Canon or Not?

[Fusionist]

Apologies if there's already thread about this (I didn't find one though) or if the subject isn't allowed to be discussed, but I figure it would be okay to make a thread on.

This is more of a discussion than an actual question, but anyways...

We know that FFVII has gone well beyond just the original PS1 game made over a decade ago. There's been a movie (and recently the "director's cut" of the same movie), anime ovas, novellas, prequel games, and even a game taking place after the game and movie time line.

My question is to you guys is do you consider them canon or do you see them just as fanservice and only the game itself is canon?

I know people are entitled to their opinion, but so am I, and I'm of the opinion that while keeping up with the various titles with FFVII in them is a pain in the butt, it's still canon and part of the time line.

As such, I don't understand why they're are people so against claiming the additional stuff canon

I mean, isn't it licensed under Square-Enix? People involved in the original FFVII game were involved with these additional titles, weren't they? Why can't they be considered canon?

Tell me what you think please :3

 

[Totoro]

Erm, I don't really know what you mean. What is canon?

 

[Dolores Haze]

Erm, I don't really know what you mean. What is canon?

Canon is pertaining to the universe.
EG. Tidus x yuna is canon, as they kiss. Tidus x Rikku is not, as they don't show strictly romantic feelings.
It's mainly used to describe pairings.
They're wondering if we think it should be included in the strict history of FFVII.

Personally, if it's made by Squeenix and published in the Compilation, I take it as canon. It's only fan service in the way that they're expanding the story.

 

[Totoro]

In that case then, i think it depends on whether the creators had the ideas about the other games whilst making VII. If it was thought up after, the argument will be less for canon, but as you say, it's made by the same people so it's a tricky one.

I would say it is canon, as I think that it all belongs to same universe.

 

[Demaris]

I see them as canon fanservice! I mean of course they're canon, saying they are not is just being silly. There cannot be an argument here, even from someone (like myself) who thinks the add ons suck. The spin offs, novellas et al, are made by Square, under the official FFVII name, therefore they are indisputably canon. I think the problems people have are with their "personal canon" and their perception of the original game being altered due to contradictions, plot holes, retcons and the like. But that happens in franchises all the time. Shit sucks, but the creators decide what's canon, not the fans.

 

[Stella]

The games/movies that have made up the Compilation so far don't change or interfere with anything in the original game; they just build onto the pre-existing storyline, and help explain things that were previously very ambigious. I've always viewed the new titles as canon, but some people, as Demaris mentioned, refuse to except them as canon because they interfere with their idea of what is/what should be canon. Some people might just flat-out hate the new titles because they loved the ambiguity in FF7. At the end of the day though, all of the Compilation titles are canon, whether some people want to admit it or not.

 

[Rockman X]

Of course they're canon. They're still nothing but blatant fanservice though, and quite honestly, I think the stories are pretty bad. None of them are any better than what someone could have randomly found in a fanfiction online...hell, that may be what SE did, just yank various fanfics off the net.

Some people might just flat-out hate the new titles because they loved the ambiguity in FF7.

Bingo. The ambiguity was nice, it left room to discuss the game and wonder about things, especially the ending (I was always of the mind that the combination of Holy and the Lifestream killed off humans). Eight years later, SquareEnix, the money whores they are, decide to ruin that by churning out spinoff after spinoff because they know fans would keep eating it up. Now we've had everything from decent stuff like Crisis Core to halfassed crap like Dirge of Cerberus and the utterly pointless FFVII: Snowboarding.

Honestly I wouldn't mind the spinoffs so much if they actually put effort into them. Most of the stories could have been written by a 13 year old, and it would have been nice to have had some actual effort put into DoC's gameplay.

tl;dr it's canon, but also obvious fanservice, so I pretend it never happened.

 

[Ashe B'nargin]

Don't know. Kind of want to pretend that Advent Children and DOC are not apart of the Final Fantasy VII series. But maybe they are. If a fan made up/ created Advent Children and SE helped create the movie wouldn't count it as official. But it was SE's main idea.

It's kind of like Final Fantasy X fans ignoring the fact that X-2 was ever created. Because they hated it and believed that X-2 ruined what X had and it's emotional storyline.

Believe that some VII fans do the same. Just put plugs in their ears and pretend that Advent Children and the rest never existed and it is just a nightmare they haven't woken up from yet.

Did Advent Children and the rest of the prequels and sequels ruin Final Fantasy VII ?

Yes..

Are Advent Children and the rest of the prequels and sequels canon to FF VII ?

Probably. Sadly.... Yes..

 

[TrueSephiros]

It's canon, and to be real, I had absolutely nothing wrong with them expanding the storyline of FFVII. I always got annoyed at the whole Sephiroth vs Jenova debate, that went on for years with Jenova riders explaining how she supposedly did "everything" instead of Sephiroth. Which I am 100% glad, Square set the record straight with their VII Universe expansion.

The fact that the ending of VII just left with a notion of "what happened" also didn't give me a finished story. It felt to me like as though I had read a book up until the last chapter, only to find it missing but instead your given a different ending which occurs many years after the book's real ending.

On another notion, although there hasn't been any constrictions with the new spin offs for VII in contrast to the original game itself. Square can ultimately refute old scenarios and change it within the new ones if they choose too.

We see this alot with other storylines from other games, or genres etc, and I'm not saying that it will happen, however if Square wishes too, they can do this with any FF game, not just VII and make it canon.