Final Fantasy X's Zanarkand

[Westside]

I wonder if anyone knows, but there is a place in my country (Uzbekistan) called Samarkand. It was once in ruins, now rebuilt as a city. It is a very beautiful, and exotic city. The archietectures from FFX's Zanarkand Ruins seem to resemble that of Samarkand. The picture are not that good, but I've been there when I was 3, and I still remember being amazed by the pure beauty of it. It is said that both civilizations (Zanarkand and Samarkand) were the beacon of all civilizations, not sure what it means... Besides, the name sounds almost the same.

 

[Ace Gunman]

Hey, that's pretty neat. It's not impossible that Zanarkand in some small way was inspired by this Samarkand area. Final Fantasy developers have been known to look all over the world for inspiration in their games. It's not far fetched to believe that they would also look to your country for said inspiration.

 

[Westside]

It is quite strange being the fact that my civilization is not known by too many people. I told many people that I was from Uzbekistan, they all reply with either an "uh, huh, sure and I come from lala land", or "Pakistan?"

Oh and Samarkand seems to be one of the oldest inhabited places, adds a little mysterious feeling to it.
Here's a link, if anyone is interested.

 

[cribby08]

This thread brings back fond memories of FFX

......that was my favorite FF.

BTW Samarkand looks magnificant! The pictures makes me want to visit.

 

[Ace Gunman]

Well, I admit I don't know much about your country, but it's fairly well known that with each new installment in the Final Fantasy series the developers looked to the various areas of the world for inspiration. It's obvious that they looked to Europe when designing Final Fantasy XII, for example. And I believe they looked to Asia mostly when it came to Final Fantasy X. Of course, they never just look to any one part of the world, instead they draw inspiration from all over.

EDIT: And after learning the location of your country, the name of that area, and that it's known as one of the oldest cities... not to mention how the ruins look similar to ancient Zanarkand; I'd say it's fairly safe to assume that they were indeed inspired by Samarkand.

 

[cenotaph]

Well, I admit I don't know much about your country, but it's fairly well known that with each new installment in the Final Fantasy series the developers looked to the various areas of the world for inspiration. It's obvious that they looked to Europe when designing Final Fantasy XII, for example. And I believe they looked to Asia mostly when it came to Final Fantasy X. Of course, they never just look to any one part of the world, instead they draw inspiration from all over.

Asia was the primary source of inspiration for Final Fantasy X, as far as visuals go anyway. It would not surprise me however if Zanarkand was modeled after the city mentioned in the original post; it is fairly obscure and makes for an interesting concept.

And on the note of FFX, it's (imo) the best written and most enjoyable of the Final Fantasies. One last hurrah, before its decent into darkness.

 

[test84]

They got concept from Persian Architecture, you have to check it out, all these countries (from India till the East) was part of Iran.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_architecture