In a machinima Cut Scene which showcased
the PlayStation 2's then-astonishing rendering power, seven travelers sit around a campfire, surrounded by shimmering globes of light that swirl in groups. One party member, clad in asymmetrical yellow and blue, stands up and looks out over a ruined city in the distance. He then deploys Squaresoft's secret weapon, a thing never before utilized in a Final Fantasy title: voice acting.
"Listen to my story. This may be our last chance."
A Recap of Final Fantasy X
The world of Spira is an ocean-dominated place with lots of islands and seafaring cultures, particularly showing a Southeast Asian influence. We open on the futuristic city of Zanarkand, and our Player Character, Tidus — who, despite being the star of the first Final Fantasy game with voice acting, is never referred to as such; due to the conflict between voice acting and the fact that he can be renamed, Tidus is always referred to by pronouns. (He is also the last Final Fantasy protagonist who can be renamed, probably due to lessons learned whilst writing this script.) In any case, here's Tie-Dye, signing autographs. He's the star of Zanarkand's blitzball team, the Abes, and is preparing for another chance to kick ass at underwater soccer. Of course, it's not just any match — it's the opening of the Jecht Memorial Cup, organized in honor of Tidus' Disappeared Dad, a blitzball star who has not been seen in ten years. As the game makes clear, this has left Tidus with numerous daddy issues — especially since Jecht was an abusive father at the best of times.
Throughout this intro, Tidus frequently finds himself near a child in a purple hooded robe, with a wheel design on its back. This child will also frequently show up in Flashbacks to Tidus's youth in Zanarkand. This will be important later.
During the match, a tidal wave smashes down over the city, sweeping away all in its path. Before it, unruffled and unhurried, strides in Auron, a friend of Tidus's father. He rescues Tidus and gives him a sword, a present from Jecht, and the two begin fighting their way upstream towards the source of the tidal wave: a gigantic orb of water floating over the city, sucking everything towards it. "We called it Sin," Auron tells Tidus in English. In Japanese, it's "シン," a phonetic katakana transliteration of "Shin", a syllable which has multiple meanings and which multiple kanji can be pronounced as — which makes it hard to pin down precisely what it means, but various translations include "Death," "Truth," and — as in "Shinto," as in "Shinagami" — "God." (The really mind-blowing translation? "Parent.")
Auron leads Tidus towards the behemoth monstrosity, providing an introduction to the game's battle system, which is strictly turn-based as opposed to the semi-realtime Active Time Battle system present in IV through IX and features a Visual Initiative Queue. Eventually they reach the epicenter, and Auron looks up at the gaping maw of the monstrosity: "You are sure?" And then, as they begin to get sucked in, he looks down at Tidus: "This is it. This is your story."
And Tidus awakens... in a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment.note He finds himself in the ruins of a temple, but is assisted in a fight against a monster by a girl who doesn't speak his language. Once she figures this out, she identifies herself as Rikku of the Al Bhed, a culture outcast from the mainstream of Spira because they still use forbidden machina. Tidus identifies himself as a citizen of Zanarkand, which Rikku does not believe: Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago. She wonders if he came into contact with Sin toxin, which causes amnesia. Shortly thereafter, a Sin attack knocks Tidus overboard.
Tidus awakens on a shore. He doesn't recognize anyone or anything around him, but he does recognize the blitzball. After his ball-handling skills catch some attention, the owner of the blitzball, Wakka, welcomes Tidus to Besaid Island. Like Rikku, he distrusts Tidus' claim of hailing from Zanarkand: Sin rose a thousand years ago, destroying the machina cities of "Spira," as everyone calls the world... including Zanarkand, as a punishment for the human use of machina.
Wakka begs Tidus to join the Besaid Aurochs, the blitzball team he captains — which has not won a game in 23 years. Clearly, they need the help... especially since Wakka himself is about to quit the team to become a full time guardian. Guardians protect Summoners as they go on a Pilgrimage to stop Sin, creating a Save This Person, Save the World situation; accompanying Wakka will be Lulu, a Black Mage, and Kimahri, the Blue Mage, a member of the Ronso people whose unicorn horn has been cut off. Kimahri also occupies a unique gameplay space on the "Sphere Grid," which characters traverse like a board game in order to gain stats. The other characters start in a specific location on the grid, and can only pick up skills from other characters after completing their own areas; Kimahri starts in the middle, with very little space to himself, and is meant to be shifted into another character's area and allowing you to get a second copy of whichever character you find most valuable. (Or get a second White Mage. Your original spends a lot of time as a Distressed Damsel.)
