I remember watching these, huddled around my old tank of a computer, still chugging along on Windows 98 and dial-up internet. The event was Square Millenium, back in January of 2000. A series of consecutive trailers was shown; first was gameplay from Final Fantasy IX which was released several months later in July.
The second, with bated breath, was the announcement of Final Fantasy X in junction with PlayOnline. The first Final Fantasy in the next generation! My mouth was agape as I saw the black-haired character that would evolve into Tidus jaunt across the screen in full and smooth 3-D. Swinging the camera around in all directions proved that pre-rendered backgrounds were all but a distant memory. (Although, the final version didn't give you camera control and it did have pre-rendered backgrounds in some instances.)
After that, after Final Fantasy X had left me in a stupor, another trailer started. This, of course, was the debut announcement of Final Fantasy XI. As the trailer played, I had no concept at that time of what the game would be or become. When the words "online another world" appeared on the screen, it was clear.
At Japan Expo 09, Play Arts displayed some of the new Final Fantasy figurines they've been working on along with a few non-painted prototypes of tarutaru (Shantotto among them). Characters from Final Fantasy VII, IX, and XIII were also displayed.