Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X is the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It follows the story of Tidus and Yuna and was the first Final Fantasy to appear on a sixth-generation console, namely the PlayStation 2.

Due to Final Fantasy X's success and popularity, it spawned the first-ever direct game sequel to a Final Fantasy game: Final Fantasy X-2, released in 2003-04, which continued the events of Spira two years later through the eyes of Yuna. This came about as the result of an initial concept of spinning off Yuna and Rikku into individual titles of their own, which was later combined into one game.

Final Fantasy X is the first in the series to use full voice acting instead of the previous method of scrolling subtitles. The implementation of voice acting limits the player's ability to change the characters' names and Tidus is the only playable character, apart from aeons, whose name can be changed, and therefore never appears in the scripted dialogue.

A remaster HD Version of Final Fantasy X was announced at the Sony Press Conference in Japan on September 14, 2011 as part of a 10th anniversary special, and is set to be released on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

The Sphere Grid
Character growth is undertaken by use of the Sphere Grid. By gaining AP from battles and collecting different types of spheres, characters move through the grid, raising stats and learning abilities.

The sphere grid allows the player to evolve and take on "mixed" abilities, meaning they can learn a wide array of Black Magic, White Magic, Defense and Attack skills. An extra grid was included with the International Version (see below), which has 45 fewer nodes, and undefined paths for each character, meaning they can take any role they choose.

Battle System
Unlike the past few games where the battle system used ATB, Final Fantasy X uses the Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system, or the Count Time Battle system in Japan.

Basically, CTB is a turn-based system, which does not operate in rounds; the order of the turns does not guarantee each participant in a battle will have an equal number of turns. Characters with higher speed will be able to take more turns than slower characters, thus making speed more important than in other turn-based battle systems. Furthermore, spells and abilities (such as Haste) can modify the turn order (called the Act List), as some abilities require a longer cooldown time. In general, weaker abilities tend to require less cooldown time, thus introducing a trade-off between speed and power.

The system is distinguished from Active Time Battle system by the fact that when a character's turn begins, all action stops while the player decides upon an action. This shifts the focus from reflexes and quick decision-making to strategy and careful planning. Unlike in previous games in the series, the player is able to change characters on the go during battle.

Minigames

 * Blitzball - The feature minigame of Final Fantasy X is blitzball, a cross between soccer and water polo, played entirely underwater in a giant sphere pool at Luca. Recruiting players is another big part of blitzball; getting new and better players, and knowing who to cut and when, can be the thing that makes or breaks the team. Blitzball is known throughout the races of Spira as a distraction from the death and destruction that Sin brings.
 * Chocobo Racing - Featured less predominantly than in previous games, chocobo training and racing game can be played in the Calm Lands. The player participates in several challenges to train a chocobo and then uses those skills to race another chocobo at Remiem Temple.
 * Monster Arena - When fiends from all over Spira are captured using special weapons, they appear in the Monster Arena, also located at the Calm Lands. These fiends can be fought at any time (for a fee), and certain combinations can be bred into tougher enemies.
 * Celestial Weapons - Each playable character in the game has their distinctive ultimate weapon, which require some hard work and traveling to acquire.
 * Most locations also have smaller minigames, such as the Butterfly Hunt in Macalania, lightning dodging in Thunder Plains and the Valley of the Cactuars in the Bikanel Desert. See each location page for more details.

Protagonists
Final Fantasy X features seven main characters.


 * Tidus is the main protagonist, a rising blitzball player from Zanarkand who is sent to Spira following Sin's destruction of his hometown. With seemingly no way of knowing what has happened to him, he joins Yuna on her pilgrimage in order to learn about the conflict he has been dragged into.
 * Yuna is the main female protagonist, a summoner who is on a pilgrimage to defeat Sin, accompanied by her guardians. She is armed with great power and determination as she learns how she can save the tortured world.
 * Auron is a mysterious man who watches out for Tidus and Yuna. He has been hailed as a legendary guardian, due to accompanying Braska on his pilgrimage ten years ago. However, his seemingly cynical nature might just hide the truth he witnessed then.
 * Kimahri is a Ronso, the only non-human member of the party, who befriended and guarded Yuna when she was a child. Though disgraced by his tribe, Kimahri wishes for nothing more than to keep Yuna safe.
 * Wakka is one of Yuna's childhood friends from Besaid. As captain of the infamously-pathetic Besaid Aurochs, he has resolved to retire from blitzball and join Yuna on her pilgrimage, bringing along his good-willed cheer.
 * Lulu is one of Yuna's childhood friends from Besaid. A black mage who had accompanied summoners on their failed pilgrimages, she is knowledgeable of the world of Spira, and her frequency to scold others only shows how much she is concerned for her companions' safety.
 * Rikku is a spunky Al Bhed girl, and the first person Tidus encounters upon arriving in Spira. As Yuna's cousin, she, too, wants to protect her, although her means of doing so sometimes conflict with the goals of the rest of the party.

Antagonists

 * Sin is a mysterious entity of unspeakable power that appeared one thousand years ago at the end of the Machina War. The main party sets out on a journey to defeat Sin and remove this menace from Spira.
 * Seymour Guado is a male half-Guado, Maester of Yevon and leader of the Guado. Seymour is well-liked by his people and skilled in the art of summoning, but his ideas on what is best for Spira are questionable.

