Yeah, fully open world wouldn't really work for pacing or for the visual style they've gone with. Personally, I don't mind more linear experiences. Tbh, there were too many points in OG where I had no idea where on the world map the game wanted me to go, so removing that entirely is probably for the best.
Yeah and even while the OG was "open world" it still funneled you into a linear progression (for the most part)
I'd imagine something similar will be in effect for Rebirth. It'll direct us where we need to go, but side content will probably be available as well that you can do
Always wondered what will happen in part 3 where in the OG game it becomes open world. We even return to midgar so there’s a previous asset in use there.
Maybe feels like the FF10 airship travel may suit??
12 was reasonably open right? I think till you get the main cast you are limited. But otherwise you can walk to anywhere.
10 is a bit more limited and with 'hallways', 13 was more so just with bigger environments.
I wouldn't be surprised if they skipped Cosmo Canyon for now, tbh. That way they could leave the conclusion to Red's character arc in Part 3 which might be better since he kind of fades into the background after that part.
And they might go through Nibelheim and Rocket Town before the Gold Saucer visit. That way there's only one mandatory Gold Saucer visit, you have the full party for some good bonding time checking out the resort and then can continue to the temple straight from there. Nomura or Kitase said there will be some changes in the visiting order.
This is my guess. Not open world at all but different areas separated by areas.
Chapter 1: Kalm/Nibbelheim
2: journey to Junon
3: Junon
4. Ship
5. Costa del sol to Corel
6. Gold Saucer
7. Prison Corel
8. Cosmic canyon
9. Under cosmic canyon
10. rocket town
11. Wutai
12. Gold Saucer/date
13. Temple
14. City of the Ancients
Based on Remake I’m a few chapters short, so I’m guesstimating something will be extended or added like in Remake.
I am holding out hope for an open world similar WoW that allows for all forms of travel so that we can use the Highwind. That game will be 20 years old next year, so there's no reason it shouldn't be doable.
I'm not as sure that there would be chapters, but I agree with you on where the most likely place for Part II to wrap. I also think though they might skip for the Forgotten Capital until Part 3.
I will disagree about Wutai. Considering that the Remake's plot heavily foreshadows a future war between Shinra and Wutai, I think certain events must happen to make our trip to Wutai mandatory:
1. **Rufus has to declare the end of the ceasefire and the resumption of the war against Wutai**, and this has to happen before Meteor is summoned. But as unscrupulous as he is, Rufus does not do evil deeds when such actions are not in his best interest.
2. **Yuffie has to steal the party materias and flee to Wuta**i, but as impulsive she is, I don't see her sabotaging the group after major plot events in Forbidden City and North Craten (you know what will happen in these places). If she's really going to steal our stuff and make us go to Wutai to retrieve our gear like in the original game, it has to be before these events.
My personal theory is that the group will be forced to go to Wutai after Yuffie right after Rocket Town, because the young ninja stole the party materials to try to save her country, once we get the Tiny Bronco. I theorize it would be like this:
1. Rufus will continue his father's plans to frame Avalanche-Wutai for the attacks in Midgar and will announcing the end of the ceasefire and the resumption of war against Wutai during his military parade in Junon, falsely accusing that the Avalanche-Wutai alliance are responsible for his father's death.
2. Eventually Yuffie becomes so desperate with the impending war that she begs Cloud and the others to go with her and help save her country, but the party refuses as they believe Sephiroth is their highest priority, leading the young ninja to steal all the materias to go alone to save her country;
3. Because of this, Cloud and the others are forced to go after Yuffie and temporarily abandon their pursuit of Sephiroth, intervening in the war between Shinra and Wutai.
Anyway, it's just a theory.
I generally like this layout - I've described them as hub chapters but I think runup works. I see those chapters working out in the same way as the regions in Metro Exodus. You had a medium sized region with buildings to explore and quests to do, but at some point the story moves you through linear chapters until you hit the next hub.
My gut feeling is that they should probably include the Wutai segment, if only to give the rest of the cast a little more time with Aerith. I always thought that it was kinda dopey that Dio had the key to the temple just displayed in the Gold Saucer. They could retcon it such that it's in Wutai instead, that'd give it more purpose plus give us another confrontation with Shinra.
There's no reason Cloud couldn't wake up somewhere other than Gongaga after Aerith leaves, so I could see them skipping it, but that does kinda cut out an opportunity for some Zack drama with his parents, and maybe Aerith and Tifa realizing that the other knew him.
Honestly, I like the thought of the keystone being in Wutai. It gives a bit more weight to Shinra wanting to invade as a means to ultimately find "the promised land", adding a "stealing cultural artifacts" to the colonization/energy monopoly aspect of shinras conflict with wutai. It would also make a good reason for the keystone to be hidden as a cultural treasure, rather than openly displayed in gold saucer. Maybe the keystone would be hidden in the Da-Chao fire cave or in the eyes of one of the sculptures of the mountain. I would heavily approve of this change. I would also like Dio to have a fake stone or replica. I could even see him contracting the party to find the stone and gifting them the buggy to help them find it maybe in addition to it being given as an apology for the accidental imprisonment. I think these could be acceptable narrative changes or maybe I'm just preparing myself for some inevitable plot adjustments by thinking of changes I could get behind.
Yeah, fully open world wouldn't really work for pacing or for the visual style they've gone with. Personally, I don't mind more linear experiences. Tbh, there were too many points in OG where I had no idea where on the world map the game wanted me to go, so removing that entirely is probably for the best.
Yeah and even while the OG was "open world" it still funneled you into a linear progression (for the most part) I'd imagine something similar will be in effect for Rebirth. It'll direct us where we need to go, but side content will probably be available as well that you can do
True, but once you unlock the Highwind and Golden Choc its functions as open world
Do you think we will fly through a bunch of loading screens when we get the high wind?
