Characters fr FFVII:Dirge of Cerberus

[Masamune·1600]

There is a distinction between being 1 year after AC and 3 years after the end of FFVII. The events of AC are not considered in DoC, so the game is set 3 years after FFVII.

No. While the events of AC may not be hugely important to DC, the stories cannot be mutually exclusive, or else one or both stories becomes extracanonical. Moreover, there are already some points where they converge; one might note that Cid can be seen flying the Sierra/Shera in the official DC trailer. While the events of FFVII are certainly more important, it's completely correct to speak of DC as taking place a year after AC.