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 kill... me....  Earthbound is a strange and cool game by Ape inc. that I really enjoy. It was released in the US in 1995 to fairly middling reviews, and had a bizarre ad campaign that definitely didn't help matters. It didn't sell very well. Then, something miraculous happened: the people that did play it loved it and took to the internet and started obsessively talking about it on sites like starmen.net, which got slightly more people to play it, which caused a lot of people to reach the correct Earthbound conclusion: that though it has some annoying parts, Earthbound rules. Earthbound is great because it takes your standard turn- based rpg fair and gives it a modern day setting and a huge dose of humor and general trippy weirdness. It's probably the first game I ever played that actively trolls you at times. It wasn't the first of its kind though, as it did have a Japan only prequel called Mother that it continued its aesthetic from, but the difference between the two is that the devs decided to actually make Earthbound fun to play! Who knew that would help the series. On top of that there's also the ridiculous trippy backgrounds during fights that make fighting traffic signs and tiny dogs surprisingly intense, and just a huge graphical upgrade from moving from NES to SNES. That's one of my favorite parts about the game, you never know what the hell you'll be fighting next, literally anything is on the table. The art style probably isn't for everyone, but I think it starts to make more sense and grow on you the more you play the game. When you lay it all out like that it seems like the game should be an absolute mess, but something about it just comes together to make one of the most memorable games ever. LP stuff: This will be a vlp with my friend Tyrel. Tyrel doesn't know much about games, so when he told me he's never played Earthbound that just wouldn't do. I've been trying to show him classic games that he missed out on and get his reactions to them, see if they still hold up, what a more casual gamer thinks of them, etc. I'll probably infodump about the game for the first couple videos but for the most part this will be a pretty casual playthrough. We're just gonna hang out and have a chill time in general. We're playing live but don't worry, I'll edit out any annoying backtracking we have to do. You would think with how wacky the game looks it might be pretty easy, but it can be pretty difficult and confusing at times. Luckily I'm a professional gamer and would never die to a boss ever. Ever. Anyway, let's listen to Machine Head and play some Earthbound!  Part 1 - Wiggly Kids Part 2 - Clown Lady Part 3 - Sharks and Burgers Part 4 - Cave Ant Beatdown Part 5 - The Mushroom Man Part 6 - Robit Valley Part 7 - Gerg of Destiny Part 8 - Smol Mole Part 9 - Threed Music Chat Part 10 - A Cookie on the Dungeon Floor Part 11 - Stonehenge Sneakin' Part 12 - Journey to the Painful Text Part 13 - Puke Base Rescue Part 14 - Milky Well Wishes Part 15 - Dusty Dunes Dessert Part 16 - Fourside Shufflin' Part 17 - Swole Mole Part 18 - Department Store Hell Part 19 - What Just Happened Part 20 - Annoying Monkey Cave Part 21 - The True Power of Monkeys Part 22 - A Flock of Turkeys Part 23 - Beachy Things Part 24 - Cake Nightmares Part 25 - A Dingy Dungy Part 26 - Giant Rats Get Baseball Bats Part 27 - Thunder Beasts and Kraken Feasts Part 28 - Chucking Snakes in a Pyramid Part 29 - Dumbgeon Man Part 30 - Swamp Embarrassment Part 31 - Winters Problems Part 32 - Stonehenge Starman Struggle Part 33 - A Funny Little Murder Part 34 - Fobby Hall Part 35 - Exposition Rock Part 36 - Dogfights and Mindflights Part 37 - Nightmare in Dream Land Part 38 - Zexonyte and the Shield Confusion Incident Part 39 - Universal Cosmic Showdown One more thing: we had no idea when we started this, but apparently Nintendo adds a blurring effect to some of their old games to help people who have seizures. We were pretty surprised to see it's on a lot of heavy attacks in the game, if you were wondering about our reaction to it. I never really thought about it, but yeah, I guess it's not surprising that Earthbound gave a lot of people seizures. I'm not sure if it's really annoying or not? Tyrel doesn't mind it but it kinda bothers me since I played the original version a million times. Let us know if it's really bad and you want to see the original version, we're open to starting over and playing the game on an emul I mean perfectly legal other thing. Oh yeah and let me know if you thought the box art was Ness piloting a starman and were kinda disappointed that didn't happen in the game edit: we're rolling with it, the blur is a little distracting but not too bad, it's not on every spell, and you get used to it pretty quick.  KILL ME Ultra Spoot fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Nov 3, 2018 |
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Mar 8, 2018 10:29
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Just started playing Mother 3, but I am wondering if I should play Earthbound first. Maybe you can help me decide!
