Square unveils Final Fantasy X

[12.23.00] » Tentative story and world details revealed at Jump Festival.

   As promised, Square was on hand at Japan's Jump Festival with the first new footage of Final Fantasy X since January's Square Millennium conference. While only a 30-second clip was shown, it was enough to reveal some new story details.

   Final Fantasy X will apparently take place in a post-apocalyptic world nearly covered by water, similar to the setting of the Famicom's Final Fantasy III. Major characters include Tide, the brown-haired, sword-wielding hero, and his staff-carrying love interest Yuna, the standard dark-haired Final Fantasy heroine. ("Tide" and "Yuna" are unofficial translations of the characters' names.) Yuna is apparently a water goddess destined to battle the fire god, who in the clip appears similar to Ifrit. Keep in mind, however, that, before its release, Final Fantasy IX was reported to take place in a sky world with floating cities, so none of these unconfirmed story details should be taken too seriously.

   At least one new fact has been confirmed, however: Final Fantasy X will use CG movies. Though the game does take place in full 3-D for the first time in series history, key scenes will continue to be depicted with FMV. The main CG sequence shown in the trailer depicted Yuna walking across water towards the fire god. A few real-time (i.e., non-FMV) snippets were also shown, including Tide running through a town, a campfire scene, various battles, and a scene in a town in which a chained summoned beast was attempting to break free.

   A brief bit of dialogue also appeared and was translated by GameSpot. "The beginning has ended and now the end is near. This might be the last time I see you, so I should probably tell you everything," Tide says to Yuna in the clip.

   With Final Fantasy X's Japanese release a mere three months away, look for more details to emerge soon.