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StarTopic The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom |ST| Linkin' Parts (Please Tag All Spoilers)

I did the Rito questline and it's kind of frustrating how easy it is to mess it up and waste a bunch of time. If you dare to try and do anything out of order with it you will most likely bump into a roadblock.

The game allows you to get as high up as the dungeon without Tulin with you, but Tulin is required to solve it. There are two shrines acting as checkpoints along the way.

The issue here is: if you start the ascent in advance and then try to warp to one of the shrines once you have Tulin, he immediately leaves you and goes to a spot at the bottom of the area, but not the very beginning. Here, he triggers a cutscene, and only then are you allowed to warp to the checkpoint shrines. It's really poor quest design in a game like this.

This ended up turning an otherwise enjoyable gameplay section into a bit of a frustration, as I had to hunt him down to make a specific trigger happen. It really bothers me that something like that can happen in a game that is otherwise obsessed with open design.
 
spoiler for a gameplay mechanic unlocked after clearing a dungeon.

it's been a few days and damn, this is the only zelda game that ever handled sages in a satisfying and non lame way i think. i mean i didn't not like the old ones but after totk I think zelda should go the jrpg party route they are already kind of there.
 
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THE STORY IS SO DAMNED GOOD!!! I just finished my first
temple(wind) [\spoiler] and this is hitting my feels. Can't wait to see how the rest of the story goes. I really love this game y'all.
 
I'm on day 2 of trying to complete the first phenomena main quest mission...and um it went well. I got right to the outskirts of the village then proceeded to traverse a mountain and then I saw a cave so I had to go in it. Came out and saw a shrine so naturally I was like "oh what's a 5 minute detour?" Well. 3 small sky islands(archipelagos????), 2 more shrines, a couple enemy camps, and another cave later....I'm going to bed and will resume the main quest tomorrow.

It's going exactly how BoTW went for me. And I'm not mad about it. In fact I'm enjoying this more. It somehow feels more rewarding, immersive and interesting even.

BTW, i don't think those are spoilers exactly but I saw someone elsewhere take issue with knowing those are in the game before they got their copy even though they were in a trailer.
 
The level design in the caves is so good. There's a surprising amount of variety in layouts between them, it's awesome. I hope that holds true for the entire map, because I'm loving exploring them.
 
Yeah, the Rito quest…just the whole Rito quest. Ya’ll were not kidding about the atmosphere.

Didn’t mean to play long today, and it took up my whole evening.
 
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Guys. Guys. Guys.

My brain is breaking. I can’t with this game

It should not be possible for me to love this more than BOTW. It should not be a thing

But this is doing it with so much ease I just can’t

My brain is breaking as well.

I stayed up until 1 AM last night, having played from 3PM. Just went through a section that I think will land as one of my top 3 gaming experiences ever. And that’s just a small portion of the game!

This is just off all charts. HOW?
 

All according to keikaku

(As an aside, I'm amused at the way everyone's precisely aiming arrows to active their contraptions. Once stuck together, the whole thing counts as one device, even non-Zonai parts. You could've simply aimed the arrow at the raft, or even whacked the orb with your sword to activate everything.)
 
I'm like 30 hours in and have FINALLY done some things I did comparatively early in BotW by comparison.
  • Made it back to the Great Plateau The quest chain involving the statue may be my favorite one so far
  • Finally got some clothing upgrades
  • Met some old friends
  • Only 1 dungeon down still, and 3 memories unlocked.
Things I still haven't done that I keep intending to do (but get sidetracked)
  • Go to Hateno, Tarry Town, Gerudo Village, Goron City, and Zora's Domain.
  • Do some monster fights
  • Continue with the Newspaper storyline
 
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My TOTK Pro Controller finally arrived today!...with 2 drifting sticks and a semi-disfunctional gyroscope. So that's super sweet.

Oh, and my collectors edition has seemingly been lost in the mail. This sucks 😂
 
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Just did my second dungeon, god these are so good including lead ups too of course

It’s crazy how each one focuses on a ton of different mechanics.

