Final Fantasy geekiness

One for any FF fans who might be reading.

I was looking through the FFVII: Advent Children plot analysis at (huge spoilers of FFVII:AC on the link but NOT on my article) http://faqs.ign.com/articles/657/657331p1.html and an interesting subject comes up.

As far as I'm aware, all of the Final Fantasy games have - until recently - been completely separate, based in separate worlds/universes/what have you. Occasionally there would be inconsequental links between them (such as Zidane from FFIX looking at a large sword and saying "I remember a guy with spikey hair who carried a sword like this", or the band in the same game playing the FFVII Rufus Welcome tune) but they were always just like a bow to the fans and never actually meant that the worlds were connected in any way.

Things started to change with X-2 which is the first sequel to an FF game, and also in XII which will be set in the same world as FF Tactics.

But even still, when you meet a kid called Shinra in X-2, you don't tend to think anything of it.

Well, according to the above link it's been revealed by the scenario writer for Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, and X-2 (Kazushige Nojima) that Final Fantasy X-2 is actually set before the events of Final Fantasy VII (but at least 1000 years prior, and on another planet), and that it was written that way from the beginning when he first started writing FFX.

Pyreflies = lifestream. Spheres = materia. Farplane = promised land

During X-2, the genius kid Shinra discovers that it may be possible to harness the huge amounts of spirit energy swirling around in the Farplane and convert it into power. It's stated by the scenario writer that after the end of X-2, Shinra is given funding by Rin and leaves the Gullwings to create Shinra Corporation. He tries to extract the spirit energy using the remains of Vegnagun, but fails.

Shinra's family and business carry on for generations, and some 1000 years later the people of Spira have advanced to space travel and decided to travel to Gaia (the correct name for the world of FFVII, mistranslated as just "The Planet" in the game). What happens next is seemingly unwritten even in Nojima's mind, but the facts up to that point are stated quite catagorically.

The most likely scenario in my opinion is that the people from Spira are the Cetra ("Ancients"), but they are mostly wiped out - along with their space travel technology - when Jenova crashes into Gaia 5000 years prior to FFVII.

However, back to what we do know... Shinra's descendents survive, along with their desire to find a way to extract the planet's energy and turn it into a power source. Some of his descendents aren't quite as plesant as the good natured kid from Spira of course... either way they eventually achieve this. 30 years later, is the story of Final Fantasy VII.

It's even hinted that there might be a game or story set between the two one day, although the writer in question has since left so it probably won't happen.

So, FFVII most likely happens 6000 years after FFX-2, after the people of Spira have migrated to Gaia and been mostly wiped out. Cool eh. For an FF obsessed fanboy such as myself anyway.