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Blasphemous improved the platforming and movement controls some time after release. I didn’t play it before the changes so I don’t have a good point of comparison, but I had no problems with spike jumps like people definitely had initially. One of the things they added was whatever you call giving you a few pixels after the actual platform to jump from. Also enjoyed Moonscars. Such snappy fighting and movement.
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Nov 2, 2022 15:38
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I played Greak a while back and thought I had stumbled upon a hidden gem… but the beginning of the game is basically all there is to the rest, right down to the same 2-3 enemies. The character switching is good in theory but doesn’t add up to much.
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Dec 24, 2022 02:47
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I didn’t know anything about the Peterson thing but otherwise yeah the 8 but part is way better (and the music owns.) I backed Sea of Stars, which is aping Chrono Trigger, not an MV, and it got a release date for 2023 recently.
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Dec 25, 2022 18:45
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The 7th Guest posted:I’m playing Souldiers and I’m waiting for the shoe to drop on what makes this game have Mixed reviews, because so far it loving rules This is from a page (and 2 months) back but yeah, I'm playing it now and this game is excellent. I looked into it and apparently at launch it was riddled with bugs and later had a big rebalancing patch. When the guy in the second dungeon told me I was locked inside, I believed him, but apparently that was nerfed and you can teleport out since the rebalance patch, lol. Souldiers has some of the best pixel art I've ever seen. It's also staggeringly big. I'm playing as the mage and relying heavily on tactics I know the other classes can't use so I could see myself playing it again too. For cons, it's weird playing a 2d game where using the d pad to move isn't an option and the sub weapon system is a mess.
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Feb 19, 2023 05:16
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Yeah I’ve become a huge wishlister in the past few years. Even though I always play MVs on console, I have a hefty steam wishlist that includes many of them. The PSN wishlist is stupidly capped at 100 but I have plenty of MVs on that too and tend to grab them when they’re on sale for cheap, which is fairly often. I bought alwas awakening and whatever that pinball MV is called for a few bucks each recently.
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Mar 2, 2023 21:31
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Koburn posted:Souldiers was fun but it suffers the same problem as Phenotopia in that it just goes on for slightly too long. Now that I've beaten it, yeah, it's too long. 28 hours for a 100% run as the mage on warrior mode. I liked it quite a bit but it doesn't evolve enough to earn that run time. They should've made it possible to play all 3 classes and given reasons to do so. And cut down on the boring areas between the dungeons. Still, the pixel art was fantastic throughout. I liked the orbs and the bosses were both simple/challenging enough to enjoy. I didn't have many of the tech issues present at launch, but the framerate got weird during the horse race and for some reason when I entered the fire dungeon, the full map was already revealed, which actually made it much harder to navigate and I stalled for a bit there. Biggest complaint is they put all these potentially cool secondary weapons in the game and then made an annoying ammo system I barely interacted with. The platinum trophy requires another 3(!) playthroughs: one as each class and NG+. That has got to be the most time consuming MV plat I've ever seen. Once was enough for me.
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Mar 6, 2023 17:36
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Blasphemous was amazing but I played it after release when some things were fixed or enhanced. Here’s hoping Spanish vocals are part of release this time. The trailer makes the game look much faster.
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Apr 20, 2023 03:16
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I'm playing Afterimage and there's something about it that feels, I don't know, cheap? Unrealized? You've got all these beautiful backgrounds but there's no sense of where the hell I am, where I am going, or why anything is there. I don't mean the vague story (it's fine, whatever, the VA is bad), but the gameworld. It's gigantic but bland. I just read that fast travel wasn't in before the first patch and that is insane to me because the current fast travel is extremely limited. Also, contact damage and a dodge with no iframes is strange in 2023. I don't hate it exactly but it makes most fights: attack->dodge out (or jump)>attack>repeat. There's a slow hollow knight heal but also potions so I find I can just damage race bosses. Personal preference, but I don't like grid level up systems. Especially ones with tiny numbers. Whether it be a talent or gear, choosing between +2% crit and +5 def is lame. All in all, I'm disappointed. But MVs are basically comfort food anyway so I'll keep playing with my brain half turned off.
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May 22, 2023 23:20
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I've spent some more time with it (Afterimage) and I've warmed to it a bit. Mostly from getting the wall jump, which is really more of a Mega Man X wall grab, the existence of which makes any game at least 50% better. Getting around is much more fun. But yeah, for such a huge game with beautiful landscapes, it's so bizarre that I never know why the next zone is there or why I am there. Or why the bosses are there. They just kind of show up randomly, like who's this guy? Go back to an area because I have double jump and surprise! giant context-less fire bird. I don't think I've ever played a game quite like this that completely lacks all signposting or context, whether it be from narrative or environment. The game's cue for "you shouldn't go here yet" is putting an enemy somewhat close to the start of the zone that can one shot you. Which will likely send you pretty far back with the checkpoints being so few and far between.
