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Xenoblade Chronicles 2


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So Lv. 23 chapter 3 right now and I've been having a lot of fun. The only minor complaint is that the quest markers are more of a hindrance in this game. After a few side quests I decided to only activate them once to get an idea where they're supposed to be and then I just explore that area.

Aside from that minor thing I really only have good things to say so far. Minimal grinding, a story that's interesting so far, likable characters, a world that feels so good to walk in and explore and an amazing OST.

Spoiler

I really started to like the OST a lot when I entered Gormot upper level and those "vocals" started to play. The atmosphere immediately drew me in.

 

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I recently bought the expansion pass and started New Game Plus so I'm refreshed on the plot by the time Torna comes along. I got the three DLC blades and three of the NG+ blades thus far, so now I'm only missing five random blades.

And since Torna is less than two months away now I decided to analyze the gameplay footage from Treehouse last month. Spoilers for the first 20 minutes.

Spoiler
  • We start with Lora and Jin in the kingdom of Torna, currently in Lasaria Woodland. We don't see any of the cutscenes beforehand, but presumably this is the first gameplay portion. The game time shown upon entering the menu is at 11 minutes. Lora is level 6, while the Fane Buloofo she fights is level 2.
  • Of course, Blades and Drivers are both playable this time. They have different arts depending on if they're in the vanguard or the rear guard. Lora's vanguard arts are Hungry Snake (Break/HP Potion), Path of Thorns (Cancel attack), and Spinning Wheel (AOE/Aggro down). Jin's vanguard arts are Chillstroke (Back attack+), Snowblast (AOE/Side attack+), and Starslash (Pierce). Lora's default element is Fire and Jin's is Ice.
  • Characters also have Switch Arts. Lora's is Touch-Me-Not (inflicts Launch).
  • The menu options are Characters, Skip Travel, Quest Log, ???, Item List, and System.
  • The menu options for Drivers are Enhance Arts, Affinity Chart, Accessories, and Pouch Items. Blades have Enhance Arts, Weapon Modification, Affinity Chart, and Equip Aux Cores. Aux Cores no longer need to be crafted this time and are usable straight out of the... wherever you get them.
  • Unlike the base game, Drivers can equip weapons. Lora's default weapon is the Blazing Braid (not to be confused with the Fire Emblem game starring Lyn Eliwood), which gives her the Fire element.
  • After traversing through Lasaria Woodland for a bit, Lora and Jin come across a destroyed town and meet Mikhail. The cutscene is seemingly the same as the one in the base game where Lora and Jin meet Mikhail (except not in sepia). Mikhail joins the party as a guest, a returning feature from the first Xenoblade.
  • After the cutscene, the landmark Porton Village is discovered and it's time to make dinner. Collection points are now labeled for the items they contain (vegetable, waterside, etc.).
  • Now it's time to make camp! Campsites are a new mechanic. The options are Rest ("Rest till morning, then strike camp"), Craft ("Create items using the party characters' unique skills"), and Chat ("Speak with your allies"). Lora's craft skill is charm-making while Jin's is home cooking. The objective here is to have Jin make Trout Stralu (maybe not that item in particular).
  • After another cutscene, the party goes on an excursion to meet Haze. Lora finds a chest with money in it. Once reaching Hangnail Crossing, Jin uses his Swift Swordplay field skill to cut down a tree to cross a gap. They pass through the landmarks Haradd Hills and Secluded Boneway and the location Cropwoods of Yorn before stumbling across the crater formerly known as the village of Feltley (apparently making craters is one of Malos's trademarks). They are besieged by a Xeno series trademark, a giant robot.
  • The robot in question is a level 8 Gargoyle, which appeared in the base game but were never fought. Though the Gargoyle seems to have our heroes on the ropes, they are saved by everyone's favorite busty blond Aegis and her Driver! Incidentally the English voice acting was done "not too long" before Torna was announced and was done alongside the voice acting that came with Challenge Battle Mode (according to Skye Bennett on one of her streams), if you were wondering.
  • Anyway, we get our dramatic unhooding of Addam. Addam recognizes Jin as a blade that was stolen 17 years previously (which makes Lora 27), and we fight him and Mythra for some reason (both at level 10). Mythra isn't acting as Addam's blade in this battle so you have to defeat her separately.
  • After the battle, both sides apparently make up as Addam and Mythra join the party, as well as Haze (another of Lora's blades) and Milton (as another guest). The crater formerly known as Feltley Village becomes a landmark.
  • Oh yeah, Talent Arts are back too, so hopefully someone will get Blossom Dance. Lora's is Swallow's Flight (reduces heath by 25% of maximum to fully recharge all Arts).
  • Addam's vanguard arts are Rising Arc (Launch), Legion Scatter (AOE/Blowdown), and Ogre Smash (Front attack+), his switch art is Illustrious Slash (Topple), and his talent art is Transcend (reduces heath by 25% of maximum to extend target Driver Combo time). His default weapon is the Electro Greatsword, which gives him the Electric element.
  • Mythra's element is Light, as usual, and her vanguard arts are her specials in the base game. She has Ray of Punishment (AOE/Toppled+), Lightning Buster (AOE/Critical boost), and Photon Edge (AOE). We don't see any gameplay of Haze, but her element is Wind.
  • Our heroes run into the main story quest "What Bars the Way", which entails killing spiders. After that, we dispel miasma using Haze's Manipulate Ether and Mythra's Power of Light (since Roc isn't in this game). We complete the quest and get Jin's key affinity to level 2.
  • We reach Yanchik Harbor with the destination of Gormott. We ignore the sidequests available but we don't ignore Torna's capital in the distance.
  • We reach Gormott, but as we are 500 years in the past Torigoth doesn't exist yet. We don't know what other Titans will be available aside from Torna and Gormott, but there are apparently a few more. The first thing our heroes do upon entering Gormott is face the mighty unique monster Overaffectionate Murph (level 18). They are unfortunately felled in battle, which means that Malos wins and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 never happens.

