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Horizon Forbidden West: Review Thread |

tmlDan

Member
I've played about 8-10 hours so far and I haven't left the first area where you can freely roam lol

The game is fucking phenomenal, the robot combat is way better with the new gadgets and weapons. The side quests are fucking amazing, everyone feels like a real person i care about, they have banter, stories, lives and help you on your journey.

The pubs and villages have people conversing about relevant or personal subjects its fantastic.

I don't really know what else you would want from an open world, so far this is my GOTY - i know its still early in the year but its that good.

Really don't know how you give a game like this a 6, but w/e, let people be dumb.
 
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Enjoy the ban.
I couldn't care less, Cyberbug boy. I just defeated Godrick.
Star Wars Dummy GIF by MOODMAN
#FuckWesternGames
 

Interfectum

Member
I watched my friend who is a reviewer play for a few hours. The graphics are great, but everything else is so shit, especially the characters. But I must say that I rarely like western games. My February games are KoF 15 and Elden Ring. A Western piece of shit overrated by paid and fanboy sites.
League Of Legends G2Army GIF by G2 Esports
 

Bragr

Banned
After a good time with it, I'm slightly disappointed with the side content. Every side quest follows too much of the same formula, talk to a quest giver who will ask you to either kill a machine or help some people (which always require you to kill a machine to save them). Every scenario involves you going to an area and cleaning it out and go back. The other side content, like hunter trials, salvage missions, and rebel outposts, is just ok. The diving caverns are boring and I don't see the reason for them to be in the game. Firegleams, black boxes, drones, and machine flowers are all just giant fetch quests.

That said, the world is so fantastic that I enjoy flying around clearing things up, but the open-world content is middling and I expected them to find more interesting side-activities and not all this mindless grind content.

I also found the story to be the best in the early sections. The first mission with Varl is terrible, then it hits the sweet spot in the gaunt, and then falls off a cliff.

With all that complaining done, I still like the game a lot, I keep coming back to clear out the map.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Finished. 100 hours or so, about 80% total completion.

Ending was a bit of let down, but the game was quite fun. Story was cool, better in most aspects than HZD. Solid game overall. Few obvious flaws.

Could have been better with a few changes to the story / pacing. They strangely hid some of the coolest bits til pretty late in the game.
 
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Hinedorf

Banned
I like this game and at the same time it's absolute fucking trash, I have some weird fast travel bug that I can't fix basically making the game travel such a fucking burden.

Anybody who defends this game is out of their mind, complete regression from the first game in every aspect. Broken too
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
I like this game and at the same time it's absolute fucking trash, I have some weird fast travel bug that I can't fix basically making the game travel such a fucking burden.

Anybody who defends this game is out of their mind, complete regression from the first game in every aspect. Broken too
What is the bug doing?
 
An improvement over the first game in every way except the story which is below average and the seemingly endless dialogue trees which really needed some serious editing to cut down the yawn inducing length. I’d rate it an 8 overall. Strangely, even though I rated the first game a 7 I enjoyed it slightly more overall.
 
I like this game and at the same time it's absolute fucking trash, I have some weird fast travel bug that I can't fix basically making the game travel such a fucking burden.

Anybody who defends this game is out of their mind, complete regression from the first game in every aspect. Broken too
Yeah I will say that despite my prior comment I agree the bugs and general lack of polish on things like simple climbing mechanics/ledge detection, etc… at launch were very aggravating. Haven’t been back to the game since so no idea if this has been fixed but the sort of frustration those types of problems cause is probably a lot of why I liked the first game better despite rating this game higher overall.
 

Hinedorf

Banned
What is the bug doing?
Apparently this bug/whatever is fairly common, how it survived Q/A is really mind blowing to me. Basically if you get halfway through a mission an don't complete it all the way, it will lock your whole game into thinking you're in an active mission.

