Current Events > I've started playing Dark Souls for the first time! :D *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've got the rerelease on Switch.

Not sure quite what to think yet. I've played for over an hour. The graphics seem fairly good, although not as souped up as some rereleases are. Also, perhaps they got slightly carried away with the darkness. I'm all for gloomy, moody visuals, and interesting lighting effects, but sometimes seeing what you're doing is difficult. The difficulty seemed somewhat high almost straight away. I know the game is infamous for difficulty, but I thought it would ease me in a bit more as I learned the controls, figured out what the hell I was doing, etc.

You know, I've been playing for a while, but I still haven't got past the first dungeon / castle / location. I can't tell if I'm playing badly, or if the game really is this hard. The furthest I've got, there's a locked door and 4 or 5 zombie like things, and I can't beat those enemies at all. I'm not even entirely sure If I'm doing it right. There's a boss nearby, but he seems SO tough, I can't believe I'm actually meant to fight him. My best attempt at fighting him. I got him down to about 90% energy. Does anyone know what I'm meant to be doing? The locked door is just beyond an outdoor bit.

Game seems decent so far. I was under the impression it was very open, like BotW or the various Fallouts, but it seems quite linear, although perhaps I have to beat this first area, and then things open out. Most sandbox games tend to be like that. I have the hang of very basic combat, and I'm not too bad with the various menus. Haven't figured out how to jump yet, if you even can. What do people think of my sad progress? Or was it like that for most people?

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I never felt like the dark was overdone. It set the atmosphere well for me. Then again I like shit like SH where you can't see what's coming immediately
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Perhaps. Originally, I had the lightness settings wrong, I think, and it was an improvement when I changed them, but still a little too dark.

Is it meant to be this hard, though? What am I even meant to be doing at the beginning?

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Sunhawk posted...

Perhaps. Originally, I had the lightness settings wrong, I think, and it was an improvement when I changed them, but still a little too dark.

Is it meant to be this hard, though? What am I even meant to be doing at the beginning?

You still in the dungeons with the first boss?
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Git gud

Yeah. Am I actually meant to be fighting him, or just using another route to escape? Like I said, I've barely made a dent in his energy. Seems like a very hard boss, and absolutely ridiculous for the beginning of the game? Can't find the key to the door, though. It occurred that one of those zombie things might have it, especially the tough looking armoured one, but I can't beat any of them.
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Sunhawk posted...

Yeah. Am I actually meant to be fighting him, or just using another route to escape? Like I said, I've barely made a dent in his energy. Seems like a very hard boss, and absolutely ridiculous for the beginning of the game? Can't find the key to the door, though. It occurred that one of those zombie things might have it, especially the tough looking armoured one, but I can't beat any of them.

Run behind him to the left. There's a door. Find a weapon.
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Sunhawk posted...

Yeah. Am I actually meant to be fighting him, or just using another route to escape? Like I said, I've barely made a dent in his energy. Seems like a very hard boss, and absolutely ridiculous for the beginning of the game? Can't find the key to the door, though. It occurred that one of those zombie things might have it, especially the tough looking armoured one, but I can't beat any of them.

when you get into the big room the boss falls from the ceiling. immediately book it behind the boss and to your left and go through the door there. you'll go around and get a key, your estus flasks, etc. then you'll end up going through a fog door and when you do you can do a plunging attack and chunk out like half of the boss's health.

from there you just have to fight him, welcome to dark souls lol. dark souls is absolutely a hard game and anyone telling you otherwise is just trying to show off their 1337 gaming skillZ, but the game is pretty manageable and fair once you learn how the combat works and how to approach each level.
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The game is not really open, but there are multiple orders in which you can play the game.

Generally speaking, the game gets easier the farther you get along. The first time I played, I was confused and didn't upgrade any weapons until more than halfway into the game, when I was collecting the Lord Souls The game got dramatically easier afterward.

EDIT: IGNORE the rest of this post until you're farther into the game. When you said first dungeon I assumed you were in Undead Burg.

A few bits of advice:

Try to figure out if you like strength weapons, dexterity weapons, or "quality" (str+dex requirement) early on. Once you do, level up those two stats appropriately.