Hopefully there's still more content for the base game before Torna releases, because there are still at least two rare blades that haven't been released yet...

Spoiler

I'm still hoping they add a way to use Coffee with Milk permanently, or at least give her an affinity chart.

 

Edited by Lightchao42
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Finished the game after 150+/- hours and overall liked it but it has some things that really held it back that became apparent when I got into the lategame. I actually enjoyed the game the most in the midgame because at that point you get a lot of fun things to play with while not realizing just how repetitive some of the other stuff is. Oh and I'm only talking about gameplay here, story was fine. 

Spoiler

-Mercenary quests were fun at the start but it became obvious that it was meant as nothing more than filler for side quests later on. Seriously, who came up with the idea of Ursula's side quest requirements?

-Speaking off side quests...there are too many side quests that for one reason or another pulled the "I need you do X thing before I can help you with Y thing" and this got somewhat annoying in the later side quests I completed. Made them feel too much like filler. 

-Cutscene power. I know that a lot of games love to use the cutscene power trope but if you're going to use cutscene power then please for god sake make it so that the boss you're fighting beforehand is actually challenging. Every single boss fight in XB2 that had a cutscene power beatdown moment afterwards I managed to handle with ease. Was it that difficult to just make Jin Lv. 99 for one battle because it was really difficult to be invested in a cutscene where Pyra gives up and goes with the villains when you can only think about how much the game was lying to you in the gameplay section to make that cutscene work. 

-They should have put a tutorial section in the menu. I'm normally not one to ask for stuff like that but when you're playing a 100+ hour game some of the more difficult gameplay tutorials would have been useful to read up on. 

Despite the things I mentioned I still enjoyed the game a lot and don't regret buying the pricier limited edition and I will buy the Torna expansion whenever that comes out. Still an 8/10 but if it didn't have those issues I mentioned it could have been a solid 9/10.

