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Transistor

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Finished the first playthrough. Transistor is an interesting game. I don't love it as much as Bastion but I'm glad that Supergiant did something so different, I really liked the semi-turn based combat and completely new art style and world design, and the music and voice acting are also great. But the main story just didn't hit with me for the most part, and they even more embraced the one thing I found problematic with Bastion, an emphasis on ability customization over combat design.

 

Part of my criticisms stem from my completionist playstyle. When I first started playing I wanted to read all the description on the abilities, but you can unlock so many at the beginning of the game they I felt I was just reading wall of text profiles of random people for half an hour in my first two hours of the game. And in retrospect most of these descriptions never tie into anything terribly important and are mostly similar to each other which makes them even more annoying. Fortunately the rest of the world building through dialog, the less verbose terminals, and the smattering of connecting scenes brought me around a little.

 

The main plot however was so muddled that it was difficult to relate to any of the events or characters to any extent. Actually on the latest Idle Thumbs they talked about how the game's storytelling is noir inspired but the character dialog is both oblique and with a vague context, when it should be one or the other to allow the viewer to understand what is going on either through concrete dialog or obvious plot points. 

 

End spoilers:

I still don't understand the Camerata's motives or actions or what happened to the Process. Also I'm not sure that the final moments of the game are really earned, even though there are some subtle cues and an implication that Cloudbank is a virtual place. It just doesn't feel right considering the "cowardly" suicides of Grant and Asher, and that Red has the power to revert some of what happened but still chooses what seems to be a tragic romantic suicide.

 

As for the gameplay, one minor part that actually really bugs me is those stupid little checkmarks on the ability screens that indicate which combinations you've tried. They're not tied to any unlocks or anything but I've been trying to get them all by selecting a new loadout at every checkpoint and there are just so many bad combinations that it's really a chore. I like the overload system in theory, but I'm already using a variety of abilities to get those bloody checkmarks and if you overload an ability you won't get that checkmark. It was especially bad for me in the midgame because many of the new abilities I unlocked then didn't have any direct damage so a single overload could put me in a really bad spot. I feel like I'd personally make more fun gameplay decisions if those checkmarks weren't there since the system seems to be designed for you to reason about and avoid the bad combinations.

 

But besides this collection obsession, which I admit is totally my fault, I have an issue with this kind of supremely customizable system since it leads to less tailored combat design. Even in Bastion many of the weapons felt poorly defined in terms of combat purpose but they each at least had a level that introduced them and a corresponding challenge room. Actually I think Transistor does a better job of making each individual ability useful in some way, but because most of the abilities are acquired in a non-linear fashion there are no levels that teach you how to use them. Some of the challenge rooms are good for this but there aren't too many and they vary in quality. There's some depth to the combat system and I've come across some interesting combos but it's hard to get a feel for it in the initial playthrough. Like Bastion, I expect to get a better appreciation for it on NG+ with maxed out difficulty. 

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Responding to that spoiler:

Oh ya I had to use turn a bit differently, but I eventually put the guy down. Was just curious if everyone else had the same issue. I also don't get how it ties into the story just yet... But perhaps I'll finish it this week and join the story spoiler discussion

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Weird, Latrine, I haven't even noticed the checkmarks you're talking about.

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Those checks unlock more story under each ability description. Those stories are somewhat interesting, but probably not worth doing gymnastics to get them all checked off. I managed to do most of them for the abilities I had and I found switching up my style to be pretty fun. If it ends up being a really bad combo, you can usually just run back to the last ability change spot after one fight.

 

My impression of the ending:

I think the Camerata were intending on using the Process and the Transistor to change the world (but not entirely I guess? Thus the "Changing everything changes nothing" quote.) To that end they started to collect the souls of people that they saw as being valuable to society into the Transistor to influence the changes and make the world a better place. Unfortunately, when the Transistor is taken, there's nothing to guide the Process and it starts going wild, erasing the world completely (a canvas with no brush.) The two Camerata who committed suicide did so because their future looked like either being erased, or trapped in the Transistor for all time.

