The Official "Where will Rebirth end?" Thread

[kuroudo]

Since its a Trilogy, I buy Max Dood's arguement about the crater, hence my vote.

i saw max video too and agree with him thats the perfect way to end rebirth with sephiroth awakening and summoning meteor and the world fucked up.

also think max is wrong in his theory in the part of the past/future. i think the past is talking about the cloud/zack moment and future is about meteor is coming.

 

[Ghost X]

That'd... pretty much leave an entire half of the game left undone. I'm not sure why you think they'd just abandon their story half way.

The Remake series is a trilogy, and it ends on the third game. So the whole story would need to be completed by game 3. Why would S-E leave it off there and just abandon it all?

Because I want Square to be more creative than they likely will be . Also, it is not the OG, it is clearly implied (at least) to be a chronological sequel of the OG (with retconned elements on top of that). Therefore, within reason, they could choose to do whatever they like with the story. However, if developers have said they wish to revisit the entire story (or at least al the significant plot points) of the OG, that'd counter what I'm saying. I can only recall words to the effect of them wanting to do something different with the story, otherwise they wouldn't be interested.

A story that roughly follows the plot to the end of disc 1 also needn't "abandon" elements from later in the game either. The WEAPONS could easily activate earlier, and numerous other scenes could happen earlier in a different order. Potentially better things not seen before could also be included. Again, it is a sequel, and I think they should go right off the beaten track. Will they? Probably not .

 

[KindOfBlue]

Also, it is not the OG, it is clearly implied (at least) to be a chronological sequel of the OG (with retconned elements on top of that). Therefore, within reason, they could choose to do whatever they like with the story.

I dunno if “retcon” is appropriate in this case because I don’t think we’re expected to believe the remake’s changes retroactively affect the OG, but I think I know what you mean. I’m also in that camp of believing the story could go anywhere within reason, though the main reason I don’t consider it a sequel is simply that the devs don’t seem to either. I feel like if they did, by now they would much more clearly outline the order in which the whole franchise is meant to be consumed, but I get the sense from what they’ve said that they’ve made this remake for OG fans and first-timers alike.

 

[Ryeleigh]

I dunno if “retcon” is appropriate in this case because I don’t think we’re expected to believe the remake’s changes retroactively affect the OG, but I think I know what you mean. I’m also in that camp of believing the story could go anywhere within reason, though the main reason I don’t consider it a sequel is simply that the devs don’t seem to either. I feel like if they did, by now they would much more clearly outline the order in which the whole franchise is meant to be consumed, but I get the sense from what they’ve said that they’ve made this remake for OG fans and first-timers alike.

Remake is the Nexus that binds together the Compilation?

 

[KindOfBlue]

Remake is the Nexus that binds together the Compilation?

One of the goals of the devs with the remake was to take Compilation material, which did not previously exist at the time of the OG, and tie it more closely to this new version of FF7. So in some ways, I would say so. Though it remains to be seen just how much this material will be played straight or subverted.

There’s stuff like INTERmission that could pretty easily fit into the original continuity, but then there’s also stuff like the remixed version of Advent Children or the altered ending of Crisis Core that I think really puts the remake in its own continuity. Ever Crisis seems to be more of an aggregated version of the Compilation if one is looking for a more straightforward retelling.

 

[Ite]

Chapter Breakdown Prediction:
(I’m naming them for clarity, I don’t like how they are naming the chapters with puns in Remake and I won’t stoop to do the same )

Chapter 1: Flashback
Chapter 2: Grasslands and Chocobo
Chapter 3: Mythril Mines
Chapter 4: Junon
Chapter 5: Cruise Ship
Chapter 6: Costa Del Sol > North Corel
Chapter 7: The Gold Saucer > Chocobo Race
Chapter 8: Cosmo Canyon
Chapter 9: Nibelheim and Vincent
Chapter 10: Mount Nibel
Chapter 12: Rocket Town
Chapter 13: Open World
Chapter 14: Temple of the Ancients
Chapter 15: Sleeping Forest
Chapter 16: Forgotten City
Chapter 17: Great Glacier
Chapter 18: Gaia’s Cliff
Chapter 19: Confrontation

Jam-packed even without any additions.

 

[Golden Ear]

Chapter Breakdown Prediction:
(I’m naming them for clarity, I don’t like how they are naming the chapters with puns in Remake and I won’t stoop to do the same )

Chapter 1: Flashback
Chapter 2: Grasslands and Chocobo
Chapter 3: Mythril Mines
Chapter 4: Junon
Chapter 5: Cruise Ship
Chapter 6: Costa Del Sol > North Corel
Chapter 7: The Gold Saucer > Chocobo Race
Chapter 8: Cosmo Canyon
Chapter 9: Nibelheim and Vincent
Chapter 10: Mount Nibel
Chapter 12: Rocket Town
Chapter 13: Open World
Chapter 14: Temple of the Ancients
Chapter 15: Sleeping Forest
Chapter 16: Forgotten City
Chapter 17: Great Glacier
Chapter 18: Gaia’s Cliff
Chapter 19: Confrontation

Jam-packed even without any additions.

