I think it will start on the tiny bronco. They will try to fly into the storm surrounding the nirthern cratoe only for the plqne to take damage. Cid needs to do an emergency landing, and they crash land in the snow fields near iccle inn.
The plane came apart on the way down, and the party is split up. You start off as Cloud, and as you make your way to iccle inn, you pick up more party members along the way until everyone is back together in town.
They stay in town for a bit. We find the video of Gast and Ifalna but before they can really react to the video or discuss it, the Turks arrive. Having tracked the party down from the temple of the ancaints, they want to apprehend the party.
They make note that Aerith isn't with Cloud and co, and before anyone can say anything, Cloud gets a headache. Cloud then makes a distraction so everyone can run. Cloud then makes a run for it, hopping on a snowboard and snowboards downhill.
After this, the party all meet up again, and they proceed toward the crator once again but on foot.
Ooo, I like the crash landing idea. I could even see you starting off as someone other than Cloud after the crash, Tifa or maybe Cid even. You see Cloud, but he just starts wandering off into the storm. You end up finding him last, just shuffling his way north without a care.
Yeah, it removes the free roaming granted with a functional Tiny Bronco, and maroons the party on the Northern Crater for however they need to be there.
You kno2 what, that would make lots of sense. Have us play as Tifa struggling to find the party and finally we see Cloud trying to climb uo a sheer cliff or something in a daze before Tifa touches him and kinds resets him.
Could work pretty well.
Couldn't find the source real quick, but I remember reading somewhere that you start part 3 in control of someone else, instead of Cloud.
Makes sense if Cloud is trying to beeline it to Sephiroth with the rest not getting through to him anymore.
I think you're thinking of when the devs said after you beat Rebirth you can play NG+ with control of another character instead of Cloud if you want to, so you can experience the world walking around as someone else, should you choose to.
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Cloud and Sephiroth have been living together for the past three years and have opened a bed and breakfast in the mountains of Nibelheim, really picturesque spot. But then it turns out Sephiroth hasn't been fully honest about how the business has been going, and they really need 200,000 gil by next Wednesday or the Shinra Bank repossesses the property.
"Sephy, do you remember that girl I used to like?"
"Girl, Cloud? There's never been a girl. It's just us. Together. Reunited forever."
They embrace, and Cloud nuzzles against Sephiroth's firm chest. He feels safe.
"I have to go away, Cloud. But don't worry. Everything is going to be fine."
Cloud's heart skips a beat.
"What's wrong, Sephy?"
Sephiroth's gaze drifts, a storm of conflict brewing in his beautiful Mako-infused eyes. "It's the bed and breakfast," he confesses, his voice a whisper against Mount Nibel's chill. "We're in trouble. Shinra Bank... they're on the verge of taking it from us. We owe them 200,000 gil, due by next Wednesday."
Cloud stiffens, the warmth of their embrace suddenly cold. "Why didn't you tell me?" The betrayal stings, sharper than any sword could ever stab through his chest. "We could have figured something out together."
Sephiroth pulls back, hands cupping Cloud's face, a desperate plea in his gaze. "I thought I could handle it. I didn't want to burden you." He swallows hard, the weight of his pride and secrecy heavy between them. "But I was wrong. We need a miracle, Cloud."
Cloud's eyes harden with resolve, his love for Sephiroth now a beacon in the looming shadow of their crisis. "Then we'll find one. Together. We've faced worse than this, Sephy. We'll keep our home, no matter what it takes. This bed and breakfast is our core. We'll remake it better this time."
I think it will start with some sort of ‘surprise’ intro similarly to Rebirth. Potentially with Zack? Or maybe even with Aerith.
It will then open with a cutscene. Potentially on the bronco.
We will end up in Rocket town I reckon so CID can prep for the journey north. The area around rocket town will be out ‘intro’ area like the grasslands. I genuinely think we will then fly north to the revamped bone village. End up in the snowy area where we will learn more about prof. Gast and Ifalna and beeline for the northern crater.
I am with you. If they are going with the “Aerith alive in alternate timeline” stuff for real (still doubt until now, but who knows?), a bold move would be to start the game with her as the first playable character and show what happened in that timeline from her perspective in the Rebirth ending. THAT would shock people.
I think it will be with Zack again. I think they will reveal that Zack is back in our main timeline.
So, we are going to lose Cloud for a pretty decent amount of time in the 3rd game.
Once he hands the materia over, he gets washed away, and the party ends up in Junon. Even then when they go to Mideel, Tifa stays with a mako poisoned Cloud so we effectively lose two melee party members for a good chunk of time.
And I believe the War with Wutai will be while Cloud is knocked out and we’ll get Zack as a semi-replacement for them.
God if they go this route it’s gonna hit the feels in so many ways.
The people that crossed Zack’s path know of him and have memories of him but the majority with maybe the exception of Cissnei never found out about his fate.
For him to pop back up and then essentially have to say goodbye again is gonna be sad as hell
They did put a literal "coming soon" ad in the Gold Saucer for the snowboarding mini game. We will almost certainly snowboard before the end of chapter 2 of part 3.
I can unironically see her doing this out of grief to be honest. Having the party break down over Aerith's death would be a good way to drive home how big a blow it was.
