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 Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a spinoff title of the Metroid Prime series, and the third game called Metroid Prime on a handheld. The game was developed not by Retro Studios, as the original trilogy was, nor was it developed in-house by Nintendo as Metroid Prime: Hunters was (which you might not have known!), but by a company called Next Level Games, which had done titles such as Super Mario Strikers and the Nintendo Wii game Punch-Out!! So, they’re a trusted Canadian developer with more than a few notches in their belt; if they could do such a wonderful job with Punch-Out!!, surely they could be trusted with the next Metroid game, right? Well, it turns out… Metroid Prime: Federation Force was revealed at E3 2015, and the response was overwhelmingly negative. The people were willing to put up with Metroid Prime: Pinball – a game that was clearly tongue-in-cheek and obviously intended to come off more as a side project than something deserving critical scrutiny – but this game was essentially the perfect storm to piss off Metroid fans: There was no Samus. The gameplay looked cartoonish, starkly contrasting Metroid’s more adult look and themes. The main plot was optionally co-op, which went against the isolation and lone-wolf-ism themes of the series as a whole, and apparently some objectives borderline required co-op. Not only did it barely resemble Metroid, but it just didn’t look fun to play. The last game in the series was Metroid: Other M, released a whopping five years prior, and Nintendo had the gall to follow up that smoking failure with a spin-off? It got so bad that a Change.org petition to get Nintendo to stop development reached 24,110 signatures. The fans would rather have no game at all than a bad one. Reception on release was average at best, scoring a 65 on Metacritic. It sold only 4,000 copies on its opening weekend, which is considered a colossal failure – loving New Super Mario Bros. 2 did better. Videos: Episode 1: Help Episode 2: Aiuto Episode 3: Respect Episode 4: Destroy The Beeper Episode 5: Zoo Tycoon Episode 6: Pattern Recognition Episode 7: Platform Peril Episode 8: I Didn't Enjoy It Episode 9: Mistakes Were Made Episode 10: Can I Not? Episode 11: I Need That Episode 12: Pump Up The Jam Episode 13: Come At Me Episode 14: I Hope You Die Episode 15: I'm So Lonely Episode 16: That's About All You Can Say Episode 17: All The Time In The World Episode 18: Everyone Died Episode 19: Riveting Gameplay Episode 20: I Am Protected Episode 21: Good, She's Dead  Another Metroid 2 Remake is, as the title would imply, a remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus. Apparently, those are fairly popular. The game is entirely fan-made and was developed by some dude in his bedroom named Milton Guasti, under the pseudonym DoctorM64. It took ten years to develop, although a lot of that was on-and-off. The game was made in GameMaker and its engine was designed by Guasti’s friend Martin Piecyk. Neither of them had any experience in making a game: Guasti just knew that, after playing Metroid II for the first time, playing the game with modern graphics and an in-game minimap (as opposed to an actual map that came with the game) would be a more immersive experience, and he set out to see that come true. When Guasti announced the project, he received offers from artists and musicians offering to pitch in and see it come to life. AM2R was a collaborative effort that went through a number of changes and challenges – motivation, primarily, seeing as nobody was getting paid. But, slow and steady won the race, and AM2R was officially released, after two public demos, on August 6th, 2016, coinciding with Metroid’s 30th anniversary. The game met enormous critical acclaim with freelance reviewers giving it nothing but love and accolades, praising its gameplay; its music; its art direction; the inclusion of new mechanics and features, such as data logs and entries; and just the way that Guasti and his team managed to capture the feel of Metroid. That was important: the game felt like Metroid. It had the graphical integrity and attention of Super Metroid with the pace and tightness of Metroid: Zero Mission, along with a handful of upgrades and changes, all for the better. AM2R was a monumental success, critically speaking, setting the standard for fangames and fan projects forever. AM2R was downloaded approximately 1.5 million times off its home webpage in the first twenty four hours. It was so popular that Nintendo even acknowledged it, praising the game for its ingenuity, and soon after offered Guasti and Piecyk positions in their American branch. Except, replace ‘acknowledged’ with ‘damned,’ ‘praising’ with ‘attacking,’ ‘ingenuity’ with ‘infringement,’ and ‘positions in their American branch’ with ‘an ultimatum: take it down or get sued into the dirt.’ AM2R was DMCA’d just one day after its official release. Guasti promised that he would continue to work on updates in private, but Nintendo sent him another DMCA, and that’s that: AM2R is as golden as it will ever get. AM2R does not run off a modded ROM of any sort: it’s a standalone .exe that requires nothing external to function properly. This being the Internet, nothing is ever truly deleted, and you can easily find the game off Google with some proper searching. Videos: Episode 1: Waterlogged Episode 2: Red Light Episode 3: A New Challenger Episode 4: Carpet Bombing Episode 5: I Am Alive Episode 6: Cruise Control Episode 7: Intuition Episode 8: Are We Dumb? Episode 9: Oh No, I Died Episode 10: This Game Is Cute Episode 11: Mildly Annoying Episode 12: That Is Your Hell Episode 13: Good Job, Samus Episode 14: The End of Samuel Episode 15: Like A Friggen' Casual Episode 16: Bad Ending The LP: Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Another Metroid 2 Remake were released very close to each other, and were on absolutely opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to content and reception. The two games couldn’t be more contrasted – one is official and bad, the other is unofficial and good, and that’s just one comparison – and it’s a series I love, so, why not kill two birds with one stone? Also, it cost a lot of money to mod my 3DS and I don’t want it to just sit there. Traditionally, I prefer doing LPs post-commentary, and I prefer doing games that I have at least some modicum of expertise so that I can maybe show the viewers something they might not have gotten their first time around, or maybe I just want to show off or something. This time, both my close friend Olive Branch and I are going in absolutely blind. It’s all news to him and I. That said, no spoilers, please. Neither of these games will match the travesty that is Metroid: Other M or the brilliance that is Kid Icarus: Uprising, but we still want to see how bad/brilliant it gets for ourselves. Maple Leaf fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Mar 25, 2017 |
