Yusuke Naora, the art director, noted that during the concept stage many people on the project were interested in Asian themes including Nojima and Kitase. For Zanarkand, the Uzbek city of Samarkand has been cited as an inspiration. Nomura said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games most notably in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process. Fumi Nakashima, the sub-character chief designer, concentrated on giving characters from different regions and cultures distinct styles of clothing. Nakashima wanted the machine-oriented society of the Al Bhed to stand out and had them wear masks and goggles to give them a strange and eccentric appearance. Koji Sugimoto, main programmer for characters, said that the complexities of the PlayStation 2 hardware made mastering it difficult, but more rewarding because the details on Yuna's sleeves to the depiction of shine and shadow could be rendered more realistically. Final Fantasy X was the first game that allowed for 3-D model rendering of backgrounds that increased the presentation, including small details like grass blowing in the wind and cloud movement. Takayoshi Nakazato decided to abandon the typical world map concept for a more realistic depiction. Final Fantasy Xs spatial presentation of Spira is tied to progression; with a player's progress being marked through the panoramic introduction and depiction of the area upon first entry. Chiharu Minekawa, the supervising sound editor, commented that the transition in sound from one environment to the next was done seamlessly in order to mimic the natural surroundings of these environments as the player moved through them. The decision to create Final Fantasy X-2 came after fan response to the "Eternal Calm" in the International Edition of Final Fantasy X which depicted events two years following Yuna's final battle. The dark religious theme of the first game was concluded and the cultural changes were explored as the people of Spira, the focus on fashion that "reflects their state of mind". Toriyama believes the most important element incorporated into Final Fantasy X-2 was the "peaceful world of Spira achieved in FFX and unification of characters' state of mind." Kitase identified Final Fantasy Xs theme as "independence from the ties of law and customs" and Final Fantasy X-2s theme is about "the changes that occurred from the chaos after gaining that independence." For Final Fantasy X-2