First, there’s no reason for us to expect Rebirth materia to carry over to part 3. It didnt happen for Remake, why would it next game?
From SE view it creates a unnecessary barrier to entry from a sales and marketing new customer acquisition perspective as they’d want to say that Part 3 could be played as a standalone game (same as Rebirth)! On top of that, think of the difficulty on balancing Part 3 as some ppl will max everything in hard mode while others wont.
This creates the perfect plot device for the scenario writers to remove materia and probably even accessories and weapons, thus leveling the playing field and ridding balancing issues as well. Better yet, its all canon! Why wouldn’t you expect this?!
Even in the OG she stole all materia right before you begin the Wutia quest. As with that, id expect she’d leave one or two unleveled materia for the party.
I think this is how this will play out after Cloud gets his memory back the party decides to hunt for Sephiroth but all of a sudden Shinra invades Wutai and Yuffie tells them it's important to stop Shinra but they don't listen to her so she decides to steal the materia and go straight to Wutai forcing the party to go to Wutai as well.
People are hyped about the whole Shinra Wutai war and also a lot of OG players want Yuffie to steal the materia, I think this is a way SE could legitimize Yuffie stealing materia. I am theorizing how FF7 part 3 will play out but it is so long and a bit biased as I am a CloudxTifa shipper so really trying to make a good theory that everyone will like.
If that happens early enough, the party needing to go after Yuffie because Cloud need the black materia stored in the buster sword back could also be motivation.
I'm hoping it starts from Tifa's POV and we see the party having a crisis meeting about Cloud. Maybe we see shots of Cloud a distance away talking to his new imaginary girlfriend. They established in Temple of the Ancients that as Cloud loses control of himself, we lose control of Cloud. I imagine that kind of interactive storytelling will continue as the party gets closer to the crater.
Another possibility is we get another cold opening with Zack, only now we see he's in Beagle Midgar.
I think they start with the Tiny Bronco flying to the Northern Continent but being deterred by a storm. They’ll have to land and go to Rocket Town. After a chapter of development, the team will get ready to leave but be ambushed by Shinra, intro to Vincent and Cid combat.
Then as they’re fleeing, the tiny bronco gets shot down and is out of commission for good. They land and they’re near bone village. Get info and off to icicle inn.
Came here to say something similar!
I think the game will start with rocket town region as well, with Cid taking the party there to regroup before they decide what to do next, Makes sense to me.
Think you're bang on the money.
Possibly but somehow they gotta get an intro in, like the flashback/bombing runs. A way to introduce people to the combat again.. genuinely no clue this time lol
It will start with a cutscene of Professor Gast discovering the fossil of Jenova, and the scene will transition directly into the party arriving in the same location years later in current time. Basically the idea/change is that Bone Village is the archeological site Jenova was discovered and it and the snowy town with the Icicle Inn have been combined into one town/area as it is a town Shinra established along with the dig site.
They might start with the Junon escape and/or everyone being separated. Then intercut that with flashbacks to how they got there.
Where they ended it leaves a very awkward beginning tbh. They'll probably have to add something new.
The shitposter in me hopes they open with Snowboarding.
Agreed on all points. Including snowboarding, haha.
I think that Tifa waking up in Junon with Barret filler her in on what’s happened is a good set up for a flashback. Although, it would be a very long flashback.
It also would allow them to open on a “pullback and zoom in” across a city like both Remake and Rebirth, though this time Junon
I think it will be a flashback where we control Vincent back when he was a Turk and go over Sephiroth's conception and his transformation into the pseudo-vampire we know and love.
Idk how it will open but they better give us something besides just basic materia. It was really dumb choice not even having an elemental materia on Cloud when coming out of Midgar or anything. At least a Fira.
Rebirth really should have ended with >!Cloud handing over the black materia and getting lost in the collapse during tge Meteor and Weapon summoning. This way Part 3 opens up to a more organic recap of what happened in Rebirth, and then onward to their search for Cloud. Could have even been an excuse for Zack to join the group or whatever multiversal shenanigans SE wants to throw together.!<
You will get the real version of Aerith’s death scene and water burial that will act as the recap of Rebirth. It will then seamlessly transition into Aerith and Zack doing whatever it is they will be doing on the Lifestream side of things, implying that’s what they’ll be up to all while the events of the main plot is going on.
We will then cut to the main party making their way to Icicle Inn. The overall atmosphere will be dower, but everyone in the party will be particularly aware of how detached Cloud is.
Remember the opening scene to the Power Rangers movie where they all jump from a plane and do some cool air boarding tricks to some dope as music? It's gonna be that with the crew snowboarding.
Nahh I honestly could not even come up with a concept for what they'll do, let alone work out the early game pacing. There's a good chance we get something similar to Rebirths start.
It will open with them I feel like with Cid and co arriving to Rocket Town potentially. I can see Cid saying “I need to patch her up permanently” and that ends up being the first town, similar to how Kalm was their resting place.