Story
Final Fantasy X begins , starting with the party sitting around a campfire in silence. Just beyond the horizon is a ruined city, covered in pyreflies. Tidus, the game's central hero, begins to retell his story of how he reached this place. He gives background narration for much of the game.

Welcome to Spira
Tidus's story begins in Zanarkand, an advanced metropolis with futuristic technology. He is first seen signing autographs for fans, thinking it is a normal day as the star player for his blitzball team, the Zanarkand Abes. In the middle of the opening match of the Jecht Memorial Cup (organized to honor Tidus's father, Jecht, who vanished ten years ago), a gigantic wave enters the city, destroying everything in its path. The only person undisturbed by this is Auron, a man who has acted as Tidus' mentor since Jecht's disappearance. Tidus meets up with Auron outside the blitzball stadium; but when Tidus follows Auron, he is shocked to see time stop, as a small boy in purple robes appears before him, speaking enigmatic words he does not understand - "It begins. Don't cry." After the boy vanishes, Tidus continues after Auron. Auron reveals that the force destroying the city is called "Sin" and gives Tidus "a gift from Jecht", a longsword. The two fight their way through the invading monsters on a city highway, and succeed in slaying the Sinspawn Ammes. When they reach Sin itself, Auron allows both himself and Tidus to be sucked up into its "maw". Tidus loses consciousness - but not before seeing a brief vision of his father.

When Tidus awakes, he finds himself in a temple ruin. He escapes from the monsters residing within, then makes a fire to ward off the frigid air. Another monster attacks him, but mid-battle a group of strange people blow through the door and the leader of the group helps Tidus with the battle. Tidus tries to thank his helpers, but they speak a language foreign to him. The people capture him and bring him to their ship. Bewildered, Tidus demands to know what is going on and the group leader, a girl named Rikku, reveals they are Al Bhed, a faction of people who use the forbidden machina technology.

For Tidus to stay, he must "make [him]self useful" by accompanying Rikku on an underwater salvage operation. Once the dangerous mission is completed and they return to the ship, Tidus tells Rikku about his life in Zanarkand, as well as his career as being star player of the Zanarkand Abes. Rikku is reluctant to believe him, asking if he breathed in Sin's toxin, which is known to induce amnesia. After Tidus claims he was telling the truth, Rikku decides to take his word, but not before telling him that Sin destroyed Zanarkand a thousand years ago and that since Zanarkand is a holy place, it would be wise not to tell any Yevonites about his life there. Shortly after, Sin appears once more, and knocks Tidus off the ship.

Tidus wakes up on a sunny beach, and he is glad to see something familiar: a group of islanders playing his favorite sport, blitzball. After showing off his skills, the islanders flock around him and the leader of this group, Wakka, explains to Tidus he has arrived at Besaid Island. He is unnerved when Tidus mentions his home city is Zanarkand and chalks up Tidus's behavior to his recent encounters with Sin. Wakka explains that Sin is a monster that rose about a thousand years ago, destroying the machina cities, including Zanarkand, as a result of human crimes and use of machina.

Wakka leads Tidus to Besaid Village, hoping to have him join his blitzball team, the Besaid Aurochs. The team has not had any wins in blitzball tournaments in twenty-three years, and desperately need Tidus's help, even more so since Wakka is planning to leave the team to become a full-time guardian. Tidus agrees to join; and later goes after Wakka into Besaid Temple, a branch of the Spiran religion of Yevon. Tidus learns that the apprentice summoner who had begun her trial in the Temple hasn't returned and despite the priest's orders to stay out, Tidus goes through the Temple's Cloister of Trials in the hopes of rescuing her. Encountering her guardians - the Ronso Kimahri, the black mage Lulu, and Wakka (who'd gone in after him) - Tidus makes it in time to see the summoner, Yuna, exit the Chamber of the Fayth.

Outside Yuna summons her first aeon, Valefor. She shows interest in Tidus's story of his origins from Zanarkand, and wishes to hear more. That night, he overhears Lulu berating Wakka over his interest in Tidus. She believes Wakka is only protecting him out of memories for his deceased brother, Chappu, whose face resembles Tidus's.

The Pilgrimage
The guardians head out with Yuna on her pilgrimage, a sacred journey across Spira to defeat Sin. Wakka takes Tidus along out of hopes that somebody will recognize him at the blitz tournament at Luca. They set out on the S.S. Liki to reach Kilika, the first destination of the pilgrimage. Tidus and Yuna get another chance to talk, and Yuna reveals she believes Tidus's story, partly because ten years ago, a man named Jecht worked as her father's guardian. Yuna is revealed to be the daughter of High Summoner Braska, the last person to destroy Sin. During the journey, Sin appears and the party fight it but fail to stop it from levelling Kilika Village.

When the group reach the town, they find it in ruins. Yuna performs the ritual of "sending", dispatching the souls of the dead to the Farplane. Those who die in Spira can leave behind pyreflies, that, unless sent by a summoner, will become fiends, the primary monsters of the world Spira.

The next day, the group continues forward to Kilika Temple to gain the aeon Ifrit. Though Tidus was to stay out of the Cloister of Trials (as he is not yet a guardian) he is tossed in by the guardian of the summoner Dona, who sees Yuna as a rival. Nonetheless, even after reaching the others, Yuna is still able to obtain Ifrit.

With the first part of the journey complete, the pilgrimage moves to the city of Luca, the second-largest city in Spira, where the blitzball tournament Wakka was talking about is taking place. Seymour Guado and the elder Grand Maester Yo Mika personally overlook the tournament, which is being held to honor Mika's 50th year as Grand Maester. Much to Tidus's dislike, Yuna shows admiration to Seymour, a young Maester with high popularity.

