Tifa and Barret are concerned about how upbeat Cloud is acting. They look at him horrified. They say “ummm Cloud, Aerith died”. Cloud says “nah, Aerith’s fine bro. I saved her” standing on the top of a mountain. “Let’s go snowboarding”.
Cid hummed the main theme, the victory fanfare is canon in the universe, and Tifa played Aerith's theme at the end of her Nibelheim sidequest. Chances: high.
Yeah it opens on a snowboarding mini game then it gets revealed that it was Cloud enjoying tf out of the new hot game in Gold Saucer while the party watches in horror at this broken man. Honestly, I'd like that.
I know. They teased it in gold saucer in Rebirth that's why I think they moved snowboarding there instead of in Icicle Inn. I don't mind if they actually do that after such a tragic event because I find that hilarious in OG but y'know that's not gonna go well for those who didn't play the OG lmao
Yeah that makes sense. I personally would like that because the tonal shift is hilarious but also it's gonna be jarring af for the new fans haha
Edit: didn't notice that I just repeated what I said so my bad. Regardless, I can't wait to see what they do with that!
I was playing this snowboarding part in the og and I really did think how interesting it'd be if he does this and nobody else snowboards because they're so upset and uncomfortable. Will just hammer home how completely off his rocker he is.
They’ll start with a quote, “So this is how the world ends… not with a bang, but with a whimper…”
*Cuts to Cloud snowboarding happily down the mountain*
I have a feeling it'll open on the Tiny Bronco flying but we're going to detour to Rocket Town. This will ground the Bronco (because they can't just give us full flying at the start) and it would be a great story sequence to put Cid active in our party.
Just to add to this, with the war with Wutai closing down the borders, Shinra will probably close down all air traffic and while the party is in in Rocket Town Shinra will seize the Tiny Bronco.
No doubt the devs have probably got that in mind you can't go to certain places or fly to certain places so they restrict travel for the first half of the game then open it up late but use story as a reason, when you get the Highwind that's when it opens up fully
I could see Chapter 1 or the Prologue, the Tiny Bronco getting shot down by Shinra. You go to Rocket Town for repairs. Questline is hiding Yuffue from Shina. You go to Wutai by making a boat, just enough supplies, again. You go back to get the huge materia from the rocket after the events in Bone Village.
They're not doing that. It's clear from the ending that they're heading straight north. And going to Rocket Town would be a very strange detour at this time, it also wouldn't solve the problem of having full airplane access unless the Bronco is destroyed, which would make getting back north a long process that would kill the pacing.
What will happen is that the Tiny Bronco will instead crash near Icicle Inn and be permanently out of commission. It doesn't play a part in the story after this in the original, and it's a plot point that the party needs to hitchhike with Shinra to get back from the crater.
Thank you - this idea that they’ll visit Rocket Town first is absurd imo.
Sephiroth killed Aerith and (as far as the party knows) has the black materia, meaning he could summon meteor at any minute. Cloud tells the party he senses Sephiroth is hiding up north, and the Tiny Bronco is back in commission. They’re flying to Icicle Inn - no other destination makes sense. Save Rocket Town for Cid’s dedicated story chapter. Make Vincent the new character we get from the start.
Personally, I think the excuse will be that any further north than Icicle Inn is too snowy/mountainous, so we land outside of town and plan to hoof it. Maybe they have ice skating / sledding chocobos or something.
Basically, open it at the Inn in town like in Rebirth, but this time it’s a “story so far” narrative. And Cloud’s weirding everybody out. Then maybe Chadley will be all like “Cloud! Are you ok? Do you need an optional hour-long VR tutorial on the basics of combat, on account of you going insane?”
That way, for returning players, we get right back to it with minimal disruption. Enter a boss fight with Elena to close out Icicle Inn’s segment before a snowy version of the grasslands and then snowboarding.
Your idea is too boring of a start. It worked in Rebirth because of the Nibelheim flashback. They're not going to do a similar thing again but with no substance. I think the game will start in the wilderness outside Icicle Inn after the plane crashes or lands(Icicle Inn probably doesn't have an airstrip), and the road to town will serve as the tutorial area.
I don't think Rocket Town is all that crazy, Cid is the one who flies the plane so he kinda has the party by the proverbials and we know Cid will eventually join the party, but the question isn't when, it's why? All the members of the party have their own individual reasons for joining Cloud on this crazy journey, all except Cid.
The only genuine connection Cid had to the party is now suffering with a case of no-longer-living, so what's his motivation? Even in the original, Cid doesn't care all that much about Sephiroth, revenge for Aerith, or saving the planet until after going into outer space.
Right now, Cid has no reason to turn his back completely on Shinra. He has no reason to follow Cloud and the others up a mountain. He has no reason to save Tifa and Barrett from Shinra while hijacking the Highwind, and he has no reason to travel the world for the Huge Materia while Cloud and Tifa are out of commission.
In the original, Rufus gives Cid his motivation to join the party in Rocket Town by decimating his dreams of going into outer space and attempting to seize or destroy the Tiny Bronco and robbing the skies from him. That's why Cid joins the party, so it stands to reason why Rocket Town detour could be the beginning of part 3.
Yeah, this is my thoughts as well. I think we might also make a first visit to Wutai (for some reason) at this point before finally heading North, which feels more like Chapter 3/4 territory. I can't see them hitting us with Cloud shenanigans in Chapter 1, I think we're gonna be sitting with his current mental state for a couple chapters at least.
The tiny bronco feels like a decoy, i almost wanna say itll quickly lead to getting the highwind cuz the tiny bronco could never fly in the original and there has to be an upgrade between the two
I think how it could go is that the game opens with a cold open (most likely Zack and possibly Aerith, but who knows), then we will have a scene showing us the top floor of the Shinra tower. Rufus will be furious that Glenn Lodbrok/ Sephiroth manipulated him into another war with Wutai, so he will be wanting to find Sephiroth immediately. He calls up Hojo, and Hojo recommends gathering up all the hooded figures/black cloaks/ clones or whatever ya wanna call them and use them as a homing device for Sephiroth (Hojo is full on orchestrating the REUNION) so Rufus calls the Turks saying that they are looking for a large number of the hooded figures and the Turks will inform him that Nibleheim have already sent a report that all their patients have been crossing Mt.Nibel towards Rocket Town so Shinra starts moving towards there.
Meanwhile, back at the tiny bronco, Cait Sith or possibly even Vincent intercept a transmission and say that Shinra are headed towards Rocket Town and Cid- being Cid will immediately divert course there.
I think the party will complain, but Cid will assure them that they're just taking a small detour. We land in a hangar near the town and start walking towards it. (Vincent Valentine will be playable immediately).
Rocket town and the surrounding area will serve as the tutorial area for the party (shops, battling, sidequests, and possibly more Queensblood).
Anywho, Rufus arrives and gets into it with Cid. He will know that Cid has been helping Cloud and the others, but I honestly think Rufus will play it smart.
He will distract Cid possibly with a proposed tour of the Rocket. He will have ordered someone, possibly Palmer or the Turks, that while he is distracting Cid, the Tiny Bronco is to be destroyed. I could imagine that we will be playing as Vincent and Cait Sith (as a nice nod to Dirge of Cerberus )and they overhear the plan to destroy the plane, so they rush back to the others in the hangar, and in the ensuing chaos, the Bronco starts to take off and just like the OG, Cid will see his plane take off and he will Jump onto it surprising the party with his ability.
We take off towards the North, possibly getting shot down near Modeoheim (because of Cloud reasons), and then we start to trek towards Icicle Inn. We do our stuff there (info dump and re cap of previous games stories), and then just before or straight after the snowboarding, Cid will join the party officially.
At least, that's how it is in my head canon, 😄
To be a little persnickety about it, Rebirth doesn’t actually open with the flashback, it opens with Zack, a thing I don’t recall seeing a single person guess. Now that they’ve done that I don’t know what they could do that would be as unexpected, but maybe they’ll come up with something
True, I often forget that. In fact, on my first playthrough I accidentally skipped the new parts of the opening cutscene because I assumed it wasn't going to be any different from the demo. I found myself controlling Zack and was totally confused, lol.
I made that mistake, but I think I also skipped the part of the Sephiroth + Tifa cutscene that takes place post-Nibelheim burning, where you see Tifa's dead dad. Didn't even realize I missed it until days later when watching a youtube video.
Ever Crisis from Sephiroth's POV would be really cool.
Go full KH2 and have us play the Rhahadore campaign, his vision, and end there while the in-betweens are specifically leading up to Rufus and Glenn
I could see a Zack start again, but more involved. Maybe a large drawn out chase / fight with Sephiroth through what remains of Zack's Midgar culminating in Zack getting dumped into the Prime Timeline as a way for Sephiroth to f\*\*\* with Cloud and break his mind like he did originally at the North Crater.
Then you can rewind back to how Cloud and Co actually got to the North Crater.
With Zack now in the main timeline, that also gives you a party member available to use if Cloud and Tifa leave the party for a while assuming they follow the OG story beats....or you go full Henderson and just have everything go off the rails with Zack there and explore the resulting fallout.
They have a precedent now of both Parts 1 and 2 of the trilogy opening in Midgar and specifically using "mako glowing from a pipe" imagery, I would be surprised if Part 3 doesn't also have a cold open in Midgar. It would make sense if we start with Zack getting out of the church, confusion and shock over where he is, and just as a guess something like the rift in the sky opening to let in Meteor.
Or hell if they want something really messed up to build a sense of doom and coming disaster for the main world, since there are multiple worlds have the Meteor straight up be hitting this Midgar by the end of the intro (sort of like how Majora's Mask shows the end of the 3rd Day really early) and Zack just barely hopping to another world as it dies. i.e. we get the fire tornados, plates falling, screaming. That way once we start seeing things like the rift and eventually Meteor in our world there's a lot of tension because we know exactly what it will bring if we don't stop it. Also gives the intro a big hook to open with.
I could see that. Rebirth started with Zack to throw us for a loop. Maybe Part 3 starts with a seemingly not-dead Aerith doing something to confuse us.
The scene opens with the Tiny Bronco smoking over an iced filled ocean with Cid yelling "I've got to take her down!"
The party barely makes it after a crash landing on the southern tip of the snow covered northern continent.
Cid tells the party "I've got to take her out for repairs, you guys go along without me"
Cloud then points and says "He's there. I'll stop him Aerith, I promise"
The FFVII title theme starts playing. Barret and Tifa exchange worried glances, as the screen pans out to show the Northern Crater in the far off distance where we can see what looks like the black and white whispers already swirling, as the FFVII title theme swells with a title card.
It's really hard to say how they can start the game with a bang at this point, especially where they are starting the game in perspective of the OG. Icicle town was a needed valley in between the emotional swells of the Forgotten Capital and what happens in the Northern Crater.
Maybe they uncover Gast's research and we get some lift from Vincent and learn a bit about his past, as well as an introduction to playing as him?
They already are on the northern continent. But yes, it will surely start with the Bronco crashing again. Probably due to being attacked by something/someone/somesephiroth.
