I recently completed Final Fantasy X for the PlayStation 2. They’ve released a recent “re-mastered” edition for the PC, and I suppose I could have forked out the cash for it, but I wanted to play the original, since I already had it and since I had tried to play it years ago. Twelve years ago, in fact – around 2007.
That year was probably the most difficult year of my life. I sank into a deep depression after what was at the time a severe disappointment (a girl that got away), and for a period of several months I didn’t want to do anything. No games, books, movies…I’d come home and just sit down on the couch. At the time I didn’t know a whole lot about mental health, so I didn’t realize quite how bad things were, oddly enough. Video games are a lifelong hobby of mine, though – if I have no desire to play them at all, there’s probably something wrong.
One of the games I was playing at the time was Final Fantasy X. I don’t think I had gotten too far – the Mi’hen Highroad, I believe. Once I started to become depressed, I put it down and then avoided it for years. Anything that reminded me of that time was a bad memory.
In recent years, my mental health has gotten a lot better. I’m able to reframe how I think about things, see the positive aspects of most situations. Playing Final Fantasy X therefore has been a step on my journey to mental health. I’m happy I was able to pick it up and enjoy it – gradually replacing any bad memories with good ones from the present time, and enjoy the game for what it is – and actually finish it this time.
I’m glad I did. It was a good game – even better than Final Fantasy VII, one of the few other Final Fantasy games I’ve completed (along with the first one, III, and IV). The plot was decent, albeit a bit linear – you don’t have a lot of real choices (I would have picked Lulu over Yuna, personally, but hey). The game now has a completed status on my Backloggery. If you also use that site to track your games, feel free to add me to your MultiTap!