You can upgrade weapons down different "paths" in this game - there's plain old normal, lightning, chaos, etc. But you basically only get enough materials in a playthrough to fully upgrade one weapon down each respective path. So try to save your better upgrade materials on weapons that you actually really like. From my understanding, basically any weapon is viable at end game with upgrades.

If that last little bit doesn't make much sense yet, just pick a few weapons you like and focus on upgrading those. But you're going to want to pick a family - STR, DEX, or quality as you basically have to choose. Don't let this intimidate you too much (like me when I first tried the game), because you can be pretty suboptimal and still get through the game fine.

Also, Resistance is useless, and only invest in Magic/Faith and whatnot if you feel confident you're going to use those strategies. I woudn't on a first playthrough, personally.
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So, I HAVE to fight that boss? Are you kidding? I can barely do anything to him at all. I have some broken sword, and that flask thing to refill me energy a few times, but that is it. Why would the first area of the game be SO hard? I don't understand. Is there no way to avoid fighting the boss? Isn't this game supposed to be non-linear, so if one bit is too hard, or it's boring you, you can go something else instead?

I've never seen a game start off this hard.

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Sunhawk posted...

So, I HAVE to fight that boss? Are you kidding? I can barely do anything to him at all. I have some broken sword, and that flask thing to refill me energy a few times, but that is it. Why would the first area of the game be SO hard? I don't understand. Is there no way to avoid fighting the boss? Isn't this game supposed to be non-linear, so if one bit is too hard, or it's boring you, you can go something else instead?

I've never seen a game start off this hard.

Get the weapon dude. No one is saying fight him with a broken sword
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Holy shit snu are you seriously unable to notice the open door literally right next to the boss. The room is small, you'd have to be literally blind not to see that door you can run through. The game even throws a hint on the ground telling you to run away.
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What weapon? Where?

What kind of damage should I be doing per hit? I'm usually doing 3 or 4 points of damage.

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MC_BatCommander posted...

Holy shit snu are you seriously unable to notice the open door literally right next to the boss. The room is small, you'd have to be literally blind not to see that door you can run through. The game even throws a hint on the ground telling you to run away.

I've gone past the boss. I've been wandering around and exploring for quite a while, after passing him. But you still need to go back and fight him, it seems.

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DARK Souls
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Well, i don't know what did you expected, this game is famous for been hard

Sunhawk posted...

What weapon? Where?

What kind of damage should I be doing per hit? I'm usually doing 3 or 4 points of damage.

People don't take too kindly to you ignoring them when they put in tje time to walk you through it >_>. We can't sit behind you, reach around and help you use the controller
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Lost_All_Senses posted...

Sunhawk posted...

What weapon? Where?

What kind of damage should I be doing per hit? I'm usually doing 3 or 4 points of damage.

People don't take too kindly to you ignoring them when they put in tje time to walk you through it >_>. We can't sit behind you, reach around and help you use the controller

this, also the area you're in is basically the tutorial so if you cant figure this out i think you should look for a new game to play
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Sunhawk posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

Holy shit snu are you seriously unable to notice the open door literally right next to the boss. The room is small, you'd have to be literally blind not to see that door you can run through. The game even throws a hint on the ground telling you to run away.

I've gone past the boss. I've been wandering around and exploring for quite a while, after passing him. But you still need to go back and fight him, it seems.

The game has another hint right after that on the ground that says to pick up your weapon, and it's LITERALLY right next to where the hint is.

How can you not figure this out
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MC_BatCommander posted...

Sunhawk posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

Holy shit snu are you seriously unable to notice the open door literally right next to the boss. The room is small, you'd have to be literally blind not to see that door you can run through. The game even throws a hint on the ground telling you to run away.

I've gone past the boss. I've been wandering around and exploring for quite a while, after passing him. But you still need to go back and fight him, it seems.

The game has another hint right after that on the ground that says to pick up your weapon, and it's LITERALLY right next to where the hint is.

How can you not figure this out

DS is a confusing game.

I'm sorry I didn't buy the original in 2011, and put in dozens of hours on it to know exactly what I'm doing, but I never owned a PS3. Urgh, give me a break. And I'm not saying this is a bad game, it's just confusing and hard almost from the beginning. Try and remember what it was like when you first started playing.

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Romulox28 posted...

Sunhawk posted...