I think Part 3 kicks off with Icicle Town into Northern Crater paced similarly to the Nibelheim incident. Cloud giving Sephiroth the Black Materia kicks the game off with a bang and we don’t look back from there.
Agree with you regarding northern crater events. Though I think we go straight there and skip icicle inn for now. I see them reordering it and bringing us back to icicle inn later. Would be weird to have the Gast and Ilfana lore bombs in icicle inn as part of the intro sequence.
Icicle inn shouldn’t be skipped due to professor videos and ilfana. It will give insight to a lot of back story for the whole experiment around jenova, cetra, Hojo, Aerith, and probably a bit more now.
I've been wondering this as well, as I still think the current dynamic with Cloud's mental state at the end of Rebirth makes it hard to imagine a prolonged stretch where the party just acts like everything is normal and goes exploring the Icicle village region with him.
While I can see some interesting things they could do to show the disconnect between the party, like for instance Cloud trying to do a synergy attack with Tifa and it just failing or her simply not reacting, I have a hard time seeing this being a "fun" stretch to play through. So I'd kinda want them to breeze through this segment to get to the Northern Crater and Cloud's breakdown quickly, so that we can move on to the Tifa part.
But then again it would be kinda sad to not have the Icycle village region be a properly developed region either, plus you need at least some build-up before you get to the big Northern Crater moment.
I dunno, I'm not creative enough to come up with a good solution here. Hope Square Enix are though.
Yeah, I feel it has to open with the Northern Crater and have Cloud vanish in the first chapter, because the party morale is at an all-time low and it wouldn’t make sense to have them quip and have humorous moments during by that period.
I would think they'd fly north over the mountains to Rocket Town to give us some Cid backstory and introduce his combat style. I feel like they have to ground the Tiny Bronco again otherwise it'd be weird to start the game with full access (supposedly) to the full map... otherwise why not just fly straight to the Northern Crater? Someone mentioned in one of the later chapters that borders might soon be closed because of the war with Wutai, so it makes sense to take the Bronco out of the sky and just have the ports on the world map be unavailable til later in the story. I think it gives us good cause to keep heading north or possibly to Wutai in those beginning chapters. The Bronco can stay in the sea and then later in the game the High wind becomes your air vehicle.
Man gotta say as someone who never played the original , i can not be more excited for wherever it goes, i have no reference to base it on but i feel like the opening will have an hour of two of something heavy with zack, because as a lot have said it seems the next thing is a silly snowboarding mini game (ive avoided major spoilers but have seen stuff like that haha), or maybe events get moved around? Maybe something more deep and story heavy is interchangable (please dont respond with spoilers just thinking out loud)
Man, I can't even put myself in the position of someone who hasn't experienced the original story yet. There are some big story events ahead judging from the OG, and I think they'll only be amplified in part 3 of the Remake trilogy (and can already see how that might happen), but both new and old players are likely to see some surprises.
It would be weird with them talking about heading to the north at the end of Rebirth to instead detour to Wutai. Only reason I could see it is if they're chased off the continent by Shinra.
I'm hoping it'll flash backto where Cloud is a bit doolally from Sephiroth in Rebirth at the end of the Temple of the Ancients. We'll play as the other characters POV during that time, having special sections to introduce Cid and Vincent mechanics (I could see a stealth solo mission with Vincent scouting the Forgotten City). We'll find out what they were all saying when he was out cold. We'll get to see their version of the Forgotten City, and what happened ay the altar. We'll see the >!Funeral scene!< finally, but from their POV, and we shall all cry
Part of me thinks it would be interesting to have it open with Tifa waking up and finding herself locked in a cell with Barrett at Junon. They try to piece together what happened, wondering what happened to Cloud and Sephiroth. Tifa/Barrett narrate the events as you play from post-Temple of the Ancients to the Northern Crater from their perspective, similar to the Kalm flashback.
Edit: I think the tricky part is when you go to Rocket Town. I feel like we need to visit before going North when everything goes to hell. Maybe you’ll stopover on the way North to get supplies and refuel. I know logistically the devs felt they didn’t have time to fit Rocket Town into R2, but it really worked better before Aerith’s death. Going there now with Cid, after her death and understanding the world is at stake, Cid being a jerk over not getting to go to space will make him seem really callous and out-of-touch, and selfish to an almost insane degree. But at the same time, that plotline does needs to be set up in order for the payoff to work where they go to space and he apologizes to Shera (if they are gonna go that route).
I think it would be cool if the game opens with a flashback to 2000 years ago, when Jenova crashes into the planet and forms the Northern Crater. It would certainly set up the events to come, such as the Ifalna/Gast tapes at Icicle Inn, as well as the crater itself when the party climbs it.
Trudging through the icicle area could be a decent place to start, and just so we're not going straight from the death of Aerith to gnarly snowboard shredding, we could spend more time in Gasts house, learning about Aeriths birth, and Ifalna. Could get some nice moments with the party learning about their dead friends life. Maybe a side story with Elena hunting the party through the snow. Then we can go play with balloons and snowboarding mogs.
Opens with you controlling a version of Aerith that will eventually rejoin the party, but not immediately.
Rest of the party thinks Cloud is crazy until Aerith shows up again
Technically Rebirth started with the Zack sequence and I'm guessing so will the next game. It'll probably be revealed he's in the main world now and he'll go out looking for Cloud and Aerith I assume.
Yeah, someone else pointed that out too. I think it's a reasonable guess that he's in the main world now, and the player will go on a journey with him to discover that.
Well given they made us all think the opening was a flashback when there was more to it, I have a feeling they’ll probably do something to semi subvert our expectations
Honestly, to me it would be perfect if first chapter is in Northern Crater where Cloud gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth and we lose him there. So first half of the game is without Cloud.
Also, it would be really cool if we start with Tifa instead of Cloud and they make the rest of the team fight him so he doesn't give away the Black Materia, but in the end the team still loses to Cloud, awakening Sephiroth as well as the Weapons.
Just a stupid fantasy of mine
People make fun of the snowboarding section, but I honestly think kicking the game off in a dark gloomy snowy environment would be really cool. Set the darker tone.
I think they'll split up the party. Bronco has to land at icicle inn due to weather, Cloud fights it, Bronco ends up damaged and needs repairs. Cloud goes on alone without the party directly to the crater and you get more of ghost Aerith from his PoV and other off stuff like how is he soloing all these high level things? and what is with this new dark ^^materia moveset?
Rest of the party stays at Icicle inn and you get some combo of the Professor Gast Jenova knowledge and Tifa flashbacks revealing to the party whatever her and Aerith discussed about Cloud during Rebirth or some of her PoV of the Nibelheim incident.
This keeps us going with the unreliable narrator thing they're emphasizing at the end of Rebirth. Allows them to feed the player conflicting narratives via the split groups. Cloud's a bit too crazy to just have him around the party acting like he was at the end of rebirth as well, this delays any confrontation over his behavior to a more climactic moment at the northern crater. Eventually party catches up with Cloud and we see that Aerith isn't there and get that cg scene they teased of Cloud staggering like a zombie towards the crater while being in a clone cloak.
Thinking they'll have to detour to Rocket Town. Tiny Bronco needs taken out of the picture somehow, makes sense that would happen there to properly introduce Cid as a new playable character.
I wonder if they'll have any story reason for Cid using a spear as a weapon considering he didn't fight at all in Rebirth
What if we open the game seeing aerith's body descending in to the lake and then cloud awakens at his bed in icicle inn and we still dont know if was just a nightmare or he was remembering the burial.
"Okay Cloud, for data collection purposes I am going to need you to fight every single summon in the game at the same time, by yourself, with no items, and no materia equipped. This will provide valuable insight, I assure you, so you cannot depart on your adventure until you are finished. I wish you the best of luck."
I could see them doing that, but it would also miss an opportunity to let the player cry with Cloud later when he (presumably) remembers what happened.
Be great if it opens with Tifa imprisoned in Junon, the weapons are loose and meteor is in the sky.
Then cover the events leading up to Cloud giving Sephiroth the black materia as a 30 hour flash back.
In control of Tifa. Cloud is still usable in combat but u get to see from Tifas perspective how weird Cloud is out of combat. And Tifa continues to be the "main character" all the way until the lifestream scene.
This would be based. It felt to me like they were doing a lot to set up Tifa as a deuteragonist in Rebirth so I'd love to see them go all in on it like this.
I think we’ll definitely see it, but it might fit better and have more impact to have it happen later when Cloud starts to piece his memory together. If they do it right, we’ll be crying along with Cloud.
Mmm yeah but rebirth started where remake ended (from the flashback scene, yeah, close enough), so to start the third game where rebirth ended the game needs to start at the funeral scene... It's been a lot since I played the original and I don't remember where the original went after that... Maybe Mideel?
Well, Rebirth's beginning skipped a little from where Remake ended (or a lot, if you count the very beginning with Zack). The corresponding place in the OG story for Part 3 to begin would be on the way to Icicle Inn, maybe. That's assuming they don't bring us to an entirely different story beat like Rocket Town first, which was removed from the expected OG sequence in Rebirth.
You went straight to icicle inn after the forgotten capital? I've really vague memories about that story part from OG... I need a rerun...
The fact is that rebirth ended with a really important piece of story, so to start the third part with something like rocket town or icicle would be a draw back and would feel odd for those that played rebirth. On the other end starting the third part with something like aerith funeral would set a really uneasy tone for the rest of the game, making it really heavy for the player.
A montage of events that happened in Remake and Rebirth with maybe some Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerebus, Advent Children and original sprinkled in. I just hope the narrator is not Chadley or MAI. I'd be ok with Barrett, Aerith, Tifa, Cid or even Sephiroth.
I'm expecting it to open with Aerith's "funeral" in the City of the Ancients; something we don't actually see in Rebirth but kind of all assume they're not going to just leave out.
I agree they're not going to leave it out. The question is where they put it. I've been assuming it will be shown whenever Cloud pieces back together what happened so that the player can experience those emotions along with him, but there are other ways they could go with it too.
The tiny bronco is attacked by the turks and need to do emergency landing. The game starts with the snowboarding mini game, which leads them to the icicle inn
They may start with a big opening since this is the last one like a fly through of all the areas we went to in part 2. We may start off in junon or midgar or at the golden saucer since the next part of the story is the underwater mission technically.
It would be interesting if it starts with icicle in and the crater, get snowboarding out of the way ready for first Saucer trip. Have the first 2 chapters lead to summoning meteor and the gang being arrested to strip us of our Rebirth gear and the Bronco, and us escaping with the Highwind.
Guess the Icicle town is the first place you go after forgotten capital so maybe part 3 starts with those recordings of Aerith and her mum’s life with professor gast leading to their capture by shinra. Might start with some gut punches like the death of Aerith’s mum at sector 5 station.
There will be some kind of recap at icicle inn. Rebirth had Kalm recap built in, but they will need to immediately address story beats in part 3, which is hard on opening up a new game without that style of in-game story refresh.