I had to go through 4 bandit camps to find the one I had left at "kill the leader" which locked the whole game travel system away until finished......so bad

Let me just say, I LOVE THIS FRANCHISE, I love the lore. The gameplay itself though is such a poor regression from the first game I will undoubtedly finish the game but complete disappointment from how amazingly cutting edge the first game was to what this sequel is.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Apparently this bug/whatever is fairly common, how it survived Q/A is really mind blowing to me. Basically if you get halfway through a mission an don't complete it all the way, it will lock your whole game into thinking you're in an active mission.

I had to go through 4 bandit camps to find the one I had left at "kill the leader" which locked the whole game travel system away until finished......so bad

Let me just say, I LOVE THIS FRANCHISE, I love the lore. The gameplay itself though is such a poor regression from the first game I will undoubtedly finish the game but complete disappointment from how amazingly cutting edge the first game was to what this sequel is.
That sucks. I didn't like the 1st game that much but I love this one, there's so many improvements
 

Amiga

Member
Writing has taken a nosedive from the 1st game. the world suffers from Ubisoft like content padding. the great graphics, serviceable main story and still satisfying gameplay keep it a decent 7/10.

An improvement over the first game in every way except the story which is below average and the seemingly endless dialogue trees which really needed some serious editing to cut down the yawn inducing length. I’d rate it an 8 overall. Strangely, even though I rated the first game a 7 I enjoyed it slightly more overall.

this!
 
I finished it the other day at about 46 hours. All I can say it was enjoyable but nothing from the story was gripping like it was in the first game. That edgy "hacker" at the beginning of the game...we saw him like twice and never again. Ted Faro who supposedly turned into *spoiler*....we didnt even get to see that, it was just left like some PG13 movie. As beautiful as it is, its just way too long for a not too exciting story. Not a bad game at all, actually very good but so bloated with mediocre stuff to do. The only thing I wanted to do was the hunting list so I can get the best armour but sidequests are mostly kill this person for me or this machine and thats it.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Writing has taken a nosedive from the 1st game. the world suffers from Ubisoft like content padding. the great graphics, serviceable main story and still satisfying gameplay keep it a decent 7/10.



this!

I finished it the other day at about 46 hours. All I can say it was enjoyable but nothing from the story was gripping like it was in the first game. That edgy "hacker" at the beginning of the game...we saw him like twice and never again. Ted Faro who supposedly turned into *spoiler*....we didnt even get to see that, it was just left like some PG13 movie. As beautiful as it is, its just way too long for a not too exciting story. Not a bad game at all, actually very good but so bloated with mediocre stuff to do. The only thing I wanted to do was the hunting list so I can get the best armour but sidequests are mostly kill this person for me or this machine and thats it.

Definitely sounds like it deserved all the 10/10s it got.

I hope they lose all the bloat for the third game and just make it an incredible 20 hour solid experience.

I enjoyed the first for what it was but can't bring myself to pick up the second even at 25 quid due to when I do hear negatives about the game I know it would literally be the worst experience for me.

It's crazy how good graphics can make you torn as I really do want to see the game running and those incredible facial captures etc on the conversations but the actual game/gameplay/sea of pointless icons on a map couldn't be anymore off putting.

I'll deffo pick it up at some point but it will literally be at such a low price that I feel like I'm picking up a 30 minute tech demo then ill never play it again apart from to show friends and family how good games can look!

Roll on the third and I hope GG learns from the feedback from fans of this one.
 
I finished it the other day at about 46 hours. All I can say it was enjoyable but nothing from the story was gripping like it was in the first game. That edgy "hacker" at the beginning of the game...we saw him like twice and never again. Ted Faro who supposedly turned into *spoiler*....we didnt even get to see that, it was just left like some PG13 movie. As beautiful as it is, its just way too long for a not too exciting story. Not a bad game at all, actually very good but so bloated with mediocre stuff to do. The only thing I wanted to do was the hunting list so I can get the best armour but sidequests are mostly kill this person for me or this machine and thats it.
nah. while including some very good aspects (all of which we'd already seen previously), forbidden west is an extremely disappointing game/sequel. it's an unfocused, unexciting rehash of the original, it oftentimes replaces superior original mechanics with inferior ones, & it is anchored to a genuinely ludicrous, laughable narrative:

'invasion of the elderly expats from sirius'? really?...

also, as a big fan of zero dawn, i ended up genuinely despising aloy by the end of forbidden west, & will likely pass on any further games featuring her as the protagonist. she's supercilious & obsessive, to the point of pure callousness, &, no, her worshipful little fan club / get along gang didn't manage to persuade me otherwise...
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Angry Joe can be harsh on games so I'm glad he liked it as much as I did

I still fly around the gorgeous world just to battle different machines, there's something majestic about it
 

Ogbert

Member
Finally picked it up and put about ten hours into it.