Curious about how some of you feel about some end game things:

Spoiler

1. Who did you guys pick between Pyra/Mythra when you had the choice to choose the name for the ascended state? I personally went with Mythra.

2. How did you feel about Pyra/Mythra's sacrifice and resurrection in the ending? I'm glad they came back if only because I believed there was no reason there should have been a sacrifice to begin with.

 

Edited by Hekselka
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1 hour ago, Hekselka said:

Curious about how some of you feel about some end game things:

  Hide contents

1. Who did you guys pick between Pyra/Mythra when you had the choice to choose the name for the ascended state? I personally went with Mythra.

2. How did you feel about Pyra/Mythra's sacrifice and resurrection in the ending? I'm glad they came back if only because I believed there was no reason there should have been a sacrifice to begin with.

Congrats on finishing the game!

Response in the spoiler

Spoiler

1. First time around I went with Pyra, the second time (NG+) Mythra. Personally I think Pyra is the better choice since she's been with Rex from the start, and I think Mythra had a thing for Adam. (Mythra's interactions with Rex are adorable though!)

2. While I know some dislike the ending, I enjoyed the happy ending (even though it was a bit rushed in hindsight. ). After I went through NG+, the whole "sacrifice and resurrection" thing is alluded to far before this even happens.

Remember in chapter 6 when Pyra lets herself get taken away by Jin (or was targeting herself with the firing array)? Her plan if things went south was to transport the rest of her Core Crystal to Rex, as "Aegises can function without their Core Crystal for a time." I forgot where the exact quote was, but discovering this made the ending better for me.

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2 hours ago, Hekselka said:

Curious about how some of you feel about some end game things:

  Reveal hidden contents

1. Who did you guys pick between Pyra/Mythra when you had the choice to choose the name for the ascended state? I personally went with Mythra.

2. How did you feel about Pyra/Mythra's sacrifice and resurrection in the ending? I'm glad they came back if only because I believed there was no reason there should have been a sacrifice to begin with.

 

Spoiler
  1. I went with Pyra
  2. I thought it was a fine ending. And then i read this article about how Greek philosopher Plato's philosophies apply to the game, both story-wise and gameplay-wise and it pretty much gave me a wonderful new way of looking at the game. 

 

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3 hours ago, Hekselka said:

Curious about how some of you feel about some end game things:

  Hide contents

1. Who did you guys pick between Pyra/Mythra when you had the choice to choose the name for the ascended state? I personally went with Mythra.

2. How did you feel about Pyra/Mythra's sacrifice and resurrection in the ending? I'm glad they came back if only because I believed there was no reason there should have been a sacrifice to begin with.

 

My thoughts:

Spoiler

1. I like both girls equally, so on my first playthrough I picked randomly and got Mythra. In regard to the plot and Rex's character I think it makes more sense for him to pick Pyra (though Rex loves them both and all you guys, he's known Pyra for longer and emotional moments between them are more common), so that's what I went with on my New Game Plus run.

2. I think the focus of the scene was less on the sacrifice itself and more about Rex's response to it. This reddit post explains it better than I can. Throughout the game Rex frequently does reckless things because he can't stand by while something bad happens, but here Rex has to accept Pneuma's decision as there's nothing he can do to help. The girls coming back enhances the idea that Rex did the right thing by accepting their choice. Pyra and Mythra previously regained the will to live and a bittersweet ending wouldn't fit the game's "optimism vs. nihilism" theme, so I'm happy with them returning and how the rest of the ending went. And the way One Last You enhanced the impact of the ending was godly.

Xenoblade 2 entranced me in a way that most games haven't so it's good that you enjoyed it too.

23 minutes ago, Armagon said:
  Hide contents

2. I thought it was a fine ending. And then i read this article about how Greek philosopher Plato's philosophies apply to the game, both story-wise and gameplay-wise and it pretty much gave me a wonderful new way of looking at the game. 

