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The CBH entry has been deleted; you should not refer to other entries on a page
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* EvenBetterSequel: Generally the reaction the game got on both sides of the Pacific when it first released (not so much later; see CondemnedByHistory above). In Japan, it made waves for being the highest-reviewed Atelier game since the original release of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMarieTheAlchemistOfSalburg Atelier Marie]]'' at the time, and the battle and alchemy systems being heavily refined stuck out to give it extra polish compared to those of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierTotoriTheAdventurerOfArland Totori]]''. While [[OnceOriginalNowCommon later games building right on top of it]] made it come off as less impressive as time went on, ''Meruru'' is still considered to be one of the more well-rounded executions of an Atelier game system.
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* EvenBetterSequel: Generally the reaction the game got on both sides of the Pacific when it first released (not so much later; see CondemnedByHistory above).released. In Japan, it made waves for being the highest-reviewed Atelier game since the original release of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierMarieTheAlchemistOfSalburg Atelier Marie]]'' at the time, and the battle and alchemy systems being heavily refined stuck out to give it extra polish compared to those of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierTotoriTheAdventurerOfArland Totori]]''. While [[OnceOriginalNowCommon later games building right on top of it]] made it come off as less impressive as time went on, ''Meruru'' is still considered to be one of the more well-rounded executions of an Atelier game system.
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** Another common criticism against the game is that it subjects you to event after event after event if you so much as even move to a single location, annoying players who really would like to get back to playing the actual game already.
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** Another common criticism against the game is that it subjects you to event after event after event if you so much as even move to a single location, annoying players who really would like to get back to playing the actual game already.already.
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The game is neither Condemned By History or Overshadowed By Controversy. Condemned requires it to be near-universally disliked in the present day, and Overshadowed requires most conversations about the game to be dominated by the topic. Atelier Meruru is liked by enough people to not count.
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* CondemnedByHistory:
** When ''Meruru'' first released, it was highly praised for its festival-like atmosphere and its well-designed game system that was highly polished by series standards at the time, and a large percentage of people considered it to be an EvenBetterSequel compared to previous games. As time went on, however, while the system continued to be praised for being well-designed, it started to be treated as less impressive compared to those of later games, and as player demographics started shifting towards people less tolerant of fanservice due to the TamerAndChaster later games, ''Meruru'''s writing was subject to even harsher scrutiny, especially when ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Lulua]]'' was released with a much more mature writing style and made ''Meruru'' come off as an awkward outlier in comparison. As a result, while the game is still generally regarded positively for the most part, [[ContestedSequel it doesn't have the same glowing reputation it used to]].
** Likewise, when the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierShallieAlchemistsOfTheDuskSea Atelier Shallie]]'' was released, ''Meruru'' was widely considered to be a much better example of how to close a trilogy and celebrate its characters compared to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierShallieAlchemistsOfTheDuskSea Shallie]]'' being rather unresolved in comparison. But after ''Shallie Plus'' gave the game a significant rewrite to be much more conclusive while ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLydieAndSuelleTheAlchemistsAndTheMysteriousPaintings Lydie & Suelle]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRyza3AlchemistOfTheEndAndTheSecretKey Ryza 3]]'' received high praise for capping off their own stories, ''Meruru'' ended up with the status of being considered the ''weakest'' out of all of them. The disparity became especially glaring after ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Atelier Lulua]]'' was released, since ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Lulua]]'' dedicated itself to cleaning up unresolved subplots and giving the returning characters a proper sendoff in a way that made it clear ''Meruru'' hadn't actually done much for its characters besides subjecting a handful of them to {{Flanderization}} and [[TheCameo putting everyone else in cameos in the opening]].