It does some things very well and the world is absolutely breath taking. I also like the melee combat, which is visceral and fun.

But fuck me a lot of it is boring. It's as padded as the worst Ubisoft game. I also think the basic movement is still off. Aloy is not especially enjoyable to control.
 
Still haven’t beaten it, haven’t been able to get back into it - never was into it. And I LOVED the first.

The climbing shit is straight up horrible. I really am amazed people feel this is an improvement over the first - it has not been fun for me, too much padding as well
 
Still haven’t beaten it, haven’t been able to get back into it - never was into it. And I LOVED the first.

The climbing shit is straight up horrible. I really am amazed people feel this is an improvement over the first - it has not been fun for me, too much padding as well
I loved the first one too but gave up on this. Too much main character explanato talk and she's also become thoroughly unlikable. Shame.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Still haven’t beaten it, haven’t been able to get back into it - never was into it. And I LOVED the first.

The climbing shit is straight up horrible. I really am amazed people feel this is an improvement over the first - it has not been fun for me, too much padding as well
It seems like people who really liked the 1st game don't really like the sequel but the people who were just ok on the 1st game really like the sequel lol
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
I went to some different sites and most reviews give Horizon Forbidden West a 5 out of 5 or 10/10. Even with getting review bombed, it still has a 8/10 in the user reviews on metacritic

ytSCFL2.jpg
 
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Honestly...this is the one Sony IP that i wish that was dropped for something new.
I still can't believe that the cliff hanger for this was a cloud named nemesis that's coming to destroy the planet.

Like...even the loose ends from the first game like Ted Faro were either dropped or went nowhere only to bring humans that have been alive for 1000 years and shit like that.

This IP went from day one to "i'll wait for a promo" and i rarey say this about a Playstation IP that i have enjoyed. Also...i hate sequels that suffer from the "let's give them more of everything from the previous entry cause that will make it better" syndrome.

The Focus is even more used to mask their lack of talent for level design. You either can't tell where to climb or you have this yellow paint everywhere. I won't even mention how Aloy keeps narrating and telling me where to go. I won't even mention how annoying it is that there's plenty of places you clearly can climb but the game doesn't let you.

The biggest joke for this was a puzzle where i think you have to open an elevator...and you need to find clues for the elevator code. Not only is Aloy trying to tell you where the clue might be, as soon as you read the clue (which was a date like "October 2072" or something) the other character that's with you decides that its time to offend your inteligence even more and say that amazing sentence "If it's October then it's s the 10th month of the year!!" like it's some huge victory. I nearly lost my shit on that "puzzle" :messenger_tears_of_joy:

These 2 videos show everything that to me is wrong with this game:



This next video i almost cringed at the title...but i watched the video and i agreed with almost everything. Hint: when she says the game is ugly, she doesn't mean it has bad graphics. It's not about that:

 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Like...even the loose ends from the first game like Ted Faro were either dropped or went nowhere only to bring humans that have been alive for 1000 years and shit like that.

The "resolution" if that's what you call it, for that character and how anti climactic it is .. and you don't even see them .. was real dumb.
 
The "resolution" if that's what you call it, for that character and how anti climactic it is .. and you don't even see them .. was real dumb.
Also...Sylas reasoning for not telling Aloy of his plan was the dumbest plotpoint of the game. "you wouldn't have believed me".
Like...what?

