Lurker > CoolCly

I really like The Old Republic, but it mostly felt like i was playing a really well fleshed out single player campaign. I can't say the "MMO" aspect really impacted my experience too much.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

Underleveled posted...

Surskit posted...

CoolCly posted...

phenomenal season

easily the best full season I've seen, which includes HHH, Ghost Island, and Samoa.

please start watching the whole series from the start

i just want you to know that i do not respect your opinions
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

phenomenal season

easily the best full season I've seen, which includes HHH, Ghost Island, and Samoa.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

tag

i fell off of this club immediately in week 2 when i started a CPA module and it took over my life. my test is on wednesday tho then christmas comic book season begins
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

I play a lot of HotS. I doubt this is going to affect me that much. They aren't going to stop supporting the game.... they support every game forever, even if they don't actively develop it that much. They'll stop releasing heroes and maps as often but that's no big deal.

The HGC was definitely a money loser so it's no surprise they junked it. Honestly surprised it took this long.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i mean character wise. it definitely has it's own unique wacky tone, and if that's enough for you then that's cool.

if the main girl, the weird scientist guy, the outfit, and everyone at school don't seem super generic to you though then i don't think we will come to terms.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i'm curious if it gets better. i thought it was super generic and soulless but i only watched one or two episodes

neat style for sure but the characters didn't feel real at all
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i like long drives on the highway with my music and podcasts

general driving i could take or leave. i spent 2 years recently without a car and just relied on public transportation and walking to work and I was quite happy with it.

for the record, i dont think i'm a very good driver. I do my best, but i think an accident is just a matter of time. self driving cars can't get here fast enough.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

I really feel like resume wise Alison and Kara should not be in the running, but they might be somehow. Especially since everyone seems to see Alison a a threat.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

imagine being the guy running this account
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

I like that idea!

40% Christian, 35% Nick, 15% Davie, 5% Mike, 5% Angelina
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

yikes 16 players?

that's just a normal game of counter strike
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

Kenri posted...

I mean, the crusade against Kavanaugh wasn't exactly about his political views. <_<

you guys actually believe this?
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i've often wondered if his evasive answers towards abortion meant he planned to accept the supreme court precedent exactly up until he was in a position to reverse it or if he just didn't want to take a stance supporting it publicly before he got to the bench

imagine if he actually thinks its fine and the crusade against him was pointless
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

does this exist or are you just hoping

because if this is exists i cant wait to get home from work today
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

But how is she strong? She's not THAT good at challenges.

I actually don't think it was that much about physical threats.... it was just the way the social dynamics played out. John was targeted because he was close to Dan who would be idol immune.... and Dan was targeted for way more than challenge strength.

Alec was the only one where they were like "This guy is too good" .
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

it's interesting that the only Goliath male left is Mike White of all people
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

why on earth would someone make up an asinine trump tweet

there are a million real ones you can link to
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i wanna be your A team
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i wanna be your first string
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i wanna be your endgame
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i wouldn't say she's a really bad player, she was devious and manipulative in her own way and made the moves she thought she needed to make at every stage. I can respect that.

But I don't think she was really that effective and I certainly didn't enjoy her style, so I'm glad she's out. as my ranking for last week showed, she was definitely my last choice for winners, even though I thought everyone would be a good winner at this point.

We just keep getting better and better!

I think Alison or Kara will be gone next week. The smart move is to get rid of a David, not because of tribal lines but because they are the best players left, but I don't think that's the way Mike and Angelina will go.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i don't see the goliaths banding together like that. *maybe* for one vote but not even that really
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i mean it doesnt make his videos any less amazing
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i did say he's a racist
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

I LOVE jontron

strongly disagree with his beliefs but oh wells. i don't think it makes him not a person.

Also while a few of the things he says goes too far, i think the very notion of him having anti immigration stances sets off a lot of people (here included) to calling him a racist. There are a few things that do make him racist, but I don't think concerns about tons of undocumented illegal Mexican immigrants automatically makes somebody racist. I think it's weird that a lot of people here think that way.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i love kingsbane. i genuinely think it's one of the best cards they've printed in a very long time. they almost never succeed at making a new type of deck, but they pulled it off there.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

if it's not doing the endless combo, what makes the card worse than any other combo card?
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

nice

one time i was at a big party and hit it off with this chick and spent a ton of the night with her

she leaves with a friend and my friends are all like "CLY YOU COOKIN??? DID YOU GET HER NUMBER??

and i'm just standing there all smug

"added her on steam"

everyone: what is that
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

I guess it depends what you mean by beaten

Total playerbase count? There's definitely no way it can compete in total player numbers if it charges just to play the game.

