Unlike other Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy X will adopt the 3D effects instead of the CG technology. So that everything you see is made by polygons and the reality of vision can be improved. The idea of 'Facial Motion' is also used so that the expression of the people in the game can be much more natural and realistic. Besides, voices are added to each character so as to make them more lively. 

There are large changes to the game system in the upcoming Final Fantasy series. Hopefully, we will describe them in detail.

Everything is made up of polygons. 

'Facial Motion' makes Rikku and Tidus look 'realistic'.

　

　

　

　

 Players will control Tidus to move around( in normal cases). To walk, move the digital button or the analog stick. If you would like to talk with other people, or if you find some treasure box or anything you think is suspicious, just press the O button. Some times the button square is used when you find some athletes you want to join in your Blitz Ball team or when you want to pray to the cactus stones ( to be discussed). The button triangle is the option button, which can access to a window where you can change weapons, use items or run the grow-up system.

You can see a map on the top left corner of the screenshot on the right. The yellow arrow represents the player's location. The red arrow represents the destination. Yellow block represents doors or exits and the white block represents the save point.

  

Battle System:

Square decided to introduce the new CTB (count time battle) system to sort the order of attack by each character, so the traditional ATB system will no longer be used. By using the new system, the order of attack will be sorted before the battle. A CTB window will appear on the top right corner and it will show you clearly who will do the attack first. Usually the one who has higher speed will get the opportunity to start first. Sometimes, the one who has low speed will only start his first turn while the others have started their second turn to attack! The conclusion is that the CTB window allows you to view the order of attack of your side and also your enemies so that you can make your best way to eliminate them.

When it is your turn to attack, you can choose to do the following thing:

1) To attack

2) To attack plus special effect (for example, slow down the enemy or make them confused)

3) White magic (if have)

4) Black magic (if have)

5) Special Ability (e.g.. steal from opponent, absorb HP) 

6) Summon (Yuna only)

7) Use items (such as potion to increase HP or medicine to recover from any kind of illness)

8) Change weapon

9) Change shield

10) Use overdrive (when the overdrive bar is full)

11) Trigger commands (in special occasion)

12) Press triangle to defense

13) Change the active character and do the attack 

When having a fight, you would find out that there is a long bar below each character's name on the bottom right corner. That is the overdrive bar. You can only use the overdrive attack when it is in full status. But how to make it full then? Actually you can set the method by yourself. For example, the bar gauge can be increased when attacking somebody, or being hit by enemies. There are more that 10 methods to choose from.

In each fight, only 3 out of 7 characters can be active and the rest are in the waiting list. When it is your turn to do movement, you can press the L1 button and a small window will appear on the top right and you can swoop the active player. For example, when you notice that Lulu is in low HP status, you can retreat Lulu and call Wakka out to fight instead. Notice that if the player is in sleeping, stone or dead status, he/she can't be retreated.

In special occasion, the characters will have to use the trigger commands to do other things in the fight. Such as to turn on the electricity to run some kinds of machines, or talk to the boss if needed.

When the fight is over, the participants of the fight will receive Ability Point, A.P. can be gained and changed to Sphere Level when you have gained enough amount of AP. Note that S.Lv is not equal to the characters' level and will not do any effect on the characters except you use the S.Lv to run the grow up system. Sphere Level is the number of step the character can walk on the 'sphere board'( to be discussed in the grow up system) so as to increase their ability. The 'sphere' is a new grow up system in the game. Besides Ability Point, money, items and weapons can be received after the fight as well.

The Grow up system:

The grow up system will make a large improvement in the forthcoming FFX. 'Level' will not be used to show the ability of each character. But the use of 'sphere' system will be introduced for characters to grow up. Like gaining experience (EXP) to increase level, the ability point will need to gain for increasing 'sphere level'. When you have gained enough A.P., the S.Lv will increase by 1. The sphere level is used to walk on the sphere board so as to increase the characters' ability such as HP, MP and speed. Below shows some steps to run the grow up system clearly:

　

　

1)After the battle, each character will gain AP, if you have gained enough AP, the S.Lv will increase by 1. 2) Press O to get access to the option and select 'sphere board'
3) After that, you will see a large board with lots of circular steps on it. The sphere steps are classified into different grow up properties: to increase HP, MP, speed, defense, luck... some of them even allow the characters to learn new technique. You can see a picture of Tidus on the top left or right corner. It shows you that you are controlling Tidus to move on the board. 

　

 4.Below the picture, there is a table showing you the sphere level of Tidus. The number decides how many step Tidus can move. If you press the triangle button on the controller, you can view the summary of Tidus. If you want to change other characters to move on the board, just press the L1 button.
5. To move, press O and select 'move'. 6. After moving one step, the sphere level will decrease by 1. Now Tidus is moving a step forward. But Tidus will not automatically learn the ability showing on the sphere step unless he uses the item to generate it.
7. Then select' use item' 8. A table will pop up and a list of 'sphere item' will appear. Each item can be used to generate its corresponding ability. It means that some items can be used to increase HP while some can be used to increase luck or other. Some items have special usage, such as to learn white magic which the other characters have learn or to unlock some sphere blockade to get access to some special areas. Choose the appropriate item to generate it and get ability.
9. The ability is generated and Tidus own that ability. 10. Tidus can now use the ability which he has just generated in battle.
11. At the beginning, Lulu can learn black magic on the sphere board. 12. While Yuna can learn most of the white magic.
13. Auron can easily increase his HP as there are many 'H' sphere steps located around him on the board. 14. When the game has gone through a long process, Lulu can eventually learn white magic as well. Yuna can also learn black magic and so as others. The characters can thus become all-rounded.

　Weapons upgrade:

    In Final Fantasy X, there is a system for you to upgrade weapons. If you have collected enough items for increasing an ability, you can just simply go to the option and upgrade them. Note that it can only happen when the kind of weapons has the space to increase an ability.