Yeah. Am I actually meant to be fighting him, or just using another route to escape? Like I said, I've barely made a dent in his energy. Seems like a very hard boss, and absolutely ridiculous for the beginning of the game? Can't find the key to the door, though. It occurred that one of those zombie things might have it, especially the tough looking armoured one, but I can't beat any of them.

when you get into the big room the boss falls from the ceiling. immediately book it behind the boss and to your left and go through the door there. you'll go around and get a key, your estus flasks, etc. then you'll end up going through a fog door and when you do you can do a plunging attack and chunk out like half of the boss's health.

from there you just have to fight him, welcome to dark souls lol. dark souls is absolutely a hard game and anyone telling you otherwise is just trying to show off their 1337 gaming skillZ, but the game is pretty manageable and fair once you learn how the combat works and how to approach each level.

enjoy, dark souls is easily one of my favorite video game franchises of all time

Do you prefer Dark Souls or Bloodborne? I found B.B. much more accessible but Id like to go back to DS one day.
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Sunhawk posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

Sunhawk posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

Holy shit snu are you seriously unable to notice the open door literally right next to the boss. The room is small, you'd have to be literally blind not to see that door you can run through. The game even throws a hint on the ground telling you to run away.

I've gone past the boss. I've been wandering around and exploring for quite a while, after passing him. But you still need to go back and fight him, it seems.

The game has another hint right after that on the ground that says to pick up your weapon, and it's LITERALLY right next to where the hint is.

How can you not figure this out

DS is a confusing game.

I'm sorry I didn't buy the original in 2011, and put in dozens of hours on it to know exactly what I'm doing, but I never owned a PS3. Urgh, give me a break. And I'm not saying this is a bad game, it's just confusing and hard almost from the beginning. Try and remember what it was like when you first started playing.

I didn't have any issues in the tutorial because the game tells you what to do
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Sunhawk posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

Sunhawk posted...

MC_BatCommander posted...

Holy shit snu are you seriously unable to notice the open door literally right next to the boss. The room is small, you'd have to be literally blind not to see that door you can run through. The game even throws a hint on the ground telling you to run away.

I've gone past the boss. I've been wandering around and exploring for quite a while, after passing him. But you still need to go back and fight him, it seems.

The game has another hint right after that on the ground that says to pick up your weapon, and it's LITERALLY right next to where the hint is.

How can you not figure this out

DS is a confusing game.

I'm sorry I didn't buy the original in 2011, and put in dozens of hours on it to know exactly what I'm doing, but I never owned a PS3. Urgh, give me a break. And I'm not saying this is a bad game, it's just confusing and hard almost from the beginning. Try and remember what it was like when you first started playing.

This is just basic gamer shit man. Don't get defensive cause you overlooked something simple. Just say "oh, I see now. My bad". You'll get better responses out of people.
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EzeDoesIt posted...

Romulox28 posted...

Sunhawk posted...

Yeah. Am I actually meant to be fighting him, or just using another route to escape? Like I said, I've barely made a dent in his energy. Seems like a very hard boss, and absolutely ridiculous for the beginning of the game? Can't find the key to the door, though. It occurred that one of those zombie things might have it, especially the tough looking armoured one, but I can't beat any of them.

when you get into the big room the boss falls from the ceiling. immediately book it behind the boss and to your left and go through the door there. you'll go around and get a key, your estus flasks, etc. then you'll end up going through a fog door and when you do you can do a plunging attack and chunk out like half of the boss's health.

from there you just have to fight him, welcome to dark souls lol. dark souls is absolutely a hard game and anyone telling you otherwise is just trying to show off their 1337 gaming skillZ, but the game is pretty manageable and fair once you learn how the combat works and how to approach each level.

enjoy, dark souls is easily one of my favorite video game franchises of all time

Do you prefer Dark Souls or Bloodborne? I found B.B. much more accessible but Id like to go back to DS one day.

i can't handle bloodborne at all, it is way too difficult for me. i had to use a summon just to beat the first boss lol. it's too fast paced for me i think
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lmao tag
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Alright, I finally kinda figured out what I was doing.

There was a hallway I had completely missed, and that's where the decent sword was. Once I had it, I was doing literally 10+ more times damage to enemies, and the boss wasn't that hard at all. The regular enemies were easy.