No Gongaga?

 

[Lestat]

Chapter Breakdown Prediction:
(I’m naming them for clarity, I don’t like how they are naming the chapters with puns in Remake and I won’t stoop to do the same )

Chapter 1: Flashback
Chapter 2: Grasslands and Chocobo
Chapter 3: Mythril Mines
Chapter 4: Junon
Chapter 5: Cruise Ship
Chapter 6: Costa Del Sol > North Corel
Chapter 7: The Gold Saucer > Chocobo Race
Chapter 8: Cosmo Canyon
Chapter 9: Nibelheim and Vincent
Chapter 10: Mount Nibel
Chapter 12: Rocket Town
Chapter 13: Open World
Chapter 14: Temple of the Ancients
Chapter 15: Sleeping Forest
Chapter 16: Forgotten City
Chapter 17: Great Glacier
Chapter 18: Gaia’s Cliff
Chapter 19: Confrontation

Jam-packed even without any additions.

I'm with you right up to the "open world" bit.
Dunno why but I just don't think we're gonna get the true open world experience everyone has been longing for in the more graphically available FF titles.

 

[Ite]

No Gongaga?

Gongaga and Wutai I kind of ignored, head-lumping them into the “Open World” chapter along with Fort Condor (assuming it doesn’t just remain the minigame from Intermission) Sleeping Man, and other secrets. The Turk fight, Titan materia, and town of Gongaga seem like ingredients of a sidequest of actual quality rather than “find 3 cats”

 

[Fiz]

3 parts, probably City of the Ancients or Northern Crater.

 

[Eerie]

It can only go to the Northern Crater, because it’s only then that we reach the lowest point of FFVII. It doesn’t make really any sense to stop it at the Forgotten City since it’s only part of Cloud’s downfall; the downfall needs to be complete for it to hit us. Tifa’s doubt in Cloud, she and Barret taken hostage… it’s also their lowest point.

You don’t stop in the middle of an arc, you have to go big for it to impress fans.

 

[billy22]

I went with Forgotten City. Northern Crater seems too ambitious, given everything that happens before then and all the areas in-between. After NC the only narrative left is defeating a couple of WEAPONS (plus some optional ones), Lifestream sequence, infiltrating and defeating Shinra, and defeating Sephiroth. NC also means implementing every single character into the party. I feel like we'll still have at least one or two "guest" members in Rebirth, so that they can add a couple more members into the final game officially (probably Cid and Vincent).

Purely in terms of narrative, I think both stopping points have their strong and weak points.

But if it's not Forgotten City, I think NC is the second most likely.

 

[Tetsujin]

Northern Crater seems too ambitious but then I thought getting it all done in only three parts was too ambitious as well and it would be more spread out. Storywise, the crater seems like the most Empire Strikes Backsy ending you could have. You'd fight Jenova and potentially partially awakened Weapons and/or Sephiroth as final bosses. And opening part 3 with Cloud missing for a good while seems really interesting to me.
I don't know how they're gonna do it, but I'm more convinced now they're gonna aim to finish at the crater. Whether they really manage to squeeze the entire journey in part 2, whether some things'll be cut or whether parts of the journey are getting remixed and reshuffled to part 3 as a different way of spreading out the workload, I don't know.
But my vote goes to the crater.

 

[billy22]

Storywise, the crater seems like the most Empire Strikes Backsy ending you could have. You'd fight Jenova and potentially partially awakened Weapons and/or Sephiroth as final bosses. And opening part 3 with Cloud missing for a good while seems really interesting to me.

I get what you're saying, and I totally understand the mindset. But I feel like Forgotten City evokes the same feeling- ends with a death and a Jenova fight (assuming things don't get changed...)

Death also represents finality, in a way. Northern Crater feels more like a massive cliffhanger.

I don't know how they're gonna do it, but I'm more convinced now they're gonna aim to finish at the crater. Whether they really manage to squeeze the entire journey in part 2, whether some things'll be cut or whether parts of the journey are getting remixed and reshuffled to part 3 as a different way of spreading out the workload, I don't know.

Good point. One of the reasons I give NC less consideration is because of just how much narratively is packed before it, and there is substantially less after it...but if they switch a bunch of things around, that is moot.

 

[Golden Ear]

I think it ends at NC (Whirlwind Maze) with Cloud handing over the Black Materia and Weapons awakening.

If that's the case, the question is: Will they shuffle anything over to Part 3 that is typically between Kalm->Reunion?

I'm betting on Wutai being in Part 3.

 

[Erotic Materia]

I'm of the opinion that Nomura is gonna fuck with the story so much that it takes an entirely different route from the original, such that some areas in the OG won't even be mentioned. Maybe Seph takes the party straight from Midgar to go snowboarding, and they end the story in Corel Prison, who knows? Maybe there's an entirely new place that didn't exist before? Or considering that Zack is still alive (kinda? I'm still not really sure how that's gonna play out), maybe he ends up being manipulated to work against Cloud, hell I have no idea I'm just rambling.

