Don't you just love it when you beat a game? For some reason, it feels mighty fine to watch the credits roll.

Even when I was first playing Super Mario Land on the tiny green screen, I remember the first time I finally beat the whole game and got to hear the amazing tune for the end of it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VztCEY5wFW4 <-someone amazing who put it on Youtube

Watching Mario fly off with Daisy, it was this mixture of extreme pride and extreme depression. After all, now that I had beaten it, I knew what was at the end, so it made the replay value decrease.

Just like most things, this feeling has stuck with me in my gaming lifestyle.

When I beat Ocarina of Time, I almost bawled my eyes out. It was so great, so awesome, so full of things to do, but then it ended and there was nothing else to accomplish in it. Same thing happened with beating Pokemon (red version). I felt that same bittersweet feeling inside.

And then, I played Donkey Kong land for Game Boy. I'm sure you know about it. It's not only challenging but also merciless on your characters. If you touch an enemy wrong twice, you have to start over the level again, and after months of fighting it, I almost got to the end to beat nasty King Krool, only he kept killing me over and over again. So I stopped playing, and it became one of the first games where I was, as the saying goes, "So close, yet so far".

As I've gotten older and gotten more games and game systems, I have noticed that one trend stays pitifully the same. My game style tends to be that I play a game little bit by little bit until I get almost to the end. And then, I suddenly get that "impending doom" feeling (you know what I'm talking about).

"Agh!" I say, "This game is oppressing me!" And I run off and start playing a puzzle game and get one of those irritatingly catchy puzzle-songs stuck in my head.

But eventually I come back to it. The other day, I finally pulled out the GameCube version of Twilight Princess and I beat the game. It was kind of humorous to see that the last save file I'd saved at was exactly at the end of the game when I'm stuck tromping around Hyrule Castle trying to find Ganondorf. It also said that I'd last played the game about a year ago.

I finally got the courage to beat the game itself, but it still left me with the lingering sadness that I always feel when a game that I've enjoyed is finally over. I keep hoping for a little extra snippet at the end, or possibly a bonus dungeon, but no...the game is over and done and it'll be another few years (if ever) before another game like it comes out.

It's like that with most of my other games. Sure, I close them out eventually, watch the credits roll, feeling detached and somewhat remorseful, but I've always been one of those people who loves the beginning of a game and the enjoyment of leveling and expanding the world until you get to the point where it becomes practically ridiculous.

But when that final credit rolls up the screen, I know that like anything, I have to move on, and take the next game for what it's worth. And of course, many games have a replay value (I am guilty of playing Ocarina of Time at least 10 times), but I know that in the end, that first time beating the game is like all other firsts; it can't be re-experienced with a replay.

Of course, what brought this on was the fact that I just beat Etrian Odyssey today, and I'm still amazed that I somehow beat the Etreant (which is a total bitch while also having cheap and bastardly moves). Of course, I'm kind of attached to all of my party members, so I almost fell off my chair when I found another bonus stratum under the boss battle room. YAY! I can still keep adventuring, even if it's just for a little while, and the best part about it is the fact that I can reap all the rewards and praise from the NPCs after having beaten the Hardest. Freaking. Character. Ever.

If you've read this post, feel free to post your list of games that you still have laying around, waiting to get that last boss fight or the last little quest or requirement to be met before the credits roll.

After all, while some gamers rip through a game like a rabid sugar-deprived child rips through his bucket of Halloween candy, many more of us sort of grieve when we finally get to the ending of a game that has captured our time, attention, and possibly a bit of our heart as well.

I wonder if this is the same sort of feeling I'll feel when I'm at the end of my life.

One of my biggest problems with most games has to do with the way that so many games try to be different from one another.

You get used to a certain system, one that works well, and then what do they do? They bring in some other, more complicated, and possibly downright BAD configuration and instead of making it more challenging, it's just more annoying.

Case in point: Heroes of Mana. I played Children of Mana and was pleasantly surprised at the fairly well-done story, the levels that allowed for game play that sort of reminded me of the older Zelda games (live action monster fighting with different weapons) and fairly challenging boss fights. Of course, when it came to Heroes of Mana, I couldn't get much past the cinematic at the beginning and the "tutorial" that almost made me wanted to go get my teeth drilled one at a time without Novocaine.

