I'm just curious to see how many of you have read Dune (or even watched the movie or mini series). In a strange way I see many parallels in between FF7 and Dune, and I've actually read before that Dune carried some influence with Square, in a similar manner to how Star Wars influences and references creep up in Square games.

One of the interesting parallels is the concept of Mako eyes and Mako poisoning in FF7. In Dune, anyone who has been saturated by the Spice has "Blue within Blue" glowing eyes, and tends to have enhanced fighting ability (i.e. the Fremen), enhanced longevity and greater vitality. In addition, an overdose by The Spice often results in madness and severe mental problems... but can occasionally, when mixed with the proper genetics, training and knowledge... produce the most powerful characters in the story.

Regardless of any influence on FF7... Dune is by far my favorite sci-fi novel. It's world is very dark and dismal, and yet it is incredibly believable. In many ways it's more a book about human nature than science fiction.

In any case.. are there any other Dune fans here?

Dune. The thing with the box where he thinks he's in pain when he's not was so weird. Plus everyone got blue eyes. Such a weird but lovely book.

Definitely weird. That was one of my favorite scenes though... "I hold at your neck the Gom Jabbar, this one kills only animals... your instinct will be to remove your hand from the box, if you do so, you will die. We will see if your awareness is powerful enough to control your instinct."