Final Fantasy X: Tidus’s Original Concept is Revealed to Have Been a Plumber

A recent interview with Famitsu revealed more details of Final Fantasy X’s development. The interview, which was with key staff members such as Tetsuya Nomura, Motomu Toriyama, Yoshinori Kitase, and Kazushige Nojima, discussed things such as the real world inspirations and some original character concepts.

Nojima discussed where the inspiration for the world of Spira came from. revealing that it was a trip to Okinawa that gave rise to FFX’s setting. He also stated that Tidus was originally designed to be a plumber, which would have been a reason to have him get into and under water. This idea was eventually scrapped to turn the character into an athlete, which would set him apart from other Final Fantasy protagonists. Nomura also revealed that this original concept was the reason that Tidus wears overalls, and that they were modified to give him his more athletic look.

During the interview, it was also revealed that Auron was originally going to be silent. They decided to give him more spoken lines because of his role of being a guardian to both Tidus and Yuna. Nomura also mentioned that his age wasn’t decided on until later, and that a character’s age changing is a common thing in the development process. Nojima noted that the writing for Jecht may have been different if he was a father twenty years ago.

Nojima also talked about the Al Bhed language. He said that he read cryptography books during FFX’s development, which helped inspire the language. He also stated that the final version of it ended up being simpler than he originally envisioned.

Toriyama also mentioned a potential Final Fantasy X-3, saying that the possibility of it appearing isn’t completely crossed out.