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I voted Ryoko because I really like her design! And I also voted Iori! But I'm not complaining about the Nenji, I guess.
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May 26, 2021 14:09
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| # ? Jun 1, 2024 10:16 |
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Just gonna mention that if you have a PS4 and don't have this game, it regularly goes on sale for 50% off, including right now for PS Plus subscribers!
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May 26, 2021 18:10
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I voted Hijiyama - because he's closest to Okino, who keeps popping up in the time loop. On one hand the LP I watched of this also mainlined Ogata's story to the end, but I think it's in Ogata's story's favor that its scope is pretty compact - Nenji's in a time loop; what will it take for him to get out?
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May 27, 2021 00:55
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I binged this thread in a day and voted for Ogata and I won't apologise  but when we're finished with him it's Miura all the way.
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May 29, 2021 18:37
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Before we get into the update proper, I’d like to bring something up. I actually spent some time recently inputting all the vote data I have into a spreadsheet. I don’t think there’s any way to really meaningfully graph it because it’s covering too many different kinds of values (time, votes, characters), but also I don’t actually know how to use Excel! Doesn’t matter, I made it mostly just for me to look at and get some hard numbers for stuff like average number of total votes. So, I’m going to spend the beginning of this one just going through a few weird things that popped up in the data that I’d like to share.
 …And this still happened! Democracy is a sham!  Well, let’s get to it. Happy birthday to me! Here’s cake until you throw up!  Chapter 33: Nenji Ogata 5 Music: LONER (Azusa Chiba)    Maybe you’ve got a point. I should slow down and think a little…  ……  Just don’t move from here. Not one step. Don’t move.I love Nenji’s last “Don’t move” here. He sounds like he’s trying to scold a disobedient puppy. Well, I guess she is “Dogface,” huh?  Consider Tsukasa Okino (I saw that person tryin’ to order me around in the capsule. I only caught a flash, but… It’s that guy hangin’ out with Fuyusaka.)Consider D-Command (So the world’s gonna end… And it’s all ‘cause of these fifteen people. ‘Cause they’re sendin’ out this command to the kaiju… Do I even believe this crazy poo poo? Why should I trust that shady egghead?)Consider Weird Voice (That weird voice… It’s gotta be him.) You don’t get to tell me what to do! …… No time to talk Tomi, got nerds to harass.  You think you can talk to me like that!? *sigh*Use The Attack on Tomi Kisaragi  If you knew the world was gonna end in a couple minutes… How would you spend ‘em? Where’s all this coming from? …… A few minutes, huh? That’s not a lot of time… Well… I can’t really get anywhere in a few minutes…   ……  I just need you to wait here for me. That okay…? *blushing* …… Fine. You know, a guy came over to fix my internet yesterday and I realized he was going to see the giant corkboard monument to insanity I erected in my room. It got to the point where I was like, preparing half-explanations in the vein of “Oh, that? *laughs* It’s just a dumb joke project for the internet, it’s not real or serious or whatever, don’t worry about it.” Anyway, when the dude showed up he didn’t even seem to notice it. No, he was much more interested in how the hell I managed to get my hands on a PS5 without going through scalpers, which, in hindsight, I probably should have seen coming.  Wh-What’s wrong?Welp, back to Nenji, about to kick Okino’s rear end.   Use Weird Voice on Tsukasa Okino  I saw you, you rear end in a top hat…  Wh-What are you talking about? Drop the act. How’d you put me in that capsule? Why do you keep puttin’ me back here? I really have no idea what you’re saying… Bullshit you don’t!      Music: Time Drain (Rikako Watanabe)   What’s going on here? Can he see me? I’m onto you, bastard. Get me outta this capsule thing! …Capsule? Wait, you’re that… …… Now I remember! Hijiyama!  I gave you plenty warning. Don’t act like I pulled some lowdown trick. It’s not my fault if you can’t take a punch. You… son of a…    Uhhhhh  *sigh* Well, he’s awake.   Music: Something’s Fishy (Kikuchi Yukinori)   What’s goin’ on here?  You’re just full of surprises… How did you break out? What is it, some kinda factory? What time is it…? ……  Keep quiet. Unless you want another beating. If you help us, this will be over soon.Use The Attack on Tsukasa Okino  You said you’d help us, right…? Then you gotta do somethin’ before the attack hits! Can’t you save any of the others? Those things are the true foes of the Sentinels? Exactly. What I need to find is the reason for the attack. So now we’re here. Trying to find the key that controls the D-forces. This key’s gonna let you control them?Use D-Command on Tsukasa Okino  One outta these fifteen people? So you knew…   They broadcast command signals from their body. Even if they don’t want to, or don’t even know. Those signals create the kaiju, and then beckon them here. Like the old guy was sayin’… So… are there lots of keys? No, just one. Out of all fifteen… Only one has the key that controls them. (Wait… Didn’t she say somethin’ about that? The first person who had this key… )Use League of Darkness on Tsukasa Okino  She said I was the one who had the key first. But I dunno anything about that. I don’t remember anything, anyway… Of course you don’t.I like that Okino is just ignoring Nenji’s crazed ramblings about complete nonsense and information he has no way of knowing. The Control Key is a code for a program. You’re one of those fifteen people. Up until 2 months ago, the commands were coming from you. Seriously…? It was me? It used to be. Now, though… Well, from what I hear, that had already changed by the time we caught you. Now, another person’s got the key. And they’re the one sending out the signal to start an apocalypse. Remember, they haven’t gotten here yet. But… Whatever you saw in there is going to come true soon enough.Use Key on Tsukasa Okino  How do you even look for somethin’ like that? Well, to you, it’ll look like a standard metal key. At least, within that station… What do you mean? I need to see who got the Control Key after you. The idea was to just pull the data out of you… But whatever happened is really bound up in your personal memories. Which means you’re the only one who can dig that information out. That’s why you’re in the chair, and I’m on the tech side. I’m making it so you can find that key for me.Music: Double Bind (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)   You’ve been in this chair this whole time. That station…  You gotta be kidding…  Are you happy now? You fuckin’ kids ruined the time loop thing for yourselves by just binging it all immediately. Great work.  