Compilation of Final Fantasy VII allusions

Throughout the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, there have been numerous allusions, particularly to the number seven.

Final Fantasy series

 * The ultimate black magic and white magic spells in Final Fantasy VII—Holy and Meteor—refer to the recurring magic spells in previous Final Fantasy titles. Final Fantasy VII was the first game in the series to not let the player cast the Holy spell in battle. Holy being a reference to the ultimate white magic spell from previous games was lost in translation since no US Final Fantasy before Final Fantasy VII called Holy by its real name, it being renamed to "Fade", "White", and "Pearl".
 * Sephiroth's weapon, the Masamune, alludes to the Masamune being the most powerful weapon in both Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II.
 * The Huge Materia in Final Fantasy VII resemble those of elemental crystals, a recurring theme in Final Fantasy since the first game. There are four elemental crystals, as there are four Huge Materia, and their colors correspond to the traditional elemental crystals as well.

Final Fantasy

 * Vincent's final Limit Break, Chaos, alludes to and even somewhat resembles the final boss of the same name in the original Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy II

 * Elena of the Turks is named after a non-player character in Final Fantasy II.

Final Fantasy III

 * Aerith, like Desch, is an Ancient.
 * The City of the Ancients is likely an allusion to the Village of the Ancients.

Final Fantasy IV

 * Demons Gate refers to Demon Wall in Final Fantasy IV.
 * Cid Highwind's surname alludes to Kain Highwind. Cid uses spears and lances in battle and possesses Dragoon-like abilities, like Kain.
 * Whichever girl Cloud dates at the Gold Saucer will play the role of Princess Rosa in the Event Square play. The role may allude to Rosa, the main love interest of Final Fantasy IV.

Final Fantasy V

 * The monsters fought in Gelnika, named "Unknown", refer to the various enemies found in the Great Sea Trench in Final Fantasy V, also called Unknown. Both locations are underwater.
 * The Choco/Mog Materia has a random chance to rarely summon the Fat Chocobo. The Summon command for the Chocobo summon in Final Fantasy V worked the same way.
 * The Odin Materia usually casts Zantetsuken, but if all targets are immune to its instant death effect, it will cast Gunge Lance instead. The Odin summon in Final Fantasy V was the same.
 * In Final Fantasy V stone-type enemies can be instantly killed by using a Soft on them. There is a bug in Gargoyle's script in Final Fantasy VII that suggests it should have been able to be removed by using a Soft on it, however, this never works.
 * The Shildra Inn in Cosmo Canyon is named after Syldra, Faris's pet sea dragon.

Final Fantasy VI

 * Cait Sith resembles the Cait Sith summon from Final Fantasy VI, and may have been inspired by it.
 * Biggs and Wedge debuted in Final Fantasy VI as soldiers in the Gestahlian Empire. Their names refer to Star Wars characters Biggs Darklighter and Wedge Antilles, Luke Skywalker's Red Squadron wingmen in Episode IV: A New Hope and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
 * Moogles in Final Fantasy VII are referred to as Mogs. Cait Sith's Moogle Dance Limit Break in Final Fantasy VII may also refer to Mog, whose special command was Dance in Final Fantasy VI.
 * There are billboards in Midgar depicting "Mt. Kolts" in Final Fantasy VII. It also appears in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- as the name of a bar in Midgar's Sector 8 Fountain.
 * The summon monster Typhoon alludes to Typhon, Ultros's cohort, from Final Fantasy VI.
 * The enemy Cactuar, found in a desert area, originated in Final Fantasy VI.
 * Gaining Cloud's Ultima Weapon from Ultimate Weapon may allude to Final Fantasy VI where both the physical weapon and the enemy originated. In the backstory from Final Fantasy VI, both were created during the War of the Magi to be the ultimate weapons of destruction, and thus share a connection. Cloud's Ultima Weapon has similar design elements with the one in Final Fantasy VI, as both weapons have ornate crossguards with two V section on both sides of the sword's bar and the blades glow blue and visibly display their strength in battle when the wielder is weakened.
 * Chasing down Ultimate Weapon by airship alludes to pursuing Deathgaze in Final Fantasy VI.
 * Hell Rider VR2 enemy is likely based on Hell's Rider enemy from Final Fantasy VI. The two share the same name in the Japanese version, bar the addition of VR2 to the Final Fantasy VII enemy, and resemble each other in appearance.