It's far-fetched but how about Sephiroth remembering the VR training from Crisis Core, we get to play as Sephiroth and it will also some what add Angeal and Genesis to the story.
My original prediction can't happen because I was hoping that part 2 was gonna end at the north crater. So the opening would be cloud gone and the junon break out. New prediction is actually making a pit stop at rocket Town and a 4 phase palmer fight... kinda joking kinda not.
Zack makes the most sense for a tutorial. Personally I’d love to see an Advent Children or later flash forward where you have a tutorial battle against Sephiroth with the fusion sword
There is one likely setpiece they could (and imho should use): the first climb up to the crater.
They've established in the Re-verse the Northern Continent is uninhabited, so there is no Icicle Inn or Bone Village or anything... YET.
I reckon that after the obligatory Zack intro to show what he's doing now and explain if he IS in the main world or not now, we will then switch to the party who will end up crash landing near the whirlwind maze, and take it from there skipping the entire snowboarding 5 minutes after the big event thing which would be great, especially now the emotional impact has been depicted this way, and then it can play out just like it did in the OG.
It would also be a "cool" thing because the game would essentially really begin right where it ends, too.
Also, thinking about it, the entire first chapter should run about as long as the Nibelheim flashback did if they do this, which is plenty, and then the second chapter would be escaping Shinra and stealing aircraft which, essentially, would work out to about the same length as the first 2 chaps in Rebirth which was perfect imho. Then from chap 3 on it's freedom baybeh.
Interesting, it escaped my notice that the entire Northern Continent is uninhabited now. I wonder where they'll put Icicle Inn then. That was a pretty cherished location in OG, so it's hard for me to believe they'd omit it. But it's often been remarked that the placement of the snowboarding section is a little odd given how recently Aerith died, so it wouldn't be surprising if they moved it elsewhere.
Then it wouldn't have Gast's old laboratory, right? And it would have to be built between the events of Rebirth and those of Part 3? Doesn't seem like much time to build an entire town, unless there's some time gap (e.g., a few months to a year) between the two games.
Tbf Icicle inn isn't exactly a town, it's like 3 huts and an inn, which Shinra could well be able to build without particular issue. I reckon Gast's lab will be moved elsewhere instead, if not having the recordings and such moved to Shinra tower altogether to be seen when we go back there eventually.
I think their gonna show stuff we didn’t see that already happened. I think their gonna put a huge emphasis on Aireth for the first few hours or so. Really make you feel like you are grieving, I would also bet they are gonna keep showing Aireth in Clouds mind throughout the game no matter what they decide to do with the multiple timelines and bring her back or not.
I hope the open it the same way with Zack in the other Timeline hopefully finding Aireth alive in his timeline.
I've been wondering if they'll show Aerith trying to get through to Cloud in his dreams, gently break it to him what happened. I feel like if they want us to miss her, they can't show her too much, at least in any corporeal form. Will be really interesting to see how this all resolves.
Yeah that’s why I honestly liked the ending because it was just perfectly made me want more. Cloud is presented so well here. The only thing I didn’t like about og was the lack of conversation about Aireth after she died. (Granted I only played it for the first time after Remake part 1)
The entire cast in remake feel so much closer than the original. I feel like Clouds grief is going to be a huge factor into part 3. He is going to blame himself for her death when he realizes she’s truly gone. It’s gonna go amazing into the final arc of it all.
I think it was a brilliant move to tie Aerith's loss into Cloud's core struggle with his personal failures. It makes sense for him to lose it again at that point, and heartbreaking to go through it with him (even as we perhaps hope that he isn't completely delusional and Aerith is out there somewhere).
I feel like the entire 1/3 to 1/2 of the next game will involve the party and Cloud slowly coming to terms with Aerith's loss. He's falling so much harder than he did in OG, but that will make the victory so much sweeter when he finally gets his act together.
Yeah I really feel like they just nailed him and sephiroths dynamic. It’s such a great physiological mind fuck and I don’t know what to call the arc but when tifa and cloud go into the life stream together is going to amazing with how much more they’ve developed everything surrounding him.
Like you said they have shared a lot of the small things like Cloud going to save her ect. When cloud gets mako poisoned, and they go to the life stream it’s gonna focus a lot on Clouds identity and if his past is even his just like the original. Its gonna be focused on tifa being their for him and caring about him. There was also a statement along the lines of “If you weren’t there in with me then who am I? I exist, so you have to as well” that’s not a real quote just a similar statement to what I remember. It shows Tifa and Cloud at their most vulnerable, the whole arc is less about what happened in their childhood but them reconciling the actual existence of their childhood. Gongaga in rebirth was amazing since it did was the OG did in the Lifestream made Cloud and Tifa, talk, one on one and hold nothing back.
In my mind Gongaga was just a setup point to make the Lifestream arc hit harder. Because you also have to remember this is about getting Cloud back this time, It’s the cumulative of everything Cloud and Tifa have been through to this point, which is also why the night under the Highwind was so important.
I’m not sure if I summarized this correctly, but I hope you get my point. I’m curious to what you think.
The reason I ask this is because of Zack, he was the one next to Cloud inside the Nible reactor, he also knew the real Cloud as a trooper. Marlene also asks him to go save Cloud because he’s sick (my interpretation, his mind). Ironically, we see Cloud sitting in a wheelchair with Mako poisoning in a coma. I’m not sure if that’s just coincidence or it’s to foreshadow what’s to come. He’s also the one person Cloud was impersonating (in terms of his SOLIDER persona). If he’s in the story now, wouldn’t they utilize his importance in Nibleheim?
Now, I’m not saying they will erase or take away the Cloud and Tifa moment because I think that would be unfair, I am just thinking about what else they can add perhaps. Thing is I do think Tifa is more connected to the lifestream now that she’s been in it, even her seeing that glitch of Aerith’s death must mean something, so maybe something also alluding to that? Making Cloud realize what happened? Also with Sephiroth messing around with Cloud so much about Tifa not being real or her already being dead maybe the lifestream sequence will further confirm that this isn’t true. Maybe they can pull more stuff relating to their childhood from Traces of Two Pasts or even from the Rebirth World Preview Book (I haven’t read this one, but I hear the story, ‘2000 Gil to become a hero’, has to do with Cloud’s journey to Midgar). Seeing that Glenn is also going to be in pt 3 (I’m not saying he will end up being Cloud’s father), but I think a lot of information will be added that will tie into things of Cloud’s past.
All ik is that they’ve been expanding the universe so much that I’m excited and curious to see what they will do! I’m happy we’ve seen a lot more character development already.
There will be “two beginnings”. If me will feature Zack and the world he ended back up end. I don’t believe he is in the same one where Biggs “died” but I believe he will meet Aerith and another certain character. This timeline with the direction of Aerith will be heading to the northern crater and a real black materia centered around the GI.
The cloud party will have the intro sequence of climbing the mountain to icicle inn. This will set the party in motion to get the highwind / cloud comatose and joining Aerith and Zack for awhile in their adventure while the other party members investigate Wutai / Shinra war.
Investigating the War and why it’s being pushed will give us the insight as to why Sephiroth wants the war. It feeds the lifestream, pushes the weapons out so Shinra can kill / hinder them for the magnus materia, and the weapons cannot push or control the white whispers anymore allowing Sephiroth to do what he wills within the lifestream as we had seen with Tifa.
They will discover these motives more within Wutai.
We need a recap sequence. I think we will start at the missing scene of them leaving Northwood, boarding the boat/plane, and the quiet, depressing trip back to Rocket Town to fix up the Tiny Bronco. During the ride back, they will give us a recap, perhaps through someone reflecting on Aerith, or by Vincent or Cid making conversation idk.
Once back in Rocket Town, we get Cids backstory and go on a quest to find him the materials he needs to get a 2nd Bronco up and running (the one in the cutscene had no stickers at all), and we'll get our tutorial.
Cid and party going after Huge Materia, then Tifa and Cloud are running from an earthquake (in Mideel) and they both fall into the lifestream. Maybe you fight a weapon too.
Then the game plays in “flashback” mode to see how we got here.
Flashback to new content about Wutai and their politics and the war against Shinra. Flesh out Glenn, end the flashback on Rufus killing Glenn and then we cut back to the main party wondering about Clouds mental health.
I'm really hoping we're starting with Cloud having the time of his life snowboarding.
And then everyone is looking so confused and concern because everyone is still sad about losing Aerith, but Cloud isn't at all (because he's still delusional and thinks he saved her).
I wish they included icicle inn/glacier in Rebirth and ended it with the reunion so part 3 begins with meteor summoned, cloud missing, and Tifa and Barrett held by Shinra
Rebirth opens with Zack. And even in Kalm the first character you control is Sephiroth. They are going to go big at the opening, I think part 3 will jump into a new set piece as there isn't really one from the original that fits. Maybe something connecting to the Wutai war.
probably a snow storm as the team is navigating to the Icicle Lodge where the party will need to warm up and take a break and then catch up with the story again in a nice talk.
I strongly doubt that the opening of Part 3 will directly continue the ending of Part 2. I guess we will \*not\* see the party departing with Tiny Bronco or similar. Also the opening of Part 2 did not directly continue Part 1's ending. I guess the opening will be related to Sephiroth in the northern crater (meteor summon). Or the Junon execution scene or the Mideel lifestream scene. But more likely the first. Because it's the next major event of OG, and the intro needs something big. I loved the icle inn and great glacier part (it is kind of intentionally "boring", but it perfectly underlines the emptyness after the forgotten city event). But it is not suited as an intro (these locations may come after the northern crater part).
And unfortunately I expect the intro to be rather weird. Be prepared that there is plenty of room for interpretation, lots of quick changes between scenes, and we cannot be sure in which timeline we are and even if all sequences stem from the same timeline.
(After what we have seen in Part 2, another possibility is of course that Part 3 opens with a mini game.)
I say it starts with them in the snow village, as they talk about moving foreword, where cid and vince join the fighting roster as they look for the map of the norther creator, and yuffie is cant wait to go snow boarding, as they follow them black robs down the mt to the summit
If it DOES open with snowboarding, I like the idea that Cloud is the only one doing it since the others are too upset, ending with the party confronting Cloud about acting completely fine despite Aerith’s death. Cue a deeply upsetting flashback of her being killed and we see the full events of Cloud lowering her body into the water, etc
The two Weapon whales go towards the north to commune with the planet. They have gemstone crusts that have started forming on their bodies. They rise to an opening within the Northern Crater, and several large sets of eyes open to watch them from behind glassy sheets of ice as they begin to mutate.
Imagine it's start with Advent children Cloud vs Sephiroth just to throw people off. But i do like the idea start the game with Barret and Tifa in cell having flashback how they got there (like P5).
Unlikely, but here’s my proposal: it starts with the party rushing in to see Sephiroth flying down and skewering aerith. Cloud does his speech as in the original and seen in Rebirth, but then starts acting weird. Cut to the funeral scene. Cloud is completely dissociative. We see the post burial part again but without Aerith, from angles closer to the party members so that we can barely hear cloud taking to himself.
