Highlights

  • Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's final trailer reveals that Cid Highwind and his airship will appear in the second installment of the remake trilogy.
  • However, players will likely spend more time aboard the Highwind in the final part of the Remake trilogy, so it makes sense to really expand upon the feature in Rebirth's successor.
  • Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 should consider implementing airship customization, similar to the feature in Final Fantasy 14, to enhance the player's experience aboard the Highwind.

While the sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, is one of the most anticipated titles of 2024, news of the remake trilogy's third installment is already surfacing. As shown in the final trailer for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Cid Highwind will be making an appearance in the second entry of the trilogy. Unfortunately, players won't be allowed to travel aboard his famous airship, the Highwind, until the final chapter of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy arrives, although it will most likely appear alongside Cid in Rebirth. This was confirmed by Tetsuya Nomura in an interview with Famitsu and later translated by Twitter user aitaikimochi.

The full extent of airship travel in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 is currently unknown. However, based on the original game, it can be assumed that players will be spending a significant amount of time on the Highwind, especially if Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3's world is as large as or larger than the world of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. As such, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3's airship should consider implementing a popular Final Fantasy 14 customization feature made available to the MMO's guilds, or Free Companies.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth covered in yellow paint with logo
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Final Fantasy 14 Lets Free Companies Build and Customize Airships

In Square Enix's hugely successful Final Fantasy MMO, Final Fantasy 14, Free Company players can build and customize airships that are then sent out on voyages to explore the skies of Eorzea and obtain valuable rewards. Using a Free Company Workshop, players can construct an airship and then customize it to improve its performance on voyages and even change its appearance. As they progress, players can then upgrade their ships to enhance them even further. While airship customization in Final Fantasy 14 is very limited, it could still pave the way for a similar feature in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 Should Let Players Customize the Highwind

In all respects, customization has become a highly requested and often praised feature in modern gaming, especially in role-playing games. Players are always asking for more opportunities to fully customize aspects of their games, like their character's appearance and weapons, so that they might have an original experience that feels personal to them. In light of that, allowing players to customize Cid's Highwind in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, even more so than they can the Free Company airships of Final Fantasy 14, might sate the appetite of fans who long to leave their unique signature on it.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 could certainly take Final Fantasy 14's airship customization even further, especially if players do end up spending a great deal of time aboard the Highwind. It may turn out that the Highwind is a sort of home away from home for players in Remake Part 3, so giving them the ability to customize it as they would a home in games such as Fallout 4 with its settlements and Stardew Valley​​​​​​ with its farm would be a welcome addition. Perhaps players could add different functional facilities to the Highwind's interior or even change the color of its exterior. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is claiming to change the original in some rather significant ways, so it wouldn't be completely out of the box for Remake Part 3 to change the way the original game handled the Highwind.

It's currently unknown whether players will even get to see the interior of Cid's Highwind in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, but that much can be assumed, as past installments, like the iconic Final Fantasy 10, have allowed players to walk around inside airships. As such, allowing players to customize the Highwind and essentially make it their personal traveling home base could serve as an engaging optional activity that would likely earn the praise of fans.