Final Fantasy VII
Installments released after the original Final Fantasy VII sometimes allude to it:
 * In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Loz's ringtone is the "Victory Fanfare" from Final Fantasy VII.
 * The document pinned on a wall in 7th Heaven in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has a picture of the North American cover art of Final Fantasy VII.
 * The opening sequence of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- mirrors the opening of Final Fantasy VII: both start in a train station and both protagonists jump off a train.
 * When Aeris and Cloud leave the gondola during the date in Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII, she concludes the date by saying "we should get going." In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- she concludes her date with Zack with "I should get going". This could be intended since the two dates share some similarities.
 * Emerald Weapon, a superboss in Final Fantasy VII, can be spotted among crystals in an area off the map in Banora Underground in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-.
 * The final battle of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- being against a human Genesis after already having defeated his more powerful form, is similar to Final Fantasy VII where Sephiroth's human form is fought in a one-on-one duel after having defeated Safer∙Sephiroth.
 * The for Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- alludes to Vincent's  from Final Fantasy VII.
 * There are posters featuring Cloud's silhouette in Edge in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.

Final Fantasy VIII

 * The red banner in the Galbadia Garden ice rink reads; "Keep on rockin' in Galbadia!!". This slogan is alluded to in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children with the memorial plate in Edge reading "Keep on rockin' in Midgar!!"
 * In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, the area Zack is transported to when fighting Ifrit, is almost identical to the Fire Cavern. Ifrit is one of the first boss fights in both games.

Allusions to the number seven
Being the seventh installment of the series, the entire compilation makes some references to the number itself and is, in fact, the first game in the series to make major allusions to its own number. Although many of these are not necessarily deliberate allusions to the number 7 (whether they are or not is speculative), they are nonetheless present.

Final Fantasy VII

 * AVALANCHE resides in Sector 7 of Midgar.
 * When entering Midgar from the world map, the door has a number "7" painted on it, even if it is the door to Sector 5.
 * Tifa's bar is called 7th Heaven.
 * At the start of the game, seven people are either living or staying at the 7th Heaven: Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Marlene, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie.
 * Shinra Headquarters has 70 floors.
 * The books in the Shinra Mansion library shelves form the letters "VII".
 * The red plane in Costa del Sol harbor has "VII" painted on the side.
 * Gold Saucer has seven areas of attractions.
 * Ancient Forest has seven treasures.
 * The Turtle's Paradise awards seven items for completing the flyer-hunt sidequest.
 * Aeris and Ifalna were held captive by Hojo for seven years.
 * Aeris's ultimate weapon, the Princess Guard, has seven Materia slots.
 * Aeris's birthday is February 7.
 * It's been seven years since Cloud left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER.
 * Tifa spends seven days unconscious after the Weapons awake.
 * Red XIII tells the party that Meteor will reach the Planet in seven days.
 * Cloud levels up to level 7 in the first battle.
 * At Level 1 (in the flashback to the Nibelheim mission), Cloud's HP is 140 (7 x 20).
 * If a unit's HP hits 7,777 during battle they enter All Lucky 7s status.
 * The "lucky" handicap reel on the Battle Square is called Lucky 7.
 * Most characters have seven different Limit Breaks. The exceptions are Cait Sith, who has two but with various different outcomes, and Vincent, who has four, but each form has two special attacks. This makes for seven characters who have seven Limit Breaks.
 * There are nine main playable characters, but only seven are mandatory.
 * There are seven Shinra executives: President Shinra, Rufus Shinra (Vice-President), Scarlet (Weapons Development Department), Hojo (Science Department), Reeve (Urban Development Department), Heidegger (Public Safety Maintenance Department) and Palmer (Head of Space Program).
 * Safer∙Sephiroth has seven wings; six white wings and one black wing that replaces his arm.
 * Ptolemy's diagram of the celestial spheres, also known as the classical planets, or the "Seven Heavens", is used in the Super Nova animation. Since there are seven, this can be seen as another allusion the game has to the number seven.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

 * The announcement trailer shown at E3 2015 shows a sign for "seventh gate" on a Midgar highway.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-

 * The game spans seven years.
 * There is a sidequest in Nibelheim called "Seven Wonders of Nibelheim".
 * There are seven documents found in Shinra Manor.
 * The door to the final area of the game is opened by placing seven Goddess Materia on a console.
 * Each one of Angeal Penance's attacks is named after one of the seven deadly sins (pride, greed, gluttony, lust, envy, sloth, and wrath).
 * When the Digital Mind Wave spins to 7-7-7 during modulating phase, Zack levels up. When it spins to 7-7-7 outside of modulating phase it grants temporary invincibility. If the Digital Mind Wave spins a 7 in any of the slots outside of modulating phase, some positive effect will trigger.
 * Zack has seven different special attacks he can perform from the Digital Mind Wave. He also has seven different outcomes from the Chocobo Mode.