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May 25, 2023 17:06
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I ended up getting the true ending today (Afterimage) and damage raced every boss except the one with a mechanic that prevents it. The game has some good things going for it and it definitely takes off mid game when you have several movement abilities and understand the map a bit, but it also stumbles in some very avoidable areas.
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Jun 2, 2023 00:10
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Wow those are all great improvements I wish I had had.
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Jul 3, 2023 21:37
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The only other MV I can remember playing recently that was as along as Afterimage is Souldiers.
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Jul 10, 2023 20:47
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I’m pretty much down for anything with regards to map and death penalties or whatever but good lord do I hate no health bars.
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Jul 17, 2023 15:49
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Turn on the GPS, grandpa.
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Jul 17, 2023 21:28
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I’m at ~80% map completion nearing the end of Blasphemous 2. It is very good but lacks some the creepy weirdness of 1. Losing the pixel art cutscenes is a bummer. The build options are a huge improvement. I started with Verdedicto (the censer) and have mostly stuck with it. Satisfying as hell to swing. I’ve tried the 2 swords a bit but can’t imagine how to make them as good. They lack range AND damage AND stagger.
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Sep 5, 2023 03:01
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I’m working on him now. The first phase is trivial. After you do it once it should skip to phase 2 on subsequent attempts. And yes skip the cutscene. It’s actually a cool fight to learn otherwise.
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Sep 7, 2023 16:45
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I bought Prince of Persia at full price off the strength of it being 'made by the rayman team'. It's neat but not amazing so far (recently got the 2nd feather ability). It's more combat focused than platforming, which surprised me having read a couple reviews beforehand. It has an issue many 2d-with-3d graphics games have where the size of everything feels... off. I'm often in huge areas that feel too empty and huge. It's fun though. I'm itching to play it again after work.
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Jan 19, 2024 18:00
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Barudak posted:Yeah im at the end of PoP and hooooooboy is their some mean platforming Bummer, what’s the bug? I had a bug where the game froze if I tried to accept the moon sidequest. Fixed it by shutting off my controller and turning it back on. While searching for a fix, I saw people say the pirate quest (haven’t found yet) is also bugged if you don’t have a collectible by the time you find the npc. Lastly, I had something that I think (?) was a bug where I died on the 2nd wave of a combat room, came back and died again to 1st wave while trying to learn the parry timing (green guy in forest), and when I came back the combat didn’t even trigger. Hopefully didn’t miss anything.
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Jan 20, 2024 17:19
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Barudak posted:You can visibly see yourself hit the trigger, but it never does anything so the chest never spawns. Its been bugged for me since game start, I just didnt know it was a bug till now so no clue what causes it. You mean with the statue of the 2 bird archers outside haven? I just did that to be sure. Had another bug vs forest boss where the screen flickered and its health completely reset when around 40%. Still almost got it, heh. Made the next attempt very easy.
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Jan 20, 2024 18:03
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Ciaphas posted:Cleared the main path of PoP last night - seemed rather abrupt, somehow, even though the game was way longer than I expected. Still, absolutely fantastic game - even Hollow Knight didn't feel this good to play. First one: Hint: what’s something you do with a sword in 2d Zelda’s? Full spoiler:cut all the grass on the platforms Just found the 2nd one myself and haven’t solved it.
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Jan 20, 2024 20:09
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Unlucky7 posted:Hint 1: Look in the background, and foreground for that matter. Ah, gently caress! I got the general idea but didn’t realize I needed a specific one.
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Jan 20, 2024 23:58
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Interesting that afterimage thread opinion turned towards positive. I thought it was mediocre and others seemed to think the same then. Anyway re: Dread, I didn’t mind the EMMIs, but I didn’t love them enough to defend them, just sort had a decent time in a decent game that, as people are saying, really suffers on exploration.
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Jan 29, 2024 16:07
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Confirming none of them require split second timing. You just need to figure the puzzle out.
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Jan 30, 2024 17:41
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Sakurazuka posted:You quickly dont need to worry about that because 95% of moves will be red unparryable ones and the only thing you can parry will be a single obvious 'parry me now for massive damage one'. Yeah. I didn’t parry on bosses other than the yellow one. I just jumped around and dodged. Sargon does a lot of damage relative to their health. I just blasted damage on safe spots and sometimes on non safe spots because I knew I could take a hit. Athra surges melt their health. Most of them will sit there and eat your arrows. My amulets were all +sword, arrow, air, athra damage. I never really had to master any boss move sets (on normal.)
