So Vincent not playable? More than likely we don't see him till late in the game.
I know most didn't like the idea of him not being playable, but I've said since the Yuffie DLC that it would be a good idea to save him for the third game. 1. Gives them an opportunity to give him a DLC that connects him to DeepGround/Yuffie. 2. Gives us a new character to look forward to having in the third game.
Well at the moment they've stated that
Rebirth won't get any DLC, and given the game's conclusion taking place at the Forgotten Capital, you really don't want to squeeze in any side story after that, as picking up directly from that point in the final game will be a large component to how that journey begins. With the end of
Remake, it's a lot easier to have something like
INTERmission that runs parallel to it and ends at the same point without feeling like it's leaving a massive resolution untouched. Even with Zack's mysterious ending, that's still a curiousity that's just further reinforced at its ending, whereas the Forgotten Capital doesn't really have a way to do that same thing in DLC.
Vincent not being playable is something that doesn't bother me as much given some of the new information that we've gotten about the Synergy system, and apparently how the non-active party remains involved in battles. When you're guarding, you get access to some abilities that don't require ATB to use, and apparently the "background" characters will occasionally still use those while the main cast is in combat, and you can see them running around during things like the Bottomswell (Terror of the Deep) battle. I like how this sets up so that the auxiliary party members feel like they're still participating in big moments, rather than just being arbitrarily split off into groups of 3 all the time.
With Vincent's overall hesitance towards being involved in things at all, combined with his lingering guilt about not being able to stop the experiments that lead to Sephiroth's creation, I expect that the Forgotten Capital will serve as a "wake up" moment for his involvement that'll be believable in him shifting from a passive participant to an active one, and also add in a bit more significance to why HE is the one who would be following Cloud to the Forgotten Capital in
Advent Children, as there's a different type of weight and guilt that they both carry in different ways given what happens there.
With Cid, I expect him to be seen as the literal pilot for the team, and while he'll follow you around and help out with things that ensure that you can get to where you need to go, he's not fully committed to getting involved in the conflict. In the next game it'll be everything with space and Meteor that help to shift that into a more active role. After having characters like Biggs, Wedge, & Jessie in
Remake who are important but not directly involved, I think that this sort of thing will feel totally natural in the presentation of the story despite how we initially perceive them coming from the OG.
The characters and developments of them don't feel as distinctly disconnected as playable characters and NPCs used to in older games, which is a big benefit as it makes it feel less off when they all take up differentiated roles in the ones who are combat allies to you, and the ones who are willing to lend you a hand like Chadley, or the ones who will tag along with you. Especially given that Red XIII contemplates departing from the party altogether before Bugenhagen convinces him to keep travelling with you, I expect that it won't feel as strange having some party members whose involvement takes time to build up, but also I think it'll help everyone in building up towards the "everybody leave and come back when you have your own individual reason to do this" moment in the final game before the endgame departure for North Crater.
Lastly, I'm properly curious what this ends up being like for the inclusion of other Compilation characters. I'd enjoy if Kunsel showed up around Fort Condor (since he was assigned there when Zack left for Nibelheim in
Crisis Core, and
Remake let us know he's still alive). I'm wondering if we'll end up encountering Cissnei in Gongaga, since she's supposed to have become friendly with Zack's parents even before he managed to make it there during his escape, and I assume she'd be keeping close tabs on them, not to mention you're supposed to have an encounter with the Turks there anyway.
I have to expect that the Wutai Interim Government that's supporting the Shinra Resistance Committee which seems to be allied with Glenn (and potentially the other P0 SOLDIER deployed to Rhadora with young Sephiroth) also have a connection to Chadley's desire to topple Shinra from within, as those elements will naturally lend themselves to leading towards the Deepground projects, and tie Vincent's & Yuffie's trajectories together for the next game in a way that feels more significant. I'm hoping that Roche will be around even if just so that we can see the progression of a known named SOLDIER going from slightly unhinged to a fully catatonic and cloaked Sephiroth copy.
There're just TONS of possibilities for what's to come still and the bits and pieces of confirmation around how characters are/aren't being involved in the game really helps to make the world feel more complete when it's not just a strict split between PCs & NPCs, but when there are characters whose partial participation still feels meaningfully significant in making them a fully realized piece of the world & story.
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