* ContestedSequel: Even now, most people agree that as far as gameplay design is concerned, it's an EvenBetterSequel to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierTotoriTheAdventurerOfArland Totori]]'' (especially when the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' is used as comparison and not ''Rorona Plus''). The writing is a completely different matter, since while some people considered it to be a fun and "festival-like" game, people who were more strongly invested in the characters were quick to criticize its penchant for {{Flanderization}}, its way of prioritizing being DenserAndWackier over resolving anything, the lack of depth given to the new characters, and the excessive fanservice and [[ValuesDissonance heavy use of poorly-aged tropes]] like the OldMaid concept, especially [[OvershadowedByControversy the infamous controversy]] about de-aging Rorona and ruining her life over something as petty as that. The fact that all of these issues [[CondemnedByHistory started looking even more glaring as more games were released]] didn't help.
** When ''Meruru'' first released, it was highly praised for its festival-like atmosphere and its well-designed game system that was highly polished by series standards at the time, and a large percentage of people considered it to be an EvenBetterSequel compared to previous games. As time went on, however, while the system continued to be praised for being well-designed, it started to be treated as less impressive compared to those of later games, and as player demographics started shifting towards people less tolerant of fanservice due to the TamerAndChaster later games, ''Meruru'''s writing was subject to even harsher scrutiny, especially when ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Lulua]]'' was released with a much more mature writing style and made ''Meruru'' come off as an awkward outlier in comparison. As a result, while the game is still generally regarded positively for the most part, [[ContestedSequel it doesn't have the same glowing reputation it used to]].
** Likewise, when the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierShallieAlchemistsOfTheDuskSea Atelier Shallie]]'' was released, ''Meruru'' was widely considered to be a much better example of how to close a trilogy and celebrate its characters compared to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierShallieAlchemistsOfTheDuskSea Shallie]]'' being rather unresolved in comparison. But after ''Shallie Plus'' gave the game a significant rewrite to be much more conclusive while ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLydieAndSuelleTheAlchemistsAndTheMysteriousPaintings Lydie & Suelle]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRyza3AlchemistOfTheEndAndTheSecretKey Ryza 3]]'' received high praise for capping off their own stories, ''Meruru'' ended up with the status of being considered the ''weakest'' out of all of them. The disparity became especially glaring after ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Atelier Lulua]]'' was released, since ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Lulua]]'' dedicated itself to cleaning up unresolved subplots and giving the returning characters a proper sendoff in a way that made it clear ''Meruru'' hadn't actually done much for its characters besides subjecting a handful of them to {{Flanderization}} and [[TheCameo putting everyone else in cameos in the opening]].
* ContestedSequel: Even now, most people agree that as far as gameplay design is concerned, it's an EvenBetterSequel to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierTotoriTheAdventurerOfArland Totori]]'' (especially when the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' is used as comparison and not ''Rorona Plus''). The writing is a completely different matter, since while some people considered it to be a fun and "festival-like" game, people who were more strongly invested in the characters were quick to criticize its penchant for {{Flanderization}}, its way of prioritizing being DenserAndWackier over resolving anything, the lack of depth given to the new characters, and the excessive fanservice and [[ValuesDissonance heavy use of poorly-aged tropes]] like the OldMaid concept, especially [[OvershadowedByControversy the infamous controversy]] about de-aging Rorona and ruining her life over something as petty as that. The fact that all of these issues [[CondemnedByHistory started looking even more glaring as more games were released]] didn't help.
to:
** When ''Meruru'' first released, it was highly praised for its festival-like atmosphere and its well-designed game system that was highly polished by series standards at the time, and a large percentage of people considered it to be an EvenBetterSequel compared to previous games. As time went on, however, while the system continued to be praised for being well-designed, it started to be treated as less impressive compared to those of later games, and as player demographics started shifting towards people less tolerant of fanservice due to the TamerAndChaster later games, ''Meruru'''s writing was subject to even harsher scrutiny, especially when ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Lulua]]'' was released with a much more mature writing style and made ''Meruru'' come off as an awkward outlier in comparison. As a result, while the game is still generally regarded positively for the most part, [[ContestedSequel it doesn't have the same glowing reputation it used to]].
