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-Kitase-Nojima interview from the Final Fantasy X Ultimania Omega-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 continuation of VII, if you follow me.--It's a continuation of 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 continuation of 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 he's 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.As you may or may not know, at one point in Final Fantasy X-2, Shinra is running a diagnostic of the Farplane, and he remarks that the energy dwelling there -- which he calls the life force of Spira -- could provide a source of energy if extracted. Energy enough to power a city even. It was also said that Shinra would be leaving the Gullwings after the final mission of FFX-2. Further still, the Al Bhed entrepeneur Rin said that he and others of like mind were looking into researching a method of extracting the energy inside the planet, Spira.Nojima elaborated on this in the interview in the Final Fantasy X-2 Ultimania. He said that after Shinra quit the Gullwings, he and Rin entered business together, and with Rin's financial backing, Shinra attempted using the remains of a giant machina called "Vegnagun" to extra mako from the Farplane. However, he said that Shinra's attempts would prove unsuccessful, and that his descendants would some day discover the proper means of implementing the idea.He went on to say that some 1,000 years after the events of FFX-2, Shinra's descendants would leave Spira and travel to Gaia, and there, at some point in the future, they would successfully implement their ancestor's idea. This concept was obviously on the mind of Nojima even at the time of this interview, a full year before the Japanese release of FFX-2's, and was also something that Kitase approved, for it is Kitase himself who here hints at Shinra's attempts to extract mako from the Farplane.Further of note are the other appearances of the concept that have been mentioned: a year after the interview with Nojima in the FFX-2 Ultimania came the release of Final Fantasy X-2: International+Last Mission, based three months after the ending of FFX-2. Here we learn that Shinra has, indeed, left the Gullwings and is now conducting research with Rin. What was the research we had been previously told they would conduct? Correct: research into the extraction of mako. Research that would lead Shinra's descendants to successfully discovering the proper means of utilizing the concept.Finally came the publication of the FFVII Ultimania Omega in September, 2005. Here, Shinra is mentioned and it's said that he was researching a means of extracting his planet's energy, but that the results of his research couldn't be seen in X-2. It then said "Perhaps his descendants will one day found a company that supplies energy from the Planet?" Who is the company that did that? Correct: the same company that bears his name; Shin-Ra.The concept is now undeniable. It is definitely 100% official.An extended history lesson for those of you who are interested:as we should all know from having played FFVII, the Shin-Ra Company began as a simple weapons developer. This is a logical expectation of the descendants of the genius, Shinra, who constantly invented various technological gadgets. The Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega has slightly elaborated on the backstory of the company to explain that Shin-Ra Works -- as they were called at the time -- was instrumental in bringing an end to an international war that had lasted for years (this being the war with Wutai and whatever ruling government was in place before Shin-Ra gained power).They discovered the means to extract energy from within the Planet, and realized that they could use it to not only produce an army of elite soldiers (a special unit that would be known as "SOLDIER") and not just to produce small orbs that provided humans with magical powers (spheres called "materia") but that they could use it to generate electricity for cities. Ironically, this is exactly what their ancestor had originally conceived for the idea.With SOLDIER and materia, the war with Wutai was quickly brought to an end, and just as quickly, the people became dependent on Shin-Ra's materia and electricity, two services that the company would market and monopolize. In short order, the government as well would concede to Shin-Ra's authority, and -- in but a single generation -- President Shinra's company had effectively taken over the entire world.
I also really like reading about Kefka. The game doesn't really express how much of an insane nihilist he is, mostly because you can't consider how graphic it is in a game that is so... kiddy, that kind of doesn't give you an idea of how bad he is. If you think about it, he is probably the worst villain in the FF series - he deals serious, unfixable damage to the ENTIRE WORLD - he basically destroys the root of magic and completely re-assembles the world into a broken, barren wasteland. What other villain does that on such a large scale? He also has the BEST lines. But you kinda feel sorry for the guy - it's not his fault he's crazy.
I never said they canonically connected, I said I liked to think they were.Also, considering how few people are left alive at the end of FFVI, it is perfectly reasonable to assume it could've gone either way - Kefka torches whole towns, and so they make it look pretty grim. Also, Kefka didn't just F*** with magic, he fucked with natural order - a lot of places in the FFVI world became barren and uninhabitable, at least by most plant and animal life.
