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So WHY exactly did Street Fighter 3 and Street Fighter EX fail to grab people?

BlackSandrock10

Neo Member
To be fair and despite what people said about SFEX back then and now, it's still loved to many to this day. Considering that it was outsourced to then-newcomers Arika, it did bring life with new characters along with a few of the classic characters. Also, it was made easier to pull of the super combos (Still saying that Super Cancels was your friend) and personally, playing SFEX in 60hz was a much better experience (play the PSX/PS2 PAL versions respectively and you'll know what I'm talking about!) but as much people pointed out with Tekken, Rival Schools, Dead or Alive and the Marvel vs. series making their mark, it did fade away (well, not to those who played the hell out of all of them!)

As for SF3, that was a interesting one despite the graphics and the 'Super Arts' mechanic. People can argue that SF3 could (keyword here) made a PSX port like JoJo did and it would (another keyword here) gained traction for the Street Fighter series at that time but Capcom never pulled the trigger on that one or how many parts of the game would have been stripped away for the port. Back then, the Dreamcast ports did do it justice along with the PS2 version later in 2004 but it became one of those titles either you loved or hate it....and trust me, I know a lot of people when SF3 is brought up in a conversation who are like that!
 

Trimesh

Banned
It had a pretty muted start in the arcades because operators didn't like the CPS3 - it was expensive, overcomplicated and unreliable, with a charming habit of trashing the contents of the security cartridge at the minutest provocation, such as making the mistake of breathing while standing next to the cab. You might think I'm exaggerating here, but I'm really not - I personally saw a CPS3 machine puke up it's guts and go into "let's display colored birdshit on the CRT" mode because someone slammed a door 20 feet away.

Capcom went as far as to make this welded steel chastity belt that locked the security cart in place - this somewhat mitigated the issue, but never really fixed it, and the machine was always an unreliable piece of shit. On top of this, changing games in a CPS3 was a confusing process - on the CPS2, you unplug the "B" board for the game and plug in the one for the game you want to switch to. On the CPS3, you had to swap the security cart (and hope you didn't lobotomize the fucking thing in the process) make sure you had the correct combination of flash SIMMs plugged into the main board, swap the CD for the correct one for the game - and then find it wouldn't load because the CD-ROM drive was full of dust and cigarette smoke and you had to take it apart and clean it.

It you think you are detecting some degree of hostility towards this hardware even now, 25 years later, you are entirely correct.
 
It had a pretty muted start in the arcades because operators didn't like the CPS3 - it was expensive, overcomplicated and unreliable, with a charming habit of trashing the contents of the security cartridge at the minutest provocation, such as making the mistake of breathing while standing next to the cab. You might think I'm exaggerating here, but I'm really not - I personally saw a CPS3 machine puke up it's guts and go into "let's display colored birdshit on the CRT" mode because someone slammed a door 20 feet away.

Capcom went as far as to make this welded steel chastity belt that locked the security cart in place - this somewhat mitigated the issue, but never really fixed it, and the machine was always an unreliable piece of shit. On top of this, changing games in a CPS3 was a confusing process - on the CPS2, you unplug the "B" board for the game and plug in the one for the game you want to switch to. On the CPS3, you had to swap the security cart (and hope you didn't lobotomize the fucking thing in the process) make sure you had the correct combination of flash SIMMs plugged into the main board, swap the CD for the correct one for the game - and then find it wouldn't load because the CD-ROM drive was full of dust and cigarette smoke and you had to take it apart and clean it.

It you think you are detecting some degree of hostility towards this hardware even now, 25 years later, you are entirely correct.
The hardware was a mess but it seems the first SFIII had equal reputation considering how fast Capcom switched it out for impact. It seems plot and design wise it's a reboot of sorts which means something must have spooked capcom even after falling back and adding ryu and Ken to the game to replace New Generation so fast.
 

