No ancient visionary has ever thought to themselves, "Someday...men will be able to fly, but only like a little bit. Slightly above the ground so you can get over shallow water a bit easier". A hovercraft is the kind of thing you think up when you're constrained by physics. It's just not a fantasy.
Okay, I laughed at this a bit, but also: I have had many, MANY dreams at night in which I am hovering off the ground a few inches (often, running on air with my feet not hitting the ground), and they've always felt rather fantastical to me. But perhaps that is because it's in the dreamscape, which often DOES feel like a fantasy. So I never thought to question the hovercraft in FFIV, but your post makes a lot of sense to me and I see why you think it's weird.
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Okay, I laughed at this a bit, but also: I have had many, MANY dreams at night in which I am hovering off the ground a few inches (often, running on air with my feet not hitting the ground), and they've always felt rather fantastical to me. But perhaps that is because it's in the dreamscape, which often DOES feel like a fantasy. So I never thought to question the hovercraft in FFIV, but your post makes a lot of sense to me and I see why you think it's weird.