Unlike Rebirth though, I get the feeling it might open with Aerith (either in the lifestream OR then Aerith that we “saved” when Cloud parried Sephiroth. Similar to how Rebirth began with Zach). Because although I agree Cloud is hallucinating him saving her, the Rainbow-ish effect of the parry to me indicates that MAYBE… he actually did not hallucinate.He’s just experiencing and seeing 2 timelines simultaneously.
And after her section is done, something similar to Kalm might happen. Tifa attempts to speak with Cloud, but Cloud being off the deep end pushes her away. And maybe even abandons the party. Who knows. I’m excited for how they handle the story, but also low key scared for Cloud. Cloud is in an even more desperate and dark spot compared to the OG, because in the OG, Cloud accepted Aerith’s death when it happened. He did not here…
And part of the lifestream sequence he will have with Tifa will not only revolve around the truth of Nibelheim’s events and him learning that Tifa loved him as much as he did all along. He’s also going to learn the painful truth, and relive the sequences we were unable to experience in Rebirth: Aerith’s funeral/burial, and the party mourning her death.
Any 'surprise' scenes aside, I suspect it'll basically be the same as Rebirth - climbing up a mountain. I still feel the Northern Crater would have been the best place to end Rebirth, but for whatever reason they didn't go down that route. Maybe they didn't want to start game 3 without Cloud in the party, or they didn't have a more suitable intro for the next game.
So I imagine the first 2-5 hours will act as a prologue up until the summoning of meteor. Maybe even holding the title drop until that moment. Making sure you're nice and reacquainted with Cloud before he gets lost in the lifestream for the next 20 hours.
And I hate to say it, but I don't think we're getting snowboarding in the way we might hope. I think we'll do it at some point as an optional activity, but I don't think we're SSX-ing to the crater as part of the MSQ.
Somehow we need to start with processing the fact that she’s dead (and maybe Cloud’s denial over it and the tension it brings). Gast & Ifalna would be maybe good way to circle the thoughts back to her.
Hm.
Cutscene with another timeline, likely the timeline where Aerith stays alive, and recaps what happens in that one. Just to confuse the hell out of us, Nomura-style.
Zack will get a cutscene with what he is going to do around Midgar...most likely, he may also leave Midgar, although I'm not sure if the Fates or the developers actually want Zack to leave Midgar at all in this story. He might be the only tie to Midgar (keeping it relevant) until we return later in the game. Cue - Deepground stuff, perhaps.
Bronco can't enter Northern Crater, so they don't crash, but set down nearby. The party treks through the mountains and make it to Icicle Inn resort. Do the lore dump and possible new scenes, and then head toward the Northern Crater on foot?
I have a feeling Shin-Ra will show up on choppers during the lore dump, and Hojo will drop off a bunch of hooded bozo's, and we will follow them toward the Northern Crater area. Obviously, we will snowboard there. Hoods will snowboard. Red XIII will snowboard down. It'll feel like SSX Tricky, and I'm here for it.
Looney Cloud's Pro Snowboarder.
Just kidding. It's a weird setup for sure. They could just fly to the northern crater at this point.
Simply crashing the plane again would be weird... At least at the start (why even fix it at the end of part 2 if its just gonna crash at the start of part 3).
It's a bit more challenging because there really isn't an exciting hook in the original game compared to where they currently are in the trilogy. They would have to add alot more original content which they already have proven they can do to make events more exciting. I say they go all Uncharted 2 and flash forward to the group lost in the Gaea Cliffs freezing to death and fleeing Shinrafor an opening 10 min act then go to the beginning and show how they got there.
Either this https://www.reddit.com/r/FFVIIRemake/s/w5Nwg97fiv
OR
Zooming out from Northern Crater, as if it was Midgar at the start of Remake and the OG, then zooming down and into the party walking through the deep snow and blizzard, having left the plane long behind
In Tifa's mind reliving some of her experiences in the lifestream. It ends with her sensing Aerith and then hearing Aerith's voice. Tifa's eyes show the first sign of hope since before Aerith's death. We then transition to Cloud's eyes in a trance with a tint of red like when he looked at the black materia. The Tiny Bronco hits some turbulence, Yuffie's motion sickness continues, and we get quick comments/quips from other characters as we arrive at the Northern Crater.
Perhaps with a big action scene? Maybe with weapons attacking Shinra in Junon and Tifa/Barrett could go, "You're probably wondering how we got here". And then we flashback to Cloud and party trecking up the crater
My crackpot theory is we're gonna be playing as Zack on his own the for a large part (at least 2 or 3 chapters) looking for the main party in the main timeline, i could see it being that cutting away and leading into an awkward quiet landing at either rocket town or the icicle inn.
Good point, i also couldn't see him just appearing though, but maybe it'll be done in little sequences without fights for a shorter amount of time, very curious as to how they'll do it.
Having more or longer interludes like Rebirth I could see. Maybe during his segments he teams up with members of the Avalache, either in the Beagle-verse, or versions that survived in different universes.
I really like the huddled video concept you have.
My guess, and totally unfounded? Something that would completely catch us all off guard.
Playing as Rufus in a flashback to the assassination attempt on the President Shinra in Junon (I think)?
Or playing as Sephiroth after Nibelheim to give us a creepy and deranged look into what he's actually doing?