Compilation of Final Fantasy VII

 * There is a total of seven Weapon monsters: five introduced in Final Fantasy VII (Sapphire Weapon, Ultimate Weapon, Diamond Weapon, Emerald Weapon, Ruby Weapon), one in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- (Jade Weapon) and one in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- (Omega).
 * From info derived from On the Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel, Denzel was born late November/early December [ μ ] – εγλ 2000. This would make him seven years old during Final Fantasy VII.

Other Square Enix projects

 * During the closing moments of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, when the Moogle Girl is cured of Geostigma, a paper bearing a three-by-three grid is visible on the wall behind her; within the nine spaces are the box art to many of Square Enix's PlayStation games, including the art for Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy Tactics.
 * When Cloud suffers from Mako poisoning in Mideel and the player talks to him, he mutters on about "Xenogears". Xenogears is another Square title that was in production the same time as Final Fantasy VII. The game's name was spelled wrong in the PlayStation version, but was fixed in the PC-version of Final Fantasy VII.
 * In Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- there is a sign in Junon that has the url for the official Square Enix website.
 * The city of Edge shares its name with the setting of a former work of Square's and Tetsuya Nomura's, The Bouncer. In addition, both Advent Children and The Bouncer stories center on the inhabitants and lives of those who work and manage a bar establishment in their respective Edges: 7th Heaven and FATE.
 * The Final Fantasy VII Remake announcement trailer has a billboard reminiscent of the LOVELESS boards from the other Compilation entries that shows a woman with the word "Valentina" written vertically next to her. The woman is, in fact, of Aya Brea from the Parasite Eve series.
 * The Shark series of daggers found from Before Crisis originate as low level daggers from the action RPG series installment Seiken Densetsu 3.
 * As tribute to the 20th Anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, a promotional screenshot for Kingdom Hearts III has Sora standing in front of the Mysterious Tower mimicking a promotional image of Cloud standing before Midgar.

Mythology, folklore and religion

 * Midgar's name derives from Midgard, one of the nine plains, or worlds, in old Norse mythology. Likewise, Nibelheim derives from Nifilheim, which is another of the Nine Worlds in Nordic mythology.
 * Sephiroth is named for the סְפִירוֹת Səphīrōth (medieval Hebrew form of Sephirot). Sephiroth is a plural noun in Hebrew; the singular is Sephirah (also spelled Sefira). The Sephiroth are described in the Kabbalah as the manifestations of God that allow Him to manifest in the physical and metaphysical universes, referring to Sephiroth's simultaneous existence in the Lifestream and the Planet, and his manifestations through Jenova.
 * Sephirot are the ten attributes through which God appears, and Aeris may be tied to one such attribute, chesed, meaning kindness or love. It is a virtue which contributes to a concept translated as the healing of the world and the concept suggests man's responsibility to repair and transform the world. The Talmud says "the Torah begins with chesed and ends with chesed", and Aeris is the first and last character seen in the main events of Final Fantasy VII (excepting the epilogue). Those who embody chesed go "above and beyond that which is normally required", and chesed is the first of the sephirot of the attribute of action; in other words the initiation of action. This is similar to how Aeris ventures off alone to summon Holy. The gematria (a numerological system for assigning numbers to words) of chesed is 72; Aeris's birthday is the 7th of February.
 * Barret may be tied to the attribute, gevurah, associated with judgment and strength. From the Bahir, "This is the left hand of God." The right hand of God being chesed: kindness/love. Cloud, Barret and Aeris were the first player characters designed for the game, with Aeris and Barret possibly representing chesed and gevurah. The metaphor may be embodied in Barret, who has lost his right hand, but retains his left.
 * The names of Jenova∙BIRTH, Jenova∙LIFE, and Jenova∙DEATH allude to Saṃsāra, the repeating cycle of birth, life, and death in Buddhism.
 * Final Fantasy VII draws heavily from the Lurian Kabalā (Jewish Mysticism), a medieval Jewish variant of Gnosticism. Both Gnosticism and its Kabbalist branch proclaim that humans have inside their bodies a spark of divine light from the Absolute, which returns there upon death. This Absolute is an infinite wellspring of spiritual energy, knowledge, and goodness, mirroring the function of the Lifestream. The Kabbalah states the Absolute is the Judeo-Christian God, whereas early Gnostics believed him to be an incompetent or malicious false god known as the demiurge ("artisan" in Ancient Greek) who merely believed himself the uncreated deity because he was shielded from the Absolute by his "mother", an emanation from the Absolute (known as an Aeon) who fell from the skies. This demiurge, trapped in the material world, cannot create anything good, and instead corrupts the sparks of light, just like Jenova's corruption of the Lifestream and of human beings.
 * Japan's native religion, Shinto, purports that all things have souls. The Lifestream is also an iteration of the ancient Hellenic philosophical concept of the Absolute or the World-Soul, an infinite wellspring of spiritual energy. All human beings possess a fragment of it which returns upon death. The description of the Lifestream's afterlife is also consistent with Neo-Platonic belief. This concept of the Absolute would, over a millennium later, become part of Jewish Kabbalist belief, which factors heavily into the game.
 * In traditional Japanese folklore beliefs souls that died in a sudden or violent manner, or ones that did not get a the proper burial rituals performed upon them, may linger in the physical plane as yūrei, analogous to Western legends of ghost. Yūrei are frequently depicted as being accompanied by a pair of floating flames or will o' the wisps that are separate parts of the ghost rather than independent spirits. Gi Nattak is likely inspired by such folklore.
 * The Final Fantasy VII rendition of the Scimitar appears not as a sword, but as one of Cid's lance-type weapons more akin to a Guan Dao. This is because in the original Japanese version, the weapon was not named "Scimitar" but Seiryuu Engetsutou (青龍偃月刀), or Green Dragon Crescent Blade, the famous Guan Dao wielded by Guan Yu.
 * The Snow creature in Final Fantasy VII may be based on the from Japanese mythology. The Yuki-onna is an apparition of a woman, which appears on snowy mountains. The creature's doings vary from tale to tale; in some renditions it helps lost travelers, but in others, it lures them away and freezes them.