That’s how you broke out of the simulation… Even I’m there at the station. I guess that’d get you clear of control. Well, I can fix that right now.  H-Hey, hold on! Don’t squirm.   …… My apologies for hitting you. But you need to take this seriously.    Oh boy… We can unlock more Nenji… Hooray… Okay, clearly this isn’t working. Something’s got to give. So, I’m going to… alter the poll a bit this time. You’ll see. It’ll be fine. Pray I do not alter it further. But we’ll get to that in just a second, after we make some minor updates to the board:  First, we’re gonna remove the three central mysteries of Nenji’s story. We know it’s not actually a time loop any more, and we also know just what the key and the D-Code are. We don’t know why the D-Code exists, but that’s more-or-less covered, just more broadly, by “Why are the kaiju invading?”  The other thing we’re going to do is add a link between Nenji and Okino. Obviously. Don’t even need to explain that one.  And here’s the board once more. Now that we’ve got that dealt with, on to the subject of the poll. I feel that, while it has largely worked to distribute the character focus semi-randomly, as if to simulate the whims of a small, easily distracted child, the massive number of candidates is a bit of an issue when there’s an overbearing consensus to just gently caress this whole thing up. Seriously, no offense Nenji, but it’s like the 2016 Republican primary up in here. So, let’s try something new. I ran through a few different ideas for this one, including THE MYSTERY BOX (which is an idea I’ll probably return to at some point if I ever get an opportunity), but I think the best approaches are the simplest and easiest to understand. So, let’s go to something timeless and universal: Dragon Ball Z. This poll will consist of exactly two candidates: First, the evil Frieza, whose unstoppable empire consumes all in its path, portrayed here by Nenji Ogata. The second candidate is Son Goku, the plucky Saiyan who could, portrayed by me. In order to vanquish Frieza, I’m going to need your support (and your tasty, tasty life energy) to form a spirit bomb. To give me your energy, I’m going need you to send me a twenty dollar check at this addres—I’m being informed by my lawyers that I cannot do this. Very well, instead you simply need to raise your arms to the sky. Well, I can’t actually see you do that so I won’t know how you voted, so make sure you also click the poll option of the little man raising his arms. Together, we can change the world and also save all of you from getting yelled at by me for picking Nenji six times in a row. Please, for the love of god. It’s my loving birthday. Don’t do this to me. The poll is here. Arist fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Nov 26, 2022 |
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Jun 3, 2021 18:55
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Only because it's your birthday. (Happy birthday  )
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Jun 3, 2021 19:12
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I never vote because I don't have any idea what's going on but just this once I'll humor your desires, friend.
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Jun 3, 2021 19:52
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Sorry but Frieza is way cooler than Goku.
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Jun 3, 2021 20:07
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You know until I learned you were shaking things up I was 100 percent gonna try and vote for Hijiyama, but here we are. Godspeed.
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Jun 3, 2021 21:30
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Arist posted:Please, for the love of god. It’s my loving birthday. Don’t do this to me. I DRINK YOUR TEARS OF UNSPEAKABLE SADNESS!
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Jun 3, 2021 22:53
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I voted for Goku! We'll see if that matters. We'll see if anything matters. Anything besides Nenji.
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Jun 4, 2021 01:57
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I'll be honest, keeping track of a dozen different storylines at once is kind of overwhelming. The Nenji train did actually mean I didn't have to re-read a bunch of updates to get myself back up to speed, so I liked it.
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Jun 4, 2021 02:33
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Nenji's story, once it unlocks, seems to have the least amount of locks, at least that's how it was for me. I finished it a long time before any of the others. I suppose it helps that, as we've seen, it's very self-contained due to taking place almost entirely in his head.
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Jun 4, 2021 05:28
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My darkest secret is that I consistently vote for Destruction and yet skip all Destruction updates.
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Jun 4, 2021 05:47
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I beat this game a few days ago and it kicks rear end from start to finish. I'm honestly looking forward to how people here will react to some of the more "wha" moments. As for the vote, I went with Goku because he is real and strong and my friend.
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Jun 4, 2021 06:30
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I'm really loving this so far! Nenji is a really cool dude. Seems like this Nenji train has no breaks, so let's keep on going till we reach the next station or a kaiju attack derails us.
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Jun 5, 2021 07:19
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I'm that one weirdo who doesn't automatically like all big-hearted thugs with pompadours so I honestly wasn't super thrilled about Nenji's story when we got to his first update. Nenji rules and I'm voting for him until we're done with his route. Realtalk though: Nenji's story is pretty straightforward so far and I figure it can serve as a decent foothold from which to begin to make sense of things and jump onto whoever else fancies our interests later once it's finished. Like, I get that you think it'll be a better experience if we follow someone else for a while, but it's honestly kinda hard to follow thirteen routes at once in what is already a pretty convoluted timeline so I'd rather see us finish them one at a time. If the options were "Binge Nenji" or "Binge [insert other character here]" then it would be a different case. Also uhhh hi I got here from the P5R LP, it took me a while to catch up. Cool game. Take care of yourself and don't burn out, Arist.