Tidus follows Wakka into Besaid Temple, a branch of the Church of Yevon. The church in Spira worships Yevon (obviously, a Crystal Dragon Jesus type), but also "High Summoners" — people who have succeeded at defeating Sin. (If Sin is dead, why is it still alive?, Tidus wonders. The game will answer this later.) Currently, Besaid Temple is hosting an apprentice summoner; she began her trials yesterday has yet to emerge. Tidus sorts out the puzzle in the temple and arrives just in time to see said candidate, Yuna, emerge triumphant from the inner chamber.
Outside, Yuna proves her control of Summon Magic by summoning her first Aeon, Valefor, who can also be renamed. (Appropriately, Aeons are also never referred to by name in voice acting.) Summons in Final Fantasy X do not merely arrive with a fancy Cut Scene to deliver damage: they take the place of the entire party in battle, can be given direct commands, and have their own Limit Breaks. They are also Powered by a Forsaken Child: a "fayth," a once-human who voluntarily imbued their souls into statues which today serve as Soul Jars. A Summoner who has made a pact with the fayth can then summon it in the form of an Aeon. Properly equipped, Yuna is now ready for her pilgrimage, in which she will visit the various temples of the world, form bonds with their fayth, and attempt to, in the end, pacify Sin. Being a White Mage, she will of course need her Guardians: Lulu; Kimahri; Wakka, who attacks with a blitzball and has all the Status Effects; and Tidus, the Fragile Speedster with all the "Haste" spells.
This is also a good moment to talk about the game's Limit Break system, "Overdrives." In addition to each character (and Aeon) having a unique Overdrive, the player may decide what battlefield event cause the Overdrive meter to fill, unshackling players from the standard "Only when taking damage, meaning I need to let my Squishy Wizard get beat up" model. New modes include things like "When my allies take damage," "When I deal damage," "When I inflict Status Effects," "When I have them inflicted on me," and — vitally for Yuna — "When I use healing magic or items." Finally, most of the characters have a unique Overdrive minigame: Tidus gets a "Just Frame" Bonus, Wakka has the Slots minigame, and Lulu's barrage of spells gets longer the more you rotate the right stick. Yuna's and Kimahri's are purely menu-based, Kimahri being a Blue Mage; Yuna's, "Grand Summon," "merely" summons any Aeon with a totally-charged Limit Break.
Overnight, we get a brief Dream Sequence with the first hints of Ship Tease between Tidus and Yuna. However, it's interrupted when Rikku drops in and complains that she thought he was attracted to her. This is interrupted by Jecht, laughing at the idea of his son managing to charm any woman — instantly, in the way of dreams, both Yuna and Rikku are at his side, joining him in mocking the crying Tidus, who is now reduced to his boyhood form. He mumbles to his father, "I hate you," and is goaded into speaking louder... and tumbles out of bed, shouting "I hate you!!"
The next morning, the pilgrimage begins, with Tidus tagging along because Wakka hopes someone will recognize him at the big blitzball tournament in Luca. He also, when accused by Lulu, admits to seeing some of his deceased brother Chappu in Tidus — something which Lulu, who had accepted Chappu's proposal of marriage, can empathize with. That says, she encourages Wakka not to get too enchanted with this apparent reincarnation of his brother. Wakka apparently doesn't listen; he gifts Tidus with Chappu's sword, "Brotherhood" — or, rather, the sword Wakka gave him when Chappu left, and which Chappu turned down.
On the boat, Tidus has a chance to chat with Yuna. She believes Tidus's story, partly because ten years ago a man named Jecht served as her father's guardian. Yuna remembers this man as a hero — which does not jive with Tidus's childhood under a neglectful alcoholic. Yuna is the daughter of High Summoner Braska, the latest of only four summoners who has ever succeeded at bringing in the Calm; she's also Named After Somebody Famous: Lady Yunalesca, the first of those High Summoners. As such, her pilgrimage is thus the source of much excitement across Spira. She claims that Jecht and Auron were her father's guardians. This is one of the ways Tidus and Yuna get each other that nobody else does: both have famous fathers that they are trying to live up to.
During the journey, Sin appears. The party fights it to distract it from Kilika Port, but fail. Kilika is ravaged. Tidus is not; despite his hopes that being exposed to Sin again would result in a "Now Do It Again, Backwards" solution where he is returned to Zanarkand, he remains in Spira.
Arriving in town, Yuna performs the Sending, a ritual that guides the souls of the dead to rest. Those who die in Spira can leave behind pyreflies, the spiritual energy that comprises everything in Spira — the shimmering, glowing things first seen in the opening cinematic, and the things that respond to Yuna's thoughts to become a summoned Aeon. Unless the pyreflies of the dead are Sent by a summoner, they can become fiends, the primary monsters of Spira. The next day, the group enters Kilika Temple to gain the aeon Ifrit. Though Tidus was to stay out of the Cloister of Trials as he is not a guardian, he is tossed in by the guardian of the summoner Dona, who sees Yuna as a rival, in the hopes of besmirching Yuna' trial and getting her excommunicated.
