Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Why fully exploring the open world matters
Build a better Summon
Summons are back in a big way in FF7 Rebirth. In fact, they seem to be a lot easier to call forth which I dig because I've been a simp for summons since 6. I don't necessarily like how Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth deals with summons by never talking about it though. Like, you don't turn in a quest where the NPC says, "Hey man, thank you for getting rid of the creatures that were hurting my farm. By the way, while you were fighting, an old man, about 25 feet tall appeared, made a mountain of rock grow under hit feet and he called down lightning on the last enemy. Was...was that Ramuh the Lightning God? Did...did you summon him to my farm?" That conversation never happens but my god it should.
Anyways, every time you get to a new area of the map, Chadley gets info on a summon that was popular in that area and you can fight it to unlock the ability to summon it. One thing you'll notice though is that these fights are a LOT tougher than they were in Remake. There's good reason.
Scattered on each map are three points that are, essentially, temples to the summons. Locating them and doing a small rhythm based mini game moves the summon up a star (up to 4 stars). Doing so not only unlocks more abilities for your summon like stat boosts and attacks, but also makes the battle to unlock them a bit easier.
In the process of getting your summon to 4 stars, you'll not only end up with a summon that gifts you with a slew of buffs upon leaving but you'll also get a lot of experience in the process.
Find the Chocobo Stops
When you're running about the open world you might encounter a small chocobo chick with, for no explained reason, a plant booty. When you come near it will run. Follow it. These chicks lead you to Chocobo Stops, seemingly long abandoned bus stop like areas for chocobos.
These are fairly beneficial for a few reasons. One, finding them gives you more points with Chadley. Secondly, you get to pet the little chocobo chick afterwards and it loves being petted. But most importantly, each chocobo stop works as a fast travel point meaning you'll be able to hop about wherever you need in a snap.
Speaking of snap...