The last Character Battle contest; full circle, it appears.

I didn't expect that I would be doing these for 8 years, but like all good things, this too, must come to an end.

I began to see the writing on the wall a few contests ago, to be honest. After the 8th contest, I wanted to scale it down because doing 128-character contests twice a year was starting to no longer become fun...it was starting to become work. I knew that was the first sign of trouble.

So to keep my level of interest, and also because I wanted to make it easier on myself, I made these character battles 64 characters, half the size. It allowed the contests to be done in a shorter time frame, and it also allowed me to do some themes that I couldn't do in the larger version. And those were fun; for example, I will never forget the epic Final Battle in Character Battle 9 (Silent Evil) between Leon Kennedy and Eddie Dombrowski, where over 130 votes were cast, and the lead swapped hands several times...or Kinie being the first 3-time winner, or Joshie and Zack having been in every single one thus far.

However, the longer I do this contests, the number of people who enter are gradually getting less and less. I've been coming to the realization that the people who play these contests are no longer in high school. Many, in fact, now have lives of their own, between jobs, more schooling...some have even gotten married, will be married soon, and are even starting families. Free time is no longer in such abundance, including my own. Between work, my health, my wife, my home, and me going back to college full-time shortly, my free time is at a premium.

So, it has been a great, great run doing these contests...but this 14th Character Battle is going to be my last one. If someone ever wants to do these in my stead, I'll gladly impart the knowledge on how to do so, and maybe he or she can even improve on them.

It began with Final Fantasy, with Sarah winning that one via a bizarre twist of fate, Laguna beating out Sephiroth.

How fitting, then, it shall end with Final Fantasy as the final contest, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.

So, as this will be my last contest, I am going to extend the entry deadline by a week. Last day for entries will be at 11:59:59 PM EST, Friday the 13th, with the contest starting Monday, the 16th.

Let's end this 8-year run with a massive turnout. The biggest one I've had was the last time I did a 128-character format, Character Battle 8. I got 30. Can we blow past it?

Good luck to all. To begin making your entry, you can start here--it'll tell you everything you need to know and do: http://l-loire.livejournal.com/469699.html