The first few hours of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth start out similar to Remake and INTERmission with tight, focused levels and limited open area spaces. But then, Shinra comes knocking and the party flees the town of Kalm into the sprawling, gorgeous grasslands. My delight at the beauty, however, quickly faded once I realized the sheer scope of the open world.
Note: This op-ed is spoiler-free! Unless you think compliments about Chocobo design are a spoiler.
I knew from early review headlines that the game would be aggressively large and, by some accounts, bloated. I tried to manage my gut reaction of dread; I’m not against open-world games on principle, but I’m fatigued. I was looking forward to returning to what I hoped would be a more linear mission. This dream must’ve been what kept me following the main mission cues, rather than immediately spiraling off to explore, which is what I normally do when set loose in a giant map.
The game rewarded my due diligence with what I think is Rebirth’s best design feature (in my playthrough so far!): the Chocobos.
Easy Rider
Chocobos are large chicken-colored ostrich-horses that have appeared throughout the sprawling Final Fantasy series. Sometimes you just see them in town, and other times you get to ride them. In Rebirth, the latter is absolutely necessary. The giant map would be a pain in the ass without them. Just having a mount would’ve made them a solid addition, but whoever was on the Chocobo Design Team at Square Enix did an amazing job of making the Chocobos not only easy to use, but fun as well.
To acquire a Chocobo, players seek out Bill, a delightful elderly farmer dressed like a motorcycle gang member. The crew doesn’t have enough money to pay for five Chocobos, much less one. Bill’s grandson says that if Cloud can re-capture their runaway Chocobo, Piko, then Cloud can use him. Getting Piko back was easy with a tracking and forgiving stealth section, but I dreaded the monotony of repeating it four more times. As soon as I saddled up Piko, though, everyone jumped on their own magically appearing Piko-clone! Yay!
I loved seeing the detailed choices made in how each party member rides their Chocobo. Tifa sits squarely, upright with good form, like the cowgirl she always was. Barret is a bit stiff, which makes sense given, you know, his cannon arm with no opposable digits. Cloud is a natural, though he slouches a little, echoing his general reticence for Chocobos/talking to other people. Aerith rides side saddle, which checks out given her dress and overall delicate femme vibe.
I moved my camera around to see if Red XIII, a talking magical dog-tiger thing, would just be running alongside us. But no! He gets a Chocobo, too! He’s hunched over like a little gremlin. It made me (and other people on the internet) giggle. But also, I’m glad he gets to be a part of the Choco-squad.
When the player tells their Chocobo to turn, Cloud’s animations with his reins are smooth, mimicking the real world movements of asking a horse to shift. The way the birds step and bounce and jump even feel good from a gravity and weight perspective. They run like velociraptors in Jurassic Park (the original, not that Chris Pratt bullshit); I love the commitment to birds-are-dinosaurs science.
The Best Kind of Convenience
Once on the Chocobo, the controls are easy and intuitive—they’re the same as moving Cloud around the map, but faster. What’s more, even when you’re on the bird, you can still grab items on the ground the same way that you would while walking. For anyone who has ever played Horizon Zero Dawn or The Witcher 3 or one of the recent Assassin’s Creed games, you’ll know that it’s such a pain to hop off your speeding mount just to pick up some twigs.
It’s one simple button to whistle for your regional Chocobo to come to you. If you approach a fight, you’ll automatically jump off your bird, and he’ll jog off to safety. When the fight is over, he trots back over to you without being called, which is incredibly convenient. The quality of life choices on the Chocobo make riding them so easy, and that’s just the beginning. There are early promises of Chocobo races, unlocking gear, following scents, digging up treasure, and taming more wild Chocobos.
There’s a lot to do in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The side quests and minigames have been introduced to me at a rapid pace within my first five hours with the game. At least our fine-feathered friends have been one element that’s been straightforward. I am both excited and daunted by the 40-130 hour range that HowLongToBeat estimates for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but I feel comforted knowing that I’ll have Chocobos by my side.
Don’t Forget To Pet!
But the best part? There are broken bus stops a.k.a. Chocobo stops a.k.a. fast travel spots around the map. These are indicated by a fallen down sign. As you’re exploring the open world, a baby Chocobo (that has a plant butt?!) will squawk and lead you to the pole, flapping its wings. It looks on with excitement as Cloud uses his big boy muscles to right the sign, and thus establishing the fast travel point. And THEN! You get! To! Pet! The! Baby! Chocobo!!!!!!! It will happy chirp with delight. This is all that truly matters.
And don’t you dare not pet him, you monster.