My point being I think it's going to WILDLY deviate from the original, to such a point it's impossible to guess at.

I still wanna see an impaled Midgar Zolom though.

 

[Golden Ear]

I think the things that will be different will be mostly in the context of story (Sephiroths motivations ect) and maybe how they handle certain characters to a degree ( Cait Sith for example). I think we will mostly go down a very similar path to the OG in terms of locations but there could be shifts, Wutai is the one I feel most confident on but at the same time it was optional in the OG so shifting it isn't really that big of a deal imo.

 

[Ryeleigh]

By the way, does anyone think the party will visit some of the locations in CC, for example? Or, if the game is open world, will those locations exist on the world map? Though, off the top of my head I can't remember other unique locations than Banora.

 

[Golden Ear]

By the way, does anyone think the party will visit some of the locations in CC, for example? Or, if the game is open world, will those locations exist on the world map? Though, off the top of my head I can't remember other unique locations than Banora.

I think so but maybe either in Part 3 or DLC, I think there is all ready enough on the plate for Rebirth.

Nojima did say he wanted to include compilation locations in the Remake project so I guess we'll see.

 

[Torrie]

By the way, does anyone think the party will visit some of the locations in CC, for example? Or, if the game is open world, will those locations exist on the world map? Though, off the top of my head I can't remember other unique locations than Banora.

Honestly, I wouldn't be so sure about that, because, first, CC doesn't have that many new locations. And those that were introduced, will be present in the CC Reunion anyway. I'm dying to walk around the updated SOLDIER floor, for instance, but our party will never be able to see it story-wise. Modeoheim was a new one, but it's part of the Icicle Inn area, so it's basically just mountains. Gongaga, Nibelheim, and Wutai are already existing areas. Banora is the only truly unique one, but it's already in ruins by the time the party would get there... And second, I think all CC locations were picked purposely for the CC story, so there's really no need to revisit them within a completely different narrative.

 

[Golden Ear]

Wutai in Part 2 or Part 3 though?

 

[Erotic Materia]

Wutai in Part 2 or Part 3 though?

DLC

 

[Wol]

either Temple of the Ancients or Forgotten Capital.

I think it would be cool if the game had a post-game kind of ending, where you can explore the map after the events instead of being chapter-based. Since the Meteor won't hit soon, it's a great indicator of the passing of time until Part 3. They can even go as far as making the silhouette of the Meteor growing gradually bigger as the release comes close (like it was done with FFXIV 1.0 transition to 2.0).

Also a great way to add extra-content in the game itself and hold interest, maybe with dlcs opening up certain lands with new vehicles, new quests and more Gold saucer minigames

 

[waw]

For a comparison of scale and depth, I expect (and hope) Rebirth to be as large and long as the full game of FFXV. There's more than enough space and content to make this game a large scale FF entry where you get the whole party and hit the ground running in the quest to fight Sephiroth. It should feel full, as the narrative build up within the story pulls the audience into believing they're headed towards the final confrontation, at the end.

A large scale final dungeon rush to reach Sephiroth in the desolate cold Northern Crater would be the perfect backdrop for character interaction, tension and examining the whole party on where they are. Especially if Aerith had been taken from them. That's where the audience would feel the pain. And it'd be most apparent.

I think the only other dungeon that could come close to the Whirlwind Maze as a finale area is the Temple of the Ancients. Especially with the Well of Time and the bizarre staircases, puzzles, monsters, etc. We could even do a clash of timelines, realities, whatever there. The Temple of the Ancients is a perfect finale location if the dev team greatly expands it.

I'm not sure how big Rebirth will be. I do think it's best if we get through the Northern Crater, but that's a lot. It's just so much for that game. The Forgotten City, the mountains, Icicle Inn, and then the Gaea's Cliff, The Whirlwind Maze (and everything in between, however that brief overworld gets used). It's just so much. I can't honestly fathom they can fit that all in the game.

That said, Wutai getting ready to go to all our war or something and having all of that content for Part III (what happens if you wait to visit Wutai in the OG until Tifa/Cid leads the party? Does the Yuffie adventure still trigger? I've never thought about it).

But also, I don't think Wutai Sidequest will be DLC. I don't think they're going to keep that up. I think DLC will continue to explore various things that we've cut away from. I think the likeliest could be Vincent's backstory or maybe just more Sonon if they played out a version of the DoC multiplayer online thing. Sonon would be a fine semi-resurrected protagonist in that (has that been debunked as a fan theory?) Continues to explore Deepground and maybe even has a run-in with Genesis, prepping all of that for a role in Re-III and the DoC potential remastering coming out between Rebirth and Re-III. Total pipedream, but it's mine, dammit!

 

[Lestat]

If there's gonna be any DLC for part 2 it will most likely be a Vincent inspired one.
I think the telling part will be whether yuffie becomes a playable character before Junon or not.