Top is 'Tide', the Squall look-a-like who's main weapon is a sword. Bottom is the 'water goddess' Yuna who looks a lot like Rinoa.

 December 26th, 2000 - They said it was going to happen, and it did: Square gave a glimpse of Final Fantasy X for the first time since the Square Millennium conference back in January of this year at the Jump Festival in Japan.

The thirty second rolling footage shown at the festival was mainly of CG sequences with bits of real-time action mixed in, sandwiched between videos of The Bouncer, the Final Fantasy movie and WonderSwan Color games.

Final Fantasy X's world seems to be 'post apocalyptic' and consumed by water, perhaps in the same way as presented in the movie 'Water World'. The main continents have long been flooded, with only islands remaining. A creature has arose from the deep to reek terror on the world above, if the words from a preview video shown almost a year ago are anything to go by (rough interpretation):

The main rendered sequence shown was of a girl that resembles Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII, roughly translated as 'Yuna,' walking on water dressed in a blue gown and carrying a staff. She approaches a fire god resembling the appearance of the Ifrit in Final Fantasy VIII. From this, it is likely that a theme in Final Fantasy X is that of a conflict of elements - at least, elements will play some sort of role in the whole scheme of things.

'Tide' wonders around the world map. Note the realistic modelling, a la FF VIII.

Generally, the characters and environment resemble that of Final Fantasy VIII's with their realistic modelling - the main character, roughly translated as 'Tide,' even resembles Squall Lionhart in his appearance. He seems close to 'Yuna' in some way, judging from what he says to her: "...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."

The world is a mixture the usual fantasy and sci-fi features - a large airship wields a large ion cannon. Scenes shown include that of a gathering around a camp fire, 'Tide' running through a dungeon and a scene in a town with a monster being restrained.

For the first time in Final Fantasy's long history, the game itself will be in real-time 3D, utilising fully the PlayStation 2's powers. CG movies will still be present to represent important parts in the story. We would presume that Square will also take advantage of the extra capacity offered by DVD, but it is still possible that CD-ROM will be used.

This is the world map, beautifully created in real-time.	No more static pre-rendered backgrounds - Final Fantasy X will utilise the PlayStation 2's capabilities.