During the first match, Yuna learns of Auron's presence in Luca and has Tidus and Kimahri help her look for him. While Kimahri's rival Ronso, Biran and Yenke Ronso, appear to harass him, Yuna is kidnapped by the Al Bhed Psyches blitzball team, apparently to force the Aurochs into surrendering the match. While Wakka handles the game, Tidus goes with Lulu and Kimahri to hunt them down. After rescuing Yuna from the Al Bhed ship Tidus learns that Yuna is half-Al Bhed. Lulu sends a signal to Wakka, who wins the game just in time, ending a 23-year losing streak without Tidus's help.

The next blitzball match is against the Spiran champions, the Luca Goers. After the match, a group of fiends attack the stadium. Tidus and Wakka go off to fight the beasts, and are given the surprise aid of Auron; the rest of the fiends are dispatched by Seymour's aeon, Anima. Yuna is among thousands of spectators left in awe of the aeon's power. After the incident, Auron takes Tidus away to speak to him alone. He explains that Jecht, Braska and him defeated Sin ten years ago and reveals a terrible revelation to Tidus: "Sin is Jecht". Dumbfounded by this apparent impossibility, Tidus refuses to accept it. The pilgrimage continues up the Mi'ihen Highroad, now with two new guardians: Auron and Tidus.During their time at Mi'ihen Highroad, they encounter a scholar named Maechen, a little girl hoping for the Calm named Calli, and Crusaders Elma, Lucil, and Clasko who tells the party that there is a fiend who eats Chocobos. The party goes to Rin's Travel Agency, where they spend the night. Tidus talks to Yuna outside of the travel agency at sunset, where Yuna talks to Tidus about the future after Sin and the goal of the pilgrimage, to go to Zanarkand to obtain the Final Aeon, which can destroy Sin. In the morning, Tidus meets Rin, and for talking to him, Tidus gets an Al Bhed Primer and is warned to "be careful where you speak our language". Then a sudden attack at the Travel Agency is a fiend called a Chocobo Eater. After the battle, Yuna and her guardians learn about an operation called Operation Mi'ihen. They try to get through the gate, but fail. Seymour Guado then appears and gets the Crusaders to let Yuna and party pass.

At the tip of the Highroad, the party finds the entire area under occupation by the Crusaders, the military arm of Yevon's clergy. Under the command of Seymour and his fellow Maester, Auron's former friend Wen Kinoc, the Crusaders join forces with the Al Bhed in an attempt to defeat Sin. "Operation Mi'ihen", as it is called, involves using Sinspawn as bait to draw Sin to Djose, then attack it with a machina said to be as powerful as the aeons. Wakka, being orthodox to Yevon's teachings and resentful of the Al Bhed, is furious over this plan. Auron simply stands back, knowing the plan will fail. The operation turns out to be a disaster: hundreds of Crusaders are killed as Yuna and her guardians watch, trying their best to help by fending off the Sinspawn Gui with help from Seymour. Following the defeat, Yevon covers its involvement by blaming the defeat on the Crusaders' heresy. Auron explains to Tidus the only reason why Sin (Jecht) truly came to the operation was to see his son. The party leaves the battlefield, unable to describe their feelings over the tragedy.

The party enters the temple of Djose to gain the aeon Ixion, where the group meets fellow summoner Isaaru. Tidus hears from Isaaru about a rumor that summoners who are leaving on pilgrimages are disappearing. The others learn of the rumor later from Biran and Yenke. The party continues to the Moonflow, a river that flows through Spira. While crossing on a shoopuf, Wakka points down to the sunken ruins of a city below the waters as a good example of what happens to people who use the hubris of machina. Just as he finishes, an Al Bhed abducts Yuna into the water, but she is rescued by Tidus and Wakka, who destroy the machina holding her captive. Reaching the other side of the river, they run into Rikku, who turns out to be the pilot of the destroyed machina. Not wanting to upset Wakka, Tidus and Lulu purposely keep him in the dark about Rikku and Yuna's lineage. Rikku joins the party as Yuna's sixth guardian, with the blessing of Auron, who is aware of her race.

The party moves to Guadosalam, the city of the Guado, a race of elf-like demi-humans of which Seymour is the leader. He invites the party to his mansion, where he tries to woo Yuna and shows them a sphere recording of what appears to be Tidus's Zanarkand. Within the vision is the first summoner to defeat Sin, Lady Yunalesca. Seymour goes on to propose marriage to Yuna, much to Tidus's chagrin.

Yuna avoids answering right away, and instead takes her group to visit the Farplane, the land of the dead where pyreflies gather to form images from the memories of a mourner of their lost loved one. Rikku believes the entire thing to be nothing more than an illusion, and so chooses not to enter. Auron stays behind as well, though does not give a reason. Inside, Tidus finds that Jecht does not appear, meaning that he may very well be alive as Sin; however, Tidus accidentally summons the image of his mother, who, as Yuna explained, must have accepted death once Jecht left and entered the Farplane without needing a sending.

While leaving, Seymour's father, Jyscal Guado, leaves the Farplane as an "unsent", a ghost created from a person who dies "an unclean death." Yuna sends Jyscal, and during the ceremony Auron falls upon his knees, greatly weakened. A sphere appears from the unsent, which Yuna snatches up. While Yuna enters the Guado manor, intending to discuss Jyscal, Tidus learns that Seymour had already left to Macalania, where the group heads next.

