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Explopyro posted:Very splendid That's a really good takeaway. There's some unintentional, kind of amazing art to be found in this game, I'm convinced. The protagonist, Henry, is unlikable in a VERY SPECIFIC kind of way: it's wrong to say he's ambitious. He's actually really lazy, and bites off a lot more than he can chew, but is ALSO sort of breezily confident that things will work out for him (which shifts into completely un-self-conscious vague resentment when they don't). Basically, he wants to do something that's actually very hard, i.e. be a biomedical researcher. It turns out terribly for him, and that's made much worse by the fact that he apparently thought nothing of making other people (we only know about Grace, I assume there are others) sacrifice for him, based on those empty promises of future success. But we know (or at least VERY suspect) that he didn't actually try during the process. He's late to everything (and was before Grace was sick), he's oblivious to his own shortcomings, he's... he's Henry. In a weirdly parallel way, the game sets out to do something incredibly ambitious - make an entire video game using all poetry. For reasons mentioned before, this is Very Hard. It's probably easier the more you curate a game's experience (a walking sim might pull it off, if only because there are a very limited number of things you can do), but no, this game goes for a giant, giant world, stuffed with lots of people, each of whom has a relatively slow-burning storyline. I'd have to open up my "headshots" folder, but I'd easily guess there are 50 unique people to talk to, which in THEORY means 50 unique voices to be conveyed through the already-dreamline-and-off-kilter medium of poetry! As was mentioned, a mega studio VERY failed to pull this off - succeeding would be the video game writing coup of the decade. But then it just doesn't TRY. Any one of us could write dialogue on par with this in an evening (and a lot of you are writing frankly superior examples in this thread). And I'm not actually sure the dev understands why "half" of the players "haaaaaate" it. From reading some discussion on the steam page, I think he thinks it's too whimsical! I guess what I'm saying is, this game is Henry, and we are Grace. 
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Sep 14, 2018 09:16
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 01:51 |
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Henry is such a piece of poo poo. There's no saving it - give Grace the pill so she can chill under a hill.
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Sep 14, 2018 11:03
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I just can't imagine the author didn't intentionally set out to make Henry as unlikable as possible. You don't make a series of events where the protagonist gets a priceless family heirloom as gift, loses it, then makes his wife a gift that's explicitly for his own use. That's sitcom levels of subtlety right there. At least we know that eventually Henry's head gets so full of hot air that it'll explode. Hooray for happy endings.
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Sep 14, 2018 11:11
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Changing my prediction a little bit: Henry realizes that everything's his fault and then has his psychotic break. I'd like to see a showdown between Henry the diarrhetic poo poo we've grown to hate and Henry the lucky naive bastard. A rap battle.
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Sep 14, 2018 14:50
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Honestly Henry would not give the pill just yet. The most narcissistic way to think about his rationale is that he legit thinks it's a miracle pill. This could be the way he saves his career! He has to reverse engineer it first, make the biggest of bucks, and then he can give one to Grace.
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Sep 14, 2018 15:37
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If it's not too much work I'd like to see an update using the regular dialogue instead of the poetry.
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Sep 14, 2018 15:50
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Kirk Markarian, composer/sound designer here. I had joined Something Awful a while ago, haven't spent enough time on this forum. I can honestly say that I am proud to have been part of this game. I love the fact that it is getting dissected, although my knowledge of the story is limited. I hope this game gets a cult following; it absolutely amazes me the amount of work that Deep Taiga put into it. Whether or not one enjoys the rhyming, to please players, the game has even been updated to not rhyme. The storyline is absolutely bonkers. One of the reasons I like this game so much is that it isn't happy. I've worked on a ton of music for a ton of games, and I'll say that this one is honestly "out-there". Look at all the analysis that this forum has provided on it! I am amazed at how far the storyline can branch off. I could never write a storyline like this. In a world of hack 'n slash RPGs, first-person shoot-em-ups, and flapping birds... I can appreciate the difference this game provides. Whether 'ya like it or not, it's different, and I can definitely get behind that 
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Sep 14, 2018 16:06
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The music is very good!