 

I couldn't help but notice that, in his article for how the first Xenoblade relates to Leibniz (XC1 and XC2 spoilers),

Spoiler

the chart comparing the plot of Xenoblade to the 'death of the author' idea uses "Architect" in place of "Klaus". Hmm...

 

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On 23-7-2018 at 12:57 AM, Sire said:

Congrats on finishing the game!

Response in the spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

1. First time around I went with Pyra, the second time (NG+) Mythra. Personally I think Pyra is the better choice since she's been with Rex from the start, and I think Mythra had a thing for Adam. (Mythra's interactions with Rex are adorable though!)

2. While I know some dislike the ending, I enjoyed the happy ending (even though it was a bit rushed in hindsight. ). After I went through NG+, the whole "sacrifice and resurrection" thing is alluded to far before this even happens.

Remember in chapter 6 when Pyra lets herself get taken away by Jin (or was targeting herself with the firing array)? Her plan if things went south was to transport the rest of her Core Crystal to Rex, as "Aegises can function without their Core Crystal for a time." I forgot where the exact quote was, but discovering this made the ending better for me.

 

On 23-7-2018 at 2:32 AM, Armagon said:
  Reveal hidden contents
  1. I went with Pyra
  2. I thought it was a fine ending. And then i read this article about how Greek philosopher Plato's philosophies apply to the game, both story-wise and gameplay-wise and it pretty much gave me a wonderful new way of looking at the game. 

 

 

On 23-7-2018 at 3:05 AM, Lightchao42 said:

My thoughts:

  Hide contents

1. I like both girls equally, so on my first playthrough I picked randomly and got Mythra. In regard to the plot and Rex's character I think it makes more sense for him to pick Pyra (though Rex loves them both and all you guys, he's known Pyra for longer and emotional moments between them are more common), so that's what I went with on my New Game Plus run.

2. I think the focus of the scene was less on the sacrifice itself and more about Rex's response to it. This reddit post explains it better than I can. Throughout the game Rex frequently does reckless things because he can't stand by while something bad happens, but here Rex has to accept Pneuma's decision as there's nothing he can do to help. The girls coming back enhances the idea that Rex did the right thing by accepting their choice. Pyra and Mythra previously regained the will to live and a bittersweet ending wouldn't fit the game's "optimism vs. nihilism" theme, so I'm happy with them returning and how the rest of the ending went. And the way One Last You enhanced the impact of the ending was godly.

Xenoblade 2 entranced me in a way that most games haven't so it's good that you enjoyed it too.

I couldn't help but notice that, in his article for how the first Xenoblade relates to Leibniz (XC1 and XC2 spoilers),

  Reveal hidden contents

the chart comparing the plot of Xenoblade to the 'death of the author' idea uses "Architect" in place of "Klaus". Hmm...

 

Very interesting posts and you guys bring up a lot of good stuff about the ending and after reading that article and reddit post I appreciate it a lot more.

I really hope that they'll make remakes or give us the option to download XB1 and XCX on the switch. I would love to play those games. 

Oh and I heard that XB2 was made by only half of Monolith soft because they were helping with BOTW? Is that true? If so, I'm impressed.

 

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New Rare Blade revealed. Meet Hibana (Japanese name, English name still pending), a Fire Bitball Blade. She's adorable and i need her now. The update drops tomorrow but she won't be part of it.

Some new quests and costumes will be available tomorrow though.

We also know that, when Shulk and Fiora are in the party, you will hear You Will Know Our Names when fighting Unique Monsters. New difficulty modes are also dropping tomorrow.

Monolith Soft continues to keep giving me reasons as to why they are my favorite developers.

Edit: Wait, Hibana is coming tomorrow. Good.

Edited by Armagon
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40 minutes ago, Armagon said:

New Rare Blade revealed. Meet Hibana (Japanese name, English name still pending), a Fire Bitball Blade. She's adorable and i need her now. The update drops tomorrow but she won't be part of it.

