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03-04-2018, 12:14 AM
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#1 |
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Rookie
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EA UFC 3:Ultimate Team Hotfixes...A Comprehensive look
I will not speak on the actual gameplay of EA UFC 3 but only of the Ultimate Team as a Mode and its related features. How its current state may discourages continuous play. I believe it is only right to also highlight the things done right in Ultimate Mode in another thread. For if this is not made clear, we risk having what you already appreciate removed from future iterations of Ultimate Team.
Quick Fixes Unequip All (items button) At the fighters’ customization screen; where striking, grapple, fitness and perk items are equipped. An unequip all items button would be handy. After selecting a new fighter to replace a previously used fighter; equipped items (at the striking, grappling etc screen) become scrambled through out various item spots. Confusing the user as to which items are most valuable. If the newly replaced fighter has a different fighting style from the previous fighter; some of the equipped items are automatically unequipped due to the reduction in available item slots. Often the user will have to individually unequip each remaining item and then re-equip. For it is through the re-equipping process that the user is better able to compare the items in their possession and select the most appropriate items in relation to the current active fighter. A unequip all items button would speed up the re-equipping process. This scramble seems random as there is no way to mitigate it. One would hope that by filling the top spots of each section (e.g Arms or Legs section) with high value items; that once the fighter change over scramble occurs the items filling the lower spots would be the ones to be automatically removed. This does not appear to be the case especially at the grappling screen. From which, you will also find items scrambled throughout the various sections from submissions to takedowns, ground or clinch sections. The user has to once again rearrange these items for chemistry reasons. (Currently Chemistry seems illogical; more on this later).  Items Bin An area to send unneeded items. For later use in crafting etc. As it is right now a user with many items will have to scroll through rims of multiple pages when equipping items. Each other day they will have to reassess the use of each item. Often having to carry out the same exercise on previously viewed items (which they already decided are not needed). For a place to which to send items for later use is not in existence. Useful especially for duplicate items. Items Sorting When equipping items it can be a pain having to compare items across pages. Naturally items are sorted only by their value; beginning with the highest rated (Gold, Silver then Bronze). Suppose you want to compare the values of 3 ‘Question Mark Kicks’. These cards are likely to be spread among multiple pages; even though they may all be silver cards. No alternative sorting options are available. Being able to sort items by Name would quicken the comparison process. Sometimes you might want to sort items by their specific attributes e.g. speed or power. To clarify the use of an Items Bin. Having navigated multiple pages and decided which of the two Question Mark Kicks I will keep. I have no area to send the third Question Mark Kick for later use. Next time when I intend to use my second choice Question Mark Kick; I will once again have to compare all the Question Mark Cards. Chanllenges: Active Update When attempting one of the many challenges, a progress report at the pause menu could inform the user on the current status of the challenge (How far from completion the user is; e.g 6/10 Headkicks). Currently a progress report is only provided at the end and not during a match. Many a ‘few times’ have some users thought they had fulfilled the requirements of a challenge, and therefore sought to end the fight quickly; only to late be informed at the results-end match screen of their none fulfilment in meeting a challenges’ requirements. Intermediate or Long Term Fixes Reviews Vs Streaming Views Whereas EA UFC 3 received favourable ratings from a good number of sites. The games’ interest levels do not reflect this on gaming platforms such as Twitch or Youtube. EA UFC 3 received decent viewership numbers at release; however these numbers have spectacularly fallen to levels comparable to those of EA UFC 2. All within a 2 week life span. Is the game not fun to watch or play; or is it both? What is hindering it? Today's climate dictates that a Games online streaming performance (Viewership numbers and those willing to stream the game); hold greater importance than simply good reviews. Streaming views reflect the interest levels in a game over a longer duration of time (by a wider audience poll); whereas reviews give a snapshot in how long the game held an individuals interest perhaps for a week or two. (It is all but rushed and the finer details often missed). A wiser and patient consumer of gamers would wait to see how a game performs for 2-3 weeks on online streaming platforms. To get a glimpse of how the community aspect of the game is developing, especially important to an online multiplayer game. EA UFC Updates- Live Streamed Nothing generates more excitement in a game than viewing the enthusiasm of a developer. It fosters community. Even when things may not initially be right; it can help maintain a degree of a games user base (See: For Honor History). They see a developer passionate about what they are working on; this excite transmits to the userbase. Making them patient enough to hang around. In the short term one way in which higher stream views can be encouraged is through the hosting