Profitability? Well... maybe. If everyone that *does* pay likes the way Artifact works better, they might spend their money at Artifact instead of Hearthstone. After all, it's the people who spend money on Hearthstone that keep the lights on, not the people who actually do play for free. I personally decided to stop buying packs in the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion when I decided I wasn't getting enough value for what I put in. I doubt the majority of players who pay will switch, but it could have enough of an impact to make Hearthstone rethink their dust economy.

Esports wise? I don't think Hearthstones Esports scene is really that successful. It looks more like Blizzard is just forcing it to exist to keep interest alive in the game. Depending on how successful Artifact's version of The International is, it could overshadow Hearthstone here.

Streaming? Well... it looks to me like Artifact isn't going to be a big hit for streaming. It's just too complicated. Hearthstone will remain top dog here for sure.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

I don't know how I wrote this much. I saw people talkin shit about my artifact and just started typing and i guess here we are
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

Here's a bit of code somebody whipped up that will tell you the the current cost of a collection in Artifact. Click Run in the top middle and it'll spit out some results on the right. Pauper is the cost of every common, Peasant is the cost of every common and uncommon, and Full is the cost of every card in the game. This is for a full playset, so 1 hero and 3 of every other card, which is the limit for a deck.

As of writing this post, the cost of Pauper is $10.72, Peasant is $35.71, and Full is $272.99

https://repl.it/repls/FrostyLightheartedInstitutes

This is a chart tracking how the full cost of a collection is changing :

https://www.howmuchdoesartifactcost.com/

The cost of a full collection is hanging around $280. That might sound like a lot, but I guess ask yourself two things: 1) Do you need a full collection, and 2) what would the cost of a full collection of Classic in Hearthstone cost?

I think the pauper and peasant costs are super reasonable. Full is way more than I want to spend. But the question is - what is the cost of getting the cards I want? Well, a giant majority of cards on the market are around 5 cents. There's a large collection of cards that are in the 40 - 80 cent range. There's some rare cards that cost a few dollars, then a few expensive heroes. Axe is the most expensive hero at $26 right now. Drow Ranger is the next at $19, Kanna costs $13, then a couple non hero rares at about $10. Then about 10 cards in the $3-7 and everything else is below that.

To me, this means that no matter what deck I want to build, I can just go to the market and buy it for a reasonable price. In Hearthstone, if I want a specific legendary and some epics, it either means a TON of grinding and waiting or buying another $50 worth of packs to get the dust to do it. I find this soooo much more affordable.

To talk a bit more about free to play models - I do not see grinding for gold as "free". I only see it as free if it's what I was going to do anyways. When I log onto Hearthstone, I feel like I need to complete the quests every day and grind the 10 gold win stuff in order to get the cards I want. But my preference would be to just play the way I want to play. Hearthstone isn't my job... it's what I'm doing for fun. If it's directly influencing what I'm doing away from what I naturally want to do, then it's costing me something. I think this is a viewpoint problem people have, and not an actual problem with Artifact's monetization.

Artifact gives me the freedom to play that way.

I didn't really talk about actual gameplay here, but I guess I'l just say this - I absolutely love it. I'm loving the game.

tl:dr: The Artifact community is very happy. F2P players are not happy, but personally, I find the Artifact model very affordable and freeing. I'm very happy with the way the game is turning out. If anybody tries the game out I'd be happy to play you and give tips. I'd love to host some Artifact tournaments here, but it doesn't sound like we are gonna have the playerbase =x
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

So if you lose twice your run ends. If you win 0,1, or 2 times you get nothing. 3 times gets you your ticket back, and 4 and 5 wins gets you packs.

So to summarize: by buying the game you could play constructed for free, constructed tournaments for free, and play the Call to Arms event for free to try cards you don't have. There was no way to play Phantom Draft for free, which was a highlight for lots of people

This meant there's three layers of monetization - you have to pay to buy the game, you have to pay for cards for constructed (through packs or the market), and you have to pay the $1 entry fee for Expert Constructed or Draft (the only way to play draft).