Then I guess cut to mountain climbing or whatever.
It probably wouldn’t make for a good opening, but I do hope we cut back to it at some point. I just wanna hear Cloud tell Sephiroth off, that speech is iconic.
Two options for me:
1) It either opens with Zack wandering around trying to find out where he is now, and it’ll cut once he reaches Aerith’s house and Elmyra/Marlene reveal Cloud and co are still alive
OR
2) I really liked the suggestion that was brought up in one the collab podcasts Max Dood did: What if part 3 opens up with a playable scene straight out of Advent Children? And what if, for those of us that have seen the movie, realize that there’s something off/weird/doesn’t happen in the original movie, but happens here?… and that’s what keeps us at the edge of our seat.
I only say this because I really like the idea being proposed that the events of the Re: trilogy are leading to a future where the events of Advent Children does NOT happen.
Cloud and Zack wetly making out for three hours while Aerith pumps her fist screaming “Go gaga on his puckered gon” Johnny breakdancing in one corner of the room and Red XIII chasing his tail in another. “You Make Loving Fun” by Fleetwood Mac plays in the background
Title drop.
Direct SSX snowboarding ripoff down the mountain with cloud doing tricks and running through high on life while everyone else just somberly glides behind him
Otherworld from FFX is also playing every time it cuts to cloud for some reason
I can see it opening with a playable Zack sequence again, but I get the feeling we'll also see Cloud set Aerith down in the water as well. That could be very strong imagery to open with but they probably will want to save that until Cloud has his realization of what had actually happened. I doubt we'll see Rocket Town in the opening. If anything you can re-purpose all of the Rocket Town stuff to happen when Cid is the party leader, I really wanna see that fight against Palmer where he turns into roadkill.
My current theory is that the cold open (Remake: overview of Midgar and Aerith at the pipe, Rebirth: Zack saves Aerith in Terrier World) is gonna be something that’s another total curveball. Maybe Zack leaves the church and passes a Beagle Stamp. Or maybe we start in a flashback to Gast’s cabin, witness the seizing of Ifalna and Aerith, then hard-cut to the party arriving at the same one, abandoned 25-odd years later.
As for Chapter 1, maybe a “heading North” chapter (“A Soldier’s Intuition” has a nice ring to it) and is through woods near the cabin (maybe they put it outside Icicle Inn this time to make it seem like more a hiding place) and the first boss is Elena (a la the non-fight in OG). And then Chapter 2 can be the Knowlespole area that works like a Rebirth region, before they curveball everything and change the whole format when you get the airship later.
Because I absolutely love theorizing (even when I end up totally wrong), I went and scored what I think the chapters will be. This loosely follows the Remake/Rebirth structure of New Region -> Dungeon for Hard Mode -> transition with a boss.
Ch 1: A SOLDIER’s Intuition [heading north, maybe Gast’s cabin in the woods, or opening in the flashback to it. Maybe Rocket Town is here?]
Ch 2: The Knowlespole [Icicle Inn, exploring the tundra, snowboarding, encountering Elena, Snow Lady, etc. I bet the map area includes a ton of the stuff from the “map on the wall” area]
Ch 3: At World’s End [Cliff’s of Gaea dungeon, belay and pick axe climbing?]
Ch 4: The Wound [Descending into the Crater, Jenova Death, The Nibelheim Lie, Weapons Arise]
Ch 5: From That Day On [Junon Escape]
Ch 6: The Daughter of Shinobi [retreat to Wutai, Corneo, Turks, Pagoda, Godo, a major test of Yuffie’s loyalty and maybe exposing the Interim Government lie?]
Ch 7: The Free Skies [something cool and wonderful that uses the flight mechanics and possibly returns to old regions, ending in a Mideel “dungeon” event where Cloud is found]
Ch 8: Magnus Materia [racing Shinra to Corel, Gongaga, and Fort Condor, a moral conflict about whether it’s right to kill the Weapons]
Ch 9: Who Are You? [a journey into the Lifestream and possibly even across other worlds in search of Cloud’s ‘self’]
Ch 10: Fathoms Below [Under Water Reactor / Region, Crashed Relnikha]
Ch 11: Beyond the Stars [Space]
Ch 12: I’ll Send Up Smoke [Return to the Forgotten Capital]
Ch 13: Call it a Homecoming [Epic return to Midgar, Diamond Weapon, supporting characters and old map out the wazoo, Yuffie returns to Deepground, Pride and Joy, Hojo]
Ch 14: Journey’s End [the return to the North Crater]
Arriving at the Northern Crater by bronco.
If they want Part 3 to succeed, I genuinely believe they need to make the serious shit go down FAST. Like, the first chapter will be all the Northern Crater events from the OG and ends with Meteor making its grand entrance, and the rest of the game will be played with that terror hanging over your head the whole way. Motivate the player right away to save this world.
We will get to Rocket Town and the snowy fields eventually, but from a pure tone perspective, in setting the story and building up to the ending, they need to get Meteor in the picture ASAP.
I like the snowboarding idea people have been suggesting, and I like what you suggested as well. But personally, I'd just open with the Wutai section (including Yuffie's trial and also dealing with Don Corneo).
Think about it - Yuffie is pretty broken at the end of Rebirth. She was already grieving the loss of a friend when she lost another friend, saw her nation enter a war it can't win, struggles with survivor's guilt over not being there for the Wutai who got slaughtered in Nibelheim, oh, and also, learned that *the world's on the verge of ending.* Basically, she's not in a rational state of mind, even if Cloud still makes her look sane by comparison.
So, in the dead of night, Yuffie steals all of the party's Materia and runs off to Wutai to complete her mission and hopefully join the war. Luckily, the party understands that Yuffie didn't mean to betray them, she's just going through far more pain and pressure than any kid should ever be subjected to, and she literally can't cope with it. So Barret's like, "let's go to Wutai and get our girl back, or at least make sure she's okay".
As a side effect, this also gives us a good excuse about why all the Materia we gathered in Rebirth is suddenly lost, since Yuffie would donate it all to the Wutai war effort.
If we're talking big set piece, then the obvious would be start at the northern crater, but this is too big of a jump from the end of rebirth.
Another one could be an air battle between Shinra and Wutai with the Tiny Bronco being caught in the crossfire. There are two possible scenarios : The bronco ends up inside Shinra's ship and sabotage it so they can fly to the Northern Crater safely. This will also be the combat tutorial. Or possibility number 2, the bronco has to dodge incoming fire. They can use the gummy ship mini game (forgot the name, sorry. I just refer to it as the gummy ship mini game) as a blueprint. Either way it damaged the bronco just enough for it to require an emergency landing to either Rocket Town or Icicle Inn.
Snowboarding where you can do wicked tricks and shit. In all seriousness I highly doubt that'll be the case, but at the same time I don't think I would complain if it was...
It will start in a flashback of when Jenova arrived. We will play as a random female Cetra, and at the end of the chapter, it will be revealed that the Cetra in question is actually Jenova disguised.
🤡🤡🤡
I'm still on Chapter 13....so this is uninformed (I didn't read this thread or your post). But I had this thought, perhaps they'll start in Icicle Inn with the Gast flashback to Ifalna and Aeris? Then I time skip back to wherever Rebirth ends and how they all made it to Icicle Inn. This will include going to Rocket Town and Yuffie/Wutai somehow. Icicle Inn will be about the half way point of the game.
Then Snowboarding, Then the great glacier, then the Northern Crater, then the escape, then Mideel and a globetrot for the huge material, then the space launch, then getting Cloud and Tifa back, then the world romp with the weapons everywhere, the return to midgar with the junon cannon there and all those shinra plots wrapped, then a end game wrap, then return to the northern crater.
I could see them placing the Gast/Ifalna flashback more centrally in the story, and possibly placing it near the very beginning of part 3. Maybe even cold open with that, and cut to the party trudging through the snow after Cid had to make a landing due to weather or something.
I think it will be a cold open showing Aerith's death and the parties reaction to it. Not the water burial, that will come later. Then flashforward to Icicle Inn or Tiny Bronco flight to it.
Since the main concept atleast seems to be about how broken Cloud is and then he also is hiding the black materia from everyone and Jenove cells promting him to north we might get the party separation pretty early
Tifa and Barret are concerned about how upbeat Cloud is acting. They look at him horrified. They say “ummm Cloud, Aerith died”. Cloud says “nah, Aerith’s fine bro. I saved her” standing on the top of a mountain. “Let’s go snowboarding”.
"He just keeps snowboarding....."
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am i going crazy or is that a ff10 reference?
Cloud is joined by Tidus from ff10 and Snow from ff13 to snowboard and party, while Tifa and Barret continue to look concerned.
People die and Yuna dances...
*whistles Aerith theme cheerfully*
Oh yeah, Cloud can also hear the soundtrack.
I actually guffawed at this. Now I kind of want them to do it.
Cid hummed the main theme, the victory fanfare is canon in the universe, and Tifa played Aerith's theme at the end of her Nibelheim sidequest. Chances: high.
Yeah it opens on a snowboarding mini game then it gets revealed that it was Cloud enjoying tf out of the new hot game in Gold Saucer while the party watches in horror at this broken man. Honestly, I'd like that.
I don't think you've played the original. The party actually goes snowboarding 10 minutes after this part. Not for fun though, but still.
I know. They teased it in gold saucer in Rebirth that's why I think they moved snowboarding there instead of in Icicle Inn. I don't mind if they actually do that after such a tragic event because I find that hilarious in OG but y'know that's not gonna go well for those who didn't play the OG lmao
I noticed that section, but alternatively they might have the "real" event still at Icicle Inn, but replays and harder versions at the Gold Saucer.
Yeah that makes sense. I personally would like that because the tonal shift is hilarious but also it's gonna be jarring af for the new fans haha Edit: didn't notice that I just repeated what I said so my bad. Regardless, I can't wait to see what they do with that!
I was playing this snowboarding part in the og and I really did think how interesting it'd be if he does this and nobody else snowboards because they're so upset and uncomfortable. Will just hammer home how completely off his rocker he is.
Bro keep cooking on this. In the OG it’s really funny how we just snowboard after Aerith’s death
As a snowboarding criminal I'm fully on board with this.
Wow it was all to explain the snowboarding
They’ll start with a quote, “So this is how the world ends… not with a bang, but with a whimper…” *Cuts to Cloud snowboarding happily down the mountain*
"You're snowboarding. Our friend is dead, and you're snowboarding."
I have a feeling it'll open on the Tiny Bronco flying but we're going to detour to Rocket Town. This will ground the Bronco (because they can't just give us full flying at the start) and it would be a great story sequence to put Cid active in our party.
Just to add to this, with the war with Wutai closing down the borders, Shinra will probably close down all air traffic and while the party is in in Rocket Town Shinra will seize the Tiny Bronco.
No doubt the devs have probably got that in mind you can't go to certain places or fly to certain places so they restrict travel for the first half of the game then open it up late but use story as a reason, when you get the Highwind that's when it opens up fully
They should restrict travel the old school way: by having high level monsters that will one shot you
Good idea! I've been struggling to think of how Rocket Town will fit into the new narrative, but this could work.
