168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has showcased more of its open world ahead of release than I ever expected it to. As part of my recent preview I explored the outskirts of Junon Harbour before venturing into the portside shanty town itself, spending what precious minutes I could trying to comb the fields in search of optional battles and treasures, a goal sadly scuppered thanks to artificial barriers constructed by 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Square Enix for demo purposes. It hampered me for the moment, but points to a world I otherwise can&rsq🍷uo;t wait to explore. Better yet, I was able to pop into the map and see exactly what awaits me in the full game.
We don’t yet know how big the segmented open world will be, but given that we do know Rebirth will come to an end at The Forgotten City where Aeri💧th previously bit the dust, we can make some educated guesses.
First up, a screenshot released alongside the latest trailer features a map focusing on an area known as the ‘Grasslands’ that surrounds and goes far beyond Junon Harbour. There is a chance that locations like Kalm, Nibelheim, and Golden Saucer are also found in this area, alongside a bunch of new 🔯Chocobo Outposts and homesteads glimpsed throughout my preview. Instead of an open world that you’re free to roam to your heart’s content, Rebirth is opting for several different regions filled with things to do, while never quite outstaying their welcome. Quality over quantity instead of needless bloat.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Return To Nibelheim Could Change Everything
Who walks away from the as🗹hes will dete𒅌rmine the future.
Alongside the Grasslands could be sandy, snowy, and swampy environments which would all work well with existing locations in Final Fantasy 7, not to mention offering a nice range of enemies to contend with, some entirely new, some inspired by the original game. It feels like the antithesis of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 16, which despite boasting a vast new world in Valisthea, did almost𝔍 nothing with it aside from bland mediaeval towns and repetitive monster hunts. Even if Rebirth has these, it understands the importance of injecting attitude into proceedings so as not to make us view side activities as a chore.
That’s something the 16th entry continually suffered from. Great characters aside, it was a relatively dry setting with forgettable side quests and NPC conversations that felt pulled from a half-baked MMO.💝 Remake suffered from that at times too, but everything I’ve seen from Rebirth paints a more consistent picture. Trailers have been filled with minigames and optional activities, meaning there will be dozens of hours of juicy content to sink our teeth into outside the metaverse melodrama. I’m glad it isn’t a case of stuffing this iconic fantasy landscape with a bunch of crap just to keep our attention.
It has to mean something, and with Rebirth continually trying to reinvent not only its many narrative foundations, but also mechanical ones, I’m hopeful it still has plenty of surprises awaiting us. I want the plains and towns outside Shinra to feel lived in and significant, like the people who call these places home have been living here long before I came along. It needs to feel like this, otherwise the illusion fades away, and it becomes clear everything around me was built to serve my every whim, instead o🦋f offering a place to remember.
I do not envy the task Square Enix has given itself with Rebirth. While Remake still clocked in at 40 hours, it was a relatively confined RPG taking place within a single city and its many districts, allowing a constant curation of every single element without overstretching itself in ways that would make for a worse experience. I’m going to assume that - outside cutscenes at the very least - we won’t have an option to return to and explore Midgar in Rebirth. We’ve past the point of no return, and aside from scripted sequen꧃ces with Zack and the occasional flashback, the focus now sits entirely on the wider world and adventures that await.
Creating a curate⭕d open world we’ll remember for years to come is part of what will make this game as special as its predecessor. From what I’ve seen, it’s well on ꧃its way there.