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Just finished this morning and started on my Recursion play-through.

 

Although I enjoyed Bastion for what it was, it's mechanics didn't draw me in the way Transistor did.  Mechanically, my favourite part of the game was coming up to an Access Point after unlocking one or two new Functions, and unequipping everything to starting on a new build.  Looking for synergies between the various Functions, and then being able to pull them off in combat was deeply rewarding (Crash(Bounce())+Flood(Get())!) and you can see that SG put a lot of effort into encouraging and rewarding players for trying out Functions in different ways.  The only criticisms I have of the gameplay are that playing on a controller made Turn() planning frustrating, since most Functions  auto-lock on nearby enemies.  And secondly, when in the various sandbox tests (particularly speed), you can't view what you have equipped which tends to needlessly obscure the solution.

 

From a narrative standpoint, I think SG wants us to work at it.  They want us to play through multiple times to hypothesise about the world and try and verify our interpretations through the additional content.  And yes, Recursion mode is quite different so far.  Also, I appreciated that the traditional antagonist structure was ditched at the second act to great effect.  I'm still digesting the story and will continue to think about it while finishing up my second play through.  Ultimately I might decide that it doesn't achieve what it's trying to, but I'm not able to make that decision yet.

 

Overall this is such a great package; easily the best thing I've played this year.

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My impression of the ending:

I think the Camerata were intending on using the Process and the Transistor to change the world (but not entirely I guess? Thus the "Changing everything changes nothing" quote.) To that end they started to collect the souls of people that they saw as being valuable to society into the Transistor to influence the changes and make the world a better place. Unfortunately, when the Transistor is taken, there's nothing to guide the Process and it starts going wild, erasing the world completely (a canvas with no brush.) The two Camerata who committed suicide did so because their future looked like either being erased, or trapped in the Transistor for all time.

Do you think there's a difference between dying via the Transistor and just straight up dying in other ways in Cloudbank? Because the two guys that commit suicide seem to die for real, where as everyone else lives on in the Country. I realise there's heavy implications that Cloudbank is entirely virtual, and the Country seems to be the "real" world? Although there's plenty of trippy shit going on there too. I guess I just don't get the logistics of the whole world with in a world thing that's going on here...

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My take:

Cloudbank is a twist on the old trope of the "city in the clouds". Cloudbank is a virtual world, a city in the cloud. 
 
When a person joins (or is born into, this part is not clear) Cloudbank, they are prompted to make two selections. These selections are not unlike the character creation seen in RPG. You choose two attributes for yourself that you want to specialize in and improve. These selections, alongside the user's consciousness creates their trace. Their link to the world of Cloudbank.
 
These selections give access to functions to the individual. Treat it as the API calls to the world of Cloudbank. It is no coincidence that Red's function is crush(), which makes its targets more vulnerable. It is the same function which made her singing so effective. The transistor is the unconditional access to those API calls and allowed access to those functions in their pure form. 
 
So what is the transistor? Where did it come from? Royce in the later parts of the game described that it required a lot of math to uncover the transistor. The likely answer is that it is a piece of reverse engineered code that allows greater access to the underpinnings of Cloudbank. As the name implies, a transistor controls the flow of information. This is gets to us to the goals of the Camerata.
 
The city of Cloudbank is autonomous. There is no longer a single driving force behind the city and instead, it maintains its relevance through a voting system amongst the populace. The game's trailer opens up with saying everyone has a voice in the Cloudbank. This voice is the voting mechanism that allows changing every facet of the city. Unfortunately, these continuous petitions created mediocrity through majority and prevented any real, interesting change in the city. As Red's lover once remarked, the weather is always mild and nonoffensive. As the longest-running administrator of the city, Grant realized the hopeless of his position. This staleness is what the Camerata hopes to overcome. When everything changes, nothing changes.
 