Tulin’s Gale, paragliding through obstacles, the bouncy boats, shattering ice layers

Zero Gravity, Those moving water bubbles, hovering blocks, Sidon’s water stream to clean up goo, going up waterfalls..

And most of those persist throughout their lead ups, dungeon proper, and even boss fights. Given that, as well as the unique aesthetics and boss fights this time, it’s such a massive step up - though I can’t lie, I do miss the aspect of moving the divine beasts. But overall these dungeon quests blend Mario Galaxy style brilliance, classic Zelda and the freeform nature of new Zelda all in one.
 
I've confirmed this is the perfect game. This is gaming's top form. You can't get any better. It's even overwhelming. It's everything I wanted from a game. A living, breathing world. And puzzles everywhere!!! And gameplay possibilities, you can throw fruits at enemies, make up your own magical weapons, whew!! And everything is everywhere it's overwhelming.

About the story...

They are totally retconning Ocarina of Time and A Link To the Past, right? A Link to the Past not as much as OOT because I can see it fitting it flimsily the way TOTK presented to us, but there's no way around OOT. It's a retcon. It's the same story - Ganondorf is the one male gerudo born, but he wants power and conquer all Hyrule, he tries to be all friendly with the king, Zelda warns the king but he ignores her, shit happens and they all get wrecked by Ganondorf. I've been breaking my head all day thinking about this. It could be between Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time (or better yet, Minish Cap) but it still wouldn't make any sense. How could they do this

Yes I care
I'm not done yet, but I've seen all the Dragon's Tears, and yeah, it feels that way.

My only real hangup with this game has been the story stuff. Why was the first king of Hyrule a Zonai? Why reference the Imprisoning War by name if it's not the one we know? (Seriously - after aborting expanding on the war twice before, they finally go as far as to name drop it in-game just for it to not actually be it.) If they're gonna have a different Ganondorf, why did they have to set it during the reign of the first king instead of somewhere far down the downfall or child timelines? Was OoT Dorf born while TotK Dorf was chilling under the castle?

While I'm complaining, the cracks of the memory system are really showing with everything they're trying to cram in there. Character motivations sometimes feel like they're driven by the need to provide exposition (Tear #2 is particularly bad about this), and the early interactions between Zelda, Rauru, and Sonia feel quite rushed. As much as little of substance happened in BotW's flashback, the focus on Zelda's two simple arcs - trust Link and struggle to awaken her powers - played to its benefit, I think, as it gave Zelda room to breathe.
 
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The Ancient Zora Waterworks is really evocative. The atmosphere, especially the music, feels like something straight out of a Metroid Prime game. It's also technically underwater and is a perfect example of structures that you could design for underwater exploration. This area makes me want full underwater diving/traversal/exploration even more!
 
The Ancient Zora Waterworks is really evocative. The atmosphere, especially the music, feels like something straight out of a Metroid Prime game. It's also technically underwater and is a perfect example of structures that you could design for underwater exploration. This area makes me want full underwater diving/traversal/exploration even more!
It definitely has that general “cave” look but the unique music and bits of Zora architecture made it really stand out.
 
After the Rito dungeon I decided to help out the researchers and went back into the depths, following those statues. It’s creepy down there! After that I trekked out east to try and find their lab, opened up another tower (lanaru mountain?) and decided on a whim to see how high I could go. I built some crazy flying contraptions up in the sky and stumbled upon
a skydiving challenge
 
I don't know if it's the correct topic because I'm trying to go 100% completely blind and so I don't want to read potential spoilers.

But this game is incredible, they have took Botw, change everything and put a massive amount of new things inside

Enjoy the jounrney!
 
So what do y’all think is more fun?

1. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and succeeding and feeling like a genius.

2. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and failing and feeling like the biggest klutz ever.

I think the game makes an excellent job in making failure part of the fun, with all the ridiculous ways you can die. And I love just failing a puzzle miserably and then find out the intentional path and go “duuuuh”. But it’s sooo fun feeling like you outsmarted the game too.
 
Being intentionally super vague about the specific location but in the area where Link was in a cart on rails attacking a Construct on the final trailer I just had the coolest moment by far in this game up to this point.

