Connected Worlds

[Enkidoh]

*sighs* Not this again...

Don't take everything you see at face value - the development team already came out long ago and said that Hydaelyn is not directly connected to any other FF world - the references to other FF games and characters are just for fanservice and are not the 'originals' (excepting Gilgamesh, Shantotto and Lightning's appearances in the game, which were rather convoluted in explaining their appearances here anyway). The Crystal Tower was also confirmed as not being the FFIII version, but again, just a name reference.

This is the quote from the development team that all but shouts this (that was formerly found here, but the thread in question seems to have disappeared, but I saved Bayohne's post for posterity):

Q55: There are a lot of names from Ivalice such as Dalmasca, Belias, and Zodiak that have been mentioned, is there some connection between Hydaelyn and Ivalice?

A55: To be absolutely clear, there is no connection between FFXIV’s Hydaelyn and FFXII’s Ivalice. Likewise there is no connection with FFXI’s Vana’diel. Each are their own individual world. Based on this, there are connections between the things that appear in the world, and we’ll be revealing more in the future.

Think of FFXIV like FFIX - it's a celebration of every FF game that came before it, but it is not a 'hub world' like Dissidia. Yes, there's the Void, but even here in FFXIV, that's just a placeholder term used by Eorzeans to describe 'anything considered 'unEorzean' - hells, they even call squirrels and mice 'Voidsent'.

So apart from a few minor direct crossovers like the Lightning event and Gilgamesh, references to past FF games are just in name only and are not directly connecting FFXIV to any other FF title.

[Toranja]

Somehow we yank creatures through. Occasionally we will blunder into the presence of a hostile voidsent beast or beauty of some kind, though the results will rarely differ. They've punched into our world and we are restricted from theirs in a way that does not sound entirely dissimilar from another realm of spirits and demons from a separate fantasy title of vaguely similar persuasions...

I'm not so sure. If Shantotto traveled to another place, that happened to be Eorzea, of our own volition, she had to open a passage through the Void. The same with Lightning, but she went to the wrong place.

Also, seeing how Black Magic dabbles into the Void and Xantes' pack, I would not put it beyond our ability to step into the Void at will.

Don't take everything you see at face value - the development team already came out long ago and said that Hydaelyn is not directly connected to any other FF world - the references to other FF games and characters are just for fanservice and are not the 'originals'

They said they would better explain those characters appearance later, the Void and how it links to Hydaelyn. That is where the World of Darkness comes in.

[lololink]

Well the World of Darkness is the Void in FFXIV so yes we will be travelling in the void, but the part of the void close to FFXIV, so don't expect going to other FF universes, we aren't even sure if the Cloud of Darkness is the same or not. CoD could be a demon kind and not an unique being.

[Davy_M_Jones]

Well the World of Darkness is the Void in FFXIV so yes we will be travelling in the void, but the part of the void close to FFXIV, so don't expect going to other FF universes, we aren't even sure if the Cloud of Darkness is the same or not. CoD could be a demon kind and not an unique being.

I have no problem fully accepting that we wouldn't even brush our fingertips against the edges of other Final Fantasy worlds, but I could hardly stay calm at the prospect of even catching whispers or glimpses of shades of worlds already come and gone, known to use by way of our fortunate meta-knowledge of the series.

[Kaiser-Ace]

*sighs* Not this again...

anyway). The Crystal Tower was also confirmed as not being the FFIII version, but again, just a name reference.

So apart from a few minor direct crossovers like the Lightning event and Gilgamesh, references to past FF games are just in name only and are not directly connecting FFXIV to any other FF title.

As far as the Crystal Tower goes, I fail to see what one would name "The Giant Tower Made of Crystal" that's the only of it's kind other than calling it "The Crystal Tower".

As for The Shanttoto event, she basically says her magic riped open a portal in the void and teleported to Eorzia from Vana'diel when an experement went wrong and threw her into a parallel dimension. (Which she believed Eorzia to be).

Lightning, on the other hand, was never physically in Eorzia. She Astro Perjected her self (Albet unintentionally) to Eorzia while in the Crystal Sleep she was in between 13-2 and LR:13. (She actually refrences her crystal sleep in the event as well)

Now as for Gilgimesh, this is where it gets hard to explain if it can be at all.
We've got the "There's only one Gilgimesh" Theory in which all the Gilgimeshes to ever apear are the one Exdeath threw in the Void in FF5, then we've got the "Great Multiverse Theory" in which each FF game takes place in a parrallel dimension to each other. Thus how there can be so many Cids, dozens of Gilgimeshes, a Bahamut in every world ect ect ect.

Now how much proof do we have with the two theorys..... Admittedly none, just a lot of speculation. But either one would solve the Paradox. Either they are worlds seperated by "The Great Rift" of they are Parallel dimensions seperated by "The Void" where they can not normally interact with each other except under extreemly rare occations. (Read "When the devs feel like a camio")