The party sets sail to the city of Luca, the second-largest city in Spira, where a blitzball tournament is taking place. As they sail, Tidus is given a chance to disprove his father's criticism, fulfill some Quick Time Events and learn one of his father's signature moves, the "Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mk. 3." Yuna observes that the Jecht who guarded her father also performed that technique, confirming once and for all that — One-Steve Limit notwithstanding — the upstanding hero and paragon of virtue remembered by Spira is indeed the abusive, alcoholic Jerkass Tidus grew up with, a dichotomy Tidus struggles to come to grips with. If Tidus succeeds at the minigame, the rest of the Aurochs notice, and ask Tidus the name of the move; Tidus shrugs, "Doesn't have a name. Anyone can do it if they try." It's almost like Tidus doesn't like the idea of telling people they're destined to fail.
Maester Seymour Guado and the elder Grand Maester Mika overlook the tournament, which is being held to honor Mika's 50th year as Grand Maester of Yevon and de facto world leader. During the first match, Yuna learns of Auron's presence in Luca: to Tidus he is a family friend, but to Yuna, he is the other legendary guardian who protected her father Braska. She has Tidus and Kimahri help her look for him. Yuna and Tidus then bond after Tidus teaches her to whistle; she should use it if she needs help, and he promises he'll come running.
While Kimahri's rival Ronso, Biran and Yenke, appear to harass him, Yuna is kidnapped by the Al Bhed blitzball team, the Psyches, to blackmail the Aurochs into surrendering the match. While Wakka handles the game, Tidus goes with Lulu and Kimahri to rescue Yuna from the Al Bhed ship, and Tidus learns that Yuna is herself half-Al Bhed. Lulu warns Tidus not to tell Wakka about it; it turns out that Wakka, though likeable and respectful in all other manner, harbors a bit of the Fantastic Racism against the "heretic" Al Bhed. In any case, Lulu sends a signal to Wakka, who wins the game, ending a twenty-three-year losing streak without Tidus's help.
The next blitzball match is against the reigning champions, the Luca Goers. (You're not supposed to win... though you can if you're careful, especially if you learned the Jecht Shot Mk 3.) After the match a group of fiends attacks the stadium. Tidus and Wakka fight the beasts, with surprise assistance from Auron. The rest of the fiends are dispatched by Seymour's aeon, Anima — a chained humanoid beast in torment, with many arms and a bleeding eye from which it shoots Eye Beams, the force of which actually throws Anima's head back in recoil. This is clearly not a happy Aeon, but apparently suffering is power, and Yuna is among the spectators left in awe of the aeon's destructive potential.
Tidus corners Auron, blaming him for Tidus becoming Trapped in Another World. Auron responds by laughing his ass off, implying that Tidus's interpretation of events is not quite accurate. Auron explains to Tidus that Braska, with himself and Jecht as guardians, defeated Sin ten years ago; since then, Auron has lived in Zanarkand, watching over Tidus at Jecht's request. Tidus asks if Jecht is still alive, and Auron allows that he might be, From a Certain Point of View: after all, Sin is Jecht. Dumbfounded by this apparent impossibility, Tidus refuses to accept it.
Yuna notices that Tidus is upset about something. She offers him a Primal Scream therapy session (which they already did outside of Kilika), but Tidus declines. Instead, she points out how, as a Summoner, she has a Stepford Smiler duty to keep her spirits up, and she encourages him to Fake Laugh his way to happiness. Tidus does... alarmingly.
- Tidus: Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha. Aaaaah... ah ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Yuna: You... probably shouldn't laugh anymore.
, which lasts for about ten seconds before the two crack up for real, while the other members of the Player Party look on in Bile Fascination.- Tidus: What're you looking at?
Wakka: We were just worried you guys might've gone crazy!
The pilgrimage continues up the Mi'ihen Highroad. Tidus has officially joined, as has Auron, a Mighty Glacier who has all the "Break" skills that lower statistics and a Limit Break that does extra damage if you complete a Quick Time Event. Yuna tells Tidus about the goal of the pilgrimage: to go to Zanarkand to obtain the Final Aeon, which can destroy Sin. She explains that The Calm is temporary, a brief respite typically lasting only a few years before Sin comes back, and Tidus gets a better look at the blood-soaked reality of life on Spira. At the highway's north gate, the group is not let through because of Operation Mi'ihen, but Seymour pulls rank to get them through.