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Nov 11, 2016 11:08
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God. Federation Force wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it's not at all what anyone really wanted out of the series. Like, at all. And then to compound things, AM2R got released and taken down. And it's exactly the sort of thing that fans wanted. Maybe Federation Force will turn out okay in the end? Maybe? Though I hear it's best played in co-op, so who knows. Never played it, and it's not high up there in games I wanna get. AM2R *did* get an update though before the whole project got DMCA'd, and got updated to 1.1. Mostly just a bugfix.
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Nov 11, 2016 17:37
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You and Olive Branch were talking about a game telling you about a secret in AM2R. I have played a game that does that, sort of. Emperor's New Groove on PSX had you encounter a cut scene that tells you how to progress, charge into the wall. When you do so, you get the secret indicator and text on the screen. The thing is, you have to go through the wall in order to finish the level but it is still count as a secret for some reason.
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Nov 11, 2016 17:56
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This is beautiful. This is poetry. It was the best of games. It was the worst of games...
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Nov 11, 2016 18:07
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I hope y'all end up liking Federation Force
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Nov 11, 2016 20:46
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Looper posted:I hope y'all end up liking Federation Force
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Nov 11, 2016 22:19
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Very much looking forward to this. Love AM2R and am quite interested in seeing how bad Federation Force gets. That said,Maple Leaf posted:one is official and bad, the other is official and good, I'm not sure this is quite what you meant to say here.
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Nov 11, 2016 22:59
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If, hypothetically, anyone were looking to acquire AM2R, I could theoretically know where to find it. Hypothetically. Apropos of nothing: I have platinum and can receive PMs. Isn't that a cool feature?
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Nov 11, 2016 23:08
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Augus posted:Very much looking forward to this. Love AM2R and am quite interested in seeing how bad Federation Force gets. That said, Typos are most often made at 5 in the morning, speaking from experience! ThatNateGuy posted:If, hypothetically, anyone were looking to acquire AM2R, I could theoretically know where to find it. Like I said in the OP, AM2R isn't a ROM hack, but an .exe file that requires nothing extra to function properly. Although I'm sure it falls into some kind of legal gray area because of that, I'll err on the side of caution and not provide any links - but, come on, if you Google "AM2R download," it's the first result.
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Nov 11, 2016 23:41
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The whole "feels like a metroid" game aspect of am2r can't be overstated. It's not just that the controls or mechanics play well and are similar, it's that they feel identical to official entries.
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Nov 11, 2016 23:59
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A jargogle posted:The whole "feels like a metroid" game aspect of am2r can't be overstated. It's not just that the controls or mechanics play well and are similar, it's that they feel identical to official entries. They almost certainly just ripped the physics straight from Zero Mission and then applied a few tweaks from there. The best change IMO is that if you're facing a wall and hold towards the wall while jumping, you spinjump. In every other 2D Metroid you do a standing jump in that situation, which is useless for walljumping purposes. (Why yes, I spent 15 minutes trying to walljump up the wall to the right of the landing site when I first started the game)
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Nov 12, 2016 00:02
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Olive Branch posted:Hey, if it's good, I'll gladly end up liking it. So far though, I question the decisions made. I mean y'all seemed pretty resigned before even starting. I haven't played any of FF either but it looks much more enjoyable than Hunters already Also sure getting health as a weapon is kinda weird but being able to both spray out pick-ups for yourself and heal your allies in a firefight seems pretty neat
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Nov 12, 2016 00:07
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Looper posted:I mean y'all seemed pretty resigned before even starting. I haven't played any of FF either but it looks much more enjoyable than Hunters already
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Nov 12, 2016 00:19
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Olive Branch posted:You're right that we're already kind of making GBS threads on the game without giving it a chance but at least speaking for myself, my first impression was that this feels less like a Metroid game and more like a generic shooter. The presentation doesn't help matters, but if Maple were playing it with 3 other people and chaos was flying everywhere when we get to missions it could work better. Last I heard, you own a 3DS, and you like Metroid, and you're a part of my Federation Force LP...
