The player character is Tidus, a star athlete in the fictional sport of blitzball, who finds himself in Spira after Sin attacked his home city of Zanarkand.

Shortly after arriving to Spira, Tidus becomes a guardian to summoner Yuna to destroy Sin upon learning its true identity is that of his missing father, Jecht.

Like previous games in the series, Final Fantasy X is presented in a third-person perspective, with players directly navigating the main character, Tidus, around the world to interact with objects and people.

[7] The Sphere Grid system allows players to fully customize characters in contrast to their intended battle roles, such as turning the White Mage-roled Yuna into a physical powerhouse and the swordsman Auron into a healer.

[11] Final Fantasy X is set in the fictional world of Spira, consisting of one large landmass divided into three subcontinents, surrounded by small tropical islands.

It features diverse climates, ranging from the tropical Besaid and Kilika islands, to the temperate Mi'ihen region, to the frigid Macalania and Mt.

Spira is very different from the mainly European-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on Southeast Asia, most notably with respect to vegetation, topography, architecture, and names.

Other fauna in Spira, aside from those drawn from real animals, such as cats, dogs, birds, and butterflies, include the gigantic, amphibious shoopufs (which are similar to elephants); and the emu-like chocobo, which appears in most Final Fantasy games.

There are seven main playable characters in Final Fantasy X, starting with Tidus (James Arnold Taylor/Masakazu Morita), a cheerful young teenager and a star blitzball player from Zanarkand, who seeks a way home after an encounter with Sin transported him to Spira.

[12] Upon arriving in Spira, Tidus is rescued by Al Bhed salvagers, with the young Rikku explaining that Sin destroyed Zanarkand 1,000 years ago.

[23] After Sin attacks again, Tidus is separated from the divers and drifts to the tropical island of Besaid, where he meets Wakka, captain of the local blitzball team.

[17] Wakka introduces Tidus to Yuna, a young summoner about to go on a pilgrimage to obtain the Final Aeon and defeat Sin[15][24] with her guardians Lulu, a mage of black magic, and Kimahri, a member of the Ronso tribe.

[28] At Macalania Temple, the group discovers a message from the spirit of Seymour's father, Lord Jyscal; he declares that he was killed by his own son, who now aims to destroy Spira.

[2] Producer Yoshinori Kitase was also the chief director of Final Fantasy X, while the direction of events, maps and battles was split up between Motomu Toriyama, Takayoshi Nakazato and Toshiro Tsuchida, respectively.

[60] 17 SEVEN TEEN's story differed from the final version: the protagonist, who looked similar to Tidus,[61] traveled the world seeking a cure for a pandemic that killed people when they reached the age of seventeen.

He has also said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process.

[2] Sub-character chief designer Fumi Nakashima's focus was to ensure that characters from different regions and cultures bore distinctive characteristics in their clothing styles, so that they could be quickly and easily identified as members of their respective sub-groups.

For example, she has said that the masks and goggles of the Al Bhed give the group a "strange and eccentric" appearance, while the attire of the Ronso lend to them being able to easily engage in battle.

[65] Final Fantasy X features innovations in the rendering of characters' facial expressions, achieved through motion capture and skeletal animation technology.

With the game's cutscenes already programmed around the Japanese voice work, the English localization team faced the difficulty of establishing English-oriented dialogue and the obstacle of incorporating this modified wording with the rhythm and timing of the characters' lip movements.

[77] The game features three songs with vocalized elements, including the J-pop ballad "Suteki da ne", which translates to "Isn't it Wonderful?".

Additionally, "Swing de Chocobo" was performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for the Distant Worlds – Music from Final Fantasy concert tour,[88] while "Zanarkand" was performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in the Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy concert series.

It features content not available in the original NTSC releases, including battles with "Dark" versions of the game's aeons and an airship fight with the superboss "Penance".

[94] The video clip was included in a bonus DVD for Unlimited Saga Collector's Edition under the name Eternal Calm, Final Fantasy X-2: Prologue.

Also included are trailers for Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, a concept and promotional art gallery for the game, and a music video of "Suteki da ne" performed by Rikki.

[108][109] It included enhanced graphics in full HD (1080p), the option to switch to the original soundtrack and the ability to transfer save files from the PS3 and PS Vita versions.

[114] The visuals of the game were commended by GameSpy's Raymond Padilla, who referred to them as "top-notch", as well as giving praise to the character models, backgrounds, cutscenes, and animations.

[115] Square initially expected the game to sell at least two million copies worldwide owing to the reduced PlayStation 2's fanbase, making it smaller than the last three released titles.

[94] The sequel is set two years after the conclusion of Final Fantasy X, establishing new conflicts and dilemmas and resolving loose ends left by the original game.

[169] Kujiraoka noted that the staff received multiple requests by fans to include Tidus' and Yuna's Will look as an alternative design but Nomura said it was not possible as the company would first need to develop Final Fantasy X-3.