of 30 mins shows. These could be Bi-Weekly or every 3 weeks. Although requiring an allocation of more resources, weekly programming is proven to be most effective. The EA UFC team could use a Live streaming platform to inform the community of upcoming scheduled updates as well as gauge an overview consensus on what the most pressing needs of the userbase is. I applaud the activity of the development team on twitter; in discussing the various intrigues of the game. Most of the discussions however will never be seen by great number of the games’ userbase and could be better presented on a Live Show. Providing an assembling point- a gathering of the community. Where the latest or upcoming Live Updates to the game can be discussed; among other things. They will care because you are seen to care. If your interest in your game is not shown/ seen- not known, who else is to care for the game? Other Fighting Games- Genre Lessons Did the development team aspire to build a game that they themselves first and foremost enjoyed? Was the game developed with an intended audience in mind? If so who and where is this audience? Many returning users from EA UFC 2, will have you believe that the removal of directional inputs to modify a curved strike. Makes the game more accessible to a casual audience. For one need not remember the various directions but simply hold-down 1-3 triggers of the controller in order to modify a straight strike into curved strike. However a sizeable number of the casual audience has not returned. All but the hardcore player base comparable to that of EA UFC 2 (after 2 years since release) remains active that is within a span of 2 weeks of EA UFC 3’s release. Last years Fighting games did not experience sharp drops (shortly after release) in players wishing to stream their gaming sessions and those willing to watch. If streaming numbers are low; it creates the perception of a dying community. Those without the game at release are often left discouraged from purchasing it later on. The more people are seen to be willing to stream the game; over time for a sustained duration the more likely a steady number of newer players will pick up the game; in the weeks following the release. A useful study could be conducted examining recent games, similar in genre to EA UFC 3. How other development studios handled their games pre and post release; how their games where received (especially on live streaming platforms) and what the developers of these games’ public response was; if any at all. For such a study I think mainly of; For Honor, Injustice 2, Tekken 7, Absolver and WWE 2K18. (Some of these have an established fan-base and others where new IPs at release). Are games of the fighting genre inherently prone to lower interest levels/ viewership numbers? Some of aforementioned fighting games held respectable viewing numbers for consistent weeks following their release. How can EA UFC tap into this extended poll of fighting audience? Must the game even attempt this? The fanbase of actual UFC Events is not large enough to command a windfall from the IRL UFC audience; into a larger number of gamers for EA UFC. Is the current level of users as good as it gets? Champions Edition: Misleading Advertisement? Before release it was made to seem like the Champion Fighters available through the Champions Edition of the game would be the only versions in Ultimate Team mode. That they would be the equivalent in ratings/ attributes to their versions found in Quick Play or Ranked modes. It was not explicitly stated that higher value versions of fighters from the Champions Edition would also be available. Namely the 5* (Master) Conor McGregor, 4* (Elite) Demetrious Jonhson and 4* (Elite) version of GSP. ‘Champions Edition’ makes it seem like these fighter versions would be among the highest rated and therefore necessary to obtain. It was not known that they would be basic shells of their Quick Play or Ranked Mode equivalents. Mirrored Matches With a good number of people purchasing the Champions Edition; many picked their Champion and stuck to that particular division for it was the only gold fighter they had. This naturally increased the numbers of mirrored Matches. Despite a larger pool of fighters (2 Weeks after release); player picks between matches do not vary much at all. Often you can face a string of Cormiers, Bispings and McGregors in one gaming session; making for a repetitive feel to the game. What is the future outlook of Ultimate Team Divisions’, Mirrored matches between Elite Cards and Master Cards? 5* McGregors in Lightweight and 4* Nunes in Bantamweight. Is this what we truly hope for?  Created Fighters vs Licensed Fighters Attempt to compete in the Single player Lightweight division and a constant stream of McGregor’s is what you abound to face. The licensed fighters be it in Single player or PvP Ultimate Team makes for repetitive gameplay. Had the mode maintained a CAFs only policy; facing every variety of personally customized fighter would enhance the illusion of experiencing a new challenge in most of the matches. CAFs increase the re-playability and longevity of Ultimate Team mode. The ability to share CAFs between users would be an interesting option. Ultimate Teams’ Importance Getting this mode right is obviously of great importance in adding to the re-playability of the game. For it is through this mode that users could potentially spend months perfecting their fighters Using the various new items available for purchase at every corresponding actual UFC event. No other mode in the game promises this. Transferable- Useable Knowledge (In-game to IRL) The striking in UFC 3 is much improved than its predecessor in its movement and combinations. Amateurs of MMA could use these combinations to workout how they may utilise these movements in their own MMA practise. Similarly we notice from other sports genres; be it Madden or Fifa that a newly introduced fan to the sport of American Football or Soccer; will obtain an overview of a players main qualities in-game. Upon watching an actual game that features a said player the fan feels somewhat rewarded and accomplished in the knowledge that they have, which matched their expectations of a particular player IRL. Their understanding of the game is transferable to the real world.  