Article by Walt Wyman of Core Magazine.

After months of seclusion, Square music director Nobuo Uematsu emerged this week in Japan to shed some light on Final Fantasy X with FamitsuPS2. The premiere chapter in Square's trademark RPG series for the PlayStation2, Final Fantasy X will take the series in a new direction both visually and sonically. Specifically, the game will feature spoken dialogue and several new audio accentuation's. Uematsu-san explains:

"I think the voices of Tidus and Yuna are well done. They'll take the RPG genre to a new level by changing the way music is needed in future RPG's. For example, sometimes melodies will play along with the spoken dialogue, but very quietly. If the music is too loud during these sequences, it would get in the way, so we had to approach the music differently. After all, the spoken dialogue is paramount, so when a character starts talking the background music will automatically decrease volume. Compared to previous games in the series, X has the most spots where there's silence. But it also has the second largest number of songs in a Final Fantasy game."

Continuing, Uematsu-san described some of the finer, if not altogether hidden aspects of the audio presentation in Final Fantasy X:

"I think it sounds more cinematic, but everyone's favorite theme songs such as Chocobo are included. There is a song sung by the characters in Final Fantasy X called 'Song of Prayer.' While the game isn't a musical, everyone sings in videogames for some reason. [laughs..] We ended up doing 10 different arrangements of 'Song of Prayer' alone. Until now, sounds effects were done in monaural, but in 'X' we've switched to stereo and it's very different. Now the effects really add to the atmosphere, and they're key to the story."

Uematsu-san went on to discuss the involvement of famous Japanese singer Rikki and how her voice has helped shape some songs:

"Our manager brought us one of Rikki's albums, and after just one listen, we unanimously decided she was the only singer for us. Rikki really gets Yuna's personality across. Yuna has a theme song in Final Fantasy X, but it's essentially the main melody of the game. The lyrics are still secret, but it's a great song. The scriptwriters got their inspiration from Rikki's singing, so the game flows from her voice."

Lastly, he touched upon the song creation process and what players can expect when Final Fantasy X hits Japanese shelves in July:

"At night I setup a synthesizer in my office and worked on the music. At one point I turned out 15 songs in an hour, one of which ended up being the theme song. I'd say I like the main theme the best, followed by the opening theme, and then Puritsu Boru third. Puritsu Boru is a battle song, but it's completely different than traditional Final Fantasy music."