Hello all and merry Listmas! For those who don’t know, Listmas is a multi-blog event masterminded by our friend C.T. Murphy of Murf Vs Internet. It’s a wonderful time of sharing, story-swapping, and lists! Oh such wonderful lists! Keep an eye on CT’s blog and United We Game from now until the 25th, as we’ll be bringing you all the wonderful Listmas goings-on! And with that we move on to, you guessed it, a list!
Games are fun and all, but what are we playing for if not the rush that comes with success or the thrill of a sudden plot twist? We all have aspects of gaming we enjoy the most, and the following are mine. These are my top 3 BEST gamer moments!
Beating Mass Effect for the First Time
(video by Youtube user: DarkDrumProductions)
Unlike most game endings, where it just feels so abrupt. This one just felt…good. Incredibly good in fact! It’s tome was so triumphant, so soul-soaringly victorious that it actually inspired feelings of pride, that something had actually been accomplished. I had seen my Commander Shepard through the storm and enabled him to emerge utterly victorious over Saren and Sovereign. Finishing a game always carries at least some feeling of accomplishment with it, but not nearly to this degree. Finishing the original Mass Effect for the first time was, in a word, special; and it’s that feeling that makes playing worth it.
Beating Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts
(video by Youtube user: CGInfernoBlast)
For me, beating Sephiroth was a major milestone. I had played Final Fantasy VII as a kid and so was excited at the prospect of getting to fight him, and especially so because I’d never finished FFVII (and still haven’t) and wanted to be able to say that I had defeated Sephiroth to a friend of mine at the time (who had beaten FFVII at the time and held defeating Sephiroth as a badge of honor of sorts). I’d also done very few challenging things as a gamer up to that point. I’d beaten plenty of games, sure, but I wouldn’t call them particularly challenging (stuff like Yoshi’s Island and Spyro 2:Riptoe’s Rage). Sephiroth was one of the first major challenges I took on as a gamer, and let me tell you it took every once of skill I could muster back then.
It took countless defeats, some grudging leveling up, and a 25 minute slog of battle (featuring me nearly tossing my controller in frustration whenever I got hit with “Sin Harvest Angel”), but eventually I emerged victorious, and henceforth claimed “One Winged Angel” as a personal theme of victory! I’ve beaten him once or twice since then, but that first win will always be remembered with particular pride.
Event Match 51 in Super Smash Bros. Melee
(video by Youtube user:chimanruler15)
In the months following the release of Super Smash Bros. Melee, I was what you would call “hooked”. I spent a great deal of my free time playing the game, and doing eveything I could to unlock it’s secrets. For that first year though, I just wasn’t good at the game. I didn’t master a character and couldn’t get through most of the more difficult challenges. Then the Yoshi wars began. What happened was I and a friend at the time decided that we would each attempt to master Yoshi (who we thought was the most difficult to play with at the time), with the end goal of proving who’s Smash skills were superior. The test: Event Match 51, the only event neither us could complete.
It took hours upon hours of training, cruel melee endurance runs, and 1v1 sparring, but we did each eventually master Yoshi and I emerged victorious as the first to beat Event Match 51. Victory never tasted sweeter! It didn’t settle the debate (it definitely did NOT) but bragging right are bragging rights…
So those are my best gaming moments, but I’m more interested in yours. What are your greatest game accomplishments? The best stories you ever got out of being a gamer?
Oh, yeah, I just beat Sephiroth in “KH1″. It was so satisfying. (He got me with that Angel attack so many times before I finally had enough practice that I was able to stop him from using it. I even survived it a few miraculous times, only to die when he used it again.) And so was every time I beat a really challenging Event Match in “Melee”. Some of those were terrible.
One very satisfying moment for me was the first time I actually got 100% in “Donkey Kong Country 2” without cheating. Previously, in order to get all those special coins, I did this cheat that got you all the coins at once, but I finally decided I’d try it the correct way. It was so hard and frustrating, but I finally got all coins and finished all the secret levels. It was awesome. I was also pretty proud when I beat all of those really tough extra challenges in “FFVII: Dirge of Cerberus”. Oh, the rage I endured in those areas where you must kill a bunch of enemies with Cait Sith, or last several minutes against a helicopter, where you must shoot the missiles before they hit you. Those areas were horrid and sadistic, but I finally prevailed. And I don’t think I ever want to do it again.
Major props for fully completing DKC2! Which did you think was more difficult to do in that, getting all Krem Koins or getting all the DK coins?
I believe the Krem Koins were more difficult. Mini-games are strangely stressful.
It’s that darn timer and frantic music!
I’ll share one: beating Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits.
It was by no means a bad game, nor was it overly difficult, but that last boss will challenge your sanity. For whatever reason, they decided to give him enough health to last half an hour to an hour depending on how leveled you were. Failing (which was entirely possible) meant wasting a ton of time literally doing the same thing over and over again.
It was gruesome and I’ll never forget that feel of success when the bastard died.
Sounds like they went the cheap difficulty route for that boss. I’ve never heard of that game before, what kind of game is it?
It’s a JRPG on PS2. It’s pretty good, all-around. It is turn based but there is still some movement involved in the combat.
Sounds like it’s worth checking out. Thanks for the recommendation!
I’m with you on beating Mass Effect. I mean, great boss battles are plentiful, but something about defeating Saren in that final battle was simply and immensely satisfying.
I’ll share as well: beating Mother Brain in Super Metroid. This is probably my most favorite final battle of all time. All the bosses in that game are great, but facing Mother Brain, no matter how many times I had before, was always slightly terrifying and really enjoyable.
Is Mother Brain a difficult boss? Or is the it the escape afterward that makes it awesome? I’ve never played it (still planning to), that whole end sequence sounds awesome!
Actually, it’s not a hard battle (which is probably why I like it), but you can still die pretty easily if you aren’t paying attention. The final escape adds a wonderful level of tension, making the whole sequence one of the best in the game. Good luck getting through it someday, it’ll be worth it!
Yep, I second (or third, now) that beating Mass Effect felt amazing. The final battles, the last bit of politics that left you wanting more, and then that music kicking in… I wish I could experience it all over for the first time!
That was nice little addition they did at the end wasn’t it? A small hint that Shepard was going to continue to be important in the future, but doesn’t spoil it by crossing into cliffhanger territory.