
Marco returns to Sealab.

Cons

Wtf happened to the Flash! Hawkgirl's the one that left the league and the Flash is the one we see less of.
The announcement of another season of Power Rangers.
Space Ghost is f**king dead!
Didn't see many of the movies I wanted to see.
Having to pay for car repairs this close to Christmas.





Black_Hayato
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"Re(3):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Sat 18 Dec 07:13:post reply

PROS:
Chicken sawtay w/ peanut sauce
Alien Hominid
SMT:NOC
Dolce&Gabbana cologne
Chrome cologne
Adult Swim

CONS:
Another Sonic Collection w/o Sonic CD.
Rigged 2004 US election
The corpse of Mad TV
Anime in general





[this message was edited by Black_Hayato on Sat 18 Dec 07:13]

Digitalboy
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"Re(4):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Sat 18 Dec 08:16post reply

quote:
PROS:
Chicken sawtay w/ peanut sauce



That is a good dish. Usually my mom would make that but I haven't been home for a while to taste that. I haven't had that peanut sauce in a long time.





Pollyanna
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"Re(5):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Sat 18 Dec 20:02post reply

Ohmygawd, I almost passed up an opportunity to curse Suikoden 4.

Highlights: Who cares?

Disappointments: Suikoden 4.
It's so "uncool" to not love Suikoden, and I've been on the "cool" side for a long time, but now I'm a "sell out" because I like good games instead. I'm sure when it comes out over here Suikoden fans will somehow pretend like the music doesn't suck and 30 hours on a boat is perfectly fine.
I can't NOT recommend Suikoden 4 enough. I have played RPGs with terrible flaws and I've played RPGs that I don't like, but Suikoden 4 falls in a class of its' own as "The game that has wronged me the most."
Actually, let me rephrase this. I'm not disappointed in Suikoden 4 so much as I'm disappointed in myself for playing all the way through it. (though it was almost worth it for the narcissist attack...ALMOST)

Silent Hill 4 is another disappointment, but not for the same reasons that everyone else seems to site.





trogdor
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"Re(6):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Sun 19 Dec 13:30post reply

quote:
Ohmygawd, I almost passed up an opportunity to curse Suikoden 4.

Highlights: Who cares?

Disappointments: Suikoden 4.
It's so "uncool" to not love Suikoden, and I've been on the "cool" side for a long time, but now I'm a "sell out" because I like good games instead. I'm sure when it comes out over here Suikoden fans will somehow pretend like the music doesn't suck and 30 hours on a boat is perfectly fine.
I can't NOT recommend Suikoden 4 enough. I have played RPGs with terrible flaws and I've played RPGs that I don't like, but Suikoden 4 falls in a class of its' own as "The game that has wronged me the most."
Actually, let me rephrase this. I'm not disappointed in Suikoden 4 so much as I'm disappointed in myself for playing all the way through it. (though it was almost worth it for the narcissist attack...ALMOST)

Silent Hill 4 is another disappointment, but not for the same reasons that everyone else seems to site.



noooo that sucks so much. i was looking forward to suikoden 4 - although i sorta gave up at suikoden 3, never finished that one...

well thanks for the tip. that'll be one game less on my wishlist.





>throw baby

Pollyanna
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"Re(7):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Sun 19 Dec 18:54post reply

quote:

noooo that sucks so much. i was looking forward to suikoden 4 - although i sorta gave up at suikoden 3, never finished that one...

well thanks for the tip. that'll be one game less on my wishlist.



Oh, now you've got me started.

There are some good things about Suikoden 4. Like the animation (which is all motion captured), the narcissists and one particular "series" joke that I'd LOVE to spoil....but that's IT. What makes it hurt the most is that if you take away the time spent on the ocean, the time fighting enemies where you shouldn't have to (like on the ocean or in towns...yes...towns are full of enemies for no apparant reason) and the time spent recruiting characters that you never have a chance to use, it's one of the most empty, pointless, short RPGs ever. The bulk of the game is not only filler, it's painful filler. The actual substance is a few hours at best.

This would be fine if the game had an interesting or progressive battle system or mazes to fight the enemies in...or maybe even a variety of enemies. But...it has none of the above. It's hours of pressing the "confirm" button over and over on the empty overhead map fighting the same damned enemies for the entire duration of your quest.

The thing is, even though Suikoden 3 looked horrible, sounded horrible and had an awful system for almost everything (including no bosses or mazes and repeating the same maps over and over) it had direction and purpose. I liked the characters and I was interested in the plot...and even though I had to wade through a bad game to get to them, it was worth it. The only thing that got me through Suikoden 4 was my love for the series, and that's not enough to blind me of its' inexcusable shortcomings.





Shingo The One
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"Re(5):Highlights & Disappointments of 2004" , posted Mon 20 Dec 05:40post reply

quote:
PROS:
Chicken sawtay w/ peanut sauce


That is a good dish. Usually my mom would make that but I haven't been home for a while to taste that. I haven't had that peanut sauce in a long time.

With just less than two weeks till the start of the New Year that is 2005, let me share with you my surprise highlight for this thread.
I surely did not expect I would ever modchip my PS2, but now I can have all the anime fighting game fun I ever want, but the one highlight that really hit me was none other than...
007:Everything Or Nothing.I would have never imagined an action game that would be enjoyed by someone like me exists, and yet, this game has achieved just that.At least, if I survive the whole year, 2005 will give me lots of true fighter action.Peace out.





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