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Feb 2, 2024 15:39
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The game definitely feels unfinished. Bugs, half assed sidequests, big empty areas, characters disappearing from the plot. Fun but definitively would’ve benefited with more time.
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Feb 5, 2024 04:39
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Huh, Ultros comes out tomorrow. I didn't know that was so soon. Looks cool as hell. Snake Maze posted:Astlibra is pretty light on the exploration side of things (it's a linear set of levels with only mild exploration rather than a big interconnected world) but the combat and leveling should be what you're looking for. I bought this on my switch and I'm maybe 2 hours in and just not very engaged (finishing up 'old couple' plot.) It also doesn't seem like an MV. Is it a slow start or is it likely if I'm not hooked yet I probably won't be?
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Feb 12, 2024 16:11
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First impressions of Ultros (like an hour and change, through the first boss and first loop and well into the 2nd): It does indeed look amazing. That's the chief selling point, along with the odd story, because otherwise the gameplay and non-visual level design is fairly pedestrian by MV standards. Every enemy drops an item that, when consumed, heals you and improves a series of bars that you need to unlock skills on the skill tree. The quality of the item depends on how "cleanly" you killed an enemy. There's 3 tiers: pristine, battered, and bloody pulp, where the last loses the unique attributes of the item and is common to all enemies. Cleanness of kill seems to be: do it fast, don't get hit, use different moves. General spoilers for people wondering how the loop works: The story made me loop. Not sure if it happens when you die, because I haven't died. Again, every enemy drops health, so it's easy to stay full. Given the descriptions of some items, there has to be a way to trigger loops without the story. You keep the explored map. You lose: - All your skills from the skill tree (but there's items that you can find that let you lock specific nodes and not lose them). This isn't a big deal because nothing in the tree has exactly wow'd me yet, since it's largely combat focused and the game is easy. - The bars you filled up by eating - Your traversal abilities... but, since they are not tied to your character but a thing you find, when you find the thing again you get all the abilities back. Additionally, you plant seeds that grow between loops so you can also open up new areas each loop. Different seeds do different things. They also give you consumable fruit which will speed up getting back the top two things I mentioned in the "you lose" list I think I spoiled myself by looking at the achievements because it seems like there are alt kills on the bosses. Though I'm not sure you can even do them on the first time through and never would've tried what the achievement implied had I not read it. So I'm pretending I never saw it and will see what happens. There's definitely Shadow of the Colossus 'you're doing the wrong thing, gamer' vibes here.
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Feb 13, 2024 18:43
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I should amend my Ultros impressions: It starts off very simple and on rails but keeps adding new mechanics and opening the map. Now it's more like a Tunic-esque game where you realize the whole world is a puzzle. It's an MV that is making me take notes. and now I'm utterly stumped on what to do next and since it just came out I can't even find a hint online. I think that there is a mechanic I don't understand but have the tools to activate.
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Feb 15, 2024 20:17
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Non Compos Mentis posted:I've done 3 loops in Ultros. you can do whatever with the seeds until you reach a very obvious point where placement now matters. I'd been working towards the good ending myself but took a break few days ago because it was getting exhausting.
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Feb 21, 2024 22:31
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I got the good ending in Ultros. At times it was extremely tedious and frustrating, at other times I felt like a brilliant botanical wizard. I don’t think it’s a very good game but at times it’s an interesting one. Usually I like to 100% my MV naps but I’m calling it quits here. I’d have to string the living network to yet more farflung areas. I’m missing multiple upgrades, I think. Surely they can’t matter much.
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Feb 24, 2024 01:33
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I'm not an EA fan in general but I understand the pitch for big strategy games with tons of moving parts or MP games that need balancing... but an MV? Like you find a path to a new area. . . you can't reach it. . .are you missing an ability, or is the game just unfinished?