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Jun 11, 2021 20:12
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Yeah I get that feeling too, Nenji's story is nice, self-contained and isolated from everyone else's greater events while still relating directly to the overall story. So basically it's the best one if you're SCARED or TOO CHICKEN to pick everyone else instead. 
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Jun 12, 2021 16:05
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Hey, guys. I'm sure you'll all be shocked to discover that I actually had no plan coming out of that last update, and was banking on figuring that out some time later before the next update. Well... I didn't, really. Part of me wanted to do a random draw or just go with Ryoko next, but either of those felt wrong somehow, and I wasn't totally ready to give up on voting, so I looked into a different polling site that actually supports some other kinds of polls. I'm going to test both ranked choice and just letting you pick up to three options in a normal poll to maybe make having so many poll options not completely collapse this thing, but if neither of those work I might just curate the experience more directly or select them randomly or something, who knows? Part of the reason I wanted polling in the first place was to simulate the randomness of a normal run of this game and not have you all think I was trying to railroad this thing and second-guess all those character choices, but it doesn't really matter. This poll will be brief and probably only be up for about a day, and I know it'll take a bit longer to fill out, so thanks for bothering. Again, this is mainly just to read the room on which method will work better, so we'll see. The poll is here. By the way, Nenji's gonna come back soon, don't worry. I'll restore him as an option within a couple updates. Arist fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Jun 18, 2021 |
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Jun 18, 2021 23:14
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Arist posted:This poll will be brief and probably only be up for about a day, and I know it'll take a bit longer to fill out, so thanks for bothering. Again, this is mainly just to read the room on which method will work better, so we'll see. The poll is here. That is the link to create a poll instead of to take part in one.
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Jun 18, 2021 23:19
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Hunt11 posted:That is the link to create a poll instead of to take part in one. I'm the good at computers boy fixed
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Jun 18, 2021 23:20
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How DARE you infringe on my right to be a coward and pick Nenji until the end of time. This Democracy is a sham. Arist more like... MilitArist! Because you're a military dictator! Yeah! I voted Megumi and Natsuno because they're both dorks playing pretend that they're in the wrong genre.
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Jun 19, 2021 00:49
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 Woo-hoo! We did it! We’re free! But, despite my bloviating last update, I did not actually have any sort of plan for what to do if Nenji lost that poll. So… I took a second poll!  This first question let people pick three options in an attempt to mitigate the effect of having so many candidates.  The second was a straight ranking of every candidate. What did I learn from this? Pretty much nothing! I’m not equipped to analyze this data, so it really just confused things further! Well, that’s not entirely true. I did realize one thing: polling is just not gonna work out, you guys! While the two sets of results were largely too different to compare (besides a couple of constants like Juro at #1 and Megumi at #3, the really concerning thing I noticed was that Miura was all the way at the bottom of the first poll and 2/3 of the way down on the second. Remember, we’ve only ever picked him once. We need to see his scenes eventually, people! Honestly, that was the thing that made me finally realize this probably won’t work out in the long-term, because this game does suffer a bit if you actively ignore people for long periods. It was a beautiful dream, but alas, it was not meant to be. I’ll be taking the reins from here.   Wait, that move didn’t actually kill Friez—eh, who cares, I don’t even really like Dragon Ball that much  We’re finally going to go start Ryoko’s story.  Chapter 34: Ryoko Shinonome 1 Music: Taking It Easy (Kazuki Higashihara)    Ida refers to Ryoko as “Shinonome-kun” which confused me as I thought “-kun” was exclusively for boys, but apparently it is a way some male teachers address female students.   Will you answer it for me?  Ida just walks away. How rude.    *annoyed sigh* You are to avoid contact with me while at school. I will make an exception this once. What is your question?  You are special.  I knew you’d be special… That something might… happen between us.Uhhhhhhhhhhh  Consider Mr. Ida (Mr. Ida, the substitute teacher. He’s here to fill in while our teacher is on maternity leave. I’ve come to find he’s quite mysterious… and comes with his own set of secrets.) The investigation unit is watching us. As it stands, we are already an unofficial organization. It is not wise for us to stand out any more than we already do. I have told you this before. Is that clear? Well, I just…Use Mr. Ida on Mr. Ida  I’ve never felt this way before. Just thinking about you makes me— While you are important to me—To *all* of us… You and the rest of those chosen as pilots… Your well-being is of the utmost importance *to the mission*. Please don’t cause any trouble for me, Shinonome-kun.The line read on this one is just incredibly loving sinister. Girl, you need to move on from this guy, and not just because he’s your teacher.   