I was stood on higher ground to the rails and saw a Construct in a cart riding towards me. I let him go past and then activated Recall on the cart and lined up my shot on his silhouette where he would be returning to. I got a direct hit and one shot it. I then let Recall end and waited for the cart to approach me again for a second time, waited for it to go past me again and activated Recall and lined up my approach with the paraglider with the cart's silhouette to land safely in the cart.

And I think Recall is the least interesting of the 4 new powers, it says something about how great this game is!
 
Had a great moment last night when I experienced my first lightning storm on the surface, and saw the sky islands blinking in and out of view with every flash.

It does boggle the mind, though, and I think some of that is caused by knowing the original world. Villages and locations are in my mind and I'm wondering what's changed, or how things are going, and the game teases that for more areas than the main quest objectives. And then I also know that there's the sky to think about, the caves to drop into, things that have changed, and the entire depths that I'm yet to explore.

I'm still very much early days, but I've just got to the stable near Impa, and while I've saved and turned off, there's immediately multiple things to do. Once I've spoken to Impa, done the shrine and cave nearby, I'll be turning around and will probably concentrate on doing more shrines in central Hyrule on my way back to check out the Depths with Robbie.
 
Some rocks that fall from the sky just spam from no particular island, right? Do they work as a way to get you up and from there you can fuse something to go even higher to some island? Or are they just a way of travel easier between different points of Hyrule?
 
Finished the Rito quest and dungeon, it was absolutely bonkers! I then dived into the
Depths
and found the
Yiga Clan!
I managed to get rid of a higher-level enemy camp with Black Electric Lizalfos and Bokoblins. They could all one-shot me, but I used a muzzle arrow to turn the Lizalfos to my side, headshotted the lookout Bokoblin so it wouldn't sound the alarm, then used some yellow Chu Chu jelly to disarm the others, threw my weapons at their faces and took their most powerful ones, set a Bokoblin on fire with my flaming broadsword, froze another with my icicle shield, then threw a puffshroom to momentarily escape when the Lizalfos turned on me and sneak striked it...It was amazing doing all these things one after the other and coming up with different ways to mess them up :) I'm also switching between weapons A LOT: I have a fire shooting wand, a cannon spear, a laser shooting sword...My least common weapons are those which you just use to physically hit the enemies with them!


I think the best way to summarize TotK is that it's fulfilling all the promises BotW made. BotW is an absolute masterpiece, but at the same time it was pretty clear that something greater could be built on top of it (or using the template it delivered). With TotK you don't get this thinking of "what will they do next?", because you just can't wrap your head around all the possibilities, the scope of the map, the density of it all...With BotW you could think of a thousand things to expand the world, but with TotK I just can't think of anything crazier than UltraHand, or how to expand movement more than with what's possible with Ascend, the Zonai contraptions...In a way, I'm starting to think of this the same way as with MK8 or Smash Ultimate...how can the next entry surpass this or even match it?
 
So what do y’all think is more fun?

1. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and succeeding and feeling like a genius.

2. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and failing and feeling like the biggest klutz ever.

I think the game makes an excellent job in making failure part of the fun, with all the ridiculous ways you can die. And I love just failing a puzzle miserably and then find out the intentional path and go “duuuuh”. But it’s sooo fun feeling like you outsmarted the game too.

The second one is definitely this moment:

 
Me yesterday evening: "Honey, you gotta see this! I just built a flamethrower tank that actually works in TotK!"

Me, ~4 minutes later: "Honey, no need to come anymore. The tank just burned down..."

After doing some more side stuff (i just HAVE to help that poor sign holding guy and the poor Koroks who just wanna hang out with their bros...), and some more shrines, i decided it's the right moment to start going for the plot progression again and started to make my way to Hebra.

No, i didn't arrive. Side stuff kept me.

Also, before starting to make my way to Hebra:
I went to two different Malice holes and down to the Depths. Still feeling uneasy down there, but the greed for more Zonaite and Bomb Flowers won in the end.
Activated some more light roots, collected a lot of Wisps and then something happened that i feared a lot.