I'm not onto a daytime area, with a graveyard and some other stuff. I'm kinda just exploring, but I've already spent an hour trying to find the way out, or what I'm meant to do. A lot of this game seems like confusion and boredom, but that might just be the early bits.

I must confess, I'm still no clearer as to what the overall goal of the game is. I don't know what I'm meant to be doing, what constitutes beating the game, and such. I assume the game is broken down into lots of individual goals, but I'm not sure what these are, and also, I don't think there's a % completion metre, to indicate that I'm actually getting somewhere. What IS the goal of the game? Do I just go through each area, in linear fashion, and beat a boss at the end? Is there something else?

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Tag
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Bump.
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Sunhawk posted...

What IS the goal of the game? Do I just go through each area, in linear fashion, and beat a boss at the end? Is there something else?

The knight you met in the Asylum has asked you to ring the Bell of Awakening. In Firelink, one of the NPCs should have expanded on this.

This is the current goal for the game, find and ring the Bells. And, tbh, it is your only goal for quite a bit of the game.

As to where you are supposed to go, you can look it up if you want, but part of the game is that where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do when you get there are not immediately obvious. There are potentially multiple ways to go about the journey, but the difficulty curve is built around the most obvious path through the game.

Edit: I should note that my first time playing I had to look up how to get to the first area out of Firelink: If you go toward the cliff face (in the direction from the graveyard to the shrine), IIRC there is a little path that wraps around the cliff and goes to a bridge. If I remember right, that is how you get to the game's first area.
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Interesting. I've found a couple of paths away from Firelink, guess I'm meant to follow one of them. It's just a shame, because when I heard it was open world, I thought it would be a big, open area, with a bunch of connecting routes. It seems more like SM64 or something, with non-linearity, but still plenty of paths you're forced to stick to (by the huge drops on either side).

Hopefully the combat will be very challenging. At the moment, it's mostly figuring out where to go.

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I think this is the first time Ive ever heard literally anyone compare Dark Souls and SM64

Good job Snuhawk
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Romulox28 posted...

EzeDoesIt posted...

Romulox28 posted...

Sunhawk posted...

Yeah. Am I actually meant to be fighting him, or just using another route to escape? Like I said, I've barely made a dent in his energy. Seems like a very hard boss, and absolutely ridiculous for the beginning of the game? Can't find the key to the door, though. It occurred that one of those zombie things might have it, especially the tough looking armoured one, but I can't beat any of them.

when you get into the big room the boss falls from the ceiling. immediately book it behind the boss and to your left and go through the door there. you'll go around and get a key, your estus flasks, etc. then you'll end up going through a fog door and when you do you can do a plunging attack and chunk out like half of the boss's health.

from there you just have to fight him, welcome to dark souls lol. dark souls is absolutely a hard game and anyone telling you otherwise is just trying to show off their 1337 gaming skillZ, but the game is pretty manageable and fair once you learn how the combat works and how to approach each level.

enjoy, dark souls is easily one of my favorite video game franchises of all time

Do you prefer Dark Souls or Bloodborne? I found B.B. much more accessible but Id like to go back to DS one day.

i can't handle bloodborne at all, it is way too difficult for me. i had to use a summon just to beat the first boss lol. it's too fast paced for me i think

Thats funny cuz DS was way too difficult for me ha. I think Id be better at it now though.

What you call fast-paced, I call blessed agility (especially compared to DS). Do you prefer I, II, or III?
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Well, I doubt they have much else in common, obviously.
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Sunhawk posted...

Interesting. I've found a couple of paths away from Firelink, guess I'm meant to follow one of them. It's just a shame, because when I heard it was open world, I thought it would be a big, open area, with a bunch of connecting routes. It seems more like SM64 or something, with non-linearity, but still plenty of paths you're forced to stick to (by the huge drops on either side).

Hopefully the combat will be very challenging. At the moment, it's mostly figuring out where to go.

Go up the cliff staircase and you'll be guided for a grip
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Also, why when I stood on a platform that (very) rapidly went downwards, did it go from day to night? What was that?

The graphics seem good, though, upgraded pretty well. Not on the same level as a top tier 8th or 9th gen game, e.g. Super Mario Oddysey, but still really good.

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@EzeDoesIt posted...