Music

 * During the scene when Sector 7 is destroyed, President Shinra observes the events from his office and the music he is listening to is Joseph﻿ Haydn's "The Creation".
 * The play LOVELESS that has posters all over Midgar is the name of an album by My Bloody Valentine. The text "My Bloody Valentine" is found on the posters in Final Fantasy VII.
 * The Sister Ray cannon may have been named after a song by the Velvet Underground, featured on their White Light/White Heat album.
 * The katakana for the enemy Gighee (a play on 'Gee-gee', a "bad horse") can also be read as "Ziggy", the persona of David Bowie, "Ziggy Stardust". The enemy model is based on this pun, looking like Ziggy Stardust, and with a guitar for a tail. Both Gighee and the enemy it is fought alongside with, Christopher, use song attacks, and Christopher uses an attack called Stardust March only if Gighee is alive.

Movies and TV

 * Jenova's abilities of assimilation, mimicry, and independent body parts, along with Angeal Hewley's power to infect and assimilate others with his DNA, are akin to the Thing of the 1982 film by John Carpenter.
 * Three members of the Ravens in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-: Kanos, Kyneugh, and Tierce; bear the same names as minor characters in the Star Wars series.
 * Although perhaps coincidental, the summon Hades and its attack Black Cauldron may be based on the Horned King and the Black Cauldron from the 1985 Disney film also called the Black Cauldron. The lighting on Hades's robe reflects the color of the Horned King's robe in the film, and the burst of energy coming from the cauldron resembles the blast of the cauldron's black magic from the film.
 * Dio's Trophy Room in Battle Square contains an allusion to the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. The robot suit has a sign that reads "Magma Diver - D-type﻿ armor" -, a reference to the episode where Asuka Langley Soryuu fights an angel in magma and her armor is type D.
 * Bugenhagen may be named for a character of the same name in The Omen. In the film, Bugenhagen is an archaeologist who relates a great deal of the lore of the Antichrist to the protagonists so they may stop him.
 * One of Barret's weapons is the Atomic Scissors, a possible reference to Gundam Ashtaron's atomic scissor claws in After War Gundam X.

Theater

 * The bosses in the Wutai Pagoda have a link to theater.
 * Gorkii is a reference to Maxim Gorky, a 19th century Russian author, playwright and political activist.
 * Shake is a shortened version of Shakespeare, the most famous English playwright.
 * Chekhov alludes to Anton Chekhov, a famous XIXth century Russian author and playwright.
 * Staniv possibly alludes to Konstantin Stanislavsky, a 20th century Russian actor and theater director.
 * Godo could be based on Godot, the title character from Samuel Beckett's famous play Waiting for Godot.