Your intelligence and adaptability are above average. Sweet, her Dark Souls II build is looking pretty strong then! And your piloting technique is more than sufficient. With you on our side, we stand a real chance. But, you must be fully committed to the cause. To achieve victory, one must prepare with a full heart… And great tenacity. Consider Victory (The internet has been talking of nothing but what happened last week. A group of invaders had come ashore. Their attack held back by a mysterious robot…) We won’t be able to overcome this danger.Use Victory on Mr. Ida   If we don’t defend against the attacks on this city… It is no exaggeration when I say that the world *will* be destroyed. We succeeded in defeating them in the first battle. By ensuring that they were unable to reach the heart of the city… We were able to minimize the damage that was done. But the invasion is just beginning. That attack is nothing compared to what’s coming.      What do you want with Ryoko-senpai? Sekigahara-kun. I’m the one who asked to talk to him. Senpai… That is true. Nevertheless, we are drawing attention to ourselves. I’m leaving.   Are you certain? Yes. I’ve made up my mind. Then we will meet after school. I’ll give you more details then. Wait. I’m in too. You will fight as well? Yeah. I’ll do it. I’ll go with Ryoko-senpai. That is excellent news. Then I will see you after school as well.  I am.  Music: Go Sentinels, Go! (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)    Area D-7. 23 remain in the 7th wave.Explosions fire off in the distance throughout this scene.  No. 14 has secured a path. Just a little more… Don’t stop, you’re almost there.More explosions. No. 14 has taken damage. Shinonome-kun, pull back. No. 17, assist No. 14. No. 17…? No response.Music: Hack and Crash (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)  Suddenly, several popups appear on the holographic screens. I’m not getting a response from Sekigahara, either. The system’s being attacked. From where? Through the laser link. The attack is originating from No. 15. Sekigahara-kun? Sekigahara’s transmitting it to every Sentinel.More missiles explode in the background.   Our defenses are down. Juro, fall back! Our position has become critical.  My head… it’s throbbing… Both Sentinels are showing abnormalities in their system. I can’t move… More missiles. The popups change from yellow to red.  I can’t shut off the link. We’re going to lose all units at this rate.  But we don’t have time to adjust the settings. Do it as is. The link will be shut off that way… But we’ll have no idea where they go. The pilots’ lives are the priority. No. 12 and 19 transmitted. No. 14 has completed transmission. No response from the others. The kaiju are almost here. We need to go. We can figure out the reason afterward. I was able to access the autonomous type No. 8. We can buy time with that. You two head for the gate. …Ida-kun.  I’d rather not die a meaningless death. Ms. Morimura, we need to go. Gouto then powerwalks away, I guess because they didn’t actually give him a running animation.    Wait, Tomi, Miwako, and Nenji!? Ryoko’s head is pounding.   Ryoko’s “thinking” animation has her loosely grasping her head while her frail body sways back and forth. It’s kinda neat. Consider Mr. Ida   He stayed on the battlefield, to the very end… All so we could escape. *on the verge of tears*Ryoko’s head is pounding.    Ryoko’s head is pounding. 426 is a dangerous criminal.426!?  Remember what Mr. Ida said. To achieve victory… One must prepare with great tenacity.Ryoko’s head is pounding. Consider 426 (Prisoner number 426. That’s what he was called when imprisoned in the future. And now he travels through time, trying to thwart our work.) Ooh, a gun!    Examine Phaser (There’s still some ammo left.)Ryoko’s head is pounding.  Well, let’s go hunting.  Music: Lonely Struggle (Rikako Watanabe)   I’ve got you cornered now, 426. Ryoko’s head is pounding.  And if I don’t come willingly? If you want to resist, feel free.  Ryoko’s head is pounding. Use 426 on Ei Sekigahara  Who told you I was 426? I saw the access logs. It was you, Ei Sekigahara. The program that infected the Sentinels. It was created with 426’s ID. Looks like someone left some foolish evidence behind.Use Mr. Ida on Ei Sekigahara  I don’t care. But I can’t forgive you for what you did to Mr. Ida. Ryoko’s head is pounding. You… You’re still going on about Ida?Use Phaser on Ei Sekigahara  I should kill you right here…Ryoko’s head is pounding.  *chuckle* Then do it. Shoot me. Ryoko’s head is pounding. I’m serious! I’ll do it! *pulls trigger, empty click* *pulls trigger twice more* Ryoko’s head is pounding.  Argh… *drops phaser* Really? With those injuries?Ryoko’s head is pounding.   What are you doing?Ryoko’s head is pounding. Empty. Like I thought. They’ll wear off soon.Ryoko’s head is pounding.   Ryoko’s head is pounding.   Ryoko’s head is pounding.      An entire segment of her file is just dedicated to explaining why everyone calls her Senpai.  Ryoko Shinonome is voiced by Kira Buckland, the internet’s #1 pick for the English voice of Jolyne Cujoh because she just loves that character so much. She also voiced Reimi in Diamond is Unbreakable, 2B in NieR Automata, Ichinose in Persona 5 Strikers, and Edna in Tales of Zestiria, a game I hate with all my soul! So, what next? Well, that’s for me to decide and you to find out. It’s a brave new future out there, untamed and unknown. At least for now. Arist fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Nov 26, 2022 |
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Jun 21, 2021 16:08
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Ah gently caress, I forgot to update the board. Uhhh... I'll do that next time.
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Jun 21, 2021 16:09
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IIRC -kun can be used by social superiors to women when -chan can be too casual/intimate, like in a work position where you're distant/professional with your underlings.
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Jun 21, 2021 16:30
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That's definitely where my mind went. It immediately gave me the impression that he thinks of Shinonome less as his student and more as his subordinate.