Revelations
Rikku starts to panic when the group reaches the Thunder Plains and halfway across the group decide to stay at a Rin's Travel Agency to calm her. It turns out Rikku has severe astraphobia - a fear of thunderstorms - left over from a past mishap when Brother aimed a Thunder spell at an attacking fiend, except it missed and hit her instead. While staying at the agency, Yuna privately views the contents of Jyscal's sphere. Before the group enters the Macalania Woods, Yuna announces she has decided to accept Seymour's offer of matrimony. Auron guesses that Yuna is hoping to negotiate something with Seymour, and that she doesn't want the others involved.

While passing through the Macalania Woods, Auron remembers something from his past, and hacks his way through an overgrown sidepath. Down the path is a beautiful spring, the water used to create spheres. After fighting the Spherimorph, a movie sphere from Jecht is left behind. The sphere shows snippets of Braska's pilgrimage, and includes a sentimental message from Jecht to Tidus. Auron explains that Jecht had already accepted his fate to remain in Spira and assist Braska in defeating Sin. Auron later tells Tidus that Jecht loved him and just didn't know how to express it.

After leaving the woods, the group is met by Tromell, Seymour's butler, who leads Yuna into the temple to prepare for the wedding. They are ambushed by Al Bhed, who try to stop the pilgrimage by unleashing the powerful Crawler, which Yuna's guardians are forced to fight. After the battle, Wakka learns that Rikku is an Al Bhed, and promptly expresses his disgust at the "heathen". Tidus tries to tell Wakka that Rikku is not just some Al Bhed, and that she is actually a good person. Angry that no one else is taking his side, Wakka heads to Macalania Temple on foot, while everyone else rides on the machina sleds. Depending on the affection levels during the game, Tidus will either ride with Rikku, Lulu, Auron or Kimahri.

If Tidus rides with Rikku, he will learn that Rikku and Yuna are cousins, and Rikku will explain why the Al Bhed want to protect all the summoners during the pilgrimage, disagreeing with the fact that summoners sacrifice themselves to bring happiness to Spira. If he rides with Lulu, Tidus will come to understand Wakka's hatred towards the Al Bhed, which stems from Chappu's death. He will ask Lulu if a human can become Sin (for the benefit about his knowledge of Sin and Jecht), and she will finally believe the fact Tidus comes from a world where there is no Sin.

At the temple, the party comes upon the sphere Yuna had retrieved from the unsent Jyscal, which shows Seymour murdered his father in order to succeed him as Maester. The party confronts Seymour outside the Chamber of the Fayth and, with the new aeon Shiva, kill him, much to Wakka's shock.

An angered Tromell appears and takes away Seymour's body before Yuna can send him, and breaks the sphere that proves Seymour's crimes. Now dubbed traitors, the party flees the temple with Guado soldiers in pursuit. They manage to escape when a yeti-like fiend causes them to fall through the ice of the frozen Lake Macalania. They land atop a underground mass of land near the bottom of the temple and after the ordeal, Yuna reveals that in exchange for marriage, she was hoping to have Seymour turn himself in for his crimes. Auron reminds her that the pilgrimage is more important at the moment, saying something that shocks everyone: "The fayth are the ones that give power to the summoners - not the temples or the teachings. If the temples try to stop us, then we will defy Yevon if we must." Shortly afterwards the ground begins to shake, and the party realizes they had landed atop a docile Sin, which knocks the party unconscious as it begins to stir. Before falling unconscious, Tidus finally realizes that Sin really is his father.

Awaking on Bikanel Island, Tidus finds himself alone by an oasis. Though he manages to round up his fellow guardians, they cannot find Yuna. Rikku suggests that the group go to the Al Bhed city of Home, which is, to her horror, under siege by Guado forces. Fighting through the invasion, the party finds the summoners Dona and Isaaru, both taken by the Al Bhed to the Summoners' Sanctum. Tidus suffers an emotional breakdown after he discovers the truth behind the pilgrimage, the reason why the Al Bhed have tried to impede the pilgrimages at every turn: the Final Aeon will kill the summoner, and Yuna will meet the same fate if she completes her journey.

The group makes its way to the Al Bhed airship Fahrenheit (which was the very airship Tidus and Rikku salvaged near the game's beginning), captained by Rikku's father and Yuna's uncle, Cid. The ship takes off with Tidus's group and most of the Al Bhed on board, the latter having been forced to abandoned their homeland. Cid decides to blow up Home with the airship's missile system in order to take out the invading forces. While on the airship, the party learns that Yuna has been taken by the Guado to the now-unsent Seymour to be married.

The party finds Yuna at the capital city of Bevelle, where she is in a wedding gown to be joined with Seymour. Fighting through the city's main defense, the guardian wyrm Evrae, Tidus and his group arrive to crash the wedding. They fight against the heavily-armed warrior monks and their machina and manage to force their way. When they finally reach the wedding,Yuna tries to send Seymour, but stops her, and Tidus and co. are threatened by warrior monks and Wen Kinoc. The wedding goes on. After the wedding, Yuna tries to dive off of the tower, much to everyone's surprise. But Yuna reassures everyone by saying "Believe in Yuna.", and she dives off the tower. While in midair, Yuna summons Valefor and she is safely taken to the Cloister of Trials. Tidus and co. try to runaway without the Warrior monks arresting them, but Rikku steps in and creates a distraction. The guardians head to the Chamber of the Fayth,where Yuna gains the powerful aeon Bahamut, but are then arrested. Yuna and her guardians are put on trial by the Maesters of Yevon, where they attempt to press their case, claiming that Seymour should be sent to the Farplane. To their horror, they discover that Grand Maester Mika, too, is an unsent. It seems they are completely without allies, except for the Ronso Maester, Kelk Ronso, who leaves Yevon shortly afterwards, troubled by Jyscal's murder.