Their first step is to take away control away from the citizens of Cloudbank. To take away their voice. This theft is embodied in Red's literal loss of her own voice. Her voice and those of many others is now trapped in the transistor. The true agent of change left in Cloudbank. And coincidentally, the only voice we really hear during our play through.
 
The Camerata's plan falls apart once Grant loses control over the transistor and the custodian's of Process are left without direction. Up till now, the populace gave purpose for the Process and so they interpret that void as the desire for nothing. The Process begins to transform Cloudbank into a blank slate in the hopes that it will be given direction once more. As Red plows through their ranks, the Process become more and more obsessed with Red (evident in the later parts of the game). She is all they have left to give them any real meaning.
 
As Cloudbank becomes a shapeless mass its users evacuate. They log off and go to "the country". There is no returning to Cloudbank. It is directly said that logging off even in ideal circumstances is a one-way trip, but now there is no point of returning. The millions of people who made the simulation feel real are now gone and to never return. So when Red gains complete control of Cloudbank and gains root status, there is nothing left for her. Cloudbank is dead and Red's lover is trapped inside the transistor. He cannot log off and will likely last as long as his mortal body will allow. 
 
Red does not want to face the shock of entering the real world alone, nor does she want her lover to be abandoned. So she leaves the Cloudbank through "suicide" and joins her lover inside the transistor. As this point, there is a ambiguity to what happens. It appears that Red's root status transferred inside the transistor. After all, the cloudscape of the transistor now has form. There is ground and most importantly, Red and her lover have form. If Red has such capability, it is not outlandish to presume that she also had the power to log her lover and herself out of the transistor. 
 

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I guess all that makes sense, but I've just got a few questions. When you fight Grant at the end where exactly are you fighting him? In the Country? Or in the world of Cloudbank? Or somewhere else entirely? I only ask because when you arrive there at the end there are huge Transistors everywhere, not exactly representative of the real world. Also Red's lover mentions that he can see her when he looks to the sky. That also doesn't sound like the real world. Maybe he just means figuratively, but I think he mentions that when he appears drunk the first time the Spine shows up implying that whatever is happening in Cloudbank somehow effects the Country too. Everything in the game suggests to me that the Country isn't actually the "real" world, but I could be wrong. That's the way I read it anyway.

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Question about the last 3 minutes of the game

Does anyone know if the final boss is controlled by another player or not? With some style of secret matchmaking going on? His actions seemed to odd for it to be an AI.

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Question about the last 3 minutes of the game

Does anyone know if the final boss is controlled by another player or not? With some style of secret matchmaking going on? His actions seemed to odd for it to be an AI.

If it was another player, they played pretty bad for me. I think it was just an AI.

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If it was another player, they played pretty bad for me. I think it was just an AI.

Shame :( I'll be more than happy to grab the PC version if someone creates an arena style mod. 

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So I picked up Transistor over the weekend and put a few hours into it.  I like the game a lot, the art is gorgeous, the music is fantastic, and I think the gameplay is interesting, pretty much everything I expected from Supergiant.  My brain is telling me these things and I believe all of them, except I don't want to play the game.  I previously predicted that I would like Bastion more and so far that is holding true but I still think Transistor is a good game.  I just can't get into it.  Something is missing for me that I can't put my finger on.  Bastion drew me in because even though I thought the gameplay was somewhat weak everything else was so damn charming.  I think the same thing about Transistor but it would seem to not be enough this time around.  I'm probably still going to finish it but my heart just isn't in it and that makes me kind of sad.

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I previously predicted that I would like Bastion more and so far that is holding true but I still think Transistor is a good game.  I just can't get into it.  Something is missing for me that I can't put my finger on.

