If your PC is up to snuff, it wouldn't be hard to get a PS2 emulator to play FFX. I won't go into detail about that (since for whatever reason we're not allowed to link emulator software, which is actually legal as opposed to distributing the games or BIOS files, which is illegal) but there's guides out there on how to do it. I agree that FFX is probably the closest thing to XIII you'll find in the series, and would probably be the smoothest way to introduce you to some of the more old-school elements of the series to prep you for other games.

I'm happy that SE is still able to bring new fans to the series with the newer iterations. Honestly, I didn't think they'd draw many newcomers with this one like they have in the past.