168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s promise of an open world has worried me since it was revealed. In Remake we saw a 40-hour adventure confined to Midgar, with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Square Enix expanding what was a small part of the original game into a much grander adventure with bigger locations, new👍 char🐼acters, and a subversive reinvention of the narrative its sequel is bound to build on.
There was a fear that recreating the world we all know and love at an appropriate scale with modern production values and mechanics would prove impossible, or at least risk diluting so much of it with needless grinding and superfluous side activities. The last thing I want to see Cloud doing is collecting 500 chocobo feathers in exchange for a weapon he’ll n🐓ever use. It seems ꩵmy fears are unfounded though, since even after spending 30 minutes darting about the dilapidated plains of Junon I’m left with a surprising amount of optimism. This world feels alive and ripe with purpose, refusing to lose any of its character or depth in pursuit of scope.
I was set loose upon a curated piece of the open world, which I was told had been limited in its size so I didn’t get distracted during the demo. Jokes on them, I went and got distracted anyway. It’s easy to🌳 when the only preamble I was given was a brief cutscene making it clear that Cloud and company were in new territory and needed to reach the city of Junon that awaited on the horizon.
So we hopped onto our Chocobo - which can be customised, by the way - and made our way down a precarious hillside into the unknown. I wouldn’t describe the regions that Rebirth throws you into as especially massive, but the💞y are dense and se𝓡emingly filled with activities you’ll come across naturally. I was asked to defeat four distinct fiends in the area before heading into Junon proper, but that objective quickly fell by the wayside.
The first thing I did was chase a baby chocobo for what felt like miles, failing to realise he’d led me to a fallen post that I could pick up and enable a fast travel point where I could also suꦕmmon mounts. I could even give him a little pet before going on my merry way. Minutes later I found a local ranch, which according to on-screen prompts would be one of many in the open world where you can purchase it𒐪ems, pick up quests, and customise your bird.
It all feels seamless as you spring across the environment picking up stuff for the new crafting system and leaping off your mount into battle whenever a situation calls for it. There’s a feeling of wondrous adventure as I’m rushing down a valley and look back 🍸at my party members, only to barely suppress a giggle as I see Red XIII clinging onto the hide of a bird despite being a weird talking canine. Party members will make cutesy small talk as you travel around too, often pointing out parts of the environment or new locations you enter. All of it feels natural, rather than railroading you awkwardly to activities or whatever part of the main story yo📖u’re meant to be tackling next. Even in this small space, the world is alive with flavour. I couldn’t help but look at the map and zoom out, and it’s either a decent sized world in its own right, or one of many regions we’ll see alongside bespoke interior locations.
Like most open world games these days, an on-screen prompt will appear after discovering a point or interest or special enemy, registering to the in-game codex and gamifying the act of exploration in ways that don't feel intrusive. You also have a new AI companion called MAI who loves to describe new places and wildlife you come across, and they sound more like a cute anime girl than a dusty old computer. Beyond mechanics and content though, there’s a thematic layering to Rebirth that builds upon everything Remake did so well in its setting.
Final Fantasy 7 has always 💃depicted a political w♒orld, but much of that was hard to parse in the early days of 3D on the original PlayStation. You'd have to depend on its pre-rendered backgrounds and imagination to paint a bigger picture, but Remake and Rebirth do all of this for you. As I stepped into this new region I spent a few minutes looking over its horizon, and immediately noticed that Shinra propaganda and military recruitment billboards washed out beautiful glimpses of nature, much of the greenery twisted into mud and dirt after years of corporate meddling.
Construction for new complexes are found almost everywhere, while structures once assembled by those who call this place home are crumbling without proper support. I🐠t’s a heartbreaking and immediate example of world building that meshes perfectly with the first game, and comes full circle once I step into the fishing village sitting beneath the military town of Junon in which Shinra boasts its own pompous excess way up above.
Upon entering, the town sheriff pulls up our wanted posters on a tablet, making it clear that turning us in would net her millions and turn her entire life around. Aerith even smiles after learning her bounty of 500,000 gil is the highest of the entire group. But these are honest people who have gotten by on trust and hard work, not turning their back on people who need their help. So you’re free to go, and moments later you’re saving the town from the local sea monster which Cloud dispatches by riding a dolphin. It’s utterly ridiculous, while grounded enough in its political themes to pack an appropriate punch. It feels alive, and that’s re🔴ally the only thing I wanted from Rebirth.
