Yusuke Naora (Art Director) heard that many people were interested in Asian themes, and since he personally was interested in them too, he shared the idea of making FFX incorporate the idea and theme with other staff members. They all shared the same thoughts about having an Asian themed game and Nomura worked to merge that into his designs.

Most of the inspiration for FFX's colorful and embellished overall designs came from Thailand, the South Pacific and in turn parts of Japan. This reflected the way of life on rural islands and matched the feel displayed in holiday brochures, which the team actually got much inspiration from. Most of the more tribal looking fashions were found on the NPC characters and the elaborate decorations hanging from everyone's hair. The Asian look is further obvious with the shape of eyes and face on many of the main characters, even if they had non-Asian coloring.

When asked how Nomura designed his characters, he explained that he draws the face first and adds in the rest of the details once he gets more information about the character (ex: "sports athlete", "summoner"). He also did the same thing for FFVIII. He learnt that the atmosphere should be Asian and was requested to "make Tidus different from that overall theme" in order to make him stand out, apart from that world.

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