Some new quests and costumes will be available tomorrow though.

We also know that, when Shulk and Fiora are in the party, you will hear You Will Know Our Names when fighting Unique Monsters. New difficulty modes are also dropping tomorrow.

Monolith Soft continues to keep giving me reasons as to why they are my favorite developers.

Nice. It's good to see that they are patching up some holes in each Driver's element array. This one might be good for Nia since she doesn't have a good Fire Blade for her.

That only leaves 1 Blade left that was announced back then. The middle one was Poppibuster, Hinaba is the one on the left.

Spoiler

If we look at the element distribution of the Blades so far (not counting Poppi's default element):
- Fire: 6 (Pyra, Brighid, Newt, Dagas, Perdido, Hinaba)
- Water: 6 (Dromarch, Nia, Aegaeon, Praxis, Sheba, Gorg)
- Ice: 5 (Theory, Perun, Godfrey, Ursula, Dahlia)
- Wind: 7 (Roc, Adenine, Boreas, Finch, Zenobia, Sever, Fiora)
- Elec: 7 (Pandoria, Vess, Herald, Kora, Electra, Akhos, Obrona)
- Earth: 6 (Wulfric, Agate, Nim, Floren, Patroka, Cressidus)
- Dark: 6 (Kassandra, Perceval, Vale, Azami, Mikhail, T-elos)
- Light: 4 (Mythra, Kos-Mos, Poppibuster, Shulk)

With the exception of Dark and Light every element has at least 1 class representative. Curiously enough both elements miss a Healer. I guess it might be an Ice Blade to be perfectly balanced. As all things should be.

 

Edited by The Priest
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7 minutes ago, The Priest said:

That only leaves 1 Blade left that was announced back then. The middle one was Poppibuster, Hinaba is the one on the left.

According to a datamine a few months back

Spoiler

The third Blade will be a Light Chrome Katana. There's also data of XCX's Elma in the game as a Dark "Twin Rings" Blade.

 

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Hibana's English name is Crossette if anyone was wondering.

Anyway, here are the translated patch notes for 1.5.1:

Quote
  •  A new fire Bitball rare blade 'Crossette' will be added to the game and will be Bonded through a special Core Crystal. (could be called either Flying Core Crystal or Energetic Core Crystal)
  • Illustrator: あっと(Atto) VA: Nakamori Tatsumi
  • Final quest pack for Expansion Pass owners contains 5 brand new quests:
  • Shipwreck’s Boosters: available from Chapter 3
  • Popular Patissier: available from Chapter 8. Requires Boreas and Gorg. You need to clear Gorg’s Blade quest “Follow Your Passion” first
  • Master Artisan’s accessories: available from Chapter 7
  • Hot Spring Trip in Mor Ardain: available from Chapter 10. Requires Sheba, Kora, and Kasandra with One Lucky Gal Lvl. 3
  • Mysterious Activation Code: available from Chapter 10. Requires Adenine with Extra Ancient Wisdom Lvl. 5 and KOS-MOS
  • New costumes and an item called 'Go Go Nopon' which raises Tora's idea levels will be added as rewards in exchange for Noponstones in the Challenge Battle Mode.
  • Bringer of Chaos and Custom difficulty option will be added and can be accessed in the settings menu after you load. (So you can't change this in the title screen)
  • In the Systems option of the main menu there will be a Special BGM switch option added:You can set the Unique Monster theme to You Will Know Our Names when Shulk · Fiora is in the party.

I'm assuming the last Rare Blade will be added next month to hold us over until Torna: The Golden Country releases.

Edited by Lightchao42
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Ok, the update releases Friday. I thought it would be today but i was looking at Japan time.

17 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

Hibana's English name is Crossette if anyone was wondering.

Where did you find the English name? Other than the article you linked to, i can't find it anywhere else.

________

Also, here are Hibana's stats

Screen_Shot_2018-07-26_at_14.07.54.png

 

That passive where she increases damage for every HP potion picked up looks really good.

