10 Final Fantasy X Moments that Quietly Set It Apart

Final Fantasy X is one of the most unique games in the entire franchise. It came after a period where Final Fantasy went from medieval, to steampunk, and then all the way to sci-fi and back. Even so, Final Fantasy X still managed to feel unique despite all the genres the series had already covered.

Describing Final Fantasy X's sub-genre is darn near impossible. Island sci-fi? Beachpunk? Nope, I got nothing. It's just a very particular vibe that sits in its own place in the Final Fantasy universe, and subsequent games really haven't matched that level of uniqueness since.

We're going to check out a handful of moments from the game that set it apart from others in the series.

10 Blitzball

You're a... Professional Athlete?

Up until Final Fantasy X, protagonists in the series had been various forms of cool, but never had they been professional athletes. And yet, that's exactly what Final Fantasy X's Tidus starts the game as. You're a star of a game called Blitzball, which looks wild and turns out to be fun as hecl to play. But talk about a whiplash of an opening. Coming from Final Fantasy IX, which was medieval classic Final Fantasy, this was a wild tone shift.

And it turned out to be the perfect one, as it sets a surreal vibe that gets quickly upended to begin an absolutely unforgettable journey. I can count the amount of sports moments in Final Fantasy on one hand, and while some scoffed at it at the time for trying to chase the new age of the 2000s, it instead ended up being an iconic beginning that would fuel the rest of the adventure.

9 The Wedding Rescue

Wedding Crashers

Until this moment, Final Fantasy X had gripped me, but it didn't exactly feel like the Final Fantasy series I had come to know and love. See, each of the previous Final Fantasy games had that moment. That epic junction in the story where the rule of cool takes over and that early 2000s feeling of "oh heck yeah" kicked in. The wedding between Seymour and Yuna is that moment. You know what's going to happen, but it doesn't take away from how amazing the moment is.

The party soaring to the rescue, Tidus grinding down the rails, and all sorts of Aeon chaos happening all come together to create one of the most striking scenes in Final Fantasy history. It's an incredible scene, and though it was so different than anything we'd really seen in the series prior, it was the moment that cemented this game as one of the all-time Final Fantasy showstoppers.

8 Wakka Realizes the Lie

Religious Comeuppance

Wakka is one of the more interesting characters in Final Fantasy X. He's the ultimate best friend character type to Tidus, but he's also more than that. He's also a devout religious person dedicated to the teachings of Yu Yevon. We've seen religious characters in Final Fantasy before of varying kinds, but here, we see that trope flipped on its head a bit. For example, Wakka is fiercely against the Al Bhed, almost to a racist degree due to his teachings.

But, that all comes crashing down when the corruption of the church is revealed. It's a great character moment that shows a person who was steadfast in his beliefs regret his actions and start to acknowledge his brainwashing from the church of Yu Yevon, thus changing his ways and his beliefs. Seeing this devout believer turn his back on something that guided his whole life was a wild moment in the game and one of the more mature ones I've seen in a series that doesn't often approach this type of subject matter.

7 The Laugh

Yes, the Laugh

Yes, I know, this scene has been made fun of to the moon and back. However, those that are making fun of it really don't understand the point of the scene whatsoever. Tidus is doing everything he can to try and make Yuna feel like the weight of the world isn't on her shoulders. He's trying to humiliate himself for her enjoyment, hence why the infamous laugh he lets out is so completely ridiculous. He's trying to show Yuna that there is still some joy left to be had in this doomed world.

While some could argue this attempt failed, the nuance of this scene was so different than anything the series had attempted previously. Sure, it was the first voice-acted game, so that lent a considerate amount of weight to everything emotionally, but this was one of the first times in gaming where you could see emotions play out on the faces of the characters in non-CGI form. It was momentous, and while the scene is now clowned-on endlessly, it was a really touching moment that felt much different from the previous games in the series.

6 Seymour's Proposal

A New Kind of Creepy

Seymour is the prime antagonist of Final Fantasy X for much of the game, but his introduction is actually as an ally. He appears to be someone that wants to help Yuna's pilgrimage, even to the point that he wants to marry her and join forces with her for life. That seems to be genuine. This might be a new unexpected party member even. I remember that's what I was hoping for.