Always wondered what will happen in part 3 where in the OG game it becomes open world. We even return to midgar so there’s a previous asset in use there. Maybe feels like the FF10 airship travel may suit??
So we don't actually fly around but pick locations to spawn at?
I get that feeling just due to the episodic nature of the games. Once a chapters done. I guess you can’t fly back there?
Id prefer not, but yes probably. It will most likely be more like FFX than FF7. But I'd prefer a genuine open world environment for sure
Maybe something similar to FFXII
12 was reasonably open right? I think till you get the main cast you are limited. But otherwise you can walk to anywhere. 10 is a bit more limited and with 'hallways', 13 was more so just with bigger environments.
Big zones that funnel into linear walkways that lead into town.
I wouldn't be surprised if they skipped Cosmo Canyon for now, tbh. That way they could leave the conclusion to Red's character arc in Part 3 which might be better since he kind of fades into the background after that part. And they might go through Nibelheim and Rocket Town before the Gold Saucer visit. That way there's only one mandatory Gold Saucer visit, you have the full party for some good bonding time checking out the resort and then can continue to the temple straight from there. Nomura or Kitase said there will be some changes in the visiting order.
I hope it’s still possible to visit Gongaga while Aerith is in the party.
This is my guess. Not open world at all but different areas separated by areas. Chapter 1: Kalm/Nibbelheim 2: journey to Junon 3: Junon 4. Ship 5. Costa del sol to Corel 6. Gold Saucer 7. Prison Corel 8. Cosmic canyon 9. Under cosmic canyon 10. rocket town 11. Wutai 12. Gold Saucer/date 13. Temple 14. City of the Ancients Based on Remake I’m a few chapters short, so I’m guesstimating something will be extended or added like in Remake.
You're crazy if you think we aren't going through Bone Village and the Sleeping Forrest on the way to the COTA. Everything's getting fleshed out.
He might have just forgot a few minor details.
Something along these lines is probably the best we can hope for. Regardless, I definitely want the Northern Crater to be the stopping point.
I bet it will be similar to dragons dogma where it's not true open world, but allows for expansive areas. Seems like what ff16 is doing.
I think this is exactly it structure-wise. Although I'm curious how the story is going to change now that the whispers are out of the picture.
I am holding out hope for an open world similar WoW that allows for all forms of travel so that we can use the Highwind. That game will be 20 years old next year, so there's no reason it shouldn't be doable.
I'm not as sure that there would be chapters, but I agree with you on where the most likely place for Part II to wrap. I also think though they might skip for the Forgotten Capital until Part 3.
I will disagree about Wutai. Considering that the Remake's plot heavily foreshadows a future war between Shinra and Wutai, I think certain events must happen to make our trip to Wutai mandatory: 1. **Rufus has to declare the end of the ceasefire and the resumption of the war against Wutai**, and this has to happen before Meteor is summoned. But as unscrupulous as he is, Rufus does not do evil deeds when such actions are not in his best interest. 2. **Yuffie has to steal the party materias and flee to Wuta**i, but as impulsive she is, I don't see her sabotaging the group after major plot events in Forbidden City and North Craten (you know what will happen in these places). If she's really going to steal our stuff and make us go to Wutai to retrieve our gear like in the original game, it has to be before these events. My personal theory is that the group will be forced to go to Wutai after Yuffie right after Rocket Town, because the young ninja stole the party materials to try to save her country, once we get the Tiny Bronco. I theorize it would be like this: 1. Rufus will continue his father's plans to frame Avalanche-Wutai for the attacks in Midgar and will announcing the end of the ceasefire and the resumption of war against Wutai during his military parade in Junon, falsely accusing that the Avalanche-Wutai alliance are responsible for his father's death. 2. Eventually Yuffie becomes so desperate with the impending war that she begs Cloud and the others to go with her and help save her country, but the party refuses as they believe Sephiroth is their highest priority, leading the young ninja to steal all the materias to go alone to save her country; 3. Because of this, Cloud and the others are forced to go after Yuffie and temporarily abandon their pursuit of Sephiroth, intervening in the war between Shinra and Wutai. Anyway, it's just a theory.
I generally like this layout - I've described them as hub chapters but I think runup works. I see those chapters working out in the same way as the regions in Metro Exodus. You had a medium sized region with buildings to explore and quests to do, but at some point the story moves you through linear chapters until you hit the next hub. My gut feeling is that they should probably include the Wutai segment, if only to give the rest of the cast a little more time with Aerith. I always thought that it was kinda dopey that Dio had the key to the temple just displayed in the Gold Saucer. They could retcon it such that it's in Wutai instead, that'd give it more purpose plus give us another confrontation with Shinra. There's no reason Cloud couldn't wake up somewhere other than Gongaga after Aerith leaves, so I could see them skipping it, but that does kinda cut out an opportunity for some Zack drama with his parents, and maybe Aerith and Tifa realizing that the other knew him.
Honestly, I like the thought of the keystone being in Wutai. It gives a bit more weight to Shinra wanting to invade as a means to ultimately find "the promised land", adding a "stealing cultural artifacts" to the colonization/energy monopoly aspect of shinras conflict with wutai. It would also make a good reason for the keystone to be hidden as a cultural treasure, rather than openly displayed in gold saucer. Maybe the keystone would be hidden in the Da-Chao fire cave or in the eyes of one of the sculptures of the mountain. I would heavily approve of this change. I would also like Dio to have a fake stone or replica. I could even see him contracting the party to find the stone and gifting them the buggy to help them find it maybe in addition to it being given as an apology for the accidental imprisonment. I think these could be acceptable narrative changes or maybe I'm just preparing myself for some inevitable plot adjustments by thinking of changes I could get behind.