What you call fast-paced, I call blessed agility (especially compared to DS). Do you prefer I, II, or III?

honestly my favorite is 2. i thought it had the most interesting variety of levels, weapons, gimmicks, & what little story there was clicked with me. 3 is good but the combat is too floaty, and im playing 1 now but so far it is really good
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Sunhawk posted...

Also, why when I stood on a platform that (very) rapidly went downwards, did it go from day to night? What was that?

No, you went underground.

That is a late game area.
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Oh. That whole bit was strange.

It's just there to mess with gamers, then, because you aren't meant to / able to do it until much later? I see.

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Almost every single weapon is viable as long as you keep it upgraded. Upgrading your weapon is important, don't overlook that. You'll find the first blacksmith right outside of the Undead Parish.
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Sunhawk posted...

Oh. That whole bit was strange.

It's just there to mess with gamers, then, because you aren't meant to / able to do it until much later? I see.

It's also because you will be equipped to go through it in New Game+, so you can tackle the game's areas out of order.
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Here's some general tips:

You hit the soft cap at 40 for each stat - after that, you get diminishing returns.

If you're not sure what stat to level up, do vitality or endurance (especially the latter).

Try to find a weapon and/or magic set up you like, and then start pumping str/dex/int/fth in order to use that weapon. I'd recommend a strength/dexterity build for your first time, since you'll be able to use most weapons with that build. You can also still use pyromancy spells to their fullest extent as well, since it goes off the level of your pyromancy flame instead of int/fth.

Don't hit non-hostile NPCs. If you need to free one that's stuck in a barrel or something, you can roll to break objects instead of swinging a weapon.

Never level resistance.

You should start from Firelink Shrine and head to Undead Burg first, but you can check out the other connecting areas and make death runs to grab items if you want.

Also upgrade the weapons/armor you like.

My advice is to explore the game as much as you can without a guide, because it's much more fun to organically explore the world. It's a beautifully designed map.

BUT, a typically fair rule of thumb is that if you stumble into an area and think "wow, this is a billion times harder than what I was just doing," you've probably gone somewhere early. Doesn't mean you literally CAN'T do it, just that there's usually an easier place to go. Dark Souls doesn't have any particularly massive difficulty spikes IIRC outside of bosses that may stonewall you until you git gud (*shakes fist at Capra Demon*).

Feel free to ask any further questions or PM me or whatever. It can be an overwhelming game at first but people have been playing it forever so it can get a bit elitist.
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I mean, the downtrodden dude literally tells you to go ring some bells...

But yeah, I got a bit lost at the beginning after the asylum too.
Bit of advice, DON'T go downstairs into the New Londo. There are enemies you won't be able to kill with what you have.

If you find the undead burg, you golden.
Also, try not to attack npcs, they don't forgive when you die.
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I mean, there is a firekeeper soul in New Londo near the start that would be great to get early if you make a run for it and die, but you're not supposed to have that yet.

Romulox28 posted...

@EzeDoesIt posted...

What you call fast-paced, I call blessed agility (especially compared to DS). Do you prefer I, II, or III?

honestly my favorite is 2. i thought it had the most interesting variety of levels, weapons, gimmicks, & what little story there was clicked with me. 3 is good but the combat is too floaty, and im playing 1 now but so far it is really good

Thanks man, I think Ill start with 2 then. :)
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I finally beat the game earlier this year, including all optional and DLC bosses. Good times.
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Well, I've been playing some more.

I see what they mean about this game being hard. I just spent about 3 hours trying to through The Cattercombs, which are just off of the hub world, and couldn't do it. 3 hours. And this is basically the second area in the game. I just kept getting killed by skeletons and a fire dude, and also, when I got quite far, I had problems with navigation. Wtf.

I can't even tell if I like this game. I'm not sure if I'm bored stiff, or if I'm actually enjoying the sheer challenges and all the deaths (brings back memories of the early CODs, you know?). I don't see why it had to get very hard so early on, though, unless I'm doing the Cattercombs wrong.

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People literally told you where to go and you still went into the catacombs
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What? They just said to avoid that underground area, accessed through the quickly moving lift. It's for the end of the game, I think. Besides, I could barely find my way around. I found 2 places to go, then forgot how to get to 1, so I tried The Catacombs.
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Hard game is hard.
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