How come where I'm from everyone loves FFVIII and on the internet it's cool to act as if it sucks?

Oh right, FFVIII was disappointing to the American mainstream and the RPG purist "elite" alike. Why is this, expect you had some rediculous notion.of what an FF game was like and when it deviated even slightly, you decided you hated it?

Remember that many love it, and the game is generally celebrated in Japan and in many American circles. It's easily in my top 3 FFs, even beating IX, X and X-2. Are you gonna act all shocked now and bash the game once again?

~Alex M.

Okay, Chris? We get it.

You didn't like Final Fantasy VIII. We get it. For whatever reason, putting in the disc causes your realism threshold to spike, and you can't enjoy it. It doesn't work for you. I didn't find it to be any more illogical than most other games, but for you, it didn't work. We get it.

Let it go.

You didn't like Chrono Cross. Even though the art designwas gorgeous, the soundtrack still ranks among the best in any game, it didn't have random battles, the combat system was a lot of fun, and some of us thought the story was actually rather engaging... it had too many characters, so you didn't like it. That's fine. Some of us realize that the extra characters were like collectibles in any other game - instead of trading cards or coins or what have you, you went on sidequests to pick up characters. You weren't obligated to PLAY them all. You could get through the story with a core party and not bother with any of the others unless you wanted to check out their animations in battle (some of which were really quite entertaining).

But that didn't work for you. We get it.

Let it go.

You didn't get Final Fantasy X-2. You say "WTF?" whenever you mention the game, and seem especially bewildered by the idea of Dresspheres. Some of us realize that the Dressphere system is no different from the class systems in Final Fantasy V or Tactics (and many other games which followed), and that the ability to change classes on the fly in battle is really pretty cool. The in-game explanation is that
the change in costume is merely the outer manifestation of something more fundamental going on when you use the Dressphere, but hey, if it doesn't work for you, that's fine.

We get it. Let it go.

It just seems like you can't restrain yourself any time you see the opportunity to take a swipe at one of these games. Since I enjoyed them all, it gets tiresome to read your repeated gripes about them over and over and over again.

Okay, so I'm not completely off topic, I'll mention that in the first Activision Spider-Man game for the PS1, the final conflict with Doctor Octopus still stands out to me as one of the most frustrating, harrowing, and ultimately rewarding (when I finally conquered it) boss engagements. It wasn't a boss "fight," really, since you were actually running away rather than fighting, but it was a thumb-pummeling challenge. And the sounds that he made as he bore down on me scared the bejeezus out of me.

Grayson Towler

P.S. Thanks for mentioning that La Pucelle does not have the same system of leveling up as Disgaea. While Disgaea had a lot going for it, I found the need to restart my characters from scratch so often to be rather frustrating. Now, I'm inspired to pick up La Pucelle, especially if it's so cheap.

Mr. Gameforms,

I remember that Parasite Eve final boss. It just freaked me out because the first phase has you shoot the crap out of a baby. A mutant floating baby of doom, but a baby none the less.

R-Type Final has some fun end bosses, all however many final stages there are. It's just great how they make you think of a way to kill it that doesn't involve endless amounts of ammo, then take your main weapon away from you in the process. I felt enlightened when I finally figured out how to blow that giant... thing into smithereens.

Worst final boss has to go to the Legacy of Kain series. I love this series to no end, but the total lack of any decisive battle in any of them makes beating the game feel slightly empty.

You think the nintendo forums are bad? Try going to gamefaq's message boards. Yeah, these are the fruitcakes who voted Starcraft better than Halo. Just reading the many threads on the Resident Evil: Outbreak area make me glad I don't have broadband to play online.

- joe malo, who's deciding to use his entire summer gaming budget on $20 Zelda or $30 Megaman collection, because I've never had an NES and I'm deprived like that.

The bosses've always been a copout in the Mario series, I've found. Bowser and the other dinosaurs've always been just too damn easy. Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2 (Not that you've played the latter) both had pretty easy, and therefore lame final boss battles. I thought that giant worm in Silent Hill3 was pretty damn scary. I hope they make the bosses in SH4 tougher.

Chris, I like the game, but the bosses of Metal Gear Solid are nothing short of annoying.

-THC

OH MY GOD--!!!! It all came back to me in a *FLASH*!!!

Dude, hands-down, the lamest, most horrible final boss I've ever encountered
in a game belongs to Chrono Trigger. Don't misunderstand, I'm not hating on
it or anything, in fact, 'Trigger is one of my all-time favorite RPG's
'evar', so I'm all about love for it, okay?

But, Jesus Frickin' Buddha, what the hell was the development team
mainlining into their veins when they designed the final boss?! I remember
the gnarly fight with the biomechanical thing inside Lavos's shell, and
then... and then... and then some GODDAMNED DUCK IN A JULES VERNE DIVING
HELMET comes out of nowhere!! And what's worse is how your party members are
all, "Great Scott! It has used super-scientific analysis and
DNA-something-or-the-other to become the ultimate step in evolution!!"

...there are no words. There is, perhaps, the incredibly useless factoid I'm
about to share with you now: my buddy, Kingu, and I used to call the final
boss 'Plucky Duck'.

Ick. I'm not going to touch upon coolest boss, because I've got about five
candidates, and I can't make up my mind about which one I'll mention. I'll
leave that to the rest of my letter-writing gaming brethren.

Peace.

-TheAbsu-

PS. I was referencing LOTR: Return of the King. ^__-

Mabuhay!

I don't know about Video Games, as most final bosses wipe themselves from my mind as I finish them off.

But arcade games? The best boss was in that gun-shooting game "The Keisatsu-kan", which means "The Police". What made "The Keisatsu-kan" different was that there were some motion sensors in the machine, and you actually had to duck and move yourself you dodge some very very slow bullets. It was interesting, as moving actually changed your camera view.

Anyway, back to the boss. I mean, that damn boss left a soreness in my thighs and knees that lasted a week. The reason? He was behind a desk! A DESK! THAT TATOOED, BARE-CHESTED, MUSCLE BOUND, REVOLVER TOTING, MOSAIC-FACED (all the game's bosses had their faces 'censored' ala news-broadcast), SUM'BITCH CROUCHED BEHIND THAT STUPID DESK WHENEVER HE TOOK A SHOT!

Bastard ruined my legs and made my bad-dude detective (with a blonde crew-cut, wraparound shades, high-school letter jacket and sneakers) look like just a regular dude. Good thing my shooting his ass got me an "URGENT ARREST" award and a promotion to Police Commissioner. Now I can just park my ineffective lower extremities behind a desk and make the uniforms do my work.

That's what I call a boss that leaves an impression (on your legs).

Speaking of gun games, have you noticed that many grade your performance on that hexagonal graph-thing? I was graded a B in "Keisatsu-kan", with high "Intellect", "Bravery", "Consistency", but low "Youthfulness" and "Moral". Youthfulness? Consistency? I'd pay to see how these things are evaluated in a game about shooting the hell outta criminals.

From your friendly neighborhood UnangBangkay. To know more about him, please contact your local zoning laws.