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PAX West: Final Fantasy Director Busts Fan Theories

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Is most of Final Fantasy VIII actually a dream? Are any of the differently-numbered FF games connected? And was there ever a plan to resurrect Aerith at any point in Final Fantasy VII?

These questions and more were given to Yoshinori Kitase by Kotaku during PAX West. They’re fan theories that have been bouncing around for years, but according to Kitase, almost none of them are true.

First off, let’s get that Aerith question out of the way. Kitase says at no point was a resurrection scene for her considered at all, and he explained the reason why they killed her in the first place. “There are all these fantasy stories where, [for example], the princess would come back from death with the kiss of her prince. For children, it was normal for them that people would come back to life.

“And we wanted to question that idea and thought. So we wanted to depict that there is weight to life, and just put weight on the loss as well to life, and that’s where we all started with Final Fantasy VII. That was our core concept. With FFVII, we wanted to really take another look at that, look at human life, and [make people] realize they don’t come back.”

One popular fan theory is that Squall died at the end of the first disc in Final Fantasy VIII and everything that happens afterward is just his dream (the dream of a dead guy…already this makes no sense). “No, that is not true,” Kitase refuted. “I think he was actually stabbed around the shoulder area, so he was not dead. But that is a very interesting idea, so if we ever do make a remake of Final Fantasy VIII, I might go along with that story in mind.” See what you’ve done now?

Finally, there’s a character in Final Fantasy X-2 named Shinra, which made players wonder if he was connected in any way to the Shinra Corporation from VII. Kitase says….maybe. “I won’t completely come out and say that it is the same world,” said Kitase. “However, Shinra in FFX-2 was created by [Kazushige] Nojima, the scenario writer, and when he thought him up, he thought it might be good if people would imagine that after a few years after the story of Final Fantasy X-2, that person Shinra will grow up and start the Shinra company. So that is something that he did hint in there. That being said, I’m not gonna say that it’s the same.”