Licensed Fighter (attributed with any/ all of the fight styles) In Ultimate Team it would be possible to find a Licensed Fighter having a fight style and core main attributes that do not reflect the actual abilities of the fighter IRL. For example a specialist submissions artist (or grappler) of Francis Ngannou. The incorrect knowledge a user develops through Ultimate Mode is not transferable to real life UFC. Aren’t the goals of EA UFC to create a true stimulation of UFC? Fifas’ Ultimate Mode does not allow for such inconsistencies. You will not find Christiano Ronaldo having high defensive stats than attacking or being issued with Defending or Goalkeeping Card/ items. In a sense this is what is possible in EA UFC 3 Ultimate Mode. Licensed fighter ought to have fighting styles that better reflect their actual strengths.  Horizontal Divisions The cramming of all fighters into 4 Divisions of Ultimate Mode does not simulate reality and maybe better saved in a custom game mode. By an all-inclusive division of fighters in Ultimate Mode we strip some of the incentives that they may have been to play Ranked Mode or Quick Fights. All fighters are accessible in all modes; if so what does Rank offer beyond Leaderboards*. Fighters not in their respective Divisions (weight class) look rather comical when pitted against fighters in their natural divisions. If licensed fighters are to be included in ultimate mode then only the fighters that have fought in a particular division are to be accessible. The four divisions in EA UFC 3 are Bantamweight (w), Lightweight, Middleweight and Heavyweight. In the next iteration of EA UFC the Ultimate Mode may choose to focus on Strawweights, Bantamweights, Welterweights and Light-Heavyweights. This could be used as a means to freshen-up each new version of Ultimate Team. By Alternating on which divisions are focused on with every new version of EA UFC. *[Side Note: Ranked Mode could further differentiate itself from Quick Mode by having all fighters with equalised stats becoming a true test of skill mode]. User Choice vs Random Options The word Ultimate evokes being able to access multiple configurations; from which to shape the perfect fighter to ones’ personal likely; attributing to them personal favourite move sets and actually being able to choose which fighter you use and their style. Yet most things in Ultimate Team Mode are left to be obtained or configured by way of chance through the Packs Lottery system (Random Selection). (Packs are the equivalent of lootboxes in other games). The user is left with very little to no input among many aspects of Ultimate Mode. The user has very little to no control over which fighter they are using, be it a Created or a Licensed Fighter. The user is likely to have an allocated CAF spot in Ultimate Team mode; with a fighting style not to their liking or/ and a division not of their choosing. If using a licensed fighter its likely to not be one with whom they have a strong affinity for. What this can develop is a user, with a luck of care for the fighter in their possession; simply due to the reduction in personal input and choice to pick whom they wanted. The fighter card was randomly obtained. How does one become invested in something not of their making? If one creates a fighter configures its various attributes (as well as selecting its style of fighting). Naturally one is more invested over a longer duration than with a Licensed Fighter. For its ones personal creation. The attachment is less likely to develop with a Licensed Fighter (a sense in a luck of ownership remains). Even lesser attachments can be expected over Licensed Fighters that are not ones favourite. Imagine playing Overwatch or Madden; having a random button as a selection button when picking a Hero or Team to use for your next match. How long will you stick around until the random selector picks your favourite Team or Hero? How much would you enjoy going through this hassle? Or would you rather have the choice to pick whoever you want and whenever (coins permitting)? If Licensed Fighters are to be included one would be enabled to upgrade any fighter of their choosing to the highest possible Tier comparable to an Elite or Master level. Essentially making them into an Ultimate Fighter in the true sense of the words. Rather this option; than have every user aspire to acquire 5* Mcgregors or 4* Nunes to further exacerbate mirror matches. The luck of Master and Elite Tier CAFs will encourage this end game scenario.  Pricing of Items In my opinion the pricing of items is conducive to discouraging continued play. For example; providing you win a match, one could be awarded on average 700 coins. Now examine this in relation to the Gold 3* Fighters that are priced at 250.000 coins (from item Scouting section). How many matches would a user have to play in order to obtain a 3* Gold Fighter from the Scouting screen? How many hours of gameplay would the user have to sit through? Two people offer their estimates Here and Here. What of, if they wanted to fill the 4 divisions with 4 specific favourite fighters of their choosing? That would be at a total cost of 1,000,000 coins; now how many more hours of gameplay would this require? Is the gameplay so engrossing to allow for a user to arrive at 250, 000 coins with little attention (to the goal); due to how beautiful the game plays? Further imagine that once you purchase a particular 3* Gold Fighter; you find the Fighters’ attributes (height, Arm reach etc.) after matches of play-testing that the item is not supportive to your style of play. The user has no way of reselling the 3* Gold Fighter to a better suited player. The user is restricted in effect to discarding the item for 500 coins. Need I remind you an item that they purchased for 250,000 coins. Are we to expect any user besides a hardcore fan to go through once again the many hours of gameplay in order to obtain 250,000 coins?  