Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Must Include The Most Divisive Part Of Rebirth

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 is in a really delightful place right now. We know very little about it, which makes speculation all the more enjoyable and any tidbits we receive increasingly tantalizing. The mere mention of it from anyone at Square Enix is enough to get people, myself very much included, excited about the upcoming JRPG, but so too are the many ways in which we imagine it will turn out. We can wildly guess how it’ll adapt the source material, the new content it will add, and the bizarre, unnecessarily lengthy ways it’ll extend sequences that took a mere few minutes to complete in the original entry.

So, while we’re at this stage, awaiting more information on Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3’s release date and gameplay, why not whimsically hope for potential features? I, for one, am rather eager to see one of the most controversial aspects of the phenomenally good Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth rear its allegedly ugly head once more and be a prominent feature in this new entry. While many disliked this part of Rebirth, I found it to be immensely charming and, indeed, one of the best features in the game. I am, of course, referring to the open-world activities that make Rebirth the incredibly enjoyable JRPG that it is today.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s Open World Activities Are Amazing

One of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s most controversial features was its plethora of open-world activities. This ranged from simply surveying the local map by climbing a tower to defeating epic bosses and challenging opponents in the incredibly engrossing card game, Queen’s Blood. A lot of players found these elements to be somewhat tedious, but I rather enjoyed them, not least because they served as a fun distraction from the linear cinematic sequences that bookended them. For the most part, Cloud and co. were only ever subjected to the gameplay loop of clearing each task in any given open area after having overcome some traumatic fight or lengthy sequence exploring a linear, narrative-focused location. As a result, whenever a new sprawling map presented itself to me to be explored, I rather welcomed the break it afforded me.

It isn’t as if these tasks were inherently awful either. Each region introduced some new gameplay elements to engage with, most of which tied directly into side quests that further developed members of Avalanche or the wider world at hand. They were mostly rewarding, often extremely enjoyable, and always optional. It felt like a natural evolution from the original Final Fantasy 7 experience, whose open world was a little devoid of fun distractions beyond the occasional battle and surprise encounter.

Sure, the open world content was yet another way Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth changed the original experience, and I can appreciate why that would aggravate some. I also understand that it isn’t as if Rebirth’s open-world shenanigans were peak gameplay design, as they often adhered to the design philosophies of the early 2010s. However, Rebirth was never striving to be Breath of the Wild nor Elden Ring. It was only ever looking for unique ways in which to engage players in its plethora of side content, all of which was enriching. It also best represents the stage at which Cloud and his friends are at, the cozier moments of simply living their lives and adventuring before it all becomes rather gloomy, as illustrated at the end of Rebirth.

Sure, the dreadful Glide de Chocobo minigame unlocked in Cosmo Canyon was one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced, and there are a few in the Golden Saucer that I could take or leave. However, the variety on offer, the sheer ambition on display, and the countless ways Square Enix attempts to encourage us to have fun is adiramble at the very least. Which is why I sincerely hope that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 adopts this controversial content, if only to make Cloud and co.’s journey that little more palatable, as things are about to get pretty dark, very quickly.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Needs More Fun Distractions

I have argued, in the past, that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 needs to adopt a somewhat serious tone, unlike its predecessor. Rebirth gets away with flitting between the dark, sombre moments as Cloud descends into madness and the slice of life goofiness as the crew hang out, because it is the middle stage in which neither aspect is as dominant. However, while the tail end of Final Fantasy 7 certainly features a lot of fun moments between the party, it is largely a fairly dark insight into both the internal conflicts happening within Cloud’s worsening mental state and the external conflicts regarding Sephiroth himself and the boiling tensions between the warring factions.

Yet, as much as I can’t wait for Remake Part 3 to delve into all of that with the same gravitas and cinematic flair that Square Enix gave to Rebirth’s more sombre sequences, I also hope that the levity of Rebirth at least makes an appearance every now and then. It largely managed to achieve its moments of joy and awe thanks to the aforementioned open-world sections that allowed players to breathe and take a beat. We know Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 will be open-world to some extent and will likely attempt to improve upon the design choices criticized in Rebirth, but I hope that it still gives us clear, repetitively soothing objectives to clear when we need a moment to relax.

I appreciate how bizarre that must sound, especially as I am aware of the potential for tonal whiplash and ludonarrative dissonance that it creates, but we also need to remember that this is a video game, and it should be fun. There’s a strange stigma around familiar open-world tasks that has been propagated thanks to the mundane releases within well-known, typically Ubisoft, franchises. However, when done right and in moderation, these can be comforting and often extremely enjoyable.

There’s no need to dismiss concepts akin to what features heavily in Rebirth’s open-world sections merely because they’ve been arbitrarily labelled as outdated. In certain circumstances, they can work, and I can see them, alongside Rebirth’s more experimental and creative ideas, working perfectly in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, especially to break up all the bouts of crying we’ll be suffering through.

Do you think Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 needs open-world activities like Rebirth’s? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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