Aldynes

Member
SF EX OST are absolute bangers ! The games were graphically meh in their times compared to tekken 2,3 or VF2 and the gameplay FOR a casual gamer was "just" SF, the appearance of a 3D fighting game but with old mechanics, i guess that's why many overlooked the SF EX series, too many SF games too.

SF3 cast was a hard pill to swallow for fans, the game being locked in arcades didn't help much for consoles players, by the time it was on Dreamcast it was too little too late.

It was rumored that a port for the 64DD was planned at the time, lol.

Making 2D games in the 3D game revolution era wasn't easy and when you milked the franchise so soon with tons of versions each years you kinda teach your consumers to "wait" for the SUPER OMEGA ULTRA EX PLUS APLHA version to release as it's usually the best deal.
 
SF EX OST are absolute bangers ! The games were graphically meh in their times compared to tekken 2,3 or VF2 and the gameplay FOR a casual gamer was "just" SF, the appearance of a 3D fighting game but with old mechanics, i guess that's why many overlooked the SF EX series, too many SF games too.

SF3 cast was a hard pill to swallow for fans, the game being locked in arcades didn't help much for consoles players, by the time it was on Dreamcast it was too little too late.

It was rumored that a port for the 64DD was planned at the time, lol.

Making 2D games in the 3D game revolution era wasn't easy and when you milked the franchise so soon with tons of versions each years you kinda teach your consumers to "wait" for the SUPER OMEGA ULTRA EX PLUS APLHA version to release as it's usually the best deal.
What's funny about EX is unlike others the console releases only had one version, and it was usually the plus hyper mega version of the Arcade game. A good strategy thats honestly what Capcom should had done with SF post vanilla SFII.

Except EX3, don't think that was in arcades.
 

dashdingo

Neo Member
Former arcade junky here. SF3 didn't do that well for a couple of reasons. Firstly, a lot of people were initially disappointed in the character lineup. People missed their old favourites and they just didn't warm up to the new characters. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, SF3 was a much less accessible game.

A lot of old school Street Fighters fans will say that SF3, or more specifically 3S, was the pinnacle of SF for hardcore fans. The game had a steeper learning curve that rewarded players who sank a lot of time and effort into the game. In other words, it really rewarded hardcore players/skill. Compared to other fighting games of the time, it was far more difficult to mash or scrub your way to victory. Novices didn't stand a chance which meant the game just wasn't much fun to them and there wasn't even anything that flashy or gimmicky to keep their attention. Remember that this was at a time when arcades were saturated with fighting games such as the Alpha series, Marvel games, Tekken, VF (same problem with accessibility over here), Soul Edge, Samurai Shodown, KoF, KI, MK, etc. There was no shortage of exciting new fighting game options.

SFEX just wasn't taken seriously. In the arcades I went to, its reputation was the opposite of SF3: it was a game for scrubs. The game had a lot of input leniency so even mashers could randomly pull off supers. Plus with all the "weird" characters, a lot of players didn't even consider it to be a real SF game. Some felt it was just a 3D Street Fighter cash crab. I recall the console version being better received but online play wasn't really a thing at the time, so it was at the arcades where fighting games really needed to prove themselves to the fighting game community.
 
I will use capcom's ace attoney explanation. It was a dark age of the "law", i mean 2d. Back then, everything have to be 3d or bust. We end up with trash like War God, MK 4.
 

Fare thee well

Neophyte
Man it's the same thing for me with old stompy mech games. Some things just seem to lose appeal to mass audiences as time goes on and then it relies on niche fangroups to carry on. It's crazy how some genres just totally crashed.
 

Mabdia

Member
Ex I just can't tell why. It is basically Rival Schools with SF characters. 2 Amazing games.

About SF3, don't know why, but I just can't care even now. The same goes to SF4 and 5. Looks like games that you only can be competitive if you only play these games.

SF should be more like Alpha series. Man I just loved Alpha trilogy. Even now I can spend sometime playing it.
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Ryu and Ken were there from the start... where does this wrong information come from? it's the second time in this thread where I read this...

sf3kkkk8.png

I can confirm that Ryu and Ken were not going to be part of Street fighter 3 at first.

