Spoilers of The Maiden's Rhapsody FFXI, I can't believe this, XI and XIV crystals

[Pinkie_Pie]

Also don't forget that Gilgamesh is still the same one from V, and his mode of dimension hopping involves the void.

Oh man that's right. *slams head on desk repeatedly* and the whole Iroha thing, I thought I FINALLY figured it out, the writers and devs need to be more careful on this sorta thing and not have people randomly showing up without a reason why.

[Pinkie_Pie]

Really, I think you're looking for something that isn't there Pinkie Pie. FFXI is not connected directly with FFXIV. They are separate worlds with separate storylines.

Now I'm depressed about this, wonderful, finally had a link to all of this crap with the theories and now the bridge is burned down. *SIGH* My last hope is Iroha, something gotta come to fruit with that.

Oh right I forgot that Lightning's was explained in-event as well...

Also you might want to edit your posts instead of the double-posting. If only so you don't hit the post limit.

Thanks, I keep forgetting this forums has a freaking post limit and such.

[Dualblade]

Oh right I forgot that Lightning's was explained in-event as well...

Also you might want to edit your posts instead of the double-posting. If only so you don't hit the post limit.

[Cilia]

While my knowledge of XI is cursory at best, and I've yet to do The Maiden's Rhapsody (partially owing to server maintenance, godsdammit)...

... there is no clear, concrete connection between any Final Fantasy worlds, except VII and X (more on that in a minute). There is the Void, an interdimensional rift that many characters use in crossover events or for cameos, such as Gilgamesh - the one we meet here is the same one from V who has appeared in numerous other titles. It's implied that Shantotto learned to traverse the Void, if only as a side-effect of some of her spells, and Bunhivelze sent Lightning through the Void and to Eorzea in preparation for becoming the "savior" he intended her to be.

As for "mothercrystals," some of my theories have been hinging on IX's position that all worlds possess a "mothercrystal," or crystal that sustains all life on the world; we go back in time to see the original Crystal be destroyed by Kuja, and... weirdness ensues. Point is, IX suggests there could be a crystal that controls the cycle of souls for every planet in the Final Fantasy multiverse, but whether this is true or not is up for debate (Hydaelyn is sentient, for one, and while the ones from IX likely possess sentience they never express it). I'd elaborate on that and how it relates to Hydaelyn, but that's not really the topic of discussion here.

Back to my original point, no two games share any concrete connection except VII and X - it was stated in an Ultimaina or something (and thus would not be widely-known outside Japan) that the two games are in the same universe, with VII being set in the distant, distant future of X. The connection comes from Shinra, the young scientist of the Gullwings in X-2 who proposes trying to harvest the energy of the Farplane. He and his descendants managed to do so and somehow made their way to VII's planet, which eventually saw the rise of Shinra, Inc., who used that tech to manufacture mako energy in a similar fashion. (Or so the story goes.)

[Lucke]

While my knowledge of XI is cursory at best, and I've yet to do The Maiden's Rhapsody (partially owing to server maintenance, godsdammit)...

... there is no clear, concrete connection between any Final Fantasy worlds, except VII and X.

Gonna play devil's advocate here for a sec. Each world in each game has a connection to the other worlds. Moogles, chocobos, magic spells and effects, and themes. But like you said, VII and X are the only pair that are the "same" world. Even though it's been debunked, I still believe Hydaelyn and Vana'diel are the same world like Spira and Planet. You can't have the same races just renamed and claim they're different worlds. Even though the Community Reps said otherwise, all the evidence says the worlds are related in some way.

[Fenral]

Back to my original point, no two games share any concrete connection except VII and X

It's technically a" side game," but Dissidia is set in the world of Final Fantasy I. Oh, the mind-screw that ensues when Garland appears on-screen with Chaos...

[WellFooled]

I may be reaching abit but what about the lightning event? how shattoto came to our world, how Iroha came to our world. Hydaelyn is also a mothercrystal, all mothercrystals live behind time itself. Whos to telling how many are out there.

