Highwind (Final Fantasy VII)



The Highwind is the primary airship in Final Fantasy VII. It can go over mountains and every other type of terrain. It can only land on plains in the overworld and only areas in which it can fit. The player can store a Chocobo inside it and ride it out again. There is also man who acts as a save point inside, who can fully heal the party for no cost. In two points in the game, the Highwind is used to ram into monsters to make them stop and fight. First with the mandatory Diamond WEAPON and later with the optional boss, the Ultimate WEAPON. In some battles with the Ultimate WEAPON, the deck is used as a battleground.

The Airship is used as a part of Cid Highwind's Limit Break Highwind, in which the Highwind rains 18 missiles down on random targets.

In the Hands of Shin-Ra
The Highwind was designed and built by Cid Highwind, Shin-Ra's chief aeronautical engineer, several years before the beginning of Final Fantasy VII. A poster of the newly constructed Highwind can be seen in the Showcase Room of Shin-Ra Headquarters in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. The Airship was confiscated from Cid after the failure of the rocket launch in Rocket Town. It severed as the main flagship of Shin-Ra from then on. The Highwind can be spotted in Junon while first passing through in Final Fantasy VII.

President Rufus Shinra takes command of the Highwind during the hunt for the rogue SOLDIER, Sephiroth. Rufus had failed to take the Tiny Bronco in Rocket Town due to Cid defecting with the party of Cloud Strife. So he had to commandeer the Highwind in order to reach the Northern Crater where Sephiroth was summoning Meteor. Rufus's group of the Shin-Ra executives, and Cloud's party both fail to stop Sephiroth. Tifa Lockhart and Barret Wallace are both stolen away on the Highwind during the rise of WEAPON, the protectors of the Planet summoned to defeat its many enemies.

The Party's Airship


The Highwind is again docked in Junon, where Rufus plans to execute both Tifa and Barret as scapegoats for the Meteor crisis. However, the other members of the party sneak in and rescue Barret. They go off to steal the Highwind away from Shin-Ra. Tifa manages to escape thanks to the surprise attack of the Sapphire WEAPON. She jumps off the Sister Ray Cannon onto her waiting comrades on the Highwind. They all fly off, safely out of the clutches of Shin-Ra.

For then on, the Highwind serves as the main transporting device and headquarters for the party for the last two discs of the game. When Cloud recovers from Mako Poisoning he returns to command on the deck of the Highwind and makes a speech telling his party how he has recovered. Just before the final attack on Sephiroth in the Northern Crater, all the members of the party go off to their hometowns for a final goodbye. But Cloud and Tifa do not have a hometown anymore, Nibelheim having been destroyed by Sephiroth five years earlier. They wait on the group beneath the ship, and reminisce about all that has happened. The screen goes black, and it is up to the player's imagination just how Tifa and Cloud spent the night the together.

During the attack in the Northern Crater, the party defeats Sephiroth. But they are stuck deep within the Planet, and the Lifestream is quickly seeping up to the surface. Cid has the Highwind dive straight into the Crater to rescue them. In order for them to escape, the Highwind breaks off an extra layer to show an emergency jet frame. Well above the ground, the party watches in horror as Meteor crashes into Midgar. From that height they can see all the ending of Final Fantasy VII, as Holy fails and the Lifestream itself comes up to save the Planet.

Cid Highwind would replace the Highwind with his new Airship, the Shera, named after his wife in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-.

Layout
The command deck of the Highwind is located forward of the airship's gondola (cabin) and can be seen from the outside through a large curved window supported by metal grid-work. The deck contains three work stations; including the pilot controls (located top right and manned by Cid Highwind), communications and radar post (located left), and a station for various other stats and controls (located bottom right). The command deck is accessible via the engine room and has arrows to help guide confused crew.
 * Command Deck:

The main deck provides access to the airship via a staircase into the engine room. A series of ropes and ladders can be unfurled to provide access to the ground as well as a mooring to anchor the Highwind while "landed".
 * Main Deck:


 * Engine Room:

The Highwind's stables provides suitable accomodation for one chocobo. Accessible via the engine room the stables contains hay, water and various chocobo feed for the avid breeder.
 * Stables:

Music Themes
The Highwind's main musical theme is track 3 on disc 4 of the Final Fantasy VII: Original Soundtrack, "Highwind Takes to the Skies." It is a stirring arrangement of the Final Fantasy VII main theme.

Poster Display
The picture seen on the right was one of the causes for the great debate of whether or not it was possible to revive Aerith Gainsborough in the game, as the Highwind isn't acquired until after she dies, yet she is standing there, ready to board. Alternately it is speculated as adding to the ironic elements of Final Fantasy VII's plot, as it is on the cover of the CD sleeve and one of the most famous images released before the game. Alternatively, this could be interpreted as symbolic, considering the fact that Aerith did see the Highwind in Junon, thus her request to Cloud to let her ride on it someday.