From the darkness by the edge of an area that i just lighted up via root, two red eyes started to look at me ... and follow my movements.
They started to come closer, i slowly walked backwards, but they still followed.

Then, suddenly ... they started to charge at me.

And the light finally showed me what i didn't wanna see to begin with ... an armoured Gloom Lynel.

Hits - button, hits ^ button, selects the closest warp point, nopes out, looks at wife looking at me with a smug grin, tells her "shit was scary, okay?"
 
So I finally did the first major Depths quest and...

...Does Master Kohga have to make Vroom sounds?

I do like how he's basically a solo Team Rocket act.
 
I did it again. I was at the dinner table eating and started thinking about tears of the kingdom and the possibilities. More specifically, can i use ultrahand to take the weapons out of enemies hand? And can i use recall on enemies that are throwing rocks or shooting arrows so it'll hit them back?

Can’t wait to go back and play to see…


This is one of those generational games in the same category as GTA 3, Mario 64, FF7 etc.

I hope no gamer misses out on this.

And I am so glad I went all in on the merchandise like the Zelda OLED Switch, Zelda pro controller and amiibo. Since this is seemingly becoming an instant classic, it’ll be like owning one of those Gold N64s and Ocarina of Time Gold Cartridge In the future. Anyone on the fence, get them, trust me. They are really high quality (its my first oled and ive never had a pro controller because i was perfectly fine and happy with my launch switch and joycons but boy was i missing out) And they look amazing in person.

 
My playtime in 3 days vs. lifetime playtime of most of my other Switch games

DevotedIncompleteDesertpupfish-size_restricted.gif


Just passed Mario Odyssey.
I'm at 35 hours (only one dungeon beaten!)... which means it's passed Pokemon Violet, but still has a ways to go before crossing some of my other big games like Mario Maker 2 (60), New Horizons (60), Mario Odyssey (90), and... well, I really doubt it's passing Smash Ultimate lol (475 and counting).

I could see it crack 100 hours though when it's all said and done, which would be about double my BOTW playtime. I just keep finding shit to do
 
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I read that there are more shrines in totk than in botw?? how am i supposed to finish this game
 
I'm really attached to my horse. I named it Blotchy, which is a really lame name. I love feeding this horse apples and petting it. I haven't fast travelled anywhere since taming it, because I don't want to leave it behind. This has led me to follow the main routes, which is a really laid back way to explore the game and find interesting stuff on the roadside.
 
This might be a stupid question but I think I'm missing something. When I move my map cursor on the map screen the co-ordinates don't change depending on where my cursor is. Is there a way to do this? So I can give my brother co-ordinates and then he can go to them on the map and place a pin.
 
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Damn, Nintendo's stealing Fami's idea of sharing cool spots via hint / coordinates.

I wish there was more flexibility with the HUD - the minimap is the only thing I'd like displayed at all times, so I can see coordinates easily, but the options are 'everything' (normal) or 'nothing' (pro) and so far I'm going with 'nothing'.
 
Finished the Rito questline. Loved the buildup (feat. multiple layers of music intensity), the actual dungeon and the spectacle of the boss. Even got some Skyward Sword vibes, being in such a mystical and ancient place! Narrative is still sitting good with me - I enjoy it being mainly focused on theme and characters more than twists and turns. Fantastic? No. Evocative and cool? Yes. Also Zelda being the Sage of Time makes so much sense!

Musically I'm underwhelmed so far. While, yes, the dynamism of the soundtrack is fantastic, it's also very textural and not as melodic as previous Zelda games. Notable exception being the dungeon's low intensity track with the flute - that's the melody for the Rito children's song, and it's absolutely gorgeous, but it doesn't prominently return after that...

Visited Hateno. Same music. Rito Village after the quest, same music. Lookout Landing is a cool new location with an OK piece of music, and revisiting Hyrule Castle is cool - but again, very textural, and mainly quoting BotW. Master Kohga? Same music with some added instrumentation.