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Jun 21, 2021 16:49
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Arist posted:So, what next? Well, that’s for me to decide and you to find out. It’s a brave new future out there, untamed and unknown. At least for now. If you still want some thread participation you could run a poll every 5-10 updates or so, to gauge everyone's interest in the various characters and storylines. The "pick up to three" format might be nice for that. This was an interesting update. It feels like this is the beginning of the story, to the extent that a time travel story can have a beginning, or at least the beginning of the war. It also seems that we got an explanation for why the numbering of the Sentinels starts at 10: Ida's line about "the autonomous type No. 8" suggests that the first nine Sentinels were all autonomous, and human pilots were introduced later. I went ahead and checked the Sentinel numbers in the update against the numbering that was introduced in the first few sections of the game. #14 is indeed Ryoko's, and #17, the one that's asked to assist Ryoko and doesn't respond, is Natsuno's. #15, the one that's transmitting the attack, belongs to Ei as expected (although Iori is the one using it -- Gouto comments on this right at the beginning of the game). There's something off about the remaining numbers, though. According to the dialogue, five Sentinels escaped: #12, #13, #14, #16 and #19. #14 is Ryoko's, as noted, and #16 is Tomi's. But #13 is Juro's, #19 is Miura's, and #12 belongs to Okino and is used by Hijiyama. (And for completeness, Nenji's is #10 and we obviously don't have a number for Miwako.) Given the disparity, I'm guessing that the Aftermath segment doesn't actually follow directly from the invasion, in Ryoko's timeline, and what we're seeing is the aftermath of a later battle. Ryoko's dialogue seems to support this as well -- it sounds like she witnessed Ida's decision to stay on the battlefield, which doesn't fit with the invasion segment here. (And even though Ida's dialogue implies that he will die in this invasion, we don't actually see this.) There's also Ei's line "You're still going on about Ida?", implying that Ei and Ryoko have talked about Ida's death before.
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Jun 21, 2021 19:12
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Tau Wedel posted:If you still want some thread participation you could run a poll every 5-10 updates or so, to gauge everyone's interest in the various characters and storylines. The "pick up to three" format might be nice for that. Yeah, I'll consider this. There's also at least one point I'm definitely gonna have thread participation for later, but that's gonna be a long while from now and also I haven't quite figured out how I want to structure it. Plenty of time to figure that out, though.
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Jun 21, 2021 19:40
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Ryoko’s head is pounding.
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Jun 21, 2021 21:05
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Glad to see we are finally starting Ryoko's story. There are characters I find more interesting but I do enjoy what happens in her content.
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Jun 21, 2021 22:14
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You could also just put in a rule where someone winning a vote makes them ineligible for like X number of updates.
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Jun 21, 2021 23:34
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"Your/X's head is pounding" gives me some vague CYOA/point and click impressions for some reason. Anyway, nice use of a line.
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Jun 22, 2021 20:27
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 Finally! Now that I’m in control, I’m going to make you bastards eat your Miura vegetables!  Chapter 35: Keitaro Miura 2   Music: LONER (Azusa Chiba)      Better take advantage of that.Consider American Weapons (They came ashore during the air raid. They’re enormous. Must be over 30 meters tall. Instead of wheels, they move on long, leg-like appendages. Quite a terrifying sight, like something out of hell…)    It’s still there, hiding behind all those elaborate curtains. That Sentinel… It’s what brought me here.Consider Sentinel (Why were just the Sentinel and I brought here? That thing is beyond me. I’m no expert… but I know it’s capable of some extraordinary feats. Time travel, though…)  Let’s take a quick look at Miura’s flowchart, because I find it useful to make a small point about the way many of this game’s “branches” work. While he has a whopping six branches here, that really just means they all start from the same place. In terms of accessing these branches, you have to do them all in a set sequential order because you won’t have the right keywords otherwise. It’s a little weird visualized like this. Consider Time Travel  (A story about traveling through time to the future. It only ever felt like a far-off fantasy… But on that day, at that moment… That fantasy became a reality.)  Music: Emotional Storm (Yoshimi Kudo)   The Sentinel rears up…   Electromagnetic rounds are offline… Output’s dropped by 50% in both electromagnetic battering rams…  The kaiju let out an ear-splitting, unearthly roar.  But I’m not about to just sit here and die. I still have two minutes before I hit my operating limit. Might as well give it everything I got.Suddenly, everything flashes and shakes…          Where’s the enemy…? Did I… lose?     Music: Ennui Vibes (Yoshimi Kudo) The air raid… Everything was just on fire…  What the hell’s going on? …… The last thing I remember… is being surrounded by those new American weapons, and—No. It can’t be… Consider American City  These high-rise buildings are common. …Was I captured? And they got my Sentinel, too? They must have done it when I lost consciousness. Brought me to the mainland as their—No, wait. If the Sentinel just reached its operating limit… then not very much time could have passed.  It’s not my homeland. Somehow, I ended up on U.S. soil.  I’ll face the enemy even without my Sentinel…   The Sentinels are top secret. It can’t fall into enemy hands.  