Because the Final Fantasy series is a video game it will sometimes include things that make no sense (like inventory space on one person that would actually take an army to carry) if its world was real. For example, just a few weeks ago our characters met the Dev Team for the game our characters inhabit. The quests suggested it might have been a dream, but that's just a silly excuse because we know that event is pure bogus in terms of lore. It only exists because Final Fantasy is a game and sometimes the Dev Team wants to include things that aren't lore appropriate. The Final Fantasy XI and Dragon Quest crossovers are the same, they're included for fun, even if they really have no place in the lore of FFXIV.

Edit:

Gonna play devil's advocate here for a sec. Each world in each game has a connection to the other worlds. Moogles, chocobos, magic spells and effects, and themes. But like you said, VII and X are the only pair that are the "same" world. Even though it's been debunked, I still believe Hydaelyn and Vana'diel are the same world like Spira and Planet. You can't have the same races just renamed and claim they're different worlds. Even though the Community Reps said otherwise, all the evidence says the worlds are related in some way.

The reason there are reoccurring elements in Final Fantasy is again, not lore related, but video game related. They are there in multiple Final Fantasy games because the Developers want them to be there, not because there must be an in-lore explanation for them. Even FFVII and FFX share no in-lore connection to each other outside of an easter egg. Kazushige Nojima (A scenario writer for both VII and X) mused about a connection at one time, but he never confirmed anything.

One of the great things about the Final Fantasy series is that they aren't connected to each other. Other franchises like comic book universes who connect everything eventually become so bloated and weighed down that they have to wipe the slate clean and start over, else new readers could never catch up or understand. The separation of Final Fantasy games from one another prevents that, while still allowing a kind of Mythology (which includes moogles, chocobos, summons, and the like) to grow and continue from game to game.

[Vexander]

So the real question here is: Will the Final Fantasy Multiverse implode when all the Cids meet one another?

[Cilia]

Even though it's been debunked, I still believe Hydaelyn and Vana'diel are the same world like Spira and Planet. You can't have the same races just renamed and claim they're different worlds. Even though the Community Reps said otherwise, all the evidence says the worlds are related in some way.

Spira and VII's Planet (a.k.a. Gaia, not to be confused with IX's Gaia) are not the same planet. The theory is that Shinra made that tech to siphon energy from the Farplane, and his descendants became astronauts or whatever who eventually landed on VII's Planet and set up shop there. That's the difference between the Cetra (natives) and most people (ancient aliens... for real! Sort of!).

There are numerous similarities between XI and XIV (esp. XIV 1.0), mostly stemming from the influence of Hiromichi Tanaka, who originally directed both games and didn't seem keen on leaving XI behind. That said, there are differences between the races of the two games (there were absolutely zero female Galka as a facet of their existence, for one), and we now have the Au Ra, a completely original race. There is no hard evidence to suggest Vana'diel and Eorzea are related in any way - in fact, Shantotto noted during her cameo that she was not in Vana'diel, and Iroha is also aware she's no longer in her own world during The Maiden's Rhapsody. Beyond the original Five Races being near-practical carbon copies of XI's races (which, again, can likely be traced back to Tanaka's influence), there is nothing suggesting Eorzea / Hydaelyn has a stronger connection to Vana'diel than any other Final Fantasy world.

Believe what you will, but if you choose to believe in a falsehood over stated canon fact you're being willfully ignorant, and I... don't know what to say to that, to be honest.

It's technically a" side game," but Dissidia is set in the world of Final Fantasy I. Oh, the mind-screw that ensues when Garland appears on-screen with Chaos...

Technically, Dissidia (and 012) is set in World B, an alternate world from I's World A. Furthermore, as you so helpfully pointed out when I was discussing the Cloud of Darkness, all of the characters in those games are just really, really well-made manikins, so it's not too much of a stretch to believe Garland and Chaos are on the same field.

Dissidia Chaos and I Chaos aren't the same being anyway, despite their identical appearances.

[Fenral]

Furthermore, as you so helpfully pointed out when I was discussing the Cloud of Darkness, all of the characters in those games are just really, really well-made manikins, so it's not too much of a stretch to believe Garland and Chaos are on the same field.

Oh, of course. It's mind-screw for them, since they're the only two antagonists with that sort of link, and they're both aware of it but can't explain being in the same place at the same time.

Dissidia Chaos is... sad. That's really all I can say.