The Mushroom Rock Road is 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 to defeat Sin. Operation Mi'ihen involves using Sinspawn as bait to draw Sin to Djose, and then attack it with a machina said to be as powerful as the aeons. Wakka, a devout believer of Yevon's teachings and resentful of the Al Bhed, is furious over the plan, though also resentful in general: Chappu, instead of wielding the perfectly good sword Wakka made for him, went into battle with a heretical machina weapon, and died. Auron stands back, knowing the plan will fail. Sure enough, the operation is a disaster: hundreds of Crusaders are killed and Yuna must again perform the sending. Yevon covers its involvement by blaming the defeat on the Crusaders' heresy in collaborating with the Al Bhed. Auron explains to Tidus the reason Sin (Jecht) came to the operation was to see his son.
The party enters the Djose Temple to gain the aeon Ixion, running into fellow summoner Isaaru along the way. Where Dona was standoffish and condescending (criticizing, for instance, the relatively large number of guardians in Yuna's party, whereas Dona herself is making do with just one), Isaaru is supportive and generous. There is a rumor going round that summoners on pilgrimages are disappearing.
The party continues to the Moonflow, a giant river whence all pyreflies come. Before they arrive, Tidus has a dream flashback where he confronts his father, The Alcoholic; apparently, Jecht's drinking is actually affecting his performance on the field — not to mention his treatment of his wife and son. Jecht, like all alcoholics, refuses to admit the problem is a problem, and boasts he could quit drinking right now if he wanted to... only for Tidus to give him a Proof Dare, which of course Jecht cannot actuially do. The next morning, Yuna's group crosses the Moonflow by riding on the back of a shoopuf, a giant elephant-like creature. This particular one has a scar on its leg, which Auron points out: when Braska's team got here, Jecht was so drunk that he assumed the shoopuf (docile and harmless-looking) must be a monster, and went ham. Braska gave them all the group's money as an apology. Jecht, embarrassed, never drank again. Tidus is simultaneously confronted with three facts: 1. This "Jecht" everyone's talking about definitely, definitely was his father. 2. Jecht was capable of Character Development if he found something important enough to stop drinking for. 3. ...He and his mother were not that thing.
As the shoopuf swims across, 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 was the pilot of the destroyed machina. Not wanting to upset Wakka, Tidus and Lulu keep him in the dark about Rikku and Yuna's lineage. (Of course, Wakka's racism is uninformed and based in hearsay, as evidenced by the fact that he Fails A Spot Check on noticing the one-and-a-half Al Bhed who are literally under his nose.) Rikku joins the party as Yuna's sixth guardian, with Auron's blessing (he is also aware of her race); she is the classic Thief with the Video Game Stealing command, and her Limit Break lets her "Mix" two items for a Combinatorial Explosion.
The party moves to Guadosalam, the city of the Guado of which Seymour is the leader, as he is half-Guado half-human. His father, Lord Jyscal, is greatly revered within the city, and indeed within Spira as a whole; as Wakka explains, he converted the entire Guado people to the faith of Yevon, and married a human woman to bind the two peoples together. Seymour has inherited both his position as head of state and Maester of Yevon from him.
Rikku takes this opportunity to introduce the game's last major mechanic: Equipment Customization. The game basically uses Socketed Equipment: each weapon or armor can contain up to four slots, some of which may be pre-filled with various things (+10% Hit Points, resistance to Poison, etc). Rikku allows the player to use consumable items to fill any remaining slots. Similar mechanics are introduced that allow players to each new abilities to Aeons, as well as augment their basic statistics.
Seymour 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: a glittering metropolis from a thousand years ago. Within the recording is a vision of Lady Yunalesca and her husband Lord Zaon, the Battle Couple who first pacified Sin. Seymour proposes marriage to Yuna, hoping to form a similar bond with her, leaving her astonished. Outside, the Player Party discusses the matter, and Tidus — who comes from Zanarkand, where you Marry for Love — is astonished at how blithely they accept the possibility of this Arranged Marriage.
Yuna decides to ask her father for advice: Guadosalam is also the location of the Farplane, a physical place within Spira where pyreflies gather and coalesce into images of the dead, drawn from visitors' memories. Rikku, believing it to be an illusion, declines; a Yevon historian, Maechan, who follows the party around and mostly exists to provide Info Dumps, explains that there is no scientific explanation for the Farplane beyond the fact that pyreflies respond to sapient thoughts and provide reflections of the visitor's memories. However, he also admits that there is no scientific explanation for the fact that, if you try to picture someone who's still alive, the pyreflies / Farplane won't show that person. Auron, meanwhile, declines to enter for lack of a need of introspection; he's a man on a mission, and that's all there is to it.