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Feb 27, 2024 16:05
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TeaJay posted:I've been playing Ultros the last few days but eventually I had to call it quits. I think I'm somewhere in the final couple areas of the game, but there are things that make it impossibly frustrating to play and I can't take anymore. Clocked in 8 ½ hours but now I'm quitting. (spoilers galore) I don't disagree with any of this, but fwiw: That dumb minigame (which you need to beat several times btw) - You can charge attack stun the opponent - You can usually hit it twice with the jump spin attack - If you uppercut (attack + up), the ball always goes up and behind you. I got the hang of it and could beat it quickly after a first very frustrating attempt. Fuzzy walls, broken either by: 1. The swirly umbilical cord line from the shaman to the core 2. The living network I also thought it had something to do with the robot, from a memory early in the game, but then I second guessed myself and wondered if it was just because of #1 and I had assumed it was the robot since I just got it. I don't know, confusing in any case. All the robot abilities do things except the first one, which only works after you beat the game. You only need to connect everything (the shamans) for the true ending, yeah. For the 1st ending I still think you need to make a few connections? Unsure. I think the core problems of the game are a) the combat/movement/platforming design range from mediocre to bad and b) it wants to be one of those mysterious games where you piece together how things work from contextual clues rather than the game telling you, and to its credit this occasionally succeeds quite well, but overall it's not smart enough to pull this off the way other games do and ends up tedious and frustrating.
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Feb 29, 2024 17:57
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It's more like a philosophy than a genre. Dark Souls expects you to be in fear for your life and probably die a bunch of times throughout, sometimes fighting the same boss over and over. So does Hollow Knight. Both can be tough but are usually fair. Many MVs aren't like that, plenty are pretty easy. For whatever reason, the generic tag of "Difficult" doesn't get the same thing across, since it could mean a million different things. It's very subjective.
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Mar 4, 2024 01:05
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I didn't like Sundered (where the procgen hurt more than helped) or Chasm (didn't really notice procgen, its just kind of a generic game) much. Feeling the MV itch so I think I'm going to jump into Aeterna Noctis. I got it on sale a while back. Anyone know if it's best to play with DLC from the start or wait until I beat it?
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Apr 9, 2024 15:20
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Cool, thanks. I didn't realize it was something that's just part of the base game now and already installed. I like the game so far, feels good to move.
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Apr 10, 2024 03:21
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I'm really enjoying Aeterna Noctis. It's the best MV I've played in a long while. I like platforming. I reached the point where the path splits for the last 3 macguffins and did the abyss first. That was the first boss that took me several tries, what a fucker. When the trophy popped for getting all abilities, I sighed in relief that there will be no more movement mechanics. It's a little rough around the edges. If I'm holding a direction when I active the teleport arrow, the direction shoots all over the place, often in the opposite direction of what I've pressed. I've had to acquire the muscle memory of letting the stick hit neutral before hitting triangle. Masking the map until you find the map vendor is dumb. He is easy to miss. I don't really like skill trees in MVs, period. AN lets you respec gems and skills at thrones, but they're almost never near a boss, the most likely place to respec.
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Apr 13, 2024 23:49
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TeaJay posted:Every review of Aeterna Noctis says it's basically super hard and has hardcore puzzle platforming and that turns me off. I stopped playing Grime because the platforming was getting too difficult, that's kinda one thing I don't need in my 'vania. It's fine for optional challenges and stuff but if it's required for progress then it's likely not meant for me. (I did finish HK white palace back in the day, but found that was not as difficult as envisioned) There's only a few puzzles... to the point where I forget they exist and figure it's just a very hard platforming section before I realize it's a trick and remember there's puzzles. It's virtually all platforming with low stakes combat in between. I can't speak to the easier difficulty (FWIW it's listed as "normal", while the original difficulty is "hard"), but even if it's significantly easier, you definitely need to enjoy platforming to get much out of the game.
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Apr 15, 2024 15:14
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Still plugging away at Aeterna Noctis and it's outstaying it's welcome a bit. I think I'm almost done now. The climb up the light palace was aggravating and I stopped for a couple days. The game already did "floating islands" twice and much better. This wasn't level design, it was just blocks of spikes in the sky with repeatedly pasted enemies! The palace itself was much better. I've stayed on noctis mode but have no regrets using triple jump. The game's hard enough. I need to do some cleanup because I've got most of the painting pieces, all the keys, missing only one piece of heart, etc, but... despite having nearly all the blue and purple gems, I have like, 2? of the red ones. Assuming the emperor quest and whatever the robot finale is will give those, stumped on what the others would be. Actually, I still have the final DLC boss. At the end of the day it feels more like Celeste than Hollow Knight.
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Apr 20, 2024 23:59
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I did it! I think that means I died 417 times but I'm not sure. Cool game. Definitely one of my favorites, albeit the kind with plenty of caveats before I'd recommend to anyone. Looking forward to the sequel. Other than the doppelganger boss, none of the actual combat ever gave me any trouble. Even the superbosses can be healed through if you're thorough in gem/skill point collection. The hardest platforming challenges where the fire and darkness globes in the cosmos, along with the last emperor's seal door. I'm an ace with the teleport arrow after all that.
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Apr 25, 2024 20:04
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