Whoever wrote this character in the first game wasn't available right? Sylas this game was serving Littlefinger on GoT season 7 and 8, lmao.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Also...Sylas reasoning for not telling Aloy of his plan was the dumbest plotpoint of the game. "you wouldn't have believed me".
Like...what?

Whoever wrote this character in the first game wasn't available right? Sylas this game was serving Littlefinger on GoT season 7 and 8, lmao.

The entire final stretch for the narrative felt like it was either re-written at the last minute, or wasn't thought up until very late in the development.

I don't know if they'll do a Frozen Wilds style expansion for this or just take that plot point straight to a third game.
 
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Vick

Member
Definitely sounds like it deserved all the 10/10s it got.

I hope they lose all the bloat for the third game and just make it an incredible 20 hour solid experience.

I enjoyed the first for what it was but can't bring myself to pick up the second even at 25 quid due to when I do hear negatives about the game I know it would literally be the worst experience for me.

It's crazy how good graphics can make you torn as I really do want to see the game running and those incredible facial captures etc on the conversations but the actual game/gameplay/sea of pointless icons on a map couldn't be anymore off putting.

I'll deffo pick it up at some point but it will literally be at such a low price that I feel like I'm picking up a 30 minute tech demo then ill never play it again apart from to show friends and family how good games can look!

Roll on the third and I hope GG learns from the feedback from fans of this one.
Just hold your judgement until you play it.

For what is worth I think it's by far the best game i've played this gen, and would easily regard it as a masterpiece worthy of the 10/10s.

Vegas alone would deserve the 70$ for me.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Just hold your judgement until you play it.

For what is worth I think it's by far the best game i've played this gen, and would easily regard it as a masterpiece worthy of the 10/10s.

Vegas alone would deserve the 70$ for me.
I agree. The combat is fun, the world is breathtaking, flying is so relaxing and I really enjoyed the story, especially the Gaia, Subordinates/Hephaestus stuff
 
Honestly...this is the one Sony IP that i wish that was dropped for something new.
I still can't believe that the cliff hanger for this was a cloud named nemesis that's coming to destroy the planet.

Like...even the loose ends from the first game like Ted Faro were either dropped or went nowhere only to bring humans that have been alive for 1000 years and shit like that.

This IP went from day one to "i'll wait for a promo" and i rarey say this about a Playstation IP that i have enjoyed. Also...i hate sequels that suffer from the "let's give them more of everything from the previous entry cause that will make it better" syndrome.

The Focus is even more used to mask their lack of talent for level design. You either can't tell where to climb or you have this yellow paint everywhere. I won't even mention how Aloy keeps narrating and telling me where to go. I won't even mention how annoying it is that there's plenty of places you clearly can climb but the game doesn't let you.

The biggest joke for this was a puzzle where i think you have to open an elevator...and you need to find clues for the elevator code. Not only is Aloy trying to tell you where the clue might be, as soon as you read the clue (which was a date like "October 2072" or something) the other character that's with you decides that its time to offend your inteligence even more and say that amazing sentence "If it's October then it's s the 10th month of the year!!" like it's some huge victory. I nearly lost my shit on that "puzzle" :messenger_tears_of_joy:

These 2 videos show everything that to me is wrong with this game:



This next video i almost cringed at the title...but i watched the video and i agreed with almost everything. Hint: when she says the game is ugly, she doesn't mean it has bad graphics. It's not about that:


Yeah, rarely does a Sony IP like ACTUALLY disappoint to this level for me. I didn’t love LOU 2’s writing but it was an improvement in every other way - I’m definitely buying whatever sequel there is first day. Returnal wasn’t my type of game but I can still recognize it’s awesome in its own right - those are the only ones I could say I was even slightly disappointed in.

This? I’m glad some people are enjoying it but I straight up do not see how it’s not a step backwards at this time. And they’re right, the graphics are incredible but aesthetically it’s way too busy and comes off unappealing for a game with this type of technical prowess.
 

