Does that mean the Chocobo Sage is an ancient?
Wrong type of hat. He just likes the Black Mage Robe style because he's cool like that.
ALSO, as for the FFX-2 --- FF7 connection, you guys are making too much of it. It really was intended as a wink and and a nudge to the fans from Nojima. Yes, he wrote a connection, but he did so in a casual way and also because he thought it'd be funny.
Ultimania interview:
--"So VII's story is after that?"
Nojima
"Well, you could say the feelings I have are like that. When I think about the
characters, those are the kinds of feelings I already have. Shinra is a good
child, but his descendants are going to end up becoming like the president [of
Shin-Ra] (laughs)."
http://fyeahfinalfantasy.tumblr.com/post/6192598047/kazushige-nojima-on-shinra-ffx-2-and-ffvii
Is there a connection between Shinra and FFVII?
Nojima: Yes, actually. After Shinra quit the Gullwings he got enormous financial backing from Rin and went to the Farplane to start extracting the Mako energy used by the Vegnagun. But the system for utilizing this energy could not be completed in his generation, so far in the future when space travel was possible, the Shinra Company was founded on another planet
or something like that. That would be a thousand years or so from this games story.
And VIIs story takes place after that?
Nojima: Well, you could say thats how I personally feel about it.
***NOTE: The second statement where Nojima says that is how he personally feels about it is an inaccurate translation, as far as the context of the interview goes.
The rough translation reads Even well, in me such feeling you will say. In Japanese context, it really means something along the lines ofIts all in my head, or, Its just inside me. Nojima says this because of the fact that everything he described (Spira travelling in space, 1,000 year gap) isnt in the game with the other evidence (because that would only deviate from the main story, thus, more subtle hints are found instead,) but rather, it is just in his head at the moment.
This is not implying that there really isnt a connection, but Nojima personally feels like there is (otherwise, why would this have been published in the first place? He IS the writer, after all.) Rather, it should mean there is a connection, but it just hasnt been expanded on yet. Nojima planned a connection, put what evidence there is in the game, but as far as the details of how they are connected, it is just in his head at the moment.
Again, the key words are IS and HOW. There IS a connection, Nojima says, but as far as HOW there is a connection, that hasnt been worked out yet in much detail.
--
So it's really just a bone that Nojima threw to the fans to argue over and he hadn't really got an overarching plan yet. Maybe he'll never return to the idea as it was just tossed out.