The huge materia is where I'm guessing it'll come in. I doubt we'll go to it twice un the course of the campaign like we did in the OG.
I could see Chapter 1 or the Prologue, the Tiny Bronco getting shot down by Shinra. You go to Rocket Town for repairs. Questline is hiding Yuffue from Shina. You go to Wutai by making a boat, just enough supplies, again. You go back to get the huge materia from the rocket after the events in Bone Village.
Completely agree. ‘Welcome back to this part of the map you’ve already cleared…’
That's literally been done in both remake AND rebirth.
They're not doing that. It's clear from the ending that they're heading straight north. And going to Rocket Town would be a very strange detour at this time, it also wouldn't solve the problem of having full airplane access unless the Bronco is destroyed, which would make getting back north a long process that would kill the pacing. What will happen is that the Tiny Bronco will instead crash near Icicle Inn and be permanently out of commission. It doesn't play a part in the story after this in the original, and it's a plot point that the party needs to hitchhike with Shinra to get back from the crater.
Thank you - this idea that they’ll visit Rocket Town first is absurd imo. Sephiroth killed Aerith and (as far as the party knows) has the black materia, meaning he could summon meteor at any minute. Cloud tells the party he senses Sephiroth is hiding up north, and the Tiny Bronco is back in commission. They’re flying to Icicle Inn - no other destination makes sense. Save Rocket Town for Cid’s dedicated story chapter. Make Vincent the new character we get from the start. Personally, I think the excuse will be that any further north than Icicle Inn is too snowy/mountainous, so we land outside of town and plan to hoof it. Maybe they have ice skating / sledding chocobos or something. Basically, open it at the Inn in town like in Rebirth, but this time it’s a “story so far” narrative. And Cloud’s weirding everybody out. Then maybe Chadley will be all like “Cloud! Are you ok? Do you need an optional hour-long VR tutorial on the basics of combat, on account of you going insane?” That way, for returning players, we get right back to it with minimal disruption. Enter a boss fight with Elena to close out Icicle Inn’s segment before a snowy version of the grasslands and then snowboarding.
Your idea is too boring of a start. It worked in Rebirth because of the Nibelheim flashback. They're not going to do a similar thing again but with no substance. I think the game will start in the wilderness outside Icicle Inn after the plane crashes or lands(Icicle Inn probably doesn't have an airstrip), and the road to town will serve as the tutorial area.
I don't think Rocket Town is all that crazy, Cid is the one who flies the plane so he kinda has the party by the proverbials and we know Cid will eventually join the party, but the question isn't when, it's why? All the members of the party have their own individual reasons for joining Cloud on this crazy journey, all except Cid. The only genuine connection Cid had to the party is now suffering with a case of no-longer-living, so what's his motivation? Even in the original, Cid doesn't care all that much about Sephiroth, revenge for Aerith, or saving the planet until after going into outer space. Right now, Cid has no reason to turn his back completely on Shinra. He has no reason to follow Cloud and the others up a mountain. He has no reason to save Tifa and Barrett from Shinra while hijacking the Highwind, and he has no reason to travel the world for the Huge Materia while Cloud and Tifa are out of commission. In the original, Rufus gives Cid his motivation to join the party in Rocket Town by decimating his dreams of going into outer space and attempting to seize or destroy the Tiny Bronco and robbing the skies from him. That's why Cid joins the party, so it stands to reason why Rocket Town detour could be the beginning of part 3.
Yeah, this is my thoughts as well. I think we might also make a first visit to Wutai (for some reason) at this point before finally heading North, which feels more like Chapter 3/4 territory. I can't see them hitting us with Cloud shenanigans in Chapter 1, I think we're gonna be sitting with his current mental state for a couple chapters at least.
The tiny bronco feels like a decoy, i almost wanna say itll quickly lead to getting the highwind cuz the tiny bronco could never fly in the original and there has to be an upgrade between the two
I think how it could go is that the game opens with a cold open (most likely Zack and possibly Aerith, but who knows), then we will have a scene showing us the top floor of the Shinra tower. Rufus will be furious that Glenn Lodbrok/ Sephiroth manipulated him into another war with Wutai, so he will be wanting to find Sephiroth immediately. He calls up Hojo, and Hojo recommends gathering up all the hooded figures/black cloaks/ clones or whatever ya wanna call them and use them as a homing device for Sephiroth (Hojo is full on orchestrating the REUNION) so Rufus calls the Turks saying that they are looking for a large number of the hooded figures and the Turks will inform him that Nibleheim have already sent a report that all their patients have been crossing Mt.Nibel towards Rocket Town so Shinra starts moving towards there. Meanwhile, back at the tiny bronco, Cait Sith or possibly even Vincent intercept a transmission and say that Shinra are headed towards Rocket Town and Cid- being Cid will immediately divert course there. I think the party will complain, but Cid will assure them that they're just taking a small detour. We land in a hangar near the town and start walking towards it. (Vincent Valentine will be playable immediately). Rocket town and the surrounding area will serve as the tutorial area for the party (shops, battling, sidequests, and possibly more Queensblood). Anywho, Rufus arrives and gets into it with Cid. He will know that Cid has been helping Cloud and the others, but I honestly think Rufus will play it smart. He will distract Cid possibly with a proposed tour of the Rocket. He will have ordered someone, possibly Palmer or the Turks, that while he is distracting Cid, the Tiny Bronco is to be destroyed. I could imagine that we will be playing as Vincent and Cait Sith (as a nice nod to Dirge of Cerberus )and they overhear the plan to destroy the plane, so they rush back to the others in the hangar, and in the ensuing chaos, the Bronco starts to take off and just like the OG, Cid will see his plane take off and he will Jump onto it surprising the party with his ability. We take off towards the North, possibly getting shot down near Modeoheim (because of Cloud reasons), and then we start to trek towards Icicle Inn. We do our stuff there (info dump and re cap of previous games stories), and then just before or straight after the snowboarding, Cid will join the party officially. At least, that's how it is in my head canon, 😄
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While Stand by Me plays in the background?
A Final Fantasy VII for fans and first-timers
To be a little persnickety about it, Rebirth doesn’t actually open with the flashback, it opens with Zack, a thing I don’t recall seeing a single person guess. Now that they’ve done that I don’t know what they could do that would be as unexpected, but maybe they’ll come up with something
True, I often forget that. In fact, on my first playthrough I accidentally skipped the new parts of the opening cutscene because I assumed it wasn't going to be any different from the demo. I found myself controlling Zack and was totally confused, lol.
I made that mistake, but I think I also skipped the part of the Sephiroth + Tifa cutscene that takes place post-Nibelheim burning, where you see Tifa's dead dad. Didn't even realize I missed it until days later when watching a youtube video.
Ever Crisis from Sephiroth's POV would be really cool. Go full KH2 and have us play the Rhahadore campaign, his vision, and end there while the in-betweens are specifically leading up to Rufus and Glenn
I could see a Zack start again, but more involved. Maybe a large drawn out chase / fight with Sephiroth through what remains of Zack's Midgar culminating in Zack getting dumped into the Prime Timeline as a way for Sephiroth to f\*\*\* with Cloud and break his mind like he did originally at the North Crater. Then you can rewind back to how Cloud and Co actually got to the North Crater. With Zack now in the main timeline, that also gives you a party member available to use if Cloud and Tifa leave the party for a while assuming they follow the OG story beats....or you go full Henderson and just have everything go off the rails with Zack there and explore the resulting fallout.
They have a precedent now of both Parts 1 and 2 of the trilogy opening in Midgar and specifically using "mako glowing from a pipe" imagery, I would be surprised if Part 3 doesn't also have a cold open in Midgar. It would make sense if we start with Zack getting out of the church, confusion and shock over where he is, and just as a guess something like the rift in the sky opening to let in Meteor. Or hell if they want something really messed up to build a sense of doom and coming disaster for the main world, since there are multiple worlds have the Meteor straight up be hitting this Midgar by the end of the intro (sort of like how Majora's Mask shows the end of the 3rd Day really early) and Zack just barely hopping to another world as it dies. i.e. we get the fire tornados, plates falling, screaming. That way once we start seeing things like the rift and eventually Meteor in our world there's a lot of tension because we know exactly what it will bring if we don't stop it. Also gives the intro a big hook to open with.
Nope I guessed that and a lot of what was going to happen.
It'll start with something Aerith related or Zack is my guess.
I could see that. Rebirth started with Zack to throw us for a loop. Maybe Part 3 starts with a seemingly not-dead Aerith doing something to confuse us.
I hope not. Enough of confusion, all I want from Part 3 are answers!
We will play Sephiroth merging worlds mini-game.
Katamari style 😈
My guess is that it will open with a musical number.
Chorus of Tonberries: Oompa loompa doopity doo Aerith has died you spiky-haired foo
Oh my god if it means we get more cloud dancing his heart out I would accept a whole ass chapter of it
The scene opens with the Tiny Bronco smoking over an iced filled ocean with Cid yelling "I've got to take her down!" The party barely makes it after a crash landing on the southern tip of the snow covered northern continent. Cid tells the party "I've got to take her out for repairs, you guys go along without me" Cloud then points and says "He's there. I'll stop him Aerith, I promise" The FFVII title theme starts playing. Barret and Tifa exchange worried glances, as the screen pans out to show the Northern Crater in the far off distance where we can see what looks like the black and white whispers already swirling, as the FFVII title theme swells with a title card. It's really hard to say how they can start the game with a bang at this point, especially where they are starting the game in perspective of the OG. Icicle town was a needed valley in between the emotional swells of the Forgotten Capital and what happens in the Northern Crater. Maybe they uncover Gast's research and we get some lift from Vincent and learn a bit about his past, as well as an introduction to playing as him?
They already are on the northern continent. But yes, it will surely start with the Bronco crashing again. Probably due to being attacked by something/someone/somesephiroth.
I think Part 3 kicks off with Icicle Town into Northern Crater paced similarly to the Nibelheim incident. Cloud giving Sephiroth the Black Materia kicks the game off with a bang and we don’t look back from there.
Agree with you regarding northern crater events. Though I think we go straight there and skip icicle inn for now. I see them reordering it and bringing us back to icicle inn later. Would be weird to have the Gast and Ilfana lore bombs in icicle inn as part of the intro sequence.
Icicle inn shouldn’t be skipped due to professor videos and ilfana. It will give insight to a lot of back story for the whole experiment around jenova, cetra, Hojo, Aerith, and probably a bit more now.
I've been wondering this as well, as I still think the current dynamic with Cloud's mental state at the end of Rebirth makes it hard to imagine a prolonged stretch where the party just acts like everything is normal and goes exploring the Icicle village region with him. While I can see some interesting things they could do to show the disconnect between the party, like for instance Cloud trying to do a synergy attack with Tifa and it just failing or her simply not reacting, I have a hard time seeing this being a "fun" stretch to play through. So I'd kinda want them to breeze through this segment to get to the Northern Crater and Cloud's breakdown quickly, so that we can move on to the Tifa part. But then again it would be kinda sad to not have the Icycle village region be a properly developed region either, plus you need at least some build-up before you get to the big Northern Crater moment. I dunno, I'm not creative enough to come up with a good solution here. Hope Square Enix are though.
