Everything we know about the rumored Final Fantasy X-3
One day we shall return to Spira.
The only thing preventing Square Enix’s developers from making Final Fantasy X-3 is the ongoing Final Fantasy VII Remake series. At some point after the team wraps up the FF7 Remake saga, another sequel set in Spira could be the team’s next big project. On the downside, it’ll be quite a few years before that happens.
A late July 2021 issue of Weekly Famitsu magazine featured interviews with producer Yoshinori Kitase, director Motomu Toriyama, writer Kazushige Nojima, and character designer Tetsuya Nomura. To celebrate Final Fantasy X’s 20-year anniversary, they discussed previously released follow-ups like X-2, the X-2.5 Eien no Daisho novel, and the X-Will audio drama. The four of them also confirmed that a synopsis for FFX-3 exists.
“The possibility is not zero,” Toriyama said of the game being made. “But first, we’re not done making FF7 Remake, so we’re not in a position to talk about that just yet.”
So you’re telling me there’s a chance!? Here’s everything we know about the seemingly inevitable FFX-3.
When might Final Fantasy X-3 actually come out?
Final Fantasy X-2 is kind of a weird game, but it has a lot of style.
At this point, you’d have an easier time trying to pinpoint how long Square Enix will be making FF7 Remake games. Thus far we have one full-sized game and one two-chapter DLC. Together, they only cover a fraction of the original game’s story content. Development on subsequent entries should theoretically take less time to develop because the game’s many systems and some environments are already built. But that remains to be seen.
So how long will it be?
"We have a general idea of how the story will play out, but we haven't decided exactly [how many parts], nor can we confirm anything," Kitase said in Final Fantasy VII Remake Ultimania, released May 2020. "There's speculation that it will be three parts, but we're just doing things one step at a time. If we divide the story into large parts, it'll take longer to make. If we divide it into more detailed smaller sections, then developing it will be faster.”
FF7 Remake Part 2 probably won’t be released until 2023, and we expect at least one more full-sized game to come after that. It’s optimistic to think that the FF7 Remake saga might end with a final entry in 2025 or 2026, but it is still feasible. Only then would development start in earnest on X-3. At that point, unless Square Enix recycles certain developmental systems and/or assets, it’d take 3 to 4 years or more to make.
As mind-boggling as it sounds, a launch before 2030 seems optimistic.
Is there a Final Fantasy X-3 trailer?
Definitely not! There won’t even be a teaser until at least the mid-2020s. Find solace in a swoon-worthy fan video published by Toby Saunders in July 2021 that renders FFX environments and characters in 4K via Unreal Engine:
This is a good representation of how great the theoretical FFX-3 might look one day. In fact, by the time it actually enters development, it could look even better. The video shows various environments from the game, including the Isle of Besaid and more urban environments — there’s even the secluded pond in the forest where Tidus and Yuna share their first kiss. There’s also every major character ... including Sin, the monstrous entity that plagues the world.
What is the Final Fantasy X-3 story?
Major spoilers follow for Final Fantasy X and its spin-off materials.
Yuna reunites with a resurrected Tidus at the end of FFX-2.
Throughout the events of FFX, we learn that protagonist Tidus was a Blitzball star who lived — and died — in the city of Zanarkand about 1,000 years prior to the events of the main game. Some deeply metaphysical magic resurrected his bodily form as a “dream of the fayth,” referring to the beings created by the spirits of humans that merged with pyreflies to manifest magical creatures called aeons. Summoners call upon the power of aeons during a pilgrimage to defeat a kaiju called Sin that lays waste to huge swaths of the world. Once defeated, Sin always re-emerges after a time — because the aeon created to destroy Sin ... becomes ... Sin.
FFX is a lot to take in!
The big twist ending is that to destroy Sin, your party has to send all of these dreams, including the aeons and Tidus, to the Farplane (which is sort of like heaven). FFX-2 follows Yuna — your party’s summoner and Tidus’ love interest — two years after the first game. An exalted hero, Yuna is tasked with navigating the political turmoil of three factions on the brink of war. But she also eventually has to travel into the Farplane to defeat a source of great evil that is corrupting the fayth. As a token of appreciation, they bring Tidus back to life.
The novella Final Fantasy X-2.5 Eien no Daisho novel and the audio drama Final Fantasy X-Will explore the fallout of their reunion. Unofficially translated as “Price of Eternity,” the light novel conveys some strain in Tidus and Yuna’s relationship. Some truly bonkers stuff happens, including time travel to Besaid from Tidus’ time to explore the randomly sexual nature of how aeons are created. Tidus dies again ... and is resurrected again. And the whole process sort of breaks the universe.
All of the upheavals in the Farplane resurrect many of the dead ... including Sin. These shifting dynamics, including what’s essentially a Yuna-Tidus breakup, are covered in the brief audio drama FFX-Will.
This amounts to a genuinely solid setup for the next game. Will also introduces a 17-year-old woman named Chuami who claims to be Auron’s daughter and her childhood friend Kurgum, who longs to be a summoner. In short: Sin is back, and a mix of the old guard and a new generation of heroes has to rise to the occasion. That party also might be split neatly in two after Tidus and Yuna go their separate ways.
Who are the Final Fantasy X-3 characters?
Tidus looks very different in his fourth life.
Auron, unfortunately, is dead. He even appeared in Hades during the events of Kingdom Hearts II, if that counts. His soul was sent to the farplane towards the end of FFX, never to be seen again. Tidus is now a blitzball star that dresses like his late father, and he seemingly lost most of his power. Meanwhile, Yuna lost most of her memories and regressed to her more modest summoner ways. Wakka and Lulu had a child, and she becomes the mayor of Besaid. She seems to be allied with Tidus while Wakka leaves with Yuna. Kimahri Ronso also becomes the elder leader of his tribe. Rikku (who was a party member in FFX and FFX-2) returns to the Al Bhed. Paine, the other FF-X party member, also goes her own way.
All things considered, there are a lot of potential party members in play. And there’s an opportunity to have Tidus start the next game significantly depowered for story reasons similar to Sora in Kingdom Hearts III. What direction the game actually goes in — and what new characters might be introduced — is anybody’s guess.
For the many people out there who may have only played Final Fantasy X, all of these details are considered canon, similar to how multimedia projects expanded the lore of Final Fantasy VII since long before FF7 Remake came along. It remains to be seen just how Square Enix might use all of this.
Final Fantasy X-3 remains unannounced but possible ... eventually.
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