Discarded items are better suited to be set at values very closely resembling the initial purchase price. It goes without clearly highlighting that the pricing of 3* Gold Fighters is highly exaggerated (possibly including that of the 2* Silver Fighters). Another's perspective on Gold Contract prices in items scouting. These prices would need to be readjusted or/and coin earnings increased to more reasonable levels. Neither too high nor too low. Is the community better suited at fixing these prices for themselves? Items Scouting The Scouting Screen is the only place from which a user can directly purchase an item of their choosing. However only 5 random items are available for purchase at any give time (and for a day only). One has to first hope that an item of their interest is available at the Scouting Screen and that they happen to login into the game on that particular day. How can a User purchase their favourite fighter? If lucky the fighter becomes available through the Item Scouting (in a fighting style of your liking) or resign your hopes to obtaining them through the ‘Lottery Chance of Pack Openings’. What's the likelihood of this occurrence? Many aspects of Ultimate Mode seems to have been given to chance; living the user with fewer and fewer options of personal input. Marketplace A place where unneeded items are put up for sell; exchanged or traded with live players of Ultimate Team. The user base determines the market price of items for better or for worse. Its their choice. In light of the set prices the need for a Marketplace could never be more clearer. We have already seen working examples of these in other EA games. Certainly risks can abound for users to game such a system. However do the benefits outweigh the risks? The EA UFC community had highlighted the need for a Marketplace years ago. The user values more their ability to determine which character they can use be it higher valued or lower valued the option for personal choice remains empowering rather than leave the decision to ‘the Chance of Lottery Packs’.  Coin Earnings (methods of increase) Ultimate Team has the potential to extend EA UFC 3’s re-playability and lifespan. One way to encourage more activity in Ultimate Team is to award Ranked Mode and/ or Quick Play activity with Ultimate Coin Rewards. Achieving coins when offline due to the activity of an NPC controlling your active Fighters against actual users in Single Player Ultimate Team (as was the case in UFC 2) would be welcome. On special weeks or weekends relating to UFC real life events; coins earned or XP levels could be increased for a short duration coinciding with the UFC Event. Encouraging more activity of play during these times. Duplicate Items There seems to be a fairfew duplicate items more often through packs openings related to specific events. Personally I received 3 silver Jon Jones from the last seasonal challenge. Without a marketplace to which I could have listed the 2 unwanted items; the chances of getting duplicate items ought to be reviewed or readjusted.   Chemistry What its said to be? “Chemistry gives a bonus based on the difference between an attribute's current and max value. If your fighter has 90 Chemistry, their lowest stats are boosted more than their highest. Bonuses start at 0.5% and go up to 10%.” Considering the vast majority of items will be obtained through random packs. Optimising for chemistry seems a pointless endeavour. Providing the user could readily purchase items of their choosing then a reworking of chemistry could be better considered. The higher the chemistry the more fluid (easier/ quicker) combinations would be strung together (Or Access to combos is Chemistry dependant). With the current state however, users simply forfeit whatever their lowest attributes maybe and choose to focus more on having fighters with the highest values in a particular section; with little regard to the lowest values (less considered is chemistry). User Guides Although user guides have been done away with and no-longer included with physical copies of games. (And lesser physical copies are sold). A comprehensive text-based user guide for the game would be useful especially to a new audience. How best would such a guide be distributed? (Just to note the current in-game guides are excellent but not everything about the game is covered nor do I expect it to; the text-based guide doubles up as a quick reference). 2 Year Production Cycle The current production cycle of 2 years per new release is a welcome difference than what is seen in other yearly titles. Where a simple rooster update (with a few tweaks) would have been sufficient than packaging it has a complete new instalment in a franchise. (See Overwatch). People would be willing to pay for rooster updates providing there are reasonably priced. (No one expects a game to renovate yearly; creativity cannot be forced). One way in which EA UFC can distinguish it self from other EA titles is by better recreating lifelike representations of the Fighters. Although working on different modelling scales; EA UFC has far fewer athletes to recreate than NBA Live. This could naturally lead itself to truly recreating more individual mannerism that are specific to a fighter. Differences between fighters should be readily noticeable. Signature moves is a good start. Additional commentary by Cormier and Cruz would bring about more color to a match (less common; familiar terms that