Like with Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X has been a game that we have come back to numerous times over the years because it has been such a staple in Bub’s gaming history. Hilariously, this is also probably the game that we own the most copies of — we’ve gotten it whenever it has come out on what has then been the newest console at the time because this is one of the games that calms Bub down the most when he is melting down, so we have copies of it ranging from the PlayStation 2 all the way to the Nintendo Switch. (I may need to do something about that in the form of pawning or selling older copies, but not so many that if a console breaks down, we’re left unable to play the game in the event that he does melt down. So I need to think about which consoles are the most advantageous to keep a spare copy of the game on…)

Predictably, his favorite character was Auron. He used to walk around the house with one arm hanging in his shirt emulating Auron, and occasionally I still catch him doing it, usually around the time we’ve replayed the game. It’s adorable! And whenever I don’t quite know where he was at in the house, playing “Otherworld” loud enough for him to hear it almost always gets him to come out and in my general direction. I usually play The Black Mages’ version of it because it’s a household favorite. I’m a fan of The Black Mages.

I actually had Monster crawling to “Maybe I’m A Lion” when he was a baby! I remember that with fondness!

But equipping my Bub each time has made it progressively easier to defeat Braska’s Final Aeon, I swear…

This is one of the few games that I can’t think of a single thing about it that I dislike, seriously. I mean that.

When Bub and I started Final Fantasy IX together, one thing became clear — Bub was, again, as they say, “down for the life” of Vivi Orniter, and one thing was clear: we were keeping Vivi in our party for as long as the game let us. That wasn’t a problem though, because as the game’s black mage, it was actually to our advantage to level him up and ensure that he learned the most powerful black magic spells as we came across equipment that he could put on that would teach them to him. So I didn’t have a problem keeping in my party as often as humanly possible. (For the record, my favorite character in the game is Dagger/Garnet.)

Through equipping my Bub for the final fight, Necron became… let’s just say that he became bearable. I’m aware that for most, Necron is an extremely difficult final boss fight. But with my Bub equipped, he became bearable enough to defeat. One thing that Bub did make clear though was that he did not like Kuja, and the longer that Kuja remained on the screen, the more annoyed Bub got. Toward the end of the game, when you see Kuja more, and you actually have to fight Kuja before advancing to the part of the game before the final boss, Bub got so annoyed with Kuja’s continual existence on the screen that he left the room and, as I’ve said to friends of mine that I game with, “left me to my own devices”. I managed to get through fighting Kuja and, as I’ve also said, “cleared Kuja from the screen” so that Bub could come back and resume gaming with me. Strangely enough, Bub was just fine with Kefka but could not stand Kuja. Maybe one day I’ll find out why…

He did like the game enough to where when he could hear music from the game playing, as long as he wasn’t distracted by something else, he came in my room. That amused me a lot, I’m not even going to lie.

Thanks to equipping my Bub, though, I did get to see the credits in this game roll without having to look them up on YouTube. I did like the part where we actually defeated the final boss of this game, just like with VIII…

When Bub was young, I made the promise to myself (as mentioned in a previous post) that I was going to game with my children if they were interested in gaming with me — and although Monster is interested as the urges so strike, Bub is generally “down for the life” as the Generation Z kids say — but that I was going to introduce him to as many of the Final Fantasy games as he was willing to play with me. One of them was obviously Final Fantasy VIII, both the original version on the Vita and the remaster that just recently came out. The first of those two mentioned got Bub known in various gaming communities, to great amusement.

Bub, equipped to me and with only minimal assistance — having the game set up so that he would not quickly fail, having Rinoa as ready as she would ever be to go into Angel Wing, having Quistis ready enough to go into Limit Break with Mighty Guard, defeated all three forms of Ultimecia in fifteen minutes flat. I provided only the assistance that he needed. As an adolescent, I could never defeat her on my own. She trounced me. And with Bub on my lap, playing the game with him, helping him play the game, he trounced her. He danced all over her. And did I mention the fact that, before this battle, he proceeded to do this to Ultima Weapon in seven minutes as well, getting us the Guardian Force Eden? I didn’t even have time to attempt to Draw Apocalypse off of Ultimecia, because Bub was trouncing her, and I didn’t want to ruin what was clearly a good thing. Thanks to him, though, I got to see the ending of the game for the first time on my own without having to look it up on YouTube. Clearly my child makes final bosses cower. I will give him that.

I just set him up so that I know he’s not going to immediately fail going into final bosses, and I provide technical help when and where needed, as well as additional help on request and when it becomes clear that it is necessary. Bub just makes the final boss cower in fear. This is a final boss that frequently makes neurotypical gamers cower, though. She consistently ranks high on all-time lists of final bosses in terms of difficulty. Bub danced all over her like nobody’s business. I will give him credit where credit is due for making final bosses cower, though — he has developed that pattern, as many of you will see in later posts of mine.