Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 Might Be More of A 'Road' Game
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 is one of the most anticipated games for the next few years. Veteran fans and new fans whose first experience was the first part of Final Fantasy 7 Remake found a lot to love in the first remake title. Initially, fans of FF7 were concerned with the scope of the remake, as it was focused entirely on just one segment of the original. FF7 Remake surprised many with a fully realized version of Midgar and more fleshed out iterations of its characters. But now that FF7 Remake will be introducing players to its full open world, the style of the game could change drastically.
The next chapter in the remake project already has an ambitious amount of content to reckon with. With so many new areas in FF7 Remake Part 2 to feature, a new travel system and potentially a new "phase" of the game loop will likely make an appearance. It's possible the new game will feature an overworld mode similar to most of the classic Final Fantasy games. More likely, though, is that FF7 Remake Part 2 will incorporate a travel system similar to FF15 with vehicular and Chocobo travel featuring prominently.
All of FF7 Remake Part 2 took place within the confines of the city of Midgar. The original segment of FF7 and escape from Midgar were just the opening hours of the overall game. While Midgar was expanded into a full-fledged city to fill out the forty-hour game, it still only needed a simple system to travel through its locations. Areas in FF7 Remake like Wall Market were changed to be more expansive, but still weren't necessarily very far from each other. Running from one side of the game's environment to the other (outside of Shinra facilities) is only about a half-hour affair. Fast travel is implemented later in the form of Chocobo wagons that carry players to different areas.
While this system works well in FF7 Remake, how large the rest of the world will likely be necessitates a different form of travel. The characters are shown to have left their vehicles behind after the battle with Sephiroth in the extended ending showcased by Intergrade. That same ending sees the characters hitch-hike most of their way to the mining village of Kalm, their next destination. While players will likely spend a good chunk of time there if the flashback sequence is still included from the original, they'll soon be on their way to pursue Sephiroth across a huge expanse.
It will be interesting to see if Chocobo travel is introduced as a more long-term way to traverse the game's overworld if players will spend most of their time on foot. The group would soon find their way to Chocobo Bill at his ranch in FF7 Remake Part 2 to find a faster route through the swamp and past the Midgar Zolom. This presupposes that the basic flow of events will follow the original narrative, of course. While players acquire the Chocobo fairly early on, the original game doesn't allow them to keep their newfound steed beyond the Mythril Cave.
It's more likely that once players reach the second continent in FF7, its core travel will shift. Players could acquire the buggy or another Chocobo early on after making the trip from Junon, and it's also easy to imagine that the overworld will be realized in a more "logical" way, with cities like Costa Del Sol and Corel more directly connected by roadways. This would point to some locations that were separate from the overworld being incorporated, like the railway segment from the original. It's also an interesting note if traveling on foot will show every character interacting like in FF15, especially with just how many characters could be part of FF7 Remake Part 2.
Fans who played the original game likely can't help but imagine the exploration of the world of FF7 in a drastic way. That isn't to say it can't be done well. The shift from isometric and broad camera angles will be a huge shift if the game doesn't feature a separate overworld. Imagining the entire world of FF7 in the same scale as FF15 is staggering. FF7 Remake and Intergrade have already brought huge changes to the original, and mechanically this travel change could become one of its biggest.
While the potentials for overworld travel in FF7 Remake Part 2 are interesting, there will be pitfalls to avoid as well. One common complaint about FF15 was how limited the travel by car was at the beginning. The car was glued to road and essentially on a rail system that made it very cumbersome to many players, and they would often find themselves choosing to travel by foot. Later on in the game, players would often travel by Chocobo. Many of these issues were addressed with later patches, but hopefully Square Enix will use that experience to improve on traveling the map of FF7 Remake Part 2.
Imagining how FF7 Remake Part 2 will handle traveling the broader world leads to a lot of interesting possibilities. The world will undoubtedly be larger than ever, if Midgar in FF7 Remake is any indicator. The thick forests, snow-capped mountains, and expansive deserts of the original FF7 translated into a fully-realized 3D world is very enticing for many veteran fans. With how much FF7 Remake and Intergrade have already set up the next chapter, expectations about FF7 Remake Part 2 are already high for many, but seeing the classic overworld reworked into a full environment is something to look forward to.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 is currently in development.
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