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Mar 8, 2018 13:53
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I've actually never played Mother 3, but I'm hoping to fix that at some point soon. I have looked up some plot stuff though, and without giving anything away I don't think you're missing anything too crazy. There's a few references to Earthbound but nothing I would say is required to know, at least not that I can remember. Someone who's played both games let me know if I'm wrong. I would definitely still play Earthbound at some point to get the full picture. Also because it rules.
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Mar 8, 2018 21:52
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I'd definitely recommend playing Earthbound first. You don't need to have played it to get the story but you'll miss out on some cool stuff if you don't. There's one scene in particular that will fall completely flat if you haven't played EB.
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Mar 9, 2018 06:31
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suicidesteve posted:I'd definitely recommend playing Earthbound first. You don't need to have played it to get the story but you'll miss out on some cool stuff if you don't. There's one scene in particular that will fall completely flat if you haven't played EB. Also, ground floor. I'm a sucker for Earthbound LPs- I even followed the first one in the forum that was just a glorified fanfic. The blur effect was a bit jarring when I first saw it on the SNES Classic version but I got used to it, although I don't see how that helps with people with epilepsy.
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Mar 9, 2018 07:39
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get that OUT of my face posted:You're selling it short: there's an entire chapter in Mother 3 that won't make as much sense if you haven't played Earthbound. It's not like missing out on Earthbound Beginnings and skipping to Earthbound, where you'll only really miss the origin of Giygas. You can figure out that chapter just by paying attention, they give enough info to flesh it out. Mother 3 can (and does) stand incredibly well enough on it's own, but a full playthrough of Earthbound can only make you appreciate it more and provide a little context, but it's not critical.
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Mar 9, 2018 11:41
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I always thought it was Ness piloting a Starman when I was younger but I'm pretty sure it's just his reflection as it is looking down at him.
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Mar 9, 2018 12:22
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I'm curious if anyone ever named Paula "Too". The game does say to name her Too  Edit: also I played through all three games in order a year or two ago. It was pretty interesting. BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 14:27 on Mar 9, 2018 |
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Mar 9, 2018 14:09
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get that OUT of my face posted:The blur effect was a bit jarring when I first saw it on the SNES Classic version but I got used to it, although I don't see how that helps with people with epilepsy. I think that's why it surprised me so much. You wouldn't think adding crazy blurring everywhere would help but I guess it doesn't work that way
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Mar 10, 2018 04:16
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Speaking of the music in this game and the Beatles references - naturally, there are Beatles homages throughout the soundtrack. Many of the music tracks include samples from other songs, some well-known and some a bit more obscure. A fair few of them are Beatles songs, but an example from the videos so far is in the song that plays while you're naming the characters. If you listen really carefully, you might hear the opening strains of the Monty Python theme song in the background.
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Mar 11, 2018 16:36
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 Part 4 - Cave Ant Beatdown Now that we've dealt with the extremely threatening looking sharks and their army of hula skullomanias, we're heading into the first dungeon. I guess I was wrong right off the bat thinking there's magic butterfly rooms in every dungeon! They're definitely in some of the dungeons in the game. Maybe some areas have an increased chance of them appearing and I just got really unlucky. I hope that's it cause that would be pretty funny. Nidoking posted:Speaking of the music in this game and the Beatles references - naturally, there are Beatles homages throughout the soundtrack. Many of the music tracks include samples from other songs, some well-known and some a bit more obscure. A fair few of them are Beatles songs, but an example from the videos so far is in the song that plays while you're naming the characters. If you listen really carefully, you might hear the opening strains of the Monty Python theme song in the background. I remember in the before times when Earthbound wasn't on virtual console or anything, some people thought the reason Nintendo wasn't bringing it back was because of music copyright shenanigans. I guess that turned out to not be true thankfully, but yeah, it's really cool to see a snes game sampling or almost sampling real songs. I really do adore the game's soundtrack, it fits almost everything perfectly, and having different songs for different enemies gives them so much personality and really makes fighting a lot less of a slog. I love rpgs but I do get tired of hearing the same themes over and over, even if they're great. If you've played the game before there's tons of comparison videos for the soundtrack on youtube if you're curious, but if you haven't avoid that like the plague. This is definitely not a game you want spoiled.
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Mar 12, 2018 07:54
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Part 5 - The Mushroom Man Something you may not know about me is that I am the mushroom man. And I will soon become we. And we will rule this land with an iron spore
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Mar 17, 2018 02:07
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Looks like you're doing another classic I never played, at least I'm just as in the dark as Tyrel. Glad you guys are still at it, said it before but I've always liked the 'shoot the poo poo' LP style.