Wakka communes with the ghost of Chappu here, and if Tidus eavesdrops, he gets an upgrade to Brotherhood; the Starter Gear Staying Power trope is in effect here, and it's arguably Tidus's best weapon that isn't an Infinity +1 Sword. He can also talk to Yuna, who is consulting with High Summoner Braska. As the two (living) characters talk, Tidus sees the "ghost" of his mother, awakening his resentments — she lost the will to live when Jecht disappeared. To his surprise, he cannot summon his father's ghost, and Yuna is excited by the possibility that Jecht might still be out there somewhere.
Seymour's father, Jyscal Guado, leaves the Farplane as an "unsent", a semi-zombie created from a person who dies "an unclean death". Yuna Sends Jyscal, and during the ceremony, Auron falls to his knees, greatly weakened. (This will be important later.) A sphere recording appears from the unsent, which Yuna snatches up. While Yuna enters the Guado manor intending to discuss Jyscal, Seymour has already left for Macalania, where the group heads next.
Rikku panics when the group reaches the Thunder Plains, and halfway across they stay at a Rin's Travel Agency to calm her. Rikku has severe astraphobia — fear of thunderstorms — descending from a past mishap when her brother aimed a Thunder spell at an attacking fiend but hit her instead. While staying at the agency, Yuna privately views the contents of Jyscal's sphere recording. Before the group enters the Macalania Woods, Yuna announces she will accept Seymour's offer of matrimony. Auron guesses Yuna is hoping to negotiate something with Seymour, and that she doesn't want the others involved.
While passing through the Macalania Woods, Auron hacks his way through an overgrown sidepath to reveal a spring whose pyrefly-infused water is used to create spheres. The group discover a movie sphere depicting snippets of Braska's pilgrimage and showing Jecht, a Fish out of Water and alcoholic, slowly reforming. It includes a sentimental message from Jecht to Tidus. Auron explains Jecht had accepted his fate to remain in Spira and assist Braska in defeating Sin, and later tells Tidus that Jecht loved his son, but didn't know how to express it. Tidus is intellectually able to accept that his father performed a Heel–Face Turn after coming to Spira, but still has trouble processing his emotions as a "Well Done, Son" Guy who never quite managed to earn his father's approval.
After leaving the woods, the group is met by Tromell, Seymour's butler, who leads Yuna into the Macalania Temple to prepare for the wedding. They are ambushed by Al Bhed, Rikku's brother Brother among them, who try to stop the pilgrimage by unleashing a powerful machina. Wakka learns Rikku is an Al Bhed and expresses his disgust at the "heathen". He's the only one. Angry that no one is taking his side, Wakka heads to Macalania Temple on foot, while the others ride on two-person snowmobiles. Depending on affection levels, Tidus can end up with several riding companions:
- If Tidus rides with Rikku, he will learn Rikku and Yuna are cousins — Yuna's mother was Rikku's father's sister — and Rikku explains why the Al Bhed want to protect the summoners during the pilgrimage, disagreeing with the summoners sacrificing themselves to bring happiness to Spira. (When Tidus asks what kind of sacrifice is involved, Rikku diverts the conversation.)
- Lulu will explain Wakka's hatred towards the Al Bhed, which stems from the way Wakka's brother Chappu died: while wielding a forbidden machina weapon of Al Bhed make. He asks Lulu if a human can become Sin and she finally believes Tidus comes from another world.
- Auron, mostly taciturn, warns Tidus not to overcomplicate things, but also encourages him to take advantage of his youth and make mistakes. (Tidus: "So which is it?")
- Tidus asks Kimahri if he is willing to accept Rikku's presence, and Kimahri admits that he is willing to go against Yevon's teachings in this matter. Tidus suggests Kimahri tell her so directly, surprising Kimahri with his sensitivity.
At the temple, the party comes upon the sphere Yuna had retrieved from the unsent Jyscal, which shows Seymour committing patricide to secure a Klingon Promotion to Maester (and head of the Guado). The party confronts Seymour outside the Chamber of the Fayth and, with the new aeon Shiva, are forced to kill him when he turns on the party. 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, eventually plunging through the frozen ice of Lake Macalania.
In relative safety, Yuna reveals that in exchange for marriage, she was hoping to have Seymour turn himself in for his crimes. The ground begins to shake, and the party realizes they had landed atop a docile Sin that had been listening to the Hymn of the Fayth emanating from the temple, a song Jecht used to be fond of. Sin knocks the party unconscious as it begins to stir. Tidus accepts that Sin must be his father.
