The choices made so far in theFinal Fantasy 7 Remakehave been controversial at times, surprising at others, and a breath of fresh air for many fans of the original. Characters and organizations like the members ofBarret’s terrorist group AVALANCHEare expanded on in more detail than was previously available in the amount of time that the opening Midgar section had available.
One of these changes, however, involves a connection betweenFinal Fantasy 7 RemakeandFinal Fantasy 10that originally appeared in the latter title, but has since been basically confirmed to be canon by Square Enix. With the developer returning to the world ofFinal Fantasy 7, the opportunity has been taken to cement the link into both games, making the connection undeniable at this point.
RELATED:Final Fantasy 7 and 8 Remastered Physical Twin Pack May Be Heading to the West
The Connected Final Fantasies Easter Eggs
Originally appearing inFinal Fantasy 10, the Easter Egg involves a character fromFinal Fantasy 10-2named Shinra, who was created by scenario writer Kazushige Nojima with the original intent of connecting the two worlds. Later releases ofFinal Fantasy 10also included a cameo of the child where he mentions wanting to start a power company somewhere, pulling energy from the game’s ethereal Farplane. Nojima has also mentioned in theFinal Fantasy 7 Ultimania Omega, a compendium of series trivia, that the character is related to the Shinra Electric Company, but the company’s creation doesn’t happen for 1000 years.
In the recentFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, a newEaster Egg connects toFinal Fantasy 10, now taking the reference and cementing it into the canon of the series, or at least in the new remake. A picture found in the Shinra Electric Company Headquarters shows President Shinra wearing the mask that the child Shinra wears inFinal Fantasy 10. Again confirmed by theFinal Fantasy Ultimania, this is a direct reference to the relationship between the two similarly named characters, although it still stands to question if that 1000 year time gap is still in place.
Sin Destroys the Cetra and Jenova
This connection has opened the doors for dozens of fan theories, extending all the way from the connected nature of spheres and the Farplane to materia and the Lifestream, drawing a one-to-one relationship between the concepts. One of the stranger of these theories is how the connected world relates to the fate of the ancient society of Cetra andFinal Fantasy 7’s secondary antagonist Jenova. In particular, this looks at how the Cetra actually managed to destroy Jenova in the first place, and how they were able to both defeat her, but still were destroyed in the process.
A key to this could come fromFinal Fantasy 10’s background characters, where according to the lore, a creature is summoned into the world to destroy a powerful enemy, but as a result it wipes out the people who summoned it. This is the primary antagonist Sin, who it is revealed over the course of the game is a twisted, corrupted Aeon that was summoned with the intent of fighting back Bevelle’s machina powered armies and resulted in the destruction of Zanarkand. The similarities between the Cetra and Zanarkand’s summoners are shaky at best, but there is a connection due to the way that the ancient people could relate to the other ancient people.
Farplane is the Lifestream
What has essentially been confirmed is that the what is referred to as the Farplane inFinal Fantasy 10does have a connection to the Lifestream that becomes the center of the conflict inFinal Fantasy 7. Again referring to Nojima’s own statements, Shinra eventually learns how to extract Mako energy from the Farplane, not the Lifestream, which has interesting implications forFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’s afterlife. Specifically, there are a number of moments inFinal Fantasy 7where characters fallinto and escape from the Lifestream, generally having an existential crisis or two every time this happens.
This could open up Square Enix to include tons of new content in the Lifestream, from passing references toFinal Fantasy 10characters like Yuna, to fully integrating previous themes of the Farplane into certain moments. The key aspect of the Farplane allowing people to see people who have died by thinking about them, or the way fiends are created when the dead aren’t sent, could bleed into everything from the Nibelheim revelations to Sephiroth learning forbidden knowledge in the Lifestream. However, with these two afterlife’s being linked, that could technically mean that everything that passed through inFinal Fantasy 10exists withinFinal Fantasy 7,like the summonable Aeons.
Aeons in Final Fantasy 7 Remake
The one place where the connections between the two worlds an make the heaviest impact without straying two far from the original game’s story isFinal Fantasy 7 Remake’s summons. Looking at the Farplane connection to the Lifestream, it can even be assumed that whatFinal Fantasy 7refers to as materia are more refined version of the spheres that players can find inFinal Fantasy 10. This in turn means that when a player uses a red materia to summon anything from Shiva to Ifrit, then it is possible for this to be a form of summoning the same Faith that create the Aeons that join the players when Yuna calls for help.
If this opens up to some of the more unique Aeons that have only appeared inFinal Fantasy 10to suddenly appear inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, this could make for a powerful nod between the two games. Similarly, this could open up for much more dynamic summons, like the Magus Sisters or Anima, who could completely change up battles based on both the number of new companions jumping into the fight as well as the unique way they move. That’s not even mentioning what this could mean for bringing in someFinal Fantasy 15inspired summon designs, as a number of fans have previously continued to compare the most recent title to this interconnected collection ofFinal Fantasygames.
Final Fantasy 7 Remakeis available now for PS4.
Final Fantasy 10is available now for PC, PS2, PS3, and PS4.
MORE:Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 Has a Lot of Mysteries to Resolve