While imprisoned in a cage, Auron explains to Tidus about the "spiral of death" that traps Spira. The summoner must sacrifice themselves in order to defeat Sin, but the defeated Sin will always return, trapping Spira in the cycle forever. Later, Yuna and her guardians are sentenced to the Via Purifico, a dungeon said to be inescapable. While most of the party is detained in the top part of the labyrinth; Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku are thrown into its underwater section. The trio are forced to fight Evrae Altana, an undead wyrm, to escape.

On the top section, Yuna is confronted by Isaaru, who places his loyalty to Yevon above his friendship to Yuna. The two duel with their aeons, but Isaaru is soundly beaten. Though his life is spared, his pilgrimage ends in defeat. Making their way to the exit of Bevelle, the party finds Seymour with Kinoc's corpse. Though betrayed by his old friend, Auron is still angered by Kinoc's murder. Seymour reveals his true plan: to "save" Spira from its cycle of death by becoming Sin, and then destroying all life. Seymour transforms into a monster, Seymour Natus, but is defeated by the group.

Leaving Bevelle for the Macalania Woods, Yuna, her faith in Yevon shaken, goes off into the woods to be alone, but Tidus follows. He finds Yuna in the spring, and, revealing that he knows the truth behind the Final Summoning, apologizes for constantly talking about life "after" defeating Sin, believing he had only depressed Yuna by doing so. Yuna stops him, saying his words had made her happy. Tidus attempts to persuade Yuna to quit her pilgrimage and stay with him, and, though tempted, Yuna ultimately decides she cannot simply allow Sin to run rampant across Spira. Yuna breaks down in tears and Tidus moves to comfort her, and they embrace and share a kiss under the full moon. They return to the party to continue their journey into the Calm Lands and later to Mt. Gagazet.

Before crossing Gagazet, Kelk and his tribe of Ronso give Yuna their blessing, after witnessing her resolve and courage. Tidus talks to Rikku about Yuna's fate, now that they are getting close to Zanarkand, and plan to find a way to save her. Shortly afterwards, a pursuing Seymour attacks the Ronso, and many are slaughtered, including Kelk, Biran, and Yenke. The party struggles through the frigid mountain before they run into Seymour, who goes on to transform into Seymour Flux. Despite Seymour's growing powers, he is again defeated. After the battle, Yuna and the other guardians learn of Sin's identity as Jecht.

Near the mountain peak, the group comes across a strange sight: a fountain of fayth lost in dreams. Tidus is struck by a dream of his home in Zanarkand and while there, meets the boy in purple robes he saw in the beginning of his journey—the fayth of Bevelle. The fayth reveals that Sin was created to leave Spira forever backward, so that Tidus's Zanarkand could exist forever without being detected, and that the Zanarkand Tidus hails from is only a dream created by the fayth. Tidus, Jecht, and everybody else from that city are nothing but dreams, who will cease to exist once Sin is truly defeated. However, as Jecht and Tidus have both been "touched by Sin", they have been made real and have a chance of destroying Sin. The fayth asks Tidus to defeat Sin, so that the fayth can be freed of the exhausting burden of constantly keeping "Dream Zanarkand" alive. Tidus accepts, even while knowing that doing so will mean he will disappear. After he returns to consciousness, Tidus decides to keep what he learned to himself.

After passing through Mt. Gagazet the party comes to the original Zanarkand, where the pilgrimage is to end. The story catches up with the beginning, and Tidus's retelling of the events that led him here ends. The party enters the Zanarkand Ruins, which lead them into the Zanarkand Dome. The pyreflies are so thick the party can see visions of past summoners who came through to defeat Sin and also witness a vision of a young Seymour, whose mother gives up her life to become the fayth of Anima.

They meet Lady Yunalesca, now an unsent after her battle with Sin a thousand years ago, and learn that in order to create the Final Aeon, a guardian must be sacrificed as its fayth. They also get a glimpse into the past into Braska's pilgrimage, where Jecht decided to become the fayth for the Final Aeon. Yunalesca tells them that the Final Aeon can only defeat Sin for a short time, for after the old Sin is destroyed, the Final Aeon is transformed into a new Sin. Thus whoever becomes the Final Aeon will later become Sin, continuing the spiral of death.

Yuna refuses to take part in what she calls "false tradition", as she does not wish to sacrifice any of her guardians. Yunalesca believes that without faith in the Final Summoning, and the hope it's meant to bring, Yuna will eventually succumb to despair, and decides to kill her and free her from such a fate. Just before the battle, the party sees a vision of young Auron from the past; distraught about Braska's death and Jecht's transformation, Auron went to confront Yunalesca, but was killed, making him an unsent. In the present time, he rallies his team to attack Yunalesca. Though Yunalesca is powerful, and grows into increasingly grotesque forms, the party prevails and destroys her, forever ending any hope of gaining the Final Aeon. Before she fades, Yunalesca mentions that "even if there was another way...even if you did destroy Sin...Yu Yevon the immortal will only create Sin anew."