Non-Square Enix games

 * In the 2012 re-release of the PC version of Final Fantasy VII there is an area in Northern Cave that has an easter egg. Using the save crystal in this area will change the name of the location in the inventory to "Secret Cow Level". This is a reference to the easter egg in Diablo II.
 * The second segment of chapter five in Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- is named "Solid Cait." This refers to Solid Snake, the main character of stealth game series Metal Gear.
 * The trademark weapon of Vincent Valentine, Cerberus, shares its name with another preexisting signature series of guns owned by the similar character Beyond the Grave, of the video game and anime series Gungrave. Both characters are virtually undead and immortal, and despite the former having existed first, both star in their own third person action shooter game.
 * The Wrestler and Sumo Wrestler from the Arm Wrestling game at the Wonder Square appear to be based on the Street Fighter characters Zangief and E.Honda.

Real world

 * Costa del Sol is a real location in Spain.
 * The sign above in Tifa's bar, and a neon sign inside the bar, say "Texas".
 * The diner on Wall Market serves Korean BBQ.
 * There is a map of Japan hung on the wall in one of the residences in North Corel.
 * There is a Shanghai Inn somewhere in Rocket Town, which is a metropolis in China.
 * The Wutai people, much like the culture and settlement, are based primarily on Japan and China. They have the characteristics, appearance and somewhat stereotypical personality traits of real-world East Asia.
 * Mount Wutai is a holy mountain in China. Its name means "Five Plateaus", referring to the five peaks that make up the mountain. This is similar to the five-terraced pagoda in Wutai Village in Final Fantasy VII where the party fights Godo and his four warriors as well as the "five sacred gods" mentioned by Godo.
 * The Da-chao Statue is named after Da Zhao Temple, a Buddhist monastery in the city of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia in north-west China.
 * The name Wall Market,, is, in Japanese, a play on the word Walmart, ; only the end of the Japanese writing has been changed. Walmart is an American retailer corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores.
 * The mayor of Midgar is called Domino, and his deputy Hart's original name in the Japanese version is Hut. Domino and Hut refer to pizza chains Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut. This is because the upper plate of Midgar is at times referred to as a pizza.
 * The tire on the pick-up truck Zack and Cloud ride on in an optional flashback sequence says "Good Stone". This is a mix of real world tire brands Goodyear and Bridgestone.
 * A possible real-world Christian inspiration for the Sector 5 Church is the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, built after Mary appeared to St. Juan Diego in December 1531 and led him to the top of Tepeyac Hill where he found Castilian roses blooming in spite of them not being native to Mexico and out of season.
 * Bugenhagen has a historical and philosophical namesake. Johannes Bugenhagen was a deeply influential figure in the Protestant Reformation, and was called "The Apostle to the North" for his work in bringing the Lutheranism to the Northern German city-states and the Scandinavian kingdoms. However, he is perhaps most famous for being Martin Luther's pastor in Wittenberg. While not as famous as many his contemporaries, he was deeply respected in his time and his theological and social influence lives on throughout Northern Europe.
 * Some aspects of the Wutai storyline allude to the Western military complex and its history, specifically that of the US. Shinra can be seen as a metaphor for the United States (and in particular, its military-industrial complex). The reduction of relevance, demilitarization, and occupation points to the unconditional surrender, occupation, and subsequent restructuring of Japan under General MacArthur and the American military; however, the Wutai War's significance into reinforcing Shinra's power through globe and how the war lasted for several years may refer to the Vietnam War.
 * The Genji and Heike accessories of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- refer to the two family lines of Japanese aristocracy who descended from the imperial family, but became subjects of the court and nobility to help ease the burden of financial and sumptuary consumption to support such large families of such standing. The Heike Soul's appearance in Crisis Core is unusually significant in that it is the first appearance of the Heike theme of accessories; in history, the Heike saw their demise in the battle of Dan no Ura against the Genji clan among a nationwide war of dispute over succession to rule the land.
 * The imagery and design concepts for Cloud Strife and Sephiroth were founded on the famous samurai martial artist rivals of the late Sengoku period, Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō . A limited edition cold cast statue of Cloud and Sephiroth's final show-down was made modeled after a statue in Ganryujima depicting the duel between the legendary swordsmen Musashi Miyamoto and Sasaki Kojiro.