Awaking on Bikanel Island, Tidus finds himself alone by an oasis. He rounds up his fellow guardians, but cannot find Yuna. Rikku leads the group to the Al Bhed city of Home, which is under siege by Guado forces. Fighting through the invasion, the party finds the summoners Dona and Isaaru, taken by the Al Bhed to the Summoners' Sanctum. Freeing them, Tidus is finally confronted with an Awful Truth the party has been trying to talk around the entire time: the Calm, which Yuna seeks to create, can only be established at the cost of the summoner's life. This is why the Al Bhed have been kidnapping summoners: to save their lives, at any cost. However, Dona and Isaaru are both proud of the Heroic Sacrifices they might be called to make, knowing their deaths will serve The Needs of the Many... and assure him that Yuna feels the same. Despite this, Tidus finds himself aligning with Rikku and the Al Bhed: he wants to Take a Third Option and find a way to stop Sin aside from human sacrifice.
The group makes its way to the Al Bhed airship, the Fahrenheit, captained by Rikku's father Cid. The ship takes off with Tidus's group and the remaining Al Bhed refugees on board. Cid blows up Home with the airship's missile system to take out the invading forces, with Wakka, finally abandoning his Fantastic Racism against the Al Bhed, reaching out to Rikku in sympathy. The party learns Yuna has been taken by the Guado to be married to the the now-unsent Seymour.
After fighting their way past a boss, Tidus and his group crash the wedding and force their way through, and Yuna tries to Send Seymour. Grand Maester Mika stops her, and Yuna's guardians are held at gunpoint by warrior monks and Wen Kinoc. Yuna threatens to dive off the tower if Seymour won't release her guardians, and Seymour relents. She then dives off it anyway — summoning Valefor in mid-fall and traveling to the Cloister of Trials. Her guardians have to make their way on foot. Along the way to Bevelle's Chamber of the Fayth they discover several machina inside; Auron confirms that this is the "true face of Yevon: they betray their own teachings."
Though Yuna gains mastery over the Aeon Bahamut, her group are immediately put on trial for heresy. When Yuna protests that Maester Seymour is an Unsent, Grand Maester Mika allows that he doesn't care, seeing as he is one himself. Yuna's party are imprisoned in the Via Purifico, an inescapable dungeon — which, of course, they then escape. The entrance, however, is guarded: first by Isaaru, whose loyalty to Yevon drives him to oppose them, and whom Yuna soundly defeats in an aeon duel; and then by Seymour, disposing of Maester Kinoc's body and absorbing his pyreflies, who engages in a bit of monologuing: his attempt to save Spira involves killing everyone on it, since this will free them from Sin's ravages From a Certain Point of View. The party kill him a second time — though, under the circumstances, they admit it probably won't stick any more than the first time did.
Leaving Bevelle for the Macalania Woods, Yuna, her faith in Yevon shaken, goes off into the woods to be alone. Tidus follows and finds Yuna in the spring. He reveals he knows the truth behind the Final Summoning and apologizes for talking about life "after" defeating Sin, believing he had only depressed Yuna. Yuna says his words had made her happy. Tidus tries to persuade Yuna to quit the pilgrimage and stay with him, and though tempted, Yuna cannot simply allow Sin to run rampant across Spira. She breaks down in tears and Tidus comforts her, leading to kissing as they glide through the water.
Yuna's pilgrimage continues through Mt. Gagazet and the Calm Lands. Kelk and his tribe of Ronso give Yuna their blessing after witnessing her resolve and courage, and Biran and Yenke reaffirm Kimahri's status after he wins a 2-on-1 Duel Boss battle. They then throw themselves at Seymour as he chases after the party, leading to great slaughter amongst the Ronso — a fact Seymour gloats about before the next boss battle. He also mentions that Sin is Jecht, which is news to Yuna and the others.
Near the mountain peak the group comes across 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 who has been there from, literally, the start of the game (in point of fact, he appears onscreen before Tidus himself does). This boy is the fayth of Bahamut, and he's here to deliver a Wham Episode: he reveals that the Zanarkand whence Tidus and Jecht hail is a dream created by the fayth, a place of refuge for them after the great war 1,000 years ago. To get Spira to leave them alone, these fayth then created Sin, locking the world in Medieval Stasis by means of constant war. But the fayth who created Dream Zanarkand are now tired of existence. They want Sin destroyed so that they can move on to whatever comes next. Jecht and Tidus are real, and only they have a chance of ending the cycle of Eternal Recurrence; but if Tidus succeeds, he will cease to exist. After he returns to consciousness, Tidus keeps what he learned to himself.
The party comes to the original Zanarkand, which lies in ruins. This is where the pilgrimage is to end, as does Tidus's Framing Device of him telling the story of How We Got Here. The next morning, after the opening credits have rolled, the party enters the ruins where the pyreflies are so numerous that they display visions of past summoners who came through to defeat Sin. The party witnesses a vision of a young Seymour, whose mother had given up her life to become the fayth of Anima.
