Global Airship: Difference between revisions

Mode of transport late in the game that allows you to travel to nearly any location on the [[World Map]] fairly quickly. This is almost always [[Zeppelins from Another World|something that flies]]. Often, [[Schizo-Tech|it's far beyond]] the [[Technology Levels]] of the rest of the world, having been created by the resident [[Mad Scientist]], or taken from an [[Lost Technology|ancient civilization]].

 

 

 

Rarely does media present this trope with the logical conclusion of just letting you fly a simple airplane, possibly because airplanes need a runway, or they may just not be [[Rule of Cool|cool]] enough.

** ...except in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'', where Balthier's airship was a prototype model scheduled to be scrapped, but he obtained it before Archades could do so. But the building of the ship itself was probably on Cid's orders. {{spoiler|Seeing as Balthier is ''related'' to Cid, this is probably close enough.}}

** Some games in the series actually provide you with an airship early in the game, but impose limitations on it (such as being unable to land in most terrain or unable to fly over mountains). ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' actually goes through several models, ending up with a veritable behemoth of an airship complete with shop and inn, but which ''still'' can't fly over most mountains. Another type doubles as submarine and is faster, but can't pass over mountains.

** The airships in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' were acquired through party member Setzer. VI's Cid was a completely different, non-playable character. It's one of the few airships to suffer from a random encounter, if only one.

*** ''[[Final Fantasy III|FFIII]]'' [[Older Than They Think|had random encounter on airships]], with the assistance of the ship's cannons. This was only in select locations, however.

** The first ''[[Breath of Fire I]]'' had Nina's giant bird transformation instead of an airship.

** ''[[Breath of Fire II]]'' had Nina's sister in giant bird form, or a small floating continent.

** ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'' also had this, with a normal sea-going ship hooked up to a flying whale.

** As many fans will affectionately point out, this move can be used by many creatures far too small to easily carry the protagonist's backpack, let alone the protagonist, or across a region of a country. Typically, Flying-type [[Com Mons]] are capable of doing so despite their initial forms being tiny (to the point that some actually have the world "tiny" in their species descriptions in the Pokédex, such as Pidgey being a Tiny Bird Pokémon and Pidove being a Tiny Pigeon Pokémon).

* In the ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' series, the player has a literal global ''space''ship, the ''Ebon Hawk'', which can instantly transport the party between planets. However, there is usually no quick transportation between locations on the same planet (except for the "Return to Ebon Hawk/Transit Back" instant travel function in the first game). Also, in the first game, interplanetary travel was prone to [[Random Encounters|random enemy starfighter encounters]] with a [[Unexpected Gameplay Change|mandatory arcade sequence.]]

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]: Another Story'' has the Ark in Chapter 5, however due to the incredibly linear nature of the game, you can't really use it for anything besides advancing the plot (being in the past, there isn't really anything interesting at the places you went to in the previous chapters.)

* You can find a balloon late in the game in ''{{[[Ultima IV]]'', tho you typically have to wait for the wind to shift to a favorable direction.

** Doesn't apply to the past world, however.

** In the first [[Baten Kaitos]], you are given Diadem's best ship for transportation. However, you can't leave the [[Floating Continent|continent that you are on]] once you land on it until you finish your business there, and even then you are only allowed to wrap up your questing in that continent at your leisure, as the game automatically directs your travelling towards the next continent once you do choose to leave. However, after doing a short puzzle, later the game plays this trope straight by giving you {{spoiler|The White Dragon}} to use as you see fit.

*** And it should be noted that in both games, transportation is limited to between the [[Floating Continent|Floating Continents]], and since there are no [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|giant flying menaces]] anywhere in the sky between the continents, the use of your [[Global Airship]] is indeed limited to doing every [[Sidequest]] there is once you have it, and accessing [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]].

** In ''[[Phantasy Star III]]'', your [[Transforming Mecha|cyborg party member Wren]] becomes this when you find the right parts. You also need this to {{spoiler|access [[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon]].}}

 

== Shoot Em Ups ==

 

== Wide Open Sandbox ==

** Similarly, the stagecoach in ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]''.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Flying Tropes]]

[[Category:Global Airship]]