It was the first time you heard a particular note, drum beat or electronically created sound that made your ears tingle, your heart skip a beat and resonated with your soul. This is “My Song” – a series where the music that makes the person is spotlighted. James Bullock writes about a song (and a video game) that makes him think about a high school love unrequited.
With the re-re-release of, arguably, Square’s last all-around great “Final Fantasy” game, “Final Fantasy X” (and its mostly inferior sequel “Final Fantasy X-2”) on the “Playstation 4”, I’ve had a bit of nostalgia. The original release of “Final Fantasy X” came shortly before Christmas of 2001 in North America. It was one of my Christmas presents to myself that year and became one of my sole focuses for the next two months. One of my other focuses was one particular girl who I found incredibly interesting and had all the qualities I wanted in a girlfriend at the time.
I found it almost as a sign that this game featuring a story based on the growing love of two characters came out when I believed I was one of two star-crossed lovers. And the theme to my beliefs was “Final Fantasy X’s” J-Pop ballad, “Suteki da ne”. But my relationship wasn’t meant to be. Though I tried, I couldn’t get the girl. And though I never had my “Macalania Spring” moment with her (or with anyone up to this point), I can’t help but listen to the song and think about the days of being just a typical hopeless romantic basing his potential relationship highs and lows on media images from movies, music, or, of course video games.