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Sep 14, 2018 16:17
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POOL IS CLOSED posted:The music is very good! Well, thank you! I really did enjoy working on this project, a lot more than many other projects. It truly is one of the most bizarre storylines I've ever read. And that's my favorite type
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Sep 14, 2018 16:29
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Kirk Markarian posted:Kirk Markarian, composer/sound designer here. Holy crow, awesome!! Yeah I really can't say enough good about the sound design, music (and graphics). And thank HEAVENS I've already talked about that, so I don't just seem like a brown-noser  The one bit I haven't posted yet is the "something horrible is happening" sound, which is this kind of wavy woMP-woMP-woMP-woMP that gets overlaid on top of other soundtracks, and is really cool and effective. Did you actually warp human voices saying stuff for the convenience store soundtrack? Kirk Markarian posted:
I have to agree - the game is 100% bonkers, and was obviously a huge labor of love. We've had people openly doubt that it could possibly have been one guy doing all the dialogue, because it's so giant. And, while I haven't seen all the endings (or even close to it, honestly), just looking through the barebones walkthrough, the paths do seem really really divergent. I mean, you've read the thread, we're obviously having a field day with the rhymes, and with some of Henry's, uh, decisions, but falling into the trap of being a "same 'ol, same 'ol" retread is NOT one of the game's weaknesses. Bacter fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Sep 14, 2018 |
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Sep 14, 2018 19:09
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HardDiskD posted:If it's not too much work I'd like to see an update using the regular dialogue instead of the poetry. Absolutely. Next update I'll switch it over. Also, while I think I linked it earlier? Kirk's Soundcloud page is TOTALLY worth checking out! This is the IFFG sub-page on there. Bacter fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Sep 14, 2018 |
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Sep 14, 2018 19:18
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Bacter posted:Holy crow, awesome!! Hey Bacter! I'm glad 'ya like the sound - composing for Deep Taiga was an amazing experience. Tons of tracks, well over 200 SFX. I did read the thread, a few times, actually One of the best quotes was this: "a 24-hour pharmacy franchise that apparently uses tunes straight from Gitmo". I did at one time, try to find a way to compose music for the government in that manner, as a matter of fact, it was recommended that I do such a thing. No luck! I was laughing heavily at the frustration about the rhyming, but more so at the absolute hatred for the main character. I see the rhyming as either a "love it or hate it" part of the game.I have great hope that this game becomes a cult-following, mainly because the story is rather sophisticated underneath the rhyme. Henry's just awful and the comedy is dark. As far as SFX, the wavy, wompy sound I believe might be a sound effect of large water pipes bursting - it also has muted screaming and washing sounds buried under it, although I might have made a different sound that might be closer to what you're describing. As for the voices in the convenience store, I was using text-to-speech voices. I had to make sure the ones I was using were fully open-source. There are remarkably few TTS voices that are completely free of licensing, and I didn't want to pay for simulated sounds. I try to use TTS in a lot of different ways. A major influence was this song that I stumbled across a while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFfLCuHSZ-U, by RatboyGenius, something about potato knishes. That's actually somebody's real voice being processed through various synthesis methods, but I prefer TTS. I'm actually glad to see that this game has raised so much attention, even if it is disliked. I only wish I could write a story as full and despicable. Thanks for pushing attention my way, btw! I wasn't expecting that, and I'm thankful you like it. I keep Soundcloud running for the sole purpose of displaying the video game tracks I make. I make a ton of other music under various monikers, which can be found here: http://www.kirkmarkarian.net/monikers.html. I think I'm gonna have to spend a lot more time poking around Something Awful, it's apparently a goldmine of info and a variety of other things!
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Sep 14, 2018 20:27
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The music is absolutely haunting and the one reason I'm sad this isn't a video LP. Some really fantastic stuff! (Makes the writing seem even worse though being paired with such professional art and sound though...)
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Sep 14, 2018 23:07
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JossiRossi posted:The music is absolutely haunting and the one reason I'm sad this isn't a video LP. Some really fantastic stuff! (Makes the writing seem even worse though being paired with such professional art and sound though...) Thanks a bunch for the kind words! Gives me hope to keep on truckin'.
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Sep 15, 2018 00:33
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I'm glad the music isn't paired with the text, actually; makes it easier to imagine what might have been. More competent writing could have set up even an evil lunch lady to be taken more seriously, and the more conventional plot threads fully realized would absolutely reinforce the mood that everything that made the city what it was is falling apart just like Henry's marriage! Imagine if instead of everyone gossiping about how homeless people went missing before Doris' cafeteria got closed, it was just a guess that that was why it closed that only got any serious belief by Stinky Pete. Then you get the scene with the guy who got shaken up by Doris. Then he disappears, and people talk in hushed tones about it, wondering if he quit or got sick (no Dick, don't say it was Doris!!!! she might hear you). Then you get the quest to find out about the weird song people are hearing from the vents, and when you listen in the song is about Doris driving some cheating bastard's life into homelessness before she killed him and used him for a few meals in the diner. Then you see her taste the stew or whatever and exclaim this "tastes just as good, and is ready to serve" with a smile on her face. Maybe still not great but hundreds of times more effective and convincing.