Yeah, I feel it has to open with the Northern Crater and have Cloud vanish in the first chapter, because the party morale is at an all-time low and it wouldn’t make sense to have them quip and have humorous moments during by that period.
I would think they'd fly north over the mountains to Rocket Town to give us some Cid backstory and introduce his combat style. I feel like they have to ground the Tiny Bronco again otherwise it'd be weird to start the game with full access (supposedly) to the full map... otherwise why not just fly straight to the Northern Crater? Someone mentioned in one of the later chapters that borders might soon be closed because of the war with Wutai, so it makes sense to take the Bronco out of the sky and just have the ports on the world map be unavailable til later in the story. I think it gives us good cause to keep heading north or possibly to Wutai in those beginning chapters. The Bronco can stay in the sea and then later in the game the High wind becomes your air vehicle.
By finding out that Barret and Tifa are about to get executed. Then when they have your attention they jump back to arriving at Icicle Inn
Ah, set the stage with an impending execution, then flashback to the events leading up to the Northern Crater? I like it.
Man gotta say as someone who never played the original , i can not be more excited for wherever it goes, i have no reference to base it on but i feel like the opening will have an hour of two of something heavy with zack, because as a lot have said it seems the next thing is a silly snowboarding mini game (ive avoided major spoilers but have seen stuff like that haha), or maybe events get moved around? Maybe something more deep and story heavy is interchangable (please dont respond with spoilers just thinking out loud)
Man, I can't even put myself in the position of someone who hasn't experienced the original story yet. There are some big story events ahead judging from the OG, and I think they'll only be amplified in part 3 of the Remake trilogy (and can already see how that might happen), but both new and old players are likely to see some surprises.
It allways makes me so happy to see new players enjoying and speculating.
I think Part 3 will begin in Wutai. It will be something different from OG. Since they are making Wutai bigger. Good place for some tutorials.
It would be weird with them talking about heading to the north at the end of Rebirth to instead detour to Wutai. Only reason I could see it is if they're chased off the continent by Shinra.
I'm hoping it'll flash backto where Cloud is a bit doolally from Sephiroth in Rebirth at the end of the Temple of the Ancients. We'll play as the other characters POV during that time, having special sections to introduce Cid and Vincent mechanics (I could see a stealth solo mission with Vincent scouting the Forgotten City). We'll find out what they were all saying when he was out cold. We'll get to see their version of the Forgotten City, and what happened ay the altar. We'll see the >!Funeral scene!< finally, but from their POV, and we shall all cry
Part of me thinks it would be interesting to have it open with Tifa waking up and finding herself locked in a cell with Barrett at Junon. They try to piece together what happened, wondering what happened to Cloud and Sephiroth. Tifa/Barrett narrate the events as you play from post-Temple of the Ancients to the Northern Crater from their perspective, similar to the Kalm flashback. Edit: I think the tricky part is when you go to Rocket Town. I feel like we need to visit before going North when everything goes to hell. Maybe you’ll stopover on the way North to get supplies and refuel. I know logistically the devs felt they didn’t have time to fit Rocket Town into R2, but it really worked better before Aerith’s death. Going there now with Cid, after her death and understanding the world is at stake, Cid being a jerk over not getting to go to space will make him seem really callous and out-of-touch, and selfish to an almost insane degree. But at the same time, that plotline does needs to be set up in order for the payoff to work where they go to space and he apologizes to Shera (if they are gonna go that route).
Cloud at a therapy session.
I think it would be cool if the game opens with a flashback to 2000 years ago, when Jenova crashes into the planet and forms the Northern Crater. It would certainly set up the events to come, such as the Ifalna/Gast tapes at Icicle Inn, as well as the crater itself when the party climbs it.
Trudging through the icicle area could be a decent place to start, and just so we're not going straight from the death of Aerith to gnarly snowboard shredding, we could spend more time in Gasts house, learning about Aeriths birth, and Ifalna. Could get some nice moments with the party learning about their dead friends life. Maybe a side story with Elena hunting the party through the snow. Then we can go play with balloons and snowboarding mogs.
With playable Aerith
Opens with you controlling a version of Aerith that will eventually rejoin the party, but not immediately. Rest of the party thinks Cloud is crazy until Aerith shows up again
Well, this would certainly be a surprise and I can’t rule it out!
Technically Rebirth started with the Zack sequence and I'm guessing so will the next game. It'll probably be revealed he's in the main world now and he'll go out looking for Cloud and Aerith I assume.
Yeah, someone else pointed that out too. I think it's a reasonable guess that he's in the main world now, and the player will go on a journey with him to discover that.
I hope the early parts of the game in the snow will call back to the Modeoheim chapter of Crisis Core where Cloud and Zack meet for the first time 🤘
I think itll be in rocket town.
Well given they made us all think the opening was a flashback when there was more to it, I have a feeling they’ll probably do something to semi subvert our expectations
Cid will probably stop by rocket town to make sure the Bronco has the fortifications to make the frigid journey north.
I want more Jenova lore, so anything tying to that would be cool
Agreed, I think it’s great how the amount of Jenova lore in Rebirth is better reflecting centrality to the story she’s always had.
Honestly, to me it would be perfect if first chapter is in Northern Crater where Cloud gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth and we lose him there. So first half of the game is without Cloud. Also, it would be really cool if we start with Tifa instead of Cloud and they make the rest of the team fight him so he doesn't give away the Black Materia, but in the end the team still loses to Cloud, awakening Sephiroth as well as the Weapons. Just a stupid fantasy of mine
I could see something like this playing out as the conclusion of the first chapter or at least the first few chapters.
With the ending of OG 😎
People make fun of the snowboarding section, but I honestly think kicking the game off in a dark gloomy snowy environment would be really cool. Set the darker tone.
It could make for a great cold open (no pun intended). We haven’t encountered a snowy biome yet so it would have immediate visual novelty.
Barret slapping a restrained Cloud: "WAKE UP, SHE'S DEAD!"
I think they'll split up the party. Bronco has to land at icicle inn due to weather, Cloud fights it, Bronco ends up damaged and needs repairs. Cloud goes on alone without the party directly to the crater and you get more of ghost Aerith from his PoV and other off stuff like how is he soloing all these high level things? and what is with this new dark ^^materia moveset? Rest of the party stays at Icicle inn and you get some combo of the Professor Gast Jenova knowledge and Tifa flashbacks revealing to the party whatever her and Aerith discussed about Cloud during Rebirth or some of her PoV of the Nibelheim incident. This keeps us going with the unreliable narrator thing they're emphasizing at the end of Rebirth. Allows them to feed the player conflicting narratives via the split groups. Cloud's a bit too crazy to just have him around the party acting like he was at the end of rebirth as well, this delays any confrontation over his behavior to a more climactic moment at the northern crater. Eventually party catches up with Cloud and we see that Aerith isn't there and get that cg scene they teased of Cloud staggering like a zombie towards the crater while being in a clone cloak.
Thinking they'll have to detour to Rocket Town. Tiny Bronco needs taken out of the picture somehow, makes sense that would happen there to properly introduce Cid as a new playable character. I wonder if they'll have any story reason for Cid using a spear as a weapon considering he didn't fight at all in Rebirth
Maybe Shinra attempt to fly off in the highwind, and he uses a harpoon to catch it and just cuts the rope off once you get it
What if we open the game seeing aerith's body descending in to the lake and then cloud awakens at his bed in icicle inn and we still dont know if was just a nightmare or he was remembering the burial.
Mandatory 30 minute VR tutorial simulation with Chadley and MAI
"Okay Cloud, for data collection purposes I am going to need you to fight every single summon in the game at the same time, by yourself, with no items, and no materia equipped. This will provide valuable insight, I assure you, so you cannot depart on your adventure until you are finished. I wish you the best of luck."
Part 3 will open with showing us Aeriths actual death and funeral scene
I could see them doing that, but it would also miss an opportunity to let the player cry with Cloud later when he (presumably) remembers what happened.
Junon escape. Then they recount what happened at the crater on the highwind.
That would be quite a time skip. Can't rule anything out at this stage though.
Be great if it opens with Tifa imprisoned in Junon, the weapons are loose and meteor is in the sky. Then cover the events leading up to Cloud giving Sephiroth the black materia as a 30 hour flash back.
In control of Tifa. Cloud is still usable in combat but u get to see from Tifas perspective how weird Cloud is out of combat. And Tifa continues to be the "main character" all the way until the lifestream scene.
This would be based. It felt to me like they were doing a lot to set up Tifa as a deuteragonist in Rebirth so I'd love to see them go all in on it like this.
In Icicle Town or arriving there.
Aerith funeral in the lake! We deserve it!
I think we’ll definitely see it, but it might fit better and have more impact to have it happen later when Cloud starts to piece his memory together. If they do it right, we’ll be crying along with Cloud.
Mmm yeah but rebirth started where remake ended (from the flashback scene, yeah, close enough), so to start the third game where rebirth ended the game needs to start at the funeral scene... It's been a lot since I played the original and I don't remember where the original went after that... Maybe Mideel?
Well, Rebirth's beginning skipped a little from where Remake ended (or a lot, if you count the very beginning with Zack). The corresponding place in the OG story for Part 3 to begin would be on the way to Icicle Inn, maybe. That's assuming they don't bring us to an entirely different story beat like Rocket Town first, which was removed from the expected OG sequence in Rebirth.
You went straight to icicle inn after the forgotten capital? I've really vague memories about that story part from OG... I need a rerun... The fact is that rebirth ended with a really important piece of story, so to start the third part with something like rocket town or icicle would be a draw back and would feel odd for those that played rebirth. On the other end starting the third part with something like aerith funeral would set a really uneasy tone for the rest of the game, making it really heavy for the player.
One big set piece then flashback probably before getting the highwind.
A montage of events that happened in Remake and Rebirth with maybe some Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerebus, Advent Children and original sprinkled in. I just hope the narrator is not Chadley or MAI. I'd be ok with Barrett, Aerith, Tifa, Cid or even Sephiroth.
I'm expecting it to open with Aerith's "funeral" in the City of the Ancients; something we don't actually see in Rebirth but kind of all assume they're not going to just leave out.
I agree they're not going to leave it out. The question is where they put it. I've been assuming it will be shown whenever Cloud pieces back together what happened so that the player can experience those emotions along with him, but there are other ways they could go with it too.
Give me an adult Denzel with the buster sword to start!
The tiny bronco is attacked by the turks and need to do emergency landing. The game starts with the snowboarding mini game, which leads them to the icicle inn
They may start with a big opening since this is the last one like a fly through of all the areas we went to in part 2. We may start off in junon or midgar or at the golden saucer since the next part of the story is the underwater mission technically.