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Mar 17, 2018 17:17
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Just started watching the first video and y'all name-dropped Savoritz (they do indeed taste better than Cheese-itz) within the first ten minutes, so I'm way on-board with you guys. This is one of my favorite games because it's incredibly creative and unexpectedly funny through and through. So many of the tunes from the game get stuck in my head all the time too.
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Mar 18, 2018 18:54
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I think the reason all the psychics in the series are children is the same reason the series is called Mother, which goes back to the original NES game and Gigyas' characterisation.
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Mar 18, 2018 19:58
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FELD1 posted:Just started watching the first video and y'all name-dropped Savoritz (they do indeed taste better than Cheese-itz) within the first ten minutes, so I'm way on-board with you guys. This is one of my favorite games because it's incredibly creative and unexpectedly funny through and through. So many of the tunes from the game get stuck in my head all the time too. We eat savoritz in between videos all the time, they're basically our let's play fuel. We can't stop eating them. It's probably not good. One day we will be sponsored by savoritz... One day... BioEnchanted posted:I think the reason all the psychics in the series are children is the same reason the series is called Mother, which goes back to the original NES game and Gigyas' characterisation. So I never played Mother so I don't actually know the Giygas backstory. I did follow a Mother lp years ago here, can't remember who did it, but they didn't finish the game and I don't remember Giygas showing up anywhere. If someone can explain it without spoiling anything please do cause there's not much said about him in Earthbound other than he's unfathomably powerful
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Mar 19, 2018 03:57
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Ultra Spoot posted:We eat savoritz in between videos all the time, they're basically our let's play fuel. We can't stop eating them. It's probably not good. One day we will be sponsored by savoritz... One day... Basically this is Giygas' deal, behind spoiler tags just in case - this only covers what is learned in Mother 1: Giygas was an alien raised by humans, Maria and George, a loving couple who were abducted by his people in the early 1900s. He loved his mother unconditionally, but his father was secretly studying his people without their permission, trying to figure out the secret behind their PSI powers. When they were returned home, the aliens realised what had happened and tasked a now-adult Giygas to go to Earth to ensure that PSI could never be used against them. Giygas was therefore torn between two worlds - should he betray his beloved Mother and wipe out humanity due to the sins of his father, or betray his alien brethren and leave the humans alone? Eventually, he decided to detach himself from his feelings and lead the invasion for the good of his people, 80 years later. By this point Maria has died of old age. The main character of Mother 1, Ninten, was the grandson of Maria and George by blood. Due to the recent demise of Giygas's human mother, when the final confrontation between them begins, Giygas offers Ninten the opportunity to come with him to his home, keep what remains of the family together because he is distraught at Maria's death. His hardening of his heart was not successful. He is defeated when he is mentally weakened when Ninten and his crew resort to singing a Lullaby that Maria used to sing to both Giygas and Ninten, weakening his resolve to fight. He leaves peacefully, although temporarily due to the guilt he feels about "betraying" his late mother promising to come back some other time. In summary - he's a powerful psychic torn between his duty to his people and his love for his mother. He's not a bad guy, just stuck between a rock and a sad place.
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Mar 19, 2018 05:57
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BioEnchanted posted:Basically this is Giygas' deal, behind spoiler tags just in case - this only covers what is learned in Mother 1: That's really interesting and cool. That's what I love about Earthbound and Earthbound- likes(or whatever you wanna call them), they seem silly at first until you dive down the rabbit hole and see that everything kinda has its purpose and had more meaning than you realized. Anyway I have more questions about how it relates to the events of Earthbound but I think we'll probably hold that thought for now until we finish the game so we don't have tons of possible spoilers everywhere.
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Mar 20, 2018 06:59
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Aw, in the third episode you didn't say you wanted to join the gang. He tells you to come back after beating the game if you do.
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Mar 20, 2018 11:16
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Part 6 - Robit Valley In this video we check out what's up with the fruit kids and then head into the valley of cute robits that want to swarm and kill our innocent Gerg. PureRok posted:Aw, in the third episode you didn't say you wanted to join the gang. He tells you to come back after beating the game if you do. gently caress... I have to delete the let's play now
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Mar 23, 2018 07:13
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Part 7 - Gerg of Destiny We are marching ever closer toward our destiny... we must smash the blue men
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Mar 27, 2018 06:05
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They're blue... da-bo-dee-da-bo-dai.
