More Thoughts From Me #277: 20 Years of Final Fantasy X

Wait. What? Its been twenty years since Final Fantasy X came out?! What?! Wow. It doesn’t feel like that long at all. Time really flies. But you know, I do remember how I got the game. Let me tell you all about it.

It started with a Playstation 2 demo disc.

I think I got it at Babbage’s. Gamestop did not exist yet. I saw that there was a demo of Final Fantasy X there and I had to have it.

Once I played the demo, I knew I had to have the game. Though, who am I kidding, I loved Final Fantasy and would’ve got it anyway. The demo disc just made me want the game even more and the wait seemed longer!

So you want to hear the story of how I got the game? No? Well I’ll tell you anyway:

At the time, we were living in the middle of nowhere.

None of the nearby bigger towns had a dedicated game store. So we reserved Final Fantasy X for the PS2 in a town that was a bit further away. And since I had to have the game as soon as possible, I convinced my Dad to take me there on launch night.

It wasn’t a Midnight launch. I think they were supposed to give the game out at 8pm or so that night. We drove up there, got to the store and…

Wow. The line was really long for Final Fantasy X. I had never been to a night launch before. It was crazy how many people were there for the game. We waited a long time. There was a little delay and like I said, a very long line. I think it was after 9pm before I got the game. Pretty sure it was almost a two hour wait.

My Dad did not like waiting that long. And by the time we got home, it was after midnight. Dad swore that we’d never go to another night launch like that and we never did.

Of course when I got home after midnight I wanted to play the game. Dad just wanted to go to bed. I think I ended up playing it some but I’m not sure.

In any case, Final Fantasy X turned out to be a really great game. It had a fantastic battle system, a cool story, wonderful graphics, and it was just fun. I loved it. It was one of the few FF games that I actually beat too!

When the game came out on the Nintendo Switch years later, I had to have it again. We went to our more local Gamestop and I picked up a physical copy for the Switch!

I played through Final Fantasy X again and it was just as great as I remembered. I even beat the game again!

Hmm. You know, I still have FFX for the Switch. Maybe its time for another replay…

Did you get Final Fantasy X on the PS2? What is your favorite memory of the game? Please share your thoughts on FFX in the comments.

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. Its too bad that Final Fantasy X-2 isn’t as good.