Why Bitcoiners Should Play Final Fantasy X

After spending almost 80 hours playing the remastered version of Square Enix’s 2001 epic adventure RPG Final Fantasy X, I’ve come to the conclusion that the leading characters have a lot in common with bitcoiners. I know that this sounds a little crazy and my thesis can be easily dismissed by claiming that everyone who spends too much time in a fictional world will end up projecting some personal ideas on the action.

But I swear, Final Fantasy X does have something special and bitcoiners are going to have a huge mindblower at the end of the third act. Mostly because it’s a story about disillusionment and discovery, where five teenagers and their more experienced mentor embark on a journey that’s supposed to follow a centuries-long tradition.

I don’t want to spoil the pleasure of discovering how the events unfold, but let’s just say that along the way there are unexpected twists. Just like in every Final Fantasy game, for that matter. But at one point, the protagonists basically say “Screw your stupid tradition, we have found a better way and we refuse to perpetuate your vicious cycle”. In my mind, this was a huge “eureka” moment which truly resonated with the general attitude of bitcoiners: we tend to defy the establishment and work towards figuring out our own path to go forward.

Yet there’s another interesting resemblance between Final Fantasy X and Bitcoin: there is a strong sense of responsibility and honor which keeps the idealistic protagonists on their track. Even after they discover that they were serving a bogus religion whose point was not to promote truths, but to control and nurture ignorance, they carry on by themselves and through their own means.

Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu, Rikku, Kimahri, and Auron don’t give up on the mission just because they discover that everything around them is a lie which covers up an uglier truth. Instead, they work together to fix the world in a way which prevents the same cycle from repeating itself.

Sounds familiar? It’s because the plot twist from the end of the third act (which I won’t reveal because I still hope that you’ll be playing Final Fantasy X) is very similar with the experience bitcoiners have. We don’t want to sacrifice our lives for their crooked system – instead, we’re trying to build something better.

We live most of our lives believing in a system that’s supposed to work in our best interest and is said to be the best that could exist. And then one day we find out that our leaders feed us comfort and hope in exchange for our obedience. Almost everything is rigged against us, but the money system is the one that feels most enraging – since we spend a third of our lifetimes (even more if we work for our own project) working and our time gets rewarded with a devaluing monetary unit that can be politically-debased, this truly hurts.

And then we discover Bitcoin and have our Plato’s cave moment – we see reality for what it is and try to figure out what we should do with our lives next. The pessimistic way is to feel bitter about the whole situation and keep ourselves busy while observing the ignorance of others. The optimistic way is to try to educate everyone around us in hope of a fairer world. And this is exactly what the Final Fantasy X protagonists do.

Sure, the story can have religious, political, financial, and even parental interpretations. Maybe this is why the game is regularly praised as a masterpiece of the PlayStation 2 generation and one of the best entries in the Final Fantasy franchise. And though some of this information may seem banal or self-evident, we do need perpetual reminders about our roles in this grand scheme.

I tend to think that bitcoiners are just as pure at heart as Final Fantasy protagonists – they may hide behind “toxic” and unapproachable personas, but at heart they are truth-seekers and truth-tellers. This obnoxiousness can sometimes be the result of true conviction – something that no altcoin will really ever have, since most of their communities are driven by greed and dreams of enrichment.

After having finished Final Fantasy X, the best I can do is recommend bitcoiners to play it. Yes, the game can be grindy and has those J-RPG mechanics. But the story is incredibly great and will help you remember what kind of person you are and what you should be doing with your knowledge and conviction.

Final Fantasy X is currently available on PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and obviously the OG PlayStation 2. It costs about $25 and comes bundled with X-2, a cornier direct sequel which I will probably be playing next to search for some hyberbitoinization hints. If you don’t want to play the game and just want to watch the cutscenes that tell you the story, you have 11 hours of content that’s available for free on YouTube.

Bitcoiners who are into video games should definitely play Final Fantasy X. And gamers who beat Final Fantasy X will definitely have an “eureka” moment when they start reading more about Bitcoin, as it will feel like the disillusionment which gives them some answers about the world.

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