Defeating Sin
With Yunalesca gone, the party needs a new way to defeat Sin. Cid arrives in the Fahrenheit to pick them up, and they brainstorm a strategy. Yevon is in disarray with the death of so many Maesters, and Tidus and his party land in Bevelle during the crisis to confront Yo Mika. Mika learns they have not gained the Final Aeon, and in fact, have eliminated it for all eternity. Feeling that Spira is doomed to be destroyed by Yu Yevon's spiral of destruction and the despair it engenders, Mika departs for the Farplane.

The party comes up with a plan to beat Sin: they will distract Sin by having all of Spira sing Jecht's favorite song, the "Hymn of the Fayth". While Sin is stopped, the party will attack on the airship. The attack begins as planned, with the airship's laser cannons blowing off both of Sin's fins. After destroying the exterior core and the Sinspawn Genais, the monster falls on the outskirts of Bevelle, seemingly beaten. However, it recuperates, grows wings and flies into the air, drawing the airship towards itself, ready to destroy the party on board. The party manages to stop Sin's fatal Giga-Graviton, and the monster opens up its mouth to suck in the airship.

Within Sin, the party finds the monster holds an entire dungeon filled with fiends. Fighting through them, they find Seymour to battle him one final time. Despite yet another powerful form, Seymour Omnis, he is defeated yet again. With nowhere for him to run, Yuna sends the rogue Maester. Before disappearing, Seymour reveals he is glad it was Yuna who finally defeated him, but that even if they defeat Sin, Spira's sorrow will continue.

Moving deeper into Sin, the party finds themselves in a place similar to the blitzball stadium from Dream Zanarkand. Tidus is reunited with his father and, though Jecht only has a short time left before his mind fully becomes Sin's, he shares a moment with his son. Jecht turns into Braska's Final Aeon, Sin's true form. The party ends Jecht's life, and saves him from the nightmare of being Sin. Jecht says goodbye to Tidus, and even scolds him for crying. However, the battle is not won yet.

Yu Yevon, requiring an aeon to inhabit, takes over Yuna's aeons one by one. The party has to destroy each one as Yu Yevon possesses them, much to Yuna's anguish. With nowhere left to hide, Yu Yevon himself appears, revealed to be little more than a floating bug-like creature. The party destroys Yu Yevon, and forever defeats Sin, saving Spira from the cycle of death.

Auron, his mission complete, requests that Yuna send him, which she does. Tidus, too, begins to disappear. With the fayth retiring from their thousand-year dream, Tidus says goodbye as he fades from existence. Though Yuna tries to stop him from leaving, she falls right through him. Yuna proclaims her love for him (in the original Japanese version she thanks him instead); and, though he is fading away, Tidus moves to embrace her from behind. He jumps off the edge of the airship, falling through the clouds, where he sees Braska, Auron and Jecht waiting for him on the Farplane and high-fives Jecht, symbolizing that he has reconciled with his father.

Epilogue
Yuna makes a speech at the Luca blitzball stadium about Spira's future; Sin is finally dead, and Spira is theirs again, after 1,000 years of terror. The Eternal Calm has begun, and Yuna resolves to aid in the reconstruction of the world. Right before the credits roll, she says, "The people and friends that we have lost, and the dreams that have faded, never forget them".

After the ending credits, a final cutscene shows Tidus waking up in the depths of the ocean and swimming back to the surface, with a smile on his face. This scene is explained in Final Fantasy X-2 if certain conditions are met.

Themes
Final Fantasy as a series had always had somewhat of a "foreign" feel from the Japanese point of view, the first games of the series taking place in a medieval "European" setting with kings and queens and castles and knights in shining armor. When the settings moved toward a more modern atmosphere, foreign influence was still strong, with Final Fantasy VII originally imagined to take place in the real life New York City, and many locations in Final Fantasy VIII modeled after real world European locations.

Final Fantasy X is a break from this theme by being pointedly South East Asian in its feel, most notably with respect to vegetation, topography, architecture and names. Producer Yoshinori Kitase felt that if the setting went back to a medieval European fantasy, it would not help the development team advance. While he was thinking of different world environments, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima suggested a fantasy world that incorporated Asian elements. Many fans had responded negatively to the sci-fi elements of some previous Final Fantasy games, and with Final Fantasy X the developers wanted to expand the fans' definition of the word "fantasy," by taking a different route from the "medieval Europe" fantasy setting so commonly seen in RPGs.

For example, Final Fantasy X was the first Final Fantasy game to have its theme song sung in Japanese, and instead of being a pop song, "Suteki da ne" is a traditional Japanese folk song; one of the characteristics of traditional Japanese music is a sparse rhythm and how it doesn't have regular chords. The music is intended to flow, in an attempt to reflect the feeling of nature. The tempo usually starts out slow and gets faster, returns to being slow again, and has a drawn-out ending.

The intention to capture an Asian feel is also evident in the character designs, with the basis for Yuna's design being that of Okinawan kimonos; the specific type of kimono chosen for her is a furisode, a kimono bearing long sleeves. Yuna's dress and necklace are adorned with images of the hibiscus flower also called "yuna", and her name carries the meaning of "night" (夕な) in Okinawan, establishing a contrast between her and Tidus, whose Japanese name (ティーダ) translates to "sun" (太陽) in Okinawan. Japanese influences are also seen in Lulu's hairstyle and Auron's samurai influences.

