I'm going to get embarrassingly sincere here, so back out if you don't want to see me getting a little too emotional about a videogame character.
When I was thirteen years old, I was painfully awkward. It was hard for me to speak to anyone. I understood that there were rules to conversations, but I couldn't grasp what those rules were. Other people were more or less incomprehensible to me; I couldn't imagine what was going on inside their heads, and that made it tricky to know what to say to them.
And then I accidentally bought Final Fantasy VIII.
Final Fantasy VIII gives the player a lot of insight into the thoughts of its protagonist, Squall Leonhart, and I was shocked to realised that Squall was just like me. He was awkward around people; he didn't really know what to do in social situations. It wasn't that he didn't care, but he didn't know how to read other people or express himself.
I could understand Squall's thoughts and actions; he made sense to me. I'd never really understood a fictional character on that level before.
It made me realise that it might be possible to understand other people as well. Maybe, if I was able to connect with this character, I'd be able to connect with the people around me. Maybe their thoughts and feelings didn't have to be an impenetrable mystery.
It seems ridiculous to say that a videogame taught me empathy, but Final Fantasy VIII really did help me learn to empathise with other people. I don't know who I'd be if I'd never played it. Maybe I'd be wildly successful! But I think I'm a better, happier person for having played this game.
If you were planning to erase my memories of every fictional character I'd ever loved and you were only letting me keep one, that would be a weird thing to do, but I'd keep Squall. To be clear, though, I'd rather you didn't do that. Please don't do that.
While I've been working on this website, I've seen a lot of discussion about Final Fantasy VIII, and one thing that's struck me is how passionately and fondly its fans speak of it. It may not be the most popular game in the Final Fantasy series, but it's clear that it really means something to a lot of people. I'm glad to have company in my strangely intense feelings about this weird little videogame.