Yes, I've read that some guy who helped make FFX and FFVII said he would like to consider FFX-2 as events that occured before FFVII started. Unfortunately, the two stories cannot be linked simply by inserting a child-prodigy Shinra as a character who wants to harness "energy from the farplane" to make a huge city. In FFVII, the Shinra Company started as a weapons developer for the war in Wutai before it was ever interrested in the Mako industry.