Kupfer

Member
It's started strong for me and I'm in the first big area (the one with the plant city in the satellite dishes) and I could be on to the next area, but I just don't feel like turning on the game right now. Turning on the game would mean that I would have to deal with what I have to do next in order to check boxes as efficiently as possible. One problem with such games is also quite clear on me : I don't want to leave anything out. As a result, I'm often already oversaturated during a game and it feels like work. But another problem I can't help : story and characters are unfortunately kind of uninteresting, cliched and cheesy - at least yet. HZD was one of the best sci-fi games of the generation for me, storywise, but my fears that this is just more of the same but without that certain gimmick have unfortunately come true. In addition, many inconsistencies in the game world like the game world is illogical even in its logic - why are some wooden huts and houses from the old days still standing in areas exposed to strong weather and humidity? Then there is this way too overloaded control system with which I have a hard time with, quickly traversing rough terrain does not feel fluid and is inconsistent, sometimes I can climb, sometimes not, sometimes I get stuck on small edges, sometimes I jump over them, there are invisible walls or an indicator that I may not go further here, which tear me out of the immersion while playing. The quest design and the artificially created borders at places I already came to before the dev wanted me to do and the amount of collectibles just annoyed me too much in the end. I kind of wanted and still want to like the game, but as I progressed I became less and less warm to it until now I've finally come to terms with the idea of probably never playing it again.
But hey, at least it looks nice on PS5. Still doesn't make a great game.​
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Just hold your judgement until you play it.

For what is worth I think it's by far the best game i've played this gen, and would easily regard it as a masterpiece worthy of the 10/10s.

Vegas alone would deserve the 70$ for me.

Hey, I'm really happy you liked it but I've spoken to many people who enjoyed the first and say this is worse from a story perspective and makes some questionable changes. I have far too little time and money to try it until its bargain bin prices when i could be playing games I have a better gut feeling on.

Awesome that you enjoyed it though. :)
 

jonnyp

Member
It's started strong for me and I'm in the first big area (the one with the plant city in the satellite dishes) and I could be on to the next area, but I just don't feel like turning on the game right now. Turning on the game would mean that I would have to deal with what I have to do next in order to check boxes as efficiently as possible. One problem with such games is also quite clear on me : I don't want to leave anything to the out. As a result, I'm often already oversaturated during a game and it feels like work. But another problem I can't help : story and characters are unfortunately kind of uninteresting, cliched and cheesy - at least yet. HZD was one of the best sci-fi games of the generation for me, but my fears that this is just more of the same but without that certain gimmick have unfortunately come true. In addition, many inconsistencies in the game world like the game world is illogical even in its logic - why are some wooden huts and houses from the old days still standing in areas exposed to strong weather and humidity? Then there is this way too overloaded control system with whichI have a hard time with, quickly traversing rough terrain does not feel fluid and is inconsistent, sometimes I can climb, sometimes not, sometimes I get stuck on small edges, sometimes I jump over them, there are invisible walls or an indicator that I may not go further here, which tear me out of the immersion while playing. The quest design and the artificially created borders at places I already came to before the dev wanted me to do and the amount of collectibles just annoyed me too much in the end. I still kind of wanted and want to like it, but as I progressed I became less and less warm to it until now I've finally come to terms with the idea of probably never playing it again.
But hey, at least it looks nice on PS5. Still doesn't make a great game.


iu
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
It's started strong for me and I'm in the first big area (the one with the plant city in the satellite dishes) and I could be on to the next area, but I just don't feel like turning on the game right now. Turning on the game would mean that I would have to deal with what I have to do next in order to check boxes as efficiently as possible. One problem with such games is also quite clear on me : I don't want to leave anything out. As a result, I'm often already oversaturated during a game and it feels like work. But another problem I can't help : story and characters are unfortunately kind of uninteresting, cliched and cheesy - at least yet. HZD was one of the best sci-fi games of the generation for me, storywise, but my fears that this is just more of the same but without that certain gimmick have unfortunately come true. In addition, many inconsistencies in the game world like the game world is illogical even in its logic - why are some wooden huts and houses from the old days still standing in areas exposed to strong weather and humidity? Then there is this way too overloaded control system with which I have a hard time with, quickly traversing rough terrain does not feel fluid and is inconsistent, sometimes I can climb, sometimes not, sometimes I get stuck on small edges, sometimes I jump over them, there are invisible walls or an indicator that I may not go further here, which tear me out of the immersion while playing. The quest design and the artificially created borders at places I already came to before the dev wanted me to do and the amount of collectibles just annoyed me too much in the end. I kind of wanted and still want to like the game, but as I progressed I became less and less warm to it until now I've finally come to terms with the idea of probably never playing it again.
But hey, at least it looks nice on PS5. Still doesn't make a great game.​