They meet Lady Yunalesca in Zanarkand Dome, now an unsent after her battle with Sin a thousand years ago. They learn that to create the Final Aeon a guardian must be sacrificed as its fayth. (Lulu volunteers immediately, as does Wakka.) They glimpse into the past into Braska's pilgrimage where Jecht became the fayth for the Final Aeon. 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, continuing the Vicious Cycle. And of course the summoner him- or herself dies from summoning the Final Aeon — leaving Auron, in the vision, alone and furious; he attacks Yunalesca head on, but is slain. The Auron currently in the party is an Unsent.
Tidus insists they don't do it. Just as Jecht himself believed ten years ago, Tidus insists there must be a way to break the cycle. "This Is My Story. It'll go the way I want it... or I'll end it here." But Yuna decides to come with him: "You say this is your story, but this is my story too, you know?" They confront Yunalesca, who denies that there is any way to break the cycle. Accusing them of throwing away Spira's last hope, she prepares to attack.
- Auron: Now! This is it! Now is the time to choose! Die and be free of pain, or live and fight your sorrow! Now is the time to shape your stories! Your fate is in your hands!
Kimahri: Yuna needs Kimahri. Kimahri protect Yuna.
Rikku: Well, I'm fighting.
Wakka: I can't believe we're gonna fight Lady Yunalesca. Gimme a break!
Lulu: You can always run.
Wakka: I'd never forgive myself—no way. Not if I ran away now. Even in death, ya?
Lulu: My thoughts exactly.
Tidus: Yuna! This is our story. Now let's see this thing through together.
(they FIGHT)
Yunalesca is, arguably, the hardest boss in the game. She has three phases — even the Final Boss only has two — and some truly galaxy-brain attack patterns, inflicting Zombie on your party and then exploiting "Revive Kills Zombie" to attack using Cure and Regenerating Health spells. Just to up the tension, she begins her third form by casting Mega-Death on your entire party, which will kill any living member... and can only be avoided by letting one of them stay a Zombie. All of this is underscored by a jangling, claustrophobic battle theme that drives home the intensity of the fight.
The slaying of Lady Yunalesca marks an irrevocable end to the Pilgrimage, for only she holds the secret of transforming guardians into Final Aeons. No more will Summoners sacrifice themselves to destroy Sin — no more are they able to. As she passes, she drops one last secret: even if the current Sin is defeated, "Yu Yevon" will merely create one anew.
The Fahrenheit picks up the party and brings them to Bevelle, where they consult Grand Maester Mika. Upon learning that the Pilgrimage has been ended for ever, he pulls a Screw This, I'm Outta Here, dissolving himself into pyreflies. He is kind enough to at least provide an Info Dump first: Yu Yevon is an ancient summoner hailing from the original Zanarkand of 1,000 years ago, and Yunalesca's father. When he saw Zanarkand was going to be destroyed in the Machina War, he performed a summoning so immense he lost his humanity: he transformed the remaining citizens of Zanarkand into fayth and used them to summon the Dream Zanarkand whence Jecht and Tidus hail, so that the memory of the city would be preserved forever. To ensure Dream Zanarkand's survival he clad himself in living armor made out of pyreflies; this armor became called "Sin". Whenever a Final Aeon pierces Sin, Yu Yevon will possess the Final Aeon, slaying the Summoner who summoned it, and mold it into a new Sin. This process, which takes years, is the Calm. The Church of Yevon arose around this cycle, knowing the Final Summoning will never defeat Sin permanently but (evidently) willing to settle for a temporary solution. What cannot be denied is that nobody thinks there is a permanent solution.
While thinking about this situation, Tidus is given access to the Global Airship and can begin to pursue Side Quests for the first time.
- First up are the Celestial Weapons. The Infinity +1 Sword for each character consists of the base weapon itself, as well as two MacGuffins, a Crest and a Sigil, that must be collected in various ways. The Crest is always found via exploration, but the Sigil must be unlocked by various side activities: for instance, Lulu's is unlocked by passing a reflex minigame, dodging lightning bolts at Thunder Plains, 200 times. In a row. Tidus's is earned by completing a Chocobo race... with 0:00 seconds on the timer, by dodging obstacles and collecting sufficient "Subtract time off my score" items. Many of these are poster children for the "
That One Sidequest" trope. - The Monster Arena is available in the Calm Lands. To populate it, you must backtrack to all areas of the game and capture fiends by defeating them with monster-catching weapons equipped. You can then unlock boss fights that provide post-game content and lots of special items.
- Blitzball is the official minigame of Spira. It can be played from any Save Point, and the players on your team can be leveled up. Additionally, new players can be recruited throughout the world and added to your roster, including blitzers who are (nominally) signed to other teams. Blitzball is also where you unlock some of Wakka's additional Overdrive modes and the Sigil for his Celestial Weapon.
