Highwind (Final Fantasy VII)

From Final Fantasy Wiki

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. The Highwind is used to ram into Ultimate WEAPON to make it stop fleeing and fight. 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.

[edit] Story

[edit] In the Hands of Shinra

The Highwind was designed and built by Cid Highwind, Shinra'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 Shinra Headquarters in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. The Airship was confiscated from Cid after the failure of the rocket launch in Rocket Town. It served as the main flagship of Shinra 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 Shinra 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.

[edit] The Party's Airship

The Highwind on the World Map

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 Shinra. 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 Shinra.

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 together. After this the Highwind blasts off and reveals two jet boosts at the back, replacing the two propellors at the back.

The painting of a woman in a bikini on the side of the Highwind. This same painting returns on the floor of the main deck of the Shera.

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-.

[edit] Layout

Command Deck

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.

Main 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".

Engine Room

The engine room links together the Command and Main Decks and the Stables. It also has an Operations Room, which may be accessed to heal, save, and switch party members. If Yuffie Kisaragi is in the party, she can often be found in the Engine Room, suffering from motion sickness.

Stables

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.

[edit] Stats

Highwind
Weight	- 1,280 tons - 2,150 tons (with equipments, weapons, accelerators etc,etc.)
Length	- 237 meters
Width	- 183 meters
Height	- 33 meters (landing)
Max Speed	- 386 knots - 173 knots (patroling)
Crew Size	- 4
Occupancy	- Approximately thirty-four
Weapons	- N/A
Ascending Engine	- Modified/Customized 16-s Ge engine (energy input: 15200hp x 4)
Ascending Aid	- Shinra 3a upside down V shaped 12 circular air tube (energy input: 1900hp x 2)
Ascending Wingspan's Fan	- Radius 5.5m, oil pressured, 4 oil tanks, and temperature: 30-80 c
Accelerator	- Modified/Customized Shinra airship accelerator (energy input: 22400hp x 2)

The Highwind moving to pick Cloud and Tifa up.

At rest on Shinra's airship landing pad.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Gallery

Artwork by Tetsuya Nomura

[edit] 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 Aeris 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 Aeris did see the Highwind in Junon, thus her request to Cloud to let her ride on it someday.

[edit] Trivia

The Highwind Doll

• Ironically, if one were to try to confront Diamond WEAPON while riding the Highwind, they would be shrugged off, and Cid would scold you, asking if you were trying to destroy the ship. However, when confronting the Ultimate WEAPON, you must ram into with the Highwind, and even fight it on the deck, where it unleashes more devastating attacks then Diamond WEAPON. This may be because Ultimate WEAPON was weakened before it is fought on the Airship, while Diamond WEAPON was not, or because Diamond WEAPON was land-based and much heavier armored, while Ultimate WEAPON is an airborne combatant.
• In On the Way to a Smile: Episode of Denzel Denzel is seen throwing a toy version of the Highwind Airship into a window.