Then the other shoe drops. The plan is unveiled, and Seymour reveals his true nature and what he really wants to be with Yuna for. I'm not going to spoil it for you as it's a shocking and awesome reveal in the story, but let's just say he's not the benevolent Maester he claims to be. Not only that, but the whole church is revealed to be corrupt as well.

As far as the Final Fantasy world goes, I've never seen a potential new party member turn like this in the blink of an eye. You think it has a chance to happen, but you're not quite sure until Seymour's amazingly uncomfortable and creepy proposal. It has some of the best voice acting in the series too, and it feels like these moments have been left behind for more conventional ones as the series has gone on.

5 Auron's Truth

The Strong Unsent Type

Auron is the quiet cool guy of Final Fantasy X, but even he harbors a secret that changes everything. He's very much the mentor and the adult in the room in the game, so the moment where he reveals that he himself is an Unsent that was killed by Yunalesca while accompanying Braska on his pilgrimage is a tough pill to swallow. It means he's been dead this whole time, and is just trying to fulfill the mission that he once failed.

It's one of the biggest moments in the game that tells us we're not going to have a happy ending. This journey comes at a grave cost, and almost no one is going to walk out unscathed. It's a sobering moment in many ways, because you're not losing Auron in your party. He's still there. It's just you know that he is going to disappear at the end of the game, and it makes his presence all the more tragic. It's a hard truth that no game in the series has really equaled in terms of creativity as well as story impact.

4 The Sending

Yuna's Standout Scene

The Sending scene in Final Fantasy X is absolutely iconic, and if you were wondering where Clair Obscur got its inspiration for the Gommage scene, I'd say look no further than this moment right here. In it, Yuna is performing The Sending, which guides the souls of the dead to the Farplane following a devastating attack by Sin. It's a somber, beautiful, and visually striking scene that the series had never really approached in its majesty prior to Final Fantasy X and really has been something missing in all subsequent titles since.

It's all at once tragic, powerful, and gorgeous to look at, and it shows that despite her somewhat cheery disposition, Yuna is more than capable of taking on the weight that this journey holds. It also hints at a darker nature to everything that's happening than initially meets the eye.

3 The Lake

Final Fantasy Romance

Final Fantasy had several love stories before the tenth entry in the series, but none of them were ever really shown to us in this way. The scene in Macalania Lake is the best love scene in the entire franchise by a mile. It's got this incredible backdrop of the Pyreflies lighting up the night, and it's the first moment that the two characters really have a chance to be intimate with one another.

It could've been handled clumsily, cheesily, or painfully awkwardly, and instead, it was directed as perfectly as possible, with incredible music playing in the background and just a stand-up and cheer moment for two characters who had clearly been through it and still had a lot more tragedy coming their way.

2 The Truth of the Pilgrimage

Yuna's Purpose

While Yuna's journey is undoubtedly a heroic one, the moment the party finds out what actually happens to her, especially Tidus, is brutal. It sets the stage for some kind of terrible tragedy that's coming at the end of the game. This moment recontextualized the whole pilgrimage until that moment, and showed that Yuna was a kind of female character in the series that we hadn't quite seen before.

Some of you may say, "But what about Aerith?", and the difference is that Aerith didn't see Sephiroth coming. Yuna sees that blade falling to impale her, and yet, she continues on her path regardless. She is ending her own life in the service of others. As someone as young as she is, it's absolutely tragic, and a moment of strength that no character in the series prior really had.

1 The Ending

Love Fades Away

To this day, for me, this is the best and most emotionally resonant ending that any game has had, period. The buildup is so brilliant, and the final reveal that Tidus is nothing more than a dream of the Fayth and wasn't ever a real person in the first place hits hard. He was a dream kept alive by the Fayth to fulfill the purpose of ending the cycle of Sin once and for all. Once that dream is achieved, he ends. And the final scene between the two is as heart-wrenching as I've ever seen in any art medium.

They go to embrace, and Tidus disappears, letting the Fayth finally rest, their incredibly long experiment finally ending. In the process, Yuna survives, but is left without her love. It's a crazy turn of events, and one that leaves the player emotionally wrecked and staring at the screen in shock. And yes, I'm talking about myself here, but don't pretend that this one didn't hit you in a way that no other Final Fantasy ending prior or since has.