can make a match feel stale; variety commentary is key) Fantasy Game Modes If we are prepared to forgo the actual fighting styles of licensed fighters; and ascribe every type of style to their ultimate team card counterparts. Then perhaps we can consider adding ‘Pro Wrestling’ equivalent events into EA UFC. These alternative modes would only be accessible for a given period of time during the year. Due to the structure of MMA; EA UFC is a one to one; Player verses Player game. The purpose behind restructuring ‘Pro Wrestling’ events into an MMA structure is to increase opportunities for multiplayer action. Multiplayer activity helps build community within a game simply by shared experiences. Some of the ‘Pro Wrestling’ events that I believe could be reworked into EA MMA include: Elimination Chamber, Triple Threat (Tag Teams) and a smaller scaled Royal Rumble. Another Mode that could enliven the EA UFC 3 community is the reintroduction/ reformatted version of EA Sports Live Broadcast as first seen in EA Sports MMA. The offline variety of game modes (already in EA UFC 3) are creative and some would do well to be included online as this is where most users are to be found. Dedicated Servers As it already stands EA UFC 3 is not without its latency quirks or (game resets like those from EA UFC 2). Including the aforementioned fantasy game modes could require the use of dedicated servers in order to be of a benefit than detriment. Pricing of a Game A games price would dedicate that it meets a certain criteria. If its fully priced it ought to be a complete overhaul. Lesser copy and paste attributes from previous editions. Dedicated server browsers in place, that consistently support very little to no lag matches. Thoroughly play tested. One of the common themes with people that take up issue with EA UFC 3 is question and wonder how thorough particular elements of the game were tested; for the problems they encountered were quickly noticed (in short duration).  From Reddit is an explanation of how tedious the crafting and upgrading process of coins is;” whoever decided to make tokens go into your mailbox to be opened a second time, one at a time”...”125 bronze cards to make one gold token, each picked individually and delayed while it's loaded”..”Maybe it shouldn't take two hours of traversing menus to convert enough bronze items into a gold fighter”. The criteria that needs to be met before a game can be priced fully could be numerous (perhaps you can inform me of these; I wish to learn too); but common (standards) ought to be met before release. If these standards cannot be guaranteed then the price of the game would do best to reflect this. ($29.99 the price point that was selected at launch by Devolver Digital and Sloclap for their new IP Absolver). |
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03-04-2018, 05:02 AM
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#2 |
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MVP
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Re: EA UFC 3:Ultimate Team Hotfixes...A Comprehensive look
Karezza likes this.
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03-05-2018, 03:55 PM
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#3 |
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Just started!
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Re: EA UFC 3:Ultimate Team Hotfixes...A Comprehensive look
Yes , you're absolutely right !!
Nice work and deep remarks , you should work for the Ultimate team Division of Ufc 3 .  |
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05-06-2018, 09:25 AM
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#4 |
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Rookie
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Re: EA UFC 3:Ultimate Team Hotfixes...A Comprehensive look
Inclusion after Patch 1.05
Following the huge Patch 1.05 (Update #5) released on April 26, 2018, one visible change in Ultimate team mode is the ability to track current challenges/objectives in progress during a bout.  Pack Items chances: I believe an increase in the chances of what you obtain from an events pack is needed. If you save up 200K Coins to use at an event and draw out (less than 2 or) no Gold Fighters for that particular event; then problems exist. The progression system and what you obtain in packs is in need of a work around that encourages leveling up.
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EA UFC 6: Checklist Remainder |
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05-06-2018, 11:23 AM
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#5 |
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Rookie
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Re: EA UFC 3:Ultimate Team Hotfixes...A Comprehensive look
Karezza likes this.
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05-06-2018, 04:32 PM
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#6 |
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Rookie
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Re: EA UFC 3:Ultimate Team Hotfixes...A Comprehensive look
Poulpy likes this.
Last edited by Sivo; 05-06-2018 at 04:37 PM. |
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05-20-2018, 04:57 AM
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Rookie
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Re: EA UFC 3:Ultimate Team Hotfixes...A Comprehensive look
When a new edition of a game is released we may be caught up in new buzzwords or terminology, used to differentiate it from a previous version. I use this checklist as a remainder for future editions, as to what is of core importance to me in UFC Ultimate mode. After a 2 year hiatus we a bound to forget some of these sticking points.
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EA UFC 6: Checklist Remainder |
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