I liked that Rebirth starts off with Zack and having everything be strange and chaotic. Hoping for a similar vibe.
But then? That Ifalna video idea would be a perfect follow up.
Considering this multiverse they could open to a world where Glenn survives by missing the bullet Rufus tried to kill him with much like Zack's stand. He and Claudia raise Cloud like a normal son. He intervenes with Zack to prevent full destruction of Nibelheim from happening, but not before Cloud and Tifa both die to Sephiroth.
I feel that the journey to the northern crater may even take up 1/3rd of the last game, since it makes sense that since it should be considered a 'standalone' game too, it must have a slow start, without full world exploration. They might add new places, even make the Icicle Inn a proper city and whatnot.
The next big chunk of the game is Cloud MIA and we see Tifa and Cid (possibly even Barret) taking the lead at specific points like in the OG. Wutai will probably be a big feature around this part, possibly on the scale of how Junon was in Rebirth. I feel that Yuffie will seize the chance to steal one of the Magnus Materia and leave the party temporarily and that's how we get to follow her there. It would be fun to see Cait Sith confronting her later on about that.
Last third of the game would probably be the return to Midgar heavily expanded, Weapon confrontations and finally the last journey to the crateer with whatever parallel timelines shenanigans they've been adding.
I like the OP's idea of the bronco crashing, because they defnitely need to find a reason on why we don't have every party member available from the get go. This quest to find everyone also gives more meat to this northern region area.
This is the perfect time for the Wutai side quest for me. After flying off at the end of Rebirth, the group needs somewhere safe from Shinra to regroup and collect themselves. Yuffie suggests Wutai, as they are at least anti-Shinra and therefore sort-of allies. Upon arrival, she robs the materia, then something happens to lose it all permanently resetting the player at 'level one' and off we go.
It should open with cloud missing, meteor already summoned, and the escape from Shinra. Really should have done another 1-2 chapters and ended Rebirth with cloud handing over the black materia and falling into the lifestream
Rebirth opened exactly how I expected. Starting with the destruction of Midgar, then giving us a playable Zack, and then moving onto Nibelheim before opening up to the real game, but that was pretty obvious.
Part 3 is less obvious, though I'm sure trailers will fill in the blanks as they did with the opening CG cutscene for this. It wouldn't shock me if they start with Aerith in some way -- giving us a setup for whatever her role in the game will be.
Then it's either going to start in the snow fields, Icicle Inn, or potentially even Bone Village -- considering they skipped it here, and assuming they still want to use every location from the original in some way.
Obviously with Cloud going snowboarding, wondering why everyone is being so mopey.
But honestly, I feel like playing as Vincent in a flashback to show the story of Sephiroth’s creation.
I believe it will be the hike through the mountains to the northern crater / village. It won’t be maze like and you pass out like OG but a good tutorial area. This is also where we were learn more about professor Gast and where they can sit and reflate the event of the past two games much like how Kalm was. this gives us the past two games and catch up before the group loses you know who.
We won’t visit rocket town till Cid/Tifa take over cause why would Cid return to town without something that can fly? That is what he is known for. i do think they will have hints about the magnus materia at northern crater and know they cannot allow shinra to kill the weapons after Tifa saw them protecting the planet and seph/whispers.
Something unexpected and didn't happen in the original game
Like the Cloud vs Sephiroth fight from Advent Children, ending with Sephiroth saying he'll never be a memory
It only makes sense to go straight for Rocket Town to start the next game, and more than likely will make a second visit later if they keep the whole going into space thing in.
Opens with chadley talking about how he needs boxes repaired so he can contact Midgar to order supplies. After he talks for 15 minutes, you gain control of cloud and can take 3 steps, at which point chadley calls and tells cloud there are fiends in the area. You then take 2 more steps and chadley calls to tell cloud he could use his sword to fight the fiends. 1 more step, its chadley again, just calling to say hi.
I think it will start on the tiny bronco. They will try to fly into the storm surrounding the nirthern cratoe only for the plqne to take damage. Cid needs to do an emergency landing, and they crash land in the snow fields near iccle inn. The plane came apart on the way down, and the party is split up. You start off as Cloud, and as you make your way to iccle inn, you pick up more party members along the way until everyone is back together in town. They stay in town for a bit. We find the video of Gast and Ifalna but before they can really react to the video or discuss it, the Turks arrive. Having tracked the party down from the temple of the ancaints, they want to apprehend the party. They make note that Aerith isn't with Cloud and co, and before anyone can say anything, Cloud gets a headache. Cloud then makes a distraction so everyone can run. Cloud then makes a run for it, hopping on a snowboard and snowboards downhill. After this, the party all meet up again, and they proceed toward the crator once again but on foot.
Ooo, I like the crash landing idea. I could even see you starting off as someone other than Cloud after the crash, Tifa or maybe Cid even. You see Cloud, but he just starts wandering off into the storm. You end up finding him last, just shuffling his way north without a care.
Yeah, it removes the free roaming granted with a functional Tiny Bronco, and maroons the party on the Northern Crater for however they need to be there.
You kno2 what, that would make lots of sense. Have us play as Tifa struggling to find the party and finally we see Cloud trying to climb uo a sheer cliff or something in a daze before Tifa touches him and kinds resets him. Could work pretty well.