In fact Akira Yasuda and Tomoshi Sadamoto confirm it.

It would be a game called New Generation, which was going to be a Different Fight game
 
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Stuart360

Member
Well for a start, Street Fighter 2, and various versions of it, launched on 2 super popular consoles, and other less popular consoles. Street Fighter 3 was only on Dreamcast (at that time).
And Street Fihter EX was a pretty ugly looking game (even for the time), and was super slow to play.
 
bc people thinking 3D is the future
bc SF3 was originally without Ken / Ryu
bc SF3 was developped not thinking as a "hardcore" fighting game
bc SF2 cast is too iconic
bc SF EX 1 is ok, SF EX 2 too but they are 3D fighting game, so the feeling is "different" and graphics (for the first game) is not so good and original character was meh (character from Arika)
bc SF EX 3 is fking trash OMG
bc SFAlpha 2 & 3 is awsome
bc Pocket Fighter is Fun

but hey : SF3.2 is nice and SF3.3 is god tier... and Arcade game popularity ended at this time...
The original SF3 didn’t gave Ryu and Ken in it? I thought it did unless it was an earlier version that I didn’t play.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Personally I think it’s just an ugly dated looking, cheap looking game. Doesn’t make me want to play it.
 
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Nickolaidas

Banned
In SF3's case, I think the roster missing almost all favorites (at least at first) was a huge turn-off for many people.
 
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Nickolaidas

Banned
They added them the same year and erased the first game and it still didn't work, so I wonder if characters had as much impact as people thought.
Zangief, Blanka, Honda, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, Bison, T Hawk, Cammy, Dee Jay, Fei Long, Guile not making it in the game didn't have an impact in the game?
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
SF3 cast kind of sucks.

I love Third Strike as much as the next guy but its not because of its cast. I do like the vibe of the game and all, but even to this day I still never invested much into Necro, Twelve, Remy, Alex etc. I mained Urien for some time, he's kind of cool though he looks ridiculous. I also tried Makoto for some time who's very cool but very hard to play. And this goes for more characters in that game, they're hard to play. It seems that the amount of work you have to put into the likes of Remy, Alex, Necro, Sean (TS) etc is way out of sync with characters like Chun, Ryu, Ken, Urien etc.

Compare this to the SF2 cast. I felt they all resonated well, even the SSF2 additions did. In terms of looks and gameplay. In SF2 I pretty much enjoy every character. And even in SFA, which also had a overhauled cast, they were instantly fun and resonated well. I think this has to do with the fact most of them came from SF1 and Final Fight. Adon, Guy, Sodom they were great additions.
 

Somoza

Member
As someone casual with fighting games (never play online, but play arcade casually to kill some time) all i can say is when i was a kid, everyone played street fighter II and its variants on arcades and consoles and magazines were all in on it. At least here in Spain. There was always a time to play sf2 and earn a free credit for teaching some other kid how-to-hadouken.

No one i knew played the EX series on their playstation, never saw a arcade version of it in person, near my house there was a sfIII cabinet and it was very pretty to see the demos and how fluid the animations were, but then again, no one was playing it like ever and looked way harder than the old sf2 i was used to, The Time crisis 2 machines and Die hard Arcade arcades sitting next to it were always ocupied tho. Also i was confused on why most of the cast i knew wasnt on it. Who's this basketball guy? Who is this blonde wrestling guy and where is Zangief?

But i remember the first screenshots of sf4 on magazines and the internet and all the people making noise about it was a giant comeback, (and yes, the big chunli hand memes) and it just keep growing and growing until it released.
 
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They added them the same year and erased the first game

I don't know what this sentence fully means, because it's poorly written. But I'll assume it means "they added them [old favorites from the Street Fighter II series] in 2nd Impact, an update to New Generation that released the same year."

The only old favorite they added in 2nd Impact was Akuma.

In 3rd Strike, they added Chun-Li.

