Originally Posted by Ultimania
As some fans of Final Fantasy VII, X and X-2 may or may not know, the worlds
of the two games share a plot-related connection. The connection's existance
was established during an interview with Yoshinori Kitase (lead developer of
the Final Fantasy series) and Kazushige Nojima (the scenario writer of Final
Fantasy VII, Before Crisis, Advent Children, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy
X, Final Fantasy X-2 and the Kingdom Hearts series) in 2002, as featured in
the Final Fantasy X Ultimania Omega guidebook, an official Square-Enix
publication.
This interview established that there would be a connection between the two
worlds, though it didn't detail it. However, based on what was later revealed
to be the connection, it's clear that it had already been conceived, as
Kitase hints at it with his final word on the subject. In 2003, the exact
nature of the concept was finally revealed in the Final Fantasy X-2 Ultimania,
having been hinted toward by a few elements of the game.
Nojima revealed that Shinra of the Gullwings, an Al Bhed child prodigy and
inventor of various machinery, would attempt using the remains of Vegnagun --
the behemoth machina Shuyin tried to destroy Spira with -- to extract life
energy from the Farplane and use it to power machines. Shinra would attempt
doing this as a result of his analysis of the Farplane late in the game.
During this diagnostic, Shinra concluded that there was a great deal of energy
floating around inside the Farplane, and that it was most likely the life
force of Spira, which could be extracted and used as a power source; however,
he concluded that it would take generations to properly implement the idea.
Further of note is that Nojima explained that the Al Bhed entrepeneur Rin also
was interested in extracting mako from the Farplane, and that he provided
Shinra with the funding to make the attempt. For his part, Rin's desire to do
this is revealed during the game should he be uncovered as the culprit behind
covering up the malfunctioning machina disaster on the Mi'hen Highroad.
Nojima went on to say that Shinra's attempts to use Vegnagun's remains failed
and that he was unable to complete the concept of mako-extraction, just as
Shinra had predicted. However, some 1000 years later, once space travel became
possible, Shinra's descendants would go on a voyage to the world of Final
Fantasy VII. There, at some point in the future, they would be successful in
utilizing the concept, and would provide electricity from the Planet for a
price; these descendants would found the Shin-Ra Company of Final Fantasy VII.
The connection would again be hinted toward in the Final Fantasy X-2:
International+Last Mission (released in 2004) game's Last Mission scenario, in
which Rikku revealed that Rin and Shinra had begun working together. Next,
the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega guidebook (released in September, 2005)
also brings forth mention of the concept, and, finally, the connection may
have received further indication through Dirge of Cerberus (released in
January, 2006) and the Advent Children Reunion Files book (released in May,
2006), in which it is established that the Shera airship seen in Advent
Children and Dirge of Cerberus runs on ancient, lost non-mako technology that
Cid discovered. This technology very well may have originally belonged to
Shinra's descendants, as they are the only previous inhabitants of VII's world
indicated to have been in possession of advanced technology, and because the
interior of the Shera bears some aesthetic resemblances to those of the
Fahrenheit and Celsius airships that figure prominently into FFX and FFX-2
(though the Shera's interior bears more of a resemblance to the Celsius').
I will here present the dialogue from Final Fantasy X-2 that hints at the
connection, as well as the interviews and other translations that establish
its existance as part of official Final Fantasy continuity.
***Dialogue with Rin from Final Fantasy X-2***
Rin
"You are suggesting that my decision to upgrade the machina resulted in a
number of casualties... ... and that I tried to cover it up?"
Yuna
"You put the investigation in our hands because we were amateurs. You hoped we
would botch the case."
Yuna
"And then, I kept calling you even though I didn't have any leads."
Yuna
"You would have objected to the meaningless interruptions, if you really
wanted to solve the case."
Rin
"I see. It appears that I have underestimated you, Yuna."
Rikku
"Why, Rin?"
Rin
"If word got out that machina pose a danger, people would fear them and stop
using them."
Paine
"So Yevon's not alone in sweeping things under the rug."
Rin
"I firmly believe that machina are an indispensable part of Spira's
development."
Rin
"Even if there is another incident, I intend to conceal the evidence."
Yuna
"You really think people will follow you that way?"
Rin
"I am not alone in my thinking."
Rin
"We are researching ways to extract the vast energy that sleeps in Spira, and
use it to power machina."
Paine
"You're a jackass."
Rin
"I will take that as a compliment."
***Dialogue with Shinra from Final Fantasy X-2***
Shinra
"Aha..."
Yuna
"What are you looking at?"
Shinra
"Farplane data."
Shinra
"The more I study it, the more fascinating it gets. There's limitless energy
swirling around in there."
Yuna
"Limitless energy?"
Shinra
"The life force that flows through our planet...I think."
Shinra
"With a little work, we could probably extract the energy in a useable form."
Brother
"Sweet!"
Shinra
"Of course, that'd take generations."
Brother
"That's no fun!"
Buddy
"Well, still, it is something worth shooting for."
Yuna
"Think how much Spira would change if we ever got it to work!"
Yuna
"Maybe one day we could build a city full of light, one that never sleeps!"
Shinra
"No doubt about it."
***Dialogue with Rikku from Final Fantasy X-2: International+Last Mission***
Paine
"These days, people are always looking for sunken machina."
Rikku
"Yup-yup!"
Yuna
"Oh? Has Shinra been helping you with that?"
Rikku
"Ahh, now that you bring it up..."
Rikku
"Well, he left the ship and got together with Rin, and what do you think all
that research they've been doing is about?"