Where's the melodicism of Revali's, or Mipha/Sidon themes? Minigame? New melodic town music? Sweeping Attack on Vah Ruta style tracks? The prominent melodies that are here are quotes from BotW. Bummer. Hopefully I'll find those prominent new melodies still, or the new material will get better on repeat listens. As it stands it's a bummer - maybe this is due to the lack of Yasuaki Iwata's involvement.

Anyways, as a game this is still lovely. The Depths are the real star of the show, playing with the player's imagination and leaving the sky islands behind by an enormous margin. Skydiving is always a thrill though.
 
So, some thoughts after spending a few days with the game - spoiler tagging due to length:

TL;DR: Game is a blast. Recreates what gaming felt like as a kid; everything was magical and everything felt limitless. Can see it beating out Breath of the Wild as my favorite game.

-The new abilities are so much fun and they're used so well, both in and out of shrines. My only complaint (nitpick, really) is that sometimes it feels like the materials used for Ultrahand aren't very... diagetic? It can feel very gamey at times to conveniently place the materials you need to build a cart or a stand next to a Korok or a Hudson sign. Don't really care that much though. Game's whole theme of unity and rebuilding Hyrule makes it pretty easy to justify so it's nitpicking on my part. Also a bit of a learning curve with Ultrahand, but after a few hours it feels fine.

-SHRINES!!!! Shrines are such an upgrade, wow. Everything from the presentation to the puzzle design is a vast improvement over Breath of the Wild. They feel more like bits and pieces taken out of dungeons now, instead of gimmick or puzzle rooms. More involved and more creative. Just feels... Zelda? Underrated aspect of the new shrines is how much quicker they are to get into. One button press to activate, and then just walk in. So nice compared to BotW having you do a button press to activate it, and then another to ride the elevator. Stupid thing to praise, but it makes me more likely to do a shrine when I see it lol.

-Combat is so much fun. I was worried, since BotW's felt kinda one note (talking about the actual fighting mechanics, not level/encounter design) that it would be the same here. It's not. The increased flexibility and enemy variety help soooo much, and it feels like encounters are faster and the AI is more aggressive. Goes a long way with making combat feel better, even without the new shit on top. Also helps when you get those BotW zen-like quiet moments of exploration and peace, since the contrast between that and the combat is more intense.

-Sky islands are sick! I like that they're almost little mini open-air dungeons. I've found some armor on them and unlocked some shrines by messing around with them too.

-
The Depths are cool. Love the atmosphere, and how oppressive it feels. Finding the next Light Root gives me that feeling of elation that a bonfire in Dark Souls gives me. Lots of cool stuff down there. Some concerns about variety of locales and overall content down there, but I've liked what I've seen so far. I think the Depths are best approached as a place to go to for resources and as a vehicle for further exploration a la the sky islands, rather than a place you explore and "live in", like the overworld.

-My experience with the story has been limited. Mostly been exploring and doing side content. Have about 8 heart containers and have 2 stamina wheel upgrades, if that's any indication. Found a few of the glyphs and just got to Rito Village. Story presentation is such an upgrade over BotW though. Voice acting is miles ahead, and things like proper character introductions and character profiles make the game feel more refined on this front.

TotK has been an absolute pleasure. A common criticism about BotW is that it's as wide as an ocean and as deep as a puddle (not something I necessarily agree with, but hey) and I feel like that's something you absolutely cannot say about TotK. The sheer amount and variety of things to do truly make its predecessor feel like a tech demo, and make TotK's Hyrule feel alive. I adored Breath of the Wild, but Tears has me hooked in a way that even Breath of the Wild didn't. Crazy that the next generation of gaming arrived on the Nintendo Switch.
 
So the only thing I take issue with so far regarding the story presentation...

We literally learn nothing new after beating the second, third, and fourth dungeon. In fact, they made it so that it's always the same cutscene and information you get, making it very repetitive.
 
Or are they just a way of travel easier between different points of Hyrule?
Mostly I find them a breezy way to get high up, and scout for other points of interest. I used one, then boosted myself up with a rocket shield. That let me reach a another sky island where I found (activity spoiler) a skydiving challenge. This game! Ugh.

