Quote Originally Posted by finch666
this has loads to do with final fantasy as it has chocobos moogles and actual final fantasy characters
Chocobos and Moogles also appear in the Seiken Densetsu/Mana series, yet Square no longer considers that to be an off-shoot of Final Fantasy as it once did. The original Seiken Densetsu was called "Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden" in Japan, yet Square eventually decided to make it into its own franchise, totally seperate from Final Fantasy. If such things as mascots or appearances by mainstream FF characters were the determining factor in making a Final Fantasy (rather than, say... the name itself), then we'd have a good many more Final Fantasies than we do, including the Seiken Densetsu/Mana games, the Kingdom Hearts games, Ehrgeiz, Chocobo's Dungeon 1 & 2, Chocobo Racing, Chocobo Stallion, Dice De Chocobo, Itadaki Street: Special (despite also having Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest characters), and Bahamut's Lagoon.

As it is, though, if "Final Fantasy" is not in the title, it's not a Final Fantasy, whatever may appear within. Further still, it's only in those games that actually have "Final Fantasy" in the title that we find the thematic themes that bind them together.

By the way, this would mean that, yes, Dr. Sid, Aki Ross, Gray Edwards, General Hein, and those other folks that were in the film are Final Fantasy characters. Unless one's going to argue that Final Fantasy VIII didn't have Final Fantasy characters because it didn't have Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie, despite the title. My point being that mascot-type characters and even cameo appearances by well-known Final Fantasy characters don't make a Final Fantasy. Not even in the eyes of Square-Enix, those who decide what is and is not a Final Fantasy.