Yoshinori has stated that the game's main theme is "journey", but that in addition there are many hidden themes. He stated the theme of family is the theme closest to his heart, because he's a father himself.

Another central theme in Final Fantasy X's story is Gnosticism, a religious movement in the early church that was rejected as a heresy. Gnosticism believes human existence itself to be sinful and that the world has been created by an evil god. The word itself means "knowledge". The Gnostics believed it was this "hidden knowledge" about the world that freed them. The people of Spira believe Sin is their rightful punishment for living in sin; and that because mankind is sinful, Sin is continually reborn. Death is glorified with the summoners sacrificing themselves to summon the Final Aeon, the aeons themselves being the spirits of the dead, and the whole concept of Farplane and the unsent. Those who don't find their way to the Farplane become twisted by the envy they feel toward the living and eventually turn into fiends.

The word aeon means "age", "forever" or "for eternity". In Gnostic lore, it denotes the immaterial emanations of God. Yu Yevon itself can be viewed as the "evil god" from Gnostic lore, known as Yaldabaoth in Gnostic religions, from whom the mankind must be saved. Although Yu Yevon isn't a true god in Final Fantasy X, not having created the world and the people, but merely having created Dream Zanarkand and Sin, it is still the god worshiped in the Yevon religion.

Tidus is introduced to the world as someone who can see Spira's ways of life as they really are - false. By getting to know Tidus and believing in his Zanarkand, Yuna comes around to his way of thinking, and on the crucial moment rejects the Final Summoning as a false rite. The Gnostic belief of the "hidden knowledge" about the world being the way to save them, is represented in the game by the discovery of truth behind Sin, Yevon and the Final Summoning.

Music
Final Fantasy X is the first numbered Final Fantasy game to feature a musical score not completely credited to Nobuo Uematsu, who has written the music for Final Fantasy since its inception. The game's soundtrack was co-scored by Junya Nakano and Masashi Hamauzu.

The game's main theme "Zanarkand" is heard in the beginning and in multiple other forms during the game's main events. Another prominently featured song is the vocal theme "Suteki da ne", played during the romantic scene between Yuna and Tidus at the lake in Macalania Woods. Many tracks also have the instrumental form of this song mixed into them, such as "Yuna's Theme" and "Spira Unplugged".

Other popular songs include "Otherworld", played in the beginning of the game and during the final battle, and the "Hymn of the Fayth", sang in a different way in each temple by each fayth, and by many characters, such as the Al Bhed and even hummed by Tidus.

Development
Development of Final Fantasy X began in 1999. Although Hironobu Sakaguchi showed doubts about the transition from 2D to 3D backgrounds, voice acting, and real-time storytelling, he also stated the success of the series was due to constantly changing development and trying out new things. Development for Final Fantasy X cost approximately four billion Japanese yen (approximately 32.3 million dollars) with a crew of more than 100 people, most of whom worked on previous games in the series.

Gameplay
Final Fantasy X was initially going to incorporate online elements, which were later dropped, and added into the next title in the series, Final Fantasy XI. In a beta video shown at the Square Millennium Event in 2000, Tidus is shown having black hair, and the game appears perfectly 3D with the player being able to rotate the camera. Tidus's character model in the demo is more detailed with his clothes and hair bouncing as he moves and also fluttering in the wind.

The Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) was a new battle system replacing the Active-Time Battle (ATB) system from previous titles. The traditional world map concept was dropped, because the developers wanted a more realistic approach, as well as realism of the game's 3D backgrounds and the animation of characters. Originally, Final Fantasy X was going to feature enemies wandering visible on the field map with seamless transition into battles allowing players to move freely around the area during enemy encounters. Battle art director Shintaro Takai has explained the intention was for the battles to come across as a natural part of the story instead of an independent element.

However, due to hardware and system limitations, these ideas were not used until Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII. Final Fantasy X uses a compromise from the original ideas, with some transitions from the field screen to battle arenas relatively seamless only with the implementation of a motion blur effect. The desire for seamless transitions also led to the implementation of the new summoning system.

Voice Acting
The characters' facial expressions were achieved through motion capture and skeletal animation technology, which allowed animators to create realistic lip movements programmed to match the speech of the game's voice actors. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima has revealed the inclusion of voice acting enabled him to express emotion more powerfully than before, and he was therefore able to keep the storyline simple. The presence of voice actors led to various changes to the script in order to match the voice actors' personalities with the characters they were portraying. The inclusion of voice, however, led to difficulties; with the game's cutscenes already programmed around the Japanese voice work, the English localization team faced the difficulty of incorporating the translated script with the rhythm and timing of the characters' lip movements.

The majority of the English dialogue was not based to the actual game footage; the only guidance the voice actors had were samples of the original Japanese dialogue, and they rarely had the opportunity to sync their dialogue with actual footage. Once the voice recording was complete, sound editors would digitally speed up or slow down the audio clips in order to fill the character's allotted speaking time for each particular line.

Storyline
Nojima was initially concerned with establishing a connection between the player and main character; the story was thus designed in such a way the player's progress through the world and growing knowledge about it is reflected in Tidus's narration. In the early story drafts Tidus's role was vastly different from the final version. Tidus was originally envisioned as a plumber with the attitude of a delinquent.