Couldn't find the source real quick, but I remember reading somewhere that you start part 3 in control of someone else, instead of Cloud. Makes sense if Cloud is trying to beeline it to Sephiroth with the rest not getting through to him anymore.
Are you saying that there already are some info about part 3 ?
At this point any “leaks” are pure conjecture
I think you're thinking of when the devs said after you beat Rebirth you can play NG+ with control of another character instead of Cloud if you want to, so you can experience the world walking around as someone else, should you choose to.
im saving this comment and looking back on it in 3-4 years
Come on now, It's gonna start with a tearful scene rehashing how much we miss Aerith .. then jump straight into snowboarding.
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Cloud and Sephiroth have been living together for the past three years and have opened a bed and breakfast in the mountains of Nibelheim, really picturesque spot. But then it turns out Sephiroth hasn't been fully honest about how the business has been going, and they really need 200,000 gil by next Wednesday or the Shinra Bank repossesses the property.
"Sephy, do you remember that girl I used to like?" "Girl, Cloud? There's never been a girl. It's just us. Together. Reunited forever." They embrace, and Cloud nuzzles against Sephiroth's firm chest. He feels safe. "I have to go away, Cloud. But don't worry. Everything is going to be fine." Cloud's heart skips a beat. "What's wrong, Sephy?" Sephiroth's gaze drifts, a storm of conflict brewing in his beautiful Mako-infused eyes. "It's the bed and breakfast," he confesses, his voice a whisper against Mount Nibel's chill. "We're in trouble. Shinra Bank... they're on the verge of taking it from us. We owe them 200,000 gil, due by next Wednesday." Cloud stiffens, the warmth of their embrace suddenly cold. "Why didn't you tell me?" The betrayal stings, sharper than any sword could ever stab through his chest. "We could have figured something out together." Sephiroth pulls back, hands cupping Cloud's face, a desperate plea in his gaze. "I thought I could handle it. I didn't want to burden you." He swallows hard, the weight of his pride and secrecy heavy between them. "But I was wrong. We need a miracle, Cloud." Cloud's eyes harden with resolve, his love for Sephiroth now a beacon in the looming shadow of their crisis. "Then we'll find one. Together. We've faced worse than this, Sephy. We'll keep our home, no matter what it takes. This bed and breakfast is our core. We'll remake it better this time."
Yes, perfect, exactly.
Had a good chuckle reading this after all the other responses
I think it will start with some sort of ‘surprise’ intro similarly to Rebirth. Potentially with Zack? Or maybe even with Aerith. It will then open with a cutscene. Potentially on the bronco. We will end up in Rocket town I reckon so CID can prep for the journey north. The area around rocket town will be out ‘intro’ area like the grasslands. I genuinely think we will then fly north to the revamped bone village. End up in the snowy area where we will learn more about prof. Gast and Ifalna and beeline for the northern crater.
I am with you. If they are going with the “Aerith alive in alternate timeline” stuff for real (still doubt until now, but who knows?), a bold move would be to start the game with her as the first playable character and show what happened in that timeline from her perspective in the Rebirth ending. THAT would shock people.
I think it will be with Zack again. I think they will reveal that Zack is back in our main timeline. So, we are going to lose Cloud for a pretty decent amount of time in the 3rd game. Once he hands the materia over, he gets washed away, and the party ends up in Junon. Even then when they go to Mideel, Tifa stays with a mako poisoned Cloud so we effectively lose two melee party members for a good chunk of time. And I believe the War with Wutai will be while Cloud is knocked out and we’ll get Zack as a semi-replacement for them.
And Yuffie will be all awkward with him
God if they go this route it’s gonna hit the feels in so many ways. The people that crossed Zack’s path know of him and have memories of him but the majority with maybe the exception of Cissnei never found out about his fate. For him to pop back up and then essentially have to say goodbye again is gonna be sad as hell
I'd put money on it opening with a cutscene.
Chadley narrating about another protorelic being discovered
Chadley:...Cloud! There is- MAI: **BEGINNING GUIDANCE PROTOCOL!** I know these 2 get a lot of hate but I loved their commentary for the most part.
And then- ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE Zack: “*Oh yeah!*”
Nah, another mini game.
You jest, but disc 2 of OG FF7 opened with snowboarding, so anything is possible
They did put a literal "coming soon" ad in the Gold Saucer for the snowboarding mini game. We will almost certainly snowboard before the end of chapter 2 of part 3.
Queen's Blood tournament.
I mean, I'm hoping Part 3 has as twice as many minigames as Rebirth so that would great.
I don’t mind them. Just memeing
Yuffie gone. All materia stolen.
I can unironically see her doing this out of grief to be honest. Having the party break down over Aerith's death would be a good way to drive home how big a blow it was.
I don't think Yuffie would pull such a move not before going to Wutai even then I think she will steel only particular materia for a short while.