The community was outraged for a few days and didn't accept this. The monetization was way too much at every stage of the game. Having to continuously pay to keep playing draft was outrageous. The community became very toxic at this point (and was pretty toxic before this getting impatient for release and at how limited beta access was) You might recall in this very topic I posted about requesting a refund for my Artifact prepurchase because of this issue on posts #126 and 127 of this topic.

Well, Valve responded and gave a free casual Phantom draft to play. That means that once you buy the game you can play Phantom Draft forever with no entry cost. There's no reward in that mode, but you can play it. You can make a phantom draft tournament now as well, with a few other changes.

The community rejoiced. I prepurchased again. Everyone is happy. They took away one of the layers of monetization. entry tickets still exist if you want to play for rewards, but you can play as much constructed or draft as you want. You just have to pay to buy the game and then pay for packs/the market for constructed cards.

release happened, and the community is overally pretty happy. Everyone has the usual gripes you see in communities about "this card being OP" or "this feature should be added" but I would rate the Artifact community right now as VERY POSITIVE. The game is being very well received. I'm a bit confused by Reynad's tweet about Artifact being so toxic. It was VERY toxic pre release, but things have really improved. He released a video talking about how he doesn't like the game, so maybe he got hate for that, but that's gonna be true with any community, so if he made that tweet because of that then I don't know what to say.

The only backlash Artifact is still getting is from free to play type players. There are a lot of people who are very put off by the entry fee and the fact that there is no Free to Play type Gold mechanic. I understand that these players want to be able to play the game without spending anything at all, but.... I think that model is deceptive

Comparing it to Hearthstone:

If you want to spend $0 money, you can grind a ton and get a few decks that you want to play.
If you want to spend money, you can buy a ton of packs, get some of the stuff you want, then use the dust you got to get some of the other stuff you want, then grind to get the remaining stuff you want (or keep spending money)

In Artifact, you spend $20 to play, and then you spend exactly how much you want to get the cards you want.

I think at first glance, it makes Artifact seem more expensive. But to me, the cost in Hearthstone of getting the legendaries I wanted in both time and money was MUCH higher.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

re: artifact

I would say that the number of players adopting artifact right now doesn't seem very high. there's potential that there'll be a boom when valve hosts the million dollar tournament, or maybe not. We'll see. This might just be a cult game though that the people who play it love and the mainstream audience passes on.

Streamer attitude about it has been mostly positive though. Disguised Toast didn't really enjoy it and thinks it's just too complicated to enjoy, and Reynad has a pretty weird position on it, but lots of Hearthstone streamers like Kripp, Day9, and Savjz like it a lot. I doubt they'll stream it a TON long term because the viewership likely isn't there, but reception is pretty positive. I doubt any of you are familiar with them but adoption by Dota personalities has been pretty strong with people like Sunsfan, Wagamama, Singsing, Purge, and Slacks. Pretty much anybody open to card games from that community likes it.

re: the economy

Let me recap the way the game worked when the beta went online a week before release

Purchase the game: $20 USD
Purchase a pack: $2 for 12 cards
Purchase cards via economy: unknown at the time as economy wasn't up until launch, but you could buy and sell cards from other players
Play casual Constructed matchmaking: Free
Play expert Constructed matchmaking: $1 event ticket.
Play expert Phantom Draft matchmaking: $1 event ticket (this is like hearthstone arena, you create a deck for a run)
Play Call to Arms event: free (this is an event that gives you access to 6 premade decks that you can play, kinda like a Tavern Brawl)
Play Tournament Constructed: Free (there's a robust tournament mode creator to host tournaments with)

Expert Constructed / Phantom Draft details: 1 Ticket Entry (costs $1).
3 Wins: 1 Event Ticket
4 Wins: 1 Event Ticket, 1 Pack
5 Wins: 1 Event Ticket, 2 Packs
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

gonna go against the grain and say i actually like how the eyes on the first diane worked out. the way she's looking at the bojack pileup just makes it work somehow
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

yep, he's perfect for that spot

coincidentally great placement with that princess caroline and her expression too!
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md7ik4XRYtc&feature=youtu.be
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

Angelina is probably at the bottom of most peoples prospects but she's been through SO MUCH and is still around. A couple votes ago I remember thinking "if she somehow makes it to the end after all of this drama, she'll earn some votes for sure" and here she is. Unfortunately she's yet again on the wrong side of the vote, and people ultimately may not respect her, but her negotiation play was pretty cool. no matter what happens, she's a very memorable piece of how this merge has unfolded and that might stick in peoples minds. I would love it if Angelina won somehow.