What the fuck is up with drones? They do the same thing over and over again, or something. That right there made me want to throw my hands up in the air. I didn't want to play a game that involved foraging like some primitive Harvest Moon rip-off until I could adequately do something to advance the story. I mean, fine, I can understand a bit of searching while actually doing stuff, but it's just a pain in the butt to think that I have to do a bunch of irrelevant stuff just to START the game.

After that game left a bad taste in my mouth, I decided to try Luminous Arc, even though it was only the second SRPG I've ever tried. And suddenly, I was having a great time. The story is entertaining, the controls are easy to immediately get the hang of, and it wasn't too easy, but wasn't too soul-draining.

So, why aren't there more games like this? Why do so many games try so hard to be "different" at the expense of logical, clear controls, and actually good gameplay?

I have a bit of a beef with "The World Ends With You" as well. First of all, is it just me, or does it feel like you're trying to beat the crap out of the touch screen when you're fighting? One of the most annoying things about games that involve a lot of fast tapping is that the touch screen doesn't always register, causing people to tap harder and harder until it's almost certainly going to break something. Additionally, maybe it's because I'm a bit older than the target (teen and tween) audience, but the characters seem a bit too "Linkin Park" for me. It's all "angst" this and "angst" that, and it makes me want to scream, "Hey, cut it out! I'm trying to play here!" I've decided to put it away for awhile and let the "Whambulence" sirens fade so that I can handle actually playing it.


And so that brings me to my current game: Hoshigami Remix. I'm a bit into it, but a bit confused. Some of the stuff I'm really enjoying (the story is decent and the controls are pretty good), but other stuff is kind of wonky (could someone please tell them to revamp their touch screen system of moving people? pretty much instantly went back to using the buttons and direction arrows).

So, it's been a mixed bag, but maybe, just maybe, if enough people agree with me, we can get developers to stop wasting their time on wonky and badly designed games, and using the stuff that actually WORKS?

My guild's name is Alabast. The most unique thing about my party is that I don't have a Medic. Early on, when I tried to have a Medic, he just kept dying (poor Balasi) and had no ability to do anything other than heal and run out of TP. So I swapped him out for my Troubadour, who kicks major butt. Not only can she make long-running support moves with her healing and relaxing moves, but she only has to do them once, which saves precious turns.

My most memorable moment about this is from the Fifth Stratum, in which the Muskaloids come out in pairs (or even quadruples). Since Oni (my Troubadour) is so quick, she can usually get in a Healing spell before every single Muskaloid puts my party to sleep. At least then, they keep healing while they're asleep and totally defenseless.

One of my most memorable battles was with the Golem. He was so difficult to battle (he's a giant rock, right?), and I kept running out of TP, so Relaxing helped me a lot. I also liked the combo moves. Like, Morgan, my Landschnecht, who uses his freezing sword attack in tandem with my Alchemist (Edward), who uses freeze as a double whammy. That sure put that Golem in it's place!

My dark hunter, Nana, is one of my favorites for the front line. Not only is she able to bind heads with her Gag move (which keeps monsters from cursing, putting members to sleep, and confusing, among other things) but she can poison with her Viper move, and if you can bind an enemy all over, her Ecstasy move is frightening. Climax always makes me laugh, because whenever you instant kill a monster, it's a total rush. I always wonder why her moves seem somewhat dominatrix-ish, though. She kind of looks like one too, with all the black leather and such. It's always quite amusing for me to imagine her going "HO HO HO I HOPE YOU'RE READY!" while brandishing her whip at monsters.

I've almost forgotten my Holy Protector, but they always say, leave the best for last. Her name is Horo, and she is one of my sturdiest fighters. Her Defender skills have saved many a battle from going south, and I've always liked the move Smite. For some reason, it just has that self-righteous, but in a good way, sort of feeling to it. Besides, Smite-ing FoEs always makes me feel a little god-like.

All in all, they work together, and I cannot imagine any other formation or group. Sure, I have a few others who mainly sit back at the Inn and only venture out to help me satisfy quests at the Golden Deer Inn, but different companions have different strengths and weaknesses, which always makes the journey more interesting.