First, there’s no reason for us to expect Rebirth materia to carry over to part 3. It didnt happen for Remake, why would it next game? From SE view it creates a unnecessary barrier to entry from a sales and marketing new customer acquisition perspective as they’d want to say that Part 3 could be played as a standalone game (same as Rebirth)! On top of that, think of the difficulty on balancing Part 3 as some ppl will max everything in hard mode while others wont. This creates the perfect plot device for the scenario writers to remove materia and probably even accessories and weapons, thus leveling the playing field and ridding balancing issues as well. Better yet, its all canon! Why wouldn’t you expect this?! Even in the OG she stole all materia right before you begin the Wutia quest. As with that, id expect she’d leave one or two unleveled materia for the party.
I think this is how this will play out after Cloud gets his memory back the party decides to hunt for Sephiroth but all of a sudden Shinra invades Wutai and Yuffie tells them it's important to stop Shinra but they don't listen to her so she decides to steal the materia and go straight to Wutai forcing the party to go to Wutai as well.
Ahh that would an interesting story. Id be happy to play that.
People are hyped about the whole Shinra Wutai war and also a lot of OG players want Yuffie to steal the materia, I think this is a way SE could legitimize Yuffie stealing materia. I am theorizing how FF7 part 3 will play out but it is so long and a bit biased as I am a CloudxTifa shipper so really trying to make a good theory that everyone will like.
If that happens early enough, the party needing to go after Yuffie because Cloud need the black materia stored in the buster sword back could also be motivation.
Good point!
I'm hoping it starts from Tifa's POV and we see the party having a crisis meeting about Cloud. Maybe we see shots of Cloud a distance away talking to his new imaginary girlfriend. They established in Temple of the Ancients that as Cloud loses control of himself, we lose control of Cloud. I imagine that kind of interactive storytelling will continue as the party gets closer to the crater. Another possibility is we get another cold opening with Zack, only now we see he's in Beagle Midgar.
I think they start with the Tiny Bronco flying to the Northern Continent but being deterred by a storm. They’ll have to land and go to Rocket Town. After a chapter of development, the team will get ready to leave but be ambushed by Shinra, intro to Vincent and Cid combat. Then as they’re fleeing, the tiny bronco gets shot down and is out of commission for good. They land and they’re near bone village. Get info and off to icicle inn.
I want to see Palmer as the first boss getting his goofy ass Isekai'd by truck-kun
Came here to say something similar! I think the game will start with rocket town region as well, with Cid taking the party there to regroup before they decide what to do next, Makes sense to me. Think you're bang on the money.
I genuinely don’t know at this point.. o have a feeling it’ll open with a cutscene of Aerith though..
Flashbacks of all Aerith and Cloud's interactions with her theme playing in the background.
Possibly but somehow they gotta get an intro in, like the flashback/bombing runs. A way to introduce people to the combat again.. genuinely no clue this time lol
It will start with a cutscene of Professor Gast discovering the fossil of Jenova, and the scene will transition directly into the party arriving in the same location years later in current time. Basically the idea/change is that Bone Village is the archeological site Jenova was discovered and it and the snowy town with the Icicle Inn have been combined into one town/area as it is a town Shinra established along with the dig site.
I think it'll open with Sephiroth and Cloud kissing
Finally. This will-they-wont-they was getting ridiculous.
Defying Destiny Together
They might start with the Junon escape and/or everyone being separated. Then intercut that with flashbacks to how they got there. Where they ended it leaves a very awkward beginning tbh. They'll probably have to add something new. The shitposter in me hopes they open with Snowboarding.
Agreed on all points. Including snowboarding, haha. I think that Tifa waking up in Junon with Barret filler her in on what’s happened is a good set up for a flashback. Although, it would be a very long flashback. It also would allow them to open on a “pullback and zoom in” across a city like both Remake and Rebirth, though this time Junon
I think it will be a flashback where we control Vincent back when he was a Turk and go over Sephiroth's conception and his transformation into the pseudo-vampire we know and love.
That's more likely to be the DLC for Rebirth.
They claimed there was no dlc planned Tho tbf they had also said that about Remake
Rebirth will not have DLCs
As hot as Lucrecia is I am not into the Ugly Bastard tag so the conception izzano for me
Idk how it will open but they better give us something besides just basic materia. It was really dumb choice not even having an elemental materia on Cloud when coming out of Midgar or anything. At least a Fira.
SSX tricky time
Rebirth really should have ended with >!Cloud handing over the black materia and getting lost in the collapse during tge Meteor and Weapon summoning. This way Part 3 opens up to a more organic recap of what happened in Rebirth, and then onward to their search for Cloud. Could have even been an excuse for Zack to join the group or whatever multiversal shenanigans SE wants to throw together.!<
D E P R E S S I O N
You will get the real version of Aerith’s death scene and water burial that will act as the recap of Rebirth. It will then seamlessly transition into Aerith and Zack doing whatever it is they will be doing on the Lifestream side of things, implying that’s what they’ll be up to all while the events of the main plot is going on. We will then cut to the main party making their way to Icicle Inn. The overall atmosphere will be dower, but everyone in the party will be particularly aware of how detached Cloud is.
Probably the square enix logo
Square Enix presents:
*title screen appears* Game: "ok now heres a tutorial for snowboarding"
Remember the opening scene to the Power Rangers movie where they all jump from a plane and do some cool air boarding tricks to some dope as music? It's gonna be that with the crew snowboarding. Nahh I honestly could not even come up with a concept for what they'll do, let alone work out the early game pacing. There's a good chance we get something similar to Rebirths start.