- The Al Bhed speak a Cipher Language, but Tidus can learn to decipher it by picking up Al Bhed Primers throughout the world. (This has been going on since Besaid Island, but hasn't been worth mentioning until now.) This does not change the actual dub, but rather begins translating the subtitles; Al Bhed subtitles are rendered in a specific color, but any letter that is translated will be a different color. The in-game rewards for tracking down sufficient primers are limited to some secret Save Points which you can access via the Fahrenheit, giving you access to fairly decent gear for some characters.
- Three Secret Aeons can be unlocked.
- Yojimbo is found in a cavern just south of the Calm Lands and can actually be unlocked before fighting Lady Yunalesca. He works for
Money, Dear Boy; you command him by paying him, and his damage scales (roughly) with the expenditure of gil. - Anima, Seymour's signature Aeon, can be found by finding hidden items in all five previous temples (Besaid, Kilika, Djose, Macalania, Bevelle). The party must then manually find Baaj Temple — which, as it turns out, is the place where Tidus first appeared in Spira and was rescued by Rikku — on a landmass south of Bikanel Island, where Yuna forms a pact with Anima. If the player is forced to backtrack to the other temples, they should be wary: in some versions of the game, these temples are now guarded by superbosses, the first of which has four times more HP than the actual Final Boss.
- The Magus Sisters are found in the Remiem Temple in the Calm Lands, and can only be unlocked if you have the other two secret Aeons. The sisters' gimmick is that they cannot be directly controlled; instead, Yuna gives them suggestions which they interpret.
- Yojimbo is found in a cavern just south of the Calm Lands and can actually be unlocked before fighting Lady Yunalesca. He works for
While running around to do all this, Tidus and Yuna have come up with a plan: they put out a worldwide memo that, at the appointed day and time, everyone — like, everyone — will sing the Hymn of the Fayth, which has a known calming effect on Jecht; during that time, the Fahrenheit will pierce the Sin armor and deliver the party inside. This works, and aside from one stumbling block — Seymour, who has re-coalesced within Sin and must be put down a fourth time — they make it to the heart of Sin. Seymour, unable to run, also consents to be Sent, finally putting an end to him.
The heart of Sin is appointed like a blitzball stadium. Within waits Jecht, who is impressed with Tidus's progression. Tidus allows, in the few moments before Jecht is fully overtaken by Yu Yevon, that he is proud to be Jecht's son. But then the battle is upon him, as Jecht transforms into Braska's Final Aeon. It's the hardest fight of the campaign — in fact, it's the Final Boss, as the subsequent fights are literally impossible to lose due to the game bestowing your party with infinite lives — but Tidus and Yuna prevail.
Yu Yevon is but a husk of his former self, and what remains of him requires a host to inhabit. It now lingers around Yuna. As she summons her Aeons, Yu Yevon takes them over, forcing the party to — with the Aeons' consent — strike them down one by one. Then they confront Yu Yevon itself. Without a host, the parasite is easily struck down. Sin is over. But Tidus warns his friends that this will be the last time they fight together. "I know it’s selfish... but this is my story!"
As Spira celebrates below, Yuna Sends what's left of Yu Yevon... Noticing then that Auron is dissolving. Auron tells her to continue, declaring that his mission is done. Then, on deck of the Fahrenheit, she does it again, dissolving her Aeons and the Sin armor... And, as the Zanarkand Fayth also give up their dreams and depart, Tidus begins to flicker in and out of existence. He bids farewell to his friends and begins to walk away; Yuna cries out and runs to catch him — and phases through him. Carefully, oh so carefully, he puts his arms around her one last time... And then, his goodbyes done, he takes a running leap off the deck. As he soars through the air, he passes all those who have gone before him: Braska, Auron, Jecht. And, as he passes, he reaches out to give his father one last high-five.
Yuna stands on a dock, whistling, whistling — calling for a response that never comes.
Now High Summoner, she must leave her dreams behind and assume the mantle of duty. Lulu brings her to the Luca blitzball stadium to give a speech to the people of Spira, proclaiming the end of a thousand years of terror, and the beginning of the Eternal Calm:
- Everyone here has lost something precious. Everyone has lost homes, dreams and friends. Now, Sin is finally dead. Now Spira is ours again. Working together, now we can make new homes for ourselves... and new dreams. Although I know the journey will be hard, we have lots of time. Together, we will rebuild Spira. The road is ahead of us, so let's start out today.
Just one more thing: the people and the friends that we have lost... or the dreams that have faded... Never forget them.
Final Fantasy X
The Stinger: Tidus awakens underwater. He stretches and swims towards the camera, smiling in delight.