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22 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Where did you find the English name? Other than the article you linked to, i can't find it anywhere else.

Most Nintendo news sites typically have a 'Nintendo Download' article on updates to the eShop once a week. For example, GoNintendo and Nintendo Life both made articles with the exact same information. They always use "Nintendo PR" as a source (so I imagine they get the information directly from Nintendo) and they haven't been wrong about anything so I felt it was reliable information, unless all those sites happened to make up the same name.  I'm guessing the information was released very shortly before now which is why you haven't heard about it before (I'm guessing the article was updated with Crossette's name shortly before I found it).

Edited by Lightchao42
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Regarding the music news and a datamined Blade...

Spoiler

I'm now imaging an option to play XCX's Tyrant Theme (Uncontrollable) whenever Elma is in the party. It'll be so different to the soundtrack that I find it hilarious imagining the reactions.

Still, it is nice to know an XC2 update is on the way! I really need to crack down and level up my Rare Blades so I can start trying some of these multi-blade Quests. At the moment thought I'm preoccupied with Octopath Traveler, and I'm falling behind on playing that too...

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I just want to pull Gorg to be honest... I'm only missing him, Newt, and KOS-MOS (predictable on those last two). He just *happens* to have the skills I need to finish Ursula's quest once and for all and he's nowhere to be seen! I hate gacha pull systems.

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Oh yeah, so, in case anyone's wondering why I haven't posted in here since I said I was getting this game, that's because I never actually got it. >_> The mail system fucked up, it looks like. Never got tracking details or anything after getting an email saying the order shipped. It looks like GameStop sent it out, but USPS never got it or something. I inquired about this online awhile back, but never got a response there either. I'll have to go into the GameStop I placed the order in and see if I can fix this or at least get a damn refund.

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I was expecting Crossette to have a quest to obtain her, but instead you just get her Core Crystal from a Nopon in Argentum. Oh well. Since she's a Bitball user, should I just give her to Nia? Here are my blades thus far (including NG+ blades):

Spoiler
  • Rex: Perceval, Perun, Finch, Patroka, Obrona, T-elos
  • Nia: Agate, Gorg, Ursula, Sheba, Vess, Akhos, Perdido
  • Mòrag: Godfrey, Dagas, Kasandra, Theory, Kora, Newt, Adenine, Electra, Cressidus
  • Zeke: Wulfric, Vale, Boreas, Praxis, Azami, Nim, Floren, KOS-MOS, Herald

I don't have Zenobia, Dahlia, Mikhail, or Sever yet

The new Challenge Battle outfits are much more expensive than the previous wave, with the most expensive requiring 300 Noponstone. Get ready to grind those missions. The main characters get new colors in this wave, including all of Poppi's forms (who didn't get any last time).

Edited by Lightchao42
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15 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

I was expecting Crossette to have a quest to obtain her, but instead you just get her Core Crystal from a Nopon in Argentum. Oh well. Since she's a Bitball user, should I just give her to Nia? Here are my blades thus far (including NG+ blades):

Yeah, Nia is probably the best option. Especially if she doesn't already have a Fire Blade.

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3 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

Since she's a Bitball user, should I just give her to Nia?

Yes. Bitballs in general are best used by Nia and Crossette gives her a massive Ether mod. Any other Blade with Fire element doesn't really synergize well with her. Newt is more built for face-tanking, Dagas smashes things and Perdido is ... weird to say the least. All 3 are in better hands with Zeke than her.

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

inb4 reverse trap.

Spoiler

inb4 Sidequest involves Floren for maximum crossdressing.

 

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The Xenoblade twitter has shared some details about TGC recently, and I imagine there will be more information released this way in the future. There isn't really anything new right now but it does show screenshots and artwork of Lora and Jin without his mask.

It makes me wonder if

Spoiler

the base game will be updated to use Jin's maskless artwork when he briefly rejoins the party in Chapter 8.

 

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