Do the existence of Chocobos in many Final Fantasy games represent some continuity?

Question

I know that there is a lot of questions out there about the connections between different Final Fantasy games. One thing I've always noticed is there is almost always some chocobos (giant ostrich-like animals often used as mounts/seen roaming the wilds), even in games where almost nothing is similar from story to story.

Though the games themselves might not actually be related in terms of story, are they somehow connected at all? i.e. through massive leaps and bounds, through time, and (considering where the game takes place), space?

I would think that the Chocobos are evidence that there is some continuity between games. (I can formulate a hypothesis, but if anyone else who reads this has a better understanding on this particular topic, do share).

Answer 1

The FF XIII games are indeed connected. In a similar way, FF X and FF X-2 being together.

However, besides that, Chocobos are really just recurring franchise typical characters. They aren't any actual connection to set the games in the same universe out anything like that.

In a similar way, most summons return in some form or another, especially the common/popular ones like Shiva, Ifrit, or Odin. Despite being supernatural, they're not identical though.

Not to forget enemies like Bombers and Behemoths as well as character names (Wedge, Biggs, Cid,...).

I think this all fits very well to the initial idea behind the very first game: It was that final and last fantasy a company wanted to produce before going out of business. So future games are reimaginations, rehashing of previous dreams.

So, if you really want, the connection between the games is one mind or people from one common world probably dreaming or developing the world depicted in these games, which is actually our world.