Considering everything it’s been through already… I can’t expect it to perform at full capacity.Use Sentinel on Sentinel  That’s the kind of issue that becomes a national crisis. But what can I do? I can’t activate now, let alone initiate self-destruct. (I should probably go lie low until the Sentinel recovers. But not because I’m afraid. My country, my little sister… I’d give my life for them at the drop of a hat. But I have to be smart right now. And that means waiting for the Sentinel to be up and running.) I should get out of here before American soldiers show up. I’ll stay out of sight until it’s the right time to move.   …But something’s off. These signs show both kanji and the English alphabet. Ashitaba Printing, Ashitaba Bank… Why are they named after my hometown…?Oh Miura, you pure, sweet idiot.   Sure! The one at Sun Mall? Nah, the one at Joyland. Let’s go try out those big new SEGA machines that came in! (But their language doesn’t sound foreign to me.)  Yeah! Ugh, he’s sooo amazing.  Right!? I watch everything he’s in. (Though that’s quite a bit of exposed leg…)Stop being so repressed, Miura! Get with the times! I mean, you don’t actually know “the times,” but still! (It almost seems like a different dialect. But it’s definitely Japanese.) Where in the world am I? (It *looks* like Japan, but everything seems off. This is all just a terrible dream…) Music: Deafening Silence (Mitsuhiro Kaneda) (…Right? Right… It’s nothing to worry about. Just my brain acting up. That’s why my surroundings appear to be different. We knew what the risks were going in as Sentinel pilots. Professor Douji made it all very clear to us.)  Oh, hey Shu.  …But appears to have a girl’s haircut. Hm.  This one has a particularly strange hairstyle… It looks like… I’ve finally gone crazy.     What is this room? Music: Mutual Telepathy (Composer: Kazuki Higashihara, Arranger: Rikako Watanabe) Some guy with weird hair hit me with his bag. Either I’m still seeing things… or someone removed me from the Sentinel. Whoever it was brought me to some kind of lab.  The Sentinel has its own spatial projector as well… But that’s highly confidential military technology… …… It’s about baseball. I’m not in a military base, am I?   It’s all in my head… It’s just an illusion…   Takatoshi-san used to let me listen to his. There are way more than I saw at the Hijiyamas’.  Lots of textbooks lined up here. So I really am still in Japan then… Consider History Book  …! This can’t be right… Music: Impending Doom (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)  Surrender…? We lost the war? 1945… that’s this year. August 6th… atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima… 140,000 killed… Three days later… second bomb dropped on Nagasaki… 70,000 killed. …All from just two new American bombs?  1964… Tokyo Olympics. How far does this go? Wait…    I-It has to be fake. When was this printed? It says here…  Wait, wouldn’t it have been printed in 1984? Because it’s a calendar?      (It’s so cold…) That’s all that was in the fridge. ……  *coughing* Wow… Not a big fan of soda, I take it? (Some kind of carbonated beverage? I had ramune once at a festival in Tsutsuji, but I was just a kid.)Music: Mutual Telepathy (Composer: Kazuki Higashihara, Arranger: Rikako Watanabe) Consider 1985… Am I still in Japan… but in the future?  I’m Shu Amiguchi. And we’re at my apartment in Kamazumi. …Keitaro Miura. So… how did I get here? I called a taxi and brought you over after you got knocked out. Guilty. You know, you really pushed Ogata over the edge. He was already pissed from being chewed out. If he gets in trouble one more time, he’s getting suspended. Be real nice if you two could work things out peacefully. What… year is it? Afraid you got knocked into a coma for the last few years? Relax. You didn’t get hit *that* hard.  Oh nooooooooo!  Anyway, I realized immediately after posting the last update that I forgot to add the relevant connections to the board! Let’s do that!   We only added two new details. The first is an important connection between Ei, 426, and Ryoko. I considered making it orange because we don’t really understand the nature of it as of yet, but the colors are very convoluted and it doesn’t really matter. The second is a romantic connection between Ryoko and Ida, as icky as that is to think about. At least it’s clearly pretty one-sided.  And here’s the current board in its entirety. Arist fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Nov 26, 2022 |
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Jun 26, 2021 16:28
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The corkboard continues to be the real star of the LP
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Jun 27, 2021 08:48
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Fish out of temporal water is my favorite seafood. The board is REALLY starting to shape up, yeah. Wonder if it's at peak conspiracy theorist or if it'll get even better/worse.
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Jun 27, 2021 18:20
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 And because we’ve been avoiding Miura for so long, why not double up?  Chapter 36: Keitaro Miura 3   Music: LONER (Azusa Chiba)        It’s still there, hiding behind all those elaborate curtains. That Sentinel… It’s what brought me here.Consider Time Travel (Before the war, my uncle gave me a sci-fi novel. A story about traveling through time to the future. It only ever felt like a far-off fantasy… To think it’d ever become a reality.)Consider American Weapons I checked the library for any records of such a weapon. But in all of history, nothing like it has ever existed. Not in the U.S.. Not anywhere. …What was that thing?Consider 1985  I’m proud my country could rebuild after what happened. But… I won’t accept this future. Now that I know we lose the war… that’s all the more reason to go back. It’s my duty to fight and protect the people. I have to save as many of them as I can. (But what if it’s impossible for me to go back? What if I’m trapped here…? Chihiro… …All right, that’s enough. Get it together. Don’t get discouraged. You *will* make it back. No matter what it takes. Hmm… I wonder… What if I never actually traveled through time? It’s possible that spacetime here is warped somehow. But it could just be a local effect. I should try heading toward the school. Maybe time is flowing normally over there.)What? Why would things be different there?   