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Mar 27, 2018 06:16
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No poo poo about the sinister air to the game, some nice dissonance with this on the surface apple-pie America right next to cults kidnapping children. Not to mention the terrifying clown makeup. So do the rest of the crew come in quicker now that you've got the basics down? I was surprised how long it took to get Jenny compared to a lot of other JRPGs.
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Mar 27, 2018 10:16
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Smoky Bandana posted:No poo poo about the sinister air to the game, some nice dissonance with this on the surface apple-pie America right next to cults kidnapping children. Not to mention the terrifying clown makeup. The answer to that is a little spoilery, nothing too bad but just in case people wanna be completely blind: Yeah you get the next party member pretty much as soon as you get to the next town. There is a small caveat to that though, since you have to play a short short chunk of game that kind of introduces them. After that solo gerg will feel like a distant memory. Maybe it's a little early to talk about, but I've always felt like the longer you play Earthbound the more real it starts to feel. Like, at first everything is ridiculous and silly but the longer you play you get used to the weirdness and how enemies can drop you fairly easily and you start to actually feel uneasy. Yeah, they have psychic powers and are pretty badass, but at the end of the day they're basically just innocent kids. Maybe it's just cause I've played it 50 times, or because I played it when I was about the same age as Ness, so I identified with him in some way. Anyway those are my deep nerd thoughts of the day, keep them close to your heart
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Mar 28, 2018 04:11
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BioEnchanted posted:They're blue... da-bo-dee-da-bo-dai. Wisdom
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Mar 28, 2018 04:13
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So I finally started watching this. I can't say enough how cool this book was to read. Marcus Lindblom did an incredible job with an insane script.
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Mar 28, 2018 04:36
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I always end up skipping the cave you're about to go to. I dunno why. At first I think it's because I always just forgot, and then it just became habit to come back later.
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Mar 29, 2018 21:10
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PureRok posted:I always end up skipping the cave you're about to go to. I dunno why. At first I think it's because I always just forgot, and then it just became habit to come back later. When playing the trilogy for the first time 2 years ago I did the same thing. Totally forgot it was there.
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Mar 29, 2018 21:17
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Part 8 - Smol Mole In this video we hit the next sanctuary dungeon and, uh, talk about nu- metal. This time I am actually sorry. PureRok posted:I always end up skipping the cave you're about to go to. I dunno why. At first I think it's because I always just forgot, and then it just became habit to come back later. I used to do the exact same thing. I somehow missed seeing the boss's weakness in the strategy guide when I was a kid, so I would always take the bus back and wreck him after finishing the next area. It is really awful to fight unless you grind Paula up to Ness's level or get lucky.
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Mar 30, 2018 12:36
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I've seen the Earthbound logo so many times, but this is the first time I noticed Ness in the head.
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Apr 2, 2018 04:59
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If it makes you feel any better, I enjoyed the T&E reference in the last episode.
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Apr 3, 2018 23:52
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Hey Gerg, update 9's missing the commentary track.
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Apr 4, 2018 17:48
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Smoky Bandana posted:Hey Gerg, update 9's missing the commentary track. Lol we're really good at this. It'll be fixed in a few hours.
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Apr 4, 2018 23:09
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Part 9 - Threed Music Chat We see what's up with Threed and talk about life in a cover band, but not before I upload raw footage by accident. Chuu posted:I've seen the Earthbound logo so many times, but this is the first time I noticed Ness in the head. It's a life changer for sure. I love that he has a poo poo eating grin too, like that starman has no idea how badly he's about to get batted
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Apr 5, 2018 04:52
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I always saw it but I thought he was in the Starman. Like he got in it and started driving it or something.
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Apr 5, 2018 05:17
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Part 10 - A Cookie on the Dungeon Floor It's time to see if Tyrel can make it to Gerg and co. in time, and also why Tyrel doesn't usually play the games.
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Apr 6, 2018 08:07
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I really love Tessie's theme (I love almost all of the music); it sounds so triumphant, and then when you get off and it takes a kind of sadder tone. Just so great. I've actually grinded enough money in that area to get the bat for Ness early.
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Apr 8, 2018 02:01
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PureRok posted:I really love Tessie's theme (I love almost all of the music); it sounds so triumphant, and then when you get off and it takes a kind of sadder tone. Just so great. It's one of those small touches that really makes the game. Like Tessie is saying bye to you through the music.
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Apr 9, 2018 08:04
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Part 11 - Stonehenge Sneakin' Bub Monk
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Apr 12, 2018 00:51
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Part 12 - Journey to the Painful Text Now that we are free, nothing can stop us from getting our revenge against intelligent zombies. Not even tents or piles of puke
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Apr 18, 2018 08:04
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