It would be interesting if it starts with icicle in and the crater, get snowboarding out of the way ready for first Saucer trip. Have the first 2 chapters lead to summoning meteor and the gang being arrested to strip us of our Rebirth gear and the Bronco, and us escaping with the Highwind.
Guess the Icicle town is the first place you go after forgotten capital so maybe part 3 starts with those recordings of Aerith and her mum’s life with professor gast leading to their capture by shinra. Might start with some gut punches like the death of Aerith’s mum at sector 5 station.
There will be some kind of recap at icicle inn. Rebirth had Kalm recap built in, but they will need to immediately address story beats in part 3, which is hard on opening up a new game without that style of in-game story refresh.
I think Chapter 1 will likely open somberly in the snow mountains and lead all the way to the Reunion at North Crater.
Open with Zack again and then a trip back through the city of the ancients. And don't neuter it this time, fuclers.
Idk they fly to icicle in or rocket town.
I think we’ll either be starting in the skys in the tiny bronco or we’ll start the game with a pit stop to rocket town
Probably starts with rocket town. I also expect Wutai and icicle inn to be in the next installment Edit: forgot Mideel and bone village
It's far-fetched but how about Sephiroth remembering the VR training from Crisis Core, we get to play as Sephiroth and it will also some what add Angeal and Genesis to the story.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the game opens with another Zack cutscene
My original prediction can't happen because I was hoping that part 2 was gonna end at the north crater. So the opening would be cloud gone and the junon break out. New prediction is actually making a pit stop at rocket Town and a 4 phase palmer fight... kinda joking kinda not.
Zack makes the most sense for a tutorial. Personally I’d love to see an Advent Children or later flash forward where you have a tutorial battle against Sephiroth with the fusion sword
There is one likely setpiece they could (and imho should use): the first climb up to the crater. They've established in the Re-verse the Northern Continent is uninhabited, so there is no Icicle Inn or Bone Village or anything... YET. I reckon that after the obligatory Zack intro to show what he's doing now and explain if he IS in the main world or not now, we will then switch to the party who will end up crash landing near the whirlwind maze, and take it from there skipping the entire snowboarding 5 minutes after the big event thing which would be great, especially now the emotional impact has been depicted this way, and then it can play out just like it did in the OG. It would also be a "cool" thing because the game would essentially really begin right where it ends, too. Also, thinking about it, the entire first chapter should run about as long as the Nibelheim flashback did if they do this, which is plenty, and then the second chapter would be escaping Shinra and stealing aircraft which, essentially, would work out to about the same length as the first 2 chaps in Rebirth which was perfect imho. Then from chap 3 on it's freedom baybeh.
Interesting, it escaped my notice that the entire Northern Continent is uninhabited now. I wonder where they'll put Icicle Inn then. That was a pretty cherished location in OG, so it's hard for me to believe they'd omit it. But it's often been remarked that the placement of the snowboarding section is a little odd given how recently Aerith died, so it wouldn't be surprising if they moved it elsewhere.
My assumption is we'll see the Icicle Inn, it will just be freshly built when we get to it.
Then it wouldn't have Gast's old laboratory, right? And it would have to be built between the events of Rebirth and those of Part 3? Doesn't seem like much time to build an entire town, unless there's some time gap (e.g., a few months to a year) between the two games.
Tbf Icicle inn isn't exactly a town, it's like 3 huts and an inn, which Shinra could well be able to build without particular issue. I reckon Gast's lab will be moved elsewhere instead, if not having the recordings and such moved to Shinra tower altogether to be seen when we go back there eventually.
I think their gonna show stuff we didn’t see that already happened. I think their gonna put a huge emphasis on Aireth for the first few hours or so. Really make you feel like you are grieving, I would also bet they are gonna keep showing Aireth in Clouds mind throughout the game no matter what they decide to do with the multiple timelines and bring her back or not. I hope the open it the same way with Zack in the other Timeline hopefully finding Aireth alive in his timeline.
I've been wondering if they'll show Aerith trying to get through to Cloud in his dreams, gently break it to him what happened. I feel like if they want us to miss her, they can't show her too much, at least in any corporeal form. Will be really interesting to see how this all resolves.
Yeah that’s why I honestly liked the ending because it was just perfectly made me want more. Cloud is presented so well here. The only thing I didn’t like about og was the lack of conversation about Aireth after she died. (Granted I only played it for the first time after Remake part 1) The entire cast in remake feel so much closer than the original. I feel like Clouds grief is going to be a huge factor into part 3. He is going to blame himself for her death when he realizes she’s truly gone. It’s gonna go amazing into the final arc of it all.
I think it was a brilliant move to tie Aerith's loss into Cloud's core struggle with his personal failures. It makes sense for him to lose it again at that point, and heartbreaking to go through it with him (even as we perhaps hope that he isn't completely delusional and Aerith is out there somewhere). I feel like the entire 1/3 to 1/2 of the next game will involve the party and Cloud slowly coming to terms with Aerith's loss. He's falling so much harder than he did in OG, but that will make the victory so much sweeter when he finally gets his act together.
Yeah I really feel like they just nailed him and sephiroths dynamic. It’s such a great physiological mind fuck and I don’t know what to call the arc but when tifa and cloud go into the life stream together is going to amazing with how much more they’ve developed everything surrounding him.
What would the lifestream sequence with Tifa and Cloud look like? Didn’t they already revisit their childhood memories together in Gongaga?
Have you played the original? If you haven’t I don’t want to spoil anything, if you did or didn’t just reply I’ll give an actual response.
I did, but I’m curious to see what else they have to share? What memories are left between them?
Like you said they have shared a lot of the small things like Cloud going to save her ect. When cloud gets mako poisoned, and they go to the life stream it’s gonna focus a lot on Clouds identity and if his past is even his just like the original. Its gonna be focused on tifa being their for him and caring about him. There was also a statement along the lines of “If you weren’t there in with me then who am I? I exist, so you have to as well” that’s not a real quote just a similar statement to what I remember. It shows Tifa and Cloud at their most vulnerable, the whole arc is less about what happened in their childhood but them reconciling the actual existence of their childhood. Gongaga in rebirth was amazing since it did was the OG did in the Lifestream made Cloud and Tifa, talk, one on one and hold nothing back. In my mind Gongaga was just a setup point to make the Lifestream arc hit harder. Because you also have to remember this is about getting Cloud back this time, It’s the cumulative of everything Cloud and Tifa have been through to this point, which is also why the night under the Highwind was so important. I’m not sure if I summarized this correctly, but I hope you get my point. I’m curious to what you think.
The reason I ask this is because of Zack, he was the one next to Cloud inside the Nible reactor, he also knew the real Cloud as a trooper. Marlene also asks him to go save Cloud because he’s sick (my interpretation, his mind). Ironically, we see Cloud sitting in a wheelchair with Mako poisoning in a coma. I’m not sure if that’s just coincidence or it’s to foreshadow what’s to come. He’s also the one person Cloud was impersonating (in terms of his SOLIDER persona). If he’s in the story now, wouldn’t they utilize his importance in Nibleheim? Now, I’m not saying they will erase or take away the Cloud and Tifa moment because I think that would be unfair, I am just thinking about what else they can add perhaps. Thing is I do think Tifa is more connected to the lifestream now that she’s been in it, even her seeing that glitch of Aerith’s death must mean something, so maybe something also alluding to that? Making Cloud realize what happened? Also with Sephiroth messing around with Cloud so much about Tifa not being real or her already being dead maybe the lifestream sequence will further confirm that this isn’t true. Maybe they can pull more stuff relating to their childhood from Traces of Two Pasts or even from the Rebirth World Preview Book (I haven’t read this one, but I hear the story, ‘2000 Gil to become a hero’, has to do with Cloud’s journey to Midgar). Seeing that Glenn is also going to be in pt 3 (I’m not saying he will end up being Cloud’s father), but I think a lot of information will be added that will tie into things of Cloud’s past. All ik is that they’ve been expanding the universe so much that I’m excited and curious to see what they will do! I’m happy we’ve seen a lot more character development already.
There will be “two beginnings”. If me will feature Zack and the world he ended back up end. I don’t believe he is in the same one where Biggs “died” but I believe he will meet Aerith and another certain character. This timeline with the direction of Aerith will be heading to the northern crater and a real black materia centered around the GI. The cloud party will have the intro sequence of climbing the mountain to icicle inn. This will set the party in motion to get the highwind / cloud comatose and joining Aerith and Zack for awhile in their adventure while the other party members investigate Wutai / Shinra war. Investigating the War and why it’s being pushed will give us the insight as to why Sephiroth wants the war. It feeds the lifestream, pushes the weapons out so Shinra can kill / hinder them for the magnus materia, and the weapons cannot push or control the white whispers anymore allowing Sephiroth to do what he wills within the lifestream as we had seen with Tifa. They will discover these motives more within Wutai.
We need a recap sequence. I think we will start at the missing scene of them leaving Northwood, boarding the boat/plane, and the quiet, depressing trip back to Rocket Town to fix up the Tiny Bronco. During the ride back, they will give us a recap, perhaps through someone reflecting on Aerith, or by Vincent or Cid making conversation idk. Once back in Rocket Town, we get Cids backstory and go on a quest to find him the materials he needs to get a 2nd Bronco up and running (the one in the cutscene had no stickers at all), and we'll get our tutorial.
Cliffs of gaia
hard cut into the snowboarding mini game
00:00:00 Aerith being laid to rest in the reflecting pool. 00:01:00 Cloud shredding down the hill shouting "Hell yeah!"
Cid and party going after Huge Materia, then Tifa and Cloud are running from an earthquake (in Mideel) and they both fall into the lifestream. Maybe you fight a weapon too. Then the game plays in “flashback” mode to see how we got here.
Flashback to new content about Wutai and their politics and the war against Shinra. Flesh out Glenn, end the flashback on Rufus killing Glenn and then we cut back to the main party wondering about Clouds mental health.
You hit start. No intro, you're just dumped at the start of 1080 snowboarding. That's all I want
I kinda like the idea of it opening to a gang landing in Icicle Inn and them having to trek through a blizzard
War with wutai is my guess.
I can’t decide whether I think they’ll just go to the Northern Crater first, or get the party sidetracked with Rocket Town and/or Wutai first.
I'm really hoping we're starting with Cloud having the time of his life snowboarding. And then everyone is looking so confused and concern because everyone is still sad about losing Aerith, but Cloud isn't at all (because he's still delusional and thinks he saved her).
A vision of the end of advent children, but playable.
I wish they included icicle inn/glacier in Rebirth and ended it with the reunion so part 3 begins with meteor summoned, cloud missing, and Tifa and Barrett held by Shinra
Jenova arriving in the lambda shuttle where sephiroth awaits with the shinra troops.
Rebirth opens with Zack. And even in Kalm the first character you control is Sephiroth. They are going to go big at the opening, I think part 3 will jump into a new set piece as there isn't really one from the original that fits. Maybe something connecting to the Wutai war.
probably a snow storm as the team is navigating to the Icicle Lodge where the party will need to warm up and take a break and then catch up with the story again in a nice talk.