Davie made that sick idol play and has done a few cool things, but ultimately he's not someone we see often making good social or strategic moves. While I could see him getting to the end, I'm not so sure he will, and even if he does I don't think he'll win.

Alison and Kara are very strategic and always having conversations but they are ultimately very ineffective. Based on the edit I think Alison is getting to the end and might even win, but I don't really think either have earned it at this point. They are just really good at talking out how they aren't in a great position.

Gabby is definitely devious and more than the helpless little child she pretends to be. I don't think her moves are nearly as effective she she believes they are though. She just has the same few repetitive moves that mostly involve crying and relying on Christian, so even if she is secretly this calculating manipulative genius, it isn't amounting to much. I certainly wouldn't give her credit for the Carl blindside, though I see some people on reddit doing that. If she really does blindside Christian next week, that would be a big feather in her cap and would shoot her up the list. I think Christian is going to sniff it out and get her out instead though. Also I'd be super salty if she actually took down Christian.

Overall though this cast is amazing and with Carl out I'd be happy with any one of these players winning. It's been a great season.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

oh damn i just watched the two hour episode

there was so many great things here i dont know where to start

Christian continues to be the best

I think Gabby sucks and is not going to succeed

it's incredible that Carl managed to go from a non entity all season to believing himself to be the boss so hard that it convinced everyone else that he's a big target that needs to go. he used his nullifier at a great moment but besides that i think he was a pretty bad player in basically every possible way.

My ranking of people in order of who should win

1. Christian
2. Nick
3. Mike
4. Angelina
5. Davie
6. Alison
7. Kara
8. Gabby

Christian is just amazing. he's got such a weird outsider personality but somehow everyone he talks to warms up to him and loves him. He's very strong strategically and at challenges. He just has such a strong will power. Alec was determined to win that challenge and refused to lose. There was no way he would lose to someone like Gabby. He looked at her struggling and decided he wouldn't lose to her, despite being so uncomfortable himself. He decided the same thing with Christian. But then at the end, when he tried to talk Christian into dropping by saying how he's at risk and Christian isn't, Christian looked him dead in the eye and said "I know. And I'm sorry. But this is my chance too" and you can see Alec realize that his will power is not strong enough to defeat Christians. He wasn't physically unable to continue... he just realized he can't win and walked off. He walked off to stare into the ocean to reflect on the loss he just suffered. What a powerful moment. I really think Christian has what it takes to win it all, and I have to imagine he has Alec's vote.

Nick has just played very well ever since he luckily made it through week 1. He's played both sides, he has an idol, he spreads information around when it suits him and holds onto it when it doesn't. He makes alliances with everyone and solidifies them with names. He's orchestrated several big moves throughout the season but never becomes public enemy for them. I think he's *almost* as good as Alec was. they were very similar players, Alec was just playing from the side of strength( the Goliaths) while Nick was playing from the side of weakness (the Davids). The only thing about Nick I'm iffy about is that he was accepting Carls orders and got left out of the blindside by Christian. But still, I think he's by far the second best player in the game right now

Mike has been flip floppy at times when he needed to committ, so he's not in as strong as position as he should be. But still, Mike has consistently found himself in positions to decide what's going to happen and even if he sometimes makes the wrong choice, he has a lot of activity on his resume. Everyone loves him, and he continues to be a deciding player. I've always had a high opinion of Mike and I think he really can win the game. But he's definitely below Christian and Nick
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

i hate your diane by itself but it actually might work placed with everything else
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

to clarify


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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

bah bah bah bah bahBALLS OF STEEL
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

A+ Todd
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

as a canadian who has spent his entire life at war with winter

snow is a beautiful thing and i find it really quite wonderful


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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

Bojack and Mr Peanutbutter as Eeyore and Tigger are so pitch perfect that this project existing makes me happy

you are a cool dude to do this for you gf

i must be out of the loop though because besides being undertale related i am clueless on your other images
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

JonThePenguin posted...

Or Super Enn Ee Ess which I definitely remember hearing in US marketing as a kid.

now this has always been an abomination
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

they were just called nintendo and super nintendo a lot but i did use the terms nes and snes and then when nintendo 64 came out it just made sense to stop calling them "nintendo".

NES, SNES, and N64. If you can't handle the objectively superior way to call them then that's your problem.
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG

thats a phenomenal day9 video
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The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG