Tidus

Creation and development

Before the development of Final Fantasy X, game scenario writer Kazushige Nojima expressed concern about the relationship between the player and the main character in a Final Fantasy title and wanted to try something new to make the story easier to follow. Since the player and the main character find themselves in a new world, Nojima wanted Tidus' understanding of that world to track the player's progress in the game. Nojima created a brief description of Tidus to give character designer Tetsuya Nomura. Through this, Nomura created a sketch for input from Nojima and other staff members. Nomura was asked to design Tidus differently from the game's theme so he would stand out. Movie director Hiroshi Kuwabara commented the developers found making Tidus and the other main characters was difficult for them as they attempted to make them realistic. The staff wanted to use an undead person as a playable character, and Tidus was meant to be that character. During Final Fantasy X's development, however, Nojima saw a film which used a similar idea with its protagonist. The role of an undead person was then given to a secondary character, Auron.

Nomura mentioned a contrast between the lead male and female protagonists established by their names; Tidus' name is based on the Okinawan word for "sun", while Yuna's name means "night" in Okinawan. The contrast is also indicated by the items required to empower their celestial weapons: the Sun Sigil and Sun Crest for Tidus, and the Moon Sigil and Moon Crest for Yuna. The developers had difficulty with Tidus and Yuna's kissing scene, since they were unaccustomed to animating romantic scenes. According to Visual Works director Kazuyuki Ikumori, this was due to the use of 3D models for the scene. The scene was revised several times due to a negative response from female staff members. Director Yoshinori Kitase expressed that when making Final Fantasy X, one of the staff's main objectives was to focus on the romantic relationship between Tidus and Yuna. Nojima admitted he cried during the game's ending as Tidus and Yuna separated since Tidus vanishes.

Designer Nomura said that he wanted Tidus' clothing and accessories to suggest a relationship with the sea. The character's clothing has a distinctive blue motif; his Blitzball team logo, based on a fish hook, is an amalgam of the letters "J" and "T" (the first letters of Tidus' name and that of his father, Jecht). Because a player has the option of changing Tidus' name, the character is not referred to by name in audible dialogue; a character in Dream Zanarkand uses Tidus' name in a dialogue box. The only other in-game appearance of his name is "Tidu" in Spiran script on the nameplate of an Auroch locker in the Luca stadium. Before Final Fantasy X's release, Tidus was called "Tida" in publications. In early 2001, PlayOnline changed the character's name to "Tidus". Because his name is never spoken aloud in Final Fantasy X, its intended pronunciation has been debated by fans. Interviews with James Arnold Taylor and spoken dialogue in the English versions of Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts (with cameo appearances by the character) indicate that it is pronounced /ˈtiːdəs/ (TEE-dəs); in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II, Tidus' name is pronounced /ˈtaɪdəs/ (TY-dəs).

For the sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, producer Kitase thought that the greatest fan expectation was for the reunion of Tidus and Yuna after their separation in the first game. The game generated rumors about Tidus' connection with the villain, Shuyin, who was physically similar and had the same actors. Square responded that such a storyline, given Tidus' nature, would be too complicated.

Personality

According to Nomura, after designing serious, moody main characters for Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII he wanted to give Tidus a cheerful persona and appearance. He wanted to continue the recent trend of sky-related names, and Kazushige Nojima chose a name based on tiida (Okinawan for "sun"). Nojima called Tidus' personality "lively" and likened him to Final Fantasy VIII's Laguna Loire and Zell Dincht, two other cheerful characters. Tidus was initially going to be a rude plumber who was part of a delinquent gang, but Kitase said he would be a weak protagonist and he was made a sports star instead. His relationship with his father was based on "stories throughout the ages, such as the ancient Greek legends" and would reveal the key to the weakness of Sin, the game's main antagonist.

Masakazu Morita voices Tidus in Japanese. He said that the character was a career highlight comparable to his voicing of Bleach manga protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki. Morita also enjoyed performing Tidus' motion capture, which gave him a greater understanding of the character's personality, and when he recorded Tidus' dialogue for the game he moved his own body. When first announcing the Japanese actor, Square explained that Morita was chosen because he also did the motion capture for Zell which would make fans remember previous games.

James Arnold Taylor was Tidus' English-language voice. Taylor was offered the role by voice director Jack Fletcher, who believed that he would fit the character; translator Alexander O. Smith explained Tidus to him. In contrast to Morita, with the staff's approval Taylor made the character friendlier and less serious. After recording Final Fantasy X, Taylor said that he would enjoy voicing Tidus again; the character was "like an old friend to me now. I know so much more about him now than I did when we first started, knowing hardly anything about him. I would really hate it if anybody else voiced him". According to Taylor, it would seem unrealistic for Tidus to hide emotion. He said that although there were things he would change about his performance (such as the scene where Tidus and Yuna begin laughing together), he was grateful for the warm fan reception of his work.

Final Fantasy X

In Final Fantasy X, Tidus is introduced in an in medias res cutscene of the main characters among the ruins of the city of Zanarkand. He narrates most of the game, revealing his thoughts about aspects of his journey. Tidus recounts the events leading to the present, beginning with his life as a celebrity in the underwater sport of blitzball in an advanced, technological version of Zanarkand. Belying his cheerful, carefree attitude, Tidus hates his absent father, Jecht—initially because of his mother's neglect, and later for their rivalry at blitzball. During a blitzball tournament, Zanarkand is destroyed by a huge, shrouded creature known as Sin. Sin transports Tidus and Jecht's friend, Auron, to the world of Spira.

After his arrival on Spira, Tidus drifts to the island of Besaid. On the island he meets Yuna, a summoner who is planning a pilgrimage to destroy Sin with her guardians Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri Ronso. Tidus joins them in the hope of finding his way home. He and Auron become Yuna's guardians, and Auron reveals that Jecht is Sin. Ten years earlier Jecht and Auron made the same pilgrimage protecting the summoner Braska—Yuna's father—and defeated Sin, who was reborn as Jecht. As the journey continues, Tidus, losing hope that he will return home, develops a romantic relationship with Yuna and swears not to let her die after all the guardians reveal to him that Sin's battle will kill her. When the party approaches Zanarkand, Tidus learns that he and Zanarkand are the cumulative dreams of dead people known as fayth. "Dream" Zanarkand was created when Sin was born during the war between Zanarkand and Bevelle and the original Zanarkand was destoyed. If Sin is permanently defeated, the summoning of Dream Zanarkand and its people (including Tidus) will cease.

In the real Zanarkand the group learns that Yuna must choose one of her guardians as her fayth for the Final Summoning, and decides to find a way to destroy Sin forever which does not require the sacrifice of a guardian or a summoner. They attack Sin directly, entering its shell. Eventually they find Jecht, who they must defeat to eliminate Sin, and in the aftermath Tidus makes peace with his father. After defeating the spirit of Yu Yevon, who is responsible for Sin's rebirth, the fayth are allowed to leave and the summoning of Dream Zanarkand ends. As he vanishes, Tidus says goodbye to his friends and joins the spirits of Auron, Jecht and Braska in the afterlife. After the credits, however, he is seen awakening under the sea.

Final Fantasy X-2

Tidus makes few appearances in the plot of Final Fantasy X-2 although meeting him is the player's objective. Two years after the events of Final Fantasy X, Yuna sees a sphere with a young man (resembling Tidus) trapped in a prison. She joins the Gullwings, a sphere-hunting group, and travels around Spira in the hope of finding more clues indicating that Tidus is alive. The individual in the sphere is later revealed as another man, Shuyin. Depending on the player's development during the game, the fayth will appear to Yuna at the game's end and tell her they can make Tidus return to her. He then appears in Spira, and he and Yuna are reunited. In another final scene Tidus, unsure of whether or not he is still a dream, wants to remain with Yuna. He is also an unlockable character as "Star Player", a blitzball player.

In Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission, the game's updated version, Tidus is a playable character for battles. An extra episode, set after the original game's playthrough, reveals that he is living in Besaid with Yuna. An illusion of Tidus also appears as a boss character.

Other appearances

Tidus' dialogue, monologues and songs were included on the Final Fantasy X Vocal Collection and feel/Go dream: Yuna & Tidus CDs. Although he does not fully understand that he is not the fayth's dream, Tidus feels that disappearing would be preferable to making Yuna cry again. The novel Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Eien no Daishou~, set after Final Fantasy X-2, explores Tidus and Yuna's visit to Besaid Island 1,000 years earlier. The HD remastered version of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, adds an audio drama, Final Fantasy X: Will, in which Tidus is a new blitzball star who appears to be concealing an injury. After Yuna breaks up with him, Tidus helps her on a quest to defeat a reborn Sin.

He also appears in games outside the Final Fantasy X continuity, and a younger version is a friend of protagonists Sora and Riku in the Kingdom Hearts series. In Kingdom Hearts, he appears with younger versions of Wakka and Final Fantasy VIII's Selphie as an optional sparring opponent. The character makes a cameo appearance in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and is mentioned briefly in Kingdom Hearts II. A digital replica of Tidus is a boss character in Kingdom Hearts Coded, and he appears with Auron and Yuna in the board-game-based Itadaki Street Special.

In Dissidia Final Fantasy (an action game with several Final Fantasy heroes and villains), Tidus is the hero from Final Fantasy X: a warrior from the goddess, Cosmos; his father works for the rival god, Chaos. In this game, Tidus has two uniforms and his thoughts and actions refer to Final Fantasy X. With the cast, he reappears in the prequel Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy and represents Chaos in the previous war. Confronted by Yuna, Tidus sacrifices his life to save her from an attack from a villain known as Emperor and is saved by Jecht to become a warrior of Cosmos. As well as his previous outfits, Tidus has another design based on an illustration by Square artist Yoshitaka Amano. He appears in the 2015 Dissidia reboot of the two previous games, representing Final Fantasy X, and is a playable character in the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy rhythm game. Tidus also appears in World of Final Fantasy.

Reception

Tidus had a positive reception from video-game publications. Raymon Padilla of GameSpy called him a "garishly dressed Leonardo DiCaprio" and wrote that his flaws make him appealing. According to GameSpot reviewer Greg Kasavin, players might not initially like the character but would eventually find him "suitably endearing". Kasavin wrote that Tidus had the "surprising depth" characteristic of past Final Fantasy protagonists, and called the game's ending "emotionally charged and satisfying". Christian Nutt of GamesRadar wrote that despite initial issues, Tidus' character development throughout the game made him more likable. PSXextreme's Arnold Katayev liked Tidus' easygoing personality, contrasting it with those of previous, antisocial Final Fantasy protagonists. Atlus character designer Kazuma Kaneko called him "a dashing lead character". GameZone praised Tidus' role as the male lead (compared with previous characters) for its "perpetual feel of youth and innocence". Additonally, in the book Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens: The Digital Role-Playing Game, authors Gerald A. Voorhees and Joshua Call compared Tidus with Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud Strife due to their looks and weapon, but the writers found Tidus more realistic than Cloud.

Although the revelation of his true nature in the game's ending was third on 1UP.com's list of top-five video game spoilers, reducing "at least two 1UP staffers to a state of misty-eyed mourning", Tidus' resurrection in the sequel was criticized as unrealistic. GamesRadar's Dave Meikleham found the character's fate in the first game confusing; in the epilogue he appears alive despite his disappearance, which is not explained until the sequel's end. Matthew Walker of Cheat Code Central wrote that Tidus told his father he hated him in the climax, but came to appreciate him. According to Walker, the game's final scene was intended to impart hope that Tidus was alive; Walker found the ending (where Sin's defeat makes Tidas disappear) sad.

The character was compared to Squall Leonhart, the protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII. The staff of IGN noted differences in appearance between them, contrasting Squall's dark-colored outfit and "permanent mope" with Tidus' brighter outfit and weapon and "an indelible grin". Kurt Kalata of Gamasutra found Tidus a more entertaining character than Squall, despite being "a bit whiny". GameSpot criticized his English-language voice acting, saying that it would have preferred "an almost-mute lead character, a la Squall". 1UP found him the worst-dressed video-game character, citing Nomura's "deal with it" outfit design; despite the "preposterous" design, Square could "successfully sell" Tidus as Final Fantasy X's main protagonist. According to Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto, Tidus cosplay has been popular. The character has also been the subject of action figures and jewelry. To commemorate the franchise's 20th anniversary, Square released figurines of Tidus and other Final Fantasy protagonists.

In the English-language version, IGN said that the character "has a tendency to speak a little too high and fast when he gets excited". Andrew Long of RPGamer criticized James Arnold Taylor's work, saying that Tidus is supposed to sound "impulsive and energetic" but his dialogue is "stupid and childish". Eurogamer's Tom Brawell agreed, calling Tidus' voice acting "whiny" and "detestable". Despite his dislike of the voice acting, Chris Carter of Destructoid enjoyed playing as Tidus in the crossover fighting game Dissidia Final Fantasy and looked forward to its reboot. PSXextreme liked Taylor's work voicing Tidus. In the book Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century, the writers recalled that Tidus' characterization differs between the original Japanese release of Final Fantasy X and the English dub to the point the localization version failed in emulating the original Tidus. In a Final Fantasy X scene, Yuna tells Tidus to laugh to cheer him up and Tidus forces a laugh. Although fans criticised the laughter as sounding too forced, Taylor said that it was supposed to sound like that and they should "get over it".

The relationship between Tidus and Yuna was listed as one of the "great loves" of video games by GameSpot, which called it "one of the best (and ultimately saddest) examples" of mature romance in games and cited its progression throughout the story as one of the game's best elements. GamesRadar found the relationship realistic, noting that despite their sacrifices they still try to be together. Kotaku's Mike Fahey wrote that the popularity of Tidus and Yuna's relationship and his fading away at the game's end forced Square to make a sequel so they could meet again. Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander, calling Tidus a "forgettable hero", praised his and Yuna's relationship. In 2001, both Tidus and Yuna won Game Informer's Best Couple of the Year award. Yuna's English voice actress, Hedy Burress, said that Tidus' interaction with Yuna gave her a humanized, "womanly aspect". 1UP.com staff initially described Tidus as the "good kind of jock" because of his support for the game's other protagonists; his anger and growth during the game kept him from being a "stereotypical boy scout". According to Eurogamer's Tom Brawell, Tidus and the other characters "make much more dignified and believable decisions than those made by their predecessors in other Final Fantasy games".