Summary
After dabbling with open-world game design and mechanics in the series' last two mainline entries,Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthmakes good on the promise of a genuine open-worldFinal Fantasytitle. WhereFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s open-world design sticks the landing is in its careful integration of every facet of gameplay into its design, making exploration and adventuring off the beaten path just as important as progressing through the game’s main quest. With the second chapter in theFinal Fantasy 7remake trilogy fully adopting an open world, it’s hard to imagine the series backtracking in the third entry, which makes its confirmed inclusion of the Highwind airship all the more intriguing.
Ahead ofFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s release, creative director and originalFinal Fantasy 7character designerTetsuya Nomura confirmedthat players can expect to have airship travel available as part of the third and final installment. Prior to that confirmation from the minds behind the game, several keen-eyed fans noticed the Highwind making an appearance in the trailers forFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, though it did not make it into the final release of the game as a controllable vehicle. Considering the size and scale ofRebirth’s open world and where the trilogy has yet to go, there are some implications regarding what airship travel in the Highwind likely will and won’t look like.
What Final Fantasy 15, 16 Might Indicate About the Highwind’s Inclusion in the FF7 Threequel
Final Fantasy 15’s inclusion of the Regalia served as the stand-in for the series' trademark airships, and it was the primary means that players used to navigate the game’s massive open world. Of course, one of the downfalls ofFinal Fantasy 15was that its troubled development cycle wound up causing the game to ship in an unfinished state, and the sparse and empty-feeling nature of its open world was only exacerbated by traversing around it in a relatively “normal” style vehicle byFinal Fantasystandards.Final Fantasy 16’s solutionto this problem was to do away with an open world altogether in favor of semi-open “zones”, but that ship has arguably sailed for the third entry in theFinal Fantasy 7remake trilogy.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s open world is one of the game’s many triumphs, and it’s such an integral part of the core gameplay loop that it’s hard to imagine the third entry somehow scaling things back. Knowing that the Highind will feature prominently in the third entry as a vehicle players can pilot, though, it also doesn’t make sense for the world to be fully traversable at a moment’s notice due to its size and scale. Instead, what might be more likely is that the Highwind will serve as a mobile base of operations akin toFinal Fantasy 16’s Hideaway. Players can use the Highwind as a means of fast travel between all the regions ofFinal Fantasy 7’s world map, then return to the ship as a hub area and safehaven between excursions.
Players Shouldn’t Expect Much From Returning to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Regions
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthgrants players their first taste of branching outbeyond the walls of Midgarand into the world of Gaia, providing 7 main open-world regions that players will get to experience during their time in its open world:
Each of these open world areas are absolutely bursting with activities for players to complete as well as their own fiends for players to do battle with. While it’s possible that theinclusion of the Highwind airshipin the thirdFinal Fantasy 7remake title will allow players to return to previously visited regions, it’s likely that they won’t contain the same amount of noteworthy distractions. There’s still plenty ofFinal Fantasy 7’s map for a third game to cover, and even with the inclusion of the airship confirmed, players should expect the focus to be on new areas of Gaia’s map rather than retreading old ground covered inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
WHERE TO PLAY
Discover a vibrant and vast world in this standalone entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the second entry in the Final Fantasy VII remake project, which retells the story of the genre-redefining RPG across three distinct games. Iconic heroes Cloud, Barret, Tifa, Aerith and Red XIII have escaped from the dystopian city Midgar and are now in pursuit of Sephiroth, the vengeful swordsman from Cloud’s past who was thought to be dead. This new adventure can be enjoyed by all players, even those who have yet to play Final Fantasy VII Remake or the PlayStation original. Expect a new standard of cinematic storytelling, fast-paced combat and rich exploration across a vast world.