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Sep 15, 2018 00:40
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Speaking of music... The aforementioned 'something bad is happening' music This also plays during Doris' killing scene, while she's singing
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Sep 15, 2018 06:09
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Bacter posted:Speaking of music... Oh yeah, that piece! It is eerie, primarily due to the use of the Reason Rack Extension called Parsec, an additive synthesizer which might have also been used to create Doris' singing voice. It's relatively versatile for not only additive, but analog emulation when you don't want it to sound "right, as well as FM (similar to OPL3 synthesis on Soundblaster soundcards from 1995). It can get pretty Tokyo cyber-sounding if needed. Thanks for popping that example up there, I was having a hard time placing it.
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Sep 15, 2018 13:56
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Alright! Got something... a little different this week. Hope you don't hate it! Actually two new things, one was to try to cut down on typing, the other was... you'll see. Figured I might as well put some money where some mouth was, AND show off another part of the game while I'm at it. (I'm still taking suggestions for the worst verse-of-the-update, incidentally. Bacter's Pick: So everybody sounds a little weird The words they pick are really rhyming-geared. I worked on that one for a while, and really couldn't get it to sound natural at all. Turns out poetry is hard WHO KNEW. We've also got the big end-of-update poll as usual: BE DIRECT TRY TO SWEET TALK BE A BUSINESSMAN TRY TO BLACKMAIL Don't worry, by the by. At least ONE of the two new things in this update will be back to normal next time!
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Sep 18, 2018 15:07
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How is the rhymeless stuff much worse? Soon I'm gonna need a hearse.
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Sep 18, 2018 15:51
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Miss Jones certainly has a way with words. And to hit on Henry? How absurd. If they had an affair he'd probably demand that she clean her house and wash her hair. Anyway, to deal with the street punk let's try to blackmail. It worked well on Doris so here it can't possibly fail.
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Sep 18, 2018 15:55
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This update was really fun with your poetry-narration, but now I'm just wondering what wonderfully awful lines we missed in-game. There's so much! Be direct, Henry is too much of an idiot to try subtlety here.
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Sep 18, 2018 16:05
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Thank you for turning the rhyme into prose. I just didn't expect it would be that much worse! I hope this rhyme doesn't give me a ban, But Henry should try to be a (business) man HardDiskD posted:I hope this rhyme doesn't give me a ban, Also I'm just going on a hunch, But I'm nominating this one as the worst of the bunch! I'm having way too much fun.
Space Kablooey fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Sep 18, 2018 |
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Sep 18, 2018 16:11
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someone awful. posted:This update was really fun with your poetry-narration, but now I'm just wondering what wonderfully awful lines we missed in-game. There's so much! I could record a video segment of this part of the day in rhyme? I might do that - it'd show off the rotating face better, and would give a little preview into gameplay.
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Sep 18, 2018 16:23
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Bacter posted:I could record a video segment of this part of the day in rhyme? I might do that - it'd show off the rotating face better, and would give a little preview into gameplay. Yes please!
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Sep 18, 2018 16:25
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The wording is awkward, but I suppose It's a slight improvement to have it in prose But for LP's sake I think we should return To the rhyming mode: our eyeballs must burn That suffering fits the game's general aesthetic As Henry becomes more shamelessly pathetic (I wrote that before I'd finished reading the update, and started noticing a lot more of the awkwardness and typos. I do think this version is more palatable even despite that, but it's also less interesting to comment on, and it's clear this isn't the intended way to experience the game. I think we need to see maximum stupid. I appreciate you showing off the non-rhyming mode, but I'd prefer you switch back for the rest.) I don't know what else to say about this game, except this: Henry's such an rear end in a top hat, it fills me with rage So I'll cheer on Doris the anthropophage
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Sep 18, 2018 16:52
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Yeah, it's clear (to me) that this was kind of a rush job. And I ABSOLUTELY don't blame the guy! Re-writing YOUR ENTIRE GAME shows some real dedication, but that means there are a lot of little typos. I saw somewhere that DT is Swedish? It's clear that he's quite comfortable with English, but a lot of times the translation from rhyming to non-rhyming was simply done by changing a few words, leaving, as I pointed out, some awkward word choices. Nobody would ever use "slinging" for "selling", for instance, unless "slinging" was added to rhyme with (just a guess here) "ringing".