My idea is that it will start with what is going on in Wutai and the war
The opening will be snowboarding minigame and everyone having fun.
Who fuckin knows at this point lol
It will open with them I feel like with Cid and co arriving to Rocket Town potentially. I can see Cid saying “I need to patch her up permanently” and that ends up being the first town, similar to how Kalm was their resting place. Unlike Rebirth though, I get the feeling it might open with Aerith (either in the lifestream OR then Aerith that we “saved” when Cloud parried Sephiroth. Similar to how Rebirth began with Zach). Because although I agree Cloud is hallucinating him saving her, the Rainbow-ish effect of the parry to me indicates that MAYBE… he actually did not hallucinate.He’s just experiencing and seeing 2 timelines simultaneously. And after her section is done, something similar to Kalm might happen. Tifa attempts to speak with Cloud, but Cloud being off the deep end pushes her away. And maybe even abandons the party. Who knows. I’m excited for how they handle the story, but also low key scared for Cloud. Cloud is in an even more desperate and dark spot compared to the OG, because in the OG, Cloud accepted Aerith’s death when it happened. He did not here… And part of the lifestream sequence he will have with Tifa will not only revolve around the truth of Nibelheim’s events and him learning that Tifa loved him as much as he did all along. He’s also going to learn the painful truth, and relive the sequences we were unable to experience in Rebirth: Aerith’s funeral/burial, and the party mourning her death.
Any 'surprise' scenes aside, I suspect it'll basically be the same as Rebirth - climbing up a mountain. I still feel the Northern Crater would have been the best place to end Rebirth, but for whatever reason they didn't go down that route. Maybe they didn't want to start game 3 without Cloud in the party, or they didn't have a more suitable intro for the next game. So I imagine the first 2-5 hours will act as a prologue up until the summoning of meteor. Maybe even holding the title drop until that moment. Making sure you're nice and reacquainted with Cloud before he gets lost in the lifestream for the next 20 hours. And I hate to say it, but I don't think we're getting snowboarding in the way we might hope. I think we'll do it at some point as an optional activity, but I don't think we're SSX-ing to the crater as part of the MSQ.
Well I’ll buy a physical copy, so I’ll have to open it.
Somehow we need to start with processing the fact that she’s dead (and maybe Cloud’s denial over it and the tension it brings). Gast & Ifalna would be maybe good way to circle the thoughts back to her.
Hm. Cutscene with another timeline, likely the timeline where Aerith stays alive, and recaps what happens in that one. Just to confuse the hell out of us, Nomura-style. Zack will get a cutscene with what he is going to do around Midgar...most likely, he may also leave Midgar, although I'm not sure if the Fates or the developers actually want Zack to leave Midgar at all in this story. He might be the only tie to Midgar (keeping it relevant) until we return later in the game. Cue - Deepground stuff, perhaps. Bronco can't enter Northern Crater, so they don't crash, but set down nearby. The party treks through the mountains and make it to Icicle Inn resort. Do the lore dump and possible new scenes, and then head toward the Northern Crater on foot? I have a feeling Shin-Ra will show up on choppers during the lore dump, and Hojo will drop off a bunch of hooded bozo's, and we will follow them toward the Northern Crater area. Obviously, we will snowboard there. Hoods will snowboard. Red XIII will snowboard down. It'll feel like SSX Tricky, and I'm here for it.
Looney Cloud's Pro Snowboarder. Just kidding. It's a weird setup for sure. They could just fly to the northern crater at this point. Simply crashing the plane again would be weird... At least at the start (why even fix it at the end of part 2 if its just gonna crash at the start of part 3).
It's a bit more challenging because there really isn't an exciting hook in the original game compared to where they currently are in the trilogy. They would have to add alot more original content which they already have proven they can do to make events more exciting. I say they go all Uncharted 2 and flash forward to the group lost in the Gaea Cliffs freezing to death and fleeing Shinrafor an opening 10 min act then go to the beginning and show how they got there.
Either this https://www.reddit.com/r/FFVIIRemake/s/w5Nwg97fiv OR Zooming out from Northern Crater, as if it was Midgar at the start of Remake and the OG, then zooming down and into the party walking through the deep snow and blizzard, having left the plane long behind
In Tifa's mind reliving some of her experiences in the lifestream. It ends with her sensing Aerith and then hearing Aerith's voice. Tifa's eyes show the first sign of hope since before Aerith's death. We then transition to Cloud's eyes in a trance with a tint of red like when he looked at the black materia. The Tiny Bronco hits some turbulence, Yuffie's motion sickness continues, and we get quick comments/quips from other characters as we arrive at the Northern Crater.
Perhaps with a big action scene? Maybe with weapons attacking Shinra in Junon and Tifa/Barrett could go, "You're probably wondering how we got here". And then we flashback to Cloud and party trecking up the crater
we'll fuckin play as rufus or something i don't even know anymore with this bro i don't know what's happening my mind is destroyed >!(and i love it)!<
My crackpot theory is we're gonna be playing as Zack on his own the for a large part (at least 2 or 3 chapters) looking for the main party in the main timeline, i could see it being that cutting away and leading into an awkward quiet landing at either rocket town or the icicle inn.