So by the time the Street Fighter III series was finished, there were only four of the original Street Fighter II cast: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Akuma.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
SF3 would've been glorious if it had the entire old cast. Or at least the cast from Turbo with some newcomers. Wouldn't the likes of Guile, Balrog and Zangief look incredibly cool in the SF3 style? I guess Dudley was okay, and Hugo had some charm. But Necro or Remy I would replace with Dhalsim and Guile any day.

As for SF EX, it was sort of whatever. I thought it was kind of a poor game with a poor cast but with SF characters thrown in to market it. Its not really an SF game, I guess Nishitani could work something out considering his history. EX 2 I played a lot though, it wasn't bad. EX3 I bought from the bargain bin, such a dumb game.
 

Holammer

Member
Street Fighter 3 New Generation had a weak selection of characters (several lazy headswaps) and some of them were really weird and unappealing. Second Impact and Third Strike just kept digging and added even more weirdos.
Might seem vapid, but most people want to play something that looks handsome or cute/sexy. The reason why League of Legends is crushing DOTA2.

SFEX went up against Tekken 2, it never stood a chance.
 

Beechos

Member
If i remember correctly growing up in that era it took forever for street fight 3 to come out. Back then new fighting games were like released every month. Mortal kombat and 3D also happened so people moved on since it took so long. I just googled it street fighter 2 release date feb 1991 and sf 3 released on feb 1997 thats 6 friggin years. Even today that would be long time inbetween for a sequel. For example mortal kombat 1-4 were released from 91-97.
 
Zangief, Blanka, Honda, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, Bison, T Hawk, Cammy, Dee Jay, Fei Long, Guile not making it in the game didn't have an impact in the game?
You forgetting about Alpha already?

I don't know what this sentence fully means, because it's poorly written. But I'll assume it means "they added them [old favorites from the Street Fighter II series] in 2nd Impact, an update to New Generation that released the same year."
It's not poorly written, it means exactly how it reads, why mess with your own head? Might help you look at what I was quiting too.

But Necro or Remy I would replace with Dhalsim and Guile any day.
Well Necro escaped from the final boss so he has to be in every game no matter what. Don't remember why the little girl is there though.

Wait, I thought Alex said you can't escape.

Ploottt hoolleee.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
If i remember correctly growing up in that era it took forever for street fight 3 to come out. Back then new fighting games were like released every month. Mortal kombat and 3D also happened so people moved on since it took so long. I just googled it street fighter 2 release date feb 1991 and sf 3 released on feb 1997 thats 6 friggin years. Even today that would be long time inbetween for a sequel. For example mortal kombat 1-4 were released from 91-97.

They kept milking SF2 with upgrades. And at some point Super SF2 was so stacked that SF3 felt like a throwback compared to that game. SFA1 met the same fate, but was updated really quickly with SFA2 which offered even more than SSF2T and SFA started off with a better roster than SF3 did anyway.

By the time SF3 existed I kind of didn't give much fucks anymore. There were 2 SFA games, multiple SF2 games and some cross overs. All SF3 had were its impressive animations.
 

Sorcerer

Member


Top Hat Gaming Man is incredible, anything you want to know about fighting games he has probably covered it along with anything else retro.
 
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It's not poorly written, it means exactly how it reads, why mess with your own head? Might help you look at what I was quiting too.

Nothing has messed with my head -- neither myself, nor your poorly written sentence, which remains poorly written regardless of what you say.

Besides, your overall point was invalid. Let's get back to that, shall we?
 

V4skunk

Banned
Street Fighter 3 3rd strike is the best SF game of them all.
And i'm pretty sure it wasn't that popular because it came out on Dreamcast.
 
Nothing has messed with my head -- neither myself, nor your poorly written sentence, which remains poorly written regardless of what you say.

Besides, your overall point was invalid. Let's get back to that, shall we?
No it wasn't, nor do you understand what that means. Now this is a poorly written post.

They kept milking SF2 with upgrades. And at some point Super SF2 was so stacked that SF3 felt like a throwback compared to that game. SFA1 met the same fate, but was updated really quickly with SFA2 which offered even more than SSF2T and SFA started off with a better roster than SF3 did anyway.