This is my problem too, I can't play these games anymore because I kind of need to do everything and I suffer trying to do it if the game is not absolutely gripping me.
 
Apparently this bug/whatever is fairly common, how it survived Q/A is really mind blowing to me. Basically if you get halfway through a mission an don't complete it all the way, it will lock your whole game into thinking you're in an active mission.

I had to go through 4 bandit camps to find the one I had left at "kill the leader" which locked the whole game travel system away until finished......so bad

Let me just say, I LOVE THIS FRANCHISE, I love the lore. The gameplay itself though is such a poor regression from the first game I will undoubtedly finish the game but complete disappointment from how amazingly cutting edge the first game was to what this sequel is.
If you think the first is cutting edge in terms of gameplay I don't see how you could think the second ones is so disappointing as it's basically the first game with just a ton more mechanics.

Do mean like it didn't innovate? What's there to innovate on then, being a 3rd person bow and arrow shooter. Did the first innovate on anything?
 

Kupfer

Member
This is my problem too, I can't play these games anymore because I kind of need to do everything and I suffer trying to do it if the game is not absolutely gripping me.
Just because I'm curious and without wanting to spark a discussion. How did you like GoW 2018 and are you looking forward to the new GoW?

I at least have a bad feeling right from the start and will keep my distance for now.
 

Tunned

Member
Can I just say, I just started this game, I'm playing on 'balanced' graphics setting on my LG C9, and the game look spectacular! That and 40 fps is smooth, and that's coming from a PC gamer.
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
If you think the first is cutting edge in terms of gameplay I don't see how you could think the second ones is so disappointing as it's basically the first game with just a ton more mechanics.

Do mean like it didn't innovate? What's there to innovate on then, being a 3rd person bow and arrow shooter. Did the first innovate on anything?
This. There's so many improvements like the valor surges, shield glider, bigger weapon wheel, flying mount, underwater exploring, melee (still needs work but now there's a few combos) many more skill upgrades, way better graphics, just about everything is better
 

Hobbygaming

has been asked to post in 'Grounded' mode.
Just because I'm curious and without wanting to spark a discussion. How did you like GoW 2018 and are you looking forward to the new GoW?

I at least have a bad feeling right from the start and will keep my distance for now.
What's your bad feeling about Ragnarok?
 

Vick

Member
Hey, I'm really happy you liked it but I've spoken to many people who enjoyed the first and say this is worse from a story perspective and makes some questionable changes. I have far too little time and money to try it until its bargain bin prices when i could be playing games I have a better gut feeling on.

Awesome that you enjoyed it though. :)
Yeah, i've read lots of stuff on this game as well. And honestly found most criticisms debatable and far from objective, to say the least. I started the game right after an Ultra Hard no reticle run of Zero Dawn and Frozen Wilds and the only thing i've really found to be worse is writing quality on logs and collectibles, and a story maybe not as mindblowing and gripping as the first one was, but still better than Frozen Wilds, and light years ahead of 90% sci-fi games. Aloy saw a substantial evolution as a character, and I honestly love her character after this game.

This is my problem too, I can't play these games anymore because I kind of need to do everything and I suffer trying to do it if the game is not absolutely gripping me.
Same, I have to explore every inch of the world and experience everything in these games, and I honestly had the time of my life here. Tribes, locations, story, creatures, it's great stuff. And at times, like Vegas, downright magical.

Plus combat at Very Hard + No Reticle is addicting like no other open world game in existence to me.
 
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