Final Fantasyis a series that has consistently dominated the JRPG space with its amazing combat, beautiful visuals, and impressive stories. However, with consoles moving over to the sixth generation, most people were genuinely worried about the series and how it would evolve with the times, given the fact that the games were finally starting to show their age. However,Final Fantasy Xleft no room for any complaints. The game felt like a callback to the series' glorious past while simultaneously pushing the franchise to new heights. There aren’t many faults that gamers can pick out withFinal Fantasy X, and the majority of these gripes are pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things anyway.
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So, as is the case with any brilliant title in a popular series, fans have certainly put in a ton of time and effort into uncovering each and every secret aboutFinal Fantasy X. However, there are still ten mysterious things about this title that most people don’t know about at all.
10Tidus Was Supposed To Be Revealed As An Unsent… Before Nomura Saw The Sixth Sense
In the original draft of the game, the reveal of Tidus as an Unsent was meant to happen pretty early on in the game. However, this plot twist was eerily reminiscent of a film that had come out during the game’s development — The Sixth Sense. Realizing that the impact of the plot twist might be somewhat cheapened,Nomura decided to change up things somewhat.
9Tidus' Role Was Given To Auron Instead
The party member who would be revealed as an Unsent would be Auron instead of Tidus, with the latter being revealed to be an Unsent spirit at the very end of the game in an ending that is somehow heartwarming and soul-shattering at the same. Of course, that’s not the only mystery surrounding Tidus' character.
8Tidus Was Originally Meant To Be A Plumber
In a turn of events that can only be described as Mario-esque, the original concept of Tidus had him pegged as a plumber!
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One can only wonder how this background would’ve been spun around to make it seem even remotely interesting in a fantastical world likeFinal Fantasy.
7Tidus Was Designed With Dark Hair Early On In Development
The final aspect of Tidus that was changed early on in development for Tidus' character was his hair —in the early versions of the game, this character actually had significantly darker hair. However, this was changed later on in development, presumably sinceTidus meant “Sun” in Okinawan, and the game really wanted to hammer this point in.
6Maechen, O’aka XXIII, And Grand Maester Mika Are All Voiced By One Person
One interesting piece of trivia that will surely boggle everyone’s minds is the fact that Maechen, O’aka XXIII, and Grand Maester Mika are all somehow voiced by the same person. This is especially impressive, given the fact that all three characters have different voices and accents in the game that don’t sound alike at all. It goes without sayingthat this particular voice actor — Dwight Schultz— is easily one of the most talented workers in the industry.
5There’s A Dummied Out Buster Sword In The Game
Players who’ve rifled through the game’s files have found out that there’s a dummied out weapon for Tidus in the game that’s modeled and named after Cloud’s iconic weapon, the Buster Sword.
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With a bit of hacking, players can actually get a functioning model of this weapon in the game, which is certainly quite cool… although one has to admit that the Buster Sword simply doesn’t suit Tidus.
4Final Fantasy X Initially Started Out As A Non-Final Fantasy Title
One interesting thing aboutFinal Fantasy Xis the fact that it wasn’t even supposed to be aFinal Fantasytitle, to begin with! The project was called “Seventeen”, where a mysterious virus was killing people on their eighteenth birthday and people had to roam around the world to dispense a cure by a pharmaceutical company… before realizing that this cure was causing the sickness all along.
Once this idea was greenlit for a mainlineFinal Fantasytitle, some aspects of the story had to be changed — instead of the modern setting that Seventeen was going for, the game would be based in a fantasy world where the sickness turned into Sin, and the cure dispensers became summoners that had to give their life.
3The Scene With Tidus And Yuna Kissing Was A Highly Difficult Skill To Animate
People tend to forget thatFinal Fantasy Xwas released 20 years back when animation was way more complicated than it is right now. So, the act of animating a kiss would’ve proved to be quite a turbulent affair for the studio indeed. In fact,the female staff members responded negatively to the kiss several times, causing the animators no end of grief as they had to constantly redo the same visuals over and over again.
2Several Innovative Features Were Removed Due To Hardware Limitations
Final Fantasy Xwas already a step in the right direction as is, but the game was trying to be even more ambitious for its time. This can be seen in the fact that the game wanted enemies to appear on the world, the battle transition to be completely seamless, and the players to have the ability to move around in the battlefield during battle. However, it was clear that the developers had bit off more than they could chew, and these functions were removed due to the hardware limitations at that time.
1Yuna’s Final Line To Tidus Was Changed Due To Cultural Differences
The final scene ofFinal Fantasy Xis quite heart-wrenching, with Yuna finally proclaiming his love for Tidus as the latter disappears into the Farplane. However, in the Japanese version, Yuna never says these magic words. Instead, she just thanks him. This was because Japanese culture is more reserved when it comes to proclaiming love for anyone, while the same isn’t true in the West.
