[OCR00978 - Lufia II "Turbid Guidance"]

This is a beautiful piece. It's always nice to hear an arrangement that isn't techno or trance. (Note: I like Techno and Trance too)

[OCR00970 - Super Mario Bros. 3 "Battle Rocks"]

I'd just like to say that this is one of those songs that's become an instant favorite of mine. One of those mp3's that just sits in Winamp by itself, eternally looping.

[All Time Hardest Boss]

I doubt this one's been mentioned... Anyone here ever played (or heard of) Hybrid Heaven for the N64? It was a game that played similiarly (and pre-dated) Vagrant Story. Unfortunately it was not as interesting or well executed as VS. Anyway, I worked my way to what I must assume was the final boss, this little alien guy that zipped all over the screen and was impossible to land a hit on. I battled it for at least half an hour and hardly touched the miserable thing. Finally I quit, it wasn't fun anymore.

Actually, speaking of Vagrant Story. If you don't build up the power of your weapons or forge weapons properly, the end boss (and frankly, lesser enemies) can be insanely difficult to combat. I loved VS but I am really not into micromanagement, so my arsenal sucked pretty badly. Here's the funny thing... The only weapon I had that would even scratch the final demon was a short dagger...it's range was so short that 9 times out of 10, I couldn't reach the demon to hit it. Thank goodness for the reflect damage command. My arsenal was so poor that I was pretty much forced to master the timing required to reflect damage at enemies. That's how I won in the end...I healed like crazy and just waited to be hit so I could throw some of the hurt back in the monster's face. It took nearly a hour, but I beat the damned thing.

[All Time Hardest Boss]

Has anybody mentioned the Omega Weapon in Final Fantasy 8? Granted, it's optional, but that thing is impossible to beat unless you've done all of the miserable card quests. Oh how I hated the card quests. I gave them a shot but very quickly I couldn't stand them anymore. Anyway, you need to get the insane items that make your party invincible to even have a hope against FF8 Omega. Literally, if you aren't invincible, that thing just smacks your party members down like gnats. However, I heard from a friend that he managed to barely beat Omega by battling it with his lowest level characters. If you recall, in FF8 the enemies were adjusted according to your characters' levels. I can't confirm what my friend says, but theoretically it makes sense. Omega's stats would be adjusted down in a fight against low-level characters, so it might be possible to take out Omega that way.

Personally, I prefer bosses that are fun to fight, even if they aren't necessarily challenging. I loved all of the bosses in Metroid Prime, for example. They do offer a decent challenge (I have yet to try hard mode), but more importantly, they are simply fun to take on. On the flip side, Mizar at the end of Jet Force Gemini (my favorite Rare game, farewell Rare) was very hard and a royal pain in the neck, as was the final boss(s) in Xenogears.