(postscript: Yes I am aware nostalgia is a thing and No I do not care nostalgia is a thing)

Life has been a tornado lately (I originally wrote hurricane, but I couldn’t help but read those words to the Ducktales tune so I changed it to tornado, fyi). I’ve been working non-stop, my private life is an absolute mess, and what little free time I have I spend on the train.

To this end, I’ve bought a PlayStation Vita. Yes, the Sony handheld. Yes, the one that’s been pretty much dead for over a year. The reason for my purchase, apart from suddenly being in the blissful situation of finally making money? Final Fantasy X.

Final Fantasy X is pretty mixed as far as Final Fantasy games go, but to me, it was the last one I could consider a great game. It looked great at the time (and honestly, the remake looks stunning on the Vita), the battle system was fun (if a bit lengthy) and the setting and story were breathtaking.

Actually, they still are. Sure, the game’s aged poorly, the voice acting is quite terrible, the uncomfortable silences drive me absolutely insane, but behind it are some solid ideas – that were definitely hampered by the lack of experience with the technology they were created for.

Final Fantasy X still moves me. It’s a tragedy, a star-crossed lovers kind of story, that, themewise, is built entirely on circles. You level on a sphere grid. You play sports in a floating ball of water. Even the story, which centers around the breaking of age-old traditions, is littered with them.

Sure, you play as a metrosexual Japanese teen, one of your teammates is a giant talking cat, and yeah, the mysterious bushido plot device is definitely a thing… but to me, this game played its emotional beats precisely right. And to be honest, it’s the last time a single-player Final Fantasy game has managed to do that.

Now let’s hope XV is good!