The End (?)

I finished up Nostalgia last night. In true old-school RPG fashion, I chased the bad guy to the alternate dimension, kicked his ass, watched this other guy come out of nowhere, and proceeded to kick his ass too. The game never threw any surprises at me. If anything, it was a nice surprise how traditional and "safe" the whole thing was. It took me a little over 30 hours. Not too long, not too short, an excellent length for any RPG. That was for the main quest only, since I never bothered doing any of the optional Adventurer's Association quests, and never explored any of the optional dungeons. There's still plenty of stuff to do in the game, which brings me to my point. Why are these games so afraid of ending? Games like Persona 4 or Final Fantasy XII are insanely long because the developers want to give the players enough game substance so they feel satisfied. There's nothing wrong with that, but if there isn't a clear direction, or a clear end point, it starts to feel aimless, and boring after a while, and I'd bet most players never even finish these games. If a designer is hell bent on giving the player more time to spend in the game world, with the characters they've formed an attachment with, get cracking on that sequel/expansion pack/side story, instead of padding the main game with unnecessary crap.

In Nostalgia, after the last bosses are defeated, the player is once again given control of the party. The dungeon is collapsing, so it's time for a hasty retreat. What surprised me here was that enemies are still roaming the halls, and the save point is still functional. I was able to level up a few of my characters and save AFTER the big bad guy blew up. Once the party escapes the crumbling dungeon, it's time to watch the ending sequence and credits. During the banter one of the characters mentions about going on an easier adventure next time, everyone agrees and has a good laugh. Then I was given the option to save. Cool, that's all standard operating procedure. I noticed the name of the save file was something like “Adventurer's Epilogue.” that sounded interesting, so instead of turning the DS off, ejecting the cart, and popping in Sands Of Destruction, I decided to load up the cleared file. Instead of putting me back in the last dungeon (after I killed the last boss), I started out in London, the origin town. I had all my equipment, experience, and party members. After running around town, and talking to people, it seemed like I was actually back home after the conclusion of all that saving-the-world business. I'm essentially playing the ending. I can fly around the world, revisit old places, look for new adventures. That's cool and all, but what's the point? The credits rolled already, when is this new episode going to end? And if it does, will the credits roll again? Why did they roll in the first place if that wasn't the end? I'd say this extraneous content, ironically, is my only gripe with what otherwise is a very competent and taut gaming experience.