By the time SF3 existed I kind of didn't give much fucks anymore. There were 2 SFA games, multiple SF2 games and some cross overs. All SF3 had were its impressive animations.

SSF2 looking back already took a major mindshare hit so that would explain why SSF2T wasn't so hot.

I think if MK and KI didn't come out those 400 versions of two may not have devalued the brand as fast.
 
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No it wasn't, nor do you understand what that means. Now this is a poorly written post.

Ok dude, whatever. Can't teach you grammar... School was supposed to do that. Let's get back to the topic at hand.

Capcom added Akuma, Urien, and Hugo in 2nd Impact, with Akuma being the only one to qualify as a fan favorite from the Street Fighter II series. So the person you were replying to is still correct -- most of the Street Fighter II fan favorites were missing, which turned off a lot of people from Street Fighter III. The end.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I think I rented EX on PS1 back in the day and this is the game with that Skeleton guy. Dumbest character ever.

Went back to Tekken 2. Looked played and sounded so much better.
 
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I think I rented EX on PS1 back in the day and this is the game with that Skeleton guy. Dumbest character ever.

Went back to Tekken 2. Looked played and sounded so much better.

😂 That's a fair criticism. I actually like how quirky and borderline ridiculous the Arika-side characters are in the Street Fighter EX series. But I can see how those characters can turn a lot of people off. (Same for Street Fighter III, of course).

I think Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha has a lot of charm, and I love it. But on an objective level it can easily be argued that, on its own merits... It's not a great game. And even worse, when compared to its contemporaries, you could argue it was/is a bad game.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
😂 That's a fair criticism. I actually like how quirky and borderline ridiculous the Arika-side characters are in the Street Fighter EX series. But I can see how those characters can turn a lot of people off. (Same for Street Fighter III, of course).

I think Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha has a lot of charm, and I love it. But on an objective level it can easily be argued that, on its own merits... It's not a great game. And even worse, when compared to its contemporaries, you could argue it was/is a bad game.
Funny thing is the skeleton guy is the only thing I remember about the game! It was enough to turn me off. I have no memory how good the gameplay actually was.
 
Funny thing is the skeleton guy is the only thing I remember about the game! It was enough to turn me off. I have no memory how good the gameplay actually was.

Gameplay is kind of slow and floaty. But there's an emphasis on combos and an "almost anything goes" philosophy that for me is pretty fun. The biggest fun factor for me at the time was being able to cancel one super into another super into yet another super.

So for many characters, a standard long combo would be something like 3 or 4 chained normals -> special move -> super 1 -> super 2 -> super 3. And performing such combos felt pretty satisfying, despite the slow and floaty gameplay.
 
Ok dude, whatever. Can't teach you grammar... School was supposed to do that. Let's get back to the topic at hand.
Nope, you're wrong, and you aren't even on topic. The whole point was that they released a replacement revision adding more characters, if you want to imagine conversation extended beyond that so you can "feel" right that's just sad. I never implied or said they added 32 older characters when they only added a few, that's something you made up in your head.

I also mentioned in another post that old characters didn't really help Alpha much either, at least initially.
 
I think I rented EX on PS1 back in the day and this is the game with that Skeleton guy. Dumbest character ever.

Went back to Tekken 2. Looked played and sounded so much better.
What's funny is that fans of EX often place Skullomania as one of their top favorite characters in Street Fighter.

I forgot most of his back story, but iirc he's just some amusement park worker in a costume
 
Nope, you're wrong, and you aren't even on topic. The whole point was that they released a replacement revision adding more characters, if you want to imagine conversation extended beyond that so you can "feel" right that's just sad. I never implied or said they added 32 older characters when they only added a few, that's something you made up in your head.

I also mentioned in another post that old characters didn't really help Alpha much either, at least initially.

I don't need to feel right, because you were objectively wrong. End of story.