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Sep 18, 2018 16:58
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Now, now Henry, there's no need to be coy! He needs to see, So let's sweet talk the boy!
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Sep 18, 2018 17:21
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I didn't think I'd miss the rhyming text, but here we are. At least it adds a certain kind of weird charm to what would just be stilted dialogue.
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Sep 18, 2018 17:29
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IMO the non-rhyming text, while not especially brilliant, is much better. But this LP is about maximum suffering. Also, jesus, Henry. NOW you want to do animal testing?
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Sep 19, 2018 04:02
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 Ok, here's the third day rhyming PLUS SPECIAL BONUS first peek at how the Welcoming Party turns out. It's... one of those "ha ha what" moments. There are some weird conversation progression mechanics here. The office seems to have conversations that progress regardless of what you do, but DOWNTOWN seems to only progress at the end of day IF you've completed the previous conversation. So I forgot to talk to the nice couple in my main LP, so on day 3 they were still preparing for the party. Here, I talked to them on day 2, so... they're ready to go.
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Sep 19, 2018 04:58
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That was a pretty good scream. The artwork is good; I definitely feel that these are the best elements of the game, so I appreciate the bonus video.
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Sep 19, 2018 05:22
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I find something excessively funny about the cat man getting crushed in the library. It's so ridiculously morbid, but it's also not telegraphed from day 1 that's what is going to happen so it also has a surprise factor. And then Henry just goes over and grabs the key like nothing happened.
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Sep 19, 2018 06:36
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Well, it's still not good with the rhymes removed, but it's tolerably mediocre. I'd approve of the dev's work if I was trying to salvage a purchase of the game, but I definitely agree we have to go back to maximum suffering via rhymes. As for Henry's choice, he really ought to be direct about this.
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Sep 19, 2018 07:49
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I just... I just want to put commas everywhere
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Sep 19, 2018 08:29
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So i looked at the video to see just how bad the situation got with the 'too stupid to live' couple and stumbled upon a rhyme I'd like to nominate for worst. If I see your cat, I'll be sure to bring it here. So just stop this nonsense now, you hear? Even though calling it a rhyme is being generous because he's repeating the same sound by using a homophone. I read it in my head and it annoys me so badly.
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Sep 19, 2018 08:38
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Keldulas posted:If I see your cat, I'll be sure to bring it here. Yeah, plus the cadence and meter are completely off.
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Sep 19, 2018 09:23
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Yay! Thanks for going to the trouble of recording that, it's every bit as delightfully wretched as I'd hoped. I do like how the art looks in motion, though, and some of the sound design, like when cars drive past downtown, is pretty good too. It's hard to pick a worst rhyme of this update, but I'm going with: Think of yourself for once, in order to have the strength To keep up with the bills, and looming funeral event. It's not even a slant rhyme. It's just.... What the hell is this.  Keldulas posted:So i looked at the video to see just how bad the situation got with the 'too stupid to live' couple and stumbled upon a rhyme I'd like to nominate for worst. They rhyme "to" and "too" in the first couple minutes of the video ffs 
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Sep 19, 2018 11:14
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Keldulas posted:I find something excessively funny about the cat man getting crushed in the library. It's so ridiculously morbid, but it's also not telegraphed from day 1 that's what is going to happen so it also has a surprise factor. And then Henry just goes over and grabs the key like nothing happened. I actually thought the same about the welcoming party. I mean, I remember kind of internally groaning as I headed to their apartment, oh boy, can't wait to see their shattered faith in a stored huma.... what? Ha ha what? To the WALL? What? This game seriously cannot decide if homeless people are hard-put-upon workers, just trying to find some escape, or a pack of vicious, wild animals that would murder anyone for no reason and should probably be culled or something.
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Sep 19, 2018 14:32
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Bacter posted:I actually thought the same about the welcoming party. I mean, I remember kind of internally groaning as I headed to their apartment, oh boy, can't wait to see their shattered faith in a stored huma.... what? Ha ha what? To the WALL? What? And our wonderful protagonist doesn't even react.
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Sep 19, 2018 15:12
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 01:51 |
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He didn't see anything. He's no narc.
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Sep 19, 2018 16:44
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