The original plans for the game's opening scenario were wildly different from the final version. In the early drafts Tidus would have been swimming around the ocean near Registan (later renamed Zanarkand) to the theme of "Hymn of Fayth", then visiting a place called Yevon Dome where Tidus would have met up with his friends, a male and two females. They would have checked the time and thought it was getting late. The Yevon Dome would have been a place where the founder of Registan, Yevon, would have been worshipped and it was a large bowl-shaped arena where Registan's populace would come to meet with friends and offer up their prayers. The people would have prayed daily to Yevon, but although Yevon would have been deified in Registan, it was not a religion. Tidus would have then descended to the underwater facility of Registan where he would have fought against an underwater boss. Upon leaving the facility Sin would have been seen rising from the ocean and Tidus would have let Sin to pass with a smile. The scene would have ended with Tidus glancing at his wristwatch and been worried of it being so late.

Monsters would have begun attacking the city but Auron and the Crimson Blades would have fought them off. Before it was decided Auron would be an unsent, he was envisioned working as a Crimson Blade exterminating monsters in Registan. There were also plans to make Tidus the unsent, but due to the release of the film Sixth Sense with a similar plotline, the storyline was given to Auron instead. There were also plans of having Auron be Jecht, only pretending to be Auron. This way Jecht could have been watching things all along, but because the developers didn't want Jecht to have a leading part in the game they gave up on the idea.

Final Fantasy X: International
The International Version was released on January 31, 2002, in Japan, and later in Europe (the European release was simply titled "Final Fantasy X"). This updated version of the game has different box art for Japan, and new features, such as an Expert Sphere Grid, which allows for accessing abilities more easily, but less overall stat-growth. New abilities were added to both Standard and Expert Grids.

The Dark Aeons and Penance, all powerful superbosses, were added, as well as many minor changes to dialogue, scenes, the Celestial Weapons' key items (Japan only), characters and armor &amp; weapon customizations, such as Ribbon. The release also includes a bonus disc with behind the scenes making-of features of Final Fantasy X, and a special movie prologue to Final Fantasy X-2.

The European release has the the Dark Aeons and Penance, as well as the new equipment abilities, but didn't change the name of the Celestial Sigils and Crests. As with previous PAL conversions of Final Fantasy installments, the game has noticeable black borders and a slower running-speed as a result of. The black label version includes a bonus DVD with the title Beyond Final Fantasy, which includes various interviews with the game developers, as well as two of the English voice actors. Additionally, it also includes trailers of various Square games, an art gallery, short biographies on Nobuo Uematsu and RIKKI, as well as a music video of RIKKI performing the song "Suteki Da Ne".

Some versions of Final Fantasy X: International have a glitch, whereby if the player goes to the area where they fight Dark Ifrit it is possible to slip past the men blocking the way to Home, and thus, be able to return to the story at the events in Home with Yuna in the party. This glitch can be repeated after the first time it is used.

High Definition Version
Final Fantasy X will be the first Final Fantasy game originally developed for a Sony platform to be remastered (as the previously remade Final Fantasy games were originally developed for Nintendo platforms). A high definition port was announced at the Sony Press Conference in Japan on September 14th, 2011 as part of a 10th anniversary special, and is set to be released on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

It has been announced that Square Enix's 1st Production Department is developing this port, which is unusual considering that most remakes and ports were made by other companies, for example Final Fantasy III's DS remake and Finest Fantasy for Advance, which were developed by Matrix Software and TOSE, respectively. However, it has been stated that it consists solely of a quality remaster, featuring a small quantity of upgrades.

Sales and Reception
Final Fantasy X received critical acclaim in the media and enjoyed high sales figures. Within four days of its release in Japan, the game had sold over 1.4 million copies in preorders, which set a record for the fastest-selling console RPG. Since May 2011; the game had sold nearly 8 million copies worldwide.

Final Fantasy X received generally high review scores in both Japanese, western and Middle Eastern media. Critics generally praised the game's storyline, graphics and movies, although some criticized the game's dialogue and linearity, as well as the Sphere Grid leveling system and the fact that cutscenes cannot be skipped. Famitsu readers voted Final Fantasy X the best game of all time in early 2006 and Producer Shinji Hashimoto stated in 2002: "We've had a great reception from the media and already received some awards and so forth, so overall the reaction has been excellent."

Trivia

 * In the background of the initial FMV when Tidus reaches Luca, when the camera pans down a street, the music from "I Want to be Your Canary" from Final Fantasy IX can be heard. Also, during a scene before the street scene (when the camera pans the sides of some buildings), a part of "Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony" from Final Fantasy VII is played.
 * In a Famitsu popularity poll, four characters from Final Fantasy X (Yuna, Tidus, Auron, Rikku) made the top 50. This is the second most characters from one game, with the most being from Final Fantasy VII.
 * Blood is seen in only a few scenes throughout the game: caused by Geosgaeno's attack on a sahagin at Baaj Temple at the beginning, running down the left side of the aeon Anima's face from her left eye in the Luca FMV in which she is summoned, on the sand in the aftermath of Operation Mi'ihen, and during the raid on Home.
 * During the entirety of Final Fantasy X, Tidus's name is not spoken by the other characters. This was because of a choice of the player to rename the main character.
 * In the poll in which Famitsu asked its readers which games made Japanese gamers cry Final Fantasy X topped the chart as the number 1 game.
 * Final Fantasy X was referenced in the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men. Jake rented the game from a rental store, yet later in the episode, the wrong music from Final Fantasy II is playing.