I think it's specificity. I felt the same thing. Bastion and Transistor both take place in sort of surreal worlds, but whereas Bastion's narrator grounds that game with specific, even mundane, details, such as the smell of a liquor or the feel of a weed, Transistor's narrator is vague, and skirts the issue of what is literally real. I'm partway through my second playthrough of Transistor, and I cannot tell you with any confidence whether the narrator knew Red before he died, or why he was killed, or whether he was special, or whether Cloudbank is virtual, or whether the Country is virtual, or where certain events* took place, or why Red is so good at killing/deleting monsterdoodles. I'm not saying that information isn't in the game — probably most of it is — but I could have easily told you the answers to all those questions if they were about Bastion, after one playthrough.

 

*

By which I mean the final boss fight.

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I still haven't read all of this thread since I want to avoid spoilers until I finish -- but after unlocking a passive upgrade slot and getting a bit deeper into some of the challenge rooms the combat system is becoming a lot more enjoyable and less spam-a-favorite-thing. I particularly enjoy the "planning tests" as they make me feel like a tactical prodigy (while, say, the last "stability test" made me feel like a lucky idiot). I've only died and lost a function one time, but I'm still constantly cycling my weapons to unlock bits of lore; I'm also using limiters because they provide more mysterious story elements to read (whereas I pretty much ignored the Bastion equivalent of limiters after finding one easy one that I didn't mind too much)...it's somewhat saddening to hear that these bits of lore never quite resolve, but I'll see how I feel at the end.

 

Switch()'ed cheerleaders continue to bring me all kinds of smug satisfaction in difficult battles.

 

The sword continues to be offhandedly hilarious and surprisingly different from (though comfortingly similar to) Rucks (it's almost as if the person doing the voice is an actor capable of assuming a variety of personalities).

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In the first 2 hours or so I was resetting my build at every save station so as to maximize the lore, but after unlocking 7 or so fully, the clear pattern of "super talented and beloved-by-the-public figure overreaches in their field and gets paid a visit by you know who" made me refocus on just finding battle styles I enjoyed playing.

 

I know this is super cynical, but the proliferation of artistic geniuses who are adored by the population rubs me the wrong way.  The realization that it's a myth that someone can consistently be at the top of their field and be completely in control of and totally assured in their creative output was something I hated coming to terms with as I aged.  The fact that they've all been murdered, but their "powers" live on is an idealistic bit of world building that I can't get behind.

 

I know that as a 16 year old I would have LOVED this game.  The intersections of genius and superpowers and coolness just don't jive with me anymore.  Now it feels a bit put on.

 

I'm not totally down on Transistor, just have had some time to sit with the way it made me feel.

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I know that as a 16 year old I would have LOVED this game.  The intersections of genius and superpowers and coolness just don't jive with me anymore.  Now it feels a bit put on.

 

I'm not totally down on Transistor, just have had some time to sit with the way it made me feel.

 

I'd agree that most of the story beats left me feeling pretty indifferent. It didn't end up bothering me too much as I ended up really enjoying the combat and art design immensely.

 

I did end up unlocking all of the files for the 14 functions I finished the game with. To be honest, I read them, and immediately forgot what they said since they were all relatively uninspired. It wasn't just the world of artistic genius thing that didn't work for me, though. Maybe I'm just overly critical of tragic love stories like this, but any romance that ends in suicide (or an act that may not be suicide but looks a whole lot like it) just strikes me as trite and immediately suspect.

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In general, I like the way Supergiant tells stories, but not necessarily the actual story itself.

 

I haven't played Transistor yet, but what I loved about Bastion wasn't the story, but how the story set a tone/mood for the entire game.  It added character and personality to the world while not managing to step on itself in any way. 

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I haven't played Transistor yet, but what I loved about Bastion wasn't the story, but how the story set a tone/mood for the entire game.  It added character and personality to the world while not managing to step on itself in any way. 

 

Exactly.  The actual details of the story were largely uninteresting to me, but the way I was given the information gave the world a color and flavor I enjoyed.  Transistor is less so unfortunately because a lot of the background is basically reading text.

