- [1] original screenshot taken from Dan Allen Gaming on YouTube
FF7 Rebirth has brought tons of new content outside of its main story, but one feature from the original game is glaringly absent from Rebirth–Chocobo breeding. Read on to find out why it was omitted and if it benefits the game or not.
FF7 Rebirth Doesn’t Have Chocobo Breeding
So Much New Content, Where’s the Chocobo Breeding?
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth(FF7RB) brings a slew of side content aside from its main story where players will have all the time in the world to indulge on. From the very addicting card game Queen’s Blood where you can participate in tournaments and become the Queen’s Blood Champion, the wholly upgraded Fort Condor mountaintop defense, and to all the wonders and attractions that can be found in the Gold Saucer, FF7RB is full of wacky and fun minigames to let off steam from the gang’s Sephiroth hunt.
However, one very memorable mechanic that the majority of FF7 fans are fond of is glaringly absent from the game–that being, the ability to breed Chocobos.
With all the content that the developers, Square Enix(SE), has managed to squeeze into the game, why wasn’t Chocobo Breeding included at all? Well, the answer is rather simple when you look back to the original.
Chocobo Breeding Gets Unlocked Way Later in the Original Game
The ability to actually capture Chocobos, house them in the stables, and then breed them, was actually unavailable at all the narrative points in time that FF7RB takes place in. FF7RB spans the events from leaving Midgar and arriving out at the overworld, to the end of Disc 1 at the City of the Ancients. Chocobo Breeding in the original wasn’t unlocked until around midway through Disc 2 as you acquire the Highwind to escape from Junon.
If SE is roughly following the timeline of events from the original game, then this would likely explain why Chocobo Breeding wasn’t implemented for FF7RB. Seeing as the entire Chocobo Breeding feature and its attached sidequest are integral parts of the original FF7, it will no doubt be included in the next game of the FF7 REMAKE series.
The importance of Chocobos and Chocobo Breeding is undoubtedly on the table for the next installment, as it was the only way for players to gain different colored Chocobos with distinct skills to traverse different kinds of terrain. Using the different variants of colored Chocobos allows the player to reach secret caves containing treasure and Materia.
However, FF7RB has brought a small but significant change to the Chocobo system. In the original, players can only stumble upon the basic yellow Chocobos, only capable of traveling faster in the overworld. In FF7RB, you can now encounter different breeds out in the wild!
Plenty of Chocobos in the Fields Bodes Well for the Future
FF7RB has made variants of Chocobos obtainable throughout the Kalm Grasslands, Junon, Gongaga, Corel, and Cosmo Canyon regions in order for the party to easily traverse all sorts of terrain and obstacles. Yellow ones can sprint fast and through the muddy marshes, Dark Grey ones can scale up mountainsides, Sky Blue ones can glide in the sky and cross large distances, Cerulean Blue ones can cross bodies of water, and Green ones can jump off giant mushrooms and slide off large tree branches.
FF7RB, being a semi-open world game, had a need for a variation in traversal, and it seemed like the welcoming of other breeds of Chocobos this early in the story when compared to the original was a necessary divergence. However, this inclusion of the different breeds was what brought about the multitude of questions about where Chocobo Breeding was in the first place.
Pleading for Chocobo Breeding this early aside, we can rest assured that SE purposefully excluded it for this title, as they most definitely have plans to include it in the next game in the FF7 REMAKE series. Its absence from FF7RB might be seen as an oversight by some, but it’s an inherently good sacrifice for the game to not have it, for when the succeeding title implements a vastly expanded system with new in-depth mechanics, as they have done for all minigames here. Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and thousands of fans will no doubt strive to become Chocobo Breeding experts the first chance they get in the next game.
What We Can Expect From Chocobo Breeding in the Next Installment.
As just mentioned, FF7RB will most likely expand the Chocobo Breeding mechanics to a point of almost overcomplication– a point which many will be glad it will take. The most dedicated fans of Chocobo Breeding have been enthralled by its mechanics, regardless of which Final Fantasy game. A notable example would be in the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, there is a dedicated community and countless guides on the art of Chocobo Breeding for their Gold Saucer races.
SE will unquestionably go above and beyond to cater to this niche fanbase, as they evidently are fans of quirky side content themselves with the staggering amount of content in FF7RB.
If the future implementation will be any similar to the original’s, then fans will be in for a good time as they try their hardest to hatch specific breeds over and over again.
Though, what will be the actual goal of implementing Chocobo Breeding in the FF REMAKE series? Would it be just another fun side minigame for players to participate in the Gold Saucer Chocobo Races? In the original, breeding was needed to acquire the different Chocobos to traverse different terrain. Now, all Chocobos are available and it seems like we can travel pretty much anywhere in FF7RB. What will be the point?
- [2] Map screenshots courtesy of our FF7 Walkthrough & Wiki Guides Team
Well, for starters, many who have played through FF7RB can notice that much of the world map, although looking rather massive, actually still can’t be fully explored. There are still several inaccessible and unclearable white fog-of-war strewn across the world map. This could be a very possible hint that these areas are being saved for the next installment where only certain modes of travel can reach them. Perhaps it could be for when we eventually receive The Highwind, Cid’s airship, or perhaps…new breeds of Chocobos? If not new breeds, then perhaps the Chocobos will gain inherent stats that will play a part in their skills in overcoming their specific terrain. Final Fantasy 15 had such a mechanic where Chocobos have innate stats that change how fast they sprint, how powerful they jump, and how slippery they drift.
Besides all that, the one true endgame of Chocobo Breeding is obtaining a Golden Chocobo. This breed is the most perfect Chocobo out of them all, capable of trudging through any form of terrain. The most significant role of a Golden Chocobo, however, isn’t the ease of travel, but that it’s the only Chocobo that’s able to travel to a certain special place in the original FF7.
This certain place, only accessible to Golden Chocobos, holds FF7’s most powerful and iconic Summon Materia, famous for its unreal power and battle animation’s duration– The Knights of the Round. To include Chocobo Breeding leads to a slippery slope of including Golden Chocobos, and as such should lead to the Knights of the Round summon. The iconic and beloved summon will no doubt have its grand stage debut at the climax of the FF7 REMAKE series, and thus had to be left out of this second installment of FF7 Rebirth.
Source:
[1] Dan Allen Gaming | Cloud meets his Chocobo Piko - Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
[2] FF7 Rebirth Interactive Map: All Regions and Locations