** Likewise, when the original version of ''[[VideoGame/AtelierShallieAlchemistsOfTheDuskSea Atelier Shallie]]'' was released, ''Meruru'' was widely considered to be a much better example of how to close a trilogy and celebrate its characters compared to ''[[VideoGame/AtelierShallieAlchemistsOfTheDuskSea Shallie]]'' being rather unresolved in comparison. But after ''Shallie Plus'' gave the game a significant rewrite to be much more conclusive while ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLydieAndSuelleTheAlchemistsAndTheMysteriousPaintings Lydie & Suelle]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRyza3AlchemistOfTheEndAndTheSecretKey Ryza 3]]'' received high praise for capping off their own stories, ''Meruru'' ended up with the status of being considered the ''weakest'' out of all of them. The disparity became especially glaring after ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Atelier Lulua]]'' was released, since ''[[VideoGame/AtelierLuluaTheScionOfArland Lulua]]'' dedicated itself to cleaning up unresolved subplots and giving the returning characters a proper sendoff in a way that made it clear ''Meruru'' hadn't actually done much for its characters besides subjecting a handful of them to {{Flanderization}} and [[TheCameo putting everyone else in cameos in the opening]].
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* OvershadowedByControversy:
** If you've heard about the game upwards of five years since its release, it's hard to not also hear about the infamous controversy regarding Rorona being de-aged into an 8-year-old because both Astrid and the developers agreed that nobody would want to see her as an OldMaid. Since the original release didn't include ''any'' ending that actually fixed her situation and conversely included two that indulged the {{Ephebophile}} stance even further, it resulted in so much fan backlash that Gust had to visibly overcompensate to make up for the mistake. With ''Lulua'' having no problem showing off Rorona in her thirties as a mom, ''Meruru'''s association with what's now considered to be an embarrassingly low point of misogyny on Gust's part was a large factor in it being CondemnedByHistory.
** In Japan, the game ended up attracting a lot of negative press when the high amount of {{Fanservice}} got the CERO ratings board to mandate a re-rating, temporarily suspending shipments and getting Gust reprimanded for not sending enough materials when submitting it for its initial rating. In the end, the re-rating only brought it up from A (all ages) to B (12+), something that was hardly that big of a deal since some of the previous games had also gotten a B (let alone the fact that future [[UpdatedRerelease rereleased versions]] and mainline games would end up getting [=Bs=] or even [=Cs=] as the CERO got more stringent over time)... but the fact the incident happened at all remained associated with the game in Japanese public memory, which didn't help the franchise's reputation for being skeevier than it actually is.
** If you've heard about the game upwards of five years since its release, it's hard to not also hear about the infamous controversy regarding Rorona being de-aged into an 8-year-old because both Astrid and the developers agreed that nobody would want to see her as an OldMaid. Since the original release didn't include ''any'' ending that actually fixed her situation and conversely included two that indulged the {{Ephebophile}} stance even further, it resulted in so much fan backlash that Gust had to visibly overcompensate to make up for the mistake. With ''Lulua'' having no problem showing off Rorona in her thirties as a mom, ''Meruru'''s association with what's now considered to be an embarrassingly low point of misogyny on Gust's part was a large factor in it being CondemnedByHistory.
** In Japan, the game ended up attracting a lot of negative press when the high amount of {{Fanservice}} got the CERO ratings board to mandate a re-rating, temporarily suspending shipments and getting Gust reprimanded for not sending enough materials when submitting it for its initial rating. In the end, the re-rating only brought it up from A (all ages) to B (12+), something that was hardly that big of a deal since some of the previous games had also gotten a B (let alone the fact that future [[UpdatedRerelease rereleased versions]] and mainline games would end up getting [=Bs=] or even [=Cs=] as the CERO got more stringent over time)... but the fact the incident happened at all remained associated with the game in Japanese public memory, which didn't help the franchise's reputation for being skeevier than it actually is.