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I finished the game last night, and I generally agree, but I think I am a bit more positive on it. I quite enjoyed the game's story, but it wasn't anything outstanding. The delivery of it though, and moreso the world and the way the world details are exposed, are fantastic. As is the gameplay, I still love it, though by the end I had several go-to combinations that would mop the floor with all the enemies. I love the way they do contextual storytelling and worldbuilding though, reminds me of the D* Souls games, and the story and world they have in things like item descriptions, which would usually just be filler text in many games.

 

Also the art was incredible. 

 

I think I will try their NG+ thing to have some more fun with the combat, or at least see if there is more I can wring out of it. The challenge rooms were very good at introducing new combinations and techniques without explicitly saying what to do, which was good, and I think I have 1 or 2 left that didnt' unlock before the end of the game.

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I guess all that makes sense, but I've just got a few questions. When you fight Grant at the end where exactly are you fighting him? In the Country? Or in the world of Cloudbank? Or somewhere else entirely? I only ask because when you arrive there at the end there are huge Transistors everywhere, not exactly representative of the real world. Also Red's lover mentions that he can see her when he looks to the sky. That also doesn't sound like the real world. Maybe he just means figuratively, but I think he mentions that when he appears drunk the first time the Spine shows up implying that whatever is happening in Cloudbank somehow effects the Country too. Everything in the game suggests to me that the Country isn't actually the "real" world, but I could be wrong. That's the way I read it anyway.

The farm / country is the inside the Transistor. When you fight Royce, it's amongst cells holding the traces of the people you've found (which power the functions). When Red kills herself in the end, she's sucked into the Transistor to be with the mystery man. I get the impression that Royce was already dead when you find him since you can already have a function with his trace. He says he went inside before, and you never actually see him clearly. 

 

Also, for my money, Cloudbank is a post singularity virtual world which humans have uploaded their consciousnesses into. It's the Matrix, but everyone is in on it, and freely messing with it through polls. The Process is what allows the messing to happen. I think the Camerata wanted to control the process and force Cloudbank to conform to their wishes alone, using the Process to wipe the slate clean and the Transistor to paint their own vision of how the world should be.

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The farm / country is the inside the Transistor. When you fight Royce, it's amongst cells holding the traces of the people you've found (which power the functions). When Red kills herself in the end, she's sucked into the Transistor to be with the mystery man. I get the impression that Royce was already dead when you find him since you can already have a function with his trace. He says he went inside before, and you never actually see him clearly. 

 

Also, for my money, Cloudbank is a post singularity virtual world which humans have uploaded their consciousnesses into. It's the Matrix, but everyone is in on it, and freely messing with it through polls. The Process is what allows the messing to happen. I think the Camerata wanted to control the process and force Cloudbank to conform to their wishes alone, using the Process to wipe the slate clean and the Transistor to paint their own vision of how the world should be.

 

I agree with your world theory, it makes a lot of sense. Also, she goes into the transistor in the end, as you said, and the NG+ mode is "recurse", which further suggests virtual worlds inside virtual worlds. 

Assuming that is what they intended with the world, it is not necessarily an original concept, but a very interesting take on that idea.

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Just finished the game. Really enjoyed the combat: it rides that fine line where I feel challenged without dying very often. I'm assuming that'll change during NG+ but the difficulty level of the first playthrough felt just right. I followed a similar pathway as others here mentioned of trying out everything a bunch in the first half of the game before settling down with a fairly consistent build by the end.

 

My build by the end:

Very passive heavy, especially reliant on jaunt (to speed up turn recycling) and bounce (generates a shield, super useful when fighting grant) Other two passives were purge for auto strikeback and load to drop very handy explosives everywhere. I only used 3 actives, void (which is insanely useful by the end, especially on 'man') with tap upgrade, breach with crash and ping upgrade and mask (to wait out turns). I was pretty much only using turns, the movement speed is a bit too sluggish and cumbersome to fight regularly

 

The story was interesting but I echo the comments about it being too obfuscated. I can get behind a little mystery but it's important to lay out character motivation early and Transistor did not at all.