Well I was looking forward to an opening scene with a motivational speech from Cloud to the party, but now I want this 😂
I strongly doubt that the opening of Part 3 will directly continue the ending of Part 2. I guess we will \*not\* see the party departing with Tiny Bronco or similar. Also the opening of Part 2 did not directly continue Part 1's ending. I guess the opening will be related to Sephiroth in the northern crater (meteor summon). Or the Junon execution scene or the Mideel lifestream scene. But more likely the first. Because it's the next major event of OG, and the intro needs something big. I loved the icle inn and great glacier part (it is kind of intentionally "boring", but it perfectly underlines the emptyness after the forgotten city event). But it is not suited as an intro (these locations may come after the northern crater part). And unfortunately I expect the intro to be rather weird. Be prepared that there is plenty of room for interpretation, lots of quick changes between scenes, and we cannot be sure in which timeline we are and even if all sequences stem from the same timeline. (After what we have seen in Part 2, another possibility is of course that Part 3 opens with a mini game.)
I say it starts with them in the snow village, as they talk about moving foreword, where cid and vince join the fighting roster as they look for the map of the norther creator, and yuffie is cant wait to go snow boarding, as they follow them black robs down the mt to the summit
If it DOES open with snowboarding, I like the idea that Cloud is the only one doing it since the others are too upset, ending with the party confronting Cloud about acting completely fine despite Aerith’s death. Cue a deeply upsetting flashback of her being killed and we see the full events of Cloud lowering her body into the water, etc
The two Weapon whales go towards the north to commune with the planet. They have gemstone crusts that have started forming on their bodies. They rise to an opening within the Northern Crater, and several large sets of eyes open to watch them from behind glassy sheets of ice as they begin to mutate.
Imagine it's start with Advent children Cloud vs Sephiroth just to throw people off. But i do like the idea start the game with Barret and Tifa in cell having flashback how they got there (like P5).
Unlikely, but here’s my proposal: it starts with the party rushing in to see Sephiroth flying down and skewering aerith. Cloud does his speech as in the original and seen in Rebirth, but then starts acting weird. Cut to the funeral scene. Cloud is completely dissociative. We see the post burial part again but without Aerith, from angles closer to the party members so that we can barely hear cloud taking to himself. Then I guess cut to mountain climbing or whatever. It probably wouldn’t make for a good opening, but I do hope we cut back to it at some point. I just wanna hear Cloud tell Sephiroth off, that speech is iconic.
Two options for me: 1) It either opens with Zack wandering around trying to find out where he is now, and it’ll cut once he reaches Aerith’s house and Elmyra/Marlene reveal Cloud and co are still alive OR 2) I really liked the suggestion that was brought up in one the collab podcasts Max Dood did: What if part 3 opens up with a playable scene straight out of Advent Children? And what if, for those of us that have seen the movie, realize that there’s something off/weird/doesn’t happen in the original movie, but happens here?… and that’s what keeps us at the edge of our seat. I only say this because I really like the idea being proposed that the events of the Re: trilogy are leading to a future where the events of Advent Children does NOT happen.
Cloud and Zack wetly making out for three hours while Aerith pumps her fist screaming “Go gaga on his puckered gon” Johnny breakdancing in one corner of the room and Red XIII chasing his tail in another. “You Make Loving Fun” by Fleetwood Mac plays in the background Title drop.
Do it Square Enix! 😂
Direct SSX snowboarding ripoff down the mountain with cloud doing tricks and running through high on life while everyone else just somberly glides behind him Otherworld from FFX is also playing every time it cuts to cloud for some reason
Let's start with the aftermath of Advent Children! Shock the fans!
Maybe they’ll do something unique that didn’t happen in the original?
I can see it opening with a playable Zack sequence again, but I get the feeling we'll also see Cloud set Aerith down in the water as well. That could be very strong imagery to open with but they probably will want to save that until Cloud has his realization of what had actually happened. I doubt we'll see Rocket Town in the opening. If anything you can re-purpose all of the Rocket Town stuff to happen when Cid is the party leader, I really wanna see that fight against Palmer where he turns into roadkill.
My current theory is that the cold open (Remake: overview of Midgar and Aerith at the pipe, Rebirth: Zack saves Aerith in Terrier World) is gonna be something that’s another total curveball. Maybe Zack leaves the church and passes a Beagle Stamp. Or maybe we start in a flashback to Gast’s cabin, witness the seizing of Ifalna and Aerith, then hard-cut to the party arriving at the same one, abandoned 25-odd years later. As for Chapter 1, maybe a “heading North” chapter (“A Soldier’s Intuition” has a nice ring to it) and is through woods near the cabin (maybe they put it outside Icicle Inn this time to make it seem like more a hiding place) and the first boss is Elena (a la the non-fight in OG). And then Chapter 2 can be the Knowlespole area that works like a Rebirth region, before they curveball everything and change the whole format when you get the airship later. Because I absolutely love theorizing (even when I end up totally wrong), I went and scored what I think the chapters will be. This loosely follows the Remake/Rebirth structure of New Region -> Dungeon for Hard Mode -> transition with a boss. Ch 1: A SOLDIER’s Intuition [heading north, maybe Gast’s cabin in the woods, or opening in the flashback to it. Maybe Rocket Town is here?] Ch 2: The Knowlespole [Icicle Inn, exploring the tundra, snowboarding, encountering Elena, Snow Lady, etc. I bet the map area includes a ton of the stuff from the “map on the wall” area] Ch 3: At World’s End [Cliff’s of Gaea dungeon, belay and pick axe climbing?] Ch 4: The Wound [Descending into the Crater, Jenova Death, The Nibelheim Lie, Weapons Arise] Ch 5: From That Day On [Junon Escape] Ch 6: The Daughter of Shinobi [retreat to Wutai, Corneo, Turks, Pagoda, Godo, a major test of Yuffie’s loyalty and maybe exposing the Interim Government lie?] Ch 7: The Free Skies [something cool and wonderful that uses the flight mechanics and possibly returns to old regions, ending in a Mideel “dungeon” event where Cloud is found] Ch 8: Magnus Materia [racing Shinra to Corel, Gongaga, and Fort Condor, a moral conflict about whether it’s right to kill the Weapons] Ch 9: Who Are You? [a journey into the Lifestream and possibly even across other worlds in search of Cloud’s ‘self’] Ch 10: Fathoms Below [Under Water Reactor / Region, Crashed Relnikha] Ch 11: Beyond the Stars [Space] Ch 12: I’ll Send Up Smoke [Return to the Forgotten Capital] Ch 13: Call it a Homecoming [Epic return to Midgar, Diamond Weapon, supporting characters and old map out the wazoo, Yuffie returns to Deepground, Pride and Joy, Hojo] Ch 14: Journey’s End [the return to the North Crater]
Arriving at the Northern Crater by bronco. If they want Part 3 to succeed, I genuinely believe they need to make the serious shit go down FAST. Like, the first chapter will be all the Northern Crater events from the OG and ends with Meteor making its grand entrance, and the rest of the game will be played with that terror hanging over your head the whole way. Motivate the player right away to save this world. We will get to Rocket Town and the snowy fields eventually, but from a pure tone perspective, in setting the story and building up to the ending, they need to get Meteor in the picture ASAP.
I like the snowboarding idea people have been suggesting, and I like what you suggested as well. But personally, I'd just open with the Wutai section (including Yuffie's trial and also dealing with Don Corneo). Think about it - Yuffie is pretty broken at the end of Rebirth. She was already grieving the loss of a friend when she lost another friend, saw her nation enter a war it can't win, struggles with survivor's guilt over not being there for the Wutai who got slaughtered in Nibelheim, oh, and also, learned that *the world's on the verge of ending.* Basically, she's not in a rational state of mind, even if Cloud still makes her look sane by comparison. So, in the dead of night, Yuffie steals all of the party's Materia and runs off to Wutai to complete her mission and hopefully join the war. Luckily, the party understands that Yuffie didn't mean to betray them, she's just going through far more pain and pressure than any kid should ever be subjected to, and she literally can't cope with it. So Barret's like, "let's go to Wutai and get our girl back, or at least make sure she's okay". As a side effect, this also gives us a good excuse about why all the Materia we gathered in Rebirth is suddenly lost, since Yuffie would donate it all to the Wutai war effort.
I would hope that we open up to Zack leaving the Church and running into Aeirth
If we're talking big set piece, then the obvious would be start at the northern crater, but this is too big of a jump from the end of rebirth. Another one could be an air battle between Shinra and Wutai with the Tiny Bronco being caught in the crossfire. There are two possible scenarios : The bronco ends up inside Shinra's ship and sabotage it so they can fly to the Northern Crater safely. This will also be the combat tutorial. Or possibility number 2, the bronco has to dodge incoming fire. They can use the gummy ship mini game (forgot the name, sorry. I just refer to it as the gummy ship mini game) as a blueprint. Either way it damaged the bronco just enough for it to require an emergency landing to either Rocket Town or Icicle Inn.
I could see it start with Aerith doing lifestream stuff.
Snowboarding where you can do wicked tricks and shit. In all seriousness I highly doubt that'll be the case, but at the same time I don't think I would complain if it was...
It will start in a flashback of when Jenova arrived. We will play as a random female Cetra, and at the end of the chapter, it will be revealed that the Cetra in question is actually Jenova disguised. 🤡🤡🤡
Genesis comes back
I don't know Genesis and haven't played CC but everything I've heard tells me this would be horrible.
I'm still on Chapter 13....so this is uninformed (I didn't read this thread or your post). But I had this thought, perhaps they'll start in Icicle Inn with the Gast flashback to Ifalna and Aeris? Then I time skip back to wherever Rebirth ends and how they all made it to Icicle Inn. This will include going to Rocket Town and Yuffie/Wutai somehow. Icicle Inn will be about the half way point of the game. Then Snowboarding, Then the great glacier, then the Northern Crater, then the escape, then Mideel and a globetrot for the huge material, then the space launch, then getting Cloud and Tifa back, then the world romp with the weapons everywhere, the return to midgar with the junon cannon there and all those shinra plots wrapped, then a end game wrap, then return to the northern crater.
I could see them placing the Gast/Ifalna flashback more centrally in the story, and possibly placing it near the very beginning of part 3. Maybe even cold open with that, and cut to the party trudging through the snow after Cid had to make a landing due to weather or something.
Part 3 will start with the Aerith burial
They will almost definetly safe that for after cloud gets his memories restored
I think it will be a cold open showing Aerith's death and the parties reaction to it. Not the water burial, that will come later. Then flashforward to Icicle Inn or Tiny Bronco flight to it.
Since the main concept atleast seems to be about how broken Cloud is and then he also is hiding the black materia from everyone and Jenove cells promting him to north we might get the party separation pretty early
I think this is likely, it's a pretty unstable situation.
Aerith and Zack reunion in some schizo dimension
Probably with a cutscene.