Quote Originally Posted by Crossblades
Personally, I feel that all FFs are connected in some way. I feel that the events FF I - VIII all took place on earth like in 500 years or so after each FF event.
Unfortunately, this concept doesn't work. To begin with, FFIV takes place on a planet called Earth, FFV takes place on Planet R, and FFVII takes place on Gaia. Even if one were to assume that the different names were the result of words changing over time, the massive geographical and evolutionary discrepancies would require millions of years to rectify. In and of itself, this makes any connection meaningless, but most don't work anyway because the games have incompatible mythologies. Gaia of FFVII is clearly a planet unto itself, as no other FF world shows evidence of a Lifestream, without which Gaia could literally not exist. To give another example, the ending text of FFV suggests that the Crystals of that game were instrumental in the creation of that world (Planet R, if LotC can be trusted). This function of the Crystals diverges from, say, those of FFIV.

Basically, any ostensible link between the worlds breaks down upon closer examination; this thread helps to highlight that. Ultimately, the only possible connections involve different planets within the same universe, or the same planet across alternate universes.