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Nov 12, 2016 00:25
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Maple Leaf posted:Last I heard, you own a 3DS, and you like Metroid, and you're a part of my Federation Force LP...
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Nov 12, 2016 01:19
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Olive Branch posted:Listen man, you know you're my bro and I'm here for the ride, but I can't justify dropping 60 dollars on this. Not yet. It's 40 dollars.
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Nov 12, 2016 02:12
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Glaric posted:It's 40 dollars.  (also i got him xcom enemy unknown and he won't play it)
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Nov 12, 2016 03:05
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Olive Branch posted:(also i got him xcom enemy unknown and he won't play it) That Phillistine! Side question: is getting a 3ds worthwhile? I'm thinking that it might be fun to play through the 3ds fire emblem(s) and Monster Hunter(s) but I haven't given it much thought.
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Nov 12, 2016 03:09
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Cathode Raymond posted:That Phillistine! It's the best system on the market
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Nov 12, 2016 05:50
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Cathode Raymond posted:That Phillistine! I also enjoy playing Bravely Default despite the characters making increasingly stupid decisions to drive the plot. In fact, that's actually part of the charm at a certain point. "How can you justify doing this stupid thing now?" 
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Nov 13, 2016 06:12
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Maple Leaf, I love how your LP brand has become "overlooked games in Nintendo franchises." Some of them are hidden gems like Kid Icarus Uprising (well, outside of the horrific control scheme) and Star Fox Zero. Others are, uh, entries like Other M. Will you do that GBA entry for F-Zero next? It's so drastically unremarkable that it's never been acknowledged by Nintendo since its release, and I just remembered that I own it only after mentioning it in this post. When you think about it, it's not surprising that Next Level went with the cartoony look for Federation Force. Wii Punch-Out went with the cell-shaded look, and before that they did Mario soccer games, and that's a franchise that has an inherently cartoony style.
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Nov 13, 2016 07:34
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Oh boy a Lets play on the complete opposite of what Metroid should be, this'll be a hoot. At least Other M had some good designs, and memorable if stupid as hell moments, this? this is just boring.
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Nov 13, 2016 07:44
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The Federation tried to bring in the Space Pirates but then they saw the Space Pirates had no concept of safety in their science experiments and the Space Pirates refused to adhere to Space OSHA standards so extermination it is. I for one will miss their tube based technology.
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Nov 13, 2016 08:11
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I just couldn't bring myself to watch the rest of that first Federation Force video. It has nothing to do with the LP quality and everything to do with the game quality. Every Metroid game, outside of Other M (appropriately enough), dives you straight into the action. They weaved Prime 1's training area with actual plot-relevant stuff. This is just 20 minutes that makes you ask why you should give a poo poo. So far I'm thinking this is Nintendo's answer to Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts: if they made an entirely new game out of it instead of piggybacking off an established franchise, it wouldn't leave such a bitter taste in the mouths of fans.
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Nov 13, 2016 16:03
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get that OUT of my face posted:Will you do that GBA entry for F-Zero next? It's so drastically unremarkable that it's never been acknowledged by Nintendo since its release, and I just remembered that I own it only after mentioning it in this post. No, because not only have I never played it myself (although I could, I have the Ambassador program on my 3DS), but because, outside of F-Zero GX, I'm not actually a huge fan of F-Zero, and I only like GX because GX was a great game and not necessarily because it was called F-Zero. Olive Branch posted:(also i got him xcom enemy unknown and he won't play it) I'm just waiting to play XCOM as long as it took you to play Mother 3. So, another four years, ish?
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Nov 13, 2016 23:05
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I actually enjoyed Federation Force a fair bit. I think if you ignore the fact that it's supposed to be a Metroid game, you'll find a pretty competent first-person shooter. It's not like the 3DS has many of those in its library. Granted, it's a lot better in co-op than it is solo so YMMV but the combat mechanics and score-attack structure kept me entertained for a good 30 hours or so. The Blast Ball minigame was good fun too (any chance you'll be covering that in the LP?). Sure, FedForce wasn't the best game ever but I feel like more people would've given a chance if Nintendo didn't decide to slap the Metroid name on it.