Consider 1985 (Despite a catastrophic loss, Japan recovered quite well. It seems to have entered a prosperous new era. Almost too prosperous…)Yeah, it was quite the shock seeing Kiryu get all that money beaten out of him by Mr. Shakedown on the way over here.    Looks like the school’s still here. Isn’t that…?Music: BUDDIES (Azusa Chiba)    Miura-kun?    I’ve gotta say… You had me pretty worried. I had no idea where you went. I just… I can’t believe you’re here, too. I couldn’t find you anywhere. I thought you got snatched up and hauled off to Area 51. But anyway, what have you been up to? Wait… first… Where have you been? …A kind student’s been letting me stay at his place. Aside from that, I’ve been sleeping outdoors.  Consider Natsuno Minami    (She certainly is quite… yes. I admit, she’s bright, cheerful… attractive. B-But right now… I have more urgent matters to tend to.) This is my mess, so I have to figure out how to clean it up. I can’t really bring a boy into the house… Oh yeah! Granny Tamao went on a trip. So Juro-kun should be the only one home. That house *does* have a lot of rooms…    Then we’ll head over to the Kurabes’ house. Music: Feeling At Ease (Rikako Watanabe)        *sad whimper* You don’t have to cry. It’s not like you did this on purpose. I’m sure Uncle isn’t mad about it anymore. What about you? Are you mad? Of course not. I’m your big brother. I’ll always be on your side, Chihiro.    You must’ve been playing pretty rough.  ‘Cause the ghosts smash all the houses… And more of them keep coming.Huh. I’m sure that’s nothing. Such strange ghosts. Did you come up with them yourself? No. Tamao told me about them.  My father has quite a short temper.With good reason, this is a rental!  Tamao-san. It only happened because I told Chihiro-chan about my dreams. Mhm. I’ve been feeling much better lately. And I have Gouto-san from Tokyo to thank for that. He’s been sharing some foreign medicine with me. Ever since I started taking it, I keep having strange dreams. But they feel like more than just dreams. Getting a little heavy in front of the young child there, Tamao.  The sirens…    Music: The Chills (Yoshimi Kudo)   Enemies flying at low altitude. More air units to be expected. To prepare against the coming invasion… We ask all citizens to unite as we fortify our air defenses. We have to hurry to a bombproof shelter. We have to go.   Couldn’t you have knocked first? C’mon, your granny Tamao and I are best buds. We’re neighbors! Think I don’t know my way around the place? Anyway, I’ve got a favor to ask…      Do you need something from him? It’s not what it looks like!   Music: Forty Winks (Rikako Watanabe)   Who are you? So, um… It’s kinda complicated, but yeah. I need you to let him stay over for a few days. What? How do you know Minami-san? *blushing* Come on, I know you have a spare room. Just let him stay until your granny’s back. In exchange… I won’t tell anyone you’re living with a girl.BLACKMAIL, BAYBEE That’s not— The details don’t matter. Just let him stay, all right? Thanks. See ya. It’s fine, it’s fine. I live super close by. So if you need anything, just let me know!    I know Natsuno-san’s intentions are good, but… I really don’t want to be an inconvenience. …… Are you hungry? Why don’t you join us for dinner? No, I shouldn’t… *stomach growls*  No, that was, uh… I’ll go fix you a plate.  Is she in good health? Grandma? She’s fit as a fiddle. She’s visiting relatives back in Shimane. That’s why she isn’t here. Shimane… She must be with her mother’s side of the family in Iwami. …Yes. You do, huh… So then… Not long. Just until I can make my way back home. Well, all right. If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be a problem. Just try not to cause any trouble. Feel free to use the guest room on the first floor. …Thank you.  It’s been lightly remodeled, but it’s the same house. I could’ve sworn it burned to the ground…    And it wasn’t changed when they remodeled. (…Then it should be right here. Chihiro left a dent in this pillar.) Oh gently caress me, this again   …There was a wooden, single-story house. It was built in the middle of the 20th century. That humble little place stood for about 100 years. My grandfather often told me stories about it. Some of his fondest childhood memories were at that house. That sounds lovely. I’ll have it produced for you.In the background, beeping can be heard. It seems Miura is receiving another call. You will? But all I have left are old photographs. That’s fine. I can restore them for you. Thank you, Miura-san. I’m looking forward to it.   Were you just on a call with someone else? With Professor Kurabe, yes. We were discussing the layout of the residential zone. Oh, that’s right. Professor Kurabe was born in the 21st century. She’s 120 years old, right? I know that she’s receiving nanomachine treatment… but she still looks so young. She’s Professor Morimura’s mentor, I hear. Quite an intelligent individual. Well, yeah. She *is* the foremost expert on AI, after all. Right… Anyway, is something wrong? Why does something have to be wrong for me to call? Well, I just so happen to have a *really* urgent problem. I need emotional support, stat. And I need it from you. Oh, that does sound urgent. Then I’ll be waiting. Uhhhhh   We can unlock Miura again, but we’ll probably move on to someone else for now.  We also make another update to the board, this time adding the mysteries “Kurabe House Discrepancy” and “2188.” Made the latter a little bigger because it feels… kind of huge, but I’m sure none it’s making any sense at the moment so we’ll leave it at that. Arist fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Nov 26, 2022 |
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Jun 29, 2021 19:32
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Arist posted:We also make another update to the board, this time adding the mysteries “Kurabe House Discrepancy” and “2188.” Made the latter a little bigger because it feels… kind of huge, but I’m sure none it’s making any sense at the moment so we’ll leave it at that. It's not exactly making sense, no, but it feels like this segment is a glimpse of the complete explanation of the story. Far future technology that can recreate places just from photographs, an expert in AI, Kurabe and Morimura as names of professors -- I don't know how it all fits together, but these elements all feel like they'll be significant for the story as a whole, not just for smaller subplots.