 

If it's going to be a fridged lover plot as it ended up being I need to be aware of the fact that they were actually lovers. It wasn't clear until the final moments and I don't think that's a surprise that works when it's supposedly your characters main driving force in the game. The lover's role in red's life was super unclear for most of the game. I had assumed he was a suitor or just a superfan with an adoration bordering on creepy when he got spine drunk.

 

The camerata were also terrible bad guys. I couldn't tell them apart and there wasn't nearly enough information to suss out why exactly what they were trying to do. I couldn't really tell who I was fighting and why and when. Really didn't like them being the lynchpin for the rest of the games events.

 

The tone of the game definitely saves it and allowed me ultimately to overlook my negative feelings about the plot. Music was incredible and added tons of atmosphere and soul to the game. Without it, the plasticine nature of the plot would have stood out in starker contrast I think.

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If it's going to be a fridged lover plot as it ended up being I need to be aware of the fact that they were actually lovers. It wasn't clear until the final moments and I don't think that's a surprise that works when it's supposedly your characters main driving force in the game. The lover's role in red's life was super unclear for most of the game. I had assumed he was a suitor or just a superfan with an adoration bordering on creepy when he got spine drunk.

 

The camerata were also terrible bad guys. I couldn't tell them apart and there wasn't nearly enough information to suss out why exactly what they were trying to do. I couldn't really tell who I was fighting and why and when. Really didn't like them being the lynchpin for the rest of the games events.

 

Interesting, I caught onto that half way through. I think it was some of the things the sword said, but I don't recall what exactly.

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A theory about the country:

 

Going away to the country does seem to be this society's euphemism for death/disconnection.  That word might be used because their current lives are completely controlled.  There is no nature.  There is no change that isn't chosen.  So the country representing overwhelming nature becomes the metaphor for heaven, because it's something that no longer exists.  (It could also be that in the non-virtual world (I'm assuming Cloudbank is a virtual world) humans have obliterated nature, and it becomes a myth to them).

 

The fight at the end with Royce (I keep seeing people mention that they fight Grant, but he was one of the two men who committed suicide) is odd.  First and foremost, I found that Supergiant gave us a final boss fight with different mechanics than the rest of the game to be a weird choice (such a video game cliche!).  I feel like they wrote that AI in an interesting way.  He paused, he fumbled.  It felt like a real person.  It also felt like somebody who had just gotten their own Transistor.  Royce obviously understands how to use it, but lacks the finesse that Red has gained.  So the final fight felt off and weird, but it makes sense with the story.

 

So Royce and Red are inserted into the transistor, but as power users?  As administrators of the transistor?  They're running around a bunch of circular pylons that we can guess represent the funtions() that the transistor gains/can gain.  But the setting is in the country with a barn that matches the barn of the ending shot.  That makes me think that Red and Royce are battling it out for admin rights.  Whoever wins gets full control over the transistor, and can leave.  But Red noticed that she was able to shape the setting of the transistor to match her idea of heaven, of the country.  This made her suicide an easy decision.  If she is accepted into the Transistor as an admin, then she can "free" her man.

 

One thing that was confusing is that you can gain Royce's function() prior to meeting him at the end.  This leads me to believe that Royce inserted himself ALIVE into the transistor long ago, but in such a way that allowed him to make use of a proxy.  It would make sense for him to be the first test of his own invention.  And he could still have the proxy to help the Camerata with their plans.  And that might make more sense of the final boss?  Both Royce and Red are inserted while they're still alive?

 

Sorry about the jumbled writing.  Just wanted to get some thoughts down before work.  I'm still very confused about the Spine of the World.

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