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Nov 14, 2016 04:42
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get that OUT of my face posted:So far I'm thinking this is Nintendo's answer to Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts: if they made an entirely new game out of it instead of piggybacking off an established franchise, it wouldn't leave such a bitter taste in the mouths of fans.
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Nov 14, 2016 05:37
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I also have both Federation Force and AM2R, but haven't had the time or motivation to play them (Dark Souls DLC beckons and I barely have the time to play that), so listening to you guys talk about them while writing emails sounds like a decent substitute.get that OUT of my face posted:Some of them are hidden gems like Kid Icarus Uprising (well, outside of the horrific control scheme) For the record, the control scheme in Uprising is perfect. You just had to learn it, which can be a challenge but it's not significantly harder than learning any other control scheme out there. People also bitched about dual-stick controls in FPS's on consoles when they first came out, because it wasn't mouse+keyboard therefore it sucked. Only after Halo, which was explicatively designed around using dual sticks, did people appreciate them as a viable way to play.
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Nov 15, 2016 07:58
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This is unrelated to Metroid in any fashion, and I hope my incoming pandering doesn't break any rules (namely that it's off-topic), but here goes: I was a beta tester for a game called Mekazoo and the game came out just today. I believe in it as a project and I did an unsolicited promo video for it. If you're itching for a side-scrolling platformer that has a little bit of everything, give it a try and support our indie devs.
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Nov 15, 2016 09:50
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SatansBestBuddy posted:For the record, the control scheme in Uprising is perfect. You just had to learn it, which can be a challenge but it's not significantly harder than learning any other control scheme out there. Uprising's controls are good (albeit tricky to learn) but the real problem is how unergonomic the 3DS is to hold imo, especially in mostly one hand
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Nov 15, 2016 11:20
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Yeah the real issue with Uprising is that even after getting used to the controls your hand is always gonna start cramping up after a level or two.
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Nov 15, 2016 15:29
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Endorph posted:the diff. is nuts and bolts is good Nuts and Bolts has a challenge where the best way to do it is to get out of the car and run to your destination.
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Nov 15, 2016 18:54
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SatansBestBuddy posted:For the record, the control scheme in Uprising is perfect. You just had to learn it, which can be a challenge but it's not significantly harder than learning any other control scheme out there. I can't finish any more levels in KI:U because I can't hold my 3DS in that position long enough to beat them. The control scheme isn't bad, it's just not user-friendly due to hardware design. Back on the topic of Federation Force, I played the demo version at a booth, so I had the advantage of playing it with 3 other people. I found it to be a generic 4-player co-op shooter, jumping on the bandwagon a little too late with the Metroid licence stapled on. The boss of the demo level was sloggy as hell, too. It's a shame, because Next Level Games is a solid studio that deserves better than this.
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Nov 16, 2016 06:12
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Episode 2: "Aiuto" Episode 2: "Red Light" We've figured out OB's weird audio problems since this recording of AM2R, so that shouldn't be an issue again.
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Nov 18, 2016 21:34
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man there are a lot of hilarious webcomics to be made about the scale in this game
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Nov 19, 2016 00:05
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It kills me how bad "Croi" looks every time it appears. It looks like a bad edit, with the completely different font. I don't get it at all, why would you do that? Also you should take a middle road in naming the character. Madame Samuel.
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Nov 20, 2016 19:19
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I always figured Samus did just curl up into a literal ball. She's not a normal human after all, having greatly altered physiology from the Chozo.
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Nov 20, 2016 20:21
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Well, Federation Force plays like a Metroid Prime game, but doesn't feel like one in any other way. There's no urgency, no looming threat, and it's not nearly as atmospheric. Part of that is due to 3DS limitations, but the cartoony art style doesn't help either. It's like you're playing LEGO Metroid. At least killing time with the Spider Ball is still fun in AM2R. And the fact that Samus turns into energy when in Morph Ball form puts the famous Space Pirate lore into perspective.
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Nov 20, 2016 21:47
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Blaze Dragon posted:Also you should take a middle road in naming the character. Madame Sam.
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Nov 22, 2016 06:31
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| # ? May 7, 2024 13:57 |
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Episode 3: "Respect" Episode 3: "A New Challenger" Episodes were late this week because I was running a charity event, and then I passed out for a solid 15 hours after. Schedule should be roughly back on track now!
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Nov 30, 2016 04:59
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