***Interview with Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima in the Final Fantasy X
Ultimania Omega*** (Page 191)
**FFVII and FFX are connected?!**
--"Previously, with a conversation in the FFX Scenario Ultimania, you made
certain inferences, and since it's been about half a year since then, is there
anything new you'd like to clarify about FFX?"
Kitase
"That's true...... Now that FFX International is out and we're in the future,
I'm in a predicament; it really isn't that hard to think of another story
[set] in that world; room for expansion was left possible there without too
much difficulty, don't you think? Speaking conversely, FFX received a splendid
reception and made us think of adding to it."
Nojima
"After FFVII was finished, we were easily able to add Zack's open[-ended role]
into the International version. But, with X, there was an older story with a
partly-finished world and an opening that this new one could be added to and
[, in doing] so[,] complete it."
Kitase
"So, you could say [in terms of] time, Nojima-san decided to designate it to
act as a sequel to VII, if you follow me."
--"It's a sequel to VII!!"
Kitase
"Well, there was a joke right there. Simply put, in VII's ending, Holy came,
and the next thing you knew, it was over without closing things up, and then
it was the "500 years later" [scene] in the future. There's a large margin
buried there. A margin for the imagination. Nojima-san and Toriyama are going
to be filling something of that with VII, though, while they're at their best
and can do it."
--"So, will it become a sequel to VII's story?"
Nojima
"I have a strong feeling that they're going to be connected."
--"Huh, so VII and X ARE connected?"
Nojima
"Well, there's not many specifics to it. I know that what becomes of people
when they die is among them; you could say that it's basically the same. Both
[concepts came to] function along the same line of thought as I wrote the
stories. Sometimes my thoughts just flow out like that, even though pyreflies
distinctly aren't green."
--"When you speak of the dead becoming [something] green, do you perhaps
[mean]......?"
Nojima
"Yes. In my mind, pyreflies and VII's Lifestream are the same substance."
Kitase
"Nojima-san's even considering making use of an idea like this -- [with] an
addition to the idea of life origin -- in a sequel to FFX International.
That's just a little bit of the thought that's been going into what to do with
VII."
Nojima
"That's right. There's something like the Lifestream [in X's world
also]......."
--"'An addition to the idea of life origin'......does that mean you're going
to revise life origin concepts or something?"
Nojima
"I can't say......it's a secret (laughs)."
Kitase
"It's a surprise with how someone from the story conducts theirself with
regards to the Farplane."
***Interview with FFX-2 creators from the Final Fantasy X-2 Ultimania***
(Page 723)
**"So, what of this child, Shinra......"**
--"Among these latest stories, 'connected' is one of the key words becoming
applicable, isn't it?"
[Daisuke] Watanabe
"I personally like the word 'connected,' but there's one aspect where that
applies well."
Nojima
"During the game's progression, various vague things will be tied together to
reveal it."
--"For example, the name 'Shinra' suggests a connection with VII? There's
[what's said] in the 'Graduation Mission' scenario [ -- 'graduation'
referring to Shinra being soon to leave the Gullwings -- ], and the 'I am not
alone in my thinking' line from the 'Rin's Detective Work' scenario seems to
have some particular significance."
Nojima
"Actually, it does. After quitting the Gullwings, Shinra received enormous
financial support from Rin, and began trying to use Vegnagun to siphon Mako
Energy from the Farplane. But, he is unable to complete the system for
utilizing this energy in his generation, and in the future, when traveling to
distant planets becomes possible, the Shin-Ra Company is founded on another
world, or something like that....... That would happen about 1000 years after
this story, I think."
--"So VII's story is after that?"
Nojima
"Well, you could say the feelings I have are like that. When I think about the
characters, those are the kinds of feelings I already have. Shinra is a good
child, but his descendants are going to end up becoming like the president [of
Shin-Ra] (laughs)."
Watanabe
"With you said about VII, after seeing your episodes with Shinra, one of the
people on the [development] staff said that the first shot of the Bevelle
Underground 'gives the impression of somewhere else.'"
[Motomu] Toriyama
"Certainly; it looks like the opening shot of Midgar in VII."
***Information on Shinra of the Gullwings in the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania
Omega*** (Page 563)
Shinra is a boy who supports the Gullwings, the group which the main
protagonist, Yuna, belongs to. He carries a name that gives him an association
to the Shin-Ra Company, and he is researching a method that could utilize the
energy of "the life force that flows through our planet." The results of this
cannot be seen in FFX-2, but maybe one day his descendants will establish a
"company that supplies the energy of the planet"?
(Accompanying screenshot caption)
The words of Shinra, which can be heard at the end of the story. This world
has something similar to the Lifestream that is worthy of attention.
***Interview with FFVII creators from the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania
Omega*** (Page 571)
--"At E3 (the world's largest game show, which was held in America), as a demo
for the PS3, the opening of FFVII was shown; was its purpose to serve as
something of a preliminary announcement?
Kitase
"Well, in regard to that, please think of it as a mere demonstration. Because
the production period for its imagery was [going to be] so short, we made the
opening of FFVII, as it was easy to represent. Beyond that, there is no
particular deeper meaning.
--"In that case, it's not a remake; when might you be making something to
serve as the direct continuation of FFX-2?"
Kitase
"Producing something like that holds the same problem as a remake [of FFVII],
as our schedule just isn't open for it [right now]."
***Information concerning the Shera and fuel in the Advent Children Reunion
Files book*** (Page 87)
What do they use for fuel in this time period?
"Cloud and the gang certainly aren't using mako anymore, because it drains the
life of the planet. That means they don't use Materia, either. Yuffie collects
them, but that's just because she lives to collect things (laughs). I guess
the airship must be running on some mysterious ancient power source." (Nomura)
