The Bane of Kain

I love my handheld, it allows me to return to some of my old favorites, like the early FF series, and to play some older games that I never got to play when they came out.

I have to come clean on something (and this'll make me sound more like a noob than I already am), when FFII came out for the SNES back in 1991 I thought that this was one of the best games ever (it was my first plunge into the franchise and what got me really started playing other RPGs later on: IoG, SF, CT, etc.), but then I got to the boss fight with Zeromus, and no matter what I tried, I couldn't beat him. I tried leveling up higher, I tried using Protect/Shell spells, nothing I tried seemed to work, I still got killed by the Southern Cross move. It frustrated me to know end. Finally I gave up; my first time I ever gave up on a game so close to the end.

More than an entire decade passed before I would ever see that game again (now it is called FFIV and it comes with CT, sweet a bonus), this time for the PSone. I thought, "Great, I got an old score to settle, and this time I'm going to beat it." So, I load it up on my PS2, and about two weeks later I finally get to the final boss fight, I really worked hard to get to this point, I even checked the internet for some helpful hints (some helpful--including the one about stealing the Dark Matter, some not-so-helpful) along the way. I print them out, I follow them to the letter (the helpful ones), and what happens, I still am not able to beat that bastard, Zeromus. Once again, I give up on the game and it goes into a dark corner of my room to collect dust. I eventually find out what I did wrong by coming to this wonderful site [Gamerhelp], and I learn a few more tricks, but alas, my poor PS2 had burned out and crashed (I had bought it used at a gamestop by trading in my old tried and true and very faithful SNES--sorry old friend--and about $60 or so, plus tax) after only two years of use.

A few more years go by, and I had settled down to playing on the GC, learning about the horrors of RE and going over to a friends house occasionally for my fix of PSone and PS2 games, Silent Hill, Star Wars, whatever. Finally, I was able to get a DS Lite and the first game I got for it was GBA virsion of FFIV, and the quest to beat that one FF series final boss I was never able to beat, continued. I made all the preparations, and again after two weeks of playing, I get to Zeromus--here it is some 15-18 years; almost 20 years that I have been plagued by this--and I am happy to report, that on 01/01/2008 I finally, finally beat Final Fantasy II/IV. Now, if I can only get through FFVII...but that's another story to tell for another date.