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* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "being willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own perverted amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that otherwise continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), and the AuthorsSavingThrow ending tweaked things to suggest that she may have had less control over the situation than she tried to pretend she did, but it's still all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
to:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "being "[[MadScientist being willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own perverted amusement") amusement]]") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that otherwise continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), and the AuthorsSavingThrow ending tweaked things to suggest that she may have had less control over the situation than she tried to pretend she did, but it's still all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
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** In Japan, the game ended up attracting a lot of negative press when the high amount of {{Fanservice}} got the CERO ratings board to mandate a re-rating, temporarily suspending shipments and reprimanding Gust for not sending enough materials when submitting it for its initial rating. In the end, the re-rating only brought it up from A (all ages) to B (12+), something that was hardly that big of a deal since some of the previous games had also gotten a B (let alone the fact that future [[UpdatedRerelease rereleased versions]] and mainline games would end up getting [=Bs=] or even [=Cs=] as the CERO got more stringent over time)... but the fact the incident happened at all remained associated with the game in Japanese public memory, which didn't help the franchise's reputation for being skeevier than it actually is.
to:
** In Japan, the game ended up attracting a lot of negative press when the high amount of {{Fanservice}} got the CERO ratings board to mandate a re-rating, temporarily suspending shipments and reprimanding getting Gust reprimanded for not sending enough materials when submitting it for its initial rating. In the end, the re-rating only brought it up from A (all ages) to B (12+), something that was hardly that big of a deal since some of the previous games had also gotten a B (let alone the fact that future [[UpdatedRerelease rereleased versions]] and mainline games would end up getting [=Bs=] or even [=Cs=] as the CERO got more stringent over time)... but the fact the incident happened at all remained associated with the game in Japanese public memory, which didn't help the franchise's reputation for being skeevier than it actually is.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "being willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own perverted amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that otherwise continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
to:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "being willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own perverted amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that otherwise continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), and the AuthorsSavingThrow ending tweaked things to suggest that she may have had less control over the situation than she tried to pretend she did, but it's still all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "someone who'd be willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
to:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "someone who'd be "being willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own perverted amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that otherwise continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting permanently stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "someone who'd be willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
to:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting permanently stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "someone who'd be willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 8 (click to see context) from:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting permanently stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
to:
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting permanently stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" (and, more broadly, "someone who'd be willing to mess up other people's bodies for her own amusement") in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added line(s) 9 (click to see context) :
* NeverLiveItDown: The entire Potion of Youth debacle resulted in Astrid getting permanently stigmatized as "being so horny for Rorona she's willing to ruin her life over it" in fan circles. In actuality, her behavior in ''Meruru'' was [[WriterOnBoard the result of being turned into a dev mouthpiece]] and unusually callous for her (even by the standards of later works that continued maintaining ''Meruru''[='=]s {{Flanderization}} of her character), but it's all too easy to find fans reinterpreting her ParentalSubstitute role in ''[[VideoGame/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistOfArland Rorona]]'' as her grooming Rorona to be her toy.
Changed line(s) 9 (click to see context) from:
** If you've heard about the game upwards of five years since its release, it's hard to not also hear about the infamous controversy regarding Rorona being de-aged into an 8-year-old because both Astrid and the developers agreed that nobody would want to see her as an OldMaid. Since the original release didn't include ''any'' ending that actually fixed her situation and conversely included two that indulged the {{Ephebophile}} stance even further to the point of [[WriterOnBoard making Astrid into a blatant dev mouthpiece]], it resulted in so much fan backlash that Gust had to visibly overcompensate to make up for the mistake. With ''Lulua'' having no problem showing off Rorona in her thirties as a mom, ''Meruru'''s association with what's now considered to be an embarrassingly low point of misogyny on Gust's part was a large factor in it being CondemnedByHistory.
to:
** If you've heard about the game upwards of five years since its release, it's hard to not also hear about the infamous controversy regarding Rorona being de-aged into an 8-year-old because both Astrid and the developers agreed that nobody would want to see her as an OldMaid. Since the original release didn't include ''any'' ending that actually fixed her situation and conversely included two that indulged the {{Ephebophile}} stance even further to the point of [[WriterOnBoard making Astrid into a blatant dev mouthpiece]], further, it resulted in so much fan backlash that Gust had to visibly overcompensate to make up for the mistake. With ''Lulua'' having no problem showing off Rorona in her thirties as a mom, ''Meruru'''s association with what's now considered to be an embarrassingly low point of misogyny on Gust's part was a large factor in it being CondemnedByHistory.
