Oh, wow, I could have written this (apart from 'first RPG' - mine was Pokémon Red!). I was basically incapable of talking to people when I was thirteen; there seemed to be all these rules of conversation I didn't understand, and I had no idea how to read people's reactions. And then I met Squall Leonhart, and my world was shaken. I understood this guy! I could hear his thoughts, and his thoughts were my thoughts! Maybe that meant I was capable of understanding other people as well? Maybe they didn't have to be an impenetrable mystery?

It sounds ridiculous, but I can honestly say that FFVIII taught me empathy.