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Jul 4, 2021 20:26
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  Chapter 37: Iori Fuyusaka 3 Music: Bright Days Ahead (Azusa Chiba)   In case you’ve forgotten, Iori’s segment here is a little mini-maze of conversation branches that we have to navigate. We start in About that cat…, but talking to Miwako leads us to Boys, boys, boys. We’ll skip over the dialogue because we already covered it in Iori Fuyusaka 2.  Consider 2089  (2089… That’s what year it was in my dream. He said he’d gone back in time 16 years to find me. If that was a real premonition… Something’s gonna happen in the year 2105. That’s 120 years from now…) Ooh, kitty!   Just approach it.    Well, that didn’t work…  The cat appears during Boys, boys, boys and walking near it will cause it to run away, switching the topic back to About that cat… We’ve already gone over this in Iori 2, but it’s important here.  We need to talk to Tomi to progress.  I’m still hungry.  Good idea. Where should we go? Now we’re back in Wanna grab food?   Talking to Tomi again will bring us to Soft serve or crêpes?   Let’s go with crêpes this time. Choose Crêpes  Crêpes sound good right about now. Then that’s that! Let’s go!  I love it when some random rear end in a top hat just stands in front of one of the main characters when I need to capture a shot. It just rules.   Chocolate banana, right? Double strawberry was half off! I had to try it. Yummm…  Mmm… So many strawberries! Crispy edges… Lots of cream! What if I got the tuna and mayo? I could have fed it to the cat! Hey… Cats can’t have crêpes. I actually have cat treats with me. If you want to feed him, give him those. Geez, Miwako. I’ll keep that in mind next time I see one. Thanks, Miwa-chan! You won’t have to wait long for your chance, Iori.  If we don’t approach, but instead retreat a bit, we can call out to Miwako.  Consider Cat Treats (Now’s the time… I’ll use Miwa-chan’s treats!)Call Out for Cat Treats  (whispering loudly) Miwa-chan! Over here! Oh! One moment. I’ll get the treats.  He ate the whole thing! They’re very similar, but… I think the one at school looks slightly different. So there’s more than one… You got a good look at the one at school, huh? At the front gate with Kurabe. Oh… You saw that?   It was…  Music: Mornin’, Sunshine! (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)  Hehe…  Behold! Iori Fuyusaka, genuine morning person! It’s not so bad if I put my mind to it.  Early cat gets the mouse, huh?    Shh! Quiet! …? Oh, a cat. Yeah, I’m sure, buddy. Maybe they’re siblings. Do you… still have those dreams? Yeah, sometimes. I… have them too. You know that one you talked about earlier? With the UFO buried underground? UFO?    What were you guys up to over there? (quizzically) Uh-huh. O-Okay. Oh…Poor Megumi. Also I generally try to avoid catching people midblink but this was the best shot I could get under these circumstances, sorry Juro!   What happened in the dream?Use Strange Dreams on Juro Kurabe  Music: The Tower of Knowledge (Hitoshi Sakimoto)     I was worried with you all by yourself.   …… I’m flattered you feel that way… But I can’t think about this. Not now. I don’t want to leave you hanging… I don’t know what got into me. This is no time for a confession. It would only make things more complicated. But listen. When this is all over… I’ll talk to you again. Promise.   Were you able to find the source of these tremors? Okino-kun…   They’re starting to collapse. The tunnel is blocked. We’ll need to find another route to the surface. There’s no use rushing. No one’s left up there anyway. …… You don’t have to say it. So you remember. I’m so sorry. About your mother. It’s okay. Our work here is a good distraction. I’ll check the terminal over there…  Don’t worry about it.  It’s been three days, and it’s only at 1.2%… That’s unusually dense. Still, the system’s logical structure… It’s not so far off from our own. Was Okino-kun right all along? This could be a relic of an ancient civilization.   Something incredible, surely. I’d say it’s a transmission device. In other words, a teleporter. (skeptically) …… Don’t give me that look. Hear me out. I actually found some associated data. Come on, you’ve taken quantum mechanics. Transmission of matter isn’t possible. We can’t assume that alien technology is bound by the same constraints. If my theory is correct… We’ve got an explanation for the disappearances. Including those of your parents, Morimura-san.   I found this.Music: Deafening Silence (Mitsuhiro Kaneda)    The map… This relic is enormous. It’s 30 kilometers in diameter. And the whole thing’s underground. Right beneath the city. It looks like a giant saucer… Fascinating. So this isn’t just any alien facility. It’s a buried UFO. loving hell, this game is insane.  This facility is huge. How could it have never been discovered? It’s not likely. Rather… It may have been intentionally hidden. A government coverup of alien life… Sounds like a movie from the 20th century. Juro Izumi: still a nerd.  Are they trying to unearth this UFO? Just what are they after?  As Okino messes with the terminal, the UFO popup is replaced by a readout of numbers flashing by. They seem to be decreasing.  It’s a data signal being emitted by this facility as we speak. What does it look like to you? This is… …A countdown. It started when the kaiju came in contact with the mainframe. Since then, the clock’s been ticking.  This sort of alien technology… I can hardly believe it.Use Signal on Tsukasa Okino  What happens? …… It may be related to the gravity wave abnormality. Do you think it might… launch? Let’s just continue the analysis. There’s no time for what-ifs. We need to find out what’s going on.   And Iori’s unlockable again.  We’re going to add “UFOs?” to the board to close this one out. Arist fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Nov 26, 2022 |
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Jul 7, 2021 18:11
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I wonder how feasible it is to run down that countdown timer.
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Jul 7, 2021 19:44
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HGH posted:I wonder how feasible it is to run down that countdown timer. Unfortunately(?) if you wait and see, some of the numbers tick over back to 9 without incrementing the next digit.
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Jul 7, 2021 19:49
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