And no matter how often I've tried to get it back on topic, you keep only quoting the "off topic" parts. That's on you.

This is an unproductive conversation and a waste of my time, so at this point I'll drop it. Plenty of people have given good reasons in this thread as to why Street Fighter EX and Street Fighter III weren't popular, so the original premise/question of this thread has been answered several times over. Whether you continue to counter those good points with anecdotes and bad opinions is up to you.

Regardless, have a great day 😊
 
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I don't need to feel right, because you were objectively wrong. End of story.
The one who ran away.

I can't be objectively wrong about something you made up in your head that I never argued. I don't know where you new age kids are coming from but you aren't right if you have to change the topic or argument to win. I do feel sorry for you though,

And no matter how often I've tried to get it back on topic, you keep only quoting the "off topic" parts. That's on you.

This is an unproductive conversation and a waste of my time,

I addressed two flaws with your abysmal argument in my last post, you're leaving because you can't respond, not that it's a waste of time. The fact you selectively ignored it to use a cop out as cover for a lack of response shows a lack of maturity.

Good day though, I guess.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
About all of the SF EX characters are horrible. I thought they were pathetic, though Skullo had some sort of a fanbase. Kairi EX2 was kind of cool, but you could say he's a bit of an Evil Ryu clone. Sharon in EX2 was kind of fun. But for the rest, like Allen, Pullum, Cracker Jack... I thought they were lame. Even Garuda, I think he's shit. I mostly chose the SF characters.
 
About all of the SF EX characters are horrible. I thought they were pathetic, though Skullo had some sort of a fanbase. Kairi EX2 was kind of cool, but you could say he's a bit of an Evil Ryu clone. Sharon in EX2 was kind of fun. But for the rest, like Allen, Pullum, Cracker Jack... I thought they were lame. Even Garuda, I think he's shit. I mostly chose the SF characters.
Doctrine Dark has a fan base too from what I've found. The mask sewage guy. Not sure why.
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
Street fighter 3rd Strike For me it is the pinnacle of the franchise.

The Sprite movements, the animation, the OST, the characters, more than they are for me impressive.





Sometimes this game feels like an OVA.
 
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robor

Member
3D fighting games were the craze back then. After Daigo's event at EVO 2004 the series had a revival of sorts (even to the IP which Capcom had deemed to be dead at that point).

There is also the barrier-to-entry problem that SFII had mastered by the end of its slew of iterations. Simple mechanics with complex emergence is a more preferred design principle than the other way around. We could also argue that the parry mechanic neuters projected strategy and tactical play, but that's neither here nor there.
 

RSLAEV

Member
If you took Ken and Ryu out of the original SF3 I wouldn't have even known it was street fighter. The SF2 cast was based on easily recognizable cultural stereotypes that fit the theme of "The World Warrior". I didn't get that feeling from SF3

edit: just found out that national flags were in SF3, my bad.
 
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Street Fighter 3 didnt have guile blanka or dhalsim, that was strange, felt like a new fighting game ip, only hardcore gamers like us appreciate it.
 

robor

Member
If you took Ken and Ryu out of the original SF3 I wouldn't have even known it was street fighter. The SF2 cast was based on easily recognizable cultural stereotypes that fit the theme of "The World Warrior". I didn't get that feeling from SF3

edit: just found out that national flags were in SF3, my bad.

Funny you mention that as they were never supposed to be there. Sean was the new shoto hero but Capcom chickened out due to the poor reception during focus testing. So Ken and Ryu returned.

It's quite odd really, as the parry mechanic complements Sean's moveset over Ken and Ryu's. SFIII has always made Ryu, Ken, Akuma and Chun-Li feel like placeholders merely there to keep loyal fans interested. Their SFIIisms are quite dissonant to the overall design of SFIII.
 

NahaNago

Member
I'm not really sure. I did play street fighter ex back in the day but like if this thread have never mentioned it I wouldn't have googled the name and been reminded of the game. I guess for me it didn't leave enough of an impact for me to think about the game over the years.
 
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