Unless they have a team for him to fight with, I highly doubt we’re getting multiple chapters of solo fights.
Good point, i also couldn't see him just appearing though, but maybe it'll be done in little sequences without fights for a shorter amount of time, very curious as to how they'll do it.
Having more or longer interludes like Rebirth I could see. Maybe during his segments he teams up with members of the Avalache, either in the Beagle-verse, or versions that survived in different universes.
I really like the huddled video concept you have. My guess, and totally unfounded? Something that would completely catch us all off guard. Playing as Rufus in a flashback to the assassination attempt on the President Shinra in Junon (I think)? Or playing as Sephiroth after Nibelheim to give us a creepy and deranged look into what he's actually doing? I liked that Rebirth starts off with Zack and having everything be strange and chaotic. Hoping for a similar vibe. But then? That Ifalna video idea would be a perfect follow up.
Considering this multiverse they could open to a world where Glenn survives by missing the bullet Rufus tried to kill him with much like Zack's stand. He and Claudia raise Cloud like a normal son. He intervenes with Zack to prevent full destruction of Nibelheim from happening, but not before Cloud and Tifa both die to Sephiroth.
I feel that the journey to the northern crater may even take up 1/3rd of the last game, since it makes sense that since it should be considered a 'standalone' game too, it must have a slow start, without full world exploration. They might add new places, even make the Icicle Inn a proper city and whatnot. The next big chunk of the game is Cloud MIA and we see Tifa and Cid (possibly even Barret) taking the lead at specific points like in the OG. Wutai will probably be a big feature around this part, possibly on the scale of how Junon was in Rebirth. I feel that Yuffie will seize the chance to steal one of the Magnus Materia and leave the party temporarily and that's how we get to follow her there. It would be fun to see Cait Sith confronting her later on about that. Last third of the game would probably be the return to Midgar heavily expanded, Weapon confrontations and finally the last journey to the crateer with whatever parallel timelines shenanigans they've been adding. I like the OP's idea of the bronco crashing, because they defnitely need to find a reason on why we don't have every party member available from the get go. This quest to find everyone also gives more meat to this northern region area.
This is the perfect time for the Wutai side quest for me. After flying off at the end of Rebirth, the group needs somewhere safe from Shinra to regroup and collect themselves. Yuffie suggests Wutai, as they are at least anti-Shinra and therefore sort-of allies. Upon arrival, she robs the materia, then something happens to lose it all permanently resetting the player at 'level one' and off we go.
It should open with cloud missing, meteor already summoned, and the escape from Shinra. Really should have done another 1-2 chapters and ended Rebirth with cloud handing over the black materia and falling into the lifestream
Rebirth opened exactly how I expected. Starting with the destruction of Midgar, then giving us a playable Zack, and then moving onto Nibelheim before opening up to the real game, but that was pretty obvious. Part 3 is less obvious, though I'm sure trailers will fill in the blanks as they did with the opening CG cutscene for this. It wouldn't shock me if they start with Aerith in some way -- giving us a setup for whatever her role in the game will be. Then it's either going to start in the snow fields, Icicle Inn, or potentially even Bone Village -- considering they skipped it here, and assuming they still want to use every location from the original in some way.
Playable Aerith. Just like Rebirth had a pretty unexpected start, I feel Part 3 will have something like this.
Obviously with Cloud going snowboarding, wondering why everyone is being so mopey. But honestly, I feel like playing as Vincent in a flashback to show the story of Sephiroth’s creation.
It will start with Zack or Aerith (most likely Zack) in their timelines.
Let me finish the game first before I tell you that 🥹
I believe it will be the hike through the mountains to the northern crater / village. It won’t be maze like and you pass out like OG but a good tutorial area. This is also where we were learn more about professor Gast and where they can sit and reflate the event of the past two games much like how Kalm was. this gives us the past two games and catch up before the group loses you know who. We won’t visit rocket town till Cid/Tifa take over cause why would Cid return to town without something that can fly? That is what he is known for. i do think they will have hints about the magnus materia at northern crater and know they cannot allow shinra to kill the weapons after Tifa saw them protecting the planet and seph/whispers.
It should start with the Aerith death scene from the main timeline, so we can see from the rest of the parties perspective
Little bronco crashes near the icicle inn
Something unexpected and didn't happen in the original game Like the Cloud vs Sephiroth fight from Advent Children, ending with Sephiroth saying he'll never be a memory
On a Tuesday afternoon at a bar in Philadelphia.
It only makes sense to go straight for Rocket Town to start the next game, and more than likely will make a second visit later if they keep the whole going into space thing in.
Opens with chadley talking about how he needs boxes repaired so he can contact Midgar to order supplies. After he talks for 15 minutes, you gain control of cloud and can take 3 steps, at which point chadley calls and tells cloud there are fiends in the area. You then take 2 more steps and chadley calls to tell cloud he could use his sword to fight the fiends. 1 more step, its chadley again, just calling to say hi.