I wish there was more flexibility with the HUD - the minimap is the only thing I'd like displayed at all times, so I can see coordinates easily, but the options are 'everything' (normal) or 'nothing' (pro) and so far I'm going with 'nothing'.
Same. Hope they can patch in a customizable HUD.

Meanwhile I was supposed to do stuff in Kakariko coz I wanna see how Paya’s doing but I ended up on the opposite end of the map. Don’t ask me how.
 
So what do y’all think is more fun?

1. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and succeeding and feeling like a genius.

2. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and failing and feeling like the biggest klutz ever.

I think the game makes an excellent job in making failure part of the fun, with all the ridiculous ways you can die. And I love just failing a puzzle miserably and then find out the intentional path and go “duuuuh”. But it’s sooo fun feeling like you outsmarted the game too.
I feel like both go hand in hand - there have been some shrine puzzles that I feel were designed (at least the way my brain approaches them!) with the hope the player will go with what seems like and is mostly a good solution, but has a key flaw they've maybe overlooked that requires a small adjustment of plans or the addition of a different ability. I think they're maybe a bit more satisfying than before? I explained to my partner yesterday that I'd gotten absorbed in a shrine because it made me feel smart, then stupid, then smart, and I called it the Zelda effect (I guess the BOTW/TOTK effect). Genius-idiot-genius. Failure sandwich. It's great game design: you encourage players by making them think they know what's what, then you challenge their expectations and their current skill level, then you congratulate and encourage them when they adjust to the challenge.

Also have to praise how the storytelling and questing feels more emergent and expansive this time compared to BOTW, which I already liked for having more environmental "you'll figure it out" storytelling. There's so many strands and big quest lines and I'm still not sure how they'll all converge or if one is the main quest line, and I love it. There's a genuine sense of a familiar world after an upheaval. I talk to NPCs and they tell me about various things and I'm right there with them like "yes bestie what the fuck is going on."

Last night I intended to do more of the Rito area, but got distracted on the way with the Depths, a Sky Island where I did a diving mini-game to get a new outfit, exploring an area from the last game that was famously overrun with guardians to see how it changed, and shrines. Sorry to any other game coming out in the next few months but I'll get around to you in winter maybe.
 
I need to do some main story stuff. I feel like I’m inhibiting my traversal by not having more mechanics in play. Like many who are missing the paraglided early on.

I don’t know what the rest of the game holds. Have only done the first of the 4 main story beats.
 
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The level design in the caves is so good. There's a surprising amount of variety in layouts between them, it's awesome. I hope that holds true for the entire map, because I'm loving exploring them.
It feels a lot like 2D Zelda caves, especially Link's Awakening to me.
 
So what do y’all think is more fun?

1. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and succeeding and feeling like a genius.

2. Not solving a puzzle the intended way and failing and feeling like the biggest klutz ever.

I think the game makes an excellent job in making failure part of the fun, with all the ridiculous ways you can die. And I love just failing a puzzle miserably and then find out the intentional path and go “duuuuh”. But it’s sooo fun feeling like you outsmarted the game too.
“Sorry Zelda, the hero of time can’t save the kingdom this generation because he rendered himself flat as a pancake two dozens times over by deciding that being the extreme sports skydiving champion of a dead kingdom was way more important than doing his actual job.” :)
 
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So I finally did the first major Depths quest and...

...Does Master Kohga have to make Vroom sounds?

I do like how he's basically a solo Team Rocket act.
Yes. Yes he does.

Just found the first sidequests I actually passed on in Hateno.
The election. The clothes shop lady was only halfway through her spiel when I was like “let me stop you there, I just don’t care.” Then two other NPCs wanted me to spy on the mayors shed and clothes shop lady and by that point I was on my way out of town as fast as I could go. Go throw your mediocre fetch/stealth quests at someone else.

Still, onwards and upwards (literally!) Not a huge decision in where to go next when the next town is apparently overrun with monster pirates. Sounds good. Adventure calls!
 
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Has anyone else found the
musician stuck in the pit with his wagon? I've not rescued him yet
and I don't know the coordinates. I wonder if he's modelled after a Nintendo staffer, he has that look about him.
 


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