It's Surprising How Much Of Ghost Of Tsushima And FF15 There Is In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

This article contains minor spoilers for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

We knew for a long time that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was going to be an open-world game, but even before we knew, we could infer it. In the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:original game, shortly after you finish the opening hours in Midgar, you gain access to the world map. It stood to reason that, when scaled up to 2024 triple-A design, it would take an open world to evoke the same feeling. But, there’s a difference between knowing that a game will be open world and knowing what kind of open world it will offer.

There are various models, and they all could have worked to varying degrees. The game has towers, which gestures to the Ubisoft-style checklist, but it doesn't feel like those games. There are no bandit camps to infiltrate, and the open world is mostly for side quests and minigames. Though you could argue that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the series' Breath of the Wild moment, it's far less open than Nintendo's modern masterpiece.

In fact, one of the games it reminds me of most isn't even an open-world in its closing stretch: 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 15. That 2016 game, which was trapped in development hell for a decade, was bifurcated in a way that's similar to Rebirth. It was an open world game when it was an open world game, with plenty of side quests and exploration, but its linear sections made no concessions to open-ended play. 15 offered a vast sandbox for most of its story, then radically restricted the playspace when you reached the story’s final stretch.

Rebirth is more flexible, alternating between linearity and openness depending on what the mission needs. The opening hours are cinematic and story-focused, slowly expanding as you play. You begin in the tight Nibelheim flashback, which gives way to Kalm, an open-ended but comparatively small area. After the gang escapes, though, we get our "Step Out Into The World" moment as we first see the wide open spaces of the Grasslands. After that, you’re back on the linear route until you get to Junon, which opens back up briefly before you need to visit the Upper City. Once you decide to go topside, you're back on the rollercoaster.

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Rebirth does this much better than 15. One of the big criticisms it received was that the linear conclusion felt like it was at odds with the game's emphasis on the open road. Noctis' car was basically a character in that game, and at its best 15 felt like playing your way through a road trip movie. Then, bye car, bye friends, time to spend five hours on foot in cramped corridors. In 7 Rebirth, the balance is better. It feels less like you're leaving the open world behind and more like you're taking detours that will eventually lead you back to open-ended exploration.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth also feels like it's drawing from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ghost of Tsushima. The similarities are minor, but when so few other open-world games have aped Sucker Punch's hit samurai game, it's noticeable to see its influence show up. The biggest way is that the animals in this world aren't believable creatures like you'd find in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Red Dead Redemption 2, they're just a fun form of signposting. As you explore, you'll run into baby chocobos, which will lead you to a Chocobo Stop which you can repair and use for fast travel. But you may also see owls flying around and, if you follow them, they'll take you to secrets you might breeze by otherwise. Like I said, this is a smaller touch, but combined with the game's incorporation of mounts, the comparison feels unmistakable.

As fun as it is to explore the open world, the real draw here is the characters. And though the influence of other works is visible e🃏lsewhere, those are pure Final Fantasy 7.